Madagascar here we come!

We are preparing to rejoin the Africa Mercy in August. 

It's quite a different deal to be going back as a couple and leaving our offspring behind. We met on board the Anastasis when we were serving as singles; we have served on 4 ships as a family, and now it is a very different kind of phase we are heading in to. As Jason and Chelsea are working, and Daniel is a university this year, they will be remaining in Auckland while we ’leave home’.  (The younger two will be 'flatting' in our house with others to share the expenses.) This puts a very different emotional cost on leaving, but we are so sure this is a season that God is leading us in to for a year.

The Africa Mercy will be returning to Madagascar for a second consecutive field service. While it sounds like a most amazing place, the health care needs of the 23 million Malagasy are huge, and Mercy Ships is dedicated to not only relieving immediate surgical and dental needs, but mentoring local healthcare processionals to enable them to more adequately meet the overwhelming and relentless demands they face.

Meanwhile with Mercy Ships in New Zealand ... the most exciting we have been involved with in a long time is the recent release of a music video, Hope On My Horizon. It is absolutely awesome and well worth a quick look!

We have been working on this music video project with Kiwi musician Peter Woolston (husband of Miriam Artinian who was on the Anastasis with Graeme in 1983) for a few years, and we are so stoked about the result. Peter and Miriam have such a heart for Africa's most vulnerable people and Mercy Ships' work to bring God's love to them. 50% of all the iTines, EP and CD sales will be sponsoring Mercy Ships - that's pretty cool!

Remember, if you want to come along on this remarkable journey to Madagascar with us, you'll need to sign up to our new blog, as we can't just transfer you onto another list. We'd love to stay in touch.

Your prayers mean a huge amount as we have so very many things to get organised before we leave. The Lord provided our airfares in the most amazing way, but we are still trusting Him for many other details including the house (and people to rent rooms), the well being of our kids while we are gone(18, 21, 22), and of course that the Lord would be preparing our hearts for the roles He has for us over the next year serving Africa's poor. 

We will start sending notifications in a new formats from the new blog before we leave. Mandra-taty aoriana! 'Until later!' (Malagasy sure is a mouthful!)

Andriamanitra anie hitahy; God bless, 

Graeme and Sharon

Africa, here we come!

We heard the news seven years to the day after our family left the Africa Mercy in Liberia!

The countdown is now on to August when Graeme and I will be leaving NZ for a year. We are re-joining the crew of the Africa Mercy in short term roles; Graeme in Finance and myself as a writer in Communications. At that time the ship will be returning to Madagascar for a second consecutive field service. 

Laundry sign-ups, 4 minute showers, queuing (lining up) for meals, and the sharing of deep and abiding friendships - community life – we love it! However, we are most excited about the opportunity to be back at the ‘coal-face’ of Mercy Ships' ministry with the poor. We are really looking forward reengaging with the people we are serving; hearing their stories, learning from their lives, and once again living in Africa.It will be an invaluable experience as we return to our roles at Mercy Ships NZ afterwards.

Perhaps the easiest way to gain insight into the ship's work in Madagascar's is to glimpse into someone’s world.

Image attribution: Mercy Ships

Sambany and his grandson walked for three days, Sambany struggling to carry the massive benign tumour that hung around his neck like a millstone. Someone had told them the Mercy Ship was in port, and maybe the burden he had carried for 19 years could be lifted. So together they began their courageous journey.

 When they finally arrived at the Africa Mercy, Sambany was tenderly received by the screening team and rushed for a CT scan on board. Maxillofacial surgeon Dr Gary Parker was up front with Sambany about the huge risk in operating on a tumour of this size in his throat region.

 Days of careful, fervent and prayer-saturated discussion followed as our medical team pored over his results and health condition. Together with Sambany they eventually reached a decision. Knowing the risks, he would go ahead with the surgery. 

 The ship's crew were mobilised to undergird the operation in prayer, and a small army of 17 donated blood before, during and after. The maxillofacial team began surgery on the largest tumour Mercy Ships had ever attempted to remove at 7.4kg (16lb). It took the surgical team twice as long as expected to conclude the operation. Around midnight they staggered to their cabins, exhausted but exhilarated. After almost two decades of anguish, the tumour was gone.

