Ripple Effect

Wow! Tomorrow it will have been two months since I left home. So, so much has happened in that time. I know that things back home have changed and I also know that I have changed a lot. Maybe not in ways that you can see (aside from blonder hair and darker skin =D) but on the inside I have changed.
I have now finished all my initial Deckie training and am trusted on my own! Scary Huh!! I said 'initial' training because we never really stop being trained while we are on the ship. This week is my first week of watch on my own. Now you're probably thinking what the heck is watch, so I will explain. In the Deck department there are two different schedules that you will work, normal day work i.e. needle gunning, wire brushing, painting and anything to do with maintaining the ship or you will be on watch. There are three different positions for watch, 1. Bridge watch - duties include responding to alarms systems, answering the phone, reporting emergencies to appropriate superiors and keeping an eye on mooring lines and gangways, 2. Gangway - duties include maintaining security on the quayside, making sure only crew members board the ship via the crew gangway, making sure that the mooring lines and gangways are secure and 3. Fire rounds - duties include walking the entire ship every hour watching for fires and possible security threats, assisting whenever called on by the bridge or gangway watch keeper, scouting out possible fires when notified but the bridge. Watch is kept 24/7 and the watch keepers do 4 hours on 8 hours off. For example this week I am on the 0800 - 1200 watch. I do 8am to 12pm in the Bridge, have 8 hours off then do 8pm to 12am on gangway watch. It's not physically strenuous like normal day watch but it very demanding because it's hard to get proper sleep while you're doing shift work. This morning we had safety drills while I was on watch which meant that I had to page over the entire ship. Who knew that a simple pa system could be so scary!! =D So life on Deck is always an adventure but God has really given me a joy for the work and it's a great team.

I was planning to tell you more but I've run out of time and rather than make you wait longer I'll just publish this and continue later. God bless!

Well here I am on board the Logos Hope and already 2 weeks into being a Deckie! Yes that’s right a Deckie!!! But first let me back track a little. I’m pretty sure that everybody knows that I spent 2 weeks in the heart of Jamiaca doing what’s called PST (Pre Ship Training) and also isolated from the internet, hence the lack of blog updates and contact with home. But if you didn’t know, now you do. PST was great! There was a group of 68 of us joining in Montego bay and we just had an awesome time learning new skills, making lots of new friends, enjoying the beautiful countryside of Jamaica and have COLD showers =D God really blessed me through this time with some beautiful friends and in particular my friendship with a lovely dutch girl named Femke.
FEBRUARY THE 3RD 2010!!!!!! The day that I finally stepped back on board the Logos Hope!!! It was absolutely amazing to be back on the ship again. The best way I can describe it is to say that I was on cloud 9 all of that afternoon. The sensation of being back on the ship that was so familiar and was my home at the same time as being fresh, new and full of excitement just blew me away. We arrived on board around 3pm and then spent the rest of the afternoon being familiarised with the ship and settling into our cabins. Oh, quick side note, I’m not sure how many of you have heard but during the Go Conference all of the girls in my PST were warned to be ready in case we were to be placed in a 10 berth cabin for the first couple of months. This isn’t a very nice situation and although I was willing to be placed there I was really hoping not to be and Praise The Lord I was placed in a 4 berth cabin in a section near a lot of my old ship friends. Anyway back to my story, that evening we had a party for our new PST that had joined the ship but I didn’t really get to appreciate it much because I was to busy catching up with all of my friends that were still on board. It was great to see and talk to so many of them but once again it was a bitter sweet time as many of my friends have now left and I may never see them again in this life. But to end on a high note many of my friends are also still there plus I have my new friends from PST and so many more people to meet that had joined the ship while I was away.
I won’t go into such detail for the rest of the week because 1. It’ll take too long and 2. It’ll bore you but I will let you know roughly what we were up to. For people joining the Logos Hope for 1-2 years or longer the first couple of weeks are filled with more TRAINING, this time called BST (Basic Safety Training). PST was more of a spiritual and personal training time and BST is the training that is required for all new crew joining a ship by maritime law. So in brief we spent 1 ½ weeks learning about what to do in emergency situations such as fire or the ship sinking, how to provide first aid and much more. To be able to work in certain departments on board the ship (for example deck and engine room) you must pass the BST exams. So now we come to where I started, after all of our training and exams the personnel team take our exam results, personal preferences, our medical conditions and the ships needs all into account and then decide where they will place each of the new recruits. My preferences had been 1. Book fair (inclusive of most of the Public Deck), 2. Deck, 3. Angels (simply because I did not want galley or engine). I’m not sure why I ended up putting Deck so high but before leaving for the ship I really opened myself up to God and asked Him to place where ever He wanted and in a position that would challenge me and He just seemed to be pulling me towards Deck. So the evening finally came when personnel gave out our placements and low and behold there in my envelope was a piece of paper telling that I was in Deck department. You should have seen the faces of all the deckie guys when they found out (Deck department is mostly guys, I think there is now 6 girls to 20-30 guys), I should have carried a camera around. For those of you who don’t know Deck work (hard physical dirty work) is totally out of character for me but I know that God has placed me there for a reason and I also know that even though it’s going to be really, really hard to begin with God will give me the strength to serve Him 100%.
In closing now I’d just like to ask you to pray that God gives me strength and endurance for my new work, that I become more self disciplined and set up good habits now early on in my commitment and also that I can continue to reach out to others both friends on board the ship and visitors coming on board.
God bless, Rosanna

