Up date on Screening, yesterday...

So sad to think of the people we came to help that we weren't able to screen today! Please pray that God will make a way for them.  Please pray today for our Leadership as they look for a way forward to see those we couldn't yesterday. We were able to do several hours of screening.  We do have plenty of patients to begin the surgeries with, so it won't affect the surgery schedule as far as I know. We had a good debriefing meeting last night. Lots of questions...working on the answers. Seeking God to see His way! Our hearts are broken for the people of Sierra Leone. Thank you all for your prayers! Link to the article about the Screening Tragedy ---> Here.

View of the ship from outside the Port

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Originally uploaded by keith.brinkman.

Our ship is surrounded by containers and just down the road from the Hope Center (where our Dental Clinic and Hospitality Center are). This is the view from outside the Port.

Please Pray for Screening Today!

Screening Day - Togo 2010

We arrived in Sierra Leone a week ago, today!  It's been an incredible week!!  And tomorrow is our surgical screening at the Sierra Leone National Stadium!  Tomorrow is the day that we will screen hundreds, perhaps thousands of potential patients.  People that are usually hidden away or outcast from their communities.  We will look in their eyes to see them as Jesus does.  There are probably people there waiting already at the stadium as I write this... local people have told me this week that people have already come from the outside of Freetown in hopes that they will receive a surgery that will release them from their bondage!  Please pray for us as we listen to the Holy Spirit intensely tomorrow, so that each person who comes will receive what God has them there for!  It may be prayer, it may be a touch, it may be a hug, it may be someone who will listen, it may be a word spoken, it may be love shown.  We don't know, but God does and we will be His hands and feet!  Thank you so much!

Where are we?

Location 19 Feb
Originally uploaded by MercyWatch.

We are headed to Sierra Leone and currently we are in the Atlantic Ocean well off the coast of Angola! I'm thinking that we will soon be as far into the Ocean as this ship has ever sailed! We are having a wonderful smooth sail and most of the crew are really enjoying it! Last night they played sock golf and Friday night was Karaoke in the cafe! Thanks for all your prayers!

Water, Water, Everywhere

Hello Friends,

We are sailing on the Africa Mercy en route to Freetown, Sierra Leone.  This simple statement seems totally lacking in describing what has transpired to arrive at this point. Since September of 2010 actually for a period of five months and ten days the Africa Mercy underwent a major renovation project in the Southern African Shipyard in Durban, South Africa.   The picture below was taken by a plane as we were sailing out of Durban down the narrow channel in the port.

During this project the four original Frichs Auxiliary Generators were removed along with two of the original MAN B&W Alpha engines that had previously been converted to Harbor Generators and both of the Sabroe Air Conditioning plants used for cooling decks 2,5,6 and 7.

Out with the old and in with the new…four new MAN Diesel Generators, two new Carrier Air conditioning units and associated controls, new wiring in excess of 7 kilometers was installed.

This list is by no means complete but just gives you a general idea that a very complicated and difficult project phase has been completed successfully by God’s grace. 

Denise’s thoughts: Just imagine how many cables are connected to your desktop computer….if you get a new one and disconnect all those cables and put in a new one and connect the new ones … usually Rob and I would both do this one on top of the desk and one of us below.  Dropping down cables to connect and wiggling them to be sure we have the right one!  So that in your mind.  Think hundreds of cables snaked through the deck heads and walls from the bridge on Deck 7 to the control panel on Deck 2 and to the new Generators and A/C units on Deck 1!  Back to the computer – one mismatched cable….it doesn’t work quite right!  This doesn’t even try to explain all the piping work!  We are so amazed that all the testing is completed successfully and we are on our way! This has been an incredible project!   Thank you so much to the technical team and project team and contractors!  And especially to God who gets all the Glory! 

Here is a link to a video that we took on our last Sunday at the church we attended while in South Africa (Northside Church) ----> Monkeys

Back to Rob….

We had a short 24 hour stop in Cape Town to fuel up the ship, drop off contracted crew and give the crew a short time to explore and rest (?).

