...the story of how an Alaskan girl ended up on a ship in Africa...

Links:

MercyShips.org

relevantmagazine.com

sabrinawardharrison.com

overtherhine.com

bethelcollege.edu

Growing up in the Alaska bush...

How It All Began...

When I was a little girl I had a Mercy Ships sweatshirt with the Anastasis on it. I remember sitting with wide eyes listening to our missionary friends talking about their home--a big white hospital ship that sailed the globe like a small city. My imagination took over from there and I could think of nothing more fascinating and exciting than to live onboard that ship someday. My understanding of where it went and what exactly it did was considerably limited, but that didn't matter to my fascinated young mind. Someday, I used to think...

Somewhere along the way to adulthood that childhood fascination dwindled to a vague memory. I still heard about the ships--even had opportunity to visit one--but as my life and my career began to form I appeared to be going in quite the opposite direction.

Little did I know.

I've always had a desire for adventure--to get outside the small (albeit unusual) world of my upbringing in rural Alaska and see the sights. Perhaps it's the creative spirit in me--the endless dreamer--that leaves me always wanting something more. At any rate, I found myself at the age of 25, successfully working in my chosen field as a graphic designer, close to family and friends in my hometown, yet feeling strangely like a caged bird. I knew there was something more I was meant to do before settling down.

For nearly two years I waited and prayed for a direction--any direction. I must admit that most of those days my faith was very lacking. I remember one day getting to a point of desperation and sitting down with a blank piece of paper and a pen, determined to write down everything that came into my head regarding my future, unedited and unanalyzed, in hopes of finding some subliminal deep desire that might lead me to something. From the scribbling that ensued emerged three things: traveling (one random idea popped into my head of working on a cruise ship), Bible school, and short term missions.

All of the above seemed to me to be three entirely different things. And none of them tied in at all with my desire to continue to use my creative skills. My brainstorming project had failed miserably.

A few weeks later I met a young man through a business lunch. Interestingly enough, he had just recently completed a Discipleship Training School onboard a ship--none other than the Anastasis herself. I listened to him tell of his adventures with a mild curiosity that soon turned to a spine-tingling "this is it" feeling. I asked one skeptical question after another, and he fielded every one. By the time I left that table I knew this was something I had to act upon.

After two years of waiting it all happened so fast. Three weeks after that conversation I was accepted to the July 2000 DTS onboard the Anastasis, with three more weeks left to quite my job, pack, and move. And be in a wedding. When I finally caught my breath, ready to board the ship in England, all I felt was peace.

That peace continued through the five months of DTS (read more about that here)--an experience I will never forget. It was a unique interval in my life that left me so impressed by the ministry of Mercy Ships I knew I wanted to be a bigger part of it. And that is part II of the story...