A little positive news after hearing about all my downers, I'm feeling a lot better now! For those of you who didn't know I've been very sick with some kind of flu-y thing but I was out of bed yesterday and I've got most of my energy back, still got a bad cough and I'm all stuffed up but definitely on the up and up. I'm also back to my smiley and slightly crazy self again, I'm glad that I went through those emotions and got them sorted but I'm REALLY glad that it's all over and done with now. Can you believe that this time tomorrow I'll be flying to Montego Bay, Jamaica!!! I'm am so excited and ready to get into ship life and serving God through all aspects of my life. I just realised that there's a high possibility of this blog be a bit erratic because I'm typing as I think so I'll apologise now and hope you still enjoy it.

I don't think I've really told you much about Go Conference so I'll try give you a bit more of a picture without making it to long.
Ummmmm...... where do I start??
The teaching program has been great. We've covered lots of subjects but I'll give you a bit of a run through: Why are we here, Mosbach experience, receiving field meeting, who are you God?, knowing and glorifying God, I.D., discovery groups, 50 years and beyond, living in submission to God's word, sending field meeting, the way that we are, missions medina, knowing me and knowing you, reflecting diversity, sssh time, authority of scripture, optional seminars, prayre night hotline, uniqueness of Christ, celebrating our differences, loving and valueing people, mission possible, being a people of grace and integrity, knowing me and knowing you II, lie or die, serving sacrificially, Understanding world view, cross cultural communication, once upon a time, adaption to culture......

Mosbach Experience: This was an afternoon when went out fellowship groups (mine was all the Aussie girls) into Mosbach to find and do certain activities e.g. find out the name of a certain bank, translate John 3:16 into german and give it to a stranger, buy something from a local bakery... It was a good time of getting to know each other and exploring Mosbach. It's certainly beautiful in the snow.

Discovery groups: All the people going to the same area,e.g. the ship, are put into groups for the session and we learn things more specific to where we are going.

Missions Medina: One afternoon all the different fields of OM that are represented here put together a stand showing a bit about there culture and the kind of work they're doing in that specific country. It was very interesting and lots of fun.

Knowing Me, Knowing You: This was a really good session where we did a personality test and then learnt about how different people with different temperaments operate. Very interesting to discover a few thing that are true to me and also true to other people.

Mission Possible: Now this was interesting. You can't really classify it as a session but more of a activity and test. What we did was the OM staff simulated the entire process of getting from your home process into a restricted access country, the republic of Euphore. First we were briefed and then we were issued our passports and traveling money. From there we had to go the embassy and apply for a visa, I thought I got through really cruzy and then I figured out that they had switched my (fake) passport so I had to wait for ages to get mine back. After that little issue we went through to the ticketing office where we had to purchase an airline ticket and then wait for our flight to arrive. Our flight was simulated by a very jerky (turbulence) bus ride with blind folds and then we finally arrived at the customs and immigration of the republic of Euphore. They did a really good job with this one, it was soooo real. We had to answer questions about who we were, what we were doing in the country and try to get through customs. We weren't supposed to have bibles or any religious literature and of course we had all of those. Once we finally got through there we were taken to the "local family" that we were supposed to be staying with, these was two ladies who had set up a room in an 'Arabic' style and didn't speak english. This was really great but I started feeling really sick. I had to leave straight after that but all I missed was the de-brief.

I was going to tell you about more but I'm gonna run out of time. I went out to coffee and cake with Liz in between typing this and she asked about how we'd been going and I kind of sorted out what's been going on in my head over the last few days. When I left home I knew it was going to be a lot harder than last time but I didn't realise that I was going to have to deal with this as well. Basically I got here and I lost all concept of who I am. There were two sessions especially that really got me thinking about who I was and how much things change when you leave home. For me, my home, my family, my background are all a big part of me and when I left home I essentially left a big piece of me and my heart behind. Because I left such a big chunk of me behind I had to deal with the mourning process for that and also try to figure out who I am NOW! The best way I can put it is that everything in my life and head blew up into little pieces and I had to try figure out how to put it all back together again. Pretty stressful but God was the ever faithful, constant that pulled me back together again and showed how He made me just as I am and that He's the one who's in control of my life. I hope that puts all of your minds at ease a bit.

