London is On!

Friends - this has been a momentus week in the life of the M/V Africa Mercy. This project to prepare this ship for service into Ghana and Liberia this year is in "crunch time". That's why there is no more vacation days allowed for us (or any of the technical crew) through July. It was decided that we are "going for it" and sailing this ship down to London for its commissioning ceremonies on April 1. That is just around the corner. So much progress has been made but so much more to accomplish over the next 4 weeks. Almost an impossible task if it wasn't for the fact we know God is here to finish this ship. More carpets and vinyl being laid, more furniture aboard, the reception desk is starting to be buildt. The one major problem we have is there is no fire alarm system on the ship so all the people that were going to sail on the ship may not get to go. The technical crew will be the only ones allowed to sail her. This will probably include Robert but not Susan. About 50 people that need to work all the receptions will be bussed to London. We are to receive the ship one day and sail her the next day. Which leaves no time to clean the ship. We will arrive in London the day before the ceremonies begin and Susan gets 3 people to help clean 8 decks of a 500 foot ship. Please pray for her! These are crazy times but exciting. We can never complain that we are bored, just exhausted. Do you know Susan has 48,000 square foot of floor space to wax - and about 38,000 square foot to carpet clean. How would you like that job? That doesn't count the 38 public bathrooms and showers, the 1 million square feet of glass and chrome to clean, walls (bulkheads) and ceiling (deckheads) ....okay I'm even tired just talking about it so I think I'll stop. Here is Robert standing in our soon to be new home. And then a picture of one of my areas of responsibility, the crew laundry. We are just getting 9 washers and 9 dryers installed. The dryers sit on top of the washers. They are the European Wesco commercial equipment. These washers frustrate Americans because no matter what size load you put in them (and they don't hold as much as an American machine) it will take 1 hour to wash and 1 hour to dry. AND THAT IS THE FAST CYCLE! They on the other hand are very efficient on water using less than half the water our machines use but twice as much electricity because they cycle for so long. On the ship that is not a problem because our generators onboard generate over 5 megawatts - enough to power a small city. Hopefully, this massive generator will always insure air conditioning will stay on during our stay in Africa. It will be even more important our AC works well than on the Anastasis because our windows do not open and we would just be one boiling pot of missionaries on that ship.

This ship will hold 484 crew members, however, we only have approximately 120 working crew members from now until after we take possession of the ship. That is so our new crew will have some place to live (on the ship). We are spending way too much money being housed in the local communities and can't rent more houses at this point because there is a minimum of a 3 month lease.

PRAYER REQUESTS

• A good finish to the ship
• Favor with the people of London that they will catch the vision of our ship and help raise funds to support our efforts
• Safety for the ship and crew as it sails to London April 1 - 10
• Enough people to do all the jobs left to complete
• Cleaning supplies and equipment to be ordered and arrive in time for London and initial cleaning
• People are getting tired and on edge - for grace with each other
• Health for all crew and family
• Prayerful leadership
• For those crew that are to join us and yet have been delayed many times, for their funding, for the sale of their homes and vehicles. And for a sustained excitment to join us.
• For our Advance Team that leaves for Ghana to scope out all the projects on March 1
• For our family and friends at home that are missing us and for us as we miss our friends and family

NEVER TELL THEM YOU VOTED FOR BUSH

Some of you know that I spent a very eventful time in the local British hospital this past week. Now that I have regained my balance for the most part AND my sense of humor I thought I’d tell you from an American patient’s view point about my experience.

I woke up on Wednesday with the room spinning terribly out of control, fell out of bed and could barely just crawl into bed and wait for Robert to show up at 4pm after work. I am now more convinced than ever that I’d die if I were unconscious and couldn’t tell Robert what to do to get me to a doctor. I also found out that if you want to be seen in the ER really really fast here’s what you do 1) sit directly in front of the ER receptionist 2) puke bright yellow all over the floor. Once back in ER they hooked me up to the EKG and started doing blood tests for diabetes. The good news is those tests came back fine. Then a friend of mine showed up just in time for the doctor to announce they were going to keep me because it was possible I had a stroke. You should have seen their faces – if I wasn’t so scared it would have been a Kodak moment. What I thought was strange is that for nearly 24 hours I received no real medical attention other than interviews by doctors asking the same questions. I answered one of the questions wrong (in their opinion). When they found out I was American their next question was “Did you vote for him?” STUPID AMERICAN, I said “Yes, and I voted for his pappy too”. I think that explained the fact that for 24 hours I laid in a hospital bed with my jeans and shoes on. I think it also accounted for no food, water put at the end of my bed where I couldn’t get it and the beeper laying on the floor somewhere. When the nurses came around asking everyone if they wanted a bath they always overlooked me and I wasn’t offered “tea” 4 times a day like everyone else. Finally, they started me on a drug for inner ear disorder and it actually started to work - - UNTIL THEY LOST THE MEDICINE! It’s a hospital for goodness sake, get more - - it took me having to talk to a doctor and letting them know I missed 2 doses and then the medicine miraculously showed up. I was also in a ward where I was the “youngster” by far of the patients. All women because these were wards of 6. All over 86 - - with breathing problems. Between that and the fact they never turn off the overhead lights there was no sleep the first night. Being among all these older ladies really was an eye-opener and I was entertained most of the day and night listening to the same conversations between the same 2 ladies “where do you live?” I live in Jarrow, where do you live? I think I live in Jarrow – where are my glasses, they’re in your hand; where are my glasses, they are in your hand – where do you live? Jarrow. I think I live in Jarrow – where are my glasses? This literally went on for hour after hour after hour. Then Robert noticed the sign over my bed. It said “Oxygen is a drug-do you have your prescription?” Robert told me “Just say NO to Oxygen” - - yeah, right! That would be the last thing I said. The day they released me the nurse came to tell me we could go and started to walk away - - I had to tell her “don’t you think you want to take the IV line out of my arm first”. It wasn’t like they used it for anything - - didn’t matter I wasn’t drinking and my lips turned crusty, they don’t hang IV bags and they don’t want to give antibiotics. We didn’t know what to do because no one was giving us instructions how to check out and most of the ward nurses asked where I was going when I got dressed - - I don’t know if they’ve figured it out yet that I went home.

Anyway, there you have it - - my advice is NEVER TELL THEM YOU VOTED FOR BUSH. Robert later told me he was afraid I was going to die - - because if I did he would have to move into a 4-man cabin on the ship. I guess I really am Robert’s greatest asset, as long as I’m alive he gets to live in a spacious 2-man cabin. Robert’s best asset is NOT his romantic side but regardless, he’s my best friend and I’m so glad I went through this experience with him.


That thing on my head is the hospital puke bowl. I thought they looked very much like party hats althought I wasn't having a party. But just days after getting out of the hospital I put those hats to good use by turning them into Super Bowl party hats.





You can tell how happy Robert is to pose with his party hat on! Party Poop. Or maybe was it because we were rooting for the Seahawks just to tick off our Steeler friends?

Have a great week - be kind to each other and may the joy of serving the Lord where you are be yours.

Blessings, Robert & Susan