Freetown Field Service Festivities Part 1.

It's been quite some time & So much has happened within the last few weeks. After 20 something hours of traveling from dallas, nyc, brussels belgium to banjul gambia & finally FREETOWN sierra leone!!!

we arrived @ the airport early evening & it was an adventure from the start. The taxi ride to the ferry in itself was like a simulation of the Indiana Jones Adventure Ride at Disneyland. Then hoping on the ferry just in time for the last ride of the day. We made it around midnight to the Restore Hope Center, which was our home for the first  two & a half weeks. Shockingly I wasnt jet lagged whatsoever & woke up refreshed the next day. What a wonderful & gorgeous view it was to wake up to. I forgot how lush, green, & beautiful this country is!!!

Friday afternoon we went into Yams Farm Village to see where we would be working for our field service. Driving into the village was something I'll never forget & always cherish. All the children & adults waving & running after our Poda Poda (our means of transportation pictured below)

They were all so welcoming & ecstatic that we were there. I felt so priveleged & honored at that moment that I could be apart of this. They needed help building a Latrine ( Toilet) for the Primary School.  The hole had already been dug & they just needed the extra hands & strong muscles : ] to help complete the project. 

 We had the grand tour of the village compliments of Pastor Mark (pictured below with his wife Hawwa)whos runs the primary school & Word of Life church.

These lovely little ladies are some of my newfound buddies from Yams Farm Village.

There is more to come from the 1st week of us working there in just a few days : ]

and so it begins. . . but for serious this time : ]

well .... tomorrow is the big day. i cannot believe how quickly it crept up on me! i have so enjoyed my time here in texas & it's very bittersweet leaving here. the IOC ( International Operations Center) has been home for the past 5 weeks for me. I've met so many wonderful people who work behind the scenes to help make Mercy Ships the tremendous organization that it is.

gateway field service team

we leave for the airport at the 5:45 am (wooohooo) & will arrive in sierra leone late thursday evening. the 1st two & a half weeks we will be living off the ship as we will be doing a field service about an hour away from where the ship is docked. we will mainly be working at a primary school, helping with repairs & also working with the kiddies : ] i will not have internet or any means of communication until the end of july when we officially get on the ship. I'm so excited to put to use all the valuable info i have accumulated over the past few weeks. sorry this is so short. i still have a little bit of packing to finish! here are some photos from my time here in east texas. class was intense at times.

presenting on the diverse cultures that we have here in the US & what we value

 so it was really nice to go on weekend excursions & get to see a little bit of east texas

we even got the chance to go to a rodeo. 

Finally saw an armadillo!!!! What's  a texas experience without seeing longhorns&armadillo's..right??!!

east texas sunsets are absolute stunners.

safety first.

this week we have been doing our basic safety training. it has been intense to say the least BUT so much fun. we did the normal cpr & first aid type routine but finding out how all this applies in regards to ship life has been quite unique. we don't have the "normal" 911 respondents if we are having an emergency. yes, we do have prepared teams of people in case of an accident that know how to take care of us well. That is also why they are training us on all of this wonderfulness this week. So that they may have as many prepared & knowledgeable people as they can living & working on the ship.

 my favorite part of the week has been firefighting class.

thank goodness east texas weather decided to semi cooperate with us. as it was mid 70's due to a rain/ thunder storm that delayed us for a bit due to the lightning. but we got right back out there after the storm passed. i couldn't imagine doing the firefighting practical in the normal texas weather which had been 97 & up plus humidity.  the weather was seriously answers to our prayers.

we got to put out three different types of fires & also had to do a search & rescue & find our new friend manny ( shown below).  i'm not going to lie & say it was easy...it definitely was an abundance of information to try to remember. then to apply it all in that heavy gear gave me even more respect for firefighter's. it was an experience that i'll never forget & im so glad i got the opportunity to do so. 

i have a pool practical later this week that should'nt be too bad. im hoping my old lifeguard training will kick back in but we shall see!!!

our new friend "manny" & my roomie candace.

pre africa bucketlist.

shortly after finding out that i was for sure going to serve with mercy ships for the next 2 years. i wrote a list of about 40 things i wanted to do before i left good old california. having lived in los angeles for the last 2 years & southern california all of my life i felt that there were so many things i had yet to see & do. so for my birthday in march i bought a polaroid to document most of my pre-africa bucket list festivities. so instead of passing all of these cool places & wishing to hopefully go there someday, i made it happen with some of my dearest friends & family. my list ranged from hot air balloon rides, going to the driving range, hiking temescal canyon, longboarding a few more times in my favorite spot in manhattan beach, having a picnic in my favorite park with my best friend, going to griffith observatory, finding the venice canals, going fishing, roadtripping to my favorite city san francisco, motorcycle riding & the list goes on ....

so heres some of the pictures from my pre-africa bucket list.

 fishing.

 hooked my 1st worm while fishing.

 hiking temescal canyon/ tae bo ing it up.

 manhattan beach ventures.

 1st korean bbq meal before seeing maya angelou. 

venice canals

lacma

botega louie & overlooking la from the 24th floor.

griffith observatory with my fave little people : ]

and so it begins. . .

i was trying to come up with a name of a blog for the longest as i have never done one of these things. i walked into a shoe store & low & behold as i was pondering what i should name my blog these were right in front of my face. TOMS shoes  are already a favorite of mine but i felt like this was so fitting. "journey is the destination" slightly  cheesy & cliche. but i can be quite a cheeseball myself : ] so i decided to go with it.

so i have arrived in lindale east texas for 6 weeks of training before i head to the africa mercy for the next two years. thank you for all of the love & support & generous donations that helped me get here. i miss so many of you already. i love it in  lindale thus far. driving through all the beautiful countryside of east texas made me feel like i was in an episode of one of my favorite shows friday night lights. which is quite a change from being in los angeles the past 2 years. the biggest adjustment would probably be the extreme humidity & heat & also the warnings regarding wild hogs round campus, scorpions, & worst of all snakes ( those of you who know me well know how petrified i am of snakes.) i  can deal with & am not really scared of the scorpions & other critters. its just the snakes that i fear if i come in contact with, will prevent me from making it to sierra leone as a result of a heart attack : ].

i flew into texas yesterday but today was the 1st official day of training. it was more orientation & get to know everyone type deal. i met & love both of my roomies. my 1st roomie is annikka & is from germany she's 28 & going to be a pediatric nurse on the ship for 1 year. my second roommate is candace & she's 22 from a small town in indiana & she will also be on the ship for a years working as a admissions nurse. i've already met some cool & wonderful people from all parts of the world. there's a family from northern south africa, south korea, australia, hawaii, etc. so excited for the next couple weeks ahead & to get to know all these brave people.