The Coles Leave Newcastle

The day has arrived and we are picked up by AFM crew members Terry & Pat Barrett in the Mercy Ships Landrover complete with Trailor. We load up with 12 main bags plus our hand luggage.
This photo was taken just as we left the house at 4:30am. Matt came with us to the airport to see us off. It was a very emotional farewell.

PREPARATIONS & COUNTDOWN

It has been a very special last few weeks as we have visited with many friends and family. We had the privilege of speaking at Andy's parents church - St. Michael's, Boldmere at two of the morning services on Sunday 30th July. We showed a power point presentation and enjoyed chatting aftwerwards.

On the weekend of 13th August we visited Brenda's family in Liverpool and on the Sunday had an extended time of sharing with the church, which is our home & sending church. It was a very special time. We showed a power point presentation, were prayed out again and then Andy shared a short message from the Scriptures.

Good-byes are never easy and these times were no exception. The children have each had 4 - 5 friends invited for sleep overs in the last week. These were fun times, with lots of Pizza eaten, visits to the movies and VERY late nights!!
The biggest development is that on Saturday 19th August we moved Matthew into his new place. He has a HUGE room at Seth & Helen's place.

Matt's new address is:
Bethel, 1 Gosforth Street, Gateshead, Tyne & Wear, NE10 9LS

Mobile #:07706 026916

We would REALLY appreciate your prayers for Matt as he remains in the UK, and for us as we fly out to Ghana this coming Friday 25th August.

Andy returns to the UK on 16th September and will return to the house we were living in. He will be joined by other Mercy Ships crew moving into the property.

Other prayer requests:

• For the family during time of separation
• For the children and Brenda to quickly settle and adjust to community & ship board life
• For Andy as he continues to work on board AFM and as he studies to complete his Chief Engineer's license.

The Cole Family is on the Move!

Breaking News - Cole Family to Transfer to Anastasis

We fly to Ghana on Friday 25th August.

Below is the statement from our Executive Director - Ken Berry announcing to Africa Mercy crew, our transfer to the Anastasis:

Dear Crew,

As we continue to work towards completion of the Africa Mercy, additional personnel transfers will take place between the Africa Mercy and the Anastasis. Some will take place because of essential needs for personnel at either location. Others may take place because it helps both the individuals involved and the ministry.

One upcoming transfer will ‘look’ different than most of the others because part of one family will remain here on the Africa Mercy, and the rest will transfer to the Anastasis. The idea of this split was initiated by the family involved and after careful consideration by the ED’s of both the AFM and the ANA, and the VP of Operations and VP of Human Resources at the IOC, the proposed temporary arrangement has been approved.

Towards the end of August, Brenda Cole and her 3 younger children will transfer to the Anastasis. There she will direct the overall activities of the HR departments on both ships and her 3 children will begin the school year in the Anastasis Academy. Andy will remain as Second Engineer on the AFM and will continue his studies leading to his Chief Engineer’s Certification. Depending on the length of delay in seeing the AFM come into service, Andy will have opportunity to visit Brenda and children on the Anastasis; not unlike the routine experienced by professional mariner’s families and to which Brenda and Andy were accustomed to before joining Mercy Ships. This is a workable plan for this unusual season that both the Cole family and Mercy Ships finds themselves in.

Thanks,

Ken

Steven has also now decided to come with me and the younger 3 children to the Anastasis.

Matt will remain in Newcastle. He will move out of our house the week before we travel and become independent. This means for the first few months he will have his dad around to help him with this big transition. The Lord has been so faithful in providing him with a great place to live. The daughter and son-in-law of one of our crew members have converted an old pub into housing for young people making the transition to independence and they see this as their ministry. Matthew is looking forward to this move, though the goodbyes will be extremely difficult for us all.

Please pray for us during this time.

Welcome on Board the Africa Mercy

Reception Area - Scroll down and see the progress!

Inside a Family Cabin

The Dining Room

The Cafe & Atrium

The Academy - some classroom shots

The Hospital - Recovery Room & Operating Theatre

My Trip to Ghana

The Anastasis arrived in the Port of Tema, Ghana on 2nd June. I arrived on the 4th June for 3 weeks. Over this time the majority of the Anastasis Crew were disembarking after many years of faithful service and almost an entire new crew were arriving - all those who have been faithfully waiting for the Africa Mercy. It was as you can imagine an incredibly busy time from an HR (Human Resources) processing point of view.

This was at a time when the Anastasis HR Manager was leaving. I was involved in the training of the new Manager and also one other new staff member. Below is a picture of Shannon(left) who I worked with and also Patti (right)who handles all the HR processing for our Marine Technical crew.

Medical Screening Day

Many people stood under Africa’s broiling sun for hours, waiting for Mercy Ships surgeons to examine them. According to the Mercy Ships crowd control team, by 8 a.m., 2,000 people were already in line for the medical screening.

