Africa: week one or two? :)

Hi guys! Just wanted to thank you for the prayers and encouragement this past week. I am adjusting to life on the ship and it can be a rough transition but God is good :) First off: Work. I did come here for that I suppose :) The ward is SO different from home but I am in full swing of working now. I am oriented to the ICU but we dont really have any ICU patients so I'm taking anywhere from 5-10 patients on the ward, mostly kids. They have all had surgery of some kind...cleft lip and palate repair, bone reconstruction, tumor resection, or skin grafting for severe burns. Its busy and you would never see the severity of some of these things back home so it makes it interesting! My favorite part: holding the little babies and toddlers and loving on them and learning french from the teenage boys. They all laugh at my pronunciation...ha. The frustrating part: since the wards each house about 20 patients the kids feed off each other..if one screams they all do. One throws up, the rest of the vomit is to come... it gets a bit overwhelming. But the people I really admire are the African translators and disciplers. They come in to do devotions and prayer with each patient if they want it. I have seen much hope come from that. We as the crew are the walking blood bank so we are all on call in case a patient needs transfusions...thats exciting i suppose! :) Ship life: i got off the ship this last weekend! That actually was so re-energizing to me as the ship can feel a bit like prison at times. Suzy, Meg, Davie and I went on an adventure. We had no idea where we were going (my favorite kind) but ended up taking zimis (motorcycle taxis...the cheapest local form of transportation) to a town called Ouida about an hour away. This is the official capitol of Voodoo and is home to the port where all the slave trade occurred for Benin and its surrounding countries. They now have a monument called the " Point of no Return" which marks where the slaves were tortured, chained, and put on ships. It was really humbling and sad to stand there and begin to grasp the impact that slavery had on these people. Uff. It also has a snake museum and temple. We made friends with some Africans and frolicked in the ocean, got really sun burned, ate pineapples off the core and other etnic food, and found a hotel back in Cotonou. It was pretty traditional for Africa I'd say...no running water, hot, cheap, and one twin bed for the four of us! You can say we did not sleep much :). On Sunday we joined a group of people at a nice pool though for a birthday celebration which was so relaxing! it was really fun to get to know some of my crew mates better. Im not sure what this weekend has in store but we shall see. Im praying for you all and would appreciate continued prayer for joy and hope. It's easy to feel lonely and left out even among 400 people...and i find myself getting discouraged and selfish too. So prayers are welcome :) thanks guys! love ang