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| Happy St. Patrick's Day |
The following was sent to me today, and I liked it so much I'm sharing it here.
As a missionary in Ireland, St. Patrick boldly lit an Easter fire on the hill of Slane, defying pagan tradition and proclaiming the light of Christ. Continuing his mission, he established the first Irish Christian church at Saul – now honored as the birthplace of Irish Christianity. Over 29 years, Patrick baptized more than 120,000 people and founded roughly 300 churches.
He left the Church this enduring prayer: “Christ with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me, Christ in me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me, Christ on my right, Christ on my left, Christ when I lie down, Christ when I sit down, Christ when I arise, Christ in the heart of every man who thinks of me, Christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks of me, Christ in every eye that sees me, Christ in every ear that hears me.”
Lots of people are wearing green on the ship today. I don't have anything green in my closet, either on the ship or at home, so Aggie Maroon will have to do.
I'm ready to get off this ship! I do enjoy being on it, but not this many days in a row. We were scheduled to be at sea for 5 days, then 2 days in Hawaii before another 4 days to the Polynesian islands. But as I shared in my last post, the Kona storm changed our plans so instead of another day in Kona, we headed straight for our next port, Nuku Hiva, French Polynesia. That means 1 day out of 11 at sea!
I haven't been posting because I haven't had anything very exciting to share. However, we are safe and well, the sun is shining again and we are staying busy. The ship brought on some "cultural ambassadors" in Honolulu that give destination related talks and offer different kinds of classes.
Yesterday I took my first (and last) hula lesson. I happened to be the only one who had not been to an earlier class. It was well attended and I was on the back row. The instructor asked for a show of hands for those who had been before. All hands went up except for mine. Then she asked who was there for their first class (moi). Since I was so far back and couldn't see her moves, she had me move up and before I knew it, I was on the front row directly in front of the instructor! I will say, it was (kinda) fun, but my back was protesting before the class was finished. Overall, my back is MUCH improved since the intracept procedure I had last October. However, it's not ready for all the gyrations required by the hula, so I decided it unwise to go back.
I missed the lei making class (didn't know about it) but signed up for a bracelet making class the next day, then later I blew it off in favor of a nap!
Today Ronnie attended his first ukulele lesson. Apparently lessons have been going on for a couple of weeks, but it was not announced so he just learned about them through word of mouth yesterday. So today he joined maybe 9 or 10 other players (ukulelists). I tagged along and thought he did a great job. There were 2 other guys (one younger, one about his age) and the rest were women.
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| practicing the strum |
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| ukulele and hula demo |
There have also been some interesting afternoon lectures - The Real Robinson Cruiso: Alexander Selkirk, The Mysteries of Easter Island and Nuclear Testing in the Pacific. The nice thing about the talks is that they are recorded and can be watched later on our room TV.
Additionally, we are both really enjoying our Bible study at 1:30 on sea days. Our teacher is excellent and we've spent the last 2 days learning what God is trying to teach us through the 29 parables in Luke.
As time goes on, we're getting to know more of our fellow passengers. We've especially enjoyed getting to know some who will be with us for the duration.
Barbara: You cracked me up about your Hula lesson. You have Baptist Hips! That is what a friend told me in Honolulu. lol. I love all the courses you have available and that you can see them on TV later. I have tried lei making. It is very game intensive. We usually think Orchid or Plumeria lei are pretty, but you are treasured if you have lei of long ropes of Pikake flowers. Tutu's come to church on Mother's Day with lei up to their ears from their children and grandchildren and "Hanai" children/grands. It smells like heaven in church on Motgers Day! I am proud of Ronnie for going to ukulele class. I taught myself to play on Okinawa, along with 12-string guitar. The ukulele was valued by all seamen who have little space aboard ships. Do you have any classes about fishing, or preparing exotic foods? How about sewing or carving? I really admire your tenacity on your Bible Studies. It is hard to keep that discipline-you can't really work ahead of everyone else to make up for days lost very easily. I was wondering if you are already across into "tomorrow land"- past the international dateline. I should go try to locate your ship later. Now that you are headed into more southern seas, please see if you can do sone star gazing. I think you will be astounded at how the sky at night looks radically different. Ronnie would probably enjoy that. Look for the Big Dipper, for example and the North Star...they will be lost over the horizon in the Southern Hemisphere. Oh I wish we could have a good visit !!! Just keep your Baptist Hips walking! Praying for y'all to stay healthy and have fun!
ReplyDeleteBaptist hips (ha!) And I thought it was only a bad back! LOL! Thanks for all the great comments! I would LOVE to go to church on Mother's Day in Hawaii and smell all those leis - that would be amazing! I'm not familiar with Pikake flowers, but I love, love, love the scent of plumeria (and gardenia!) I wonder how heaven can smell any better? Cooking classes are offered on the ship but you classes are expensive and usually full. A recent one was on exotic sushi, which I know we wouldn't eat anyway. ;-) We don't pass the international dateline until March 29 (we'll go from March 28-30) but are crossing the equator (again!) today. Thankfully we are full fledged Shellbacks by now. I'm totally impressed that you taught yourself ukulele and guitar!!!
ReplyDeleteBarbara: don't be impressed. Once you learn to play piano well, you learn al the chord structures and then it is just the mechanics of what notes the strings are tuned to and then you can figure out any chord you want. It is very mathmatical. Of course, with some other devices like acoustics thrown in. Ronnie would probably really like Music Theory-which is our Western Music's version of science.
ReplyDeleteAll of the above is the exact reason I don't play an instrument! I might do well with sticks or a triangle though! ;-)
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