Sunset at White Sands Beach

Yesterday we had one of our very frequent fire drills. Seven very loud beeping noises invades every cabin, every space of the ship and it is time to head off the ship to the dock to your designated "muster" station. As my friends and I were sitting on the dock waiting for our all clear to go back to the ship, we got the great idea to head to the beach for the sunset. We packed our dinner and headed out to White Sands Beach.





Instead of begging seagulls on the beaches at home, here in Africa it is begging stray dogs...

The Perfect Day

This past Sunday I had one of the most perfect days ever. I started the day off by attending my first African church service. I attended a little church called Bethel and it was amazing. The pastor's name was Josephine and she preached the best sermon I have ever heard on Jacob and Esau. There was a lot of singing and dancing - my favorite. It was hot, but it was worth the sweating. After the sermon it was time to come up to the front with your offering. It was kind of like a line for communion would be at home, except in this line most people were dancing or at least swinging their hips a bit or bending their knees to the music. It was a little more like a conga line and a little less like a line of people heading to the front to give their offerings. Then there were women who broke out their whistles and just started blowing on them that just added to the joyful noise. It was a really great time of worship. There was a banner for their youth group hanging on the wall that read "destined to change a generation". What a great motto!

The second half of my day was spent at the beach. This was a heavenly little piece of Monrovia. Most of the time when I talk about Monrovia, it is not so heavenly - but the beach most definitely was. There is a nice piece of beach that even has a little outdoor building that served food and drinks. My friends and I sat at a beach side table with an umbrella made of palm leaves. Somehow the entire afternoon turned into evening and it was time to head back to the ship. Now I see why most everyone goes to the beach on the weekend. Mostly the only people at the beaches are Mercy Ship workers, UN workers and Doctors Without Boarders workers.

I will post some pictures tomorrow. The internet connection isn't working so great here so once again I am having technical difficulty.