Sleep is a Glorious Thing!

   Last week I was working the evening shift (15:00-23:00), which wasn't to bad at all; a little bit boring but I found things to do.  I had Thursday and Friday off, and Friday night I slept for 14 hours!!  I guess my body was telling me that it was time to sleep.

   I was supposed to work this past weekend, but I had switched weekends with someone so that I could have the weekend off to go camping.  Well, I didn't end up going camping, which means...I have 7 days off! SEVEN!!!! How you might ask did I pull off having almost the whole week off? Well...I already had Thursday and Friday off, then I switched to have Saturday and Sunday off, and I was already scheduled to have Monday - Wednesday off, so I was originally scheduled to have Thursday and Friday off, work Saturday and Sunday, then have Monday - Wednesday off.  And I just switched to have Saturday and Sunday off as well.

   Which I can't express to you how wonderful it has been already.  I've been in bed by 22:00 almost every single night, and I sleep until 08:30 every morning.  I am feeling refreshed and a bit more like myself now.  Still a little fuzzy and dealing with headaches, but that's normal, or so I've been told.

   I was just thinking that hopefully my body will be back to normal now, but I just remembered that I go back to working nights on Thursday, ha!  Oh well, no biggy.  Its all in a days work I guess.

                                           Anyway, let me show you where I live! 

   These pictures are my "room", I use the term room loosely because I live in a cabin but, I have a curtain that allows me to close my bed off to the rest of the cabin, so its almost like I have my own room in a small house.

   This is my closet, and yes, I usually do keep it this neat. On the bottom shelf are my shoes and hanging on the right under that burgundy colored tapestry is a shoe holder that does not hold my shoes.  hehe.  It actually holds all my odds and ends like my brush and comb and hair stuff, and aspirin and ibuprofen, my straightener, air freshener, chap stick, jump rope,  ect.

  You know, those things you would usually place in a drawer or on a shelf.  Well, I don't have any drawers and you're looking at my shelf space.  Its very convenient really, I can see everything that I have and there is no searching through a drawer and trying to remember where I put something.  That is one thing nice about not having a whole lot of space, it is hard to lose things. 

This is the desk I share with my bunkmate Hannah.  She's from Santa Cruz, California and has 5 brothers and one sister, so we get along really well!  This is where I keep things that I use everyday, my Oliver B. Greene book on Daniel, my water bottle, things like that.  I put these things on the wall about 2 weeks ago. 

This is what I see when I am sitting/lying on my bed (I can't really sit)

 My toes hang off the bed a little bit, but nothing to bad. And that picture down on the end was painted for me by one of the little girls here, Emma Cash (the Cash's are from Columbus, Georgia!)


There is a light on the wall, but I don't like using it because its REALLY bright!  So I hung my headlamp up to use when I need a light. Thank you Ted and Brekly for the headlamp and thank you Mama for the magnetic hook!

As I mentioned earlier, I can't really sit up on my bed...I don't usually hit my head on the ceiling. But if I do hit my head it is when I am leaning over to pick something up off of the ground and I hit it on the bed!

I am standing at the door to our cabin.  There is a bathroom directly to my right and to my left. Our bathrooms are so big that when I stretch my arms out to the side, I can touch the walls with my hands flat, and when I turn sideways I can't stretch my arms out all the way. 

The kitchen area, and this is on a clean day! Keep in mind, 10 girls live in here...  There is not a stove or an oven or a fridge, but there is a sink and a counter and some cabinets. 

 This is the bed I was in when I first came, this set of beds does not have a desk only a closet for both beds.

These last two pictures are to show you how I have the rest of my room set up, I hang my backpack on the wall with a very powerful magnet, and my dirty clothes bag (one of my roommates gave it to me when she left, its a penguin!) is on the floor.  My bunk mate is moving to a different cabin next week, so I will move down and to her bed, but I think I'm going to leave my stuff where it is and let my knew bunk mate have the space Hannah leaves.







