Whats in a name?

   You might be wondering what in the world “a kernel” has anything to do with faith and even more, Africa! Coming up with a blog name was probably the hardest part of my journey to Africa! I have wrestled for months trying to come up with something that was meaningful, had to do with Jesus, yet was versatile enough to be used after Africa. In Matthew 17:20 it says “Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there; and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”   I’m not trying to move mountains, but I am going on a little faith, knowing that nothing will be impossible with God. 

    I’ve gotten ahead of myself, let me tell you how this whole thing started!  Over the summer God showed me how self-reliant, and comfortable I had become in Orange County. I felt the urge to move away and be totally reliant on God alone. I searched far and wide for nursing jobs abroad, but didn’t feel right about it. God reminded me why I became a nurse, to show the love of Jesus through hope and healing, and in that moment Mercy Ships came to mind.  I first heard of Mercy Ships a long time ago, before I was a nurse and I was working at my mom’s office. A patient of hers had worked on the Mercy Ship and I knew then that was what I wanted to do! At the end of July I started praying about serving aboard Mercy Ships, and how long I would go for.  God kept responding, “six months.” So I looked on Mercy Ships website and there was a job opening for a surgical ward nurse starting in January for six months! I applied right away knowing I would need to get the ball rolling soon, and by early August I had been accepted for the surgical ward nurse position. Its amazing when I look back on my life and see the hand of God directing my path that leads to this very moment. Four years ago I, along with 12 other people in my class, had applied to one position on a surgical floor. It was the only job I applied for and I was one of the first to interview. I had to wait 2 weeks before I would find out if I got the job, and meanwhile had to hear how everyone else’s interviews went during that time! But, I needed not worry as God had it all under control. I got the job! And four years later I have learned about the very patients I will be taking care of in Togo, Africa! God equips, even if its four years in advance. So that brings me to the here and now.  I’ll be leaving January 22, 2012 for the most amazing journey of my life, I would love if you would join this journey with me!

Going Postal

Some of you have asked if you can send me "snail mail" or packages so I wanted to provide you with some info on how to do that. Just a little info on packages and how that works here (on the ship). Any packages that are sent to the ship usually arrive within about 2 weeks. If you are going to send a package I would appreciate it if you put a little money in the package because I have to pay $8.80/lb for any package I receive. (Yes, that is apart from the postage you have already paid!) Okay, so enough about the nitty gritty here is the address:

Stephanie Fiduk
Mercy Ships IOC
M/V Africa Mercy- Hospital Ward
P.O. Box 2020
Lindale, TX 75771-2020
USA

On another note, some of you have been anxiously awaiting pictures! I took some pictures of my room and then ventured outside to take some of the ship! Only to come to find out that the humidity makes that almost impossible! You'll see what I mean...




My bunk (I have the top...the messy one haha)





This is our whole room which looks small, but is surprisingly roomy. There is a bunk bed, closet, and desk in each "room." And there are 3 "rooms" in my cabin. So far I have 4 roommates, so one of my roommates has no bunkmate! Lucky her.




No it's not foggy out, it's just humid =( Makes for bad photos. This is the clearest photo I have of the ship. Togo is actually really beautiful along the coast. The water is clear blue; the weather is warm and humid with a nice breeze.


More to come...
Saturday I am going to an Orphanage in Lome! And Sunday I am going to Church in the city, I can't wait! See you all soon!

Location:Lome, Togo