Trying To Be The Change

Another prayer Request

2010-05-06T17:14:00.000-07:00

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.

2010-04-17T16:05:00.000-07:00

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 =)

2010-04-16T15:52:00.000-07:00

1500!

2010-04-16T13:00:00.000-07:00

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!

2010-03-22T15:36:00.000-07:00

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!

2010-03-06T09:29:00.000-08:00

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!

2010-02-22T15:57:00.000-08:00

The Proof and BooBoos!

2010-01-23T13:34:00.000-08:00

Why Hello!

I trust that all is well with you? I sure hope it is! Everything here with me is doing allot better than my last update. I knew that I was going to go through something like that at some point but I didn't know that it was going to hit me that hard! I thank you for all your prayers! I honestly don't know where I would be without people to pray for me. God has been working in my life in the last few months and I am so excited to see where He is going to lead me next!

And another thing, I was thinking the other day, I really haven't taken any pictures of me and the ship! Y'all need proof! I promise I'm really on the ship! So, in the pictures I have included proof! =)

I love my job! Just so y'all know, it is allot of fun! But it also has it's down falls. Example, here lately I have been cutting/bruising/burning/scraping myself galore! I'm not really sure what has brought on this random spurt of self mutilation but I can assure you that it is not voluntary! I believe since arriving here that I have cut 8 of my 10 fingers, burnt both arms at least twice, and scraped my shin, and forearm. Pretty good huh? The burn that I'm most proud of is on my left arm right bellow the elbow, it looks like a sailboat, very appropriate I thought! The most serious cut that I have inflicted upon myself was the pointer finger on my left hand, it took off the whole corner of my nail and went pretty deep and no, it didn't need stitches (secretly I wish it would have!) I know that it's strange that I enjoy scars and such but I guess I like to have stories to tell people, and scars make awesome icebreakers!

There will be pictures bellow! Check them out! May God bless and keep y'all! Have a great rest of the week!

-Kris

Proof! and BooBoos!

2010-01-23T13:23:00.001-08:00

Prayer Request

2010-01-09T13:20:00.001-08:00

Hello Everyone! I hope and pray all of you are doing well this fine day (night for me)!

I just have a quick request, these last few days have been pretty hard for me. As most of you know my mother passed away in February of 2008 and I just realized the other day that in a month it will have been two years. I don't know why it hit me just then but it has really been a struggle to remain composed the last few days. I know that this is not from God and I know it is meant as an attack and I really can't handle it anymore. So if you have just a quick minute I would really appreciate it if you would just send up a quick prayer of peace for me.

Thank you so much for all of y'alls support it means the world to me! May God bless you richly!

-Kristin

Holidays in Spain!

2010-01-08T15:18:00.000-08:00

Well Hello there! I bid y'all a very belated Merry Christmas and little less belated Happy New Year! Let's just say that life on the ship around these wonderful but maddening times is a little more than hectic!

First of all just so everyone knows right off the bat here that this post may be a little less happy than others, I guess I want y'all to see the real me. I don't want to come off that I am always warm and fuzzy, which most of the time I am, but there are times where I don't feel so confident about being so far away from everything/one. So let us begin!

It was Christmas Eve, and the ship was not as quiet as a mouse and everyone was stirring, especially me because I was up in the galley helping prepare the wonderful feast of Christmas, which included as follows: Ham, Turkey, Green Bean Casserole, Backed Squash with a Ginger Butter glaze (Mmmmm), and the most AMAZING Cheese, Parsley Smashed Potatoes! All in all it was almost like having dinner at home except there were a few hundred people instead of 20 hehe. Now, at this point the homesickness hadn't set in yet. It didn't really seem like the holidays at all actually considering it was like 65 degress outside and sunny.