Here is a link to a video of some seals playing in the harbor as we approached Cape Town ---->  Seals

For those of you interested…. a link to Photos from our 24 hours of Cape Town is here--> 24 hours)

Most of the crew went out exploring and we decided to go to Hout Bay, a fishing village on the other side of the Cape Peninsula.  We took the Blue Line Hop on Hop off bus, so we also were able to see around the town and up the coast back to Cape Town. 

Denise and I are excited as we draw nearer and nearer to Freetown, Sierra Leone where we will serve for the next ten months. Since our last field service in Togo we both have changed jobs. Denise in her new role as Mercy Ministries Coordinator will be coordinating teams of crew as we partner with local ministries to come alongside them and bless them by showing love and deeds that can be done on our crew’s off time.  These partners could possibly include Prison Fellowship, Pastors, Homes for the Elderly, Children, Physically and Mentally Challenged, Schools, Hospitals, etc.  Rob’s new role is supporting the team in the Stewards Department as the Stores Manager ordering and keeping track of our “Food” and other necessary items.  We look forward to serving in these new ways!

The picture below is of the Africa Mercy as we leave Cape Town, next stop Freetown, Sierra Leone!  It’s exciting to be on our way and in a little over a week … we should be there!! 

We are excited to be reunited all together again as crew onboard as we sail to Freetown, Sierra Leone.  During the season at Appelsbosch and in the shipyard God has brought our community even closer together.

As we’ve gone through challenges together, uncertainties as to schedules, learning new tasks, working outside of our normal area of responsibilities, we’ve become more humble, more adaptable and certainly we have learned to trust God even more and to rely on Him and not ourselves.  God has blessed us abundantly as we serve Him!  He is so faithful!

We thank you for standing with us during this season with your prayers, letters, emails and financial support; we are grateful and humbled by your faithfulness.

Our prayer for you is  - May your life be as wonderful as it was in the mind of God the day He made you!  We look forward to all God has planned for us in Sierra Leone!

God’s blessings,

Rob and Denise

currently sailing off the coast of Angola in the South Atlantic

Merry CHRISTmas!

Merry Christmas!
Originally uploaded by MercyWatch.

We hope your Christmas is full of peace, joy and love! May God bless you abundantly as you celebrate His incarnate coming to earth in the form of a baby born in the town of David, Bethlehem!

New Logo on the Ship’s Funnel goes up!

 

A larger version of the Mercy Ships logo is added to the funnel of the Africa Mercy - one of the many additional projects underway in the Durban shipyard in South Africa.

Looking good!

(Photo: Chuck Dodgen)

We thank God for you and all our blessings!

Happy Thanksgiving to all our Friends and Family!

Where does the time go? It seems we just completed the October Newsletter and it is already near the end of November and so much to tell you! We pray this Newsletter finds you all in good health and good spirits! And looking forward to Thanksgiving and Advent!

We will have a Thanksgiving feast as the Stewards department is planning a lovely dinner for us all as we celebrate and International Thanksgiving!  We wish all of you a wonderful day and however you celebrate it or when ever you celebrate giving thanks to the Lord....it blesses HIM!

One of the new Carrier Air Conditioning units



We give thanks that much progress has been made on the Africa Mercy as she has been in dry-dock near us in Durban. This is one of the new Carrier air conditioning units! These have been put on the ship and are in process of being installed. The ship has now moved out of dry dock and is in the water alongside the dock in the shipyard as work continues.

One of the Frichs generators coming out!

The two Harbour generators have been removed, the four Frichs auxiliary generators have been removed, and the two Sabroe air conditioning units have been removed along with all associated ancillary equipment. These generators are 30 years old and the new replacements will save fuel as well as being more reliable and provide a quieter environment for the hospital, allowing us to fully utilize all 6 operating rooms and all 4 wards.  This is a picture of one of the generators coming out of the ship!

 The four new MAN generators are now onboard and are in process of being connected onboard along with the two new Carrier air conditioning units.

One of the new MAN generators

The two access holes cut in the side of the ship have been welded back, the ship floated again and moved from dry-dock. There is much work to reconnect all the wiring and run the new wiring and install the control units in the engine room and on the bridge. There is also pipefitting work to do in the connection of the cooling and fueling systems for the generators and A/C units.

Much work is taking place all over the ship as different systems are upgraded and annual inspections are performed. The web address on the side of the ship has been repainted and is much larger. We can now easily find our cabin window as it is over the "g" on the starboard side.



