Where is Becca now?

Many of you may be asking, “Where in the world is Becca? “
Right now I am sitting in Cape Town and will be here until the 22nd of September at which point I will be flying back up to West Africa to start learning more about community health education. I’ll talk more about that later. First I need to catch you all up with all the events of this past week.
The ship arrived safely in Durban on Wednesday and by Thursday afternoon myself along with 160 other crewmembers were moved off. Our reason for being in South Africa is to get some well-needed work done on the ship. In order to have this work done safely and quickly we had to move off all the crewmembers that will not be working on these projects. Because of this many of the families on board will be separated due to the fathers being needed for the shipyard work. For those not doing the technical work they are being moved to an urban area about 90 minutes away from the port called Applesboch. Talk about some big changes. Please keep the crew in your prayers especially during this time.

As we pulled into port, it was a mad dash getting departments cleaned up and packed up and getting personal cabins cleaned up and packed up to move off. By Thursday morning all of the things that were going to be sent to Applesboch was piled high and wide in the center of the ship. Then at 10am the whistle blew and the race began. In two hours I watched hundreds of brown boxes, duffel bags of all colors, an array of musical equipment, pots, pans, computers, etc. get carried off of the ship and placed into moving trucks. Within two hours that pile was completely moved outside. Within two hours over 160 people had completely moved off of the ship. Wow!
I was amazed at the sense of community and family especially during this time. Everyone and I mean everyone helped out. The young kids were helping clean cabins, the older kids were carrying boxes, and the adults were running to all the different departments to see who needed help. I was touched watching this family that God had put together helping each other out. As the last few items were walked down the gangway and placed in moving trucks I then heard the overhead announcement that said “All crew not staying on the ship please be off the ship by 1245.” I looked at my watch and realized I had 45 minutes before I would disembark from my home and embark on this crazy uncomfortable and unknown adventure for the next 6 months. I froze.
“What am I doing? This is crazy! I don’t want to say goodbye. I don’t want to leave this family. I don’t want to leave my friends, my internet access, my hot showers, my comfy bed, my clean drinking water, my 2 hours washing machine slot, my bible study, my football team, my honey nut cheerios, my running buddy…. My comfort zone. My home.

As these thoughts rushed through my head I had a déjà vu. These thoughts sound very familiar. Oh wait I remember, right before I left for Mercy Ships I had all of these same anxieties and more. As I came to this realization a smile grew across my face. God has been so good to me and every single worry or anxiety He has not only quenched but has provided more than I ever imagined. This ship has become my home and the people on the ship have become my family. It is as if God is like “Okay Becca now you are ready for the next step.”
So God may know that I am ready but that doesn’t mean that I am not scared, nervous, worried, you get the point. But because I am feeling these feelings I know that God is going to do some amazing things through me. Every time I have felt weak, scared, overwhelmed, afraid God has shown me that if I would just put my trust in Him that I would see that He is in control and all will be okay. So that is what I am doing.
Today I read a verse that may seem a bit extreme for my situation but I was definitely comforted by it. Luke says, “whoever would save his life will lose it but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.” So I know I am not losing my life like getting sent my death certificate but I do feel like I am letting go of those things that i feel give me life. Even though right now I feel like I am losing a lot of the things that I love, mainly relationships with people on the ship and the comforts of home, I know that by putting these things behind God and keeping Him as my #1 that I will find even more about who He is and His love for me.