Word of Life- Church in Freetown :)

Last night, I just hung out, watched some pingpong and made some plans for church today. I decided to got with Michael (from Ghana) and John (from Texas). Michael was going to be preaching at the church and they invited me to join them. I was very excited about going but was kinda discouraged by the lack of enthusiam to attend church by a number of others on the ship. However, as I will explain later, I hadn't realized the other options for "church" that are available.

I woke up this morning and I could feel the whole ship rocking. It was so bad that at times I would lose my balance. Because I'm on the 3rd deck, I don't have any windows and had no idea what the weather was like. When I got up to breakfast, I saw that it was pouring rain and that the waves on the ocean were much more than they had been before. Hence, the rocking and shuttering of the ship.

I met up with Michael and John and confirmed the plans that we would meet at 9:30am at the reception desk to get picked up by a church member of a church we were going to attend. After walking to the end of the dock and through the security gate and getting completely drenched, we waited for about 30 minutes for the man who was supposed to pick us up before he arrived. We then drove through Freetown about 15-20 minutes to Word of Life church. We were on some paved roads and then left the main roads onto some dirt roads which were now washed away by the rain.

Church was soooo good! I loved it. The music was so lively, the people were so into the worship, singing and dancing. They did a few songs in, I'm assuming, Krio, and then the rest in English. Most of the English songs I knew- Blessed Assurance, Hallelujah, He Knows My Name, and many more. They had a piano and drums which they added nice African beats to. I loved how excited everyone was. I wish I could dance :)

Michael did the message. He spoke from Acts chapter 7 from the story of Stephen and his martyrdom. He started talking about strength and maintaining your testimony during the hard times and during persecution. He shared his personal story about how he came from a idol worshipping background and how when he became a Christian, his family didn't want anything to do with him. He then realized that he was not developing in his relationship with God and was not receiving all the blessings in store for his life because he had not learned to forgive his parents. He then changed the message ( he says that wasn't his plan- God works through those who are willing to be used by Him) to speaking about forgiveness and how if we can't forgive even as Stephen did, ( he said "Father, do not hold this sin against them") we may miss out on our blessing. The people were so receptive of the message and really were thanking and praising God for all that He has done. The man who drove us to church, also named John, then told his testimony about how God delivered him recently through a sticky situation with the government. It was so great to hear his story. The people were very encouraged by it.



Michael and I



John and I

We didn't stay for the rest of the church service. The pastor who is a member of the eye team here with Mercy Ships, dismissed us knowing that we would have to be back to the ship at some point ( we were there for 3 hours already). The people were so welcoming and happy to see us there visiting. Some other church had asked Michael to go preach there so he went there and John and I returned to the ship. On the way back, I did see the road of the church my aunt told me about. She knows that pastor and had given me his information before I left the States.

I had lunch and heard about others' day. Some people went to other churches. Markos preached at some church far in the mountains. Claire went to church on the ward. There is a ward service every Sunday morning which I did not know about. I'm more than happy knowing that the Sundays I work, I will be able to join the patients and the day volunteers there. On Sunday nights there is also a ship service. Today they didn't have it because it was a long weekend and I assume, its because they think everyone then has time to leave the ship for church. Also on Sunday afternoons, there is the opportunity to visit the Hope Center (I think its called), which is the rehabilitation center Mercy ship set up for patients after they leave the hospital but before they go back home. Its down the street and we can go see and play with the patients and kids there. My bunkmate did that this afternoon. All kinds of options.

Michael is a vessel willing and ready to be used by the Lord. He was telling me of other opportunities of ministry. He is praying about a recent request for him to preach at a church for blind people. He asked me to join him if the Lord shows him that it is what He wants him to do. There is also a prison ministry in both a regular prison and a women prison. I would love to visit the women's prison. Alot of the younger people on the ship (meaning those my age) like to stay around the ship or venture to market or the beach. I feel that if the Lord has called me to do His work in Sierra Leone, and there are so many opportunities to do so, why limit myself to only working in the hospital. I can't wait to do other projects.

Well that's today.. The ship is rocking like crazy and I'm getting sleepy. Early day tomorrow. Have to be at work at 7am :) Very excited! Can't wait to tell you about my day.
Unfortunately, because of a Mercy Ship policy I can not take pictures in the wards. I can only use pictures that get taken by the photographers. So, I will do my best to get in as many pics as possible :)

Thanks for reading!