Thankful and Hopeful.

Hello!

Thanks for all your prayers. There is some damage to the boat but we have had a repair man begin repairs and hopefully they will be done tomorrow so we can leave this island.

This afternoon after everything was cleaned up we decided to relax and try and have some fun. We rented a car and travelled around the whole island. I was with three men haha but we actually had so much fun. I am thankful for the relief we found in the beauty of Greece, the fellowship of eachother and all the laughs we shared.

Today turned out to be a good day, but we are all exhausted.I am running on one hour of sleep in the past night. It's currently 11:30pm and we are getting ready to head to bed.

The forcast for tonight is the same as last night which truly scares me. However I know we can make it through and my hope is that we are safe tonight. If all is okay then you won't be hearing from me for at least 3 days as we will be at sea with no towns.

So, thank you again for all your prayers. I will hopefully be updating you in three days which means all went well!

Love, Maryse!

Here are some photos of Skropolis.

Sleepless Night, Horrible Storm.

Hello All,

Unfortunetly I have some not so great news. Firstly before anyone panics everyone on the boat is safe, and we are okay. It's 7:30am now and no one has slept all night or at least past 1:00am. Let me try and explain what has happened.

I fell asleep last night at about 12:30 at 1:00 I woke up and heard terrible winds and Theo our skipper as well as our other crew members were outside talking. I couldn't sleep so I went upstairs and asked what was going on. We were in the harbour and we were with 5 other boats on our side. Theo explained to me that a large storm was coming and he just told me to pray that our anchors held and that everyone elses did too because if someones failed then the boats would go on top of eachother.

Unfortunetly next to our sailboat were two large yachts. This was the direction the wind was blowing in. I went downstairs to put on some pants came back up and realized that the boat next to us which was MUCH bigger than us had there anchor slide they were going to hit us. I freaked, I started shaking, my heart beat raced a thousand miles per minute. For one second it felt as though I was watching the Titanic or a scary movie and then realized it was reality. Theo started yelling at the 6 of us who were currently on board to grab a bouy and place it on the side of the boat. The boat hit us once but luckily we got there in time.

At this point the yacht had to leave harbour or he would hit us, damage our boat, and then we would go on top of the smaller sailboat next to us. Basically he left one string tied to the dock as he tried to pull out so as the wind was blowing. (might I add at 60miles per hour. this is considered a light hurricane) his front end of the yacht came crashing into the front of our boat. He were hit. Everyone was yelling. By this time all the men came up but could do nothing. The yacht tried to go forward at full speed to get out and of course he panicked and ran over our anchor with his propellor we were officially stuck together and he came banging back and hit the front of or boat again. I seriously have never been so scared in my life. 4 hours passed of this commotion, we couldn't unhook him until morning. In the mean time everyone was running around helping us not crash into the boat next to us, as well as getting tires and more bouys for the back of the boat so we didn't hit the dock. It has honestly been the craziest night and everyone is exhausted. We are waiting to hear what the damage is.

Currently back at the boat we have a professional diver in the water as we are getting some day light. The only thing we have found broken and damaged so far is our anchor chain so we won't be leaving Skropolis for a few days. Our deck is covered in salt water because of the high winds, and water that was constantly thrown on board. It is still quite windy but the winds should die down later today.

I am sorry for the long entry but I knew some of you would want to know. Please pray for us as we may be stuck on the island for a few days repairing damages, our crew team and all our members are exhausted, and we truly don't know all the damage and how long it will take to un-tie our boat's anchor with the yachts propeller. I praise God that no one was hurt out of this and we hope that the wind will die down so that tomorrow night nothing bad will happen.

Thank You for listening. I honestly cannot describe how horrible this past night was. I never imagined myself expriencing something like this, it was absoulte chaos. I didn't cry though, knowing that I had hold myself together for the team, and so that I was able to help out with all the things tha constantly needed to be done.

Thank You for your prayers. We do need them. Sorry....one more prayer request: the weather forcast is not looking good for the next few days and the large cove we are in can be dangerous to sail out of. When we are able to leave pray for safety.

I will update later today when I can and when I know more.

God Bless!

Hello From the Greek Islands!

Hello Everyone!

It`s so great to be able to update you all back home. I am currently on an island called skeapthios or something like that. ha It is extremely hot here in Greece but sailing is wonderful.

I wish I could begin to sum up all the neat things I have done and experienced but it will be difficult in one blog entry.

I am enjoying the company of everyone on board. As I mentioned I am the youngest on the boat. The oldest on the boat is a 72 year old man named Doug, my room mate is named Dianna and she is 57. There are three Austrian girls who speak a decent amount of English. Theo is our skipper on the boat and his wife Sandra is the cook. The other three crew members are Joel and Tanya married for 5 years, and a young man named Jonny from England. I am the only memeber on the ship currently living in Canada. There are a few older men who are American and thats about it. It is such a neat experience being with random people around the world.

The sailboat is massive and beauitful! I can`t explain how much work it takes to sail! I have learned all the neat terms about sailing and we have different teams for the fore sail and main sail. It`s so neat! I am the team captain which means my main job is helping with raising and lowering the sails which can be quite difficult and crucial in going quickly.

What else can I say?? There is so much! OH!!! I HAVE BEEN EATEN ALIVE BY MOSQUITOS!! I'll attach a photo of just ONE ARM!! I have been wearing spray this whole time but after the first two nights they found like a mosquito ( almost a nest) in the bottom of my bed. ( MOM YOU WOULD BE SO WORRIED IF YOU SAW HOW MANY BITES I HAD!!!!) Infact...mommy when I was journeling I was writing about how I wished you were here to give me sympathy! haha And Dad you would be laughing at me and make me smile!! haha

Yesterday night we anchored in a small cove on a random island and the REALLY cool thing about it was a few meters from out boat at the bottom of the sand was an old bomb mine from WWII. We got to snorkel around it and I even dove down and touched it. It was really neat! Dad you would have been really interested in this just like me!

