May 30th, 2006 Our Epic Last Month in Liberia: Dead, Orphans, Bibles and Tanks

Below is a description of what has happened in our last month in Liberia. It was an extremely challenging time as far as security was concerned, but it was also a sad time as we found ourselves wrapping up our family ministry at the orphanage, not knowing if we will ever be able to return to West Africa and the people we have come to love. We sail today for Ghana where we will hand off the ship to the African Mercy crew as they await the arrival of their ship in Ghana in October sometime. To be honest I doubt that the ship will even make the Ghana outreach, more than likely it will be ready in time for the return to Liberia some time in April. It is my hope that the new crew will get to see the Anastasis in her best light, as an old lady still serving the Lord after 53 years; still strong enough to get the job done that God has called her to for at least one more outreach.

In the first week of May our Captain took a 10 day vacation and a new Captain, Tony Perez, replaced him. Tony is an experienced Captain who quickly earned my respect. I have been extremely blessed to have worked with 2 great Captains during my tour here and the crew will never know how much effort was made by these 2 individuals to keep them safe. In the first week we had a civil unrest that left 1 dead and 2 critical in downtown Monrovia. The UNMIL units were fighting the Marketers who had just had their stalls torn down that were blocking road traffic, the former Liberian Army were protesting their units being dissolved, the widows of the armed forces were protesting over death benefits and some of Taylor's bad boys were looking to make as much trouble as they could to show their dissatisfaction with their former boss's predicament. We were once again forced to recall our teams and keep them away from the trouble spots. The rogues have begun to get desperate in their attempts to get on board, this week we had one man jump our security fence and ran up the gangway. Several of our crew were able to tackle him as he made it to reception. The man began to act crazy and had to be carried off the ship when we escorted him off the dock he threw himself into a puddle and started screaming as if he was on fire. Several of the crew prayed for him as we watched him closely, specially our Transportation Officer, Olly Peet, who had experience working with psychotic patients.

At the same time we had a young man pick up a bucket of paint and joined a work detail carrying paint into the ship. He quickly discarded his can of paint and headed down to our lowest deck and began to search rooms for anything to steal. He walked into one room where 2 girls were on their beds and another was in the bathroom. He began to search their purses. The girls saw him and confronted him and he told them he was working on the ship. It made me proud that these girls had been in my security training and recognized what was going on and took steps to get the man subdued and notified me. I have to admit that as I was having this man arrested I found myself extremely mad that this man had got past my security and put the lives of "my girls" in jeopardy. As we arrested him we found out that he was armed and had both AIDS and Gonorrhea and liked our "pretty white girls!" All of these things were challenging me to forgo my usual protection of our prisoners to ensure that the UNMIL or Liberian police wouldn't beat them. In my heart for the first time I wanted to help beat this guy. I had to step back and remember that this man was just as guilty of sin as I am, no more and no less, and that I needed to praise God that nothing bad had happened. As I took this man to the local police station to be booked, I was giving the officers the information and evidence when a large man in the holding cell came to the cell door and told the rogue that Mercy Ships helps babies and old women and that he would beat him as soon as he got in the cell. The rogue threw himself to my feet and begged me to let him go. He said that if I would let him go he would give himself to Christ. I picked him up and told him that is not how it works; but where he was going only Jesus could help him and it might be a good time to start a conversation with Him. The next morning I came to escort him to the magistrate to have him sent to the real prison while he awaited trial. When I got there I found that the police had let him go! At first I was furious, but then they explained how all the other prisoners were beating this man for what he did to Mercy Ships and that if he went to prison he would surely die. So they let him go.....there was little I could do so I thanked them for their rare compassion for this individual and assured them that I would not file a formal complaint for their actions. I'd like to end this story on a high note but this is Africa and lessons are learned hard. 2 weeks later he was arrested with 8 other individuals trying to get on to our dock.

