African Journal

Liberia

2005-11-21T01:56:00.000+01:00

When we were sailing, I was processing, like I usually do, about our upcoming outreach in Liberia. I was basically questioning myself. Am I ready for this? I mean really ready? Lord what do you have for me in this time in Liberia? I just do not want to go through the motions, Give me a vision for this time? When we returned it was like I never left. Six months ago and everything seemed the same in a good kind of way. The roads were worse but it was the familiarity that I enjoyed. I did not have to get lost in a new city. There was an excitement for our time here. The need here in Monrovia today is huge and there is no way we can solve all of it by the time we leave. We can do it one person at a time. Through God of course, it is not anything about us but our dependence upon the Lord and what we do through Him. It is not where we come from, what kind of degree we have or if we are a member of a club but simply, it is God. I read this morning Revelations Chapter 7 verse 15
Therefore,
"They are before the throne of God" and serve him day and night in his temple; and he who sits on hte throne will spread his tent over them. 16 Never again will they hunger; never again will they thirst. The sun will not beat down upon them, nor any scorching heat. For the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd; he will lead them to springs of living water. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.

I believe that is the promise God has for the people of Liberia. It is Thanksgiving this week and we here at the ship celebrate it on Sunday and as I look this is not the way we celebrate thanksgiving at home but then reality cuts in on my limited vision. When I look out at my porthole and see how good I really have it and how fortunate I am so it is a season to be thankful. Especially the people we encounter and they do not even have to use words for how thankful they are. That is the meaning of this season. Please pray for Liberia, they just had their elections two weeks ago and will announce a winner this week. It has had some controversy so please pray for a peaceful conclusion and the right person would lead this nation in the right direction.

Return To Liberia

2005-11-20T16:15:00.000+01:00

When we were sailing, I was processing,like I usually do, about our upcoming outreach in Liberia. I was basically questioning myself. Am I ready for this? Really Ready? Lord what do you have for me in this time in Liberia? I just do not want to go through the motions, Give me a vision for this time? When we returned it was like I never left. Six months ago and everything seemed the same in a good kind of way. The roads were worse but it was the familiarity that I enjoyed. I did not have to get lost in a new city. Their was an excitement for our time here. The need here in Monrovia today is huge and there is no way we can solve all of it by the time we leave. We can do it one person at a time. Through God of cours it is not anything about us but our dependence upon the Lord and what we do through Him. It is not where we come from, what kind of degree we have or if we are a member of the rotary or lion's club but simply it is God. I read this morning Revelations Chapter 7 verse 15
Therefore,
"They are before the throne of God" and serve him day and night in his temple;and he who sits on hte throne will spread his tent over them. 16 Never again will they hunger; never again will they thirst. The sun will not beat down upon them, nor any scorching heat. For the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd; he will lead them to springs of living water. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.
That is the promise for the people of Liberia. As I look it is Thanksgiving this week and we here at the ship celebrate it on Sunday and as I look this is not the way we celebrate thanksgiving at home but then reality cuts in on my limited vision. When I look out at my porthole and see how good I really have it and how fortunate I am so it is a season to be thankful especially the people we encounter and they do not even have to use words for how thankful they are. That is the meaning of this season. Please pray for Liberia, they just had their elections two weeks ago and will announce a winner this week. It has had some controversy so please pray for a peaceful conclusion and the right person would lead this nation in the right direction.

Reflections

2005-11-06T01:09:00.000+01:00

We just arrived back in Liberia last friday and today we had our screening to schedule all of our patients for surgery. It always seems to be around Thanksgiving every year so it always puts things in perspective for me that I have much to be thankful for. I wanted to reflect on our time is S. Africa. It was a time and place that I will always treasure. It as a country is very beatiful and I do not think the rest of the world realizes it yet. And the people as well, they have such a warmth and willingness to help you that I think if the roles were reversed we as a people in the US would not be as helpful. I really enjoyed their warmth and genuineness. They really responded openly to us as Mercy Ships and what we we were doing. They still see the poor through their townships but it also feels like europe in their built up areas. I also heard more church groups going on mission trips not to just the townships but to places like China, Zimbabwe, so I think they really understood Jesus words when he said "Go and make disciples of all nations". I was a tour guide this year as well when we opened the ship to the public. We had 17,000 visit the ship in three weeks of tours and 7,000 in the last weekend so it was the biggest response I can remember. Our time was good here and everyone seemed very appreciative of us and what we do fo the poor and that is always good to hear from time to time.

Beatrice

2005-09-19T12:10:00.000+01:00

This week I thought I would tell you the story of Beatrice. We met Beatrice at our screening in Liberia last year. Screening is the process where we advertise on what type of surgeries we do. Hopefully if people fall in that category they come to see us and we schedule all of our patients for surgery at this time. We usually hold it at the major football stadium and thousands of people will come. What made Beatrice diffrent from us is that she had a tumor growing out of her face. This tumor grew out of her teeth up into her left eye and out of her cheek. This tumor weighs about eight pounds. Beatrice had trouble pushing food back to her throat and her ability to bite down and chew food was impeded so she was severely malnourshed. Thus Beatrice weighed only 88 lbs and our doctors on board only gave her a few months to live if she stayed in her present condition. Befor the tumor Beatrice was a petty trader selling such wares as Casava and pepper which was a nice living for her but as the tumor came and began to grow Beatrice was to ashamed to go amongst the people. If you have a deformity of this nature in the african culture you are treated like an outcast and you are shunned. Beatrice tried living with the tumor but it became too much, so she gave up and her only goal was to be healed from this tumor. It was about this time when the M/V Anastasis came to Liberia. She heard about the ship and what we do and the free surgeries we offer. It took our doctors just a few hours to remove the tumor. If Beatrice would have grown up in the U.S. the surgery would have taken place much earlier. There are about 550 doctors for every 100,000 people in the states versus in Liberia there are less than two for every 100,000. Our nurses saw an immediate change in Beatrice a person who came and was full of despair and after the surgery they saw a person full of joy. I think when Beatrice looks into her future she longer sees death but she sees life.

