Welch Family 

Welch Family 

Welch Family on Outreach 

Welch Family 

This week we held two screenings for Eye Surgeries on Tuesday and Wednesday. There was also a screening for Dental on Friday. Some of the people were standing in line since 2 am. There were about 300 people each day for screening. The screening was only a preliminary screening and the candidates for surgery were given a pass to be able to come to the Dock Side Unit for a full screening for surgery.

Screening days are difficult due to many people we are unable to help due to the type of injury to the eye. The eye must be healthy and have potential to be corrected. Our Outreach Team comes alongside the Medical Team to pray with those unable to be treated. There will be more screening days after the full screening has been done to find more patients to help! Also as the Community Development Team goes out into the villages, they will take some passes with them for surgery candidates they may see. Look below at the pictures of the screenings from October 5th.

Eye Surgery Screening in Trujillo, Honduras

Dr. Steve Farris, optometrist, with a patient checking her vision

Patient screening cards (blue) and companion card (yellow) for the person coming with the patient. All the paperwork must be done for the patients to be able to come to the ship with the new security restrictions.

Waiting...waiting....waiting...

Praying with people who are not surgery candidates

Precious little ones waited with their parents for long hours

Giving companion cards to those accompaning patients for further screening

More waiting...waiting...waiting

Dr. Steve Farris examining a Honduran man's eye.

We are in Honduras! We docked in Puerto Castilla, Honduras about 7 am on Thursday, Sept. 30th! The Commander of the Honduaran Naval Base here rode out on one of the ships to greet us and he had Hank Miller, one of our Advance Team Members out on the ship with him! The troops of the Naval Base were standing lined up on the dock! Quite an impressive greeting! We were very honored and wish we could show you a picture...but pictures of the Navy Base are not allowed! So we honor them by not taking pictures. The following is a picture looking from the other side of the bay in Trujillo, Honduras.

The view of the Bay from Trujillo, Honduras

September 2004 - Newsletter

Hello Friends,
We pray that this letter finds you in good health, and safe from the hurricane season. We are currently at the International Operations Center (IOC) in Lindale, Texas. We are part of the 85 members of our crew that evacuated the m/v Caribbean Mercy when she sailed from Mobile, Alabama to seek safer waters from Hurricane Ivan. The essential sailing crew of 23 members took the ship out on Monday night, September 13th at approximately 2000hrs (8:00pm). The decision to bring the ship out of the port on Monday night proved to be a great decision. Earlier that afternoon the port of Mobile determined that the ships would need to evacuate the harbor by the next morning. As you can see by the pictures the ship was in rough seas and rolling back and forth from the Hurricane, even though the ship was able to be well away from the actual Hurricane. Focus on the horizon in these pictures to see the degree of the roll. These pictures were taken from the fixed Bridge Camera.

Rolling port - to see how much the ship is rolling ....make the horizon straight on your computer screen! 

After working all day, securing our offices, cabins and packing to leave we were already tired. Those of us not sailing boarded our various vehicles and prepared for the twelve hour drive to the International Operations Center (IOC) in Garden Valley, Texas. We were able to depart the port about 7:30 PM. By the time we reached the IOC at 0630 the next morning Denise and I had been up and working for over 24 hours. Rob was able to go get some sleep and Denise attended a 10 am meeting with all of the Human Resources Directors at the IOC, Anastasis and Africa Mercy Ships. Denise managed to get about three hours of sleep after the meeting and prior to community worship at 4:45pm. We slept really well that night!

Starboard roll!  

We have continued to work and assist here at the IOC as best we can; augmenting the staff here in any area we can, while we await the word to return to Mobile, Alabama. The ship has moved to just outside the bay and is awaiting the Coast Guards reopening of the port. The city of Mobile, Alabama was spared a direct hit by hurricane Ivan, for which we are all thankful and praise the Lord for answered prayer! The port has to be assessed to determine if the harbor is passable for river traffic. The hurricane managed to damage or move many of the channel markers in Mobile Bay.

Car on I-10 near Pensacola (picture from the Internet) after Hurricane Ivan! 

We are staying at the home of John and Ruth Hensman while we are at the IOC. They are good friends and classmates from our Crossroads in 2002! We have had a wonderful time with them and their son, Josh! John serves as the Warehouse Manager for Mercy Ships and without the work done here at the IOC…we wouldn’t be able to serve the poor and needy during outreach! Ruth serves in Resource Development and was able to join the Caribbean Mercy last June in Honduras during our outreach when she hosted a vision trip for donors to Mercy Ships. Josh just returned from the Anastasis where he served short term as a part of the deck crew! He will be joining the Navy in November.