Christmas Day rolls around all too soon for my liking and I'm back in the galley helping prepare Christmas brunch. Biscuits and Gravy! All this food reminds me of home so much, that it starts to get to me a little bit by this time. But the thought of being homesick is quickly pushed out of my head by other thoughts about what I have to prep next. So I guess that was a good thing thinking back on it. The day moves on and it still doesn't seem like the holidays because (and I know that this is not what the holidays are about but...) there wasn't the ceremonial gift giving/tearing open. I'm not saying this ruined my day, I guess it was just my first Christmas away from home and it was just so completely different that it got to me. I did love spending time with my friends and giving the few gifts I had bought and getting a few little presents here and there. It was a great Christmas! I just missed my family.

New Years Eve arrives in a flash and were sitting in the service all dressed up and ready to go out into town to watch the fireworks and just see all of the activities going on. We walk into town on our all too high heels and as were waiting for the fireworks it became like a dream to me. I was so happy and felt so blessed to be apart of what I was doing but yet I felt so alone even though I was surrounded by hundreds of people! It was a very strange feeling, I can honestly say I've never felt that way before. We pass into the new year and my spirits become high again as everyone is wishing everyone a happy new year and the best of luck. I got plent of hugs and greetings from people who were complete strangers. It's a funny thing how bringing in the new year brings people to forget their personal bubbles and to simply acknowledge the fact that we are all human and all in the same boat. (No pun intended!)

I know this sounds like a very dismal post and I am sorry about that, but I just wanted to post something that was real. The good, The bad, and the Ugly so to speak. I really like to be real when I can and hope I didn't scare anyone off =) I just want y'all to know the real me.

I'll be posting pictures very very soon! The internet satelitte has been acting up so it may be a day or so!

A very Merry late Christmas and A very Happy late New Year! May God bless every single one of you! And please cherish every moment you have with your families because you never know how much they mean to you until you are thousands of miles away!

I love you Daddy, Suzy, Brad, Doug, and Brian! Miss y'all like crazy!

Work, Fun, and The in Between

2009-12-15T14:12:00.000-08:00

Benin, Sailing, and Life in between!

2009-12-13T07:07:00.000-08:00

The Excuse! Not Really!

My oh My have I been busy! I must apologize for the delay! Life on the ship has been a little more than crazy lets say. Where to even begin with everything that has been going on! I suppose I should start by saying that I am doing great! And am having the experience of a life time. I was standing on the bow of the ship a couple days ago as the sun was setting and was overwhelmed with a sense of awe, gratitude, and wonder! I am so thankful that I have this opportunity and it wouldn't have happened without all of my super awesome supporters! I hope that my excitement and thankfulness jump through the screen so that you can just feel a little bit of what I feel everyday.

Oooga Booga!

One thing that I had made a mental note to share was a superstition that is very prominent here in West Africa is that if your picture is taken it steals your soul. I had heard about this before but had never actually met anyone who believed it, until Benin. We were out eating lunch one day and a man came up trying to sell us under ware and we said no but he kept insisting and one of the new girls pulled out her camera to take a picture, not having heard about their fear of pictures. The second that her camera was pointed at him he threw his hand up and in a rather angry voice said NO!! and walked off. I was really surprised to see that it was really that believed here and since then I have seen a lot of people shy away from cameras. Just and interesting little fact that I though everyone would like to know. That explains there being not so many pictures of the Benin people. (However, while riding in a taxi I took some moving shots of some African people ;) just a little sneaky!)

The in Between?

Meanwhile, two days before the sail a big ferry from another country pulled up behind us and the security officer wanted some volunteers to go on stowaway/pirate watch a couple hours early. Needless to say I jumped at the offer! How could I resist? You got a bright neon yellow vest, a giant flashlight, a walkie-talkie, and a whistle! Who would say no to that? =] No worries, I kept the Africa Mercy extra safe! I guess doing stuff like that just makes me smile, even if it was only for 3 hours.

