Five Walls at Sea: September 2014

There was a small part of me that wondered if this day would ever come. The day that we could finally let you all know where the ship is headed next. We have had so many ups and downs. Originally we were supposed to be in Guinea, but then Ebola appeared there and began it's destructive journey. Plan B: go to Benin, but then Ebola appeared in Lagos, just 2 hours from Contonou, Benin. For days we were not sure if we were going to be able to go to Benin or not. We have been sitting waiting and wondering what God is doing and where we are going. Our Advance team has spent endless hours in Benin preparing for us to come. Surely that means we would go there, right?

A few weeks ago we were supposed to be arriving in Benin. On the day we "should" have arrived we found out that it was determined to be unsafe to go to Benin. The Ebola situation in West Africa is too unstable for us to risk the well-being of our crew. We are not set up to provide medical care to patients with Ebola and we could very possibly make the situation worse by drawing patients away from isolation centers to seek treatment on our ship.

So. . .plan C: Return to Congo? This seemed like the most feasible decision since we were just there and so we wouldn't have to be starting from scratch. But then Ebola showed up in the neighboring country of The Democratic Republic of Congo. This is a separate outbreak and much less worrisome for our own safety but the government of the Republic of Congo was concerned that our presence might draw people from the DRC to Congo in search of treatment so they asked us to postpone our return.

This is where we sat for most of the last few weeks. We knew we'd end up somewhere but we were unsure where that might be. As I thought and rethought through all my emotions around this whole issue over the last few weeks, I had my ups and downs about it all. I didn't understand. I felt frustrated. I even had moments of wanting to just get on a plane and head West and forget the ship. And yet, the thing that kept tugging at my heart. The message I am constantly feeling I need to remember is that THIS IS NOT ABOUT ME. This is NOT about US. God is not allowing this all to happen so that we ("the Africa Mercy") can learn something and get redirected to where he really wanted us to be all along. This isn't his master plan to undo the "wrong" course we were on before. God is sovereign and good and he is working good out of terrible evil. This Ebola outbreak is devastating to millions and we need to continue to fall on our knees in prayer for God's mercy. The fact that this tiny little virus has completely rerouted this large ship several times is but a small testament to it's destructive power. If we are so affected, just imagine those living in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone. We are not equipped to help with the problem and so if we want to continue to help African's in need of life-changing surgeries we knew we had to get a good distance away from West Africa to protect ourselves and our patients. This is a decision that comes with a deep sense of loss and hurt as we leave a part of Africa that this ship knows so intimately and while they are in a deep time of need. I know many of us were torn as we so desperately want to open the doors to our hospital again, but we also are broken hearted to see West Africa suffer.

So many, many hours of meetings took place and God has led us somewhere new. We will not forget about those in West Africa who are suffering so much. We will continue to pray and help as we can. We will support our 19 crew members from those nations. But in the midst of the tragedy, we will continue on. In the midst of the devastation, the Lord has led us to a new area and we are excited!

Enter plan D: Madagascar! We all really want to stay in Africa. We feel that the Lord has led the ship to this continent for this time. Most of Western Africa is not safe for our ship right now. We reached out to the government there and they accepted us quickly. This is a country that has been sensationalized by among other things the Madagascar movies and yet they have an extremely weak medical system and a lot of need. So it has been decided that we will go to Madagascar. The ship is now on the water (we left Saturday). How amazing that God would open up something so unexpected!

Do you remember your geography?

Yep, that's it!

It will take us 18 days (or so) to sail to South Africa. We will stop there to refuel and allow our advance team to sort as much out as they can in the country before we get there. It will then be about a week longer to sail from South Africa to Madagascar. What an adventure. I have been so amazed that at this time of complete unknowns and transition that our crew has stayed mostly positive. People are excited about what this next field service will bring. We are eager to see what God will do in this new region. We are excited to be able to serve a people and a region not yet served by the Africa Mercy. (A previous ship, the Anastasis, did serve in Madagascar in 1996). Please pray for us as we arrange for this next season. Pray for the advance team that will have a HUGE amount of work to do to prepare the way for the ship. Pray for traveling mercies and successful completion of the work being done on the ship.

We are currently here (see how far that is!):

We are excited about what is next but we are so sad for West Africa and feel grieved that we cannot stay to help. As the Ebola news becomes "old news", please don't stop praying for the millions who are affected by this terrible outbreak. Though "only" 4000+ are sick; MANY, MANY more are affected as economies and governments suffer. Please pray with us for God's mercy and for international collaboration to stop this outbreak.

We will keep you updated as we sail and specific dates fall into place. Please pray for our advance team that has a HUGE job to do to prepare the way (last minute) for us to arrive. Thank you for your many prayers!

I have this whole blog just waiting to be posted about what is next for us, for Mercy Ships. However, some details about our plans are still being worked out so we've been asked to wait to post any information about it just yet. I thought that while we wait I'd share some pictures with you! We have been "waiting" for quite a while. Waiting to get back onto the ship, waiting for plans about what country will be next, waiting for propeller issues to be resolved, waiting on news about Ebola in West Africa, waiting again to see what country we might be going to, waiting to sail, waiting for direction, waiting on God. For John and I, all this waiting has, at times, been difficult but the time has also been full of really great things. After all, the Canary Islands are not a bad place to be "stuck".

When we did move back onto the ship after our long stint in the hotel several weeks ago, we got to move into a bigger cabin. We feel so blessed to have so much more space than we did before! Here are some pictures of our new place:

Cabin #5233

View from doorway. Jack's room on left, bathroom, girls' room and our room on right.

Bathroom

Jack's room. Murphy bunks on right and his crib on the left.

View from the bunks

Girls' room

They can actually play in their room now! (and, yes, it always looks this nice :) )

Our room

Our new room is about 3x the size of our room in our old cabin

"Kitchen"

View from kitchen into living space

The girls' favorite place, the art nook

View from the windows back towards the front door

One of the things I love most about what we are doing is that even though our plans and locations change, our home stays the same. We are so thankful to call this cabin home!!

Since our home is constant, the kids really haven't had any issue with all of the waiting. To be honest, I'm not sure they really even understand. They will ask periodically "when are we going back to Africa?", but really (as you can see), they are enjoying their time of waiting. I have tried to learn from them. . .to live in the moment and make the best of it.

Playing at one of the great parks in town!