John, Ruth and Josh Hensman (visit their website- www.anchorofmercy.com) 

Our itinerary is currently adjusted day by day as there are many unknowns concerning the Port of Mobile; the condition of the warehouse in which much of our cargo was stored, and how this delay will affect our outreach to Honduras. We are very much looking forward to going back to Honduras to see the Moringa trees growing and reconnecting with the many people that we met. We trust in God’s timing and provision. We have learned that at the times when we trust God for His timing and ways…He is faithful! When we reflect upon how God has provided for us and directed our paths we are blessed and God is glorified more than when we move in our own knowledge going forward. We continue to go forward with confidence and trusting the way has already been prepared for us. As we continue to go forward in faith, we thank God for each of you our friends. You are a gift to us, a gift that stands the test of time and distance. We can not begin to tell you how much we cherish you.

Children planting the moringa tree seeds! 

As we have become busy over these past several months, please forgive us if we have not written to you as often as we would have liked, please forgive us if we have not called you as often as we would have liked, but please believe you were in our prayers and thoughts daily as we seek to accomplish the task we have been blessed with. Many of you have asked if our commitment with Mercy Ships is about over. Our initial commitment of two years will be completed in December and we are excited that we still have the strong sense and belief that this is exactly where God wants us to continue to serve. We appreciate your continued support, both with your prayers and your financial support. We know the monthly support you provide for us is sacrificial giving and we are humbled to be the recipients. This has been one of the areas we have had to grow in the most (more me than Denise). We have always been self supporting and “paid our own way”. In this venue we did not have to trust fully in God to provide our needs. We are still learning and trusting, thank you for your faithfulness. Thank you for trusting God and listening to His direction as you speak into our lives, with your words, actions, and prayers.
May God bless you as you serve Him with your lives!
God’s blessings,
Rob and Denise

Rob and Denise

Continuation of June Newsletter - June 27th

We got very busy getting things ready to sail and didn’t have time to finish the June newsletter until today. We sailed all day yesterday from Puerto Castilla, Honduras and arrived here in Cozumel, Mexico this morning. We are happy and blessed to have cleared our first port with the new security regulations! We will stay here until Friday, July 9th. The plan while we are here is to have all the crew get 3 days off (most of you will have a long weekend with 3 days off!) In order for all of our crew to get off we must rotate the shifts…so those of us who usually work during the week and are off (at least for the most part) on weekends… we fill in for the crew that doesn’t! This includes the deck and engineering crew which only some of the crew is trained to fill in! Also, the galley, housekeeping and dining room staff! Another part of the challenge is that we also have added duties as security patrol for a few days before we leave to sail from a foreign port. We (Rob and I) plan to get away from the ship overnight to the other side of the island, maybe tomorrow night! We’ll see! Basically, we are trying to get away from our duties for just a bit which seem to follow you 24/7 when you live and work on a ship!

Sailing to Cozumel, Mexico 

Denise has been working very hard on our website, www.mercywatch.com, we try to load new pictures at least weekly. Sometimes this is not possible, not because we don’t try to, but because with storm fronts in New Orleans, LA where our switch is we can not get a good connection so we can’t upload the information. So if you happen to visit the website and notice that our usual Sunday night update hasn’t taken place, try checking back on Monday because we’ll get the information out there as soon as possible.

Denise at the office 

Richardo reminded us of the story in the Bible of the woman who was caught in the act of adultery and how the towns people had led her out to be stoned and how Jesus told them that those without sin to cast the first stone. How one by one they all dropped their stones and left. Eventually she was left alone with Jesus who asked her where her accusers where. Jesus did not accuse her and admonished her to go and sin no more. We have seen this same story unfold before us with Esmerelda, she was not caring for her children and her own parents, brother and family lived within 100 feet of the “Chicken Coop” where the five children lived, yet would have nothing to do with her or her children. The children were not cared for, she seemed in a helpless situation, depressed and having little or no ability to change her situation.

Esmeralda and her family at the "chicken coop" house, after the crew cleaned up the kids and the house. 

Now several weeks later, many prayers later, her children are being cared for by her, she has repented of her sins and previous lifestyle. Her family has reunited with her. Mercy Ships CDS staff and crew have built her a new home, the crew has taken a collection of clothes, personal hygiene items, new furniture, a new propane stove to help equip her new home. They have taken new beds and made new curtains for the windows. The Lord has lifted her and her family up out of the pit of depression and damnation she had been in. She has connected with a local church and Pastor Nahum is looking after her and her family to ensure their continued pastoral care. We will be excited to visit them upon our return in September to share in the changed lives we will surely see. Praises be to God!!

You are a part of this, each of you, our prayer warriors and faithful supporters. Thank you for continuously interceding on behalf of us and on behalf of this ministry. We know the miracles we see and experiences we have, would not, could not, happen without continued fervent prayer. Thank you!!

Esmeralda's new house (the house the crew built) and some of our crew members who came for the dedication of the house. 

We hope you are enjoying looking at the website and all the pictures! We think it is important to share these with you … so you can see what God is doing through you! We pray for you and think of you often, as we close this newsletter our constant prayer for you is this... “That your life will be as wonderful as it was in the mind of God the day He made you!”

God’s blessings,
Rob and Denise

Rob in his office and Blake, our 4th engineer.