I am Alive

2005-08-08T08:54:00.000+01:00

Hello All, I just wanted to relay to you I am alive. It has been five weeks since we have arrived in East London, South Africa. Which means I have crossed the equator and sailed the Indian Ocean all on one sail. Now I can mark that off my list which honestly don't know if it was on it in the first place. One thing I did enjoy about this sail was to prepare myself. It is very hard to be in a place that has nothing and I mean absolutely nothing and the come to a place a devolped nation that has everything and things they do have there are many choiced on just that one thing. So during the sail I prepared myself for this. When we arrived in East London a friend and myself took a walk into town. When we got there I did not know that we had left Africa, but ideally I thought of S. Africa as a developed nation. The two stores we walked into were as crowded as any West African market. There were many booths on the street to get your hair cut that said "Uni-Sex Hair Saloon" which you see all over West Africa to get your hair cut. There I was smack dab in the middle of a culture shock which I was not prepared for. Then the next day some friend asked if I would like to go to dinner and Movie. So we went to dinner at a mall where there were stores and choices and the dinner was amazing, never had a burger that big in a while and a movie which was fun. I kept asking myself how can a city or a place exisist where there is so much poverty in part and so much excess in the other. Then it dawned on me this is not the only place. It is places all over the world. I think it is a choice if we acknowledge and maked a choice to help them or not. I am glad I am here making a choice to help the ones I can and thank you all for supporting me. I would be able to do anything if it was not for your support so THANK YOU.

Update

2005-06-10T05:08:00.000+01:00

Greetings from Monrovia, Liberia. My sincerest apologies for my communication this year, I am realizing it is one of my weak spots and an area I need to work on especially for all those praying for me and the ministry of the Anastasis. We are wrapping up our outreach here and will be sailing in another week and half. There has been a lot going on here. With the normal surgeries, dental clinic. Our Community development Services has dug several latrines and rebuilt a roof for a school in area called Royesville so they are now taking classed there. Our deck department has rebuilt an orphanage from children of the war that lost family members to the war as well as our engineering department has helped out as well. Later I will post a full outreach report but the purpose for this post is to pray for the crew because this outreach has felt like a full out sprint so pray for strength and finishing strong. I also would like prayer for me. I have been thinking it might be time for me to move on after this year but was unsure. I applied to attend school at the University of Washington off-campus in Tacoma to attend their Social Services program. I just word that I was not accepted into the school. So yeah was a little disappointed that I did not make it. It still looks like a program that I would like to apply to in the future. It was something that I was planning on doing and now it is totally open. So please pray--I am not so disappointed because I did not have total peace about the situation, but I thought it was some fear going into the situation if I could do it or not, so in a way I was kind of relieved about it but now I do have a little bit of anxiety about my next step in life. I do enjoy the ship and what we do it is so valuable what we do and who we help, the poorest of poor. So once again thank you for all of your support and prayers. I do plan on sending out a newsletter and Website is soon to come I have been working on.
In Christ,
Chris

2005-04-12T20:52:00.000+01:00

Ship in Monrovian Port

Contact Information

2005-02-02T16:52:00.000+01:00

If you would like to write me my address is:
Chris Smith
Mercy Ships
M/V Anastasis
PO Box 2020
Garden Valley, TX 75771-2020
USA

Phone
1-954-538-4239
1-954-538-4258

E-mail
chris@tophers.com
smithc@mercyships.org

How to give
If you would like to give financially you can do so by sending a check to Mercy Ships and make the check out to Mercy Ships with a note attached for Chris Smith who is a crewmember aboard the M/V Anastasis.
Thank You for everything. For your support both financially and most importantly Prayer.

Prayer Points

2005-02-01T01:31:00.000+01:00

Prayer Points

As of Wed Feb 16th we were told that we have had continuous problems with our generator and boiler. Our parts still have not arrived to fix them and some we still are looking to find. Our trip to Ghana has be cancelled and we still do not know when we will sail out from Benin. So please pray for our Engineering department they have been working very hard. Please pray for strength, wisdom and this problem will be resolved in a timely matter.

Pray that we finish well here in Benin-Meaning all of the projects with our construction teams, surgeries and various other things

Preparations will continue to go well for our Advanced team as they are in Liberia and for a good outreach there as we will travel there at the end of Feb. I am really looking forward to Liberia. I don't know if it is because maybe it is a former colony of the United States. Another reason could be they just came out of a fourteen year civil war. This is a time where peace and healing can be established so pray for our time there as well.

Public Relations Phase
Preparations have already begun for our PR time this summer. We will be sailing to S. Africa this time for PR instead of Europe. So lift this time up that we can gather support both in finances, Crew, materials and most importantly Prayer.

Direction for next year I am still undecided about what to do next year. If I should continue on the ship. Go back to school. I have been looking at finishing my degree either in Social Work or Human Services or Bible School so If you would please lift this up as it has been a decision hanging over and have been a little bit anxious about. If you have words of wisdom those are appreciated as well.