Speaking of home, as we draw to the 3 week count down, it seems on every project at this time we start asking God, "What are supposed to do, are we supposed to stay longer, should we go home?" Feelings start arising as we realize we have done what we were called to do, but can we do more? Our hearts desires are to sail to Benin and serve on a field service so we can experience "God" in action in the lives of those who will come and receive medical treatment. We have seen the pictures, watched the videos, talked to those who have been on field projects and all this leads us to more questions.
In our devotions, a lot of the messages expressed how important our jobs are we all do, even though we are not medically trained. I know that with my mind, but my heart just tells me we need to do more. Peggy has struggled the most on this project because she is a "people" person and she wants to have interaction with everyone, but especially she is drawn to the children. Her hearts desire is to be a "baby holder", a prayer intercessor and willing shoulder, and she hasn't been able to do that. I am a hands on "fixer" but there are times I remember in Senegal, just being able to touch someone who others think are untouchable, and how it felt. Thus, our dilemma. There are a lot of doors that would have to open for us to stay and these doors have to be opened by God, not us. That is how we know we are where God wants us. I know there are others that step out and hope the door opens, and it does, but for us we haven't reached that level of faith. Oh, well,....we wait and pray.
I would like to share a part of our devotion on Friday. It was given by the man who is in charge of shipyard renovations. A Godly man with lots of wisdom and his Mercy Ship story is amazing.
He talked about us (the short time volunteers) who will be going home and people will be asking "What did you do on Mercy Ship?" He told us we will probably say, "We pulled wire, we built bulkheads, we cleaned, we removed deck heads, we built furniture, we installed pipes in the overhead, we insulated, we renovated lockers, etc." But the people will not have a clue, because they weren't here. But he said to tell them, "We did Holy stuff", in that, we as Christians are to be holy as God is holy. Not "Holier than thou", but just Holy in that we are striving to be like Christ. We have already been made Holy, through Jesus, but we have also called to become, more like Christ. That comes in many ways, Bible study, prayer, obedience to God's word, interaction with believers (and non-believers) and through service. And that is the place we are in now, service. One of the yard workers told one of our leaders in the hallway, "You are going to heaven, because you work on Mercy Ship " What an opportunity to explain, which the leader did, by telling him how salvation is assured already when you accept Christ and heaven is guaranteed, but not by the works we do.
The meat of his devotion, as so many people keep telling us, is that what we do for the ship, is not the most important thing. Mercy Ships want the people who serve to be "renovated and renewed" by the Holy Spirit when they come on board, which is far more eternal than what we do with our hands.
So, again, we approach another day with questions and wondering. Thanks to everyone who are praying for us and please, DON'T STOP! We have so few days left and know that God will direct our paths, and lead us to what He wants us to do.
We are losing project people almost daily, but we do receive replacements also. We have 4 or 5 young men from Europe who have joined for 2 weeks. It is amazing. One of the boys' employer paid for his trip here because the company believes so much in Mercy Ships. We found out also, that his parents were in Hawaii, at Kona, last year the same time as we were and now his parents are directors of a YWAM base in Germany. One young man who is 19 had his parents serve on the older Mercy Ship, the Anastasis when he was a young boy, and now he has come to serve. What an example being set by parents!
We say goodbye to our good friends and my boss, Roger and Kris. If we hadn't met them in Hawaii, all this would not have taken place. They return to the states to await the arrival of a grand daughter and we pray for their safe return and the arrival of the new life.
We have had one setback and now we will not be in the water till this Thursday. The new sterilizers will be commissioned on Monday so please pray they work as designed. (Especially since I had to help install them and wire them up). New territory for me.! New flooring is being installed by the shipyard, we are closing up walls, and deck heads, lots of furniture being installed, medical staff and full time people returning....lots of activities going on. Sail dates for Tenerife and Benin are still on go, no changes there.
I know this was long, and thanks for walking this experience with us.
Love
Ken and Peggy
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