April 26th, 2006 Mark's Apocalypse Now Experience

Below is a description of what happened this last week. At one point I became aware of how surreal this all was; there I was with 2 soldiers with M16's laying in the bushes with the rain just pouring down. We watched as the rogues we were tracking swam with our stolen barrels, they were eerily lit up by the constant lightning flashes. I kept thinking why am I here, what is God doing with me. I know that my job is to ensure the security of the ship and crew but that didn't answer my question. Then I realized that as we catch and incarcerate these rogues, I have the opportunity to show them God's love even as we are handing them over for punishment. I explain to each of them why we have arrested them and that they are putting women and children in danger. I tell them that even though I caught them I still love them and will look out after them. I ensure that the UNMIL soldiers don't beat them and I ensure that they get fed while they wait several days in a holding cell (a broom closet). Once they have been sent to the Central Prison, I have our prison ministry team reach out to them and ensure that they are taken care of.

As all of these thoughts are going through my head, it hits me! I'm here because this is where Jesus would be. Jesus didn't live His life in the temples, he didn't spend it with the holy Pharisees, he spent it living and preaching to the thieves, liars and whores of the world. He even chose to die along side two thieves. So often we see churches here in Africa fighting over the saved souls to build their congregations, instead of reaching out to the unsaved and poor. Even as believers, as we walk closer with Jesus, its impossible not to see how much sin is in our own lives. So who am I to turn away from a thief. I stand just as guilty of sin as the next man, and it is my role to show these rogues that Jesus died for them because He loved them and wanted to offer them the opportunity for redemption. I can only do this by holding them responsible for their actions but ensuring they know that their Lord and Savior will forgive them, if they ask and turn to Him.

On early Sunday morning, I was made aware that 5-6 individuals had swum to the barge off of our pier and could be seen tearing pipes and cables from the dredging barge. In the past, rogues have used this platform to stage raids on our dock and ship as well as other vessels in the port. On March 26 the Ghanaian detachment and I was able to arrest 5 individuals engaged in similar illegal activities.

At 04:50 during a torrential downpour these rogues assaulted our dock with 5-6 swimmers. Our night watch notified the Duty Officer and me that the dock was under attack. By the time we could get on the dock the rogues had taken 6 x 55 gallon drums worth $150, 1 bicycle worth $100, 10 plastic chairs worth $100 and attempted to steal 3 motorcycle batteries. We believe the bike and chairs were lost when the rogues threw them in the water but were unable to recover them before they sank. We will send divers down to search for them when conditions allow. The chairs probably have drifted far in the tidal current and there is little hope in their recovery. The security guards witnessed the bikes and chairs being thrown into the water. The motorcycles all had been tampered with as the rogues attempted to remove their batteries. The Ghanaian detachment was notified and as we could see the rogues swimming away with the barrels as they were lit by the lightning storm.

The senior sergeant and I decided to try and catch the rogues as they made their way back to the bong mine pier area. The sergeant sent one of his men to wait at the pier while we waited in the brush on the beach as we tracked their progress.

They eventually made their way to the pier and that is where we caught one of the individuals, Junior Morris. Mr. Morris informed us that his 4 colleagues worked on the Bong Mine Pier. Junior Morris admitted to the thefts of the barrels and their work of theft in the harbor and on the barge. We were able to recover all 6 drums, 2 of which were found on the barge and were to be used to float off the metal and piping that they were stealing from the barge. We also found their tools that they were using and destroyed them. The bike if it is recovered will be ruined. The chairs are unlikely to be found. The workers at the Bong Mine Pier who assisted us came back later in the day and said they were threatened by the other rogues for assisting us. We have asked the LSP (Seaport Police) and Ghanaian detachment to arrest these 2 leaders of the rogues. I went to the LSP/UNMIL HQ and demanded that the LSP/LNP (National Police) take steps to stop these actions by arresting the ring leaders. I emphasized that Mr. Morris is a young man who was obviously a young follower and not the leader. As long as these 2 rogue leaders are allowed to go free, there will continue to be frequent thefts and attacks on individuals in this port. Mr. Morris has given their names freely and they in turn have threatened Liberians attempting to assist us. Mercy Ships requested that these individuals be made to be held accountable for their ongoing unlawful actions in the Freeport area. Monday, 24 April I was notified that the LSP made a raid on the Bong Mine Pier and was able to arrest Jones Rogers. I was called into court to give evidence to the Magistrate as to why they should be held. The court agreed and raised their charges from robbery to armed robbery because they carried machetes onto the dock. Junior Morris also informed us how they climbed past the razor wire, we have strengthened these areas.

