ROTTERDAM
NEWSLETTERROTTERDAM
NEWSLETTERSunday August 25, 2002
Hello Everyone,
Greetings from Rotterdam, Holland also known as The Nederlands.
After three and a half weeks in the dry-docks (thirteen days for me), we were floated to a temporary dock. Each year the Anastasis is required to be removed from the water so it can be inspected and where necessary repairs can be made. This is also a perfect time for the volunteer crews and especially the temporary, volunteer project persons, who come from all over the world, to organize and complete many necessary upgrades to the ship.
Because the ship was out of the water, many normal services were diminished. Dry-dock is known as camping out by the veterans who have managed it before. Here are some things that I hope to never take for granted. The bathroom was a small facility on the aft deck of the ship where the first three in were the first to occupy. :) This is also the only place to retrieve fresh water. Just brushing your teeth or washing your face was indeed a journey in itself. The TWO showers for the entire male crew (two for the women as well) were about 200 yards off of the ship. Although the temperatures here have been quite nice (especially compared to the heat and humidity of Louisiana), we have not been able to turn on the air conditioning because the systems are cooled by seawater. Here is an amazing footnote: for about twelve years, the crews of the Anastasis lived, worked, and slept in the African heat with absolutely NO Air Conditioning! We are a fortunate few today.
I'm sure that every journey in serving God will have it's ups and downs. I can't say this dry-dock experience even qualified as a down. Fact is: we have all we need. When necessary, I just remind myself of the people in West Africa that we serve and the conditions they live in. Someone else's experience, somewhere, will always bring taken-for-granted blessings into perspective--if one is willing to look outside of his or her plight.
With that in view, you can see the outreach statistics from The Gambia where I first visited the Anastasis at: http://www.Mercyships.org/Fleet/Anastasis/anamenuframe.htm. Please take the time to review that page. The free services that we perform are very diverse as you will see. I don't know if there is another group of people-loving servants to touch so many lives in such practical ways.
Over the last couple of weeks I have replaced one of the sea water refrigeration condensers, which was the cause of the failure that led me to The Gambia at the end of May. Also, I have removed another large refrigeration compressor that failed during the return trip from the Gambia to Holland. I even got my feet wet and repaired an air drying machine, which supplies dehumidified air throughout the ship for tool use and medical-grade oxygen production. The most important project I am working on now is leading a team of men to clean and service the twenty air conditioning blower/coil units, which are spread throughout the ship.
In a few days we should be underway to Bristol, UK; then Cuxhaven, Germany; and then to Amsterdam, Holland. These are scheduled visits where we load waiting donations of medical, construction, and ship supplies. We also provide thousands of tours to supporters and visitors. This is a very important part of our fund-raising efforts. Will you please keep the Mercy Ships ministry in your prayers during this time. Our exposure is much greater in Europe than the U.S. because the Anastasis can't sail in U.S. waterways because it doesn't meet the standards of today's modern ship. She turns 50 next year! Do expect to hear about the Africa Mercy when her renovations are complete. She will be able to sail into U.S. waters. Watch http:://www.MercyShips.org for eventual U.S. visits. You can stay up to date by reading the short newsletters posted on a regular basis as well.
After the short stay in Europe, we will be headed south to Freetown, Sierra Leone for a follow-up outreach there. Three and a half months later, we sail to Lome, Togo for a four month outreach. Once we are in outreach, the ship goes no where. We essentially become a floating hospital and a platform of many good works.
In closing, the crew of the Anastasis was blessed to receive a very uncommon extension of good favor from the President of The Gambia. The President visited the ship a couple of times with all of the pomp and circumstance that follows. I understand he regularly invited crew for special dinner events during the last weeks of the outreach. Most importantly, as a leader of a Moslem nation and a Moslem himself, he openly praised the crew of Mercy Ships repeatedly and declared that there is no Moslem group in the world that does anything close to the Christian ministry--Mercy Ships. I understand there were even closed door *meetings* with ministry staff and ships officers.
As you have opportunity please view my web page at http://www.ChristianChallenge.org/missions/kevin/index.html. Now that I am sending more information to my friend Nathan, I'm sure he will soon post this letter on my web page as well as pictures that I'll be sending. Also, for those who have blessed me with financial support, I wish to express a heartfelt THANK YOU. Unfortunately, I don't yet know who has done so because my account on the ship has not been finalized as yet. I decided to make a two-year commitment to Mercy Ships. That will also ensure that you will receive a tax-deductible statement for donations sent to my account at the Mercy Ships headquarters in Garden Valley, Texas.
I pray this email letter finds you well and healthy. I pray you know the abundant blessings of peace, joy, hope, love and faith that always accompany Christ.
Will you please take an opportunity and ask God's favor in the following ways: 1. That we as an extension of God's love and grace will have unrestricted access into the communities that need our services most. 2. That God will send workers into the harvest field. There is a continual need of technical, medical, maritime, and general services persons to serve. Yet we are never without when it becomes crunch time! He is faithful. 3. That Mercy Ships will receive all finances and other resources needed to do as God wills. 4. That the community heartbeat of the Anastasis, Caribbean Mercy, and Africa Mercy will be united in all that we do.
Feel free to drop me an email or letter. It takes about two weeks for me to receive a letter anywhere in the world. The mailing instructions are on the prayer card I sent.
Be blessed,
D. Kevin Gates
M/V Anastasis, Ref. Eng.
Kevin@ChristianChallenge.org