prayer needed

We arrive with the Africa Mercy to Benin in just 2 days!!  I can't help but look back at the last couple of years and am amazed at how God led us here and His hand in our lives.  Its difficult to express how excited we are to arrive and our eagerness to minister to these people!

These first couple weeks are crucial and will be intense for Mercy Ships as we continue to build our relationship and trust, and establish our ministry with this country that God has called us to serve. We ask that you please join with me and Tim in prayer!!  God is the head of this ministry and we want it to be done according to His will.  Mercy Ships and its crew are inadequate without His work in us, and without the power of all of your prayers!  We enter a ripe harvest and a spiritual battlefield.  Here are some specifics that are on my heart:

~smooth entry with immigration upon arrival (Tim will be directly involved as Assistant Purser)

~ease with set-up of the hospitality warehouse (for family of patients), the dental clinics, the hospital, and preparing for screening day.

~intercession of, and freedom from, the bondage of voodoo in the people.

~trust in the people (many associate a big white ship to slavery, and that boarding the ship is "the point of no return"). 

~God's love will be communicated through us 

~that spiritual healing will come through the physical healing (eternal transformation)

~Christ, alone, will be given all the credit, praise, and glory! 

Important dates--Screenings up North (rural villages and tribes) will be Feb 10th-15th and the inner-city port screenings on Feb 19 & 20th.  The first surgery begins Feb 24th!!