A wedding and another day trip

The girls and I had the privilege of being present for Alex and Sharon's wedding on September 14th (Ray was on the ship). Alex and Sharon met through Mercy Ships and decided to have their wedding here at Appelsbosch. It was a joyous occasion and a lot of fun for all of us. Here is the beautiful Sharon walking across the ampitheatre to her groom.

Another view of where we are staying. The gym is on the right and our dorm is on the left. Each dorm has four wings. The wing you can see has a small apartment on the ground floor for one of the workers and the floors above are both lounges where you can have Bible Studies or watch tv or just hang out.

Another weekend we were able to go to Howick Falls, another waterfall that doesn't have as much water as usual due to the drought but magnificent still the same. I had Ray and the girls pose by this sign because it tells how far away other waterfalls in the world are. Do you see Niagara Falls? Anna isn't happy because it was hot out that day.

Howick Falls

Howick Falls with the Szareks!

First Days in Appelsbosch

The view from our dorm looking towards the west.

Looking out towards the sunset from the hill above our dorm. You can see my bedroom windows on the ground floor of the dorm on the right.

One of the first weekends here we were able to go to Albert Falls for the day. The waterfalls are supposed to cover this whole area but because of the drought the reservoir was low and that meant not much water coming over the falls. We had a lot of fun climbing up the rocks. Here Deborah is up at the top with our friend Gray. We had all been up there but Ray, Anna and I had come back down already.

The other side of the rocks we climbed had a smaller waterfall. Deborah is up there with friends.

Anna posed for me in front of the smaller falls.

We have arrived in South Africa!

Deborah and her friends as we sail into port.

Our welcome from the Mercy Ships' team who had gone ahead of us to have everything ready for us.

One of two tug boats who were pushing us sideways (from port to starboard) gently to the dock.

We spent one last night on the ship and enjoyed the beautiful lights of Durban's port.

The next morning the moving vans arrived along with two buses to move 150 of us out to Appelsbosch (we also took some of our Land Rovers with us). Everyone pitched in. Each person would take a piece of luggage and carry it down the main gangway and set the luggage down in front of the van then walk down the dock to the secondary gangway come back into the ship and back to get more luggage. I was watching kids on Deck 7 while Ray was helping with the luggage.

End of Sail and Arrival in Durban

We saw some beautiful sunsets on our 17 day sail.

But finally we arrived in Durban and we started to sail into the port.

One of the tugboats that came to help us into the port.

Deborah and Anna on our non-functional pool deck which we call Deck 9. It was a great view for us as we sailed into port!

Looking straight ahead as we sail into port.

More of the Sail

Anna is showing you the strap that helps hold her in place in bed. Most of the kids use side rails or nothing but we just used the straps that were built into the bunks. Ray and I had side boards that we could pull up at night on our bed but we never did. I was on the inside next to the wall so I would roll into Ray and Ray decided he'ld take his chances of not rolling out of bed!

Deborah showing her strap.

We celebrated Anna's birthday on the sail! She turned 6 on August 31st but we celebrated a few days before that because we weren't sure which day we would arrive in Durban. She had a party with her classmates and sister in the Queen's Lounge after school the Friday before her actual birthday.

The gorgeous Deborah on Deck 7 port side looking forward.

The gorgeous Anna on Deck 7 port side looking aft.

The Sail

Deborah and two of her friends on the bow.

Deborah and Anna dressed up for Pirate Day. We had a photo scavenger hunt, a flag contest and a dress up contest. It was lots of fun!

We also had a Game Day the following weekend where you made up a team of 4 people and competed in different events. Anna was on a team with 3 of her classmates and here they are being timed while eating a British cereal which was very dry. I can't remember what it is called but I would not choose to eat it. Deborah was on a team with 3 of her friends, I was following Anna around, Ray was reading in the cabin during the games.

And here I am trying to take pictures that show how much we rock back and forth during the sail. I took these next two pictures out one of our cabin windows so you could see the angle of the crane and the horizon. Obviously I was moving with the ship so I had a hard time taking a picture where the horizon was actually horizontal!

Pre-Sailing and Sail

We moved onto the Africa Mercy on July 31st and on August 15th (our 18th wedding anniversary) our ship left Togo for South Africa. Before we left the dock we had an 'at sea' drill where we all went to our muster stations and put on our life jackets.

Deborah gazing out at the now empty dock as we prepare to leave.

Our dock is now behind us to the far left.

Before we get out to the open sea we have to test the life boats that were on the dock side of the ship while in Togo.

Our first sunset at sea (taken from our cabin window).