Tema

First of all I want to take this opportunity to wish you all a blessed Christmas and an amazing 2012!

Secondly, I can let you know that we arrived safely in Ghana yesterday. Thank you so much for all comments, prayers and the way you guys are involved. Sometimes it seems like I'm repeating myself by saying that, but I really mean it! It's really encouraging to see that the stories are read, and that there are people about 5000 km away, are still very involved. Thank you so much!

Before sailing to Ghana, we had to do the necessary things to prepare the ship. After my job in the hospital was done, I started to work as a deck hand again. Below are some pictures that show how the land rovers are brought on deck.

On December 5 we had a short visit of Sinterklaas.

We were able to donate 64 bags of blood to one of the local hospitals. During the outreach we built good relationships with various hospitals in Sierra Leone and this hospital had just gotten a special fridge for blood. So whoever wanted could donate a bag of blood and bless the people of Sierra Leone.

Finally we were ready ...  you could hear the engines at full speed, the mooring lines were pulled in, the ship began to move slowly and we lost sight of the city of Freetown

Halfway the sail there was a sort of fuel stop. The captain wasn’t very comfortable with the set up and saw all sorts of potential dangers, but fortunately everything went well. A large tanker was lying next to our Africa Mercy. It was about 70 miles off the coast of Abidjan, Ivory Coast. Two large ships moving around in the ocean ... it took quite a while to get everything ready and then fuelling went on all night. At night there were people standing watch to see if the tension on the lines was ok. I stood watch from 4 am to 8 am.

Working on the bridge was fun again. One of the main tasks is to be looking out to see if there are other ships in the area. But in the meantime there is the marine life that can be admired. Soooo cool! It continues to amazing me, so beautiful! This sail we saw a couple of large groups of dolphins, some whales, lots of flying fish and a sea turtle.

I still had a good amount of hours to take time off, so next week I’m going to travel with a Dutch girl and two Americans. We will be back on board for Christmas, so we can celebrate with our ship family.

So again, I wish you a great Christmas time! I hope you will enjoy family, friends and people around you and the miracle of the coming of Jesus on earth.

Big Hugs &
Blessings
Maaike