thoughts about mercy ships

The last 7 weeks on the ship have been amazing!
The dental team saw their 3000th patient. We did a three day outreach at the local prison. Seeing about 247 patients and extracting 675 teeth.
We saw about 50 students from the local deaf school. The children were a delight to work with!
We have the best day crew working with us from Madagascar! The best translators.
Our team has been great to be with!
Our Sunday evening community gatherings that led up to Easter were very special with great messages and I felt like we learned quite a bit.
I've met the most inspiring people here in Madagascar!
People from over 35 countries living together in a small hospital ship.
Eating together and living in tight quarters. Working alongside another to help the malagasy people.

Proverbs 3:27

Withhold not good from them to whom it is due, when it is in the power of thine hand to do it.

This verse keeps coming back to me. 

Mercy ships is doing amazing things here in Madagascar in the name of Jesus.

https://m.youtube.com/?#/watch?v=n2wykrmoUqk

I was here when this patient was on board the ship. :-) 

Pray for the people in Madagascar! 

Easter on the Ship!

It's been a wonderful Easter season here on the ship!
The last week starting with Palm Sunday we had lovely services on the ship all week. Song services at night, special programs including a Seder Supper in the dining room. We learned about all the Jewish Traditions with Passover. It was very interesting and special to be a part of. The dining room was set up beautifully and each table had the special foods like Matza set on it. We sang a little bit of the Jewish songs that are sung at the Jewish Seder supper. :)
They also had a night with special things in different rooms. On deck 7 they had a foot washing station set up for anyone to come and have their feet washed or to come with friends and wash each others feet. The international lounge was set up as the Garden of Gethsemane where you could go and have some quiet time in prayer. Then there was a room set up as the upper room where you could go read the sequence of events leading up to the crucifixion of Christ.
A very special week to be here!
The Good Friday service was Friday morning and Sunday morning there was a sunrise service on deck 8 followed by another service later in the morning and a beautiful brunch was served in the dining room! So enjoyable to be here with friends and celebrate the resurrection of Jesus!
He is Risen indeed!
This afternoon we were able to visit the deaf school where our patients were from. One of the teachers invited us to come by and see the school.
It was in a nice quiet location in the city and was very nicely set up!
We found out the school has about 30 students that live there and during the day about 30 more students come from the surrounding area. It is one of the only deaf schools in Madagascar so children come from far away sometimes.  The school is sponsored by a Christian Bible group? I'll have to get more details. They have a lovely chapel on the grounds. And the Mercy Ministries group goes to the school once a week and they tell Bible stories to the children. I would have loved to join the group while I was here but they only go Wednesday mornings and... I am working the hours they go.
So it was very nice to see the school today and see the children when we were not pulling their teeth out. :-)
Our friend from the dental clinic was able to take me and a friend out to the Lemur park for some hiking yesterday and to see the lemurs for the last time. The hike was up a short mountain with a nice view and then waterfall along the trail! We had a picnic by the waterfall and then enjoyed a nice ride on a bamboo raft down a river back to town. Most enjoyable day!
Now it's time to start saying goodbye to all my friends and it's been sad.
One of the hardest things about Mercy ships is all the goodbyes.
The ship has so many amazing interesting people on it and friendships form so quickly.
I have started to pray about coming back for one more outreach with the ship..Mada 2. I hope I will be able to see my friends again. :-)
My friends Julie and I are now preparing all things to arrive in Bangkok and head up to Chiang Mai within the first week. Our plans are coming together!
Don't worry about us because we will rarely be alone as we are meeting friends in each place we go. :-)
  

Finishing up my time on Mercy Ships.

This is my last week here on the ship. Hard to believe things are coming to an end again.
We finished working with the deaf school students! They were so much fun to have in the clinic. Lots of smiles.. Maybe some tears. It's all part of the dental world.
My time here was 4 weeks working with adults and then 3 weeks working with kids.
It's completely different working with adults than with children.
I enjoyed both immensely!
Working with the kids has been so rewarding! And.. well.. Hard at the same time. There are those kids that :
are smiling when they leave.
are crying (hysterically sometimes.. usually the 4 year olds)when they leave.
are terrified when they leave.
are wondering what just happened..
And there are those... That are screaming when they come into the room.
Can you guess my favorite?
An experience to be had!
After 7 weeks I've now worked with people in the dental clinic from: Germany, Switzerland, North Carolina, Australia, Peru, California, Arizona, Canada, and Texas. And of course our local Malagasy people! We've had a great group of people together. While I was here the dental team saw their 3000th patient. Pretty awesome milestone!
It's so sad to leave the clinic. Today as I was working I had a thought that I could stay here for a while longer. I love serving the people here in Madagascar.
The dental team will never run out of work to do.
We have seen some crazy dental cases that I've never seen at home.
Some of the surgeries we have done have made huge differences in peoples lives.
Ask me in person and I can share details.
So yes.. Leaving next week.
Saying goodbye to our day crew is hard! And then I'll have to say goodbye to my friends from the ship soon.
But....... Going back to the name of my blog..
I don't think this is my last crusade. I've already been talked into coming next field service back here in Madagascar.
On that note..I need a job! Anyone know any nice dentists that need a dental assistant for 6 months? Anywhere in the world? I'll move! :)
I'll post photos again soon!
Hugs*