I usually blog after an exciting weekend or a new adventure or something exciting on the ship. What is most exciting in my life these days is the new adventure I am experiencing with the Lord. Living in a diverse, international Christian community certainly has its challenges, but it has made me stretch and grow in ways that I wouldn't be able to on my own. My departmental devotions have been especially meaningful to me. I am surrounded daily by some of the most mature leaders and prayer warriors I have ever been blessed to learn from. We have prayer meetings on Wednesdays and we watch DVDs from Francis Chan's Crazy Love series on Thursdays. I love our Wednesday prayer meetings, these men and women have trusted their finances entirely to God and some have spent decades volunteering for Mercy Ships. They have the ear of the Lord, and I am continually blessed just to be sitting beside them as they pour themselves out in prayer.

I highly encourage everyone to go out and get a copy of Francis Chan's book, Crazy Love. It is incredibly challenging and some might consider it very controversial. He challenges not only the modern church, but the modern Christian, to know what it really means to love God. I am constantly being reminded of the Crazy Love that God feels for each and every one of us, and the pathetic, half hearted love that I give back to Him. I want this Psalm of David to be my prayer

"O God you are my God; I earnestly search for you.

My soul thirsts for you and my whole body longs for you

in this parched and weary land where there is no water.

I have seen you in your sanctuary and gazed upong your power and glory.

Your unfailing love is better than life itself;

How I praise you!

I will praise you as long as I live,

lifting my hands to you in prayer.

You satisfy me more than the richest feast,

I will praise you with songs of joy."

Psalm 63:1-5

Easter Holiday!

So, for the Easter weekend we got 4 days off, Friday-Monday. I opted to instead take Thursday and Friday off and accompany two of my favorite girls on a weekend adventure! We went to a little town called Possotome, which is on a lake called Aheme, very near the border of Benin and Togo. We hoped and prayed for adventure, and adventure was what we got!

We started off on Thursday morning waiting for our taxi, which the other two girls, Suzanne and Steph, had arranged earlier in the week. None of us speak French, so this was a gamble to begin with. Sure enough, Gon Gon (the taxi driver) did not come for us, so we made our way to the bus station where it is easy to get taxis. As soon as we arrived we were surrounded by Taxi drivers, among them was Gon Gon, with a big grin saying 'You never call!' (We did...3 times). So off we went!

Although Gon Gon didn't seem to understand where exactly we wanted to go, he found it easily enough (there are really only 2 main roads in Possotome). We stayed at a beautiful hotel called Resort Hotel Aheme...or something like that. We relaxed on the little beach and eventually migrated to where we heard drumming down the beach. We stumbled on a little village within the village and after many hand gestures of 'Is this OK?' we played with the dozens of kidos running around, Steph even had a Conga line going for a while. At 6 on the dot, the village gathered around for the evening's dance party. Sure enough the Yovos (white people!) were dragged in and made to dance. We did our best but cannot compare to the african rhythm.

The next day we walked through the village and approached by a man offering us the services of a company called Eco-Benin. They are a fantastic Beninoise company that focuses on sustainable tourism. They are supported by an NGO in France who had sent a couple of men to help them build up their business (more on them later). The gents from Eco Benin took us out on the lake and taught us how to cast nets to catch fish. I wasn't very good at it, and we didn't catch any fish, but they were so enthusiastic that we felt like the best Yovo fisherwomen there ever were.

We returned to their lakefront 'restaurant' and enjoyed a lunch of fresh fish and casava (Yum?). Afterwards we relaxed and had another mellow evening on the lake shore with palm trees and the man on the moon.

The next morning we awoke for sunrise and cafe on the beach. To our surprise, Gon Gon had resturned for us! We went to settle our bill, only to discover that somewhere in the last 2 days, lots of money had been taken from us! We don't know how or when, but we did not have enough to cover our bill. Thank the good Lord for the French men from Eco Benin who lent us the money and will come tour the ship on their way to the airport this weekend.

We made it safely back to the ship, managed to dig up enough money to pay Gon Gon and counted our blessing for getting back at all!

Adventure with Gon Gon!

Suz and I at the entrance to the Resort Lake Aheme...or something. We love the Bouganvilla.

More of the entrance.

Preparing to throw the net! I really wasn't very good at it, which I am blaming on the miniature hands.

Lakeside Terrace...on stilts.

Lunch.

Steph and I. She and Suz are absolutely great.

This was just too funny to not include it. He is tied to a bunch of rocks. When we asked why, they explained that it is his job to eat the leaves that fall of that particular tree. He can pull the rocks behind him, but it takes a lot of effort. Poor little guy, Suz wanted to adopt him.

Ganvie, the Stilt Village

A couple of weeks ago I went with a group of other crew members to see Ganvie, Benin's famous Stilt Village. By famous, I mean that in made it into the guidebook. Don't worry, I was surprised there is a guidebook for Benin too. The story is that the King of Dahomey was conquering neighboring tribes and selling the people as slaves, so the king of another tribe went looking for a place where his people could be safe. He came upon a lake, and turned himself in to a crocodile. In the lake he found a shallow area, roughly 2 meters deep. It was there that his tribe built their new village, a village on stilts. The tour to Ganvie began at a hotel in Cotonou where we boarded boats for an hour ride. Unfortunately, the little outboard motor in my boat failed multiple times. Luckily we had one of our fine deck Officers with us who quickly repaired the engine and left me questioning the competance of our guide. Once to Ganvie we stopped at 3 little 'Gift Shops', one which sold approximately 5 things. The kids all poled their little canoes over to wherever we were and stood with their hand out yelling 'Monsieur, Madam!'. They asked for bics (pens) and chewing gum of all things. The people of Ganvie do not welcome the tourist. They hide their faces if they see a camera, and I doubt that they receive any of the money from people touring around their homes. As with most of Benin, Ganvie is very poor. The houses are shacks on stilts and the water is extremely polluted, with trash floating all around. While I enjoyed getting out of Cotonou and seeing some Beninoise culture, I wished I had taken the money I paid the hotel for the boat ride and bought some pens and gum for the kidos.