This is what justice looks like in Liberia, oh yeah the judge asked me for $40 to transport the prisoners to prison. So I threw them and the sheriff into the back of my Land rover and drove them myself.

As I was dealing with this a woman walked onto the dock with a baby stuck in her after 36 hours of labor, now it was Zana's turn. I have never felt more certain that God has us right where he wants us. Everyday is a new adventure, where we get to show the love of God and in turn God shows us His love for us.

April 19th, 2006 Civil Unrest in Monrovia

Monday started with a bang literally. The new government and more importantly the new police chief (formerly of New Jersey) decided it was time to tear down and burn all the market stalls that were crowding the roads and making traffic a living nightmare here in Monrovia. Unfortunately, they didn't coordinate this action with the UNMIL troops. So as soon as the market stall owners saw what they had done violent riots broke out throughout the city. The local Taxi owners were also frustrated by the stalls and decided to help the police to tear stalls down and start fights with the stall owners. I have been working to keep our people out of the trouble spots for the last 3 days. This morning we awoke to more riots and beaten bodies in the streets. Just another day in Monrovia!!

Of course this also started on the day that Zana had 70 women coming for screening. A lot of these woman had trouble getting transportation because of the riots. Their lives have been destroyed by the violence here and once again the day there is hope for treatment, violence springs up and makes a difficult transport into something impossible.

In the last week we have had the following in Monrovia:

1. A Save the Children worker was kidnapped
2. 4 of our vehicles had possession stolen out of the vehicles while they were moving in slow city traffic (Jessie and I were one of these)
3. Had numerous crew members life threatened by the growing number of violent beggars
4. Crew members have been robbed in the market of cameras and phones
5. 8 rapes, 3 of which were gang rapes
6. 2 bicyclist were beaten with boards and their bikes and wallets were stolen
7. 5 people have been beaten to death by mob justice
8. 1 child has been murdered and is suspected of being a ritualistic killing
9. Over a dozen UNMIL homes have been robbed at night usually at gun point.
10. Tensions are still high as Charles Taylor supporters are still upset that "Their President" was in jail facing war tribunal charges.
10. The opposition candidate George Weah was removed from a leaving flight and had his passport taken, causing huge tension amongst the opposition party which is about 40% of the total population and 99% of some outlying counties.

Please pray for the safety of our crew over the next 6 weeks and my ability to keep them safe from their own foolishness, which at times can be mind blowing.

April 15, 2006 Easter and Mark's Preaching

It is Easter weekend here on the ship. On Friday night we held a Passover dinner where we celebrated the Jewish tradition and the second covenant. I have been preaching at a church conference as the key speaker the last 2 days. The theme has been "Pressing on Toward the Goal." My first sermon was on the Lord's tempering the people of Liberia through the hardship of 14 years of war to ready them to return their country back to the Lord. My second was finding God's will in their lives, they need to be sure that the goals they set for themselves are God's goals. My third sermon will deal with believers seeking God as the great counselor, that they must not only talk to God, but they must stop and listen for God to answer them. I have taken 3 nurses visiting as short term crew from Massachusetts around with me as we went to our orphanage, the markets and as I preached this last week. We will miss Marie, Karen and John they have made us a little home sick.

I have been asked by the leadership of Mercy Ships to return to the International Head Quarters (IOC) in Van, TX. They are praying about making serious changes to their IT infrastructure and they want me to lead their team. It had been our desire to stay on the Anastasis till the winter when the African Mercy was to relieve us in Ghana, but we have decided it would be best if we submit to the ministry's request and to also give our kids a chance to start school in the fall in the US. So we are coming home, by mid-June I will be waking around Wal-Mart and Home Depot with my mouth open in culture shock. I can't wait to see all of you and find out how God has moved in your lives over the last 2 years.

March 26, 2006 Mark Trains His Own Coast Guard

It has been quite the week!!!! Late Monday night, I was woken to respond to a fire on the barge at the end of our pier. Rogue thieves have been using the barge to stage their raids on the port and our ship and pier. The fire eventually went out on its own but it was a huge concern since the barge is just 20 feet from the ship.

