David, Shannon, Egbert & James are serving aboard the Anastasis from August to November as a worship band with the ship as it travels through Europe during the procurement and public relations phase. The Mercy Ships newsletter even published an article about the band! We are excited about this amazing opportunity for worship evangelism and discipleship ministry in Europe!!
August 10
We are ending our transition period at Egbert's home in The Netherlands as we prepare to return to the Anastasis as a full time worship team. It has been an incredible time of seeing God's hand orchestrating divine appointments! A Wednesday evening prayer time evolved over the three weeks to a wonderful time of worship, encouragement and prayer. We were able to fellowship with a beautifully diverse group of almost 30 people on the last evening as we shared our drama, worship, and teaching along with a Mercy Ships video. We also enjoyed meeting Egbert's wonderful and hospitable family!
Another highlight was spending two days with the Rotterdam advance team, praying over the space where the Anastasis will soon be docked, putting up posters, and handing out flyers about Mercy Ships. It will truly feel like coming home when we sail into Rotterdam in several weeks!
August 22
An encouraging two weeks of preparation is behind us as the actual European outreach phase is now only a few days of sailing away!! Jacob, our Swedish piano artist, has arrived; and another wonderful development has been the availability of Daniel, who is still working with the renovations department but is commited to being as much a part of the team as possible on weekends and his vacation time. We have been busy with drama and music practices and integrating into the outreach department, as well as practical things like repairing/preparing equipment and instruments, moving into a different cabin, and helping out with the cleaning of the whole ship in preparation for tours.
We enjoyed giving out free sodas to the shipyard workers here in Cadiz, (photos above-copyright Mercy Ships 2003) as a way of sharing God's unconditional love. Many of them expressed appreciation and even amazement at this simple token of appreciation, encouraging us to think about how we can bless people in our daily life!
We were also blessed to lead worship four times for a variety of events from technical department devotions to Community Meeting, each time a wonderful opportunity for the children of God to join in rejoicing at His throne! We have also met some amazing new friends with a great love of worship, which is always an encouragement!
August 22
Our time in Rotterdam has passed very quickly in a flurry of special events on and off the ship. The pictures above show one of the highlights, a youth night with 260 young people getting excited about Jesus! We also spent several days making a new recording, using our same process of simply recording the song all at once just like we normally do it, but we were blessed to be able to record at Egbert's church with much better equipment and we are excited by this new recording, simple as it is. Victoria was able to join us and add the flute parts as well. We have enjoyed meeting many local Christians and being a part of the body of Christ here in the Rotterdam area!
We will have a very short sail to Sunderland, U.K., arriving late Wednesday, where we will be even busier than in Rotterdam!
September 27
Sunderland has been an amazing port for us! The churches we have visited have been enthusiastic, people have been excited about the ministry of Mercy Ships to the point of coming to the ship to sign up to serve and many people have come to see us on multiple occasions! We were blessed to be part of a special service for all the churches of the city, where over 200 people came together to allow God to tear down the old boundaries between neighborhoods, denominations, and congregations!
One of the highlights was an opportunity to visit a local public school. We were unsure what to expect, but received a wonderful welcome. A fantastic bunch of children listened attentively and were completely enthused about finding ways to assist the people of Africa through Mercy Ships. We particularly enjoyed the chance to visit many of the classrooms afterwards and answer questions from students! We also enjoyed participating in a prayer walk with a nearby church, praying for the city and its people and churches. The first youth night on the ship and the second youth night in conjunction with the local Youth For Christ were both well received by enthusiastic seekers of God, and we have really sensed God moving here in Sunderland!
October 21
Less than three weeks after our arrival in Germany we are preparing to sail for Malaga, Spain! It is amazing that in such a short time we could become acclimated to a new city and make so many friends! God has been incredibly good to us, opening doors for ministry and friendships, making it possible for us to minister in Lubeck and Bremen as well as Emden, and allowing us to be part of encouraging the believers of this area! Our last major event was an evening of worship onboard for all churches, with a local worship band as well as Wobble, and it was exciting to see denominational barriers come down as we praised our Lord together!
November 4
Our short week in Spain has completed our time with Mercy Ships as we have seen again real passion for worship among believers here. So many young people signed up for the youth night that we had two evenings of worship and teaching and many wonderful conversations. Our final Sunday was very full with a morning service in Fuengirola and an evening service in Granada. Both groups were eager to worship and appreciated our visit. It has been such a blessing to see that every country has Spirit-filled believers to whom we are brothers and sisters, regardless of language and cultural differences. God has done amazing things, far above what we could have expected (Eph. 3:20). We truly want to give Him all the glory!
January 2004
We have each been taking time to process our experiences of the last year, reflecting on the privilege it has been to share this time of ministry in Europe and Togo. We are presently praying and exploring what God has for us in 2004. Thanks so much for your interest, prayers and support! We pray that God will richly bless each of you!
Thanks for visiting our site! If you are interested in partnering with us in a variety of ways, please consider joining the Trampled Rose Team!