A few details you might like to know. We ship people have to be ready to leave at 3am tomorrow morning which means that I don't think any of us will be sleeping tonight. We have a 12 hour direct flight from dusseldorf (Germany) to Montego Bay (Jamaica) with Air Berlin. Guess what! No personal in flight entertainment! NNNNNNOOOOOOOO!!!! Just as well I have about 55 other people muck around with during the flight. We'll be staying at an inland Christian camp for our PST training from the 23rd of Jan to the 3rd of Feb and we wont be able to access the internet for that time so don't freak out if I don't contact you. I will try to blog as soon as I can once we arrive on the ship and let you know what's up!
There's probably tons more I haven't covered but I hope this sort of gives you the feel of how things have been over here.
LOVE YOU ALL SOOOOOO MUCH and God bless,
Rosanna

I will first warn you not to panic when you read this blog, it is compilation of the many thoughts that have been flying around my head and my heart over the last few days. I'm not as messed up as it makes me sound but at the same time I'm not some super saint I still have to deal with struggles and confusion. I hope that as you read this is will touch your heart as you identify in my feelings and rejoicing in our enduring Hope!

1. This is a time.......
This is a time of change, a time of moving from where we were to where we will be. It is a time of mourning the things we love and have lost. A time of goodbyes, a time of parting & heartbreak. I am no longer Rosanna Hair with all the back ground, family & friends that are so much a part of who I am. Now all people see is simply Rosanna. This is a time of confusion as we find out who we really are. A time of questions as we ask who am I, why am I and where am I? It is a time of longing as we look forward to the time when we are at 'home' with ourselves and others. It is a time of joy as prayers are answered. It is a time of bonding as we make new friends, taking them for simply what they are. It is a time of learning as we seek answers to our questions. No matter what time it is, I KNOW that God is constant and unchanging, from everlasting to everlasting and that I am His beloved child.

2. As the warm weather takes the cold and frozen snow and slowly melts it away, so God's love is slowly melting the layers of fear, uncertainty and loss that surround my heart. The pain of loss and fear of heartbreak are quenching my soul and the chains of suspicion & doubt are holding me down. I've built a wall around my heart, refusing to let others in, in case they break my heart again. God thank you so much for the freedom that is in your love. We are free to mourn and free to move on in Joy! Truly the Joy of the Lord is our Strength! I can feel the showers of love, the rays of light wash down over my soul, setting me free & cleansing my heart. Psalm 42:5.7-8,11

Bundle Up! First you start with leggings, then jeans, socks, and enclosed shoes. Next comes a t-shirt, jumper, scarf, jacket and finally hat, beanie or equivalent. This is what it was like getting dressed on my first day in Germany! But wait I’m getting ahead of myself, I have to tell you how I got here first! The trip really started when Emma (my friend from sunny Brisbane) arrived at Perth Domestic Airport ready to travel to the ends of the earth and beyond (or maybe Frankfurt, Germany) with me. The following few days contained the following and much more: exploring Kings park & Perth city, Over-nighting at Nana’s, Goodbye lunch in Freo, and packing, culling, repacking, more culling, final pack (still overweight!). Monday morning we were up for a fresh early morning start at 3AM!!!!! We arrived at the airport where a really nice man waved my $350 over weight luggage fee! Ooops! I guess I’d better learn to travel a bit lighter, hehe.

I can’t say much about the plane flights except that 18hours flying is OVER RATED! But a full 5 stars to Singapore airlines. Their service was great, the personal entertainment screens where humongous (slight exaggeration) and the seating was quite nice. It was a real blessing to be travelling with Emma! We kept each other company and had good fun giggling, taking photos and observing God’s awesome creation through the window of the plane.
We arrived in Frankfurt airport at 7:30pm local time and, fortunately, had no trouble getting through customs and finding our bus driver. By this time Emma and I had been joined by two other Aussie girls who had been on the same flight as us. It was about 2 hours drive to Mosbach and, when we weren’t looking through the car windows at all the snow, we were sleeping. We finally arrived in Mosbach and got our first look at the OM Headquarters before being taken off to the youth hostel where we were staying. Once we got there we pretty much found our room and hit the sack! My calculations say that Emma and I had been up for over 24 hours with no more than ½ - 1 hours sleep. My accommodation for the next two weeks consists of a four bed room with adjacent bathroom that houses myself, Emma, Megan (from Newcastle, Australia – headed to the Logos Hope) and Pippa (Melbourne, Australia – also headed to the Logos Hope).
Once awakening this morning at 8:30 am I had my long awaited, hot shower and thoroughly enjoyed every moment of it. When all of us girls were suitably decked out, as mentioned at the start of my blog, we decided to venture out and discover this new world of winter wonderland. We first walked about 15 mins to the OM headquarters and then headed out to explore the beautiful town of Mosbach.

Now close your eyes and imagine that the world around you has turned white. There’s a path stretching out in front of you covered in a whitish/brown sludge, there’s trees and bushes lining the path, covered not with leaves but with snow resting on every limb and branch. You walk down the path and turn onto a road where the picturesque houses are just a few steps beyond the hedges and picket fences and a bakery’s warmth and wares lure you from the cobblestone road you’ve been walking. Welcome to Mosbach, Germany! Oh I forgot to mention it’s 0 degrees Celsius .

We spent a good part of the day walking around the town before heading back to the Mill (nick name for the OM HQ) where we warmed up before walking (did you guess that one?) back to the hostel. We are now all in our room tapping away at our computers, prewriting the blogs and emails that we will upload once we get a internet connection at the OM HQ.
I hope you enjoyed the update and Lord willing I will be in touch again soon!