 When Sambany saw himself in the mirror for the first time after the surgery, he said, “I like it. I am happy.” His eyes now sparkle with joy. "God saved me! I am free from my disease, I've got a new face!"

The Madagascan language – Malagasy- has hugely long words with complex meanings. Sambany’s name means ‘This is the first time this has happened, something like this has never happened before’.  So very true!

Madagascar sounds pretty exciting, but it’s a far-cry from Disney’s dancing penguins. The east African island which is twice the size of NZ has a population of 23 million with more than 90% living in extreme poverty. Health care is out of reach for the average person, and that’s easy to understand after learning there are only around 5,000 nurses in the whole country!

‘So, what about the kids when you leave?’, I hear you ask. As Jason and Chelsea are working, and Daniel is a university this year, they will be remaining in Auckland while we ’run away from home’.  The younger two will be 'flatting' in our house and we will be advertising for a young couple and a single to move in and share the expenses (which will cover the mortgage etc). So, if you know of someone that is looking for a fabulous place to stay close to public transport and near the city, please tell them to get in touch!

The Irony

31 years doing something you really hate does seem ridiculous. Confession, they say, is good for the soul, so here goes.

Let me ease into it though. If you know us, you know the 'good' stuff ... the incredible privilege we have of serving the heath care needs of the forgotten poor over three decades. Over those years  we've worked with 4 Mercy Ships, in 7 major start-up or ministry transition phases, ministered in 32/ 54 countries (depending which of us you're speaking to). We've raised our kids across the world in our calling to serve Jesus by serving the most desperate. Each one of us is richer for it, what a life!

                                                                       

But we're not good about talking about the hard stuff, and the most consistent difficulty we have faced over those years has been raising personal sponsorship,

We are facing a major crunch as our long-term and largest supporter sends their last cheque in December. This church has had a change of regional focus and is no longer able to include us with their missionaries. Added to a dramatic increase in house rates in our region, our monthly deficit will be around $1,500.

So would you please pray for us. Pray for a release in finances, and please consider and pray about being part of the answer to our need for missions partners to help cover

• $1,500 in monthly support 
• $2,000 for upcoming dental and opthalmic bills
• for a desperately needed and long over-due first laptop/tablet for my work 

So, we do that stuff we hate - like fundraising -  because of what we love - following Jesus example in helping 'the least of these'.

If you want to make a gift towards our ongoing ministry with Mercy Ships, we would be hugely grateful. Please head to www.mercyships.org/international and select your nation of origin . By making a donation at the correct location you may be eligible for a tax receipt. Be sure and designate your gift for GRAEME & SHARON WALLS or it will go into the general fund for the ministry. Alternatively, please email us and we can provide the details you need.

As we watched this video recently it reminded us all over again of why we hang in there in order to do what we love. NOTE: this video comes with a mascara warning! Watch video>>  I know it will bless you too!

Phew! Thanks for 'bearing with'.

Many blessings,

Graeme and Sharon

Plans!

A red-carpet Premiere honouring some true unsung heroes. I am soo excited about this extraordinary event.I am soo excited about this extraordinary event a group of post-grad uni students is working with us to host on October 9^th. This totally impacting trailer is 4 minutes long and well worth the watch >>>

So, if you  are in Auckland on Thursday next week, you and your friends are invited to attend the FREE Premiere of The Surgery Ship. Medical people and uni students will be particularly interested in the angle taken in the documentary filmed on the ship in Guinea. The details and booking form are here>>>. We would love to see you there!

It is with immense heart-ache that we in Mercy Ships have been watching and praying as the Ebola virus had ravaged the nations we serve, and thrown the lives of many friends and their families into turmoil. Our hearts desperately want to be there to help, but prayerful risk assessment tells us that the presence of the hospital ship would be simply counterproductive in the situation where people flock to any hope of help. The Africa Mercy has very limited isolation facilities and the crew is not equipped to work in these kinds of conditions.

