MGE is a Wrap!

Field service 2025 is complete! Our hospital closed on Dec 9th, followed by the HOPE Center on Thursday, Dec 11th. All of our patients have returned home, and our HOPE Center, dockside tents, and hospital are quiet. That is, except for the buzz of activity of cleaning and packing up. It is now time for the ship to prepare for sail! It will take us a couple of weeks to pack and secure all our supplies for the next 4 months or so. MGE, “MG” for Madagascar and “E” signifying the fifth time Mercy Ships has visited, is now behind us.

This is a time of celebration, and at the same time, many goodbyes. A mix of happy and hard, all at the same time! We hope to see many back again next year, but also many have ended their service on board for now. Today, a large group is leaving, and over the next two weekends. We hosted a large celebration for our day crew yesterday, with good food, speeches, singing, dancing, and ice cream. With about 290 day crew plus crew, we equalled around 700! Most of the day crew we will see next year for field service, MGF, will be able to return, but some will not.

Life on board has quieted down quite a bit since the beginning of the month. Each weekend in December is filled with a mixture of emotions as we form tunnel after tunnel, slightly shorter each time. Meal lines are shorter, midships quieter, and the general buzz of a field service is now a memory. We said goodbye to some of the long-term families who were on board before we joined, and we already miss their presence. One left behind sourdough bread-making equipment, a recipe, and dehydrated starter for Dan to use upon our return to the ship.

Now that we’ve finished our 2025 field service, we turn our attention to the vehicle that enables us and carries us: the Africa Mercy. While most of the year our medical teams are busy, this is the time of year when our technical and deck crew shine. Our ship is due for an extended maintenance period this year due to its age, outstanding work that got skipped in years past, and a final push to get it to the end of its life. As a result, the Africa Mercy will sail for Durban, South Africa, for a four-month-long maintenance period beginning early January.

Due to visa restrictions in South Africa, we have to leave the ship before it sails at the end of Madagascar and rejoin it in mid-February, just before the Academy resumes. Since we are in South Africa for so long, and the ship will undergo long periods of maintenance, including six weeks in drydock, the Academy is moved on shore in a location near family accommodations.

There were, and still are, many challenges related to this extended maintenance period. The biggest of which is its impact on our 2026 field service, which won’t begin until May. The leadership at Mercy Ships is ambitious, though, and our surgical schedule suggests nearly as many surgeries completed next year as we did this year. Only by God’s grace is this possible! And, by the people He calls to the ship who respond to His calling. There are many gaps and opportunities in our schedule for 2026, and we collectively believe that God will provide the people we need in His time. Not by our strength, but by His.

As you may have seen, we started writing this blog earlier this month, but as we were packing the ship and the HOPE Center and planning for the AMP we were also having to fully pack up our cabin. Not to mention enjoy some Christmas festivities with the crew! December was a very busy and emotionally tiring month! Our belongings are now stored in the Academy Math room with 3 bags labelled for Durban for when we arrive there in mid February. Praise to God for providing for us! We have three house sits lined up perfectly in the UK! Bath for one month, then Wales for 11 days and Cambridgeshire for 4 days! We are starting at an Airbnb in London for 6 days to sightsee as much as we can. Fireworks on the Thames tonight! We are so grateful for that provision and looking forward to caring for furry friends over the next month and a half. Shoutout to our dear Croutch parents for caring for our own furry friend Macy while we are away for so long! and Happy 8th Birthday to Macy on Jan 1st!

We feel as if our hearts are spread all over the world right now with our families back in Canada, and our ship family also now spread around the world! We love you all and miss you very much! Our focus for now is enjoying time together as a family of 5 and reconnecting with our kids after living ship life for the past year and a half.

We have seen that some of you have donated recently and we want to say a big THANK YOU from the bottom of our hearts! It means a lot to know we have people cheering us on and supporting us and supporting the mission of bringing Hope and Healing to the world’s forgotten poor. Madagascar is certainly a nation that has great needs for better healthcare and we hope to help improve many lives and also bring hope of a better future to to them as well. Please pray for the country and its new leaders that they will make decisions that benefit the whole nation!

From our family to yours we want to wish you all a Happy New Year! May this coming year be a year of renewed joy, hope and peace in the midst of a hurting world. May we shine bright and bring the hope and healing of Jesus wherever we go!

Praises

• Successful end to MGE 2025!
• Safety in Madagascar and a stabilization of the government
• Provision of travel and housing while having to be away from the ship
• Provision of an IT Manager and other key roles on ship
• Successful first term for our kids in grade 9 and 7

Prayers

• Safety in continued travels for us and other Mercy Shippers
• Safe sail for the Africa Mercy to Durban (currently on route)
• Good connection time as a family
• The patient selection team who will travel and see potential patients for MGF 2026
• All crew to get some rest and be ready for this coming year
• The Africa Mercy maintenance period. Parts and work to be ready and done in time
• For the new crew who will be joining us in 2026