Cruising across the northern Pacific

Busan, Korea Cathedral

What a delight for me to experience meeting two lovely ladies in black business suit attire that spoke English to take me by the hand and walk me through the cathedral in Busan, Korea.  This was not an average cathedral.  It was awesome.  The high ceilings were decorated with a chandelier.  The staircase was elegant with tastefully delicate designs, and lit candles on the walls.  The floors were shined with not a particle of dust in sight, and what appeared to be inlaid gold.  There was organ music softly playing, and the piano was gold with petite designs on the sides and the inside of the top that was open had a lovely painted pastoral scene.   

This is one of my favorite towel characters.  Every day you did not know what to expect from the stewards that cleaned your room, and made your bed. It was different every day, and so fun to see what they could do with those crisp, lovely white hand and bath towels. 

The monkey hanging from the hanger is made from one of my used bath towels which I thought was so cute and funny.  When the ship was going through some rough waters it started swinging to the rhythm of the waves.    

I really enjoyed walking around the dining rooms that would seat hundreds of people, and looking at the many plates with etchings of fish.   I asked one of the servers what kind of fish they were, and they would make up a story for me. 

Japan, Korea, and Russia I walked for miles in the cities, country and I never saw trash on the sidewalks, curbs, fields, or streets. 

The Holland America ship housed between 1500-2000 people. It had more stores for shopping than where I live in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho.  I got lost every day, and one of the crew would escort me back to my room on floor three. 

One of my most precious memories that I will carry in my heart is the 70 piece orchestra with the children’s choir singing, and waving goodbye to us as we left the port at Nagasaki, Japan.

I am sure everyone does not smoke in Japan, but I noticed more people smoking that I have ever seen anywhere, and tobacco is cheap, cheap.

This was a first for me to see such huge icebergs with seals that would slide on and off of them, and the fins of whales nonchalantly surfacing in and out of sight. 

Would I like to go on a cruise again?  You must be kidding.  I would love to go on a cruise again. It was one of the best experiences of my life.  I met many new folks, gave away all the copies of the first book that I wrote COAL MINER’S GRANDDAUGHTER that I brought with me, and wish I had more. I was able to share with many how I came to know the Lord through the ministry of Mrs. Billy Sunday, wife of the renowned Evangelist Billy Sunday, who was speaking at a small church in St. Petersburg, Florida when I was a sophomore in High School. 

The library had a great selection of books, pamphlets in many subjects, up to date daily newspapers, and well cataloged with a qualified librarian. It was comfy to sit in a lounge chair looking out in the ocean with floor to ceiling windows.  There were activities than you could take part in but one of my favorite was the game Trivia with four to a group.  There were usually 20 to 25 groups. The group I was in won one time.  We were given a set of coasters. 

Many folks would swim in the indoor and outdoor pools, but for some reason and I love to swim I just did seem to have the time.  

Honda 50

This photo was taken of me riding Jacob’s yellow 50cc Honda motorcycle on the dirt trails in and around the Mukinge Hospital and Secondary school in Kasempa, Zambia.  Now this is not just an ordinary motorcycle.  This motorcycle folds up and Jacob packed it in his suitcase at our home in Tukwila, Washington to make the long trip to Chingola, Zambia. We made several stops en route to Zambia where we had to go through customs in many countries, and of course it is a shock for the custom officials to see a real motorcycle in the suitcase of my son, Jacob, who was a second grade student and six years old. We gave him the motorcycle as a present when he had his cast taken off his leg after orthopedic surgery.

 On one of the trips to Mukinge the yellow motorcycle had a flat tire.  Of course there was nowhere to buy a tire for the motorcycle, and one of the missionionaries at Mukinge was an AEF pilot from the Seattle, Washington area fixed it.  I can’t believe how he fixed it.  Guess what?  He sewed it. When Jacob outgrew it we sold it to a family that were residents in Chingola who had a son that was Jacob’s age but smaller in size whose dad owned an Isuzu/Mitsubishi business.

During this time there were freedom fighter camps.  This did not present a problem. You did not enter their territory and vice versa. Pepper came home between terms from the Rift Valley Academy in Kijabe, Kenya, and he and Jacob would hop on the motorcycle with Pepper as the driver and toodle around the area. The local kids would lock arms at the end of the streets thinking the boys would turn around, but Pepper would just race the motor and challenge them and fly on through waving their arms.  It was all in fun. The boys never told us that they drove in and out of the freedom fighter camps, and had loads of fun talking with the men. 

The clothes I am wearing in this photo was given to me from a Southern Baptist school teacher in Miami, Florida.  Did it ever come in handy as our containers for six months after our arrival in Zambia were being shipped back and forth from Lusaka, Zambia to Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.

Bobbies

Here I am standing between two metropolitan policemen that everyone refers to them as Bobbies.  Even though it was a slightly rainy day it was a fun day of tramping through London.  These fellas were serious and did not say a word when I asked to stand between them to have a photo taken of the three of us.  Here I am wearing my funny pants, and my friend’s jacket walking around with Mike Brooks who lives in Kent with his wife, Patricia, that I knew when my husband Bill worked with him at the Nchanga Copper Mines in Chingola, Zambia.  I thanked them for being so nice to be photographed with me and they still did not mutter a word.  We walked away in a hurry as the rain was pelting down just a little more so we stepped into a local shop and had a lovely cup of tea with a scone oozing with butter. 

Victoria Falls One of the 7th Natural Wonders of the World

The Victoria Falls or Mosi-oa-Tunya the Cloud that Thunders is a waterfall located in southern Africa on the Zambezi River between Zambia and Zimbabwe (formerly Rhodesia.)

The Zambezi River begins in Kalene, Zambia where Jacob attended the Sakeji School. The founder of the school was the dad of Jim Hess, a Brethren missionary that lived in Chingola, Zambia where we lived from 1976 till we returned to the states in early 1986.  It is not impressive when you first see it as it is just a small piece of wood with the words Source of the Zambezi River inscribed crudely on it, and there is just a trickle of water but WOW that trickle of water gained momentum as it plunged down furiously and is now known as the infamous Victoria Falls. 

When I first saw Victoria Falls I understood how Dr Livingstone must have felt. He had gone many days without having access to water. Just my first sight and feeling of the dampness in the air miles away before you reached the Victoria Falls gave me goose bumps on my moist skin as I was so hot and uncomfortable.  All four of had wet clothes due to the spray of water. There was one pathetic looking tree with a branch reaching out a ways over the falls, and Pepper at ten years of age climbed the tree and before I noticed him he was way out sitting on the branch of the tree and nothing but water rushing underneath him. I was scarred beyond words, and quietly asked him to climb back down and stand over where we were as the view was still spectacular.   Looking back at these photos I realize how fortunate we were as a family to experience such an awesome adventure.  It was a blessing that Jim and Rhoda Hess drove us to Livingstone, and we were able to stay with Piet and Rosemary Combrink in their home who had children the ages of our sons.

Northwest Christian Writers Renewal

I just returned from the Northwest Christian Writers Renewal in Redmond, Washington.  It was called IMAGINE.  The keynote speaker was Marshal Younger. He was a most inspiring speaker.  He is not only a writer but also a director, producer, TV film and radio that include “Adventures in Odyssey”.  My son, Jacob, and I drove there in my Mercedes Benz that was totally “made new”. I had the wreck shipped from California to Post Falls, Idaho where a friend of ours made it like new.  It performed well.  I really enjoyed the conference, and it was a blessing to share it with my son, Jacob.  Out of all the things I learned some of the classes were on blogging (social media).  I should have listened to my son, Jacob, who has it on my calendar that pops up three times a week.