African Church!

So this was the first time ive managed for various reasons to get to go off ship and visit a local church! So it was a church called Agla Pentecostal Church, and it was planted back in 2001 when one of the old MercyShips was here back in the day!

So the service was in French and Fong (local language) but it was translated into English most of the time which was handy!

So im not sure ive ever done so much clapping or standing, then sitting, then standing, then sitting, i would continue with that but you can work it out!

The over riding thing i left that place with was the thought of how the fact they were in a almost shed like place, with water from the night before all around, on hard bits of wood for seats and im sure other things ... none of it seemed to matter ... they were there to worship God with all of their hearts. It just makes me wonder what would happen if every christian did that ... Gave their all to God ... I reckon it could change the world!!!

Thanks to my sis for the pics :)

Pendjari National Park

So having 4 days off over Easter some friends and I decided that it was a good chance to go exploring and see a little more of Benin!!!

... So Miriam, Esther, My lovely girlfriend Amy and myself (with 6 other MercyShipers) travelled 8 hours on a bus that had people sitting on oil cans in the middle isle to a place called Pendjari which is right in the north of Benin, so north in fact we saw another country on our travels!

So Pendjari is a national park which has lots of cool animals and such! It even has its own very nice entrance ...


So this be our mode of transport for our time ... now 11 people in this car was a little bit of a squash to say the least ... so we got a little creative with the seating arrangements ...

We got a fair bit of animal action while we were there, off the top of my head we saw ... elephants, deer, hippos, buffalo, water buffalo, baboons, antelope, crocodiles and a little wart hog action! Here be some deer ...

So We really did ride on the top of the car as shown below ... (and we enjoyed it muchly :) )

So of course some pretty sweet views came along with the ride ...

Ok ... so im not a big tree fan, but i have to be honest, i loved these ones, They were really green at the top, then got brownier as it went down, kinda like going through the seasons. They also had some pretty cool fruit growing on the top, which were not really sure what it was because our driver didn't really speak any English! But we did find out that the elephants pull down the trees to get to the fruit, which we didn't get to see in action, but sounds cool none the less!

More sweet views ...

Now not a normal hotel room ... but i tell ya this i was pretty excited by the room! and that said even after realised all i had in the baking hot heat was a little fan that i couldn't get in the right place!

Ok, so we were on our way to the hotel type place (shown above) and Esther and myself were up top and for some reason being surrounded by totally white clouds started talking about rain, so we then decide to sing a little rain song ... and well this is what happened next ...

So we got the chance, very brief chance at that, but a chance none the less to go to some waterfalls and well ... jump off! Im gonna be honest here, i was pretty scared! But jump i did ... in fact over and over and over, 6 times! now not because i was loving it (although it was fun!) but because it really took that many attempts to get a picture of me in mid air ... so here it is...

Fun Fun Fun was had by all :)

Swimming Pool Fun

So i think i knew this before i came to Benin, But i cant dive, im not sure why ... there is just something in me that cant do it!

Its not that i dont try, trust me! or you could ask people that have seen me here ... i mean people looked scared for me when i dive sometimes cause i put so much into it and land in the water in some pretty painful looking ways it seems ...

So with diving a no go for me, ive decided to take up the back flip! ... now that may seem like an interesting choice for someone that cant dive, but oh well ... :)

So today was the 3rd time ive been to the pool since i took this bold step of trying to work out how to back fip ... and well just as the 2nd time was an improvement on the 1st time today was the same!

Im now officially doing a back flip, now it looks pretty ugly sometimes and i really pull sideways, but none the less its a back flip!

Here is a little proof ...

and a little more ...

Now this isnt back flipping, just jumping with some friends :)

Market Madness

Its at times like this morning when i realise just how different it is here to anywhere ive been before!

So Sarah (my sister http://thefarrells.org.uk/) and me took a little trip to a local market.

Basically its a fruit and veg market, its all stacked so cool, in really went organzied piles and stacks, but i tell you thats only the start!!! I mean you wouldnt expect to add in chickens, geese, pigeons and even kittens tied up for sale!

Ok so were on a little mini mission there, trying to get hold of some mango and pineapple action for some smoothie action 2nite, well its harder than you think! i mean Sarah speaks some french and well we were both very lost at one point at to what exactly our lady was saying the price was! So it was possible 1150 of the local currency. So i have a 2000 bill, which i mean you wouldnt think would be hard to give a little change! Oh how wrong you would be! So she takes a look in her little carrier bag, no change in there, so tries a few people around her, no luck there. So gives the money to some1 else, time passes, and they come back with nothing but the 2000 bill again! So then the lady next door gets involved with a few coins, so our lady is then trying to explain to us that she doesnt have enough still we think, so we settle on getting some bananas as well!

