Tour de l'Africa Mercy: The Engine Room

A few of you have requested that we give a "tour of the ship" -- so here's the first installment in the "Tour de l' Africa Mercy" (that middle part is French for "of the" - seemed a little fancier).  The plan is to start on Deck 2 and work our way up.   Why not Deck 1, you may be asking?  Deck 1 is tanks.  All kinds of tanks.  I'm not sure they are very photographic and I don't have much to say about tanks....so, the first stop on the tour will be the Engine Room on Deck 2 (really it has nothing to do with the tanks and everything to do with the fact that that's where our kids got to visit this past week!!)(and the tanks of Deck 1 will be included in this part of the tour and we'll move on to Deck 3 next time!)

The 1^st, 2^nd, and 3^rd graders got to go on a field trip Wednesday!  They've been reading "Flat Stanley" and have sent him all over the ship. Their fabulous teachers lined up a visit to the Engine Room down on Deck 2.  It's so fun that our kids can go on a "Field Trip" and never have to leave the ship. In this case, they just walked down 4 flights of steps (5 flights for the 2nd graders!). 



All 3 classes & their lovely teachers!

Here are some pictures & quotes from their visit (all pictures taken by Eli! Except the ones he's in...not sure who took those!):

"Loud. Hot.  Interesting. Fun." - Eli's response to "tell me about the engine room"

"It was really fun.  I got to use earplugs…here’s how you use them:  squish them..stick them in my  ears...wait a few minutes and they get stuck in there." - Caroline

"The engines are kind of loud – but not too loud when you have ear plugs." - Eli 

 

"The engine room is on Deck 2 – it’s completely under water.  WE weren’t under water – cause we were on the ship…but outside of that deck is water. " - Eli 

"There’s a room that they make stuff in – a workshop.  I don’t know what they make…but one other thing is that the room they make stuff in isn’t that noisy – it’s just hot."  - Caroline

"There were lots of tubes & pipes and tanks. And knobs and buttons and gauges." - Eli



"They wash the engines –  just like some people clean the stairs and floors here on the ship, there are people who clean the engines so that the whole ship can be clean!" - Caroline

"There are a bunch of tanks....one for electricity (?? really ??), one for water, I don't remember what the other tanks are for...maybe fuel...and cleaning supplies…there's a pipe that takes out the bacteria from the water.  There’s a sprinkler tank in case there’s a fire." - Caroline

"The tanks are big cylinders – they are HUGE.  Even taller than our tour guide.  Our tour guide was Mr. Andrew Rothwell." -Eli

Mr. Andy - The Tour Guide



After the tour, the 1st, 2nd & 3rd graders with their Flat Stanleys (and Flat Stellas) up on Deck 8

Lots of incredible things happen down in the Engine Room - we don't know or understand even half of it! But we are thankful for ALL of it. Without the Engine Room, the ship could NOT run.   
Thank you God for providing workers on this ship who know and understand the buttons, levers, guages, knobs, tubes, pipes and tanks.  Please bless them as they serve and work on Deck 1 in the Engine Room.  Please multiply the work of their hands and increcrease their productivity.  Pour out your peace in the Engine Room & all of its processes.  
 
Surely there will be more to come (the rest of Deck 2 and Decks 3-8!).