Week 16: Stories of Grace & Truth

Over the last couple of weeks, our chaplaincy team has been talking about grace and truth. How Christ was both of these, and that we often lean to one side or the other (I think I definitely lean towards truth more than grace), but that actually we need to be 100% full of both of these. This week I was really blown away by how God is with us, even in the little things - He is always faithful. I wanted to share some of the stories where I have seen grace and truth at work.

Ready for anything - this week we had an
at sea muster so we would know what to do if
the ship started to sink when we were at sea.

//As I have continued to attend the same church here, I have slowly learned the stories of some of the people in the congregation and each time I found myself praising God for His goodness and how we can do good with His guidance. One beautiful, smiling girl named Prisca (around 10 years old), lost both of her parents last year and so, another couple in the church who don’t have kids, decided to take her in. One 40 year old lady is a widow, with her husband having passed away 8 years ago, and she has been raising her three teenage girls by herself. Despite everything that has happened, she is full of joy and very involved in the church, helping to teach one of the Sunday school classes. There’s another feisty little girl named Erica, who has blown me away with her leadership and love for the other children. When we played Frisbee, she made sure everyone got a turn. If ever someone is crying or upset, she will come alongside them and encourage them. She’s probably 12 years old. The pastor of the church (who is a woman) became a widow recently, and the church has stepped up and supported her now that she doesn’t have another source of income. I have been so encouraged by how much Christ-like love I see in the church, examples of taking care of widows and orphans (literally), encouraging each other, sharing what little they have and praising God together.//

//Fantala, the cyclone that caused us to be at level orange for two weeks, has officially dissipated. I love that the response from the captain and the managing director has been to give God all the glory, thanking Him for saving us from this and praying for those who were affected. In the end, no surgeries were cancelled!//

//One day, I was really struggling with the idea of staying for another two years, when I walked by the café. A lady who I respect very much, came up to me and said, I saw that you are staying for another 2 years, that’s amazing! And proceeded to give me a very big hug. That really touched me and I felt like that was coming directly from God, telling me to stop doubting myself.//

Our advance team will be heading to Benin soon 
to help get things set up before the ship arrives.

//About a month ago, I was down in the wards with a media team and one of our day crew started talking to me. She’s a lovely older lady and she told me that she was a translator. She shared with me that she had served aboard our last ship, the Anastasis, when it was here in Madagascar in 1996. When she heard that Mercy Ships was coming back, she was eager to come work for us again. I think this is such a powerful testament to how much God’s light shines in what we do. Our advance team shared with us that the people of Benin are so excited for us to come! Even people who are not directly affected by our services, can’t wait for us to come and help their people, to help lift up the whole medical system and most importantly, to bring hope.//

The little girl who stole my heart.

//The other day, I was pretty frustrated about some work stuff and definitely not focused on God. I went down to the wards to talk to someone about something work related, and as I was walking down the hallway, the cutest little baby girl with a cleft lip walked right in my path. She looked at me and lifted her arms up, the universal sign for, pick me up! So I did. In that moment I realized that I had completely lost sight of why we were here. I got overwhelmed by the little, unimportant things. That all disappeared as I played with this little girl. God put her in my path right when I needed it. I picked her up and we danced and sang and laughed. We played with string and balloons and she refused to let me put her down. After about 45 minutes I finally handed her back to her mom and made my escape. That was one of the most joyful moments I have experienced in my time here.//

//One of our vision trip guests a few months ago, had just had surgery to remove an internal tumour and she postponed a second surgery so that she could come here and see the ship. She volunteers her time to help her national Mercy Ships office continue to grow. That’s some amazing dedication and it was so clear that God had really put this mission on her heart.//

Outdoor movie night with these beauties - Molly & Whitney.