So far I am enjoying my time aboard besides the fact that I'm covered in red dots from the mosquitos. lol I never imagined the trip to be like this but its good. We havent really spent alot of time as a group in the word of God but we get lots of down time to relax and do whatever we like.

I thought I would mention that the director of all Capernwray and Torchbearer Schools around the world is on the boat with us for these two weeks. He is our "speaker" and leads us in devotions. He is a really neat guy and has a lot of wisdom. His name is Chris.

I know this blog entry is kind of all over the place but I have limited time and am tring to update on everything I can remember!

Oh....some really neat news for the GIRLS!! Tomorrow we will be anchoring and sleeping over at an island called Skropolis! We will spend a full day there travelling around but MAMMA MIA WAS FILMED HERE!! So...for those of you who have seen the movie the little church at the end were they get married or whatever I GET TO SEE THAT!! So we will do the big walk up that long path and I'll get to see everywhere where they filmed. I thought that was really cool.

Anyway, I really am thinking about everyone back at home ALOT. I pray for each of you on a daily basis and I'm thankful for all your support and prayers!

For now may God Bless you all! I will update again when I can!

Here are some photos:

Sailboat!

Just wanted to let everyone know I got on the sailboat. It's very large and beautiful. We aren't setting sail until tomorrow morning and I have internet right outside a cafe but I won't after tomorrow. I'm really looking forward to getting started. I am the youngest on the boat. There are 16 in total with the crew and most of them are all over 35. No problem though, this is going to be so amazing. Anyway this has to be quick. But I'm happy and excited!
God Bless!
Maryse

Time to set Sail!

Greetings!!

Local Time: 3:00 pm. I'm just getting ready to leave the beautiful hotel in the small village Nea Anchialos. I will be taking the bus (hopefully I can find it) to Volos and then a taxi to the dock on Konstantinos Park where I get on the sailboat.

I am really looking forward to the next two weeks sailing the Greek Islands. Truly I have no idea what to expect or what its going to be like. I'm going into this with no expectations which is actually really exciting. I'm looking forward to spending time in the word of God, meeting new people from around the world, learning more about myself, and just enjoying the beautiful islands of Greece.

So far my trip has been really great. I'm not lonely at all and I'm really soaking up all this time by myself!

As I mentioned before I won't be able to blog alot well I'm on the boat but I will update whenever I can! (They may be long entries). haha

My prayers and thoughts are truly with everyone back home. I do think of you all lots.

Sending my love and smiles,

Maryse

Finally to the Sea!

Hello All!

I know this is my second post for today but I'm going to add some pictures here! I have had a very long day of travelling and I'm exhausted. Basically after 5 hours on the train to Northern Greece, I took a bus to the village I'm staying at got lost, no one spoke English, and therefore it took me two hours to get to my hotel.

No complaints now though because this is beautiful and serene! I never imagined my hotel backing right out onto the beach My room looks out onto the Agean Sea and I feel at peace. This is just so exciting knowing that tomorrow I will get on the sailboat and actually be out there! So it was worth all the trouble and hassel of getting here.

I met the funniest people on the train ride today. I just have to share this. I'll post pictures below but let me tell you the story if you want to here: I sit down on the second train to Volos and I'm sitting with three young women. They were laughing with eachother and just seemed happy. One of the sweet girls tried to ask me where I was from and had little English. I told them from Canada and they were absoultly thrilled. Basically the WHOLE train ride we were all trying to communicate, we were laughing hysterically, and this young man sitting across from us and his fiance knew more english so he started translating back and forth. Basically we laughed for an hour straight and just had mini conversations. They were all such great and friendly people who really made my day. I'm so thankful to have had such a great laugh and so much fun with them!

As far as this evening goes I'm about to go take a swim in the sea and lay on the beach. I was just informed that tonight is their yearly Wine Festival on the beach with live music so I'm totally going to check that out too! I promise to update at least one more time probably tomorrow morning my time before I get on the sailboat. You won't here from me for a few days after that!

Here are some pictures:

I took this photo last night from the top of a shopping centre near my Hostel. That is the Parthenon and I'm really looking forward to seeing it later on in August!

Me, waiting for my train this morning.

Me, getting on the train.

The lovely Greek ladies I met. SOOO funny!

Off to the Train!

Hello All,

It is 8am local time and I've packed up all my stuff and I'm getting ready to travel by train to Northern Greece to a city called Volos. This is where I will get on my sailboat and travel the Greek Islands for 2 weeks. I am looking forward to taking the train and getting somewhere out of the big city!

Yesterday as you know I visited the National Archaeological Museum which was really neat, then I walked around, went to some Greek shops, and had to go on a decently long walk to the train station to purchase my train tickets. I had a really interesting evening last night. haha I met a group of some very funny Australians who were quite fun, we laughed alot and then watched the riot/protest together. Let me explain:

I was kind of a bit scared myself but they seemed to think it was fine. I guess the Nigerians who live here did some work on Greek buildings, didn't get payed, and therefore are protesting. They were lighting things on fire (and i mean lots of things), throwing garbage, and screaming into microphones as they marched the streets. And of course I find out that my hostel is in the Ghetto...so guess where they were marching??? haha RIGHT OUTSIDE!!! lol

Anyway, I am safe and all is well. It's probably a good thing I'm leaving Athens and then staying at a different hostel when I'm back! :)

Well, I will update once I arrive safely in my hotel in Volos. After that there will be limited updates when I'm on the sailboat.

My prayers are with you all back in Canada. Please keep praying for me as well!

Love, Maryse