Another prayer Request

So Mother's Day is on sunday and I'm dreading it with all my heart. I don't want to see any happy mother's day signs, I don't want to hear the mother's day message at church that night, I just don't even want to get out of bed that day. I'm not having an easy time on the ship right now, just alot of emotions passing through me. Please if you remember just ask God to give me peace and grace because I need it. I'm so struggling in trying to know how to better my relationship with Him. I have so many questions and struggle with knowing when to let go of them and just rely on Him. I love and believe in Him and I know that I will never turn my back on Him, but sometimes it's just so hard for me. I crave peace and understanding, Will it ever come? Is there any hope for quiet in my questioning soul? I love Him, I search for Him, I long to follow Him questionless.

This Boy's name is Abel, he is 11 years old. He recieved surgery on the ship to correct his legs. God works miracles through our doctors. I've seen so many severe cases like this since I've been here. Every time I see someone who has had to struggle with something like this for years and years it brings me to tears, my heart goes out to them. Knowing that they have been mistreated, made fun of, and exiled, it breaks my heart. Knowing that this little boy will never have to go through that again makes me so amazingly happy! It humbles me to be apart of something this amazing! Thank you so much for helping me be here. It's life changing! Blessings!

Just some pictures of me =)

1500!

So, I am here to tell you about my little adventure to the embassy of Ghana. What started out as a planned event ended up being an african adventure in Lome, Togo, West Africa! Let me start from the begining. Annie, Rin, Lisa, and I had decided to meet at the front desk at around 10 a.m. So there annie, rin and I are standing there when Lisa walks up and tells us that she can't drive us there anymore and that we have to get a taxi. Now, you're thinking "oh no big deal, hop in a cab and drive there with a meter running" unfortunately, that's not how it works here in africa. Taxis don't run on meters, when you find a cab you tell him where and you ask how much. To even get a cab here in Lome, we have to walk about 15 minutes outside the gate to get to the cab hangout. So I walk over to this group of guys just sitting there and just say "taxi?" One guy stands up and says here! He started walking to his car when I asked, how much? He turns and says 5000CFA (which is about 10 dollars) In africa this is a ridiculous amount of money for a taxi. Upon hearing 5000, I kinda lost it a little bit. After being here for over 3 months you get really tired of being ripped off. So I then started getting in his face and saying 5000! 5000! I don't want the yovo (white person) price give me a good price! He says how much, 1500 I reply, 2000 he retorts, 1500! 2000! 1500! 2000! Ok, last price 1700 I say, he looks at me and says, you won't give me 300 more cfa? NO! 1700 last price! Ok, he says, leads us to his car. Once in the car he looks at me and says, I like you too much, we get married. Yeah, no thanks buddy, of course, I didn't say that but I wanted to. So we're on out way finally, we go through and intersection and I hear a cop blow his whistle and motion us to the side. Oh goodness, what now, so we sit there in the car for a good 30 minutes while our driver argues with the police officer. Finaly he lets us go, and FINALY we get to the embassy only to find out that the price for the visas had jumped and we hadn't brought enough money. So we just turn right around and go home. But before I got out of the taxi he again says, I like you too much, we get married! =D Oh how I love africa with all my heart!

Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you're gonna get!

Hello mon ami's!

Life on the ship has been pretty up and down the last few weeks it has included soaring highs and down bellow lows. Just to warn you now, this will be a long blog post =D.

Over the last month or so I've been on two screenings and have seen things that I never even knew existed. Things I could never have imagined in my entire life, I don't think anyone could have. On one screening there was a woman with a tumor the size of a nerf football growing inside her mouth, another girl probably about 17, her legs were so badly turned in the passed each other on either side so they looked like an X, little babies with club feet, cleft lips, cleft pallats. It makes you ask sometimes how can this even happen? Who could let such things happen? These people live in such agony. If the physical suffering isn't enough just imagine the ridicule, the exile you face because they think you are cursed. A simple little operation could have fixed their conditions when they were young and they would have never had to gone through any of this. Most of these big tumors that we see here started out as little tiny things that just grow and grow because of the dirt and little tiny buggies here. It breaks my heart, when I get back to the ship I just want to crawl into a ball and sleep. It takes so much out of me but I love them so I keep going. I love the smile I somtimes get back if I smile at them. I love to hear them laugh at me when I try to pronounce their language. Some of the little kids shrink back from me because they have never seen a Yovo (white person) until I pull a funny face! How can something make you so happy but at the same time break your heart and drain the life out of you? I was almost brought to tears the other day because I went down to the ward to get all of the meal trays and as I was standing in the doorway with my hands in my pockets a little girl that had had cleft lip surgery walked out of the room and put her hand in my pocket and grabed my hand. She looked up with the cutest smile and just stood there with me. AH! I wish I could express my feelings better through writing. She was beautiful, they are all beautiful and their society here tells them they are cursed, worthless, and shuns them. It breaks me! I can't stand the looks these beautiful people get when they are walking down the street. Almost every night I ask God to break my heart to what breaks His and I think that He is.

My time here has also served as a way for God to show me what He wants me to do with my life in the future. During my time here I have discovered this fairly strong wanting to become and EMT and eventually a paramedic. I am so excited! Now over the course of my life I have chosen many career paths that include: AirForce pilot, nurse, mechanic, helicopter pilot, doctor, and chef but none, I repeat NONE have ever extracted this kind of longing in me. When I think about becoming an EMT I get giddy! Excited, happy and I feel at peace about my decision. I am actually excited about going to school! Me excited about school, it must be a God thing! =D And along with me thinking about becoming an EMT is thinking about doing it through the military. I can't really explain why I have always wanted to join, it's just always been a longing in me. When I think about not joining it's almost like something inside me is saying "you're missing out on something kristin" So I just don't know if it's me telling myself that or if there is something bigger behind it. So all in all there is alot going through my mind right now. So if you remember me in your day just mumble a quick prayer that I may find the direction that I am suppose to choose in this life. There are so many options! I wish that my life path would just jump up and smack me in the face, life would be soooo less complicated! I want to thank you for all your support in the last few months it has been such a blessing!

Thank you so much! Blessings on you and your families!

-Kris

P.S. The reason for no pictures at this time is that the uploaders on the websites have been down for awhile and I don't have any idea what the problem is! I will be working on this in the next few days! Bare with me! God put me here to try y'alls patience! =D Much love!

Quick Update!

Hello my dear friends!

Just a super quick update for right now. The Togolese presidential elections were held on March 5th. They have been counting the ballots since thursday after-noon. The most recent election happened in 2005, and following the announcement of who had won riots erupted and some people were killed. Today they are suppose to be announcing who the winner is. We are hoping and praying that everything remains quiet and calm. I ask that you pray for the days and even weeks to follow that nothing will happen and people will accept who wins. In regards to safety. There is no threat to the ship or to us who are aboard. I will be writting more tomorrow to let everyone know who has won! Please, keep Togo in your prayers and pray for every single one of the Togolese people, that they will remain safe, and calm during this time.

-kris

Hospital Funsies, and Work Shots!