Open Sea! Rockin' and Rollin'

Well, as you may have guessed by the title, I'm at open sea, or rather the Africa Mercy is at open sea with me on it. We left Benin on the 5th of December at around 11a.m.. We are now currently off of the coast of Senegal I believe it is and will be arriving in Tenerife this Saturday! I CAN'T WAIT FOR LAND! All I want to do is be able to walk a straight line! Since this is my first time sailing I was really worried that I was going to get horribly sea sick. But guess what? I DIDN'T! YaY! There was only one time that I even felt a little squeamish. All in all I really like sailing, but I still want to see some dry land. It's been 8 days since we left Benin and we still have 4 days to go. Being out on the open sea is beautiful! The first couple days I saw dolphins, whales, flying fish, and some birds. AMAZING! Last night there was a meteor shower going on and I must have seen around 50 meteors shoot across the sky! I'll be sleeping up on deck tonight again, it's so peaceful and the stars in the sky stand out like nothing I have ever seen! You can see the Milky Way so clearly it blows your mind. Another great thing we get to look forward at sea are the drills! Fire drills, man overboard drills, sinking drills! So much fun! (not really but ya know =] ) Today there was a man overboard drill, so that was kind of fun. The ship did a complete circle to go back to the location of the "man" (paper bag filled with stuff). I'm looking forward to seeing and feeling dry land under my feet, but in the mean time I'm enjoying the open ocean and the beauty that God has gifted my eyes to behold.

Choppin', Slicin', and Dicin' (a.k.a. WORK)

Living where you work is such and awesome concept I must say! Having to only get up minutes before you have to be there is a wonderful idea and I wish I had thought of it sooner. My schedule is as follows: work Monday, Tuesday, off Wednesday and Thursday, work Friday-Sunday, then the schedule flips and I'm off Monday, Tuesday, work Wednesday, Thursdays, then I'm off Friday-Sunday. The work days aren't really that bad at all. Be there by 8 and work till around 7 with an hour for both lunch and dinner so it's really quite nice. I'm mostly doing prep work, cutting up vegetables, fruit, and sometimes helping out on the hot side of the kitchen. I'm getting really good at chopping! And hope to get even better, no joke, I'm really excited at my cutting skills! The vegetables in Africa aren't of the highest quality and we must bleach EVERYTHING and then rinse before we even consider using it. Getting used to the mushy gushy tomatoes has probably been the worst thing for me, I don't like mushy gushy, EW. Other than that work is great, I love the people I work with =] they make life in the Galley oh so much fun! The head chefs name is Jesse, and my team leaders name is Ernie, and the guy that I do the most work for is Sam, he's in charge of the salads. They all are great fun to be around! A prayer request for me concerning work would be that I keep the enthusiasm I have for it. Pray that I can be content with my small part in the mission that goes on around me. =]

Well, this post is already wayyyyyyyy toooooo long! But that's what happens when I don't post for over a week! Thank you all so much for everything! May God bless and keep all of you and your families safe and healthy! And please, if there is anything that I can do to for you, just send me a message on here, or to my e-mail address: bethechange09@hotmail.com

-Much Love,

-Kris

Yovo! Yovo!

2009-12-04T13:58:00.000-08:00

Yovo Yovo, Bonswa, Como SaVa? SaVa Bien Merci!

Yovo = White Person! Bonswa = Good Evening! Como Sava = How are you? Sava Bien = I am well Merci = Thank You.

