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Hosting last month soccer Confederations Cup and upcoming World Cup in 2014 is turning the eyes of the world toward Brazil, but in the midst of this frenzy called “futebol” there is a hunger for God. This has become evident this past week when three million people gathered to hear Pope Francis in Rio de Janeiro. The world famous Copacabana beach was transformed from a temple of the sun and body worship to the temple of the living God. A Washington Post headline said: “In Mass on Brazilian beach, Pope calls on faithful to reject selfishness and intolerance”.  And the BBC web site stated that “Up to three million people have packed Brazil's Copacabana Beach to hear Pope Francis address their all-night vigil.”

There are quite few warnings in the Bible about the dangers of worry. Constant worry leads to a life style of anxiety and depression. In the book of Matthew, chapter six, Jesus strongly encourages his disciples not worry about anything. He says that you cannot add one single day to your existence or solve your problems by worrying. He asks us to look at the birds of the air as an example of how God wants to take care of us. The birds of the air do not sow, reap or store food, because God take care of them. Naturally, he expects more of us, that have be given a mind to create and build things. However, he wants to remind that God is able to take care of our lives. The prophet Isaiah says that the arm of the Lord is not too short that he cannot help us. He can and he will, but we are to stop worry. In asking us to look at the lilies of the fields, Jesus addresses preoccupation with our appearance and how we look, or more precisely with how others see us. The flowers of the fields have n...

A sneak peek of the main Eye Clinic site for the Republic of Congo field service. In this location patients will be selected and receive the pre-operative measurements before going to the Africa mercy hospital for surgery. The building is located on the grounds of the “Hospital de General de Loandjili” 30 minutes from the Pointe-Noire’s port.

The last day and a half of the Basic Safety Training covers Personal Survival Techniques (PST), which teaches how to survive at sea. The exercises for this course involve jumping from a two meters platform into a pool, or the sea, donning life-jackets and put on an immersion suit; boarding a life-raft from the water and learning the technique to turn a life-raft side up in case it lands in the sea upside down. Along with leadership, preparedness and drills, teamwork is vital to survival; the sea survival exercises are done in groups with each one helping the others. Mercy Ships’ swimming pool is not big enough and we used the Cain Center’s swimming pool in Athens, Texas, not to be mistaken with the ancient city in Greece. The Texas’ Athens is about one hour drive from the Mercy Ships Training Center in Garden Valley.  In contrast with the TJC pool in Tyler, at the Cain Center we use half of the large pool while other summer activity happe...

This week we have 19 students attending the Basic Safety Training class here in Texas. This group of students leaves to join the Africa Mercy in Tenerife next week. One of the students is a young lady who will work in Reception. On the first day of the class the instructor asked where the students came from and Hannah told that she comes from Santa Cruz, California. The instructor, Dan Connors, and I have memories of the Anastasis visit to Santa Cruz because the ship was anchored in the Monterey bay; crew and visitor had to use launches to go to and from the dock; also for the beauty of the place. Hannah’s parents were among those touring the Anastasis. I asked how old she was then. She replied that she was not even bourn. I asked how she decided to join Mercy Ships. Her siblings told her about the visit when she was a child; then one summer she hear about the ships in a camp she worked. When she told her parents that she wanted to volunteer her parents told her that they had toure...

What I really wanted was an older team But as the line of the 1994 movie Forest Gump "Life is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're gonna get" Instead I got an under 12 team.  Putted together with promoted under ten players and few newcomers, the Strikers was a team needing some work, but it takes a season or two for a team to blossom. It did not take me long to recognize that Micah was the natural leader of the team, I made him Captain. The other children followed him naturally. Every time there was a free kick against our team close to our goal he would scream "wall" and run in front to our goal, the whole team would follow him, closing our goal keeper vision and consequently increasing the chances for the other team to score.  As the coach my job was to transform this energy into positive team energy. The Strikers close the season fourth in the league. Micah performed most of soccer’s basic skills satisfactorily, but had the habit of kickin...

Today, thirty years ago, Carla and I arrived on the Anastasis in New Zealand. Cassia was 18 month old and Tamar, 2 month old; Queila came later. We spent eight years on the Anatasis and two years on the Good Samaritan before moving to the Mercy Ships headquarters in Texas. As a family we ministered in 25 countries in three continents, not counting Tamar’s and Queila’s ministry in Kirgizstan and Thailand respectively. One thing we can say that God is good and faithful.