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(Note – You will not find any pictures of
our visit to the Mercy Ships as increased port security measures forbid the
taking of pictures.)
I want to catch up on last
night’s visit to the Mercy Ships (www.mercyships.org)
as it was an incredible experience.
First, before someone else tells on me, I have a confession to make.
Yesterday we didn’t get the
early start that I had hoped and we didn’t see a couple of properties that
I had hoped. I had received a couple
of emails the night before which gave me some pretty time critical
deliverables and getting the late start reduced the time that I had to
“squeeze them in” prior to making a promised visit to Shadrach and Jeremiah
as we continue to try to get the Children’s Village’s ice making business
going (without it they are in a constant financial crisis trying to pay
K-12 grade teachers, staff, feed and house 35 orphans, etc.). And after
that, our entire late afternoon and evening was to be spent with our hosts,
Keith and Kristin Chapman, on the Valetta (they may be renaming it back to
Anastasia). Because of the increased
port security around the world it’s more of a hassle to get into the port
and we were coming in 4 different vehicles.
What a pain. I had worked
with David to keep our focus on only those things which kept us on track
for our 6 purposes of this trip:
1.
Establish the STS – Liberia board of directors
2.
Plan the STS 2008 Goals with Robert Cuppah and the
board
3.
Assist with 3 days of Crown Financial Ministries
training sessions
4.
Visit available properties to serve as the STS
permanent headquarters
5.
Plan and/or begin the operation of 4 new business
initiatives
6. Continue
to steward current and develop new relationships
So as we were pulling up to
the dock I stated, “Of all the things we have planned, this is the one that
is not a necessary part of fulfilling our trip goals.” This would come back to haunt me when we
were leaving for home.
We arrived at the ship and
were waiting for Jan, Mario and Robert to arrive. Kristin saw us out of here window and
called my cell to ask if that was us on the dock. I assured her if she was seeing 2 ugly
guys and 1 handsome guy standing there then she was looking at the right
group. She laughed (not sure why)
and said that she would be down to get us.
I’ve only communicated with Kristin and Keith by email and cell
phone. So I had no idea her what she
looks like, her age, etc. so when she shows up at the bottom I’m surprised
to find that she’s a young and energetic mother of 3. They are 2 blond, cutie pie girls on the
dock near her so I ask if they are her children. “Yes, this is Taylor, Lauren and our son,
Samuel.” I’m looking around and the
only boy in view is a little Liberian boy.
They adopted him from an orphanage in Liberia at the age of 8 months. He’s now 2 ½ years old. When they got him he had never had solid
food except for pudding which was cheap and designed to fill the orphan
children up. Surprisingly his
Liberian DNA has followed into his continuing growth as he only wants to
eat Liberian food, especially rice.
Taylor is 9 and Lauren is 7 (I think I have this right…).
Tonight is Mercy Ships’
annual international Thanksgiving Day celebration. So as we have dinner with Kristin (Keith
eats quickly as he is in charge of music tonight for the worship service)
and the three children we begin to learn more of their story. There is ham and turkey, dressing, mashed
potatoes, corn, cranberry sauce and all the trimmings. The food is great and I notice that
James’ (our driver) plate is heaped up with food. It’s likely that he ever has all the food
he would like in any single meal.
Yet so much of the time I quit eating only because I can’t hold any
more.
Spending time with Kristin
and Keith is enlightening and uplifting.
They are a wonderful couple that have been
onboard for 4.5 years. Keith is a
father and an oral surgeon (does corrective surgery for cleft palette, bone
rejection, etc.) and Kristin has worked in several capacities especially in
the administrative area. Plus, as
she says, she took a year off to “be a mother” after adopting Samuel.
After dinner Kristin gave us
a tour of the ship. She stressed
that Mercy Ships are more than just “floating hospitals”. They do so very many things during the 8
– 10 months that the ship is in a particular port including weekly visits
to orphanages, the elderly, hospitals, etc.
They have a travelling dental unit that Keith runs plus emergency
surgery for extreme dental situations (which are fairly often in Liberia).
I have so many good things to
say about the Chapman’s and will never explain adequately how impressed I
am with them and their fellow missionaries within the onboard
community. But let me mention a few
things.