Patients screened will fill a large part of the floating hospital’s surgical calendar. A second screening is scheduled for early July in the city of Takoradi in Southwestern Ghana.
Throughout the day Mercy Ships doctors examined patients with stigmatizing conditions; medical problems that often leave them outcasts of society.

“We see a lot of people with very desperate conditions; people who live in shame; people who have never been to the (city) because they’ve basically been living in hiding,” said Programs Director Chris Guillebeau as he worked crowd control. “They have large tumors on their faces. They have disfigurements and things that cause (them) to be removed from society most of the time.”

Mercy Ships offers hope and healing to these social outcasts. Free surgical appointments were made today for patients with cleft-lip and cleft pallet, disfiguring and debilitating burns, blinding cataracts and crossed eyes, clubbed feet and other orthopaedic conditions, as well as the removal of the outsized benign tumors that are frighteningly common throughout Africa.

Screening day is a challenging, but rewarding experience for the crew. About half of the ship’s compliment of more than 300 laid aside their normal duties to help with the mass triage. They volunteered for tasks that range from crowd control to a counseling and prayer station for patients who can’t be helped medically.

Prayer Station

It was very moving to be able to pray with those who we are not able to physically help. We can however show them compassion at their time of hurt and disappointment and something of the Love of our Lord Jesus. My first encounter after I arrived was of a distraught young woman whose baby boy (1 year) had died right there in her arms before she could be seen. He had a tumour on his head which he had had since he was born. It's so hard in situations like that to believe that you can say or do anything to help, but Jesus can... and His love embraced her.

Those we can help, receiving their appointment cards

Dr. Gary Parker examines a patient.

These eye patients leave very happy with an appointment card to return to the ship for surgery.

Our Pastor's Visit

It was a real joy to welcome our Pastor - Dave Latham on 16th May. Dave came to visit us and see the Ship for the first time. He was accompanied by a very good friend of ours Dave Fryer. Dave Fryer a Chief Engineer, was one of Andy's College Lecturers from Riversdale College in Liverpool where Andy started his Marine Education back in 1978. Dave Fryer also introduced Andy to the Church he was attending. It was at this Church that Andy & I first met at the Youth Group and so our journey as a couple began!
We spent a lovely day with them as we showed them around the Ship and shared our own personal progress & walk of Faith over these last 5 and a half years and also the progress on board the Africa Mercy.

From left to right: Dave Fryer, Andy & Dave Latham our Pastor.

Our heartfelt thanks is extended to both Dave Latham & all at our home Church in Liverpool & Dave Fryer, for taking the time to come and see for yourselves. Your Prayer & Financial Support enable us to be here and serve the Lord in this way. As our Pastor said, it is has been a HUGE undertaking to prepare the Africa Mercy for Africa. Our strong sense of God's call on our lives and our vision to play our small part in bringing hope & healing to the world's poorest through the ministry of Mercy Ships is what has sustained us and spurred us on to keep pressing towards that goal. God has been truly Faithful through all the highs & lows of our journey so far and the best is yet to come!

Touring the Ship

Dave on the Bridge - No, Dave, we're not quite ready to leave yet!! God willing at the end of September we can go "Full Steam Ahead"!









Up on Deck 8.

Engineering Control Room

The two Engineer's are at home here and share stories and experiences of their days at sea!

HR Department on board Africa Mercy

Here are the ladies that work with me:
From left to right: Me (HR Manager), Patti Cook (General HR Facilitator), Cindy Schoenit (General HR Facilitator), Pat Barrett (HR Technical Crew Facilitator) & Yvonne Riddick(HR Assistant)
I am blessed, really blessed to work with such a great team!

Steven flies out to Texas for BST

In February Steven flew out to Texas to the Mercy Ships Headquarters to complete a BST (Basic Safety Training) Course with 10 other Africa Mercy Crew. We have around 40 % of our crew BST trained now. The goal is to have 100% of all long term crew BST trained. The course involves, Fire prevention & firefighting (Steven is on the right in the attached photo next to Paul another of our younger crew members. This was taken during the firefighting segment), Personal Survival Techniques, First Aid & CPR & Personal Safety & Social Responsibilities.
Steven thoroughly enjoyed this week, so much so that he is now looking into a future career in the Fire Service once he has completed his commitment to Mercy Ships

Kids visit the Ship

In July this year, it will be 3 years since any of the children were allowed on board the Africa Mercy. This May Day bank holiday Monday was a special day as they had permission to come on board and see their future home. It was great to be able to show them around the ship, but particularly for them to see their cabins and those of their Africa Mercy friends. The pictures above are taken inside our family cabin in the lounge area. Off to one side there are the two kids bedrooms and off the other side is the parents bedroom and wet unit (shower, sink and toilet). We are blessed to have lots of large windows and a good sized cabin. The family cabins are all very different in size and layout. They are allocated on a points system according to your previous length of service, positions held & length of commitment.