Not a Vacation but Refreshing

At the end of every field service, the ship needs a little (or sometimes big) tune up. Ships are not designed to sit in a port for 10 months and not move. It's kind of like taking your car and just driving it in bumper to bumper traffic all the time. Each year we have been with Mercy Ships, the Africa Mercy has come to the Canary Islands for its maintenance period. The Canary Islands are beautiful and do provide a chance to recharge after a long field service.  

For many, this is chance to go home for a bit or take a holiday somewhere. There is no hospital running and flights from Europe are much cheaper than flights from Africa. The work that goes on while we are in country is hard and stressful and feels non-stop and people take the rest that is needed before gearing up for the next field service. Our family did that last year, returning to the States for a month before I headed back to the ship to start the Congo field service. This year, since we only returned in March after Jack was born, we have stuck around for the maintenance period.

Last year, I was the only one of my staff to actually leave for an extended period so our finance functions went on without me. This year, most of my staff have either left the ship or are taking a much deserved break. So it was needed that I stay. This rest period has been anything but for me as I was doing many of the finance tasks that my staff usually does so well. As the director, I know how things work and the outcomes but until now was not as well versed in the details of the different roles. This has been quite the crash course. At one point, I was monitoring five different emails and officially had four positions on the ship. After this time, I am even more thankful for the wonderful staff I get to work with every day.

In addition, being here has allowed me to witness all the other incredible work that has been going on during our time here. The ship is a construction zone with all the different projects going on. The local shipyard personnel have repaired our rudders and propellers, cleaned and painted the hull, cleaned fresh water tanks, replaced our hospital flooring and other large projects. In addition we have many people come here just for this phase as projects assistants and provide the much needed TLC our ship needs. These projects people have done everything from replace pipes, lay new floor, replace ovens, rewire electrical, update equipment, welding and building furniture.  They do all this in quite uncomfortable conditions. The ship is out of the water and the services are diminished. Running water on the ship comes and goes. There is no ventilation and so it is very hot inside. Imagine doing construction work inside a tin can that sits in the bright sunshine for about 15 hours a day and doing that at times with no running water. All of our project people come from all over to work in a difficult environment so we can have an efficient, effective and comfortable environment to do the work we do the other 10 months of the year. There are people here in their 70s all the way down to twenty-somethings doing all of these things along side each other.

They have accomplished a ton. When we go into this phase we have three levels to accomplish. Level 1 has to get done. Level 2 is important but we can go on if it does not get done and Level 3 are things we don’t think we will get to but would be nice. We have had more staff this year than in a long time for this phase and they work hard. We are just about done with the Level 3 stuff and there is still over a week left.

Here comes the refreshing part. These projects personnel do this out of the limelight as well. This is not Africa, there is no hospital or patients and a much reduced crew. But there is joy in the work going on and I can tell they are proud to be a part of it. I like the fact that I do a job that is out of the spot light knowing my job is important so that the work of the hospital can be done. But I at least get to go down to the hospital, be with patients, hear them singing and meet the people and share stories that I am personally a part of. Our project assistants do not get any of that and that is okay with them. They gave up their time and money and come to do the necessary things without any of the stories.

Sometimes it's okay if there isn't a story. I need to remember that. I want God to do great things using me that creates great stories and He does, but it isn't about me. Sometimes God needs us to be the pages and the ink and the binder and such things. These things need to be there when the Author comes to write the stories.

Here is a couple of pictures to give you an idea of the transformation that happens to the ship during this time. This is just one example of all the work that is accomplished here.

   

Upon Arrival

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