1. They
have lived for 4.5 years in an onboard apartment with 4 rooms totaling less
than 400 square feet.
2.
Their children have little memory of a home other
than the ship and seldom see their extended family. My observation is that they are extremely
well adjusted and the interaction with the other crew members was warm and
loving.
3.
They do not get paid to work for Mercy Ships. In fact they have to pay to work on the
ship! They pay $290/month per person
to live and work on the ship. So you
have an oral surgeon, an administrative assistant and 3 children paying about
$1,500 per month for the privilege of serving Christ through the ship’s
ministry. They raise funds during
their very limited time away from the ship so that they can keep working
and serving.
4. They
are leaving Mercy Ships at the end of this month and will be returning to
Liberia in April to start a dental clinic for the poor. There are only 2 dentists in Liberia and
they serve the rich. Keith and
Kristin are determined to serve the poor.
Maybe I’m mistaken but I believe they are practicing what the Bible
calls “pure religion”.
I am going to stop right here
and ask you to prayerfully consider supporting the Chapman’s in this new
season of their service to Christ.
You know my heart for Liberia and to hear that they will join the
SIM team in ministering to the poor of this country is tremendous. You can expect that the return on your
“investment” will be in the “hundred fold” arena. Here’s a website that you can go to and an
email address for them:
www.geocities.com/chapmanmercyships
mercyshipper@yahoo.com
Did I mention they lived in
Nashville? Good people. Keith’s parents live in Texas and
Kristin’s are in Oklahoma.
One of the things I wanted to
mention to those reading this is that you do not have to have a medical
skill to serve on the ships.
Everyone on board, with the exception of a few Ukrainian engineers, are volunteers.
So the chief surgeon and the dishwasher are equal in their pay and their
commitment. If you can wash clothes,
cook, sweep, teach or do anything else that needs doing in a floating city,
you can serve on the ship. There
were a lot of young ladies serving on the ship and they accept short term
and long term volunteers. You can
find out more on their website.
After our time dining and
then the tour, Kristin handed us off to Keith for the worship service as
she went to collect the children and get them down for the night. Keith was leading music for the service
and I also met an old/young email/shipping friend for the first time. John Mark Shepherd is a young man doing
mission work in Liberia and he (and others) were
playing with Keith in the band. John
Mark had build a Liberian musical instrument that looks something like a
banjo with a round back except that it has about 12 strings on it and they
are positioned perpendicular to the instrument’s body in 2 sets of 6
strings. It was very calming and
comforting to listen to.
The group was quite
diversified and there was a full house of perhaps 250+ people. Approximately 50 of us were visitors, the
rest were crew members.
Keith did a marvelous job
leading the music portion of the worship and could serve as a worship
leader in any church of which I am aware.
He really was that good. An
African band also played and sang during part of the service. The speaker/teacher was from Australia
and had the somewhat dry wit that comes from anything influenced by the
British. He did a great job of
documenting the full meaning of being thankful to God. After that came the coolest and most
meaningful part of the service for me.
There are about 36 different nationalities serving aboard Mercy
Ships right now and one person from each country was invited up to “make a
proclamation of thanks in their native tongue”. Every country from Australia to Zimbabwe
was represented. Twelve of the
representatives would come up and give a brief prayer in their own language
(some actually sang theirs). Then we
would sing another song and the next group would come. It was so very meaningful and special.
After the service (2+ hours
and it still seemed short) we stayed around for another 30 minutes talking
to various people. Jan and Mario
found a woman from Cape Town to talk with.
The rest of us found plenty of people to talk with as well. One neat thing, they had baskets of
fruits and vegetables up front as decoration. At the end they invited everyone to take
some fruit or vegetables home with them.
That was a big hit with everyone there but especially with Robert,
Emma, James and our other Liberian friends.
Robert ended up with a stalk of plantains saying that they would
have a good breakfast in the morning.
So, expectedly, after we said
goodbye to Keith (Kristin was with the kids), and got into the car, Gayla
had to say, “Well Mr. Edwards, do you still think that visiting the Mercy
Ships was a waste of time?” To which
I answered, “I never said it was a waste of time, just not on our list of
goals.” I would say that the lesson
that I learned is that any time you leave worshiping God off your list of
things to do, you need to make a new list.
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