Life Between Tyler and Lindale
HI! Its been a couple weeks now living between Tyler and Lindale at the Mercy Ships International Support Center.
I am SO thankful I am here for training. For Mercy Ships, this is called “Onboarding”, which includes the foundations of Mercy Ships (2 days), Faith Foundations (Week 1), Personal/Interpersonal Development (Week 2) World View (Week 3), and ends with “Basic Training” (Week 4) to become a certified seaman.
Normally this Onboarding has up to 50-100 people here. Getting to meet dozens of people who are serving on the ship alongside you, and at the end of the whole thing, you all head to the airport and board the plane to go straight to the Mercy Africa. Its a big ol’ party and time to live out in a Mercy Ship community.
Due to Covid, I’ve had quite a different experience. There is one family, the Scaces here from out of town who is also going on the ship this year. Beth, is actually the kindergarten teacher on the Africa Mercy (and has been on the ship for three years), and she’s here to do Kids Onboarding for the family’s children. The Scaces, Beth, and I are the only people from out of town on campus… In fact, everyone else in onboarding (6 other students) all work here at the ISC. At first, I felt pretty lonely and sad that this wasn’t the experience its supposed to be, but honestly having Beth and the Scaces here has been such a blessing. We eat a lot of meals together and have had the opportunity to really get to know each other in a way the “normal” Onboarding wouldn’t have offered. Beth and I watch period dramas at night on the TV in the coffee shop downstairs, go to friend’s house from Mercy Ship for some game nights, or stay up late talking on the roof. We’ve spent a lot of time just talking and I’m learning A LOT.
On the weekends, it is very low-key. It’s just Beth and the Scaces here (nobody else on campus). Last week I ended up spending pretty much the whole Saturday at a coffee shop in Tyler Texas launching my new site and print shop. Then Sunday went on a Fantastic adventure with a new friend, KAT (videographer/producer/ in communications/Global Branding at the ISC) that needs its own little journal entry.
The classes themselves have been incredible. My brain is pretty tired. I am so not used to learning this much!!) I’ve completed Foundations of Mercy Ships, as well as the Faith Foundations week. I usually wake up around 7:30, get ready and dressed, unplug my ipad, head downstairs to fill my water bottle and grab a breakfasty food, and walked across campus to the “International Lounge” where I’m greeted with coffee and staff. We are in a very large room, with huge 6-foot tables that sit a person on either side. We all wear masks unless we are seated at the tables. They keep it under 20 people in the room.
We listen to speakers from 8am to 10:30, 15-minute break, 10:45-12:00, break for lunch. 1:00-3:00, break for snack and coffee, 3:00-4:30, finish the day. Its been SO much information. I have around 40 pages of notes on my Ipad from just the first week. I am enjoying getting to hear different stories of how people from around the world have ended up with Mercy Ships. Its been a place where I’ve learned more about living in a multi-denominational and multi-cultural community- GREAT PREP for the ship.
We ended this week with a silent retreat - 4 hours with quiet to just be with God, pray, and listen. I feel like I had a breakthrough in some walls I’ve built over the last year between myself and God. It was a very good week studying scripture, hearing stories, and learning from a range of wise speakers.
This Saturday was Beth’s birthday, so we went back to Tyler for coffee and chilling at the same shop. We drove back to get some work done before we headed to Kat’s house for pizza and a game night for Beth. It was so fun to meet a few more people.
The last week and a half have really flown by, and I’m sure the next few weeks will too. Its been so different than I expected when I was prepping for Onboarding back in April of 2020, but I’ve learned a lot about managing expectations and holding out open hands to the Lord through 2020 and now 2021. Truly just been praising the Lord for the opportunity to still be with Mercy Ships, and making some friends here. Its been a breath of fresh air to be learning about an organization that really does what it says it does. There are people from all of the world in high leadership, which is so awesome. They have done a lot of teaching around who Christ is and how they work to follow the model of Jesus in their work and community. I am definitely more excited than ever to finally get on the ship. I’m slowly meeting staff around campus I’ve been emailing for a year and a half. I got to meet my OG recruiter (Kylie!) from June of 2019, which fell to surreal.