Blog #9 Stunning Sunsets

Warning - this is a long update...we have been busy! For the past several weeks we have been docked at a port in Tenerife, a Canary Island. It took a bit to settle in, but we are all doing great! The girls are loving ship life and the Academy, Chris is full swing into his position as principal and I have been working at the Academy and the Starbucks on the ship. Tenerife is a beautiful place to be and every day we feel grateful to spend time here! Due to ship regulations, we can go 15 km from the ship. But, each place we have been to has been amazing and we have had lots of fun exploring! A huge bonus for us is the wonderful winter weather - there's now snow here and we are loving it! However, the girls are not so keen on winter without snow and have mentioned several times that they miss it! One of my favourite things about this island is the sunsets and sunrises! They are absolutely stunning! The girls have really enjoyed hanging out at the beach, Chris has had fun biking the various trails around here, and we have all loved going on hikes - and even got to do some rock climbing together!

Our life on the ship is filled with lots of fun, friends, and family time! I am so grateful to be able to spend so much time with my family. Everything we need is here on the ship so we save time not doing everyday tasks such as; driving to work (don't miss the winter driving at all), shopping for groceries and other things, driving to visit friends and family, etc.

Here are some highlights from the past few weeks:

Amayah celebrated her 7th birthday with a baking party! They played all sorts of fun games with a baking theme and make Grandma's chocolate chip oatmeal M&M cookie recipe!

We have gone on many hikes exploring this beautiful island! We also did some rock climbing in a canyon. Chris hiked up Mount Tiede, a volcano and is the highest point in Spain and the highest point above sea level in the islands of the Atlantic.

At school, the students had to dress up as what they would like to be when they grow up. Araina wants to follow in her parents' footsteps and be a teacher and Amayah wants to be a baker. Harry, the baker on the ship, even let Amayah borrow his official baker's hat!

We have been busy with many Christmas festivities and decorating the entire ship! There are 12 Christmas trees on the ship and we even put up a little one in our cabin. Learning about the way different cultures celebrate this time of year has been so much fun! The other night Sinterklass visited the ship from the Netherlands! The girls sang in the choir at church this weekend. Their choir teacher, Miss Beth, is so amazing!

Now that Christmas on the ship is in full swing, we have been listening to Christmas music while we work at Starbucks and one of the songs that came on the other day took me back to 1984 when I was 13 years old sitting with my friend Erin listening to LPs on her parents' record player sitting on their blue shag carpet. It was listening to this song, Do They Know It's Chrismas by Band Aid, that I decided that someday I would go to Africa to help the children. It feels so amazing to be so close to fulfilling this dream!

We are about 8 weeks away from sailing Africa! We leave on January 28th to sail to Dakar, Senegal, and will begin field service. We truly feel so blessed to be a part of this amazing organization to bring hope and healing to so many of the African people who do not have access to medical care. Each day I learn more about Mercy Ships and the incredible things they do. Here is a story I recently watched that documents a little girl's amazing transformation after receiving medical care from Mercy Ships. I hope you enjoy it!

Thank you so much to those who sent us real mail!! I can not tell you how much it brightened our day!

If you feel inclined, please reach out to us at:

Mercy Ships - AFM- Crew Mail

Chris (or Shae, Araina, or Amayah) Attwater

15862 State Highway 110 N.

Lindale, Texas

USA

75771-2020

Prayers of thanks:

• beautiful weather and lots to explore here in Tenerife

• staying healthy and not having Covid on the Africa Mercy

• lots of quality family time

• learning new Christmas traditions

Prayer requests

• As we look forward to heading to Senegal, please pray for our advance team who is on the ground hard at work with preparations, such as screening patients for surgery once we arrive.

• Please pray that the crew onboard the Africa Mercy stay healthy before we sail to Senegal

• Pray for the Global Mercy, our brand new purpose-built ship, that needs a number of things fixed in order for it to be ready to sail to Africa

• Some of our friends here on the Africa Mercy will move over to the Global Mercy Ship. Please pray for them as they prepare for the move and for our kids (and us) as we adjust to them leaving

As always, thank you for your support, encouragement, and prayers! We are so grateful for each and every one of you who are following our journey.

With love and gratitude,

Chris, Shae, Araina, & Amayah