Sail Out, Sail On , Sail In

8 days since we left Tenerife.
8 days of a smooth rolling sea
8 days of being cooped up in the AFM with 3 children and very little place for them to play.
8 days that sometimes feel like 80!

Tomorrow we get to Benin for the start of the next 10 month field service. I don't speak French, I've never been to Benin and I am nervous of having to start again with the whole Immigration, Customs and Shipping agent routine in a totally strange country.
But we'll keep you up to date with all that as it happens.

Tenerife gave us a chance to catch up with friends, get plenty of fresh, cooler air and enjoy what for most of our friends back in the UK is a more 'normal' life without the preasures of living and working in West Africa. A large part of the crew took the opportunity of cheap flights to go home and have a break, whilst others were blessed to have a vacation on the Island. However for the technical crew and those of us who stayed on board the work continued at a fast and rather furious pace as repairs, improvements and essential Surveys were done onboard. Our time at sea is in many ways the only time that the Pursers Office gets a bit of a breather (once all the paperwork is done) so a 9 day sail gave me and my new assistant (5th one) time to catch our breath a bit before the blur of activity that a new port brings.

Anne's first week back at work (Rob's been hard at it since beginning of January) mainly involved connecting with new crew (about 100) to make sure they are settling in and to deal with any issues they might have. This week, she has been more focused on the long term crew and how they are getting along. She's had a couple of wonderful opportunities given by the Lord to encourage people in their walk with him. Over the next couple of weeks she will be continuing to plan for a community living workshop on handling conflict biblically and also on training new debriefers to help departing crew prepare for leaving the ship. Small groups are being started once again and she is hoping to be able to lead one for short term crew who work shifts (i.e. medical and technical crew mainl

And now here is a glance of our time at sea......