I spent some time in my hammock this weekend, and it was so nice!  Yesterday I set it up and I think it was the best set I have ever done! It was perfect, I was SO comfortable, I actually fell asleep!   I also had a great view!

  

I know I talked about sleeping a lot during my time off, but I have also been praying a lot and I've noticed it makes a difference when I do and don't spend time talking with Jesus.  Sometimes its a really big difference in my day and sometimes its little differences, like my attitude or how I handle myself in certain situations.  Its been a bit of a struggle working through things in my heart, Jesus is showing me a lot of grace and how sweet His grace really is.

   I'm learning to be patient with myself and how I react to things and my feelings.  Being patient with myself is huge, like acknowledging that I'm tired therefore I need to rest, or I'm feeling lethargic so I should go work out, a big one for me is knowing when to seek out a friend to spend time with them; especially when I'm feeling overwhelmed by being around so many people.

  I've learned that I enjoy being around small groups of people, but not necessarily talking when we are all together.  For instance, I am sitting here writing my blog, my friend Lewanna is knitting, and Maren is talking with one of her friends, so we are all sitting here doing something and we are around each other but each doing our own thing, so we're not alone.  And I am really enjoying myself.


Speaking of enjoying myself, I really like applesauce and guess what?  They sell it here in the ship shop, so my new favorite food is...

 

Hannah told me I was stealing from the little children on the ship! I disagree, they are SO good, and there is no sugar added plus its the perfect serving size.

Speaking of applesauce and food, I am getting hungry and its almost supper time, so I'm going to hop off of here and gather my belongings to go put them away.  Until next time....

Are we there yet?

     Here I sit on my third and final shift of nights this week.  (Here are some pictures of my desk, I'll post more later)

 I work from 2300-0700; which isn't all that bad.  I enjoy the quiet and the time alone.  I know it might be difficult to believe, but its kinda hard to find a quiet place alone on a ship with 300 other people.  Especially when there are 9 other girls living in the same room as I am, talk about personal space invasion!
  And speaking of 300 other people, I never thought I would introduce myself so many times in such a small period of time.  I'm not kidding when I say I introduce myself to someone or someone is introduced to me every time I eat a meal or go to work.  The turn over of people here is about that of the common house fly (watch the movie Epic, that last statement is even funnier after seeing that movie).
   I find myself missing family tonight though, its a perfect night for a campfire and it reminds me of our nights at Boggs Creek, or those bonfires at Camp Hope.   Its about 1:00am here and there isn't a lot of movement, the security guards are up, but they work 24/7; its nice knowing that they are always looking out for us.  Our security team consist of Gurkahs from Nepal, and our head security officer used to run security for state prisons,  so they take really good care of us.
  I've been fully trained for work and I made rank, so that means I now have epaulets and I can work by myself.  Also, working night shift means I can call home! I mean I can call home normally, but this way its free and at normal hours of the day for them.  Its a win-win for me.

  I'm getting a little tired so I'm going to cut this one short.  I'll talk more about work on my next post. I've gotta go do some pushups to get the blood pumping into my veins!

Blessings!!


Oh! I almost forgot! Here is my address:

For letters:
Tierah Ellard
C/O Mercy Ships - M/V Africa Mercy
POB # 2020
Lindale, TX 75771

For Packages: (Which would be SO lovely, but aren't expected)
Same as above, but write CONTAINER ONLY on it please

And for those of you who have asked about supporting me, thank you, and here is the link as promised.
http://mercyships-us.donorpages.com/crewmates/TierahEllard

"Welcome to Madagascar!" "Mada-whoha?" "Not 'whoha', 'ascar'!"

   Well, I'm not in Madagascar, but I'm close! Well...not really, I'm actually on the complete other side of the continent, about 4,000 miles away (I don't have an exact mileage because Google maps can't find me a route, Madagascar is an Island).

