Yo yo yo!
Well we have been at sea for 8 days since we left Vietnam and tomorrow we will arrive in India!! A lot of stuff has happened in the last few days so I thought I would do a short little blog to say hey and tell you about it. I know Swine Week is going on so I want to give a special shout out to you all. As well as all the Henderson Hills teenagers and college kids going to either Ecuador or Arizona here in a couple days. You all are being used by God and it is awesome!! Be His hands and His feet and just let Him use you. I guarantee you that it will change your life. Just let go and LET GOD!! Love you all and praying for you!!
Dad – Yeah the lawyers would probably throw a fit if we tried to get that okayed in the States. Honestly it really isn’t that big a deal, just restrict it to people that know how to use a gun haha. Yeah my friends know I’m a big hunter/outdoors person (which has actually sparked some interesting debates with some of the vegetarians/tree huggers on the ship haha) but they were still surprised that I was so comfortable shooting/handling a gun. Don’t worry, riding an elephant is definitely on the “to-do” list. My best shot will probably be in South Africa because the safari place I am going to said that there is extra curricular stuff we can do in the afternoons if we are willing to pay for it. Haha yeah the great wall was sick…mom would have been very upset though. Oh well its over so she can’t get mad now!! Have in Ecuador pops! I am way jealous FYI!
Picture – The picture I chose is definitely of my Sea Olympics team! Mediterranean Sea babay!!!!! I’m over on the back right somewhere. My dad also informed me that you all can click on the pics to make them larger so from now on I will be uploading smaller pics to save some of my internet time so that the upload goes quicker. So I know it is a smaller pic but just click on it and it will be larger.
The ship was extremely dead after Vietnam because everyone was so exhausted. Looking back, from the first day in Japan to the last day in Vietnam we had experienced 3 countries in 3 weeks with 2 very short 48 breaks in between. No one wanted to waste any time in port so these 3 weeks were filled with little sleep, close to no breaks, and numerous stories and adventures. So needless to say that is finally caught up to everyone by the time we were done with Vietnam.
After 4 days of class, which was weird cause we hadn’t had that much class in one stretch since before Japan, we got to experience the best day on the ship so far. Not the best day in port, the best day on the ship! SEA OLYMPICS!!!!!! You all already know about the ship being divided into seas so those were our teams for the day. Each sea has a color (mine was green!!) and you wear that color all day and cheer on your team at events. When I say all day, I mean ALL DAY! The first event started at 9:30 and the last event didn’t end until around 6:30, and most of the time there were 2-3 events going on simultaneously all over the ship. Okay well luckily Henderson Hills has prepared me well, it was nothing compared to a week of rec. Main difference is that it was nonstop for like 10 hours which was exhausting in 95 degree heat but it was awesome!
Okay so my sea was AWESOME!!! We are the Mediterranean Sea…what what!! We actually did really well! We ended up getting 3rd overall (out of 10 seas) by a very small margin. We didn’t care though because we won in the Spirit Contest and the Singing SASers!! Yeah it would have been nice to win overall but the Singing SASers was the most anticipated event and we WON!! It was basically kind of like a music video/lip syncing show that each show put on. Our song was a thriller remix and our sea killed it! I wasn’t part of that event because I competed in 4 other events but the people that won it for us were awesome and our whole sea really showed up to support them!
From the very beginning at the opening ceremony our SEA established itself as the team to beat on the SPIRIT front. Our team was INSANE!! At the opening ceremony every team got a chance to do a cheer in front of the whole ceremony and ours was SICK!! Actually I need to back up first. For the past week our sea has been planning events and practices our skits excetra. People signed up to be in charge of things and it all started coming together. Well the day before we realized that no one had been putting together a chant. Someone mentioned it while we were chilling one night and I was like “Shoot that’s easy, I’ll make one up if no one else will.” (Again thank you Beach Week and Middle School Camp) So I remembered one that I had used a couple years ago at Beach Week and we altered it a little to fit the Mediterranean and told it to 3 of our teammates. Right before the opening ceremony we all met up to learn our chant and walk in together and the girls I had told the chant to were like “Hey guys Tyler made a chant.” So I told everyone the chant and they were like dude HECK yeah! So we walk in and sit down as a team. Once everyone was in the Union they started the Opening Ceremony. Each team had two captains who walked in with the team’s banner and then that team got to do their cheer. A lot of teams had really good spirit but didn’t really practice their cheer or it was just really basic. Well let’s just say when it was the Mediterranean’s turn we knocked their socks off. Our ENTIRE TEAM got into it! There wasn’t one person wearing green who didn’t participate and we carried the momentum with us all day.
