Preparing for Hurricane Rita

I must apologize to you for not updating the website and blog as often as I'd like to and I'm sure you'd like me to! I've been experiencing trouble with our laptop (it's over 3 years old now). I've had to restore the hard drive and in that process lost many emails and email addresses. Please send us your email address again to be sure that we have it. Also, the laptop will now sometimes turn on and other times is not able to. So....it's been a real challenge for me...those of you who know me well will really understand that!

Anyway... we wanted to let you know that we are fine and preparing for Hurricane Rita that at the last update is directly headed for us! Of course, we pray that it will only be a tropical storm or depression by the time it reaches us. We are quite a way inland (about 4 hours). In the update from this morning....we are located just about on the 7 am Sunday spot.

The most recent 4 pm update has it arriving about 1 pm on Sunday, since it stalled out and slowed down a bit this morning. Needless to say, we are preparing and will continue to monitor the situation and pray for God's mercy to calm the storm. We especially pray for those on the coast and those already hurting from Hurricane Katrina. We'll keep you posted as best we can!

Mercy by the Boat Load

An article about a 12 year old girl with a fistula and Lord Ian McColl.

Caribbean Mercy in Chickasaw

Caribbean Mercy in Chickasaw, originally uploaded by MercyWatch.

Praise the Lord! We know that the Lord had His hand on the Caribbean Mercy during this storm! We are encouraged that He knows His plans for her and has kept her safe. A team from Mercy Ships International Operations Center and the crew will be leaving early tomorrow to check her out up close!

A look at the Caribbean Mercy

A look at the Caribbean Mercy, originally uploaded by MercyWatch.

Map of Chickasaw, Alabama

Map of Chickasaw, Alabama, originally uploaded by MercyWatch.

The location of the ship is marked near the center of the map. The dock is located about 6.5 miles north of downtown Mobile, Alabama.

Caribbean Mercy after Hurricane Katrina

Caribbean Mercy after Hurricane Katrina, originally uploaded by MercyWatch.

We just received some pictures of the ship after Hurricane Katrina. A team will be going to the ship tomorrow to inspect her inside and out!

Before and Afters Blog

A blog that shows a few before and after pictures of patients on the Anastasis. These photos were captured by Scott Harrison.

Rob visits the Caribbean Mercy!

Rob visits the Caribbean Mercy!
Originally uploaded by MercyWatch.

We were blessed as the Lord (and Mercy Ships) allowed Rob to visit the ship and spend some time with the caretakers. He and Ciaran measured and met with contractors to help determine the extent and costs of getting the ship in order to continue the mission work!

The Caribbean Mercy Caretakers

The Caribbean Mercy Caretakers
Originally uploaded by MercyWatch.

From left around to right: Lilian, Maria Elena, Ciaran, Tom, Kathy and little Joy!

Ciaran, Lilian, Joy and Rob (taking the picture) visited the caretakers of the Caribbean Mercy the week of August 15th.

Where's the crew?

Where's the crew?
Originally uploaded by MercyWatch.

The dining room on the Caribbean Mercy awaits the return of the crew to once again go on outreacch after the repairs are completed.

Blog Class at the Introduction to Mercy Ships

During the Introduction to Mercy Ships week long class, Denise was able to teach a short class on Thursday afternoon for Blogging! There were about 50 attendees, including the participants attending the Introduction and also many of Mercy Ships volunteer long term staff looking to better communicate with friends, family and supporters. We look forward to seeing many of these blogs on the Internet, sharing what God is doing in many lives as well as spreading the word of the Lord and bringing Glory to God! Some of the attendees have already begun! Click on the names to see their blogs! Sue (she helped me practice) Alberta and more to come!

The Caribbean Mercy Caretakers

The Caribbean Mercy Caretakers
Originally uploaded by MercyWatch.

Maria Elena, Kathy, Bill, Rebecca and Tom are the caretakers of the Caribbean Mercy.

SA Blog

An article about an interview with some of the Anastasis crew and the impact in South Africa.

Wood Family Reunion

WOOD FAMILY REUNION
HOSTED BY THE CHILDREN OF
LECTER AND LESSIE BROWN WOOD

JULY 24, 2004
11:OO AM - UNTIL.........
2242 ALLIBONE ROAD
BEL AIR, MD 21015

This is a covered dish affair, so........
Pack up your picnic baskets and coolers; that takes care of the food and drink. No alcohol please. We will have lunch about 12:30
NOW.............
Bring along your family photos, genealogy and stories to share.
Wear your best smiles for the cameras.
Be sure to invite all your/our WOOD RELATIVES.