   I am in Ponte-Niore, Congo.  I am currently sitting in the "Internet Lounge", there are 18 computers here, but there is wifi throughout the ship.

   I gotta tell ya, traveling for 24 hours will do it to ya.  And overnight flights are SO overrated. However, if you ever find yourself with a 10 hour layover (yes 10, no less.) in the Charles De Gualle Internatinal Airport, and you're in terminal K, around gate 33, you are in for a treat...they have an upright grand piano! And people are encouraged to "Share a Tune".

   So, in between watching movies on my new external hard drive with lots of movies and music already on it, I wonder how that happened? (Many, many thanks to Brekly and Ted for that! Seriously) Walking to and from the bathroom (I was making sure I stayed hydrated) and writing in my journal and praying, I definitely shared a few tunes. It was so fun!
  And since my flight was the only one scheduled to leave from that gate at 11:25pm, there weren't people around, thus, I didn't feel like I was bothering people who weren't there.
 
  I made it to the Africa! And let me tell you what! It is warm here! And humid, so basically it feels like Kentucky in the summertime. There was one other person from Mercy Ships on my flight, we met after we went through customs. Seriously, we didn't know that we both were going to Mercy Ships until we made it through customs and were waiting to be picked up.
 
 He is a Dentist from New Zealand, and he will be on the ship for about 2.5 months. Juan picked us up from the airport, he has been working with Mercy Ships for 6 years.
 
 It was about a 35 minute drive from the airport to the ship, it was some pretty good driving, and there was a lot of traffic. It was kind of like Atlanta, if Atlanta had sandy roads and no sidewalks or road dividers, and lots of taxis and people crossing the street.
 
 I filled out some paperwork and had my picture taken for a photo ID (what a great time for a picture to be taken!) and was given some brief safety instructions when we arrived on board.  I was showed to the mess hall where cereal, toast and hot chocolate waited us (Hadleigh, the New Zealand Dentist has been with me the whole time) then I was showed my room and the unpacking began!

  It really only took me an hour to unpack and put most everything away.  I met some of my roommates when I was unpacking, they are some pretty cool girls.  We didn't talk much as I was about to pass out from being so tired.  So I climbed into my bed (the top bunk) and fell asleep, fully clothed, with the lights on and girls laughing and talking.

 I slept for 4 hours I think. I had a meeting at 4:00pm, but Jesus woke me up at 3:00pm thankfully. Because I had not set an alarm.  I showered in 2 minutes, as this is the amount of time that is suggested you should need to take a shower (in what universe, I don't know).  I went back to the reception area and met my boss, the Purser, Lincoln.  He was really nice and asked if everything felt fuzzy and like it was moving. I answered in the affirmative, he said that was normal and that I just needed to make sure I get plenty of rest and stay hydrated. He also told me to take the weekend off and that I will start training on Monday.

 So I did just that, I went to my meeting, which was a tour of the ship. And yes, I got turned around; I'm still working on that. I ate supper and then watched a movie on Movie Night (the ship's version of Netflix) with some of my roommates and a few new friends.

  I was in bed and asleep by 10:15 I think.  I slept till about 8:00 this morning and slowly rolled out of bed, after hitting my head on the ceiling, and got dressed to go to breakfast.  I'm still feeling groggy and if I stop and stare out the window I feel like I'm going to fall over.

 On the weekends you pack your lunch at breakfast, because they don't serve lunch.  So I packed my lunch in my nifty lunch container (thank you Clara and Zach), and went up to deck 6 and had my quiet time.  Deck 6 has outside access, so I sat facing the side of the port that the city is on as apposed to the side of the port the ocean is on.  I also enjoyed playing my harmonica for a little while.  I'm not sure how much other people enjoyed it though. haha

 Well, I am super tired, so I am going to go take a nap. I will try to figure out the best way to post pictures until then, You can Google pictures of Mercy Ships and the Congo!