Tuesday morning I was contacted by UNMIL that a worker had collapsed at the top of a well. UNMIL had attempted to lower a rescue person but he became overcome by some sort of gas. Our ship was the only source of a breathing apparatus in Liberia. When we got there it became obvious that we were now working to recover a body and not a rescue.
It became obvious that the well's 3 ft diameter would not allow us to have the rescuer to wear the air pack. So we were forced to lower the air tank directly above the rescue person and ensure that we didn't pull the mask or hose from him. What made the situation a little more complicated was that a fire team arrived with an explosive meter and we found that the well was full of methane. This meant that if we caused a spark we could have launched the rescue guy out of the well like the guy in a circus canon. In the end the recovery process was successful, the body was recovered and returned to his family and a critical public well was not contaminated by a dead body.

On Thursday we saw 5 swimmers return top the barge in the afternoon. My Ghurka's and I used our wrist rocket slingshots and .38 ball bearings to keep their heads down but we could not dislodge them, eventually they swam away.

On Friday afternoon, I was notified by the ships security team that once again we had 5 individuals climbing aboard the barge. We again yelled at the rogues that they were trespassing and used slingshots to harass them. The rogues took cover under the barges structure and refused to leave. I informed the Captain of the Anastasis, Captain Jurryan Shutte, of the situation and requested permission to plan an operation utilizing our ship’s small boat and the local Ghanaian detachment to arrest the rogues. The Captain concerned with the ongoing safety of the ship and crew agreed with the need to resolve this issue and approved the operation.

Because the rogues had been seen with either a meat cleaver or machete there was concern for the safety of the boat crew, a request was made to the Ghanaian detachment for armed soldiers to assist in the apprehension of the rogues. My team consisted of myself, my lead Ghurka, and a Coxswain along with a Ghanaian soldier; we were lowered in the ship’s small boat. As the small boat approached the barge 3 individual jumped from the barge into the water. I notified the individuals that they were trespassing and that they needed to swim ashore to be placed in custody of the Ghanaian officers. At first the rogues were given life preservers to insure they reached shore safely. The rogues soon tired and were brought into the ship’s boat, they were then handed over to Ghanaian detachment. The 3 rogues informed us that there were 2 more rogues onboard the ship. Additional Ghanaian soldiers with weapons covered the boat crew during the apprehension from the dock.

My team and the Ghanaian soldier boarded the barge and began to search the forward part of the ship and tanks. As we began to search aft, we found a storage compartment aft which contained some sort of air tanks and fire extinguishers. We requested 2 additional Ghanaian soldiers to assist in the search of this confined space. We searched for 30 minutes and did not find the remaining 2 rogues. We removed all of the tanks in the hold and recovered a broken lock, meat cleaver, and small hammer as evidence of their efforts in breaking into the barge and stripping the copper wire from it. We also found cable junction boxes that had been cut out and removed. We also found evidence where they had used the fire earlier in the week to burn through thick cable and its insulation.

As we returned to the M/V Anastasis and recovered the small boat, we were informed by the security staff that 2 individuals had swam from the barge. We reassembled the team and interdicted the 2 rogues at the railroad bridge. We escorted them to the Nepalese base where Ghanaian soldiers were waiting to place them in custody. The 2 individuals were claiming to not be rogues but workers in the port. As we returned the 2 rogues to the Ghanaian Battalion HQ, the 3 previously caught rogues identified the last 2 as their compatriots; removing any validity to the last 2 rogue’s claims of innocence.

The 5 individuals refused to comply with multiple requests for their names and contact information. I tried to convince the 5 rogues that it was in their best interest to comply with the UNMIL and LSP (Liberian Seaport Police) officers. They refused to do so and continued to give false information to the officers, the Nigerian officer questioning started to beat one of the suspects who was mocking him. I had to intervene on their behalf to stop the beating . We handed the 5 suspects over to the LSP with 2 of Mercy Ship’s handcuffs used to restrain 4 of the individuals.