So what can we do? Mercy Ships is using our African channels of relationship to send desperately needed equipment and supplies into the affected areas. We’re praying, and we remain completely committed to serving the people of this region. But we are unable to make a return visit until the situation has stabilised. It is so very, very hard!

In a 12^th-hour contingency, a prayerful course correction has Mercy Ships returning to serve the people of Madagascar, 18 years after the Anastasis’ visit. In early November the Africa Mercy will begin a seven-month field service on one of the world’s largest islands,  off Africa’s east coast. Unlike the Disney depiction, this nation of 22 million suffers under extreme poverty with over 90% of the population surviving on less than $NZ 2.50 per day.

I often lean into this verse these days; “Man plans his way, but the LORD directs his steps.” Please pray with us for an end to the Ebola epidemic, and for the Lord to bless our work for the poorest of the Madagasky people.

On the home front, we are preparing to step into a new season as Daniel, our youngest, finished high school in a few weeks. Where did the years go? Chelsea’s nursing degree has been held up a little this semester as she has been gaining perspective from the other side of the hospital bed – she badly broke her ankle skateboarding. The empathy gained will certainly make her a better nurse, and she has been such a trooper ... but glad her cast will be off for the summer,

Graeme and I? Well, we have some VERY exciting plans for 2015, but that will have to wait for another time!

Thank you for your encouragement, financial support, and prayers as we serve the Kingdom through Mercy Ships.

Many blessings!

Graeme and Sharon

Making some noise

We had some "David and Goliath' type excitement recently. The Mercy by Moonlight  fundraising event we ran for Mercy Ships was awarded first in the Not-for-profit category of the Public Relations Institute of NZ's annual industry awards.

This was the only sector to have conjoint firsts, and we felt honoured to stand alongside Telecom Foundation's Give A Little campaign. Other sector winners included Fonterra, ANZ and Westpac Banks, NZ Police and Porter Novelli - so it certainly profiled Mercy Ships NZ on a professional platform! We had immediate opportunity to communicate WHY Mercy Ships does what we do and the foundation our faith plays in bringing hope and healing to the poor.

Mercy by Moonlight was an evening ferry cruise on Auckland's Waitemata harbour. It was created to raise awareness, increase media exposure and fundraise for free surgeries provided onboard. Our 258 guests sailed for two jazz-filled hours while enjoying wine and canapes, silent auctions and inspirational storytelling by the local crew. A dynamic video tastefully focused the evening on the life-changing services Mercy Ships provides. The event raised more than NZ$13,000 for free surgeries onboard, and 20 different articles appeared in local and national media, including front page coverage.

Our wee Mercy Ships NZ team received a huge amount of help in running the event from Rhema Broadcasting's Laurel McCullock, and MIT students Christine and Shivani ... the event was also the application component of my (Sharon's) Communications studies at uni. Now that's what I call two birds with one stone!

PRINZ Judges' comment: Mercy by Moonlight was a one-off event with long term positive repercussions for the organisation. Mercy Ships had an almost non-existent budget, yet still managed to grow it's database and strengthen media relationships. This project obviously touched the hearts of those who could support Mercy Ships.

The other great family news is that Jason, who is completing his last year of his Business/Communications conjoint degree has just been offered a full-time job at the National Business Review - his first choice and one of the country's most prestigious business publications. We are thrilled. Chelsea is loving nursing and is working through her second year of studies, and is living life with enthusiasm. Daniel is contemplating what he will do after his last year of high school concludes in November. Graeme keeps us all on an even keel and chuckling at his puns and tricks - which is a mean feat given the amount of responsibility he caries. In addition to his directorship of Mercy Ships NZ, Graeme has been serving for a couple of years as the Chairperson of the local church we attend and really enjoys it. This year I have finally graduated with my Diploma in Communications.

