Original subtitles

We will now hand over to our captain.

So would you please welcome Captain Richard O’Shea.

Okay, folks, we're

coming to the end of our field service here in Sierra Leone.

There are many things to be done.

We need to be up for our annual maintenance period for a specific date.

There's a lot of contractors all booked to come in and overhaul the equipment.

We have a pretty extensive packup program.

It's all planned out up to two months in advance

and what needs to be done on each day.

All our cars need to be loaded on board, and we need to take down our

facilities on the dock.

We also have to work in when our last supplies are going to arrive

by container, then dispose of our last-minute garbage.

But then we can't just leave the patients, either.

All that has to be carefully choreographed as we shut stuff down,

that it doesn't stop us from doing normal operations.

So get out there folks.

Let's finish strong and let's do all the things that we need to do

to make this a really successful time here in Sierra Leone for Mercy Ships.

So...

- Departure's coming up. - Yep. Not long now.

We've been here for such a long time, though, that I don't remember

- what it's like when we sail. - Hmm...

- You know? - Yeah.

- Yeah. - We got to get this shop all tied down.

- Yes. - You got to finish the lifeboat window.

Yeah, I got that one to do, too.

Plus, once we do have finished sailing you'll be leaving soon, so.

Oh think I’m going to do is learn some of your tricks

you've picked up while you've been here.

But ah, just just expect a lot of WhatsApp messages

early in the morning for you when I have problems.

In Africa as a whole, and particularly

in Sierra Leone, there is no shipbuilding facilities.

We end up coming up with creative solutions ourselves to, to fix issues.

So our carpenters and our engineers are excellent at devising solutions.

And we had to come up with a fix to get us to Tenerife,

where we can then, source more dedicated parts more easily.

So, yeah, the captain asked me to fix one of our life boats because

the window had been smashed in. Without the lifeboat working, we can’t sail.

We don't work with glass on this ship.

So plexiglass, a kind of plasticky glass is what we have to use instead.

Might want to cover your ears, mate.

Thank you.

We got the carpenters on

to the, the case, and they have manufactured

a new plexiglass window for that and fitted it to the exterior of the lifeboat.

I got there, yeah, it was beyond repair.

The smash was terrible.

So, I fixed up with some plexiglass because we need these lifeboats

working for our sail. You--

You can't sail if you haven't got working lifeboats.

And if they get water in there, it can damage all the electronics inside.

And if we have to use them, we'll get sunk.

Oh. Looks good. That’ll do. That'll do indeedy.

We're looking snug again.

And we're all set to go to Tenerife, with a fully functioning lifeboat.

This is a journey that definitely makes changes, not

just in the people that we serve’s lives, but also for those of us who are here.

We learn so much about each other.

And as a family, you definitely have a lot of involvement

in other family lives, as well.

Hello, guys.

How are you?

Alright. Yeah.

I hope you guys come in hungry.

The food looks good.

I think the beauty about Mercy Ships

is that everyone that comes here comes with a unique skill set.

A talent set, which is a God given thing for each and everyone that comes here.

The timing that God uses each and every individual

to come at that specific time is usually it's God's time.

Lord bless this food to our bodies and we pray in Jesus name.

- Amen. - Amen.

So yeah. So when is your big day?

- July 20th. - July 20th.

That is like around the corner.

- Yeah. - Yes, coming quick.

Here, it feels far away.

But then I think when we get to Sweden we’ll realize how much...

- Yeah. - we're planning and things we have to do.

So what would your best piece of marriage advice be?

Well, I guess that's not just a single answer, right?

- Do you have time? - Yeah.

I think, you guys got different challenges

than we have, coming from two different cultural backgrounds.

I think that's going to be your major,

I wouldn't call it an obstacle.

There's a lot to learn from one another, from cultural backgrounds.

I mean, we've been married for 30 years now, and we still learn things

from each other every day. Right? So...

I think you're going to have a lot of compromises somewhere along the line.

