It’s a great compliment to Mercy Ships when volunteers return to give more time to serving the poor in Africa.  

Mercy Ships wants to help change the story for the “bottom billion” of the world’s population.  Most of them live in sub-Saharan Africa and have no access to safe, timely and affordable surgery.

On February 4, 1968, at the Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, Martin Luther King Jr. described how he wanted to be remembered.

It was 1960 in the American South.  Little six-year-old Ruby Bridges was the first African-American child to attend an all-white elementary school.  Every day federal marshals escorted her to school.  Each day angry parents yelled insults and threats at her.

Finding the right person for the right job onboard our hospital ships sounds like a complex puzzle.  But it amazes me to see how God provides the right person at the right time.

Evelyn Kirk, at 82, was the oldest member of the Mercy Ships training class.  Her gracious manners made her a favorite during the field service in the Dominican Republic.

Agnes was serving as a policewoman in Ghana in 1991.  One day, she ran into an old classmate and friend, Joseph Biney.  He was volunteering with Mercy Ships.  In 1995, they married, and Agnes joined him onboard the ship.  

For three years, Olaf spent four hours in the hospital three days a week for dialysis.  He desperately needed a kidney transplant, but none of his family were a match.  Then Madeleine Mulaire responded to a notice in the church bulletin.  She was a match, and the transplant was successful.

Somaya was born with a cleft lip and palate.  People told her mother to put the baby in an orphanage.  But she refused, saying, “She is a gift from God.”

Using your skills to serve others is a great way to combine career and ministry.