So no normally bananas, like midget sized ones! so she has like 20 maybe in this bunch and were like how much? and she puts out 3 fingers, so were asuming 300 maybe, well we decided we wanted half of em, so she then gives us 500 back from the 2000, but then says she wants another 100, which we were fine with, very confused because 1/2 of the bananas were now like 450! Who knows, all very amusing really and a good experience id say!

So walked back via the meat section, i tell you what i pointed out some sort of animals heads on display ... lets just say we didnt stay in the meat section, we left by the nearest exit!

Good times indeed :)

He is enough

So a very long time ago ... ok not that long ago really, but it sure feels like it when you live on a ship ... i was sailing to Benin from tenerife and we had a whole set of talks by various people on various topics.

Well last week or so i was reminded of something one of the people said, they were giving a list of the religions in Benin, 30% Catholics, 25% Muslim etc and then added 100% voodoo at the end. Well i thought nothing of it at the time, but i was talking with a lady a week or so back and she said about it and was saying how in Liberia last year even the Christians who would be at church and worshipping God would still go to the witchdoctors for potions or do voodoo rituals or whatever throughout the week, for whatever reason weather it be cause they didn't think God was doing things fast enough, or cause they were just "covering all bases" or whatever.

Well this got me thinking, and well it just hit me that there un belief is so out there and obvious to see but its something we all struggle with. Some of us hide our insecurities best we can, but they are there just as real and holding us back just as much as someone that is going to visit a witch doctor.

Some of us try to find acceptance in people, some of us distance ourselves from people for the fear of being hurt, some turn to drink, some to relationships, some to work, some to money and some even to sports! Whatever it may be we try to find happiness, love and a sense of belonging in things that will ultimately not be able to satisfy us.

God is enough, and if you believe that God really is enough, wouldn't, and maybe shouldn't that change your whole life. Knowing that he is enough in every situation, every struggle, every concern, anything that you could possibly come at him with. The power of Jesus's blood was enough for us all, everything we have done wrong and has given a way to be reunited with the one who made it all, to be in relationship with him.

In the book of Matthew it says ... Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light."

Isnt that what we all crave deep down inside? ... He is the only one that will ever be able to set us free from our struggles, the only one that will truly be able to make us happy and loved. Yes its a risk, and he doenst promise its gonna be easy and everything is suddenly "gonna be ok" but it's a risk that we cant afford not to take ... to step out, to totally surrender ourselves to him, to let go of everything that we value above him, to submit to his will in all things, not just the things that were ok with letting go, but giving everything to him.

I just wanna leave you with this ... God is enough ... even typing it now it sounds so simple, so easy ... but i challenge you to really think about and to think what it means.

Almost there ...

So the good news is im well on the road to being better! :)

I went out today for the first time since last wed which was good! It was Amy's birthday and she really wanted fan ice, so fan ice she got!!!

Ok so fan ice (see pic at top) is this kinda frozen yogurt thing, which i cant say i like at all really, but Amy is very keen on the chocolate one, and at a cost of 150 of the local currency (about 30p maybe) and since it was her Birthday and all i thought i best treat her to one!

So when i got back i had to lie down, but its progress none the less! I officially have this weekend off from work, so im pretty confident by Monday i will be fighting fit and will be ready to get back to work and the real reason im here!

I was chatting with a guy the other nite, who has also been ill and we were saying how different it is missing work here. Like when you was at school it was cool missing school if you was ill, but being ill here isnt the same! I actually wanna be at work! Strange as that may sound, but i love working here and serving the crew by making them nice food! So lets hope i will be back doing that soon!

love to you all :)

Samuel

Little bout of the Labby

So unfortantly ive gone the wrong way since i last wrote, ive been bed/chair bound since thu now.

It seems that i have another bout of Labyrinthitis :(

Labyrinthitis

Ive had this a fair few times in my life, and well although i feel pretty rough right now im happy in the knowledge that this isnt anywhere near as bad as ive had it in the past. Ive been able to stay on my feet and move around for a good few mins in the past few days, which i wouldn't be able to do at all if i had it bad, so that at least is good news!

So i hope to be back fully 100% hopefully within the next few days, i have mon and tue off work anyways so hopefully by wed i will be fighting fit and ready to go back to the kitchen and helping making the crew all their lovely meals once more!

I really would appreciate all your thoughts and prayers still at this time, as this is very frustrating feeling so useless and out of action and not being able to do what im here to do!

Much love to you all and hopefully i will be back soon with a more positive update!