Sacred Heart Church - Lome
The first full weekend
Friday morning started off on the wrong foot. And was praying that it wouldn’t go downhill, and thank God it didn’t. Things slowly started to change and everyone was in a hurry to get their work done to enjoy the bbq down on the dock. The dock bbq was a lot of fun. The food on the ship has been pretty good but they made and exceptional bbq. Two of the gals in my cabin work in the galley and they especially worked their tootsies off.
Saturday a group of us had the day off. We walked out on the Plage Road from the dock and hailed three taxis. We decided to go to the outdoor market and to the local hotel pool. It was a great day. However I haven’t yet acclimatized to the weather. It’s not only hot but incredibly humid too. We walked about three blocks of the market and were immediately bomb barded by the market vendors. Honestly, having three months to shop hasn’t made me very eager to purchase anything. But I did find a beautiful dress in a gorgeous purple peacock traditional style. I paid double of what I should but it was my first purchase and I am still getting use to the money exchange rate. It’s gorgeous and I can’t wait for the next event. We walked all over, and got really warm in the dead of the day heat. We knew that first jump in the pool would be so worth it and we walked up the stairs to the third level and saw a whole bunch of other folks from Mercy Ships too. It was like a huge southern family reunion. The hotel is on Plage Road and it runs along a gorgeous beach. Miles and miles of sandy beach hugged by palm trees along the road. From the hotel pool you can see the ocean. It’s quite nice. We spent the afternoon there. Dipping in and drying out. Snacking and chatting. Just enjoying our day in Lome.
Saturday night we had a hip hop party up on Deck 8. Folks were totally dressed up and ended up having a blast. Since we were up on the deck a cool wind consistently greeted us during the dancing but it was still so very very hot. No one really cared. We all danced. We all shook what God gave us. We all hipped and hopped to our hearts content. I got some great video coverage (look at flickr).
Sunday morning, was a strange morning. I slept all the way through the night for the very first time. I must have been exhausted. Since I don’t have a window I don’t have a concept of time at all. So when I woke up I asked my roommate the time and she wonderfully said “9:30” yahoo but that only gave me 1 hour to get ready for church. YIKES! Not that I can’t get ready in an hour but I had a few other things to do too. We hailed a cab and went into town. We worshipped at the Sacred Heart church of Lome. It is such a beautiful church filled with so many people. There were so many people at the service that there people listening from the outside of the church grounds too.
I am not a catholic but I do have a great respect for the church. It also played a huge part of my spiritual development. My grandparents took me to mass often. I kept thinking of them when I was there. They would always dress up and dress me up too. The Togolese women were dressed up. In great fabrics and color combinations. They aren’t fearful of color and the basic black dress isn’t what they go for when choose the proper ensemble. There is every color known to man. I think my favorite combinations so far are turquoise and silver and lemon with kiwi. Throughout the service images of my grandparents came to mind. I thought about when I would pretend to forget how to do the sign of the cross and ask my grandfather to do it over and over and over and over again. I kept thinking if he does it more than once, then God will bless him and keep him safe more. Childhood logic right? But maybe it actually did keep him safe (who knows).
After church we went over to the hotel and had yummy pizzas. The yummy pizzas followed with great conversation and meeting new people from Ireland, Australia, Texas and Florida. I’ve grown to appreciate so many people on this ship. One thing that I immensely enjoy is the travel stories. At every table there is conversation of where we have all been before. I think I have grown to appreciate the travel time stories a lot. They are always fun to hear.
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