"Thank you plenny"...

I can't believe that it's Day 4 on the ship!! Time seems to be going by pretty quickly and the days seem like they are blurring together. Time flies when you're having fun?

On Monday, we were given the day "off" so to speak, but still had meetings and orientations to attend. In one of the orientations, the speaker told a story about one of his trips to West Africa. He said that he was standing at the dock one day, and an older gentlemen approached him to show him a picture. The picture was of the gentlemen with a tumor on his back, about the size of a grapefruit. Unsure of what the gentleman wanted, the speaker asked if he came to see if he could get surgery from the Mercy Ship. The gentleman said, no, that he was fine, just wanted to say, "Thank you plenny." It's stories and small victories like these that remind me of why I am here...

We don't set sail for a few days, which is good in a way, because it gives us time to familiarize ourselves with the ship, to give us an idea of how things work, and for others of us (like the pharmacy) - it gives us time to prepare for the outreach in Togo. Miriam has assigned me a few projects of my own that I have been working on and will continue to work on for the next few days. Aside from trying to orient myself with where things are in the pharmacy and how the pharmacy works, I've been doing pre-packs. These pre-packs contain various things, from pain-killers to antibiotics to anti-malarials. They will be used by the crew, day workers, patients (pre- and post- operation), as well as at screening day. So, you can imagine that I have quite the task ahead of me. I'm hoping that when we are sailing, there will be a few idle hands who are more than willing to help us get the packs done. It may seem mundane and monotonous, but I have found that keeping the purpose for their use in mind helps.

Over the last few days, I have discovered a couple of things:
1) Nurses really like pharmacists. (That's comforting, seeing as how I have also befriended a fair share of nurses)
2) The Africa Mercy was a Danish Ferry Boat. (McDreamy would definitely be jealous of my adventure.)
3) Your days do fill up quickly, in spite of trying to plan it otherwise. I think that I need to book in "me time", as weird as that may sound.
4) Apparently, everyone helps out at Screening Day. I'm quite excited about this, because I would love to help out on Screening Day if they need me. I mean, they must need a pharmacist, since they give out pre-packs, right?
5) The cafeteria can be scary! Hahaha...you wouldn't think so, but it can be daunting trying to find someone to eat with. Luckily, I've been able to find people to sit with, but I have also learned that being a bit brave (which is hard for me!) and asking to sit with someone works, too.

As thankful as I am for this downtime, I am finding that others, as well as myself, are getting to be a bit anxious to "just get there all ready"...
But, I do have some prayer requests...and they are as follows:

Please pray that:
1) the ship is in top form for the sail over to Togo and that inspections go smoothly.
2) that not too many people get seasick on the sail (as I have heard that ~10-15% of the crew do, and some get really ill. I am a bit nervous about this...I haven't been sick on smaller vessels...but you never know! I do have some Gravol and seabands for back up...but, ideally, I'd rather not be seasick!)
3) that all the work that is necessary to get the outreach started is finished.
4) that all the medications that we need arrive. (I have already witnessed the blessings that donations to the ship are!)
5) that we have no problems at the port and are able to get off the ship promptly.
6) for patience in this season of preparation.

Thanks for stopping by...g'night, to whoever is out there...
Dream sweetly...