This is what I heard sung over and over again by a group of little kids that followed us through a little village that a couple fellow Mercy Shippers and I went to eat in. Today was a very interesting day, in the fact that the whole ship had to be blacked out for about 6 hours so that the engineering dept. could make necessary repairs on the engines. So, without electricity it wasn't possible for the galley to prepare dinner, so one of the other cooks (his name is Errnie, he's from Ghana) invited me to join him and two others to go get some REAL African food. It was a good 30min walk through the narrow, overly crowded, life threatening streets (the moto-taxis (Zimijonhs) are crazy!) It wasn't a very big village, just a little fishing village that was made up mostly by people from Ghana. As soon as the little kids has spotted us they started in their chant =D Some people find it rather annoying and bothersome but I just join right in and proudly declare in my broken French that I am a Yovo! This brought squeals of laughter and even bigger smiles from the little following we had developed along the way. We walked through the village a little ways until Errnie stopped in front of this little house where he ushered us inside to a nice little wooden table. When we has sat he proceeded to order something in a dialect from Ghana which seemed to have a lot of english in it. Two bowls arrived. One filled with a peanut sauce, fish, and fufu (a dough made from cassava root). And the other with the same other than there was some pig intestine to add flavor. IT WAS AMAZING! Although I didn't try the innards =) Maybe next time. It was sooooooooo good! It was really spicy which I love! I only wish that I could cook like that. I'm definitely going to try. So what I learned today was, people from Ghana are awesome cooks! And to embrace being a Yovo! Making children laugh is one of the greatest things you can ever do. All you have to say is, Je suis un Yovo!

My room and Part of le dock =)

2009-12-04T13:40:00.001-08:00

On the Ship, Life is Grand!

2009-12-02T09:36:00.000-08:00

Hello Everyone!

Well, as you might have guested, I'm on the ship! I arrived Sunday night at around 10:30 p.m. about 2hrs later than was planned but I still made it in one piece. The airport here in Cotonou was probably the most interesting airport experience I have ever had. When the plane landed we got off and boarded buses which took us to the terminal where we went through immigration and then faced the daunting task of getting our bags from the bag claim. Now, I am going to attempt to paint a picture of what this looked like. 1. Only one bag go around thing 2. About 100 West Africans/10 or so Europeans/3 or 4 Americans 3. A room about the size of a McDonalds. Imagine all of these people trying to get their bags at the same time CRAZY! It probably took me around 45 minutes to get my bags and another 15 minutes to get through "customs" which consisted of a glance and asking me if that bag was the same as the next. Then I was found by the Mercy Ships crew and brought back to the ship. When I arrived I was welcomed by some of my friends from gateway! They are so amazing! And then I just went to bed. Passed out =) it was wonderful! I had my first day of work yesterday and it was not bad at all I cut two of my fingers but not too super bad so it's o.k. =) Today I got out a little to explore the town. OH! And I got a proposal! Within 10mins of me leaving the ship =) I thought that was pretty exciting ;) Don't worry anyone I said no! Well, I must be going but I just wanted to let everyone know that I arrived safely and that everything is A O.K =D I'll be putting pictures up real soon! So check back! Luv y'all!

My Jawdropping, Tear Jerking Moment

2009-11-17T19:55:00.001-08:00

So last Friday my dad, my aunt and I drove up to IL to visit my grandma and while we were there I met a couple that lived across the hall from my grandma and my dad knew them as they were good friends of my grandparents. We talked a little bit and I told them what I was going to be doing and where I was going. The next day we drove up to visit my brother and were there for the day and the next night. The following day about 36hrs later we drove back to my Grams. When we were leaving today the couple was out in the hall again and I started talking to the man (Dean) and he asked a couple more questions before saying, "Do you need money?'' and I responded, "I always need money", with a smile on my face just trying to be humorous and proceeded to explain about the living costs and ticket expenses. He stood there for a minute thinking and turned around and said to his wife, "Dear, write this young lady a check for five-hundred dollars." I was speechless! $500.00 dollars? From someone I just met 24 hours ago? My eyes filled with tears as he handed me the check. God still humbles me with His grace and provision, I think He likes to catch me when I'm doubting and just to do something so amazing that it shuts me up right quick. I just wanted to share my moment of pure wonder at Gods mysterious ways!

The Written Part

2009-11-10T14:00:00.001-08:00

Ola my Friends!

