We are so privileged to be here! (Africa Mercy Tour - Part 1)

Hello, Friends! We are at the library here in Jarrow to give you a bit of an update on how the ship is progressing! It is so wonderful to be able to share pictures with you through an email! We received many favorable responses to our first posting with pictures! We are so excited to get so many responses...what an encouragement! It is like going to your mailbox and it's full of letters from your friends and family! Thank you so much!

To help put these pictures in perspective...imagine building a new home and you watch it from the groundbreaking....the pouring of the foundation....installation of the electrical and plumbing...when the home is 80% complete, you would be full of excitement as it nears completion! If on the other hand you first view it at 80% complete...you think....there is a lot to do yet. Well, we came in at the 80%, however...God has given us the view as though looking at the ship from the first beginning stages. Having been through several shipyard phases with the Caribbean Mercy, we've seen how it can all come together quickly! So we share these pictures with you to help you see the coming together of God's tool and blessing to Africa! ... our ship the Africa Mercy! It is incredible!!! We hope you'll enjoy seeing these pictures! So, come on up the gangway with Rob! Be careful as the gangway is a bit steeper in the afternoons as the tide comes in!



Denise will welcome you into the ship from reception ...this is where she'll be serving once the ship is operational. For now she is working in Accounting at the business office just a short ways from the ship. Be sure to have on your hard hat and your steel toed shoes as this is a requirement for entry onto the ship while in shipyard.



Right now some of the equipment to be installed is being staged here. Just to the right of where Denise is standing is a TV screen with the Mercy Ships videos being played .. this helps give understanding to many of the shipyard workers about how we serve in developing nations. Let's walk down the stairs in front of Denise to take a look at one of the couple's cabins!



Rob is standing just inside one of the couple's cabins. Currently, the crew is selecting their cabins by a system that gives priority to the length of service, the position serving in, and length of commitment to serve on the Africa Mercy. We hope to be able to select our cabin in the next few weeks! It's an exciting time to be here! Lot's of preparations!
Let's go down to Deck 3 and see the Hospital!



As you can see, the wiring, the gas lines and the ductwork is complete! The gray bracket in the foreground will support one of the large Operating Room lights! The connections on the gas lines have just completed their testings and soon the suspended ceiling will be put in.



The ceiling panels are all ready to go in their proper time! This is one of the 20 person bed wards. The boxes in this picture held the operating room mounts and Rob was able to use these boxes to ship out the pistons for one of the engine's spare parts to be reconditioned in Rotterdam.

If you cannot view these pictures in this email ... you can go to http://www.flickr.com/photos/mercywatch/ and see them. We'll show more progress and future pictures in upcoming newsletters. Things are happening quickly here on the ship and in just 76 days we'll take possession of the ship from the shipyard! We look forward to sharing these exciting days with you!

Please write to us and let us know about you and what is going on in your life! We miss you and appreciate all your care, support, encouragement and love!

God's blessings,
Denise and Rob
Mercy Ships, M/V Africa Mercywww.mercywatch.com and http://mercywatch.blogspot.com