Paperclips to billions

When we were considering taking this role one of the reasons we were excited about it, was that I would continue to have challenging work in the accounting arena and get to participate in the ministry that happens on this ship. But when we talked about it, we spent most of the time talking about what the ministry does. I would certainly let people know what I would be doing, but there really weren’t very many questions or discussions came up about the actual finance director position. I was not surprised by that nor hurt or anything like that. I know accounting and finance is not the world’s most entertaining subject, except to people who do what I do (and maybe not even then).  Admittedly, my job at the mine was pretty boring except for getting to talk about the cool machinery I got to be around all the time.

That being said, I really had no idea what my job would entail when we were preparing to come. Turns out I get to be involved in a ton of things. Things that have many numbers, some that have just a little to do with finance and some that have nothing at all to do with finance and accounting. I have been asked the best part of my job several times and I am never quite sure what to say, because I still don’t know exactly what my job is from day to day. I have said, the best part of this is the finance and sales staff. They take my ideas and make them reality. Most of the things up here I am just involved in the ideas and others actually get them done. They serve without notice and I am so blessed to serve along-side them.

So now that my role has a little more excitement, we thought we would let you in a little bit on some of the things I have done in the last 45 days that somehow fall under the category of finance director.

Check writer - Wrote a letter requesting bank to pay our fuel provider. 3,900,000,000 (3.9 billion, yes that’s billion) Guinea Franc. I control all of that!!!!

Banking – received 280,000,000 Guinea Franc (about $40,000). It was delivered to the ship in 2 laundry baskets.

Payroll – Processed payments for our 200 day workers (once every two weeks). 

Personal Financial consultant - Helped our West African crew organize their finances, so they could attend the Gateway course in Ghana. (Gateway is the course new crew take as part of joining Mercy Ships, similar to what Tracey and I did in Texas in June and July of 2012).

Tax Consultant - Helped friends on the ship with taxes and W4s

Financials – Designed a new layout of our departmental financials to give a little more information to our managers (had lots of help from other finance staff on this as well)

Inventory and Supplies - Organized inventories of our ship shop and hospital supplies.

Sales – Worked with our sales manager on ideas to help have the ship shop and café open more hours. Also worked on the procuring of a new coke machine, so crew could have access to soda (or pop, or soda pop, or coke or soft drinks, or whatever you wish to call it) outside of the hours the café is open.

Office Supplies – Reorganized our office supply process. Went to the supply store to get some paper clips, laminating sheets and other stuff.

Customs - Visited our agent about 3 times or so in order to get about 10 boxes that had been held up in customs. Some for over a month.  Also helped get a container here that had been held up for a week.

Diplomat? – Went to the Marine House at the US Embassy to watch the Super Bowl. Got back to the ship at 430am.

Interior Decorator - Thought up a plan to make layout of our finance offices and supply closet more efficient. The staff actually took my ideas and made them reality, much better than I could have dreamt up.

Welcoming Party- Part of the group that welcomed the FIFA president Sepp Blatter on board during a stopover he made in Guinea (FIFA is the governing body of world soccer).

Preacher? - Was the speaker at one of our Thursday community gatherings. Profit and Loss was the topic and was generally about the post I did about Monday Night Football in Guinea. For all my accountant friends, I used T accounts in the talk and an excel spreadsheet was the slide background.

Dental - Helped organize dental appointments for some of the people at the bank we use here in Guinea.

Hospital - Attended a dress ceremony for our VVF ladies and gave a gift to one of them as part of the proceedings.

Surgery? - Gave blood that was used in an emergency surgery at 3 am. That was pretty cool.

Food Service – Gave ice cream out to the crew after one of our community gatherings.

Blessed - Met a family that takes care of 19 kids in their three bedroom house (see last post)

Travel Agent – Helped Tracey buy tickets to come home this summer. Yeehaw!

The best story is I ended one day by writing that payment request I mentioned for all that money. In the morning that day, I was helping the staff know how to get some paper clips in town. The full gambit.

Who said, being a finance director was going to be boring?         