I trust everyone is doing well! I must apologize for the extremely long interval in my blog postings. I was in the D.R. for the past several weeks and the internet service down there was not the greatest and we had very little access so it was very difficult to update my blog. But! I'm back in the states now and am updating my blog again! It's very hard to explain anything that happened in the D.R. because it's all so mind boggling even to me. There were days when all we did was construction, and then there were days when we did construction in the morning, skits in the afternoons, and then in the evenings I would become a translator for the nurses while also holding gauze over a little girls eye as they removed skin tags from her eye lid. So, as you can see, it was all quite overwhelming at times. But guess what, I LOVED IT! Every single minute of my time there. I can't really explain why I love the dirt and hard physical labor and all that jazz, but I simply love doing it. Of course you have those moments of, "Oh I wish I was in a pool right now sipping on a cold coke" But at the end of the day I just felt so right. At the end of the two weeks though, when we had accomplished what we went there to do. I knew that it was time to go home and I was ready to go home. I loved the country, the people, the food, the beaches, and the beautiful mountains but the D.R. is not where I feel I am suppose to be. So when we left I was at peace knowing that I was going somewhere that made my heart beat faster and my pulse quicken. That may sound selfish and I'm not trying to sound like that at all I guess I'm just trying to explain what I feel in my heart.

Well, to try and explain what happened in the D.R. is very difficult so I will make it easier by posting pictures! Enjoy! And P.S. THANK YOU! I can't say that enough! I hold all of you close to my heart and in my prayers! Dios Te Bendiga! (God Bless)

So in the D.R. (Dominican Republic)

2009-11-08T21:55:00.001-08:00

Just Thoughts

2009-10-15T22:59:00.000-07:00

So, I've been learning a lot here at GateWay and it's all quite mind boggling. What has really hit me the most is World View and how much it can effect everything! The way people see things, how anything bad is always spiritual. A tumor on a face, evil spirits, a cleft lip, evil spirits, bowed legs, blindness, goiters, clubbed feet, and sometimes even twins. It amazing how people that are only an ocean away can think so differently from you and me. We were told this story about a pastor that had a confrontation with someone in his church and this person actually killed the pastors son! They told us that the reason that the man killed the pastors son is so that the son couldn't take care and keep his fathers spirit happy when he died. This is what they are taught in their culture! And even when the person has accepted Jesus as their savior they are still trapped in darkness. They still think in their animistic world view, they don't have a Biblical world view. I've really been think about how I am going to cope with the extreme world view difference, how will I react? How will I handle a situation? I could really use some prayer in this area because I honestly have no idea what will happen or what I will do. I guess that's kind of a live and learn thing huh? Well, I hope I don't have to live it too often =D

Basic Safety Training! and FUEGO!

2009-09-20T20:14:00.000-07:00

Hello! So this past week has been pretty intense as in, I fought fire! I saved my CPR dummy Bjorn from dying over 10 times and saved Buck from a burning shipping container! It has been a very full, very exciting, and a very tiring week. But let me tell you I'm loving every second of it! I know that this is where God wants me to be, He has really set my heart at ease over the past week and I know without a shadow of a doubt this is where I am suppose to be. I am so thankful for actually having this opportunity to serve with this amazing organization I was so convinced when I applied that I wasn't going to be accepted but low and behold here I am. I guess when God really wants you somewhere He puts you there. But anyways, I get sidetracked so easily (I think I'm ADD =D) back to my training! There were 9 of us in our BST class, this class is a Red Cross and
Coast Guard approved course so it is accepted on any ship and for any First Aid/Firefighting/Water Survival job thing.

So now if someone is choking I know what to do! And now for the next 3 weeks I will be sitting in a classroom learning how to deal with other cultures and extreme poverty. I'm hoping that I can sit still for 3 weeks in a classroom. I'm not used to sitting still for so long. I guess that's it for right now =D but I'll be sure to write again soon!

First Post!

2009-09-17T21:17:00.000-07:00

Hello Everyone!

So sorry about the blog address change but I've come to find out that this one is so much easier to manage and it's a lot prettier! But anyways I just wanted to write a quick Hello and to tell you that I will be writing an update very soon and will send out an e-mail when I do!

-Merci!
-Kris