//This week has been very prayer focused, and let me tell you, I absolutely needed the reminder. In our Bible study group, we are discussing the book of Daniel and most of the discussion that night revolved around prayer, asking if it really mattered if multiple people prayed for the same thing. I think the overall consensus was that, yes it does matter, maybe not in terms of whether or not God will change His mind, but in terms of this idea that we are fighting a spiritual war and there are other forces at work that we cannot see. On Friday night, one of my friends bounced into our office (which she has never done before), and told me that one of the restaurants was playing a movie called War Room that night, and I should come. So I said sure, having no idea what it was about. It turned out it was an absolutely amazing movie about the power of prayer, and the idea that we are fighting a spiritual war. It’s called war room because that’s what the lady calls her closet where she prays, where she does battle. If you haven’t seen it, I would definitely recommend it! And then on Saturday, there was a prayer seminar by a lady from the IOC who is very much a prayer warrior. She spent the first hour just sharing stories in her life of how God has spoken to her and her life journey with Him. It was unreal. I was sitting there in awe of Him and all He does with our brokenness, if only we can submit it fully to Him. It was also a good reminder that it often takes years for prayer to be answered, and that we need to be patient and wait for His timing.//

//Many of us have been thinking about what will happen to our 300+ day crew when the ship leaves. I have talked to several of them and they aren’t exactly sure what they will do. Mercy Ships as an organization has done a lot to help prepare them for this, but God decided to use the crew themselves to reach out in a big way. Two of our crew have been holding business classes, teaching them how to research markets and make business plans, etc. They have also started a microfinance operation, helping them get these businesses off the ground. So far they helped one person build a hotel of sorts, to rent rooms out. They helped someone else buy three cows and build a barn and fence to start a milk service. God has really put this on their heart and so they have decided to stay in Madagascar after the ship leaves to continue with this training and financing. We took up an offering to provide more funding to the operation and I am so encouraged to see how God is using us in a small way to take care of His children.//

//A few days ago, I was struggling with my confidence in my ability to do my job well, and if I can really step up and lead when we get to Benin, when I saw this: http://www.alionthego.org/#!SIMPLY-DEVOTE/cmbz/571a2f7b0cf2b05e61f84af9. My friend Ali wrote this and it meant so much to me. I never realized that my passion was that obvious to others. The picture she captured was me talking to a girl named Larissa, who is always on the street selling peanuts. She is such a firecracker, incredibly bright and fiesty, and I love our verbal exchanges as she tries to explain to me why I need to buy peanuts. I give her money and tell her I don't want the peanuts, and still she tries to convince me that her peanuts are delicious. I know that she can do so much if she is just given a chance.//

//Last week, one of my day crew friends was going to have to walk home because his bike broke on the way here. So instead we took him for ice cream and drove him home. He lives so far! Every day he bikes 45 minutes to get to the ship. When we got there, he invited us to come and see his home and his family. He has a beautiful wife and an adorable 11 month old baby boy named Samuel. For my friends and I, it was definitely an eye-opening experience, and a blessing to be able to see where they live. It is one small room, with a bed taking up most of the space. They also had a tv and a small desk with a computer on it. One of my friends made a comment that really stuck with me. She said that that home was about the people, not the things in it. That is more true than I can even explain.//

The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. - John 1:14

Her proud mama looks on as Fifliana tests out her
new straight legs!

Week 15: This is Not a Drill

Fantala is turning around and might be
headed our way.

Every time something happens, I never cease to be amazed at how the crew of the AFM handle things with such grace and peace. This week, we’ve been dealing with an approaching cyclone/tropical storm called Fantala. I didn’t know much about tropical storms before, but now I certainly have a better idea! The storm has been heading to the north of the island and is now making a sharp turn (no idea why, but they could predict this somehow). It’s headed south east, but every time we get an update it seems it’s headed more south and less east, which means it will come much closer to us. We are still in that iffy stage where we might have to leave (cyclone level Orange), we will hopefully know more in the next 24 hours.

Throughout the whole process, the captain has kept the crew very informed on what is going on. Everyone has been working very hard to strap things down, cook extra meals, and other general preparations in the event we have to sail. Of course there has been a lot of speculation, but at the end of the day, all we can do is pray that the storm passes us by. If we do have to leave the port that will cause a cancellation of many surgeries, which means that many people might not get the help they need. All the patients will have to be evacuated to the HOPE Center. We are just praying that none of that will happen.

Scott, from the Australian radio team, interviewing Bruce,
our Infrastructure Projects Manager.