Changing one life at a time

These last couple weeks I have been struck by the personal nature of our God.  There are millions of hurting and sick people in Guinea and around West Africa and there is no way that Mercy Ships can even make a dent.  Sometimes this can be discouraging, but when we have had the opportunity to get to know the individual lives that are changed by what God is doing in this country we are able to have a deeper perspective that God truly is watching out for each person and changing lives one person at a time.  In the last couple weeks we have had the opportunity to see God working to completely change the lives of many children in this country.

The Blind See

One of the most amazing things, in my opinion, that Mercy Ship surgeons do is to remove congenital cataracts.  Amazing not because it is so difficult, but because of the radical transformation and the lifelong implications for those children.  Thousands of children in West Africa are blind due to cataracts that they are born with or develop soon after birth.  A FIFTEEN minute procedure can restore sight to these kids for an entire lifetime.  Not only is sight restored but their lives are forever altered.  Being blind in West Africa is often a death sentence for these children. Those who do survive live lives of complete dependence on others both physically and financially.  Just in January alone 25 cataracts were removed in children who were blind and now see thanks to our amazing surgeons and the work God is doing here!

A couple weeks ago Adalynn and I got to go meet some of these children.  Adalynn brought a sheet of stickers to share and we headed down to the hospital.  She was eager to hand out stickers to anyone who wanted them.  We entered the ward that was also shared by several adult patients who were recovering from tumor removals and fistula repairs.  She walked around to each bed and gave stickers to everyone.  She placed the stickers on the foreheads of all the adults and they thought it was so funny. Their eyes lit up as she greeted them and shared the stickers.  While there, we got to meet an 8 year old girl who had received cataract surgery the day before.

She came to the ship blind and she could now see. 

She still had some see-through patches on her eyes but she could see well enough to greet Adalynn and was so excited to have a sticker.  This little girl sat on her bed coloring page after page in her coloring book.  What an amazing experience it must have been for her to have sight for the first time at age 8.  As Adalynn made her way around the room greeting patients and giving out her stickers I couldn’t take my eyes off of this girl and her proud father beside her.  I was struck by the miracles that God does through our talented surgeons.  Imagine an 8 year old seeing for the first time and knowing that she now has a full life ahead of her.  I found myself so choked up by the opportunity to witness this miracle and for Adalynn to also grow up seeing God’s hand at work in the lives of the African people.

A group of kids the day after surgery.  Seeing for the first time!

Handing out stickers.

Father to the Fatherless

This last weekend John, Adalynn and I spent Saturday morning at a local orphanage.  The God is Love Orphanage is run by a couple from Sierra Leone.  They fled here during civil strife in their country several years ago.  They have 3 of their own children and 19 orphans living in their 3 bedroom home.  The father is also a pastor of a nearby church.  The entire orphanage and church are run off of their own money and money from their small church.   Mercy Ships has partnered with this ministry while we are here and every week a group goes to hang out with the kids, sing and teach a short Bible lesson.  I have my mental pictures of orphanages and most of them are not very pleasant.  This orphanage, however, is a beautiful place of love and acceptance.  From the moment we walked in you could sense God’s love and presence.  The kids were loving and kind as they greeted us.  As soon as we walked in some of the ladies in our group pulled out puzzles and they all immediately started putting them together together.  They didn’t fight or argue or grab or shove.  They worked together, all of them, to complete all of the puzzles.  There are kids ranging from 6 months to 16 years and they have an obvious sense of love and care for each other.  This, to me, is a direct reflection of the parents and God’s hand working in their family.  The entire visit was this way.  I saw the older kids teaching the younger kids bible stories and helping them with crafts.  They encouraged each other and cheered for each other during the games we played.  They played with Adalynn and she gave them stickers!

 They were once orphans but now have a home.

 

Playing a game

Adalynn's new friend, Blessing!

Coloring.  The girl on the front left is deaf and she and I colored together
for a while and she wanted our pictures to look just the same so she would find
 two of the same color crayon and show me where to color.

Handing out stickers.

They loved the stickers!

Dancing and singing for us.

 

Once again I was struck by the power of God’s love and the miracles he is continuing to show us here in Guinea.  The blind see, the orphans have homes, the unloved are loved.  Mercy Ships is just a boat filled with imperfect people but God is using these imperfect people to touch and change lives in this country both on the ship and off.  The most amazing part, however, is that the lives of those imperfect people are being touched, even more sometimes, by the people of this country.  God IS a personal God and cares deeply about each and every one of us.