David, Shannon, Egbert & James will be serving aboard the Anastasis from March to July as part of the medical/mercy outreach in Togo, West Africa. We will be working as crew, in a variety of positions. We hope to be able to assist and encourage the long-term crew, as well as have time for some of our own ministry as God opens doors.
It has been humbling to see how opportunities have flooded towards us, almost before we had even made the decision to go! At this point, we are walking towards those "open doors" of opportunity, trusting our Heavenly Father to provide the funding and arrangements that are beyond our abilities. We know that He is seeking those who will worship Him in Spirit and Truth (John 4:23) and we certainly want to make ourselves available!
March 8
We were excited to have the opportunity to assist at the screening site in Togo. Screening is what happens at the beginning of each outreach when thousands of people show up hoping to receive medical help. They are screened by doctors and nurses and those who can be helped are given appointments to come to the ship for surgery. As you can imagine, this is a very emotional time as people often travel hundreds of miles because they have heard that they might be able to get help. Desperation is written on each face, and often motivates such "interesting" behaviour as throwing children over the fence so the parents can get inside to retrieve them.
As you can imagine, lots of volunteers are needed to show God's love to thousands of desperate people. Most of the ship's crew assist in security, escorting patients, handing out water (and bread at noon), playing with the children, praying with patients that cannot be helped medically, transporting equipment and workers from the ship to the screening site and back again and preparing food for the workers. Health care workers who come from developed countries said they saw more types of problems in these two days than they would see in years at home. We hope the pictures above showing the crowd at the gate, James escorting a group of patients, and a "typical" baby being checked, will help you imagine the day a little better. You can check the Mercy Ships web site (mercyships.org)for more information.
We are excited to be able to be a small part of this great ministry, showing God's love through medical care and community development and sharing the source of that love at every opportunity!
April 16
Wow! It is hard to believe we've been here 6 weeks! We have settled into our daily jobs, serving in the galley, dining room, deck and IT departments; and have had a number of opportunities to be involved in both "official" and "unofficial" worship here on the ship. The pictures above show Shannon and Egbert involved in "extracurricular" ministry among the patients in the ward; David and Shannon leading worship in the International Lounge; Egbert hard at work in the galley; David attacking the ever-present rust on deck; and some of the patients gathered on the dock right outside the ship, waiting for surgeries, post-op care, etc. It is awesome to see the steady stream of patients through the ship whose lives are being transformed physically and spiritually, and to be able to play a small role in that work of God!
April 26
He is risen! He is risen indeed! The mighty refrain echoed across a silent harbor in Lome, Togo as the sun struggled to break through cloud cover for the sunrise service around the Anastasis pool. Nearly a hundred early risers joined Wobble at the 5:30 service of reflection and celebration which would continue in the special morning service on aft deck. We were honored to be asked to lead this service, and praise God for ending the torrential rain of the night before and providing good weather so we could be outdoors! Let us never forget the joy and hope of serving a RISEN Saviour!!
June 1
Another exciting month has passed aboard the Anastasis! Everyone is busy as this Togo outreach moves quickly towards its conclusion in about three weeks. Training and development projects in the villages are being finished up, supplies are being inventoried for donation, the deck and engineering departments are hard at work to ensure that we are ready in every way to sail.
Wonderful opportunities to lead worship have continued to come our way, and we have continued to enjoy times of worship and intercession and fellowship among ourselves. The picture above shows us with some of our added musicians after an awesome time of worship in the International Lounge.
What has been most amazing in the past month, though, has been the door that has opened for Wobble to accompany the Anastasis throughout the European PR phase as an "official" worship band under the Outreach Department. Our discussions with Outreach Director Gary Graham have been amazing as we discover that we are in complete agreement on so many little details of ministry! Once again we stand in awe of the way God has orchestrated so many things to make this possible! Please check our European Tour Schedule which will now follow the ship's itinerary through The Netherlands, England, Germany, and Spain. We'd love to see you at one or more of those places!
June 29
The last weeks in Togo were quite intense as a number of opportunities to lead worship presented themselves in addition to our regular work duties. On June 17 we had the privilege of leading the associate crew in a time of worship and James was able to speak from Psalms 91. We also lead several worship times with the DTS as well as with the entire crew, as you can see above. For the last eight days we have been enjoying the sail from Togo to the Canary Islands, where most of the crew will have a few days of vacation before we continue to Spain. It always inspires us to see the majesty and diversity of the ocean, knowing that our God holds it in His hand as just a drop of water, and that this same God knows our name and the number of hairs on our head! What a privilege to worship Him!!
July 22
140 days after stepping onto the Anastasis in Togo, we find ourselves ending this season of ministry. The last few weeks seemed to see increasing opportunities to worship as we lead two more Saturday evening services as well as worship for the technical departments on several occasions. As the ship undergoes its annual 6 weeks of shipyard work in Cadiz, Spain, we will leave for three weeks of team-building in Holland, returning to the ship on August 11 to begin our work as an official outreach ministry of Mercy Ships. We continue to praise God for the ways He has worked in the last few months, the many doors He has opened and the many incredible people He has allowed us to meet!
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