Saturday morning the LSP officers returned with one of the suspect to our ship. The suspect had damaged the handcuffs by trying to pick the lock. We told the LSP that we would not be able to cut off the handcuff till Monday morning. The LSP officer in charge requested that we provide food for the 5 suspects because they would have to hold them till Monday morning. On Sunday the officers came to the ship and they informed me that the rocket scientist that broke the handcuffs was banging it against the wall and forced it to tighten around his wrist. As I drove to the holding cell to assist I saw the officers holding down the suspect as they used a machete and a rock to break open the handcuff. I immediately turned my vehicle around and waited for 15 minutes before returning to make sure that I didn't witness an amputation. In the end the skilled locksmith with the rock and machete successfully removed the handcuffs. I have to admit it felt cool to play the "Coastie" again. It wasn't until I had to climb the 8ft up to the top of the barge did I realize how old and "big" I am right now. In the end we got the bad guys in jail and secured the port area.

February 26, 2006 South Africa Recap

For a day in thy courts is better than a thousand. I had rather be a door keeper in the house of my God, than to dwell in the tents of wickedness.

It has been a while since I have written the newsletter. My new role as Security Officer has kept me extremely busy the last 5 months and I decided it was time to fill you in on what the Lord has been doing in me and with me since my last communication. This letter is intended as a praise report on the faithfulness of our God during the times that I have found myself on my knees asking God for the wisdom and grace to help me protect my family, ship and crew of 350 brothers and sisters in Christ. I want to make sure that God gets all the glory for this good report, it is a testimony of what an extremely average man can do when an unbelievably awesome God guides his actions and words. I know many of you have been lifting us up in prayer as Zana has sent out our prayer needs and we are so grateful for you timely response to our prayer needs.

In June, I took on my new role as we sailed from Monrovia to East London in South Africa. During our first week in East London I was sent to Cape Town for security training, the University was so impressed with what we do that they gave me the training for free and asked me to come back and instruct their students on a 3 day course on crisis management. During our 3 months in East London, our young crew who didn’t seem to understand the dangers of South Africa kept me busy. There is a prevailing myth that sleeping with a virgin will cure AIDS here. This is so rampant that last year in South Africa 1400 children under the age of 3 were raped by people trying to cure their disease. Because of who we are, there is the view that all of the women on our ship are pure and possibly a source of a cure. Keeping our women safe had to be at the forefront of all that we did. East London is also in an economic down turn where the dock area was an area of prostitution, drugs and violent crimes. We give thanks to God, that even though we had some close calls and a few thefts none of our crew were hurt.

In August we sailed to Cape Town, which brought a whole new set of challenges for us. This was our 3 weeks of PR tours and meant that I had to prepare for thousands of people coming on board our ship while still meeting all the international security requirements. To make matters worse was that Cape Town has a huge Muslim population that engaged in a bombing campaign a few yeas back against any business with a US name (Planet Hollywood, New York Bagel…) even though they were South African owned. For those 3 weeks I had to manage security for tours and special event with a constantly changing staff. We actually had over ¼ of our visitors who were obvious Muslims and some of them were so radical that they were wearing burka’s, covering the women from head to toe with only their eyes visible through their veils. To meet the security requirements each handbag and backpack had to be searched and each male was checked for any firearms. In the end we broke all records in the 3 weeks we had over 17,500 people tour the ship and had 11 special events on board. We searched over 10,000 bags and found 10 undeclared weapons. During this time we lost only one purse, one cell phone, and one child……I’m glad to report all were found and returned to their owners. We also hosted Arch Bishop Desmond Tutu for a commissioning ceremony. He was a very cute old man who charmed everyone on board.

The funniest moment during this time had to be when one the many Islamic schools came to the ship. The kids were obviously moved by what they saw and as they were leaving one of them asked what he could do to grow up and join our ship. I immediately saw the schools cleric staring at me with his long beard and robes and hat; I could tell this could instantly be a political blunder or an opportunity to share the gospel or possibly both. Thinking quickly to defuse the situation, I smiled at the child and told him that he could check out the ships web site or my site to get more information. The cleric was not happy but at least he didn’t yell or hit the child while he was there on the pier.
Before we left Cape Town a Liberian man working at the local aquarium donated the opportunity for the Captain and I to dive with the sharks at their aquarium it was a lot of fun. The sharks were jagged tooth sharks that were 9 ft long and about 650lbs. Just to make things interesting I accidentally cut my hand going into the tank and got the sharks a little agitated before we went in.