This picture gives you an idea of the size of our ship! You don't often see the underside below the surface. We thank the various crew members and Mercy Ships for sharing their pictures of the ship as the work progresses. We are able to work at the ship for a day once a week and usually go there on Thursdays to do our work. It takes us an hour and a half each way riding on the shuttle bus to the ship and back. Rob is preparing the food storerooms for shelving to be installed and I am taking inventory of the staff development library.

Please continue to pray for the safety of the crew and shipyard workers as they labour to complete these many projects. You can read and see much more pictures about this on the Mercy Ships page, "Power the Vision".

We are thankful for a short break we were able to take over the weekend a few weeks back and went on a overnight trip with a few of our fellow crew members. It was an amazing time! The tour company picked us up from Appelsbosch and we began our three hour ride northeast up along the coast.





The Dumazulu Village

Our first stop was a recreated Zulu village where we observed and were guided through the many aspects of daily life in a traditional Zulu village. This was much like visiting an American Indian Reservation where the people dress and act as they would have during the 1800s or some other time period. Since we are actually living just outside a current day Zulu village, it is much different how they live now. They actually have a lot of the same issues as current day American Indians (such as drinking, etc.) living on reservations. 



Rob, hand fighting spear and shield

We saw the makings of the two different types of spears they use along with the shields. We entered one of the huts and our guide explained the arrangement of the sleeping quarters, cooking area and various utensils found within the hut as well as the construction of the hut. We also observed the making of baskets and pots by the women of the village. It was interesting to learn about their dress and how it told of the marital status of the woman.



This was followed by observing some traditional dancing by the villagers.


The dancing was followed by a wonderful lunch freshly cooked just outside of the village. We've tried to explain in detail about all we learned at the village in the photo album or slideshow, "Dumazulu Village". If you watch the slideshow, be sure to turn on the details in the right hand corner to read the commentary.



After lunch we went over to the Hluhluwe (pronounced shoe -shoe -we) Game Reserve. We boarded our 4X4 open vehicle for a 3 hour Safari ride through the Reserve. We had a very knowledgeable guide who took his time to explain the wildlife to us.



Our guide explained things like why were the stripes of the zebra a different colour than the usual black and white? Why did they appear to be browner? It was because of the drought and lack of access to the normal vegetation that makes up their diet.



We were able to see, zebras, Cape buffalo, white rhinos, giraffes, elephants, wart hogs, impalas, and nyala (The Nyala is a Southern African antelope). We even had a stand off with a Cape buffalo with our 4X4...he wouldn't let us past. We waited there until another vehicle came the other way and were able to coax the buffalo off the road and up the hill.  Amazing!   I can't get the video to upload...so I'll keep trying and send out a link when it goes out there...



A giraffe came right down the road towards us and we saw many elephants and a giraffe that came face to face with a bull elephant and took off the other way! We watched as the giraffe let the elephants pass and then quickly made a run for it in the direction he wanted to go! It is truly amazing to see the animals in the natural habitat! God is amazing! 

After riding and seeing all of these wonderful animals we headed to our lodging for the night at Hluhluwe game reserve where we were greeted by a very friendly meerkat. This meerkat was so funny!  It acted like a cat and followed everyone to their room and even got into a couple of rooms.  In one room was a family with 2 little girls and two beds.  The meerkat got up on the bed and the girls were in the other bed.  Well the meerkat wanted to get on the bed with the girls and kept trying to jump over and the mom blocked it, so they had to finally coax him carefully out the door!  When it wanted to come into your room, it would scratch on the door!  Here's a short video I took of the meerkat outside!

In the morning, we woke up early as the sun come up just after 5 am.  I had to look outside to see if there were any animals around.  Sure enough...two impalas across from our room and then I looked towards the trees and a couple of warthogs were about 100 feet from me.  I didn't dare go out but wanted their picture. 

