"Getting Ready..."

On Sunday, we said Good-bye to the church that we have been attending for 3 months and the church that Mike has been occasionally preaching at. They blessed us with a wonderful time of prayer and dedication. Then they presented us with a drum. The drum that they gave us was a traditional African drum that is used for proclamations (announcing good news). I was unaware there were different types of drums. They have them for times of mourning, dancing/celebration, and times of proclamation. In the picture the pastor's brother is teaching Joshua how to play the drum. (And Joshua has been practicing!) Now today, the deck department has been busy. They have been loading the remaining Land Rovers on to the 8th deck and securing them for the sail. Yesterday, a team of people drove 9 of the older Land Rovers to Lome, Togo where we will do our next outreach starting in February.

Where the swimming pool once sat, Land Rovers now occupy the space.
Where deck chairs once sat, Land Rovers now occupy the space.This is the aft gangway. Where our patients used to come into the ship, it is now on deck 8 also.Our dock, which once used to be a hive of activity, is now slowly being cleaned up and things stored for the sail. Our season in Benin has almost come to an end. As Ecclesiastes 3 says: "To everything there is a season..."