We had a beautiful 10 day sail to Monrovia. The seas were relatively calm and Zana and the girls soon got their sea legs. I can’t express the joy I have sharing my love of the sea with my wife and girls. It is amazing to watch their faces as we see the dolphins, whales, sharks, new constellations, the milky way and falling stars. The last night we laid in hammocks on the bow listened to people singing praise songs and watched a distant lightning storm. As I watched the girls get excited by the huge lightning displays, I took the time to thank God for calling us here and allowing us to share this experience together as a family.

Once we arrived in Liberia I found my self knee deep in setting up our security protocols with the port officials, UN Military and the US Embassy. We have been able to keep our crew safe during the violent elections and the subsequent civil unrest. I have had to recall our crew 5 times and redirect them back to our ship or to safe points. I have had to deal with attacks on our pier by groups of armed swimmers hoping to rob or hurt our crew. These rogues were able to board another ship and threaten the crew with machetes. I can’t afford to have armed intruders on our boat with over 200 women and children on board, so I have to take proactive and yet non-lethal measures. I have outfitted my dock with over 15 1000W halogen lights and armed my Gurkha guards with wrist rocket slingshots using 38 caliber ball bearings.

The Anastasis has the only water asset, our small boat, in Liberia. I have been called upon to use it to assist a sinking vessel and help recovering the bodies of drowning victims. I guess old Coasties never die they just get used in another part of the world. I have also had to deal with the dead bodies of thieves who had been killed by vigilante mobs and left to rot on our front gate over our Christmas break.

In the last 3 weeks I have had to deal:
1. a crew member with a psychotic episode, went missing
2. A mugging of 2 female crew members
3. The beating of crew by UNMIL soldiers
4. Mugging of 2 day workers
5. 4 crew members returning to the ship drunk
6. 2 Segue students mugged
7. Drowned body recovery
8. Stolen Bicycle
9. Preached to 75 Ghanaian Peace Keepers

Zana, on the other hand, was quickly drawn into her new role as head of the ward. She will be working with the plastics and VVF patients. I can’t tell you how proud I am of her she seems to be able to do anything they ask of her. Her outcomes for the last 4 months have been nothing short of amazing. Historically they have average 50-60% success rate. Under her watch both plastics and VVF have had a 100% success rate! God is really using her here and it is amazing to watch the patients cry with her as they realize they’ll be going home cured.

Sometimes I find himself living a life I only read about in my Tom Clancy novels, with pirates, intelligence operatives, military response teams, extraction points, safe houses, APC’s, tanks, and gun ships. Then there the other times when the mantle of trying to protect 350 men, women and children in war torn 3rd world country seems too much of a burden for me. But I know I am not alone. God called me to this position and he will use whatever skills and energy I have to fulfill this task. He has also greatly blessed me with great friends who lift us up in their prayers.

The hardest aspect of my job is that most days I have to go to our front gate and turn away 30-100 people who have showed up in the hopes of getting surgery. Occasionally I find a candidate for surgery, that we still have a slot open for. The look on their faces when they realize that they are going to be seen by a doctor is amazing. I offer to pray with those I turn away, but it is hard. We were their only hope and I can only offer them prayer that God will find another way to heal them.

So today, I have given up my job, house and cars to be a door keeper in this part of God’s kingdom. I stand at our gate with my Gurkhas and allow patients to come through and guard the ship against rogues. It is the greatest job I have ever known and I have no regrets. When I felt God calling me I had no idea I would end up here in this role, but He did. He built my life for just this purpose and He has built you too. He has great plans for all of us, are you listening for His call? Don’t be afraid He has an awesome adventure waiting for you! He will not disappoint you. His burden is light and His joy is unimaginable.

In His love,

Mark

March 2004, News Letter

View from the Crow’s Nest March 2004
Elliott Family Newsletter

Sometimes the hard part of these newsletters is just getting started, waiting for the inspiration. Well tonight it came to me. We had dinner with the family we are living with, there were 11 of us at the table, and we were laughing hysterically. As I drove to my last homeschool meeting, it struck me----I WILL NEVER BE THE SAME!!!!!!!!! As this experience as missionaries begins, I know that there are so many things happening to me that will change me forever. I don’t know why it seems to have suddenly struck me, but it is an overwhelming feeling. Don’t get me wrong; it is a GREAT feeling, but overwhelming. I can never express how grateful we are to the family we are living with. Being part of the Tonello family has been incredible. They have blessed us with a wonderful space to live in with privacy as well as fellowship. We will be forever grateful.

