count down: three weeks

I can't believe June is over already and the last rotation of volunteers will be arriving in a couple of days. The June group made my job cake the last few weeks. It really has been a joy to be a leader out here. It has given me so much opportunity to grow.

My buddy Ryan and me after church on Sunday.
We have a steady flow of friends coming to check out our church services. We are asked loads of questions and I've had fun answering them. It's fun to talk with my friends about their perceptions of Mormons and how we have turned out to be just normal people after all. And happy. 'why do you guys smile so much?'


The ship's Bos'n has hooked me up with a great project to work on in my downtime. I'm slowly painting a deck chair made of pallets. His lair is at the bow of the ship where the hull curves in and the anchor clanks around somewhere behind the bulkhead. It isn't air conditioned so I can only paint so long before I'm smearing my work and needing a saline drip.
I like hanging around in there surrounded by a gold mine of interesting supplies. The radio picks up a little bit of the local music when the ship swings in the right direction and it smells like linseed oil, one of my all time favorite smells. Bos'n puts off a don't mess with me vibe and his door doesn't exactly advertise a warm invitation to come in and visit. I quietly got wedged my way into his good graces and will be forever grateful for him allowing me access in to a space where I can go to hang low.