Make space for that.

The Bible verse that says, you know, slow to anger, right?

Yeah.

Yeah. I can honestly say, like I said, be respectful to each other.

And communication is the main key.

And also never go to bed angry.

Sort it out before you go to bed.

- Yeah. - But the best part is to say I'm sorry.

I hate conflict.

Yeah, me too.

Sometimes, you know, to say sorry is is never a shame.

And to say, listen, I’ve know I’ve hurt you and I’m sorry.

So yeah that's--

communication is the main key.

Yes, that’s the thing. You always get a lot of, lots of advice from everybody

how you should live your life, but at the end it's your life, hey?

People can only tell you what works for them, not necessarily

it's going to work for you.

You're going to have to walk this adventure on your own, for sure.

And how much of an adventure it is is what you make of it.

Yeah. That's really good advice.

Thank you guys so much for meeting with us and having dinner.

- We really appreciate you. - That's great.

It'd be okay if we can pray with you guys?

- Yeah. That would be really nice. - Yeah.

Heavenly Father, Lord, thank You for this opportunity that we have to share

friends and family and just be able

to talk about the things that's important to each one of us in life.

Lord, and as they adjourn on the new life's adventures,

Lord, I just ask that

You will lead them in wisdom in every decision that lies ahead.

And I just ask that You will bless them with kindness.

Bless them with peace.

Bless them with friends and families and parents that care.

Give them that wisdom of discernment, knowing what's right from wrong.

Lord, thank You for for the love that You are teaching us

everyday in Your word and for what You have done for us on the cross.

And we always look back to that one.

In Jesus name we pray. Amen.

Coming up on The Mercy Ships.

There were some clouds rolling in earlier

And sure enough, it started raining.

Thankfully, we have this wonderful space.

You know what? In the end, like,

the whole point was to bring people together so it'll be nice and cozy.

Enjoy the show!

Hello? I really wanted

to invest really much in my children just a couple of years before

I know the oldest one is going to fly out.

And Mercy Ships has given us that opportunity.

Because I'm able to lay down my security officer role,

and, Irma, my wife will be able to fill

a full position in hospital chaplaincy as a manager.

And so we will trade roles in Tenerife.

That will give me the opportunity to really from a restful position,

not from a position as you're already walking or running,

just think about family life.

Think about how I want to organize and structure that,

and how I want to really invest in my children during these last years

before they're grown up.

We came on board when the youngest of our children was one and a half.

So in the previous years, I have spent a lot of time with,

with the children, with especially with our youngest child.

Now she has gone to school full-time and she's older.

I was working part-time in the hospital chaplaincy,

which is the department that looks after the patient's

emotional needs and spiritual needs and psychological needs.

And, as I was working there part-time, I was asked,

do you want to consider to work here full-time?

And, that means that my husband

needs to work part-time because that's the construction.

One of us works full-time and one works part-time.

So that's what I will be doing next, field service.

Irma would say to me, yeah, I've done all the hard years

and now you're going to do all the fun years, which is true.

But nonetheless, it's something that we think

that the children gravitate always also a little bit more towards me now.

Now they're older, they need less Mama, more Daddy somehow.

And so I think it's really cool that we are able to do this.

Yay!

And especially when you’re on a mission with Mercy Ships and your children,

they connect with people from all over the world.

It's highly likely that our children will not

end in our same village when we retire.

But they will be all over the place.

So we really have to bring and build a strong bond now,

before they go.

We are excited for today, but we did notice

some clouds rolling in earlier and sure enough, it started raining.

Surprise!

But it's all good, right?

We changed the venue before, we can...

- We have practice. - Yep.

Thankfully, we have this wonderful space that can fit a ton of people.

You know what? In the end, like,

the whole point was to bring people together, so it'll be nice and cozy.

Enjoy the show!

Hello, everyone.

I'm Gabrielle. We're in Madagascar.

That's one of the things that we're celebrating.

The smiley people of this beautiful place.

