and I've never veered starboard, cause I've never sailed at all

On Monday night, our ship was visited by the U.S. ambassador to Benin, James Knight, and his wife, Amelia. We all had received an email saying we could come meet him and get our pictures taken with him and all that fun stuff. I intended to go, as one doesn't often get to meet people of authority like that, but I forgot it was on Monday. I spent the afternoon watching the movie Big Fish with my friend Megan, during which I wept profusely (It moved my soul.), and then I had gotten into my comfy pajamas in order to be better suited to hanging out with my roommate Lisa during her last few minutes on the ship. Then a guy came around and told us that the ambassador was aboard and we should go meet him. So we did. I had my camera with me to document Lisa's final Mercy Shipper minutes, so I got my picture with the U.S. ambassador, who was in a three piece suit, and his wife, who was wearing a nice suit dress herself, while I was in my PJs. Basically amazing. I will post the picture later.

We are starting various increased security procedures as we prepare to set sail (supposedly in 13 days! Wow!). One of these is "swimmer watch," which I have volunteered for. Apparently people attempting to stow away on ships like these will somehow shoot a line onto the ship, shimmy up it, and disappear. So at nights we have people all night in various places on the ship watching for this. Mostly, the visibility discourages this practice. My roommate Kelsey and I signed up this Friday for one of the hour long shifts. I'm really excited for it, as we get to be on the bow (up front) of the ship.

Yesterday morning an oil tanker was attacked by pirates 18 nautical miles off the coast of Benin. Here is a link to an article about it: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=112088&sectionid=351020506
Apparently the attacked ship is at anchorage just outside the harbor, and we can see its lights at night. I am not too worried about this, as I trust our captain and security officers to know what sort of precautions are needed. Plus, we are covered in prayer. So this is something else for everyone to pray for!