how deh body??

the way they ask how you're doing here is by asking how your body is....they say, "how deh body?" and you say, "deh body fine, brudda (if its a guy...). its funny and i like it.

on the nationality list so far, i have met people from Canada, Brazil, Korea, Malasia, Togo, Benin, England, Spain, Sierra Leone, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Colombia, Italy, Austria, Czech Republic, Holland, Scotland,  Russia, Germany. Belgium, Ghana, Sri Lanka, and someone from South Dakota. I have also found one person who knows how to play euchre. so. i've got some work to do.

so as far as work goes, im going to be able to get to have a taste of a little bit of everything... I will be working in the kitchen, i'll be doing prison ministry on saturdays, helping out in the nurse ward a few nights per week with the kids who have to stay over night post-op, i will hopefully be on the emergency medical team (when something happens off site to one of ours or a Sierra Leonean and we would be able to help) which will be a team that will be on call for emergencies both on and off the ship, i will be making regular visits to the Hope Center, mercy ship's off ship center for both medical help, classes, and a place for women and children to come for different programs, and depending on  how much they need me, they may train me in the next few weeks to do medical sterilizing for the eye team...so i would get to work a little more in the hospital too. I will be able to observe surgeries pretty regularly, and i'll be occasionally shadowing one of the post-op doctors who was on the flight with me and offered to teach me anything i wanted to know. she is great.

SO. with all that said. i will be busy, and learning a lot, and getting to do everything that i hoped and dreamed. i trust that God will be directing me to the palces he wants me to center in on while i am here, because as you just read, it can get a little overwhelming with all of the places i will be able to serve. He brought me here for a reason, and i am so excited to watch His plan for me unfold every day. please be praying that i will have open eyes and open ears to every opportunity that i am presented with, and that i will never lose sight of why i am here.

ive been getting morning sickness lately, and i finally figured out why. i ruled out pregnancy real early on, which narrowed it down quite a bit to either to sea sickness, or something that is combined with sea sickness (cause this sucker rocks back and forth enough to make your stomach turn a few loo-loo's)... luckily i live on the smartest ship in the world, and one of the doctors said at lunch said, "let me guess. youve been taking your malaria meds when you wake up before you eat." and then i said back to HIM, "yup." woops.
so im looking forward to not feeling like throwing up every morning now. or throwing up in general.

i think the video blog may still work. check in soon. if not, facebook is gonna have to do.

i love you all, thank you for the prayers, and thanks for being interested in this :) pictures to come soon too

james