My Ministry vs. Mercy Ships Ministry - Are They Different?

I don’t think sooooo, as described in 1 Corinthians 12; One Body, Many Parts….

My Missions Pastor Asked Me for a Story He Could Present to the Season’s Ministry (my church’s seniors ministry).… I decided to share with you what I shared with him as it summarizes a lot of what you have been reading about over the last 3 months and how God is being faithful…

The infrastructure in Sierra Leone is fragile to say the least: the port we are docked at in Freetown became privatized shortly after arriving here. With the turnover from government to private our containers which come from Holland and the US have been taking an inordinate amount of time to clear customs. Our containers are filled with hospital supplies, food (frozen and regular), maintenance supplies, IS equipment etc. etc.  Being without these supplies affects the entire ship from the galley to the hospital, and thereby, the care of the patients and crew alike. As you know we have been in a South Africa shipyard for 5 months replacing 4 of our generators. We use 2 generators at all times to supply electricity, vacuum system for our plumbing, air conditioning (it sounds like a luxury, but it is not when you have the humidity and heat of Africa onboard a 499 foot ship with around 700 people moving about it on a daily basis). I’m sure you can imagine how much the air conditioning is needed for the doctors providing surgeries and the patients recovering. Not to mention, that an air conditioned environment controls mosquitoes which in Africa are Malaria carriers (yes, this has a personal bent as I was very ill last year with Malaria if you remember?). Air conditioning is not just a luxury! Our divers have to dive daily to try and keep the intake valves from being plugged up from the incredible amount of garbage carried down the river. The intake valves get plugged up with plastics and debris and the generators are being stretched to their maximum capacity running with continuous blocked power that is impossible to keep clear. One of our generators is not working at all leaving us with only one back up at present. The hospital only runs if the generators run! The river is dangerous and has fast monivig currents that pull the divers away from the ship consequently making it so they can only dive at low or high tide. The water is extremely polluted and the divers are all a little unwell. One that I know of has an infection in his calf from diving and is now on anti-biotics and can’t dive for at least 5 days. In addition, there was a major rupture to the entire water system in Freetown today which ‘coincidentally’  occurred on the day we are supposed to be topping our tanks, so as a result, our reserves are low and once again (as this is not the first time since we’ve been here we are on water rations) we are in a water crisis and have closed the laundry room, have converted to paper plates and plastic cups (very expensive), turned off the hot water and are in a situation of severe water rationing to conserve water – all the while, singing the limerick if it’s yellow, let It mellow; if it’s brown flush it down. This is not just affecting us, but everyone in this part of Freetown known as Kissy. I cannot even tell you what that means in terms of the filth in the streets…the pollution in the city and the garbage in the river! To make matters worse rainy season is upon us (I am glad I brought my rubber boots :))Furthermore, once they get the rupture fixed (????), we still will have several days before we can get water and then several more days before we can use it because it has to be treated. This brings me to my final point; there has been an unusually large amount of crew ill on the ship from sinus infections to stomach cramps and stomach infections etc.. Is it because of the water, the fruits and vegetables (often watered with sewage water), or some other  by-product of something coming onto the ship??? We don’t know!

In the grand scheme of things this is just a small amount of general information that I am giving you about the difficulties we are facing here in Sierra Leone. To paraphrase what the Captain said to me this morning, the entire process of being here is challenging and difficult on every level. But in spite of all I have mentioned, let me tell you what God is doing here that we have to be thankful for in the midst of so much strife….First and foremost, people are being helped. People that wouldn’t be able to have a hope and a future if Mercy Ships wasn’t here are finding their way to us. And as an additional bonus employment is being created for upwards of 200 people for such a time as this…God provided a building for us to be able to care for up to 100 recovering patients that require only wound care(or to prepare patients for surgery) and their caregivers, so we do not have to use the 70 beds we have onboard for patients that are recovering. (Unfortunately, however, with rainy season upon us the entire building known as the Hope Centre floods.) This building is only a 10 minute walk from the ship. We are able to have a dental clinic in the same building because it is large enough to house 2 different ministries and we had volunteers here that were able to build a series of partitions inside the building. Our dental team just went up north with 3 dentists and saw over 200 patients in one day extracting over 550 teeth between them to people who have never even seen a dentist. They were able to work for 3 days, in addition to one day of travel each way. We had a Mercy Team come and build a module on the same property with toilets and plumbing for decent sanitary conditions. The Lord has also provided an air conditioned module on the dock for the eye team to be able to see an exorbitant amount of patients, again with plumbing that a team from the states was able to come and construct. He has provided a team house within the compound of the Swiss Embassy for our off-ship crew to live in safely and within an hour of the ship (on a good day). He has provided enough volunteers who also have diving licenses so the team leader can rotate the divers, so it’s not only the same 2 or 3 who are diving in addition to their regular jobs. We were also able to raise enough money from an offering to buy them proper diving gear to better protect them. For the first part of this outreach we have had enough surgeons available to perform the projected orthopaedic surgeries (stats to follow) up to this point and now with our with our plastic surgeon on board are able to address other types of reconstructive surgeries as well. He has provided a full-time crew physician during this time of unusually large numbers of crew getting ill. He has provided an amazing engineering and deck department who work tirelessly without complaint to keep everything running while everything and everyone is being stressed to capacity….

I could go on and on, but I would like to end now and just remind you that our God is providing even while we are being stretched and while we are being stretched we are trusting Him, and in my opinion exemplifying what it means to love God and love others whilst having the love of God in our hearts. I am humbled and honoured (most days :)) to work and live with so many brothers and sisters who keep cheerful, caring and goldy attitudes throughout some of the most difficult and challenging of times. 

My prayer request is for the patients that are selected for a life changing surgery, the ones who are not, me, the crew, the senior management team and the mission of Mercy Ships to be in the will of God and not our own…

Darcy, as I finish this email with your request I feel that it is enough. I know that I haven’t written a personal story of my own personal ministry, but on the other hand, I have, because what involves the ship on a whole is also my ministry as we are a community and each part works to the good of the whole which is the ministry offered by Mercy Ships to “be love in action;” thereby glorifying God! You, the church, my family and my peer group, are too, a part of this community and that is not merely words because without the encouragement, finances and prayers of you all I could not be here doing my part which happens to be the tactile ‘sent out’ part.

It is midnight now and I’m off to sleep. 9 more sleeps and I am home for a visit. See you soon!

I pray that Darcy (missions pastor) and his assistant Jeri-Leanne are blessed in abundance by every story that is sent to them in response to Darcy’s email. May the Season’s ministry be blessed deeply by the stories they decide to share and may each of the ministries they pray over on Friday feel a renewed presence of the Holy Spirit living and working in their/my life.

In Christ’s Service,

Carol :)