What a Month

What a month and 3 days I have had at home, but it is time. Time to get back to the Africa Mercy and get back to work. I think I have done all my visiting that I am going to get in, said most of my goodbye, and am starting the task of packing AGAIN.

Starting tonight the weather man is calling for a wintery mix. That does not equal good flying weather especially with a layover in the greatest weather delayed airport in the world...Chicago O'Hare.


I depart STL at 11:30 am and and am scheduled to arrive in Tenerife 1:30 pm on Wednesday.


So get ready for another exciting adventure in Africa people! Once I get back and get settled posting will resume as normal. :)

Talk to you all once I get across the rather large body of water that separates us.

Time is FLYING!

Two weeks from yesterday, I will be back in action on the Africa Mercy.

That makes me :

:) :) :) :) :) :) & Excited!

Things to pray about:

1. Funding

2. Benin Dental Team- We are still looking for a place/ facility that will allow us to set up our dental clinic. We thought we had one and it fell through.

3. Time with family and friends

4. My friend Tim and the people of Sudan. Tim is working with Samaritans Purse at the moment rebuilding churches and he emailed me today and informed me of a few villages that were attacked by the LRA. Many people were killed and many people are still missing. He worked in these two villages and is very familiar with them. He prays for Peace, Comfort, and Protection

5. Safe travels from St.Louis to Tenerife to meet back up with the ship and then the sail from Tenerife to Benin starting 31 of January and continuing until some where around the 8 of February I think......

6. Benin OUTREACH

Busy being Home!

Just thought I would give you all a glimpse of how I am spending my time while I am home. Last night or actually early this morning 12:30 am, my brother and I found a long lost hidden treasure in our basement. Thee ORIGINAL Game Boy, and it still works. After a few minutes of brushing up on my gaming skills I was back to playing Super Mario Brothers.......maybe even better than I played 15 years ago. I am loving this time I am getting to spend with Nate and miss him already, and I haven't even left yet.





Tomorrow morning we fly to Colorado for the week to ski the beautiful Rocky Mountains. SNOW SNOW SNOW.... and I can't wait.



Keep me in your prayers as I continue to raise funding and prepare to return to Mercy Ships at the end of this month.

A New Look for A New Year!

I have been working on updating the look and the content of my blog.
As I have been settling in to my short stay at home I have been directing my time towards family,friends, and raising more financial support for 2009.

If you are interested in helping financially support me you can do it through one of the following ways:

Secure Online -by clicking here

or

by sending a check to my Forwarding Agent Kay Blakeman at the following address

Kay Blakeman
c/o jessica campbell
1210 E 7th
Beardstown, IL 62618

For tax purposes, a receipt will be mailed to you. Thanks!

Also if you want to receive my mailings please email me your email address@ jeska297@hotmail.com

Continue to keep me in your prayers as I spend time with family and friends as well as prepare to return to Africa at the end of January.

May you experience Gods love in 2009!

I am HOME!

After 33 hours of traveling, a canceled flight, and a 6 hr delay I have made it home....and it is oh so wonderful. There are time when I find myself in a daze and wonder where am I really and the there are times when I find myself thinking about all of my friends who are still on the ship or at home on holiday....... I am finding it really hard to find words to sum up the past 6 1/2 months and I am also find it hard to express "what my favorite thing was" but I know I am so blessed and thankful to be home with all the ones I love so much.

I have been reunited with best friends/ family and I am looking forward to seeing the rest of them real soon.

I drove my car today

I had GOOD homemade food

I went to church

Took a bath

Slept in a Queen size bed

Played and loved on my Dogs

Held my friends 4 month old baby for the first time

Congratulated Kristy on her engagement

Showed Pictures

Told stories

All in one day!

This will be my last post for at least a few weeks.

More to come once I get fundraising under way and start to prepare to return which by the way I leave January 27 to head to Spain to meet back up with the ship.

So until then I will be fully immersed with friends and family and the fun that comes along with them.

Have a MERRY CHRISTMAS and enjoy the little moments that God has blessed us with.
Often they are the most overlooked but the most abundant.

I'm going home

I have this tear off calendar that I have been reading this year, and a few months ago I remember turning to December 22 and writing Going Home. It wasn't until today that I actually read the quote. I found it rather appropriate and fitting.

My flight leaves Tenerife at 6pm my time and after an overnight layover in Germany, a short stop in Chicago, and a short flight to St.Louis from Chicago I will be home. Pray for good weather and NOOOO snow or ice.

What an Amazing time I have had these past 6month. What an Amazing God we serve.

PS for those of you who don't know I will be returning to the Africa Mercy January 28, for a year in Benin West Africa. So this is not good bye , just a simple vacation home.

More to come on that later.


See you all SOON!

Tenerife Adventures!!!!!

What an action packed last few days I have had here in Santa Cruz de Tenerife. Friday we arrived at 6amish and a few hours later I was shopping, and enjoying the lovely atmosphere of Tenerife.

Friday afternoon a few of us girls could not wait to get into the city's center and do a little shopping. It turned out to be more window browsing than anything. We were all just so excited to be able to walk around in peace with little attention being drawn to us.

After about 2 hrs into our day we all had to sit and talk about how crazy it was that one day we are in one of the poorest countries in the world, the next day we are sailing up the coast of Africa in our home, and the next we are in Spain shopping. It is crazy to think were and what all I have done in the past few weeks/months.

After shopping we went to a little outside Cafe and had dinner and dessert, and after that we roamed around the city and just just simpled enjoyed 1 being able to be out later than 11:00pm and 2 being able to be out and be with just girls and feel safe.

Saturday I hit the road at 6am in pursuit of Mt Teide, the tallest Summit in Spain. And it is was volcanic. A group of 8 of us began they adventure of hiking the mountain around 8:15am. It took us 6hrs just to get the the highest peak. Boy oh boy was it challenging. There were times when I thought I could not take another step. But once I reached the top I was in aww of the Lords beauty. It was so magnificent that I believe I might have gotten a little teary eyed.

After our mountain adventure we went to a German Friends house for super and desert, then back to the ship. I think we arrived back around 10:30pm. What a rewarding day!

Today I was in need of sleep so I slept in and then meet my roommate Carmen for lunch after she got out of church. We had a really nice lunch out side at another cafe and then just sat an talked on a bench for about an hr. Tonight I went to church and packed.....because I leave tomorrow to come HOME for a month! woo hoo

What a great last few days I have had!

Tenerife from the ship

GRASS!!!!!!! oh how we missed grass!

Christmas lights in the trees

A pool in the middle of the city that is supplied with water from the tide of the ocean

a nice tree

City street lights........ wow

Before the hike.... it was so cold. We were guessing about 25degrees

Just getting started

Yep I climbed up that, and really that was the easy part

Regardless of the fact that we thought we were going to die at times, we still took nice photos

Snow!

The active volcano

One of the views from the top

I made it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!