This week I also had the pleasure of hosting an Australian Radio team. They were really great – very easy going but they also had big hearts to share what it is we are doing here. This is the first Christian team I have hosted and it was really encouraging to hear them share that aspect of our mission. This job is a big blessing in the sense that I get to hear people share their stories and testimonies with these media teams. On a side note, I (barely) managed to avoid being interviewed live. That involved sneakily running away…haha let’s just say I talk too much to do a 3 minute interview!

My last piece of super exciting news is that my mom will be arriving here in 2 ½ weeks!! I absolutely cannot wait to share with her all the amazing things that God is doing here, as well as this beautiful country! To be able to show her why this place and the people here mean so much to me, is such a wonderful blessing. Knowing how much this would mean to me, she has even been working 6 days a week to make up for the time she will be gone. We always knew we would have an adventure in Africa – we just never would have guessed that it would be in Madagascar!

One new thing: I got to help the dining room staff wash dishes the other day! The ship arranged for a speaker to come in and speak to our day crew about entrepreneurial stuff, because they are trying to prepare them for when the ship leaves. This meant all of our day crew was up at the seminar, so they asked for some volunteers to help wash dishes. It was fun – although I’m sure if you have to do it three times a day, 5 days a week, it might not be as fun. But it was cool to see what goes on behind the scenes – lots of hard work and heavy lifting, that’s for sure!

Two of my favourite goofballs - can't wait to be reunited!

One thing I observed: As we come closer to the end of the field service, many more changes are happening. People are announcing the new roles that they will be doing next year, others are coming into departments for the summer months, and in general, people are coming and going like crazy. After the majority of my bus family left, I hibernated for about a week and then finally decided to be intentional about making new friends. I’ve met another great group of ladies, and have been really blessed by their company and conversation. Everyone has such unique and amazing stories, I love hearing all of them. On a semi-related side note, two of my closest bus family friends are coming back for Benin (one of them, for the whole field service), and I am so stoked about that! I cried when she told me - we are going to have such a blast.

One thing I felt God was telling me: Well, this week was definitely an intense internal struggle – I feel like the closer I got to being accepted for 2 more years, the more the doubt the devil threw my way. At first, I was starting to doubt if I am meant to stay with Mercy Ships, or if I am meant to stay in Madagascar, because I absolutely love this country and the beautiful people in it. Then I got really overwhelmed with thinking about how long two years is, and how much I will miss and why am I doing this, it’s crazy. I could be at home, nice and comfortable, surrounded by friends and family and part of my sister’s life. Chaplaincy is leading the crew in a study of the gospels, focusing on the grace and truth, and so this week when I was reading I was really struck by this concept: Jesus calls his disciples to follow Him and they leave everything behind. They leave their work, their families, their friends, their stuff and follow Him. Their mission is to share the gospel and help the least of these, the poor, the orphans, the widows. And I realized, this is exactly what we do here. We leave everything we’ve known, all our comforts and come serve the least of these. 

And then, as if to confirm this, the crew member who shared his testimony with us on Thursday was answering the question, why do you keep returning? He said that back home, people always ask him, haven’t you given enough? And he was thinking about the story of the rich young ruler, where Jesus tells him to sell everything and follow him. Jesus calls us to give Him everything. That was a lot of confirmation for me about why I am coming back and why I am choosing to do this work – I want to give Him my everything. As so, this week I got confirmation that I have been accepted to return to the Africa Mercy for another 2 years. I am so excited and I definitely have a lot more peace now about everything that will come.

When Jesus heard this, he said to him, “You still lack one thing. Sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me." - Luke 18:22

Some of our beautiful OBF ladies!

Week 14: The Unique Challenges of Madagascar

The longer I’ve been here, the more I realize that Madagascar has provided some unique challenges for Mercy Ships, but also some opportunities to try some new things. In most countries we go to, the port city is also the capital city, so that majority of the people live in or around where we are docked. However, in Madagascar, the challenge has been two-fold. For one, the capital, Antananarivo, is more in the center of the island (around an 8 hour drive from the Toamasina, where we are docked). This is where around 2 million people live, whereas only about 300,000 live in Toamasina. This means the majority of our patients will have to travel from very far away, especially if they are in the north/west/south of the island. Secondly, this island is HUGE. Madagascar is the fourth largest island in the world, and far bigger than a lot of the countries we have been to previously. To add to the complexity is the fact that most places lack good roads and infrastructure, which makes getting to many parts of the island very difficult. Many of our patients have to walk for days, take a combination of bus/boat/taxi or get flown in by MAF (Mission Aviation Fellowship). They often have to sell their rice paddies, fields or other possessions to get enough money to come see us.

