We sent out a Newsletter in April (you can refer back to it on the blog) called "Sharing from the Heart". Our intention in sending that out was to rally those who know us and care for us to pray very specifically for us in areas that we felt we had specific needs at the time.
We were so overwhelmed by the response to that Newsletter and want to first of all say "Thank You" to all who prayed, but we also wanted to give feedback about some of the answers to yours and our prayers.
I am going to simply list the issues I raised in that newsletter, followed by an update on each situation:
- Brenda - bout of sickness. Brenda is now fully recovered and doing well, back to her usual self.
- HR Staffing needs - This has been awesome to see the answers to prayer. I was down to one staff member during the summer. We now have a fully staffed HR Department, right through till mid 2010. A big thank you to our wonderful recruitment team at the Mercy Ships Head Office for all their efforts to help in this. This is the longest we will ever have been fully staffed. In addition one of our crew members who was the HR Manager on the Caribbean Mercy (former Mercy Ship - now retired) has stepped up to cover my 4 weeks vacation time during the summer. This is a huge blessing to me and means I can more fully relax and enjoy my vacation time without worrying about the mounting workload I would return back to.
- Andy's back pain - At the time when we sent out the newsletter we were very concerned about Andy's back after his previous very long and serious spell of back pain. We are very happy to report that within a couple of days the pain had gone completely.
- Engineering challenges - Engineering continue to have their share of daily challenges. Please continue to keep the whole team in prayer. Thankfully, Mercy Ships flew in a relief Chief Engineer for our vacation time. This is truly a gift to us, as once again it means Andy can relax in the knowledge that his responsibilities are in very good and capable hands.
- Emma, Chris & Josh - All sleep disturbances ceased. They did well on their mid term exams. You will have seen their reports on our blog about their Work Experience opportunities and what a great time they had, Emma in Engineering, Chris working with the Plumbers & Josh in the Deck department. After their work experience it was time to start preparing for their end of year exams. I have to give them all credit where it's due - they worked very hard. I put together a fairly rigorous study time table for them but they stuck to it and put in the hours. All three of them came out of school with their best ever end of year results - lots of A grades between them all. They are in the middle of 9 weeks summer vacations, but are each designated to work in ship departments for 3 of those weeks. So far Emma has worked on the main Reception desk, & Chris & Josh both in Deck. The boys both hope to spend time in the Galley working with our Lead Chef - Jesse, from the USA.
- Andy's trip to USA for training - This was a very successful trip. He spent 4 weeks in Maryland at the Engineering Training Academy undertaking a Refrigeration course. It was a fairly intense course but he did manage trips into Washington D.C one weekend, Gettysburg another weekend and a visit to his Aunt Pat in N. Carolina on the 3rd weekend. After that he flew to the Mercy Ships Head Office in Garden Valley, Texas and spent a week with the Marine Operations team there and had some very useful meetings and information sharing times. At the end of that week he started his journey back to the ship flying via the UK. He spent a week travelling on a whistle stop tour of all the family members there. Fleet, Birmingham, Warrington, Liverpool and finally Newcastle for a couple of days to spend time with our two older boys Matt & Steve. It was great for him to speand time with everyone and finally arrive back on board the ship on 22nd May after safe travels every step of the way.
- Our summer vacation plans - At the time of writing we are currently on vacation. We decided we would stay on board for our 4 weeks of vacation time. So far it has enabled us to have a really good break and do things we normally don't get to do because of our work demands. We have enjoyed a good mixture of lazy days on board the ship, doing lots of reading and playing games with the kids. We've visited a couple of local hotels on day passes to swim in the pools and have also visited some of the Mercy Ships programs we don't get to see first hand. Andy even managed to accompany me as we joined the Palliative Care team on patient visitations. It was a very moving day for him as we visited mainly children who are very sick. Our first week of vacation is over and we are into our 2nd week. We have the offer of a few nights off ship at a friends house who lives about an hour away from the ship. We hope to take her up on that.
As we share these things with you - we are so convinced all over again how critical a part you play in what we are doing. Your prayers truly are making a difference and I hope what we share today, will encourage you as you see the tangible results.
We continue to covet your prayers as we press on and as we continue to put our trust in Him.
Andy & Brenda & Family
PS - The above picture was taken a couple of weeks ago. We had a fun event on the ship called the Africa Mercy Film Festival in which crew could submit their own film clips. Our kids created their own film called "The Chins Talk" and out of 16 entries they WON!!
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