I'm on a boat!

Rather, a ship. Upon arrival we were given a list of vocabulary words, so now aft, bow, starboard, gangway, and muster station are part of my everyday vernacular. I'm feeling a little more like a sailor each day, and we haven't even left the dock yet! It was through that vocabulary lesson that I learned a ship has a main deck (which the Africa Mercy does), while a boat does not.

After 2 weeks of packed travel through Italy (blog post to come on those adventures), I reached the Canary Islands yesterday and have spent the past day and a half getting acclimated to what will be my home for the rest of the year. I've been keeping a running 'first impressions' list in my head, but before I share that with you, I will give you the briefing of my arrival to the Canary Islands.

It wasn't my favorite day of my life. After a near scare of lost luggage (mine came out well after the rest of the plane's cargo was delivered), I wandered throughout the main lobby for nearly an hour looking for my ride. At that point I thought it might be a good idea to try to contact the ship... and given that I had suspended my cell phone service for my travels, I had to resort to the payphone. Now, I am a little embarrassed to say I have never used a pay phone in my life (product of the cellular age, I guess), and I could not get that thing to work. Greedily, it kept eating my euros but refusing to let me place a call. I later found out it was because the number I had for Mercy Ships was not a local one, as all the numbers on the ship have a Florida area code (weird, but convenient for calling home!). Asking for help at one of the kiosks in the crowded airport's waiting area, I showed them the number from an email saved to my phone, and they promptly told me they had never seen a number like that and couldn't help me. I went to try the pay phone once more (6^th time's a charm?) and then sought help at a different kiosk affiliated with the airline I had flown in on. It was then that I discovered my phone was no where to be found, and a paper I had in the outer pocket of my purse was torn at the top. A frantic search through my luggage and about 15 full-sweeps through my purse later, I had to surrender to the unfortunate fact that I had been the target of a pickpocket. It was fabulous timing and quite ironic that I had made it all throughout Italy where pickpocketing is supposedly rampant, only to be a victim less than one hour into my stay at the Canary Islands. 

So, there I was rideless, phoneless, and carrying about 60 lbs of luggage, wondering what God was up to and wishing I hadn't passed up the lunch they had served on the plane (beef stroganov- no grazie). I found my way to the police station where they were anything but public servants-- rude, unhelpful, and speaking hurried Spanish that was barely intelligible to me. Escorting myself out, I followed signs back into the terminal for El centro de informacion. Here, I found two women who were everything the policemen were not. They spoke textbook Spanish which I could clearly understand (I later learned the police were speaking a form of Andalusian Spanish), gave me chocolate, and helped me look up a local number for the ship. To make a long story short(er), four hours after I arrived at the airport and multiple trips back to the information desk (and up and down the conveniently broken escalators) to use their phone as I navigated through a series of miscommunications with the Mercy Ships staff purser, I finally saw the Mercy Ships logo I had been hoping for all afternoon!! A more glorious sight than an ice cream truck and a neighbor's sprinkler to a five-year-old on a hot summer day. The head of ship security himself had come on his day off to rescue me. He arrived armed with water and took me the scenic way back to the ship, partially along the coastline and then through the mountains of the island. 

Nearly 9pm at this point, the ship was quiet when I arrived, but the hospitality team was still waiting for me with smiles, a welcome sign, and home-made cookies. Not caring about much besides a bed at this point, I was physically and emotionally exhausted, but I made sure to a) email my family and let them know I had finally arrived, and b) thank God for His provision. I had a new-found peace and recognition of the many blessings I had still experienced in the midst of a day where not much seemed to go according to 'plan'. Very excited to see what else God grants to me, even if it occurs through Him taking things away in the process. It is all His, anyway.