TWO MONTHS ALONG THE AFRICAN COAST
Lelona Couple Boards
BY TKRRY POPE
A Lcland coupic leaves this week
for a two-month slay along the
African coast aboard the Aruisiasis,
one of three Mercy Ships operated
by Youth with a Mission Ministries.
For Ronald and Lula Nance of the
Wcstover Subdivision, it is their sec
ond volunteer mission aboard the
Christian ship that provides medical
care ami outreach programs for na
tions stricken with poverty.
Youth with a Mission operates its
ships in areas where there is a need
lor medical relief, education, con
struction, agricultural and sanitary
training. Its other goal is to help
spread Christianity to people in the
underdeveloped nations it visits.
Today (Thursday) the Nances
were to fly 10 Africa's Ivory Coast
to board the ship that will spend a
month at Abidjan before setting sail
to Guinea. They plan to return home
March I .
A recovery room nurse at Cape
Fear Memorial Hospital in Wil
mington, Lula will work in the re
covery r(X)m aboard the ship. The
type of surgery performed will de
pend on the specialty of doctors who
help make up the crew of .150 volun
teers staffing the ship and its three
operating rooms.
Ronald, a mechanic at the Du
Pont plant in Lcland, will report to
the ship's chief engineer. During the
IM
couplc's January 1990 lour, he was
assigned to the engine room.
When the Anastasis was docket!
in Wilmington in April 1989, the
Nanecs toured the ship along with
thousands of othi r local residents.
They had no intention of becoming
volunteers. That thought lingered 111
Uieir minds for six months before
diey agreed to a two- week slay.
They later agreed to spend a month
aboard the ship.
"We would have to say the Lord
started dealing with us to give a I il
lic lime to it," said Ronald, "h was
as if the Lord was calling us to serve
for that time."
The Nances will pay for their
(light to Africa plus a crew fee to
stay aboard the ship. It is far from
being a cruise, said Lula.
"It's hard and hot work," she said.
"But it's enjoyable."
Some days Lula would work from
9 a.m. to 3 a.m. non-stop. Volunteers
can sign up to work a minimum of
two weeks aboard the ship to a max
imum of six months. Persons could
easily perform the equivalent of a
full year's work in six months' time,
said Ronald.
"We found it kind of strange going
out of the United Suites and into an
other world," he said. "We saw some
things that kind of enlightened us to
the needs and situations of people
that arc not as blessed as we are."
I.UIA NANCE, a recovery room nurse, attends to a boy who had
a cleft lip repaired in an operating room aboard the Anastasis.
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Their daughter, Susan, has also
devoted pan of her lilc to mission
ary work. She's preparing to leave
lor a two-month outreach program
m rhailand, where she will teach
bnglish to Thai students in Bangkok
and practice street evangelism.
Hopefully, we'll also he dealing
with the problem of child prostitu
tion, she said.
Sometimes, girls as young as 1 1
or 12 turn to the streets to make
money in die poverty-stricken coun
try. Susan spent lour months in mis
sionary uiscipiesinp uainiiig j?
England and Holland to prepare for
her outreach mission.
Anoiher daughter. Victoria, is sta
tioned in Kuwait with the U.S.
Army. She served in Saudi Arabia
wiring Operation Dcseit Storm last
year and recently re-enlisted alter
returning to Leland in October for a
'""day visit witii her parents.
During the couple's January 1990
stay aboard the Anastasis, the ship
was docked in the Dominican Re
public. In addition to providing
medical treatment to patients who
could not pay, the ship's crew went
into the surrounding villages and lo
cal hospitals to teach health and per
sonal hygiene in the 90-degree heat
"You begin to see what those peo
ple have to wear and to eat," said
Ronald, "and you get to sec that
Amenca is the land of the blessed."
Villagers would raid the ship's
trash containers at night. A small
stream that supplied drinking water
to a village would also serve as a
bathing spot and a place to wash
clothes. People did not have equip
ment or the knowledge to drill for
wells.
Volunteers representing 36 na
tions made up the Anasiasis crew.
Ronald was assigned mosdy to the
ship s engine room where he could
put his technical expertise to work
"I was surprised that a lot of the
equipment on the ship was similar to
some of die equipment that I've
worked with," he said. "It's like run
ning a small factory. It's got to run
24 hours a day."
The couple's employers have
been cooperative in allowing the
couple to take time off from their
jobs to do volunteer work.
Lula said on several mornings
when the mission first began, she
nan second thoughts and wished she
had not made the tnp. But that feel
ing quickly left.
I think the greatest part of the
expedition is when you sec people
whose lives have been changed,"
said Ronald, "when you see a child
that is able to look straight for the
first time or crippled limbs fixed.
I re s a big smile that comes upon
their taccs."
The Anasiasis is a 522- foot for
mer freight and cruise ship, one of
three Mercy Ships owned by Youth
with a Mission Ministries, an inter
national inter-denominational orga
ni/ation with a goal to eventually
operate 10 ships in areas of need
worldwide. It's 350-membcr crew
includes about 50 children.
"It is a calling," said Ronald. "It's
not a cruise. We knew this would he
a task, a difficult task."
Spreading Christian beliefs can
also aid persons in poverty, said
Ronald, for the gospel teaches hu
manitanan ideas and how to work
for food. In countries like the
Dominican Republic, the rich get
richer while the poor get poorer,
auucu Luia.
"The big reason for so much de
cay and poverty is the lack of the
teachings of Jesus Christ," said
Ronald. "There arc so many beauti
ful countries in the world with so
much poverty. A lot of these people
have no hope because they are con
sidered outcasts. When you can give
them this type of hope, it makes it
all worthwhile."
Lula actually began her career in
the recovery room in the Dominican
Republic. When she joined the
Anastasis last year, she was working
as a nurse in the critical care unit at
New Hanover Regional Medical
Center in Wilmington. The ship's
staff assigned her to the recovery
room, where her duties ranged from
scrubbing the floors to caring for pa
tients.
"They told me that I would learn,
that I could do it," said Lula. "And I
did."
She has since taken a job as a re
covery room nurse. This time
around, the Nances say they know
what to expect and arc ready for the
tough assignment ahead.
While watching a video on the
Mercy Ship's work in their living
room last week, the couple sal to
gether and cried.
Ronald explained that the courage
they need to board the Mercy Ship
comes from a higher being, lii at il is
a calling in life.
"We're convinced that a person
can have all that they desire," said
Ronald.
Attention is often placcd on the
medical treatment; offered aboard
the Mercy Ships. A high incidence
of cleft lips and cleft palates, often a
result of poor nutrition, require re
constructive surgery. Doctors also
Voiun t ee r M issi o n
PHOTOS CONTBiBUT EO
TWO SHOESMNE boys pose for a photograph ir. the Dominican
Hcpubiic with Konaid Nance during a January i 9vti mission.
do a number of cataract operations
to restore sight to the blind.
But the crew also provide much
more, said Lula.
"I think we in America have so
much that we really don't think of
how lucky we are," she said. "It just
makes you come back home, Ux>k
around, and think of how fortunate
we really are."
Persons interested in the volunteer
program can contact Mercy Ships,
P.O. Box 2020, Lindale, Texas.
7577 1, or call 1-800-772-7447.
"There are a lot of people that
have the talents and time to work,"
said Ronald. "They would get the
opportunity to see other cultures
while working to help improve
someone's living conditions."
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