The AFM version

(just so you know: AFM is the acronym we use for the 'Africa Mercy')

This is the AFM version of a cold beer on a Saturday night. Hihi :)
Ben

From left to right

Hi all,
So we're in Conakry!! Today we actually had our first chance to get off ship. With some friends we drove over to the main market. Oh it was good to get out in the craziness. It is funny how something so foreign can seem so familiar.

I said that was the first time out actually that was true. As with most fridays last night was Ultimate Frisbee night. The advance team managed to find us a great field about a 10 minute walk from the ship. So a hot, sweaty hour and a half was happily spent chasing a frisbee around the field.

I have attached three pictures from left to right of our view from deck 7. Just to give you a taster of Conakry.
More to follow, I promise.

God bless,
Ben

Hannah's life

I feel it's high time I started contributing to this blog. I don't want Ben to do all the updating on my behalf, though he is doing a great job of it.
We've been in Guinea now for a little over two days. We enjoyed a wonderfully mild sail down here, all but the last 24 for hours of it, anyway. We saw dolphins, whales and many flying fish. More than anything it was a restful, relaxing, community building time before our field service in Guinea gets underway.
Since arriving to the ship four weeks ago I have been working in Crew Services in the housekeeping department. I've spent my days sweeping, mopping, disinfecting, scrubbing and generally tidying up. I enjoyed it more than I thought I would, though it was very hard work. I got to know fellow crew members I might never have met otherwise and my arms are now quite toned (we a do a LOT of swabbing the decks here on the Africa Mercy). But, alas, my housekeeping days are over.
On Monday I transferred to the hospital. Since we didn't arrive until Wednesday, we spent the first two days of this week baking cookies (given to crew services as a thank you for waxing the hospital floors) and making cards (to be given to nurses throughout the filed service as encouragement notes). Wednesday afternoon, after watching the arrival ceremony and diplomatic formalities on the dock, the nurses changed from formal wear to work wear and got down to the business of unpacking the hospital. You see, our hospital gets packed up and tied down before we sail anywhere. It's not pretty when medical equipment tilts, tips, topples and generally gets destroyed during a sail. Bed frames were reconstructed, cupboards jammed with equipment were unpacked, signs were rehung. Within one day, the hospital went from empty rooms to functioning wards! What a beautiful transformation.
I've loved being a part of this field service from the beginning. The last time I was with Mercy Ships I arrived 3 months into the field service. What a difference being here before the patients, anticipating their arrival and praying for the surgeries that will take place before the patients are even selected! I can honestly say I am so excited for these next months in Guinea. Who knows the amazing people I will meet, the incredible interactions that will occur, or the lives that will be changed?
I know God has great things planned for this field service. I feel so privileged to be a part of what He's doing here in Guinea.
Blessings,
Hannah

'nough said.

I should really dedicate this to Jon Riley, he is usually the one sharing what he is listening to while writing to us in the cave (If you don't understand what I'm talking about, don't worry).

I was just listening to this from "Magnificent" by Matt Redman:

You are higher than we ever could imagine
And closer than our eyes could ever see
You are...

Magnificent, You alone are holy
No one else as glorious as You
Magnificent, Jesus You are worthy
Who can shine as brightly as You do?
Magnificent
You're so magnificent
Magnificent
You're so magnificent

'Nough said, right?

God bless,

Ben

Encore! Encore!

Once again on the bow, it's just a nice place to contemplate life during the sail.
Hannah's reading her book (the one she isn't really enjoying but won't stop reading) and I was about to pull out my Bible (ok my iBible).
The waves have picked up a bit overnight although the sailing is still quite smooth. I thought I would test uploading a video, this is us slapping and bulldozing our way through the waves. Like the splash?
Hoping for the rest of the crew it stays smooth, I secretly enjoy the rough sails though.. I'll keep you all posted.
God bless,
Ben


ps I was joking around with the idea this morning of buying a big ship and just living with all our family and friends while we sail around the world, let me know if you're interested and I'll reserve you a spot :)

Dronnig Ingrid

Today's picture once again comes to you from the bow of the ship (if by now you still don't know where the bow is in a ship then I am sure that Google will find you the answer).

This is looking back towards the ship and along the top you can see the bridge. Underneath that you can just make out the words Dronnig Ingrid. These were painted over many moons ago, but this was the original name of the Africa Mercy.
This ship was originally a train ferry in Denmark; used to shuttle whole trains from one island to the next. Like the Dronnig Ingrid name on the front there are still clues to be found around the ship to its working past. Who would have thought all those years ago, sitting in your ferry in Denmark that that same ship would one day become the worlds largest non governmental hospital, a tool in Gods mission to the world.
Who would have thought..

God bless,
Ben

Take a bow.

This picture comes to you from just of the coast of north west Africa. The sail to Guinea is a day and a half in and all smooth so far.
The picture might be hard to make out but it is Hannah sitting out on the bow (front bit) of the ship reading after dinner. It's quite relaxing to sit outside surrounded by nothing but ocean on every side.
Hopefully we'll get out here a fair amount this weekend, we obviously can't go 'off ship' so the pace of life slows down outside of work hours. Not bad really :)
Hope you all are well.
God bless and happy sails,
Ben

Behind the wheel

Time for tea?

An evening reading, blogging and drinking tea.. It's a tough life being a missionary :)

1 week (and counting of course)

So Hannah and I have been back onboard for a whole week now; and talk about hitting the ground running!

Hannah has been working hard.. but not nursing.. As there is currently no hospital up and running (as we are still in Tenerife before sailing to Guinea in a weeks time) she has been working in the Stewards department. The Stewards department takes care of cleaning the communal areas, hallways, crew kitchen, public bathrooms etc on the ship. This is pretty hard graft and although at face value not the most glamourous jobs, it is maybe one of the most important. It is these seemingly 'unimportant' job that actually end up being filled by people that serve hard and in the background.

It is only temporary, Hannah will be back nursing very soon. 

While my wife spends her days scrubbing hard I seem to have ended up mostly behind a desk.

The Principal handover started as soon as we arrived and I have been truly blessed by the willingness walk me through the countless process that have always gone unnoticed by me as teaching staff.

We continue to ask for your prayers as we plug into our respective position and rediscover what makes this vessel run again.

I know God answers prayer, and therefore I know you are all held in His hands.

God bless,

Ben

And just cause you should know by now that I'm a lyrics person, this is the one that stuck with me this week:

"And God let us be
A generation that seeks-
That seeks your face
Oh God of Jacob
And God let us be
A generation that seeks-
That seeks your face
Oh God of Jacob"

"Give Us Clean Hands" by MercyMe