New Matadi Visits The Ship…

This past Sunday Josh, Drew and myself hosted our Bible Study group on the ship. The vast majority of them had never been to the ship before - or even the Freeport - and so this was an extra-special time, showing them where we work and live.

It was great to take them on a tour of the ship, from the Bridge on Deck 7 down to the Hospital on Deck 3. We even went into the main fire locker on Deck 4 aft. This is the main fire station on the ship, where all the emergency gear is kept. This was also where I spent much time in Tenerife, helping Marius check the fire equipment and the pressure of the SCBAs (Self-Contained Breathing Apparatus) - see blog entry from Sunday, January 13th 2008, Fire Fighting, Cycling, and a Dragon Tree.... Wow, that was a long time ago now! But this time Drew, one of our Watermen and also the leader of Fire Team 1, showed the boys how he could get fully kitted out in full fire fighting gear inside of two minutes. The boys loved it.

Having finished the tour, we all had African food (rice with spicy potato leaves and chicken/fish pieces) up on Deck 7 together. I must try and get the recipe of potato leaves before I go home! They’re awesome!

During the Bible Study on the Wednesday before their visit, one of the guys asked if the ship was bigger than their orphanage compound. And then while we were all sitting up on Deck 7, eating our dinner together, he said, “I can see now that it is much bigger than our home.”

We then had some photos together on the dock, with the large Mercy Ships website address (that is painted on the side of the ship) in the background. Here are some photos from this fun afternoon.