Once upon a time...

...there was a girl named Becca who decided to leave her family and friends in America and follow her heart to a place called Africa. God had called her to go and live and work on a big hospital ship called Mercy Ships.

Around this same time there was a boy named Gregory who had been working on Mercy Ships as a Day Volunteer in Liberia for 3 years. He loved Mercy Ships and decided to move on to the ship and leave his family and friends in Liberia to go and serve all around West Africa.

While working on the ship Becca and Gregory started becoming friends while playing football. Over time their friendship grew.


Becca and Gregory would go on trips together with friends to the beach, to the pool, to climb a mountain, to watch a game, to play cards, to grab a bite to eat, or just to hang out.


Their friendship grew more and more as time went on. But due to them being from two very different places Becca and Gregory were very scared to take their friendship any further.


Some time passed and then Becca and Gregory started getting close again. But this time they both were praying for God to direct their steps according to His will. Finally after Becca and Gregory had done a lot of praying and talking they decided to take that next step.

Becca and Gregory’s relationship continued to grow and God continued to guide them each step of the way. Soon after they started going out, Becca left the ship to go and live in West Africa, while Gregory stayed with Mercy Ships in South Africa. They both knew they would miss each other but they were comforted knowing that if they were in Gods will He would continue to bless them.


During this time Becca and Gregory’s relationship continued to grow with each other and with God. God used this time to help Becca and Gregory learn about the others culture. Six months later Becca and Gregory were reunited. They were both very happy.

Becca and Gregory really loved each other and even though they came from two different places they saw how God continued to bless them and guide them each day.


So almost one-year after Becca and Gregory started going out, Gregory decided to ask Becca to be his wife. Becca said ‘Of course!” (which means yes)

As Becca and Gregory prepare for marriage they know they have a long road ahead of them and a lot of obstacles to overcome. They know that marriage is hard but they know theirs will be harder in different ways because they come from two different cultures.


Becca and Gregory’s prayer is that through their unity God will use them mightily for His kingdom bringing many to know Christ.

Becca and Gregory also ask that you would pray for them. Pray that God would guide and protect them wherever He sends them and that God would USE them in unimaginable ways!!

Church Leaders Conferences

(Bo Conference)

It was all worth it. Every phone call, every minute (hours) sitting in traffic, every paper cut received, every frustrating moment, every miscommunication, every miscalculation… it was all worth it.

(Bo Conference team with speakers)

Sometimes you go through really crappy things and don’t see the result until months or years later and maybe even sometimes you don’t see it at all. But in regards to these Church Leaders Conferences, God showed me the fruit right away. If you have been following my Sierra Leone adventure so far, you will know that the road leading up to these conferences was not a smooth one. This has honestly been one of the most frustrating, annoying, time consuming, stressful, uncomfortable, tasks that God has given me but it has also been one of the biggest blessings and joy producing experiences as well.

There were many miscommunications along the road and many oversights as well. For example I miscalculated the total money needed for the first conference by a mere 11 million Leone (~$2700 USD). Or the unexpected bloopers like a nation wide petrol shortage that led to us not being able to run the generators the whole conference, which meant no fans, microphones, projectors, or cell phone chargers. I wont fill you in on allllll the mistakes I made so as to keep some dignity but lets just say there were more than a few.. hehe..

(Freetown Conference)

Logistically the conferences went as followed:
Bo and Freetown~ 425 participants
Denominations represented~ 7
Pages printed~ 21,940
Paper cuts~ 16 + 1 on my elbow (most likely from Dulce!)
Miles driven~ 541 kilometers in 8 days
Plates of rice eaten~19 plates of rice in 10 days
Phone calls received~ by the last few weeks they all became a big blur… but lets just say A LOT!!

(Pastor Moses, Lawrence (ship friend), Chris Ampadu)

So besides the prep stuff I bet you are wondering what the conference was about. The conference was called “Partnership in whole-person ministry”. The purpose of these conferences was to create unity among all of God’s children and to empower and equip the local church leaders by teaching them how to carry out holistic ministry not just in their churches but in their family and communities as well. The response was more than I could have EVER imagined! To Him who does TONS more than what we could EVER imagine or think up because of the power of Him who is within us. (Eph 3: 20)

(Myself with Chris Ampadu, the main speaker)

Over these past few days I have been reading over the participants evaluation forms and I have been so blessed and encouraged. It’s amazing to hear all that God has done and will continue to do. Here are some of the things I read:

I sincerely appreciate this Mercy Ships leaders conference. I saw it as a means of uniting and empowering the body of Christ for productivity in life and ministry.

The Mercy Ship training has pushed me to reach the unreached through not just spiritual means but by ministering to the whole person.

In Matthew 7 it says that ‘not all that say Lord Lord will inherit Gods kingdom but only those who do the will of God’ and I don’t want to loose Gods kingdom and therefore I am going to do all that I can to completely and totally obey and walk according to His will.

The thing I liked most was the participation of Christians regardless of their denomination.

This conference has been an eye opener to me about how we should be doing ministry and especially with the presentation coming from our African brothers was especially enlightening.

This conference is very good and timely in the sense that it is opening out eyes not to focus on just the spiritual aspect but on the physical, social, and moral aspect of man. This has been lacking in our churches. After going through this conference I am going to try and focus more on development not only in my church but also in the communities that I am a part of.

I want to be a catalyst of change and begin by implementing this knowledge within myself and to my family. I also want to take these truths to the NGOs and church leaders that I work with.

