A…T…L…
Three of our eleven months this year are designated ATL months. Let me explain, ATL stands for “Ask The Lord”. In the middle of most months, we are given a list of ministries to pray about’ and from there we are placed with contacts from those ministries. HOWEVER, during the ATL months much more prayer is put in. As a team, we pray for direction, as to what country we should go to (a country we can get to with our budget). Once we have a country we try to find our own contacts through the internet, friends, professors, or where ever. So far on this trip, we have had two ATL months. Our first was ATL Asia, in which, my team went to Vietnam. This month is our ATL West Africa. We are the first squad in World Race history to even come to Western Africa, so we did not have ANY leads on where to go…
ASK. THE. LORD.
When my team prayed for this month’s ATL, we just felt led to go to Togo with team Rhema. After a couple days in Togo, we got HOOKED UP with a ministry called Mercy Ships. If you look up their website it will be much more informative, but the following is what I know. Africa Mercy is 1 of 2 mercy ships, I believe, and they travel to different ports all year long, all over Africa. Once at the port they do screenings in the communities/cities. They then provide dental, optical, and surgical work to those in need. They try to specialize on cataract surgery, cleft palette surgery, and removal of tumors. There are eight decks on the ship, with over 400 people living on board. Deck three is a hospital. Mercy ships is a Christian-based organization. Everyone on this ship volunteers to do this, they are not paid– in fact, they actually pay to live there. Some people come for two weeks, while others contract to stay for two years. It is AMAZING to see all these people, not only volunteering to provide “hope and healing,” but paying out of their pocket to volunteer…
…FAVOR!
My team and team Rhema are working on the AFRICA MERCY this month. We are spread all throughout, but four of us are in the dining hall! It is awesome. We get to eat three, free meals a day that are so AMAZINGLY delicious, and we build relationships with Godly men and women from ALL over the world. While we are a blessing to them, we are being blessed so much!
MY TOP 5 THINGS ON THEY AFRICA MERCY:
1. On friday I worked in a refridgerator! (It was the storage one, so it was HUGE, and we had to clean it!)
2. When in the kitchen I wear a shower-capish hat that has neon cats all over it (Yes, I chose that one!)
3. The guy “supervising” us loves pranks, so I am part of a PRANK WAR!
4. You can buy real mac ‘n cheese, Dr. Pepper, and scrubs!
5. They have “crepe mondays” and “waffle fridays” we have to participate in!
