Hello from the OTHER side of the Atlantic Ocean! Thanks to social media, it is pretty well known that I (Katie) have been in the States for the past two weeks. Waaaay back in February, my best friend Jessica got engaged. I had known for a while that this would happen and also knew that I wouldn't be able to come to the wedding; we're planning on coming home at Christmas and had not budgeted for another ticket. However, Jessica's dad wrote me right when she got engaged and asked if he could fly me back for the wedding--as a surprise!!
Of course there was only one answer to that question: UNEQUIVOCALLY (and with many, many thanks)!! But I have to admit that was a long secret to keep! There were definitely moments when I wondered how I could possibly not give it away but we pulled it off! On August 31, I walked into Jessica's living room and said "Surprise!"
Jessica and I have been friends for 5 years; we met as roommates in college in Arkansas. We've spent 4 years and 11 months of that time living in separate states/continents but we remain best of friends, thanks to unlimited texting. I had so much fun and felt incredibly blessed to be there for her day (and yes, I did cry a lot on the big day). It was a truly fantastic week spent with her preparing for her wedding and I even got to be a bridesmaid--talk about the most laid back bride ever! :)
Enter: crazy time in Mercy Ships. We've written about some of the delays and changed plans that have been happening. "Country Next" has really been an on-going decision for several weeks/months now! I realize that our news can sometimes sound a little scattered and there's a couple of reasons for that. Mostly, it's because this summer things were changing every day and we barely had time to get information out! Because of that and the heightened media attention that West Africa has been getting because of Ebola, we were asked to not share certain things before the time was right, to ensure that only correct information was being posted. Now that it's been officially announced that we are going to Madagascar, I'd like to give a really basic timeline of what's happened but I promise it won't be too long. :)
The first major change was not going to Guinea and making the decision to go to Benin instead--I think that happened late April (I blogged about it here.) That was a hard decision that had to be made quickly because the Advance team was due to fly for Conakry early May to prepare for the ship's arrival. Even though they weren't in Guinea yet, they had done a lot of work already and had to start over to get ready for Benin. The Advance team left for Benin May 9.
We arrived in the Canary Islands on June 14th and went into dry dock a few days later. We were supposed to sail for Benin on August 15. At the beginning of August though, a problem with the engine surfaced (you'll have to ask Jordan to write a post on that because I don't understand it!). Right around the same time, the news broke out that Patrick Sawyer, a Liberian-American, had died in Lagos, Nigeria from Ebola (he had just been in Liberia). Even though Lagos is a country away it is less than 100 miles from Cotonou, where we were going to dock in Benin and the traffic between the two cities is very high. It was announced that our sail date was postponed until August 29th because of the engine trouble and this would also give us time to see what would happen in Nigeria.
Throughout the next couple of weeks, the same thing kept happening. Something else would go wrong that caused a few days delay and we would also hear news about Ebola that made the way forward unclear. Unfortunately, it did become clear that we could not go to Benin. Nigeria is not in as bad a state as Guinea, Sierra Leone, and Liberia are/were, but there are still new cases of Ebola popping up every few days. We just couldn't take the chance of being a magnet with a disease so contagious and dangerous and unintentionally making the situation worse.
The Africa Mercy was a ship without a country! We didn't know where we were headed next. A few countries were looked at but for one reason or another, were not viable options. But here's a cool part of the story! :) Our new managing director's wife is from Madagascar! So our MD (his name is Roland Decorvet) was able go through the necessary "red tape" incredibly quickly because of relationships that he has sigh officials in Madagascar. How cool is that? So about two weeks ago, we were told that the plan was to go to Madagascar but that nothing was set in stone just yet. It was official a few days later but we were asked to not say anything until everything was in order, which was Monday!
SO. The Africa Mercy set sail from Las Palmas, Gran Canaria on Saturday, August 13th, with a course set for Cape Town, South Africa--an 18 day sail! I believe it's the longest sail the ship has ever done. It will spend some time in South Africa (we're not sure how much time yet) to refuel and some other things. We will arrive in Madagascar mid to late October.
That brings me up to where Jordan and I are at now, which is on separate continents. Although it occurs to me that technically Jordan isn't on a continent since he's sailing. When I left the ship (August 30) I wasn't sure which country where we were going to or where the ship was going to be when or even what day I would be returning. And since I was in the States already, I really wanted to get up to Ohio (mostly to meet my niece but also to see the rest of you guys up there ;)).
So I decided to take a round trip but returning from Dayton instead of Kansas City. I flew to Dayton from Kansas on September 7th (Sunday). On Tuesday, we found out that the ship would be sailing on the 13th (Saturday). I could either fly back in time to join the ship OR fly to Cape Town, South Africa. Two of my friends are there right now preparing for the ship's arrival and working on some different plans for what we'll be doing once the ship arrives. They asked if I would join them to help out but understood that if I wanted to be back on board since I've been away for 2 weeks. I decided to join them for a couple of reasons--I could get more time in Ohio, be of help in Cape Town (I'm not much use when I'm bed-stricken on the high seas) and SKIP THE DREADED SAIL.
I'm fairly excited about that last point.
So, I'm in Washington, D.C. right now, about to board my insanely long flight, but I probably won't be able to post this until I get to Cape Town (as in fact, I am. I've been here for two days.) Jordan is somewhere off the west coast of Africa, hopefully making quick time. :)
Whew. Confused yet?
Couple of prayer points:
- Please pray for the Advance Team. They were pretty much completely prepared for our arrival in Benin, which was 4 months of crazy hard work. Now they are flying to Madagascar to start all over again--for the 3rd time. We are SO proud of them but know that they are mentally and physically tired. Please pray that they will have energy and optimism and that God will open doors quickly for them in a brand new country!
- Pray in general for this next field service. We've never been on the east side of Africa so Mercy Ships is not known very well (if at all). Pray for smooth port/immigration/shipping procedures, good relationships with the partners that we'll be working with, and that we'll be able to help lots of people and leave a positive impact on Madagascar!
- Continue to pray for West Africa--nothing more needs to be said; just that Ebola needs to be stopped and West Africa needs prayer!
- Last (but not least :)) please pray for Jordan and I--we'll be separated for the month of September, so I guess we're real sailors now? Not quite, probably. :)
Thank you to everyone in Ohio for being such an encouragement while I was there. I had so much fun catching up with you--or just saying hi and seeing you really quickly if that's all that time allowed. I had a fabulous time and know that God was behind all those conversations and activities that I got to be a part of. :) It was so fun to see an engagement ring on Sara's finger, meet the man who put it there, and get to help out with some wedding stuff! Ari is without a doubt the cutest little girl I've ever seen and I definitely fell prey to snapping pictures of her constantly! :) It was a really great week and I'll see you all again at Christmas!!