Busy February/March
We have had a busy last month or so since we last wrote with you all. Mark has been traveling all over the country as he finishes up his employment. We have had wonderful opportunities to visit with friends and family.

February: We had the opportunity to represent Mercy Ships at Congress New England-it was great fun to share with so many people about Mercy Ships and to see old friends. It was so wonderful to see so many ministries in one place. It really hit me that God has a place for everyone. There are so many opportunities to serve the Lord. It was encouraging to see people take their passions and direct them to the Lord.

Mark was interviewed by a ministry called Man2Man Express: A daily broadcast for today’s man. They talked about what it is like as a man to go through this process of becoming a missionary and how if affects his role in our family. It has been amazing to watch him change in regards to his family and his vision.
March: The night of March 11th Mark called from Washington DC complaining of severe flank pain and vomiting, after talking I figured he had a kidney stone. We got off the phone and a friend and I prayed that he could get home instead of needing the emergency room in another city. He was pain free within an hour and able to fly home. He then woke at 1am with incredible pain and vomiting and after a long night in the ER we were confirmed that it was a kidney stone. After pain meds and some rest at home he gave birth to a 2mm stone without complication and had no further problems. The week of March 15th Mark was reunited with the old glory days of the time he spent in the Coast Guard. He attended a course for Lifeboat certification. This is so that he can sit for the Able

Body Seaman exam with the Coast Guard this summer. I know I shared with some of you my concerns about his time in the cold water. For the others of you, I will share that he spent the week off the coast of Fairhaven MA. We had a nor’easter that week, for those of you unfamiliar, that is a very windy cold icy storm.

He called to tell me he was cold and I think I could actually hear his teeth chattering through the phone. He explained needing to break the ice off the lines before being able to work the boats. He thankfully got home warm and cozy.
Zana and the girls have had many homeschool fieldtrips to spend time with friends and fellowship before leaving. Mark has been busy making sure that those in need around us are set up with their computer technical needs. He has also been busy tutoring several kids in Geometry from our local Christian school; I think they will miss him.

On the Horizon
It has been so busy, and this will continue for some time. We want to give you all an idea of our upcoming itinerary.
Our last day at our home church is Sunday April 4th. We are spending Easter with friends and family at Grace Chapel.
Jessie will be taking her Stanford Achievement Tests (SATS) so that we can take the results with us for her upcoming future at school.
April 16th we are heading to Pennsylvania for the weekend to spend some time with friends and family.
April 19th we head to the Maryland area to visit with old friends.
April 22nd we are off to the Chesapeake Bay area of Virginia. We are visiting with Zana’s friend from Bible College, Kathy. We are planning a fundraising concert there to help with finances.
April 26th to Atlanta—to visit some colleges of Mark. This will be a visit with some very special people in our ministry.
April 29th-to Florida to visit people in three different towns; then a few days off to relax with the girls before we head to Texas.
May 8th we head to Louisiana where we see Zana’s family. They are only about 3 hours from the International Offices for Mercy Ships. It will be great to spend time with them. It will be awesome to spend time with family. And then we head on over to Lindale TX to settle in at our home for the next few months. We will be living in a family house there on the base. After praying we just really knew that we did not want to live off-base, because we want the chance to just spend time getting ready. The International office has a great need for Mark’s help with some technology issues. Zana may spend the summer being MOM and just helping the girls to adjust to all of the changes. If our financial commitments do not increase, Zana may need to work while we are in Texas. Please keep this in prayer, because we really feel it would be best for her to spend her time with the girls.
Our Gateway (the discipleship training) begins mid August, then in October we head to the Dominican Republic for our first outreach as a family. We are so excited about the opportunity. We will then we will presumably have some time off around the holidays to get back to fundraising and get some last visits in with family before we head overseas. We are not 100% sure about where we will be from there, but it looks as though we will join the Africa Mercy for her first outreach.