The conference is fine and I enjoyed it, but as for me I am a Muslim but having learned something from this conference about Christ I now decide to be a Christian… Mariama (HOW COOL IS THIS)

(celebrity couple)


See what I mean… How amazing is our God?! My ship sister Dulce and I (now renamed Bulce and Decca) were talking after the conferences and honestly not only did we see and hear amazing things from the participants but we ourselves got a lot out of these conferences.

My prayer is that this wouldn’t just be another conference that these church leaders attended but that it would be the beginning of a transformation in their own lives, which would lead into their families, communities, and ministries as well. I pray that through each and every person that heard about the way Jesus did ministry that they would emulate him in their own lives as well. I pray that above all things that God would receive all the praise and glory!!

A good friend told me this quote that I think is so true..
“Never think that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.” Margaret Mead

To hear more about the different groups that we invited to speak check out their websites:
www.samaritan-strategy-africa.org/
www.chenetwork.org

New height: 7 ft tall

Dear Mom… I am now 7 feet tall due to all this stretching so please buy me some new clothes. Thanks! Love Becca

Two of the three church leaders conferences start next week. The first will be May 3-6 in Bo (5 hours away) and then second will be May 9-12 in Freetown, which is where I live, but still could be 2-hour drive depending on the traffic… yipeee!! These two conferences alone will include over 700 pastors from all different denominations. I believe this is the first Mercy Ships pastors conference that will include Catholics, Pentecostals, Anglican, Lutherans, Methodists, Baptists, an array of NGO’s and even some Muslims! Please be praying for these conferences. Everyday I receive about 10 phone calls and about 4 surprise visitors. Plus on the planning side of things my resume is being expanded i.e. writing invitations, making banners, finding hotels with running toilets, bartering meal prices from 7$ a head to 3$, writing up excel spreadsheets, doing budgets, figuring out how much a ream of paper costs with black and white ink and with color printing. Yep I am definitely being stretched…

The health teaching is coming along. I am being lengthened in this area as well. Last year when I did teaching it was every 2 weeks at a church with adults who were excited to learn and had decided to come to class. This year I am teaching patients who have not CHOSEN to get this education but instead have it forced (nicely) upon them. Each day that I teach I have students from age 5 to age 75. I have students that are professors and students who have never seen a classroom. Plus I am not a teacher at heart which means that everyday that I go out, I am being expanded. Sometimes I teach and I fail miserably (note to all future teachers: do not pass out measles coloring sheets until after the lesson unless you want a 75 year old grannie giving you the evil eye because you stole her pink crayon). But then there are other days that turn out amazing i.e. like when teaching on worms I saw a 30 year old college grad act like a pinworm and a 50 year old illiterate woman due the best roundworm impersonation I had ever seen. So yes this area is a challenge for me but I am definitely learning a lot as I research these topics but also brings me new joy especially when a lesson goes well and I see that they really get it.



Outside of work there are many other areas that are making my legs longer. Even though I technically work 8-5 my day definitely starts before that time and ends after. I may leave my ‘office’ at 5 but my phone continues and worse than that my brain continues well into the evening. My favorite phone call was at 1030p from a pastor asking me to help him put together a pie chart for his report that was due the next day (yes I tried to help and if you are ever in a similar situation just go to excel and they have some beautiful graphs to choose from). Relationally things are also challenging as, like I mentioned above, work definitely continues outside of work hours but also since I don’t live on the ship my catch up time and talk time with friends is limited. The traffic continues to be my biggest testing ground especially recently. I have been in Sierra Leone for 3 months now so my patience has been getting worn down and the excitement of people watching has ceased to exist. Also due to holidays and the upcoming 50-year S.L. Independence Day traffic is at an all time high. The other day my roommate and I left the ship at 930p figuring it would take us about an hour for the 3-mile drive but instead due to street dance parties, an unloading rice truck, and a traffic officer who is worried about job security, we sat in traffic for 2 hours. She actually calculated it out and it was 25 minutes moving 1 hour and 30 minutes sitting. No matter how good of a day I have had this traffic situation definitely rubs on my mood and patience.


I swear I am not trying to depress you I am just trying to give you a glimpse of what my life is currently like. But the other day I was doing a bible study with my ship little sister, Alisia, and it talked about how your perspective can affect your thoughts and the outcome of your day. “Well duh Becca” But even though this is a ‘duh’ statement it really made me start to think. What if instead of getting annoyed when a pastor calls me at 1030p when I am well into my REM cycle, I think of it as an honor that I can help him with his theology report. What if instead of seething about the fact that I am sitting behind a stopped vehicle because the driver has decided to go and buy some things at the market, I instead prayed for all those that pass by.

As I look at the 8 months left of this outreach I see that if I don’t change my attitude then I am definitely going to get burnt out AND get an F- on my report card

I have discovered this principle of life—that when I want to do what is right, I inevitably do what is wrong. I love God’s law with all my heart. But there is another power within me that is at war with my mind. This power makes me a slave to the sin that is still within me. Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death? Thank God! The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord. So you see how it is: In my mind I really want to obey God’s law, but because of my sinful nature I am a slave to sin. (Romans 7: 21-25)

As I reflect on this Easter season and all that Jesus has done for me, and the fact that he send the Spirit to live inside me, I realize that these verses above are SOOO applicable to my daily life. I know what I need to do, how I need to think. I know that this world is NOT all there is. But when tested, challenged, annoyed, frustrated, etc. this wisdom seems to float right out the car window. I need to keep my mind on these truths. I can’t rely on my own strength but instead rely on the strength of the one who frees me from these sins.

John 15:2 ~ Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes that it may bear more fruit.

This is definitely a big pruning time for me. Branches are being cut off on my left and my right but I just pray that all of this pruning leads to bigger and better fruit. Thank you for all your prayers and please continue them for these upcoming days and months!