So I cracked the door...thinking I could close it quick if they started to run towards me.  Well... they finally (probably 5 minutes) ran off and then I looked around the corner of the building and 6 giraffes were there eating the tops of the trees!  Here's a short video of the giraffe's having breakfast taken from the wall outside of our room!  Giraffes

We are thankful that we are so privileged to serve with Mercy Ships.  Rob is settling in more to his new role in the Stewards department and Denise is enjoying being back at her role in Staff Development. Each day we are thankful for the opportunity to serve with the talents God has given us. Our opportunities to serve the people here in South Africa are limited as we are not on a regular field service.  We are busy planning for the Sierra Leone field service next year and doing those things that you just can't seem to do when field service is in full gear! 

This is the first time we have had some official ministries going on while the ship is in shipyard! It is a blessing to serve the people here in South Africa!   The Mental Health team just finished up teaching in several different locations around Kwa Zulu Natal to the church leaders.  The Dental Team has had some exciting times serving here, including a day when sunny weather turned into some real hail!  The Eye Team has also just finished up it’s service in several location of the Eastern Cape area. 

We are thankful that we had an opportunity to serve the village just outside the gate of Appelsbosch.  Rob and I were able to help with painting a parsonage for the Lutheran church in the village.  It was an interesting time for all as we really didn’t have the proper equipment to paint the outside of this house!  I used a machete as a scraper.  The paint was peeling off the house, so I asked did we have any scrapers….and this young man from the local church handed me his machete!  You can see some more pictures by going here…. Painting  Check out the scary ladder!  Oh my! 

We’re sure you must have finished your coffee or tea by now and so we’ll continue in the next newsletter.  We want you to know how thankful we are that you continue to support us here by your prayers, encouragement and financial support.  Thank you so much!  You are a part of what God is doing here in Africa!  We couldn’t be here without you!  We are blessed because of you and we pray that the blessings of God will pour out to you!  May you be abundantly blessed as you thank God for all that He is doing through you! 

God’s blessings,

Denise and Rob



Painting the parsonage for a new pastor in Appelsbosch

 

Rob is looking on as Denise cleans the scraper (machete).  One of the local guys let me borrow a scraper….little did I know it would be a machete!  I should have known! 

 

 

 

 

Denise is brushing off the dust after the sanding to prepare for the paint to come!

 

 

 

 

 

 

We really had a GREAT time preparing the parsonage for the new pastor to come.  He is supposed to arrive in February, so this is an ongoing project.  The Mercy Ship kids have begun to help weekly as a service project! 

 

 

 

Leah was able to stand on the ledge of the window to paint the upper part of the window.  We didn’t have the proper accessories for painting…such as a ladder! 

Greetings from Kwa Zulu Natal, South Africa!