CONTACTS: Claude (Woody) and Ruth Wood
E-MAIL: Morg87@aol.com or Woody11429@aol.com

or
Sybil Lovelace
e-mail: sybil@zondu.com
We look forward to seeing everyone.

Gather for lunch and stay for dinner.

Update on what's been happening!

Where to begin ..... WOW ... the last month has been a whirlwind and we have been trying to keep up! Our May Newsletter (see the May 2005 to the left) basically left you about the time we had to leave the ship on June 6. Well, we left on June 4th and were in the first group to leave. The next group of crew left on June 6th. The Caribbean Mercy Caretakers are still on board and you can keep updated to the happenings on the ship by visiting this link:

http://cbmcaretakers.blogspot.com

They update it about daily and also put pictures on the site. We really appreciate their efforts to keep the site updated and visit it just about daily to see what is going on there!

Rob is working with the CBM Engineering Superindendant, Ciaran, on the plan to determine what repairs, maintenance and improvements need to be made to the ship before it is ready to sail once again! This is Rob's full time job while at the International Operations Center (IOC) here in Texas!

To let you know about what has been happening....here is a brief recap:

• May 23-28 - Finished up work onboard the Caribbean Mercy, packed our offices and got the work areas in order for shipyard work.

• May 28th-June 3rd - Packed up the cabin and got our personal items in order

• June 4th - Arrived at the International Operations Center in the afternoon

• June 5th - went to work to turn over the Caribbean Mercy records

• June 6th & 7th - tried to veg out and tried to plan for the next week

• June 8th - went to meetings and went out to dinner to celebrate our 32nd anniversary with our friends, Ruth and John (note: we went out for their 32nd anniversary with them in Leon, Nicaragua during our Crossroads Outreach in November 2002!)
  

• June 9th - went to the International Operations Center Prayer meeting and then left for Rob's brother's (Ken's) home in Abilene for a visit. We had not seen Ken & Kaye, Connie (Rob's sister) & Billy for over a year (and then only for a few hours).

• June 11th - Celebrated Ken's 50th birthday! (It's on the 12th...but we celebrated it by having a huge cookout with his friends)

• June 9-18 - Relaxed and had time to spend together....talk....pray....seek the Lord - it was a good time...Ken had to work and Kaye went to Minnesota, but that allowed us to just have some time! We didn't realize how tired we were, but running on adrenaline for months at a time...is not healthy! Rob was also able to get the Truimph running again - it had sat in Ken's yard for almost 3 years! We put some tires and a battery in it and it ran just fine!
  

• June 18th - drove 5 hours back to Garden Valley!

more to come.....have to go to sleep now!

Welcome to Chickasaw, Alabama.....the Caribbean Mercy's new home for the next 6-12+ months!

Chickasaw
Originally uploaded by MercyWatch.

Most of the crew will be relocating to various Mercy Ships locations in the next month. Some of the crew will be leaving Mercy Ships and a few (about 8) crew members will be caretaking the ship as it is docked here in Chickasaw.

The ship was escorted and powered by two tugs up the Mobile river to this dock. The ship requires extensive repairs and is being laid aside here in Chickasaw until the repairs are assessed, funding is raised and the future ministry plan for the ship is developed.

Caribbean Mercy

Caribbean Mercy Ship
Originally uploaded by Gbird9.

The Caribbean Mercy docked in the morning fog in Chickasaw, Alabama.

Newsletter - A New Challenge Awaits Us

Many of you must think we have totally forgotten how to write...not so.
In the past several months there has been much change and busyness in our lives. Sometimes the change occurred daily and even hour by hour! In the midst of all of this change our communication to you has suffered. Please accept our apology; it was not our intention to exclude you from the process.

Please allow me to recap a little. Since arriving in Mobile, Alabama in January of this year, we initially believed we would be in Mobile for about eight weeks to allow for scheduled survey and any associated work that may be created as a result of these surveys. In the beginning this endeavor seemed realistic and obtainable.

When we first arrived in Mobile, we had to deal with several unexpected mechanical failures of our onboard systems such as the steering gear and the main engine. These failures would be corrected but caused us to be under a Coast Guard restriction which would eventually prevent us from sailing to our new berth under our own power.

When we arrived in Mobile we first docked in the Alabama State Dock and shortly had to move across the river to Harrison Brothers Shipyard, at Harrison's we were unable to discharge cargo which delayed our efforts to correct the cargo hold tween deck which was one area of concern to our surveyor from our previous dry-dock phase last year.

Official Announcement regarding the Caribbean Mercy

We have been extremely busy...mostly due to the news about the ship.... The official memo is attached below.... Please drop us a note, when you can. We'll be glad to answer any questions that we can! We will respond as soon as we can and let you know about our plans as the Lord reveals them!