Wednesday, September 17, 2014

Captain Ann's update from Kona

Hi Everyone,
I am sorry I took so long to send this update, but my homecoming wasn't complete until I  spent time with my granddaughters.  I was also able to visit my brother in law in Waldport, OR which was an important part of grieving the loss of my sister Lee one year ago. I am returning from Eugene, OR to Kona today.

Thank you so much for your prayers.  Our trip from Tarawa to Christmas Island was calm and uneventful until the last three days when we had headwinds and current against us and the fuel had to be pumped/siphoned by hand to the day tank.  God is teaching me to trust Him no matter what.  We anchored at Christmas Island with only 20 gallons of diesel to spare.  I can't say that I did not worry at all, but I did pray a lot, standing on my new favorite verse : Psalm 112:7  She is not afraid of bad news. Her heart is firm, trusting in The Lord.

Once again God provided the right people at the right time. The Manager of KOIL ( the oil Company and the manager of CPPL (all things ship related) worked together to get 4,000 liters (21 barrels) of diesel delivered to the boat by local boat.  The crew still had to work long and hard to get the diesel into our tanks and fuel bladder, but it was better than previous stops at 
Christmas Island.  

The hi-light of our 8 days in Christmas Island was meeting Matiubwebwe the nurse from Fanning Island after church in Tabuekea.  She asked when we were coming back to Fanning.  I told her we would be back next year in January.  She said what they really need is a dentist who can pull teeth.  In fact this is what we heard on every remote island we went to this year. So we are working on our schedule for next year. Please spread the word to any dentists you know who might be interested in a two week sailing adventure to serve in the most isolated islands of Micronesia. 

I had said all along, "if God wants the Hawaii Aloha back in Kona by September,  He will make it happen."  We passed the first challenge getting to Christmas Island  without running out of fuel. Now we had to go North to Hawaii during hurricane season, and with El Niño affecting the area, there was much more storm activity than most years.  I am so thankful we had so many people praying and the wisdom of Rick Shema www.weatherguy.com guiding us. We crossed the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) with no squalls or thunderstorms, and then a big storm off the Mexican coast pulled all the other storms further east away from us so we had smooth Tradewind sailing all the way to Kona. 

We actually cleared in at Kawaihae, with a very kind team from Homeland Security followed by a warm welcome with Leis and fresh Pizza from the YWAM ships team. 

I totaled all the miles the Hawaii Aloha traveled since leaving Los Angeles a year ago.  Zachary Smith was on board for every single one of the 11,000 nautical miles. 

See www.ywamships.net for the statistics on the services provided during our nine months in Micronesia.  You may also make tax deductible donations at that site.  We have a lot do work to do to prepare the Hawaii Aloha for her next voyage to Micronesia. Please contact me if you would like more information on how you can help by donating cash, products or labor.

YWAM is an all volunteer organization. Every one of us raise our own support.  If you would like to be a part of changing lives in Micronesia by supporting me personally go to http://www.ywamepj.org/donate/#how

I am looking forward to this next season Leading the School of Navigation and Seamanship (SONS) in Kona.  We have a clear goal of training the students to be effective crew on any of the YWAM Ships, but especially for our  2015 voyage through Micronesia ending in September in Townsville, Australia.

I will keep you posted on the progress of repairs and the 2015 Schedule.
Aloha,
Captain Ann

Crew from Tarawa to Christmas Island.
Crew from Christmas Island to Kona
Matiubwebwe saying please bring a Dentist to Fanning Island.


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