3 November 2018
Hello All!
It has been almost a week since I arrived on the Africa
Mercy! And I’m so glad to be here. But more on that later…
This past month has been a rather crazy one! As you may
know, my lovely parents drove all the way down to San Diego in early October,
packed my oodles of stuff (we did not use such a cute description during the
actual packing…), and then the three of us drove through California, Nevada,
Oregon all the way up to Moscow, Idaho. Very long days!
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Day one - follow the little white box - very slowly
Isn't Nevada amazing? (I felt like I was living 'Cars'...) |
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| Day two - more Nevada |
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| I did mention I was driving VERY slowly, right? |
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Still Day two, still more Nevada
- but still so amazing! |
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| A strange clown motel - still haunts me... |
The worst part was saying goodbye to my sister, brother-in-law,
niece and nephew. I will miss them so much. Still a little teary thinking about
it… thank goodness for wifi and internet here on the Africa Mercy!
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| Missing San Diego just a bit... my last even was a picnic on the beach |
The most exciting day (or rather night) had to be when we
had mechanical difficulties on the road between Winnemuca, Nevada and Caldwell,
Idaho. We were stuck on the side of the road, in the middle of the night,
without cell service or any living person visible for miles – and it was about
16 degrees Fahrenheit! (I thought I was just SoCal soft, but the chill was
real!). Anyway, we found safety thanks to my dad’s amazing skills with nothing
much to work with (MacGyver, I guess) in the tiny town of Jordan Valley,
Oregon. I will always think fondly of Jordan Valley – a warm, comfy motel room
with morning windows opening on golden fields, sunny blues skies and red rock
mountains. That is not even mentioning a mechanic who fixed everything! And a
good breakfast at the local diner. It was the promise land God had for us on
that Sunday night – so aptly named. My aunt and uncle drove down the next
morning from Caldwell and brought us the parts we needed. We got to visit while
everything was being fixed and then they sent us on our way. Finally, we
arrived in Moscow late that night. We were very tired.
The next eleven days were spent in quite the flurry of
activities – filling my storage unit (still had room for my car!), dealing with
all the loose ends of life and moving (I don’t think I’ve ever spent that much
time on hold), seeing friends, drinking coffee, going to my parent’s parish
group, enjoying the glorious, sunny fall Moscow provided, and figuring out how
and what to pack for Guinea (probably even more frustrating to me than the
packing of my apartment). We even managed to go the Moscow firemen’s pancake feed!
It was homecoming at most of the local colleges and universities, so it was a
bit crowded in town. I also went with a friend to our nursing school’s 50 year
celebration! My college church let me give a presentation on Mercy Ships and my
coming time and role here – it was encouraging and I’m so glad I was able to
share.
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| Moscow in it's fall beauty! |
Finally, October 26 came around and my flight out of Moscow
to Seattle was set to fly at 7pm(ish). Frantically packing, I had about 20
minutes to get there in time for check-in! Then my flight was delayed
(hurray!), so Mom, Dad and I got to eat dinner with less panicked hearts.
Little did I know, this was just the beginning of my flight delays…
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| Relief! We just have to wait now... |
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On my way to the Africa Mercy!
I'm going to need this coffee... |
To make a long story short(er), I did make it to Seattle, to
my hotel, then back to the SeaTac airport, just to wait for another 4 hours for
my first flight to Newark, then delayed at Newark, then delayed in the air over
the Ivory Coast (some kind of VIPs prevented us from landing and it turns out
my stomach does not like going in circles in the air for 30 minutes…), finally
landing, getting stuck in the check-in area of the Abidjan airport for 5 or so
hours, at last being allowed to check in (yay! – there were bathrooms, internet
and water then!), having that flight delayed…
Eventually, I arrived in Conakry, Guinea, was picked up by
the Purser of the Africa Mercy, got through customs and all without much delay,
and ended up on the ship by about 10:30pm 28 October (got to change the date
arrangement now – I’m in another country!). I was so tired, without luggage (it
got lost between the Ivory Coast and Guinea), stinky and all that – but it
already felt like home!
So, now I’m here on the Africa Mercy and have just finished
my first week of work. Still tired, but still happy to be home. Also, our OR team
got to fix about 13 kiddos this week! And they are all mostly up and running
around the wards or have gone home already. Next week looks to be a little more
challenging for the whole Pediatric General surgery team. I’m preparing by
laying low this weekend. There are lots of adventures to be had here in Conakry
and the surrounding area, so I hope to be ready to explore next weekend. In the
meantime, I’ll finish my training as the General Surgery Team Leader this week
and take my first training shift being the primary (i.e., most responsible
nurse) call on this Thursday. It’s a
little daunting, but the support of my supervisors and friends (and pretty much
the whole OR team) is there, so I think – definitely with God’s guidance – this
next week should go well.
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Here!
Clean, but starving, just off the plane. |
This is where I’ll end. Thank you all so much for praying
for and supporting me! Thank you for all the kind emails this week – it has
been so encouraging. It is amazing to get to work within this community who
love and serve God in serving the people of Guinea. And to know all of you are
on the other side of the world in this same community (of sorts) praying for me
is even better!
Much love,
Amaanda
PS: A
disclaimer (because I need to and this should have been on all my other
communications, too, but I forgot): Although I am currently serving
with Mercy Ships, everything communicated here strictly reflects my personal
opinions and is neither reviewed nor endorsed by Mercy Ships. Opinions,
conclusions and other information expressed here do not necessarily reflect the
views of Mercy Ships. ~ Amaanda
PSS: Also, no Guinea pictures yet! Next week (or month), I'll try to be better!