This is where I am amazed at the thought that Mercy Ships puts into everything they do. Knowing all of these things, they have done several things to help with this. For one, they transformed an abandoned building at the nearby hospital into the biggest HOPE Center we have ever had. It has 240 beds, and houses and feeds people as they are waiting to be admitted, after they have been discharged from the hospital (but still have checkup appointments) and while they are doing rehabilitation with our physical therapists. Normally, we could just send patients home in between many of these appointments, but because they have to travel so far to come here, we host them at the HOPE Center for the entire duration of their healing process. Mercy Ships also reached out to the business community in Madagascar, creating an opportunity for them to donate money to a travel fund that would specifically be used to bring patients to the ship (and return them home). This is a really amazing way of opening the door for the Malagasy people who are well off, to help their own people. We also partnered with the telecom companies, and every time we would go to a screening, they would text all the people in that area, letting them know that we were coming. We also used the radio to let people know we were coming.

That’s something else that is unique – we did 11 screenings, across the country. From what I’ve heard, normally they would only do one or two screenings in giant stadiums, of 20,000+ people (which sounds intense). Here in Madagascar, to make sure they reached people from all over, they went out and conducted many screenings, giving people appointment cards to tell them when to come to the ship. I find it truly remarkable that Mercy Ships is able to select thousands of patients, bring them to the ship, and provide surgery, while keeping things very organized and on time (for the most part). However, I would say that the screening team definitely has one of the hardest jobs – they are the ones who have to say no to thousands of people that we are unable to help. For every patient we help, there are hundreds of others that we can help. That’s why it’s important to keep in mind what Dr.Gary says, that we can’t change the whole world, but we can change the whole world for one person. A Canadian surgeon who was recently aboard the ship, Dr. Sherif Emil, puts it this way, when you save a child, you’re not just saving a life, you’re saving a lifetime. That really struck me, this idea that you’ve given this child years and years they may not have had, and now they can impact so many people in that lifetime they’ve been given.

One new thing: We went on a 6 hour long hike on Saturday – what an adventure, but I was definitely exhausted by the end of it. We walked through many small villages, rice fields, up and down hills, through the forest. We hung out in a field with Zebu, got lost following a small path through a field, crossed makeshift bridges and said salama (hello) to a lot of people. It’s amazing how beautiful this country is. Ambatovy, which is a huge mining project in Madagascar (one of the world’s largest nickel mines), had to displace some villages to build the pipeline from the mine to their refining plant in Toamasina. They relocated these villagers and built them new homes, which is why we saw many homes that were built with concrete bases and wooden slats, rather than the houses that are typical for small villages here. Interestingly, Ambatovy is operated and 40% owned by a Canadian mining company (Sherritt).

One thing I observed: So much thought goes into every aspect of the community life on this ship. This weekend, they had a father daughter dinner and dance, to give the families some special time together. A lot of people pitched in to help decorate, to get the girls dressed up and ready and to help make the evening special for them. They also played The Lego Movie in midships so that the boys didn’t feel forgotten. There are some really thoughtful people aboard the ship, who constantly go above and beyond when it comes to serving their fellow crew.

One thing I felt God was telling me: When you feel far from Him, making a list of all the things you should (or shouldn’t do) to draw near to Him, isn’t going to help you. We can’t do it by our own strength. We need to submit to Him completely and ask Him to draw us back, to give us pure hearts and clean hands. Our chaplain made an interesting point, she was saying that if we focus on all the things we don’t want to do, on all the sins we are trying to avoid, we will just end up doing them. Instead we need to just focus on God. To spend our energy and effort focusing on the one true King. This is one of the songs our worship team sang last night: Jesus at the center of it all, from beginning to the end, it will always be, it’s always been You Jesus. I think this is the key – putting God at the center of every aspect of our lives.

Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. - Romans 12:2

Week 13: Free Time - Off the Ship

There is so much to do off ship that I barely know where to start with this one. One thing we love to do is eat out – not that the food on the ship isn’t delicious, but it is nice to have a choice! There are many restaurants that are directed towards foreigners (vaza), and it’s a fairly similar experience to back home, except that usually the food is slower in coming out. The crew love to go for bike rides, or hikes, or go visit the nearby lemur park. We also go to Karaoke bars, play soccer/Frisbee/rugby at the nearby stadium, go swimming in the ocean, and just walk around. We often go to Shoprite or Skor, which are the grocery stores. They very much resemble a Wal-Mart, with all kinds of packaged food, a bakery, fresh fruit, a meat and cheese department, toys and school supplies, etc. The biggest difference is that all of these stores and restaurants are open to the outside, rather than being closed off buildings. Sometimes it’s fun to just ride around in the tuk-tuks (motorized 3 person scooter things) or pousse-pousse (bicycles with a little cart in the back for two people). The other day we didn’t realize that the Tuesday after Easter was also a holiday so when we tried to go out and eat we discovered that a lot of things were closed. That resulted in four of us being crammed in a tuk-tuk driving around town for about an hour before we found something open. It was a good adventure! Actually we learned that Easter Monday is one of the biggest holidays in Madagascar – everyone was out and about. The beach and all the restaurants were packed.

On top of all the things to do in town, there are always lots of excursions to go on. Some of them are just one day – such as going to Prune island, which is a short boat ride away and is a nice place for a picnic. Some are a few days, such as going to the Palmerium to see the lemurs, or to Mahambo, to relax on the beach. Others are 3-4 day adventures, such as going to Ile Sainte Marie, which is a beautiful island to the north, and apparently has some sort of history with pirates. It’s a lot of travel to get there though. Madagascar is by far the most beautiful place I’ve ever been – beaches that go on forever, tons of wildlife and greenery to explore, as well as a vast ocean and a winding canal system that are right next to each other. The people are also amazing – I constantly hear from people that these are the best day crew we’ve ever had. The people work incredibly hard (ie. The bread slicer broke yesterday and the day crew cut 35 loaves of bread by hand) and are very joyful. Whether you love wildlife, adventures, relaxing beaches, beautiful scenery or wonderful people, Madagascar has it all. [I'm not good at taking pictures of things, so I often just share the pictures our creative team take - mostly because they're amazing].

One new thing: So many goodbyes this week, it made me start thinking about how soon my own goodbye is coming. It has snuck up on me – partly because I’m leaving earlier than expected, partly because I haven’t thought about it at all considering I’ll be coming back. But even though I will be coming back to the Africa Mercy, I will be saying goodbye to most of the people I’ve become close with, and I will be saying goodbye to this beautiful country. Because when I come back, we will be in a new country, with new day crew, an almost entirely new comms team, new roommates, new patients and lots of new crew. I’ve got about four more weeks of work left – 1 media team and 2 vision trips left. I’m praying that I can focus on glorifying God each day, living for His kingdom today, and not being too focused on the future.

One thing I felt God was telling me: This was the quote on the dining room whiteboard today – Our greatest fear should not be of failure, but of succeeding at things in life that don’t really matter (Francis Chan). That pretty much sums up what has been on my heart lately. I came across this verse the other day – Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labour in the Lord is not in vain. This isn’t a new verse for me, it’s actually the verse I shared with the church when I gave my testimony. But I saw it in a completely different light this time. This time I read it and I stopped and thought, wait, that means that any work that is NOT of the Lord, IS in vain. All those things I do for me, for my own comfort or selfish desires, those things are all worthless. They have no meaning in an eternal context. Only the work we are doing for His glory matters. I need to be fully given to His work, to making sure everyone sees Him in all we do. I have a long way to go when it comes to this. I spend far too much time focused on myself and not enough time serving others. Every time I think I’ve surrendered everything, I realize there is so much I am still holding on to. This line from a song summarizes the necessary action – I found my life when I laid it down…I touch the sky when my knees hit the ground. Full surrender.

I will praise you, Lord, among the nations;

    I will sing of you among the peoples.

4 

For great is your love, higher than the heavens;

    your faithfulness reaches to the skies.

5 

Be exalted, O God, above the heavens;

    let your glory be over all the earth.

- Psalm 108:3-5 NIV