Praise:

Project MedSend will begin repayment of Zana’s student loans as of April. Their ministry is loan repayment for medical professionals serving as full time missionaries in developing nations. http://www.medsend.org/

We continue to Praise the Lord for our incredible living situation over the past months. We have loved so much living here with the Tonello family. We have laughed so much over the past months, and the girls have loved having the kids around all of the time. We have gone from being just the 4 four of us in our big house to being on the property here with 10 kids around on a regular basis. It is fabulous. The kids are adjusting so well to living in a community setting.

We are so thankful for so many opportunities to share about Mercy Ships.
We are both ending our employment with good reputations and at a time that seems perfect.

That Mark has completed the first step toward his Seaman certification. He has such an excitement to back at sea.

Our continued health, thankfully, even with all of the bugs going around us, except for the kidney stone, we have all been in great health.

Prayer:

For safe travel over the next month

For the girls to continue to move forward with a great spirit. They are just blossoming through the process.

Support: we are continuing to pray for the leading of those who would support us financially. We do not like to bring up money on a regular basis, but we do feel the need to let you know that we are still quite short. We are currently at about 25%. We have been very blessed with some wonderful one time donations that will help cover our initial phase, but we are still very short in our monthly commitment need. We are praying that if any of you have felt led to be a part of our ministry and just have not yet stepped out, that you would feel led to do so at this time. We just ask that you pray about this. We do need your prayers, we know that the Lord will provide our needs, but we also believe that you need to know our needs.

Pray for our family as we leave for this adventure.

We are just so glad to share with you on a regular basis what the Lord is doing in our lives. The Lord called out and asked who would go, and we have shouted from the mountain tops “Here am I, Send Me!” Isaiah 6:8
I just can’t wait to tell you how we are used. Over the past months we have gone from a 3000sq ft house with every material possession we could possibly want, and now we are fitting our lives into the car. It has been a surprisingly easy transition for all of us. Things just do not matter as much. The things we desire now in our lives are those things we would like to have to communicate the details of our life with you and how we are affecting the lives of others. Someone recently asked me if things were difficult right now, and what I want to share is that things are busy and crazy, but difficult is not the word. Things are great. Our marriage and family have never been better. It is emotionally such an easy transition. Just pray that when things are difficult we are able to hold on to these feelings. It is certainly the honeymoon phase as missionaries, but we want to hold on to what we feel today. To keep the joy deep down so that we can always bring it back to remember why we would do such a thing with our lives. So what we ask of you is, when we write and tell you how hard things are, remind us of the joy of the journey!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

In Christ’s service,
Mark & Zana Elliott Zana
Email: elliottm@mercyships.org or elliottz@mercyships.org
zana@theelliottadventure.org or mark@theelliottadventure.org

Elliott family website: http://www.theelliottadventure.org/
Surface mail: current to March 31, 2004
PO Box 883, Plymouth, MA 02362
Mercy Ships: PO Box 2020, Lindale TX 75771 USA
http://www.mercyships.org/
Permanent contact address:
959 Wall Williams Rd
West Monroe, LA 71291
Telephone: 508-320-4916 (cell phone that will stay with us to the end of the year)

Mark’s log As the final weeks are flying by, I realized with a great sense of joy that my house is gone, our jobs are through and all the worldly shackles that kept me from stepping out into missions no longer bind me. Today I am a free man, serving only one master. Our master is a loving God who brought Zana and I together to this point in our lives, with our skills and our love for missions to serve Him. The song, “I Surrender All” pretty much says it all:If the source of my ambition is the treasure I obtain, If I measure my successes on a scale of earthly gain,


If the focus of my vision is the status I attain, my accomplishments are worthless and my efforts are in vainSo I lay aside these trophies to pursue a higher crownAnd should You choose somehow to use the life I willingly lay downI surrender all the triumph for it's only by Your graceI relinquish all the glory, I surrender all the praise Everything I am, all I've done, and all I've knownNow belongs to You, the life I live is not my ownJust as Abraham laid Isaac on the sacrificial fireIf all I have is all that You desireI surrender allI pray that God finds all of your and our daily sacrifices and praises worthy.God Bless

“In his heart a man plans his course, but the Lord determines his steps” Proverbs 16:9

Mercy Ships is a non-profit organization. Contributions to the Elliott family’s work can be sent to Mercy Ships Donor Services, PO Box 2020, Garden Valley, TX 75771 (Please add a note designating Mark and Zana Elliott account #1771-do not put our names on the check (this is for tax purposes). If you have any support questions, please contact us.