February 2007
Happy President’s Day, Happy Valentine’s Day, Happy Martin Luther King Day, Hap-Hap-Hap-Hap-Ha—a—a—a—pyy New Year, Merry Christmas, and Happy Hanukkah!!!!
Obviously we’re a tad late in getting our annual missive out to everyone. Believe it or not, preparation was started in September 2006, but then time just snowballed and now it’s already February! Unbelievable!!
The Lord opened many new doors in 2006. For instance we went up in a hot air balloon. It was tethered, but still very exciting. We’ve been in the states now for an unprecedented amount of months, more than 2 years! (It’s not as strange a feeling as it was the first year and it truly is a blessing to be closer to our family plus we love Port Mercy just like we loved Roatán.) We had several friends come see us—a high school girl friend who Deb hadn’t seen since the early 1990’s, a great couple from Rogersville MO, and our special friends from Iowa, that we met in Roatán first because they volunteered for Friend Ships, plus the new family members that the Lord allows us to meet as they come and go or come and stay at Friend Ships. What a privilege to become better acquainted with God’s church!! And then our journeys . . . more about them later.
Our entire family was together twice this year, once in honor of Grandma Picklepuss Pace who passed away in March at Cheyenne, Wyoming. What a legacy she left—47 children, grand children, great grandchildren, great-great grandchildren and all their spouses plus her famous homemade ketchup, which Deb’s brother is now making for the family. M-m-m-m! It’s been an adjustment without Grandma around. We all miss her. Debbie was blessed to have Grandmas for as long as she did.
Our kids are in birth order and ages of our grandkids were as of March 2006: Stephanie holding her Brody (13 months), Kendra and Son-in-love Doug, Debbie holding Hannah (3 yrs., 7 months), Steve holding Lydia (25 months), Daughter-in-love Sonja holding Abigail (4 months), Glenn holding Caleb (5 years and 8 months), and Jason. Caleb, Hannah, Lydia, and Abigail belong to Glenn and Sonja. But all the grandkids belong to Grandpa and Grandma!!
In late April, Steve was named Chief Engineer on Friend Ships vessel, M/V Hope, for the Medical Outreach to Haiti. Hope and M/V Mersea sailed for Haiti May 2 at 12:30 p.m. and arrived at 11 p.m. on the May 9. Steve did an outstanding job as Chief Engineer! He was up early and late, but the Lord was his strength and wisdom. He often made the comment, “Well, I’m a whole lot smarter tonight than I was this morning!” Steve not only kept the ship going and the generator working so we’d have A/C but also the ice maker, coffee maker, water maker, etc. He was off the ship and into the towns of Port-au-Prince and Carrefour 5 times when he either delivered or returned a container. PICTURE: Steve is pulling the support site container onto the roll back truck, a former wrecker truck.
Debbie was Domestic Supervisor on the ship and then as guest volunteers arrived she welcomed and orientated them to Friend Ships, rules and ship ways, assigned cabins, etc. She went to the medical outreach site the first week keeping patients ready for the medical providers, meeting the needs of the crew, etc. The drive to the site was between 45-60 minutes one way on roads that were similar to Wyoming’s cow trails. She also flew once in Friend Ships helicopter from the site back to the ship and was privileged to visit 2 orphanages, one of which was for HIV infected children. ;o( She was pleasantly surprised that the facilities were large, airy, clean, and beautiful. During the following 3 weeks, Debbie prepared documents for offloading the cargo, continued with domestic duties and debriefed the guest volunteers prior to their departure. PICTURE: Debbie and co-workers praying for a patient.
During the 3 weeks of medical and construction work, hundreds and hundreds of people accepted Jesus as their Savior and Lord. Since Friend Ships worked through the local churches, these baby Christians were prayed with and will be led by the local pastors, so they have a church to grow in. Also Friend Ships crew prayed with each patient on an average of 2 or 3 times before they left the site. Additionally over 2850 patients were examined, treated and given medicine; over 2100 patients were seen for reading glasses; 222 patients were seen by the masseuse and/or chiropractor; 66 patients were seen by the dentist with most having 2 teeth pulled, and over 4200 people were fed while they or their family members were waiting to be seen. We left Haiti June 8 at 1 p.m. and arrived at Port Mercy (Friend Ships in Lake Charles) on June 17 at 10:45 a.m. In the middle of that we stopped off at Montego Bay, Jamaica (and swam in the bay!) for 36 hours because a tropical depression had hit between Belize and Cuba. IF we had left when we wanted to instead of when God wanted, we’d have been in the middle of it. God’s timing is always perfect, if we’re patient enough to wait for Him. On the way home, the fantastic domestic crew scrubbed down every one of the 59 bunks (well, at least 7/8) and made them up for the Disaster Relief Training that ran June 26-30.
On the eve before we arrived home, the traditional Captain’s Dinner was celebrated with a delicious turkey dinner and all the trimmings. Original creative poems, The Night Before Haiti and O, Captain, Our Captain, were enjoyed plus a stand up comic, the ‘demon’ within the Capt., and a captain imposter. PICTURE: The ‘demon’ within (Steve), Capt. Stan, and the captain imposter (Debbie). Almost 50 people from around the country plus the regular Friend Ships crew of 50ish attended the first Friend Ships Disaster Relief Training. Our super talented leaders lectured on a variety of subjects that were very informational for the workshops the students were involved in. Workshops included: food ministry who made our dinners every evening, house to house ministry, roofing and heavy equipment, radio ministry, and site support (disposal of garbage, poop cleaner upper and ship cleaning). We were the ship parents and hosted the guests and again Steve was in charge of the Hope. He and many others also had their first helicopter ride!
Well, this is the first half of our 2006. Stay tuned as more will be coming!! We love you all and miss you tremendously. We certainly appreciate your emails, Christmas updates and phone calls. Keep in touch!! God bless! Love, Steve and Debbie