Our team bonded in a BIG way! We constantly had an enormous presence at every game cheering on our team and whenever we had enough green members (remember our color was green) hanging around I would start screaming the cheer and everyone would just go nuts! People would try to compete with us but it would just motivate us to cheer louder and longer and we would overwhelming drown them out! Ahhhhhhhh it was awesome because our team was just SO solid!! We bonded so much, it was like we were all instantly best friends which was the coolest part for me. Since then we will see each other and be like “Yo Med!! Whatup?!” It was just really cool.
Sea Olympics was by far the best day we have had outside of port. No questions asked, everyone on the ship will tell you the same thing. It was cool because everyone really got into it. People were dressed in their sea colors all day so it was cool seeing like the different seas of color running around. It was gorgeous weather and everyone was just in the best mood. Ok then one of the best surprises came after the last event right before the Closing Ceremony. We got a good ole fashion American Bar-Be-Que out by the pool! They had all the hamburgers, pork ribs, baked beans, corn, and cake we could eat…and did we EAT!! I ate so much it was awesome!! Everyone was stacking their plates SO high! All that was missing was Apple Pie haha. As we were eating we got to see an awesome sunset and it was just the perfect ending. Everyone was still in their sea colors and sweaty but we had great food, better company, and a picture perfect sunset. Everyone was just chillaxing and it couldn’t have been better. It felt like a perfect summer, country barbeque! Perfection!
The Opening Ceremonies were at 9 p.m. and that is when we found out who won the events such as Synchronized Swimming, Singing SASers, Spirit, and Overall. Our sea went nuts when we found out we got 1st in Singing SASers and 3rd overall. But we went absolutely CRAZY when we found out we won spirit. We did our chant one last time and it was the best time of the whole day! Our team was AWESOME and I was on the best sea in my opinion! It was way fun getting to be super crazy and spirited all day. I almost lost my voice but I chugged so much water before bed that I somehow managed to keep it. Again I have to give credit to Henderson Hills youth camps every summer cause I am used to screaming for Rec lol.
Sea Olympics were awesome and everyone on the ship is upset that it was only one day. Everyone was just so chill! The past 3 days have been consumed by 2 midterms and recovering from the Sea Olympics (my entire body is sore from hoootin and hollerin and jumping around all day, so worth it though!!). Some other things that have happened in the past week since Vietnam includes seeing dolphins a couple times, passing the Nicabar Islands, doing a man overboard drill (them actually throw a dummy in the water, I wanted to volunteer but that didn’t really work out haha), seeing sea snakes, and witnessing numerous flying fish. I ate dinner with 3 professors the other night and it was really cool getting to talk to a teacher outside of class about everyday things like missing stuff back home or what a privilege it is to be on this adventure. Very cool experiences that just don’t happen back home with teachers. It really is a one-of-a-kind experience living with them on this ship. As I am sending this we are exactly half way around the world from Oklahoma, or at least we were before our 30 minute time change last night. That’s right, I said 30 minutes. India didn’t like the whole idea of their country being on 2 separate time zones so they made one time zone for their entire country and it is 30 minutes difference that the time zones on either side of it. I know it’s confusing and a little weird but it’s whatever. One more thing to add to the list of things I have done. Now I have been in a “half time zone” haha.
The following is a quote taken from a popular Casting Crowns song. Every time I hear this quote in the song I get chills. Think about it for a second. Take a minute to digest what it is saying. It is absolutely unbelievable and something that is forgotten far too often.
The bible was inscribed over a period of 2,000 years. In times of war and in days of peace. By Kings, Physicians, Tax Collectors, Farmers, Fishermen, Singers, and Shepherds. The marvel, is that a library so perfectly cohesive, could have been produced by such a diverse crowd over a period of time which staggers the imagination. Jesus is its Grand Subject, our good its design, and the Glory of God its end.
Chilling huh? Ahhhhhhhh God is so AMAZING!! Nothing even compares!! Hope you all enjoyed the blog!
Miss you all and have a great Spring Break!
T
