One Week in Texas

Currently, it is Sunday evening here in Texas. I have been here at the Mercy Ships campus for exactly 1 week.

After a fun weekend in Dallas, I arrived at the Mercy Ships campus last Sunday afternoon. There was only one other person in the house when I got there. The house is split into two sections, the male side and the female side with a shared kitchen and common area in the middle. So I had the entire female side to myself. I got my room set up and relaxed that night.

On Monday and Tuesday, there were no classes and so I spent the time relaxing and exploring the campus. Over the two days, more people joined our lodge and I got to meet some of the other families who are staying in different houses. I was glad for a couple of days to get settled before classes began.

Our first class, ‘Security Awareness’ began on Wednesday. This was just a half day class with a lecture and a short, multiple-choice exam. Thankfully we all passed.

Thursday was a public holiday for Independence Day (4th of July). It was a great day spent, almost entirely, at the pool. That night, after dinner, we jumped in the vans and headed to a local church for their celebrations. It was a good time socialising with the other Mercy Shippers and we got to enjoy the fireworks which lasted for over 30 minutes.

Friday we were back at class learning about Crowd Management. This was a full day class with a lecture, a couple of practical activities and another exam. Again everyone passed.

The weekend has been very relaxing, with a few more people arriving for the next set of classes. I spent a lot of Saturday at the pool and then today, we went to a local church and then rested for the afternoon.

This coming week we have more classes; these ones will be much more practical, including Firefighting and Water Rescue.

Enjoy some of my photos from the week.