Sunday November 13

Remembrance Day in the UK today. A good opportunity to give thanks for those valiant men and women who have given their lives in service to their country especially during times of war to defend our freedom.

Sierra Leone also remembers and a service was help in the town centre where there is a cenotaph. Attended by the President and various dignitaries from the embassies it caused reasonable chaos to the city centre this morning.

I actually returned to the church I attended 2 weeks ago where we had given sweing machines and scissors and other tailoring goods. Since then they have also received a monetary gift from the crew members of the ship which has enabled them to buy new courrugated tin roofs and wood to begin extending the facilities they have for the children they are seeking to train. there are over 100 children/young people who will benefit from this project. the aim is for them to graduate in April next year.

I gave my lecture/training session on Airway Management and it went well. The use of 'Bob' at the end of the session was well received and it may be that I will undertake further training on other occasions.

In a week where the amount of surgery was lessning we seem to have picked up on the number of cleft lips/palates that we are repairing. In very small children the lip defect is closed and surgery done later to repair the palate if necessary. This week week we repaired the cleft lips of two young people aged 14 years and 17 years. Both of them had quite severe defects and their defects would have been seen as the work of the devil. For both of these youngsters the surgery will certainly change their lives as they will no longer be bullied or subject to abuse from others.

Those of you who know me well understand that I don't view what I do as anything particularly phenomenal or fantastic but rather as the work that God has equipped me for over many years and that I am simply following His plan. We have had a mercy team on the ship for the last 10 days from a church near Mercy ships International operation centre (IOC)in Texas. They have probably been one team that I have been able to interact with most as they stayed on the ship. Often a group like this stays of the ship and then completes off ship projects. But this team were very different and I had meals together with a few of them and really got to know them much better. One of the team was a personal friend that I got to know when I spent a month in texas last year at the IOC as she came on the same course as me and we discovered that we both ran. In fact she was responsible for me running in the Waco half marathon while she ran the full marathon. What has been particularly beneficial is being able to share with her on a particular project and to have her input. God's timing is quite remakable as I had only started on this a few days before she arrived. As the team left the ship today they are remarked how wonderful they thought we were, but I had to remind them them that I am simply following Fathers plan for me and that doing the job that I hav been equipped to do is a joy to me and I hope, a blessing to others.