Let's go ahead and get this party started.

Going to go ahead and call up

Key of Sea!

And now it's time to dance with Vaniala and Bryanna.

Next up, Neddy’s choir KGP.

♪ This is my story ♪

♪ Oh, this is my story ♪

♪ This is my song ♪

♪ Praising my Savior ♪

all the day long.

Please welcome everyone back to the stage.

- It was amazing. - It was.

I mean, the amount of people that were dancing and singing and...

- Crowded into this space. - Yeah!

To be able to bring people together in something that goes well above

any language or boxes that we could check, and that's music.

And then also all the different cultures that are here.

- It was just so warm with love in here. - Yeah.

- Coming up on The Mercy Ships. - We made this extra wedge

to put on the bottom of Ibrahim's boot, and we're going to see how it fits

on his boot when he comes for his appointment.

Hopefully we got it right because the ship's leaving soon.

Soccer is very popular in Madagascar and on the ship.

Last year we had a game.

Day crew versus ship crew. Ship crew won.

We were not ready at the time, but this time

- We will be ready to fight you. - We’ll see.

Good morning, AFM, exciting announcement that we're going to give you guys.

We're going to have a revenge match.

That will be crew against day crew again.

We are very courageous

and hopeful to be, to win today.

You can see that everyone, like, is excited to get inside.

But a little bit nervous because I don't want to lose.

The crew are leading four goals.

The day crew, they have two, so it's a, like, a tough game.

And the day crew are not, like, leaving anything.

We still have one hour, and we gonna, we gonna to do our best to win today.

Yes!

Yes!

It’s over, it's over!

We did it.

They deserve also like to win.

But it's a game.

There is always one who win and one who lose.

And this time it was us again,

but it reinforced

the relationship between the crew and the day crew.

And it was-- it was so good today.

It was a good day.

Congratulations! It was a good game.

Thank you.

We have to do revenge again. No no no no.

We are tired. Next year.

Okay.

- Hey! - Hey, George!

I brought two flip-flops, I don't know which one you want.

Okay, cool.

So, we can add that to Ibrahim's shoe.

Do you have a preference? Does it matter to you?

- No. - All right.

- Thanks. - Appreciate it.

- See ya. - See you.

Some of the ladies in the rehab team made this template for me.

Because they knew that Ibrahim was going to be wearing the shoe when he left.

And I have to cut a kind of a lift to help

level out his legs a little bit, marking it onto this flip-flop.

And then we're gonna cut out...

the wedge that we need.

Okay.

George and Cameron are both

very easy to work with. Both very friendly.

And they're always up for a challenge, which we appreciate.

So George was amazing in having to rivet all the fixtures down

so that we could strap the Velcro on

because we didn't want to just glue it down,

because that was going to come off in the Sierra Leone humidity.

He did that. He put a foot plate on it

so that he has a nice shoe surface to walk on down the bottom. In rehab,

we really love the boys down in carpentry.

They're very good to us and they make a huge difference to our kids.

So we made this

extra wedge to put on the bottom of Ibrahim's boot.

The physiotherapist brought this

and made this based on the template, and we're going

to see how it fits on his boot when he comes for his appointment.

Hopefully we got it right because the ship's leaving soon.

I am very, very fortunate

and grateful for my role as a physiotherapist because we get to see

the change in the patients going from,

unsurprisingly, quite sad, reserved,

and then have these big beaming smiles,

and then leaving the ship.

I love Mercy Ships!

I think it'd be hard pressed to find someone who wouldn't think the same.

Bye!

The ship is leaving for regular maintenance soon.

Myself and Abigail will head home once we arrive at Tenerife,

and I think it'll be a little bit strange at first,

because I don't think we will know where our home is at first.

We've left the ship

a couple times before, just for short periods, to go visit family,

because we knew that we still had a cabin, we still had things on the ship.

We felt like we had a place to return to,

and now we're taking all of our stuff with us.

