Big news below: Mark is having shoulder surgery tomorrow!
Hey Ya’All ,
Maybe I have been in Texas to long ;-)
As Zana has told most of you, I have been offered and accepted a new role here at Mercy Ships. I will be in charge of building a programs assessment team, where we will attempt to better serve the people and countries we visit. We have to recognize what our core strengths are and use them and our donated funds wisely to better deliver God’s love for these people. I can’t tell you how excited I am that God is going to use me this way.
Once again I am so surprised how God is using pieces of my skills in ways I never thought of! Now I will be using my mathematics degree, my realistic perception of African people and governments and the ability to act as a liaison to other Non Governmental Agencies (NGO’s) and the UN Military (UNMIL) that I developed as a security officer and the networking skills I developed as an IT Sales Engineer. I thank Jesus every day for the opportunity and honor it is to serve him by serving His poorest people. I’m reminded of the lyrics of the Saleh’s song, “You Raise Me Up”
You raise me up, so I can stand on mountainsYou raise me up, to walk on stormy seasI am strong, when I am on your shouldersYou raise me up—to more than I can be
As the Ship Security Officer, I had to turn away 50+ people a day who were desperate for our surgeries and services, because we were booked to capacity. I pray God will empower me so that future Security Officers won’t have to look people in the eyes and offer only prayer as they leave devastated to know that they wouldn’t be operated on by a doctor that day. It was the hardest thing I ever had to do. People would plead with me and throw themselves at my feet wailing to just let them have a chance to heal themselves or their children. Each day I would console them, offer my prayers and then escort them off the dock. As I walked them out I would remind them of our loving God and that there is always hope. On my way back to the ship, I would struggle with my tears and I would pray that God would somehow allow us to serve these women and children. Now, I have a chance to do just that. Praise God for his faithfulness and his willingness to use a common man like me to make a difference in this ministry and in the lives of people in West Africa.
In the past Mercy Ships has always done projects on its own; whether that was surgeries, AIDS awareness, construction of orphanages, schools, and hospitals or church empowerment and pastor training. Going forward, we hope to team with other Christian NGO’s, who will have a longer presence than our 10 month stay in that country, so we can build facilities that other NGO’s will then fund and oversee after we have left. I have just started doing a report on the projects we have done over the last few years and not many are still up and running. The birthing clinic we built in Benin was abandoned and torn down a few months after we left. The goal is to make a lasting change (development over Aid). For medical this will mean to train more local physicians to perform the difficult procedures that we specialize in, VVF and MaxFacial. For our construction teams this will mean that any project we build will be partnered with another Christian NGO who will hopefully be run and funded for years to come.
As you are aware we have started to build a home here in Texas. The girls have said they want to return to Africa but they want a place to call home. They want to know that when things are rough in Africa they can have some place to look forward to coming home to. We are from New England, but we can not afford to keep a house there because the cost of living is so much higher there than Texas. How can we deny them this? God has laid such a caring heart for the orphans of Africa on these 2 girl’s hearts and they are willing to walk away from all the cool aspects of America to help them and be the hands and feet of Jesus. As parents we are truly blessed!!!!
I want to give everyone a medical update, Cailin has been doing much better with only occasional stomach problems. Thank you for all your prayers it has been a rough year for Cailin since our return. As for me I still have a massive hernia that our insurance won’t cover to fix, but it is something I can live with. My real problem has been my right shoulder. I dislocated it 4 months ago and I have yet to have a day without pain or a night of restful sleep. Thank God we found a doctor who ordered a special MRI and they found I have a broken bone spur sitting in my shoulder joint causing me all the pain. I’m scheduled to have surgery on August 1st (Tomorrow), two weeks before I head to Africa. So your prayers would be definitely appreciated that the surgery goes well and I heal quickly.
We are in definite need of your prayer for wisdom and finances this summer. My new position will have me leaving my family for 7 weeks in August as we begin to develop our assessment team in West Africa. This is an inconvenient time as we are building the house. This means that Zana has to once again shoulder the entire burden of caring for the girls on vacation and starting school, perform her job here at Mercy Ships and oversee the house. Zana has another ministry at Teen Mania where she provides medical care for several hundred teens in their discipleship program. I am truly blessed with a strong wife, but she will definitely need your prayers while I am away.
Our financial support has taken a major hit over the last 3 months where we have lost almost a third of our support. We are so thankful for what these supporters have blessed us with over the last 3 years and understand that changing circumstances makes it impossible for them to support us financially at this time. Our prayers are that God will honor all of your sacrifices and bless your families for your faithfulness in helping the poor and sick of the war torn West Africa through us. We are now praying that God will show us how to raise our support, especially now that we will incur the additional costs of me spending up to 3-4 months a year away from my family as I start this new position.
But even when life gets complicated and the world is banging on our door, we have to remember why we are here…we are here to serve first. So as we grapple with these issues and finances we ask for your prayers that we will see God’s will for us during these hectic times.
To add a little more on my plate the orphanages and schools we helped to build in Liberia and Ghana are asking us to continue to help with their projects and to network with other NGO’s to see if we can get them assistance. I am working with Living Water to get the orphanage in Kenya their water pump so that they don’t have to pay to haul water up to their site.
It seems at times that we are running on empty, but when we look at the condition of those we want to serve, how dare we complain. So tonight as we go to sleep, our family will long for the time when we will return to Africa. We can close our eyes and see the children’s bright smiles, unconditional love and their songs of praise as they dance before the Lord to thank Him for another day, another day where the bellies will not be empty, another day when the water they drink won’t kill them and another day where AIDS and malaria isn’t waiting to take them. Lets all pray that God gives them many more days, years and decades to sing and dance in praise to Him.
In His service and yours,
Mark