MercyWatch     10 October 2010 Greetings from Kwa Zulu Natal, South Africa! The flags above were flying from the mast as we were coming into the port in Durban,  South Africa.  The yellow flag is to invite the customs officials to come onboard for inspection and clearance for the ship and crew.  The other flag is the Republic of South Africa country flag!  We always fly the flag of the nation we are entering into.  Photo credit: Dag Tvedt Arrival in Durban, South Africa! On 01Sept2010, we arrived in the port of Durban, South Africa.  The Harbor Pilot arrived by helicopter!  This was the first time on the Africa Mercy that the pilot arrived from the sky instead of from a Pilot boat pulled alongside!  The harbor in Durban does this all the time!   We had to have special drills to practice for a helicopter arrival and painted a big yellow dot on the aft of Deck 8 as the arrival zone!  All of the deck had to be cleared of anything that might be blown away as the force of the wind from the helicopter blades was very strong!   The fire teams were on alert and ready in case of an accident and the crew was cleared from the aft of the ship just as a precaution.  The arrival was very smooth and we had no problems.  You can watch a video (thank you, Pete for taking the video) of the delivery of the pilot by clicking here:          Pilot Arrival Video  (Any one on the Africa Mercy can not see this Video - please ask Denise or Pete Johnson to see the video). Before we sailed into the harbor, the deck crew on the bow of the ship, stopped their work to pray for our safe arrival and for the country of South Africa that we were entering!  The crew stood alongside the railings as we sailed into the beautiful Durban harbor.  We were all excited to be coming into South Africa and to see the sites of Durban from the ship as we sailed in! If you look closely, you can see Rob standing along the rail on Deck 7.  We had been watching the coastline along the horizon for several days as we sailed up the coast.   After 17 days of sailing from Togo, we were ready to be on land again!  We did see many  dolphins, whales and flying fish along the way!  We had a wonderful sail and are now no longer slimy pollywogs, but trusty shellbacks!   27 hours later.......  Appelsbosch! As soon as we docked and were cleared by customs and immigration, we had literally piles of work to do!  Our friend, Penny, came to welcome us to South Africa and see the ship sail in.  She even helped with all the work of moving boxes and equipment from the offices and Academy (school onboard) to the mid-ships pre-staging area on Deck 5.  The Academy had over 200 boxes alone! All of the offices and the Academy had to be relocated ashore while the ship is in shipyard and drydock. After dinner, we had a briefing from the Advance Team and the Project Director for the Generator Project.   The next morning, after breakfast, all the crew that was moving off-site, approximately 150 crew, brought their belongings up to the mid-ships area.  When the trucks arrived about 9 am, we moved all the bags, boxes and various items down the gangway onto the trucks!  Then lunch and at 1 pm onto the 2 buses and 10 Land Rovers for the 2 hour journey to our new temporary home (for 4 months), Appelsbosch!   Yes, that is our convoy of Mercy Ships Land Rovers and yes, in South Africa we drive on the left-hand side of the road! We had to navigate through the city of Durban...the 3rd largest city in South Africa!  We must have been quite a site!  We hardly had a chance to realize that we weren't sailing any longer and we were going to live on land!  There was an excitement as we noticed familiar shops and sites (such as McDonald's) and also adjusted to driving at a faster pace then just 30 km. about the fastest that we drive in West Africa. The ride to Appelsbosch was fun...plus we were all quite exhausted from moving all the bags, boxes and various items and knew that when we arrived...we needed to unload all of them into the gym!  And then finally into our dorm rooms!   So we were glad for the 2 hour ride and rest!  We arrived at Appelsbosch about 3 pm and began unloading.  We formed two lines of people from the trucks up the hill and stairs into the gym and passed the items through.  One line was for lighter items and one line was for the heavier items.  The unloading went quickly this way and became fun...the heavy line even passed a couple children up the line as they waited for items.  The giggles of the children were an encouragement to us all!   The picture to the right is of the hill and stairs up to the gym building at the top! After we unloaded our stuff....and many jokes about why we had so much stuff, we had dinner about 6 pm!  Everyone was so happy to gather their bags to take to their cabins.  Oh yeah...we decided to call our rooms, cabins...so we don't have to change one more thing when we move back on the ship in January!  The campus here is beautiful and the kids are loving having all the room to run, climb and play! The picture to the left is a view from the gym up to the Dining Hall and our dorm is just beyond there up the hill (the far building with 4 stories).  The building on the right is C Building also a family dorm. Our cabin is on the second deck (second floor) of D Building.  Anyway...back to the story.... after taking our bags to the cabin, we all had a very good night's sleep as we were totally exhausted!  Where did Fall go.....It's Springtime in South Africa! As most of our family and friends look forward to cooler weather and fall colors, we missed Fall this year and went straight into Spring!  Winter here is just ending and the trees are blossoming and budding out!  Pollen is on the rise and the beautiful flowers are coming out! This picture was taken by Denise as we came out of church a couple weekends ago.    We were thinking the other day that it seems like Easter should be coming!  We won't be here for Easter, but how do you celebrate it going into Fall?  Just a thought we had!  Christmas won't be odd to us as in Florida we are used to warm weather for Christmas...even going to the beach.  There is a lovely beach just north of Durban.  Great waves all year round.   The Ship is in Dry Dock!    The Africa Mercy is in Dry Dock and please pray for the crew onboard and the Project Team.  The shipyard workers are working 24/7 to get the work done.  The generators are coming out now and the new ones will be going in soon! There is so much to tell you about what has happened and our experiences here in South Africa so far.  We'll save some of it for the next newsletter!  Thank you to all our family, friends and supporters for your faithful prayers, encouragement and financial support!   We couldn't be here without you!  May God bless you abundantly as you seek Him and may your life be everything that He has in His mind for you!  God's blessings,  Denise and Rob For more pictures and information please visit our other sites on the internet: www.mercywatch.net http://mercywatch.blogspot.com www.flickr.com/photos/mercywatch Financial Support Page

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