Happy Thanksgiving!

We cannot believe that we have already been here in Liberia with Mercy Ships over four weeks already! Its nearly the end of November and of course, Turkey day!

This last week we worked a lot and then had a nice weekend off together (now a week ago). During this last week Kristin worked nights and Jeremy early mornings, and late evenings, so we took many naps in between for a few days. Over the weekend we were able to get off the ship and go to the market and the beach with a group of people.

Just want to give you several quick word pictures to help you step into Liberia--

First a picture of the market and town. In the markets you barter often for things, but its much easier than in Kenya. Here you can actually walk away and say "Thanks for letting us look!" --yet they are even more poor, as a result of the civil war. The streets here are filled with trash and sewage waste, shops are empty because they cannot afford to rent the shops and so the streets are full of vendors and men pushing wheel barrels full of things for sale. Everywhere you look buildings are in shambles and anything that could be stripped of metal has long been salvaged to sell. There are mothers everywhere carrying their children in fabric wraps called
lapas and the little ones sleep soundly in the heat, as their mamas shop. Beggars frequently approach, often blind and being led by a child. Its a battle to know what to do. Do you give money and only support their begging in addition to drawing more attention to yourself? Or do you refuse to give and deny the desire to help and give? Mercy Ships is not offering any more appointments either, so you cannot even offer that. So while you sweat in the heat, clutching your bag to avoid pickpocketing, you also try to decide what to buy in the market and THEN attempt to bargain the price--that you know you will get ripped off on, because you are white.

Another picture from the hospital ward. A mother of 17 years, still a girl, grabs the nurse in the hallway and together they go skipping down the hallway back to her bed. There she is encouraged her to to do her exercises the doctor has ordered for her to do. Later that day she is discharged to go home and told by her nurse to remember two things: First, to remember to do her exercises several times a day and second to remember that Jesus, her Lord loves her and made her beautiful. Then there is an elderly man who has had multiple surgeries to reconstruct his nose. He is so humble and thanks every nurse who comes into the room for helping him and anxiously waits for a hello each morning and good-bye each evening.

We feel so privileged to be here serving. Its been such a learning experience all along the way, and each place we visit feels like a completely different trip from the last, in which we've seen and experienced so many different things.

As we approach Thanksgiving we give thanks for so much we have been blessed with--so much we have come to appreciate...

For drinking water
For the delicious food we have on board
For a nice room to stay in
For the Mercy Ships organization (they really are changing the lives
of the poorest people here in Liberia)
For sunsets on the water
For reliable electricity
For a coffee shop on board :)
Friends--they are hard to come by, but you never know when you may meet one.
For our good health
For our loving families who support us all along the way (even though
we may give them ulcers by the time we return) :)
For our friends and family who continue to pray for us as we travel
and minister to those in Africa.
For the excitement holidays bring and Christ's coming!

We'd love to hear from you and how you are doing, feel free to email anytime. We love and appreciate you so much!

Happy Thanksgiving!