After 7 days of not-so-smooth sailing, we finally arrived in Toamasina, Madagascar! The Mercy Ships Country Engagement Team, local dignitaries, and other support staff were greeting us as we sailed into the port. It was so nice to see some familiar faces waving at us. Our family continues to feel incredibly grateful for being a part of Mercy Ships and are excited about this upcoming field service! We have only been off the ship a couple of times, but from what we have seen it's incredibly beautiful here in Madagascar and the people have been so friendly. We have learned a bit of Malagasy, the local language. "Salama"means hello and "misaotra" means thank you. French is also spoken widely here, so next week we will start French classes twice a week.
Here's a great video about our arrival - watch closely and you will briefly see Chris and the girls!
The past few months have been a bit of a whirlwind! Since August we flew from Canada to Tenerife, sailed to Sierra Leone, spent a few months serving the people of Sierra Leone (look for a blog post coming up just about that!), flew from Sierra Leone to South Africa, and then sailed Madagascar. The bible verse below has helped me during this crazy time of many transitions and changes.
Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
~Matthew 11:28 - 29
Thank you for all of your prayers and support - we wouldn't be here without you!
Praise & Thankfulness:
a safe sail to Madagascar
Chris has a great group of guys to work with on the Transportation and Maintenance team
we have met some wonderful new families and reconnected with families we knew from before. Araina and Amayah both have wonderful friends here on the AFM
reconnecting with crew from our previous field services in Senegal and Sierra Leone
Prayer Requests:
the Academy staff and students to have a successful start here on the AFM (school starts Tuesday, February 13th)
protection for the crew and the people of Madagascar during this cyclone season
crew to meet staffing needs on both the Africa Mercy and Global Mercy
plans for our future to be clear to us
Receiving real mail is super special to our family! If you feel like sending us mail, please send it to the address below. Sometimes it takes a little while to get it - we just received a few Christmas cards this week - but it always brightens our day!
Mercy Ships - AFM- Crew Mail
Chris (or Shae, Araina, or Amayah) Attwater
15862 State Highway 110 N.
Lindale, Texas
USA
75771-202
If you feel inclined to support us financially, we would be very honoured. Please click on the DONATE button at the top of our website. If you don't require a receipt you can also send an etransfer to attwatersinafrica@gmail.org `
With lots of love and gratitude,
Chris, Shae, Araina, & Amayah
Great video! Really like the editing in the video, tell me, did you do it yourself or was it done by video editing specialists? I learned how to convert VHS to any other format in a video editor a couple days ago with the help of this article. I hope you'll tell more about it.
I love this! Thank you for sharing. I’ll be praying for continued strength, joy, and rest— physical and spiritual!