After just 10 months in the Republic of Congo, more than 2,200 people received a free, life-transforming surgery onboard the Africa Mercy. People like 17-year-old Grace (above),  who now has a regular teenage's expectation for her  future, and young Jordis who can now play soccer with his mates after his foot's 'elephantitus' was corrected, and pint-sized Clare - the courageous woman barely topping four foot whose goitre comprised 35% of her body weight. Each of these amazing people were weighed down with not only terrible physical conditions, but were also the subjects of frequent torment and superstition.What a privilege to be a part of setting them free! 10,000 people in pain received dental care, and hundreds of others received eye and other treatments. Hundreds of other received training in agriculture, sanitation  and hygiene, and mentoring and further education in areas of health care and surgery.

Now it's transition time for the Africa Mercy. The vessel is in annual dry-dock in the Canary Islands and many of the long term crew are having some R&R. In August the ship will sail to Benin for the next 10 month field service in this desperately needy French-speaking nation.

Thank you for your encouragement, financial support and prayers as we serve Jesus and His heart for the broken and forgotten.

Many blessings!

Graeme, Sharon and family

Check out our website for more ship information, videos, and patient stories

Emmanoel's Tomorrow

An individual, a personal story, a life changed forever. Whenever anyone asks about what we do, the answer from me is always about transformational change.  As Mercy Ships approaches the final weeks of our 10 month field service in the Republic of Congo, the statistics are beginning to be complied. For many (those wired a little more like Graeme, maybe) it's vital to be able to measure our impact and hold us accountable logistically - not that I mind, just don’t ask me to crunch the numbers! (Do you want to see the stats?) Me? Well, I want to tell you all about Emmanoel.

As this precious wee man reached his second birthday, he struggled to breathe.  His parents were able to get him to a local doctor who diagnosed malaria, but instead of improving, Emmanoel's breathing became more restricted and laboured. Eventually the doctor informed them the cause was in fact a tumour growing rapidly in the toddler's palate - he would not live until his third birthday. The doctor knew what to do to treat the wee patient, but had no surgical skills to save his life.

Emmanoel and his parents were among the 7000 people who attended the Mercy Ships surgical screening day at the beginning of the field service. While they were waiting in line to be accessed for treatment, Emmanoel stopped breathing. His parent's distress altered the emergency medical team who were able to resuscitate him, and he was placed at the top of the surgical schedule.

Because of the tumour, Emmanoel's mother had never heard his voice. She didn't have long to wait ... his first word was Mother! His second word was Uncle (a bit to his father's concern!). The third word Emmanoel ever uttered was ... tomorrow!

That one word sums up why we invest all our 'todays' in serving the poorest of the poor. What a privilege to be part of bringing 'tomorrows' to people in such need of both hope and healing.                                                                                                                                                      

On the big picture scale, we do have some exciting news - there's a new baby coming on the block! Well, the sea. Mercy Ships has started work on building a new hospital ship from the ground up. Already with a significant percentage of the costs specifically donated, the new ship at 37,000 gross tonnes will be larger than the Africa Mercy. With more than double the number of hospital beds and 200 more crew, this vessel with dramatically increase our capacity to provide desperately needed health care services to the West and Central Africa region. There will  be a strong focus on training and mentoring local medical professionals in the nations we serve. With deployment expected sometime in 2018, our task here in New Zealand to recruit crew and raise funds for surgeries and operational costs just became a lot bigger. Exciting, scary, wonderful!

Your support and prayers are hugely appreciated as we work to serve the Kingdom by serving 'the least of these.'

Our gift for you this Christmas

We are delighted to be able to share a special gift with you this year ..... as part of my finial uni project, I (Sharon) worked on a gift package of 2014 calender images for your desktop wallpaper (you know, the picture behind the icons on your computer screen). It's a funny story actually, as I have always just had the default picture my computer screen - so this was a real learning curve - but an exciting one.

So this is how it works. Head over to this page on our Mercy Ships NZ website, and you can see some of the African and nautical images that, along with inspiring quotes from across the ages, make up the different wallpapers  http://www.mercyships.org.nz/wallpaper.php  You sign up to download the January image, then at the beginning of each month Mercy Ships NZ will email you the next month's wallpaper. Nifty eh?

I had you in my heart in the midst of the design process - a small way to say thank you for all your support and encouragement and friendship over the years (Really, I absolutely did!)

Christmas blessings to you and yours from us all!