More of us

Hi Friends and Family,

I guess it's been a little too long since we've written anything down. Sorry that it's taking us so long. I'm sure it's annoying to day after day check on a blog just to find that the writers have gone AWOL. Well, we haven't gone anywhere, we've just been busy out of our minds and at the same time, a little bit lazy in our keeping in touch. We apologize.

But, here i am, trying to get some thoughts together so i can inform you of the latest things happening in our lives. I guess i'll start with work. It consumes about 8 hours of my day, so it's kind of a "big deal", if you know what i'm saying. Here's the latest about my new position, how i'm liking it, what i do, etc. My title is "Grounds Manager". I'm a liason and manager for the grounds crew, garden center, warehouse and yard, security and mechanics. Pretty much i'm not actually in any of those departments, i'm mostly overseeing them and making sure that things run smoothly. This involves stuff like talking with people about needed parts to do jobs, organizing incoming cargo, making sure our property is secure, making sure the yard is clean and orderly, etc. Like i said, i'm not in the departments, but overseeing them. At this point, i've got time to spare each day for actual hands on work, so i'll stop by the mechanics shop and see if i can help loosen bolts, or i see if the warehouse and yard guys need help moving pallets around. It's kinda nice because i can be involved in whatever projects i deem necesary and with whatever involvement i choose. I've got a lot of flexibility, the pace changes often and i'm able to work around nice people.

The biggest problem: NOT ENOUGH VOLUNTEERS!! We don't have enough people here to do what is needed. There are about 4 people working in the yard and warehouse. They receive incoming pallets, categorize them and move them to appropriate storage facilities. Their job also involves receiving incoming mailed donations, constantly sorting through used donated clothes and much, much more. The garden center has 2 people but i'm still not exactly sure what goes on in there. Our groundsmen and security guard are the same guy. Ken mows, line trims (when his shoulder is feeling well), poisons ants, and all other grounds maintenance at Port Mercy as well as making sure the property is locked up for the night. We've got two mechanics to maintain and repair tons of large equipment, vehicles and small engines. It's just too much for the crew that we've got. It feels like we just keep getting more projects and things to do but aren't getting much help to do it.

Now i don't want you to think that nobody comes to Friend Ships to help out. In fact we had two work groups come through this week. They were a huge blessing to us. They helped sort through lots of clothes, started building more warehouse space, cleaned a ship for the next voyage and much more. There's one guy in particular that has stuck out to me from that group. It's a fellow named Terry (spelling?). Terry is a refrigeration guy. He works on the units that are mounted on 40' reefer containers. He's a very skilled worker. When he got to Friend Ships, he just wanted to help out in any way possible. He was willing to sweep, paint, swing a hammer, whatever. We made him do what he normally would do during his work week. He fixed our ThermoKing reefer units. I only really got to talk with him just before his time to leave. I saw him working late on a Saturday afternoon (after all our regular crew had already taken off). He was trying to clean out a unit that we'd sorta run without refrigerant. I asked him some questions and talked with him a while. He was a good man, pleasant to talk with. Well, he could tell i knew a bit of the jargon and later on told Don (the ministry founder) that he thought i could finish the job that he was working on. That dropped him down on the "nice guy" status. But it was neat to be able to just get even an hour to fellowship and see this man's heart to serve.

Switching gears. Dess and i are on weekend duty. That means that we're responsible (with two other people) to cook, clean and maintain the safety of the ships. We had a very peaceful day today. Some friends of ours, Chuck and Janet, who used to volunteer with Friend Ships offered to buy CiCi's pizza for the crew. It was a special treat because it meant that we had very little cooking to do and even less clean up (we used paper plates). It was a nice day. Dess and i started the morning off with changing the oil in the car and cleaning it. We vacuumed it out and washed it. It looks great. Dess got a deeper appreciation for the car after that. Then Chuck and Janet took us out for lunch. Hopefully tomorrow will be pretty low key too. Then we get Monday off. Weekend duty can be a good thing.

I think that's enough for now. Sorry again for taking so long in posting anything on this site. We'll try to be better. And don't forget that you can always call us too!!!