24 January 2005

Well, here we are in Mobile, Alabama, USA! We are very glad to be back in the U.S.
We were very happy to see the arrival of the tugboat, Kirsten Grace which “tailgated” us all the way to Mobile. What a wonderful relief to have the rescue team at hand! The ship did great! We commend our engineers who kept the ship running very well! We anchored just outside of Mobile Bay. We needed to wait until the following day because the harbor was going to be very busy with a cruise ship coming in. We tooted our horn and all waved good-by to the tug as she left us to return to port. The next morning, January 18th, two more tugs arrived to escort us in to Mobile Bay, then up the river to the State Docks. The ship did just great until we got about a mile from where we were supposed to dock, then all of a sudden the ship, even though the controls said we were going forward, was going backwards. The pilot ordered the engine stopped and the two tugs came along side and tied up to the ship. It was pretty scary for a bit, but the tugs and the pilot did a wonderful job of getting us to the dock. Later we found out that we had a hydraulic failure. Add that to a steering failure and an engine failure. We are compiling a list of all the things that have gone wrong since our scheduled exit on January 3rd from Puerto Cortes, Honduras. We want to be very aware of how the Lord has protected us from any harm during a very eventful and trying time.
Waiting for us on the dock was our Agent and the Customs and Immigration officials. As you may know, we were under restrictions by the U.S. Coast Guard stating that during the first entry in to the U.S. our crew would be detained on board without any one being allowed to leave. We also had to pay for two armed guards to watch us 24 hours a day. This restriction was put in to place because the last time we were in Galveston, one of our crew members left the ship without permission and he never returned. Our DPA (Designated Person Ashore – Capt. Jon Fadely) had been in contact with the Coast Guard and Immigration officials to get the order rescinded because of the various repair issues with the ship. This has been a great point of prayer as it would be very hard on the crew to be in the U.S. at dock for 6 weeks or so without being able to leave the ship. We were required to muster twice a day to make sure that all the crew was present and we all stayed on board as directed. The Crew remained in good spirits as we complied with each of the requirements.
On Wednesday, January 20th we mustered again with all present and accounted for. Wednesdays, our regular community prayer time in the morning, we lifted up our requests to the Lord. One of the items on the list was that the Lord would give us favor with the officials at the district office of the U.S. Coast Guard in New Orleans. An Admiral had to make the decision on rescinding the order. By 3 o’clock that afternoon he had graciously done just that! Praise God! The Crew is now allowed to come and go as we please. We are so very thankful!
On Thursday, the same two tugs came to escort us across the river to Harrison Brother’s Shipyard. The surroundings are anything but pretty but we are grateful that this shipyard is allowing us to dock at no charge to us. There is lots of work to be done on the engines, the hydraulic system and the steering system, plus we have some scheduled work to be done with putting in a new bathroom on B deck and various other items on the agenda.
I just want to say how grateful our Crew is to the Lord. When we think about all the terrible things that could have happened during the various failures we’ve had, all the waiting and uncertainty, we marvel at the way the Lord worked out each and every detail. No one got injured and apart from some colds and some seasickness, every one remained well. Every day lots of encouraging words and laughter was heard throughout the ship. We remain in awe of a God who has shepherded us along, who has watched over us and protected us. We give Him all the glory at the praise for who He is – the Sovereign Lord who knows the end from the beginning. We wait on Him for the future, confident in His faithfulness and grace!