Game On!

It’s felt like I was stuck in an X-Box game lately. Every time I made progress, another more difficult obstacle would suddenly appear to replace the one just conquered. Finally though, a champion arrived (yeah for Matt!) and defeated the techno- giant that was preventing me from accessing our Walls Treat Journal blog! Yeah! It was a long fight, but we’re back! I hope you missed us.

Since we were last connected, Mercy Ships completed a six month outreach in Togo, so I have added a summary and some surgery details for those interested. Check out the side bar.

Mercy Ships ministry focus since August has been Guinea - West Africa. (We are not in the Pacific, so nowhere near PNG). Thousands of people arrived for their conditions to be accessed on the Screening Day (pictured above), and after seven weeks of ministry in Conakry, we have already been able to transform a lot of lives. Thankfully, this is just the beginning. We’ll tell you more about that on our blog next time.

We find it hugely important to stay connected with how our work here is affecting the individuals that Mercy Ships is touching in West Africa. I would think it’s the same for those incredible people in our supporter team. Here’s just one story of a family whose world was turned upside down just a few months ago. It’s one of the most impacting testimonies we have encountered in all our years of ministry. Pop across and have a quick read http://mercyships.org.nz/family-receives-sight

As Graeme and I continue our roles here in New Zealand; recruiting crew as well as raising finances and awareness, it’s is really exciting to hear the stories from Kiwi crew onboard. We love hearing what our nurses and other volunteers are experiencing during their service on the ship. A significant chunk of what I do is writing that into articles for their local newspapers. You can read a recently published story here http://www.stuff.co.nz/auckland/local-news/papakura-courier/7435369/They-really-need-our-Kiwi-nurses

Striving with technology has been a common theme for us in the past few months, and among other things Graeme has been focusing on changing our Mercy Ships communication from hardcopy newsletters to a digital Enews format. It involved a lot of database preparation and we are very pleased with the end result. (You can sign up on our MSNZ homepage www.mercyships.org.nz). He has also been speaking at quite a few Rotary and other service clubs, and is particularly looking forward to preaching his first sermon in a while – so big thanks for Rev. Simon Cornwall for the invitation to Greerton Presbyterian next Sunday. We are really looking forward to it!

Family news – (how to make this fast enough not to be boring yet detailed enough for those who want to know?) ... Jason is completing 2^nd Yr of his Communications/Business double major and still loving it. He’s been working hard with IHC and World Visions and buying a car this week – yikes! ... Chelsea only has a few days left of High School! She’s very focussed on her exams and has applied to do Nursing at AUT next year She has just landed a job with the new Warehouse opening in our area, which is fabulous ... Daniel got his Learner Driver Licence last week, so APB warning for road users in Auckland! He is sitting his first national exams next month (School Cert/NCEA1) so those are both milestone ... I also have an uni exam for the Public Relations papers I’m doing (only 2 to go – yeah!), so while other four of us are in exam mode, Graeme is very sensibly leaving the country! Each year he attends National Directors meeting at the Mercy Ships HQ in Texas. Aside from all the important work stuff, it’s always a great time for him to network with so many folk he has served with onboard the ships overs the years.

Phew, so that's us. Next time it'll be shorter- I promise!