Work: Productive and Fun... at the same time!

The last quarter of 2012 was, like so many before it, a whirlwind! Since my last post, I had a week-long trip to Guinea to plan the work to be done on the Africa Mercy this summer in the Canary Islands, and a week-long trip to Sweden to discuss the new ship project. Both of which are progressing excitingly well!

Reflecting on the work and planning that has taken place in the past three months has left me feeling a lot of gratitude towards God and our supporters for allowing me to do the awesome job that I have. I think engineering is fun and exciting in and of itself, but the breadth and depth of the work that I get to be involved in with Mercy Ships, not to mention the astoundingly significant results of the end product, brings me so much joy and significance each day that I truly feel overwhelmingly blessed.

I have another trip upcoming in January. We will be meeting with a few regulatory bodies to talk about the new ship project and will also visit a ferry to garner a few ideas for some of the details of the new ship. After those two stops, we’ll swing back to Gothenburg for a couple of days’ worth of meetings before heading back to the office to bring all of the information together into plans and specifications.

The Africa Mercy will be in the Canary Islands this summer (June/July-ish) for another refit period. I’ll be there for around three weeks of the seven week period managing various aspects of the project which will include:

·         Hospital modifications – We’re looking at some improvements that will help increase the through-put of the hospital and enable us to help more people!

·         Galley – We’re planning to continue upgrading some of the old and worn out equipment. This year will see new walk-in freezers and ovens!

·         Technical – We’re planning to upgrade one of our radars and some of our lube oil purifiers for a more efficient, less maintenance intensive ship!

If you've got skills (welding skills, carpentry skills, painting skills, cleaning skills, computer hacking skills, non-skilled skills…) and would like to come help out, please email me at Justin.ray@mercyships.org and I’ll get you in touch with the right folks so you can come work with me! We ALWAYS need more hands!

If your disappointed with the lack of personal news in this post, neverfear! we'll be posting a family update before Christmas that you won't want to miss!