On the afternoon that Captain Jurrian returned from his vacation, we were notified that one of our patients had walked off the ship only to collapse at the gate by the road and had died. I put together a team of Zana, myself and a crewmember who worked as a mortician. When we got out there we found that an old Muslim man who had come to the ship for laser surgery had asked a woman selling water if he could sit next to her because he wasn't feeling good, he then collapsed and died. Zana pronounced him dead and the we then placed him in a body bag to protect him from flies and the throng of people gathering around. I was then to stay with the body till the family could be notified. I quickly became aware as I was surrounded by curious Muslims that this could quickly turn into incident since this Muslim man died after visiting a Christian ship. To make matters worse, when I was placing the body into the body bag and collecting his valuables I found a Christian tract in His pocket. I struggled as to whether I should remove it or leave it in his pocket. His family could be dishonored if there was some thought that this man might have turned to the "infidels false Messiah" on the other hand maybe this was God's way of sowing into his word into this family. I felt it best to leave it, the old man had taken it of his free will and maybe in his last moments its word became true to him and maybe it could have the same effect on his family. The next day the Executive Counsel asked me to use my contacts to find the family so that we could visit the family and inform them of this man's last hours and how happy he was to be able to see again as he left our ship. It took me 3 hours and 5 dollars to travel down a myriad of back roads and creeks to eventually find the house of his family. I was asked to lead the delegation of 3 nurses who had spent time with the man while on our ship. We met the family, mourners and the clerics of his mosque. The meeting was respectful and went well. The family thanked me for staying with the body to ensure that no one robbed him or dishonored him as he laid there in the heat and flies. We gave the family a 50lb bag of rice to help feed the mourners that would continue to show up for the next week. It was a very surreal experience as we talked about the "One True God" each of us speaking to a different entity. There view of Allah as a judgmental god who had chosen for the old man to be taken and would now judge his life at a later date. While we talked of a loving God, who wanted to reconcile and forgive them. As we began to leave one of the man's nieces came to me and showed me the tract and asked if I wanted it back. I told her it was hers to do as she pleased, I said that obviously her uncle thought it important enough to take it with him. I'm glad I didn't react and remove the tract, maybe God had a plan for it after all.

I worked along with our Senior Chaplain, Lynne Westman, to purchase and distribute 600+ bibles for all the UNMIL soldiers, Liberian Seaport Police and dock workers. It was awesome to give the Lord's word to these people. Don't get me wrong, I know that some of these will end up in the markets for sale. But I know that God will use them no matter where they end up. Cailin helped to distribute them, she really liked giving them away.



We went to our orphanage the last Sunday to say goodbye. They held a ceremony to honor our efforts on their behalf and gowned each of the girls as a way to say thank you and that they will always be a part of their family. The ceremony was sponsored by the boys who I had managed to get trained as masons. They had a future now, they had a skill making them stand out against the other Liberians comprising the 85% unemployment. There is a bright future for them now, where in the past they had no hope of ever finding a job. We are so grateful that God gave us this chance to help these kids. As we got ready to leave our orphanage for the last time, we placed our hands in a small square of concrete to thank God for allowing us to be His loving hands to these children. I hope one day my children will return and show their own children where they had spent a year of their life serving others.

Jessie was glad to see they Our Hands in concrete at the orphanage

hadn't eaten her puppy

The kids watching and singing to us as we placed out hands in the concrete

The last 2 weeks have been a nightmare the rogues are more determined than ever to get onboard. We had one climb up the mooring lines and get on our ship. Our teams spotted him but were unable to stop him before he jumped off the ship with a bicycle from our bike rack. We then had to perform a search of the ship at 4:30 am to ensure no other rogues were onboard. All my stow away watches were armed with axe handles and charged fire hoses to try and repel any rogues or stow aways trying to make their way onto our ship. We launched our small boat 3 times to pursue rogues trying to get onto our ship and either arrested them or at the least foiled their attempts. The day before we sailed, our deck team was too efficient and removed all our dock lights and razor wire we used to keep the dock secure. I was hoping to take them down the morning of our sail. Usually a single blown bulb is enough to attract attention and bring a wave of swimming rogues hoping to make the best of the opportunity. I knew I would have trouble our last night from stow aways; but now, we would be attracting every rogue in the harbor area so I made some calls and had a tank park itself at the end of the pier to protect the dock and discourage any unwanted visitors. To be honest the vehicle is actually an "armored 105mm gun" and not a tank, but for most of the crew it was a tank! The crew had a blast taking pictures on it and the tank crew were very generous to us and even allowed people to climb on it to take pictures. Cailin of course wanted a picture of her being squashed by the tank, what a joker!





On the last day as we started to single up our lines as we readied to depart I went to the end of the dock said a prayer of praise and then lit a Cuban cigar to enjoy this fleeting moment. My praise is from a grateful man who has been challenged more than he ever thought possible and through out all of my short comings and faults God was still able to use me and the Captain to ensure the safety of over 1,000 individuals who had served on the Anastasis over the Liberian outreach. An outreach that saw the first free elections since 14 years of civil war, the installment of Africa's first democratically elected female leader, and endless civil unrest as this country took its first steps toward stability from chaos.

I will always be grateful for and humbled by this season of my life. I had left my career, my home, my cars, my toys and all the things the world judges a man by to follow a calling from God. As I stepped out of my comfort zone and embraced this new career and lifestyle in the 3rd world God met me and took care of every need and concern I had. I had no idea that I would be able to preach in dozens of churches, help the orphans of this war torn country and more importantly show my family how lucky we are to live in the US and that in the course of our lives there must be something more important than ourselves and our own needs. I hope my daughters will always look back and remember this time as when we got to be the hands and feet of Jesus for a short time in a place that needed Him badly.