I think we came at first because we were looking for something

a little bit more than what we were doing.

Since then, a lot has changed.

Obviously, we didn't end up

thinking that we would be here for ourselves,

so we thought we would be here to serve others.

He needed a little bit more height on this leg.

So since he has to keep the boot on, I added glue,

for the long term and then some screws just to hold it on until the glue dries.

And then you marched around. You did a really good job with it on.

And so I think walking away,

there will be a lot more lasting impacts

on ourselves than

what I want to say is versus walking away

and thinking, oh, well, look at look at how many people we've helped.

But at the same time, we've been impacted a lot more than we were expecting.

Saying goodbye to our friends and to the patients is a lot harder than I expected,

but we're going to miss this place and all of the friends we've made here.

♪ We are mercy on a mission ♪

♪ Together, we bring hope and healing ♪

♪ Though the journey ends, ♪

♪ The love won't fade ♪

♪ We may be apart, but in our hearts we stay ♪

When a patient leaves, you just hug them tightly

and thank God for meeting them.

♪ We carry dreams in our hearts as we board ♪

♪ Through long days and nights, His light has shone ♪

♪ Shared our laughter, held our tears ♪

♪ Built a bond that out lasts years ♪

♪ We are mercy on a mission ♪

♪ Together we bring hope and healing ♪

♪ Though the journey ends, the love won’t fade ♪

♪ We may be apart, but in our hearts we stay ♪

You get to know other families and create a friendship

which going to last forever.

To have a community working in faith together.

Only a life living for others is a life worth living.

Yeah, that's why we're here.

♪ As family forged in service flames ♪

♪ we walk away, but keep the names ♪

♪ We are mercy on a mission ♪

♪ Together we bring hope and healing ♪

♪ Though the journey ends ♪

♪ the love won’t fade ♪

♪ We may be apart, but in our hearts we stay ♪

♪ Some day we’ll gather around again ♪

♪ Find that circle ♪

♪ The warmth of friends ♪

♪ ‘Cause His Spirit holds each thread ♪

♪ In the fabric of a life we’ve led ♪

When you see the changes in people's lives,

these are the things that makes your life really worthwhile.

♪ Our story's ink will never dry ♪

♪ We wrote with love under an endless sky ♪

♪ Shape of us, as time moves fast ♪

♪ The bonds we formed forever, they last ♪

Even though I know we are out here for work,

sometimes it doesn't feel like it

because it's just people you love.

This experience is definitely staying with me for

as long as I have memory.

♪ Shape of us as time moves fast ♪

♪ The bonds we formed forever, they last ♪

There’s no other ship in the world that has a cargo of hope and healing.

♪ We may be apart ♪

♪ but in our hearts we stay ♪

Come on.

- No more amateurs in the workshop! - Yeah, don’t let that be...

I’m not an amateur!

There is only--

I feel like there's been so many more alarms ever since you guys arrived.

- Just a slow, creeping up. - Sorry, a moment. A moment.

- Because this is real. - Go ahead.

Okay. Sorry.

I can do it again.

We always start all of our road trips off with a song.

♪ If you could go anywhere in this great big world ♪

♪ Now, where’d you like to go? ♪

♪ They said Dad, we’d like- ♪

♪ We want to see the biggest ball of twine in Minnesota ♪

I'm sorry. Hold on. Can we do that? I can't stop laughing.

Ok. Stop making me laugh dude. Ok.

What did I do?

Hey!

No way! She’s gonna love this.

It’s rehearsal-- our last rehearsal.

And this is actually--

well, I don't know if I can say that. This is our first and last.

- No, okay, last. Great. - Let’s just go with last.

We're way more prepared than that.

Oh, hey, a stowaway!

Come on outside.

- Would you like a little ice cream? - Yes, now.

Okay. What type of flavor you like?

Ready and action.

And I'll see you on the next series of The Mercy Ships.

Season...

And I'll see you on the next season of The Mercy Ships.

That's it!