I've said it before and will share again, Mercy Ships is truly a "God Ordained" vessel utlized to Share the Love of Jesus in the poorest areas of Africa. The free surgical care that is provided to the patients is life changing for all. The whole reason the ship functions is out of LOVE from others! Each that enters the ship, provides their own funds to support the mission so that FREE care can be given.
This totally AMAZES to me!!!
Thank you to ALL that are supporting Gods work here!!!!!!
Those of us that have committed to one year or more with Mercy Ships are required to attend a 4 week training in Texas. Of course my first thought was "Why?" as I have already served on the ship twice. The necessity was apparent as we dove into learning about the foundations of Mercy Ships the first week. In order to keep the "system" flowing well, there needs to be consistency in "ways of doing". Volunteers are blessed to have many options to serve, from 2 weeks to many years. But, in order to offer this flexibility, there needs to be a steady stream of volunteers woven through a variety of departments that are trained to be the "cultural gatekeepers" to allow for a consistent follow through of the core values of Mercy Ships.
Mercy Ships Core Values
Love God
Love and serve others
Be people of integrity
Be people of excellence in all we say and do
My time was well spent! We were in class Monday through Friday for 4 weeks. The wisdom was intense, deep and personal! We explored our selves, our cultures and the culture of others; our personality styles; confiict management, and learned how to have crucial conversations :). By the end, we had a pretty solid grasp of living in "community" and how to manage the diversity.
Key Take Away......."It's not wrong, It's just different".......the key was accepting and learning to live and work amongst so many differences!
Each of us had to do a final project. The direction was to pull together four weeks of intense learning into a 2-3 minute presentations. I LOVED the diversity! Some worked in groups and did skits, some did dramas, rap songs and others took on a more serious tone. ALL were excellent!!
The following are the slides from my 3 minutes :)
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| For me, I am on a journey of transformation, of CHANGE! I have learned that our God LOVES us immensley and created us to LOVE others just the same. My mission for this four weeks and for this season in my life is to SEE what the LOVE of God truly looks like SO THAT I can reflect HIS LOVE |
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| "And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness".....Genesis 1:26 "So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him, male and female he created them" Genesis 1:27 And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replensish the earth" Genesis 1:28 "And God saw every thing that He had made, and, behold, it was very good." Genesis 1:31 |
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| During our first week we were asked to create a cover page for our journal that we would write in for the 4 weeks. I chose this blossoming flower with the heart of Jesus in the center. The petals were representative of what God's LOVE looks like...........My Onboarding Mission was to grow in HIS LOVE:) |
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| As with all transformation, we have to evaluate what our challenges and barriers are that keep us from reaching our goal. For me, it was ME in the World! Thus, the necessity of LOVING as God LOVES is to KNOW HIM, to soak in all of HIS Word and to learn HIS way of navigating humanity. The entire scripture shares the love of God amongst the fallen world. |
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| My expectations in every day life are to SEE, LEARN, GROW AND ENGAGE IN JESUS in Humble Awareness!!! The Key is the HUMBLE AWARENESS!!.......I learned through On-boarding that even though we are all created in the image of God, we all come with differing personalities, backgrounds and cultures. We have the same goal, yet "SEE' through a variety of lens. Back to the first take away..........IT IS NOT WRONG, IT IS JUST DIFFERENT!! For me, I wore a set of glasses that distored the true LOVE of God, thus, I've changed glasses and now I'm on a mission to SEE the TRUTH!! |
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| For my presentation, I added a 1 minute video just showing some "AHA" moments (doodles) that I jotted down in my big, thick On Boarding Book. These are just a few!! |
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| We learned, played, sang, hiked, swung in hammocks, went to a rodeo, attended a cowboy church and enjoyed some good Texas Fixins. I even threw a pie in Jenny's face :). "Blessed are they that put their trust in HIM." Psalm 2:12 |
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| WOW, A Totally Amazing Group of People that Shared their Wisdom with Us! We were Truly Blessed!!!! |
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I feel so Blessed to Spend the next few years with this Group!!!! Off to Cameroon in one week! I think the sail is 12 days?? Please pray for Safe Travels!! God has so much planned for us in Cameroon. We need to arrive safely :) Also, Please pray that I do not get sick on the sail :). I have never sailed before and have to work in the dining room during the sail! I NEED to be on my feet and not laying horizonally. Thank you!! If you like more pictures, I do post on Facebook L:) |
