What made the Caribbean Mercy different?

AngieFadely

Over the years I have heard over and over again that the life on the Caribbean Mercy was "different" than any other Mercy ship.  If you are a CBM alum, do you agree and if so, what do you think made us different?

Keith R. Brinkman

Over the eleven years of service of the Caribbean Mercy, I think it was our community size - pretty much everyone knew everyone as we went from 75 adults + 12 children sailing to 120 or so during a field service.  There was much interaction between crew members, it didn't matter which department you were in - whereas on the larger ships, it is rare if you know everyone names and such large groups of people come and go - even this morning, we said goodbye to over 40 - two big buses and a Toyota going to the capital.  I miss our times on the Caribbean Mercy - the vessel was the platform for our community and though it is gone - many of us having such long lasting relationships from those times shared together.

John Borrow

Good question Angie, and one I could write about for hours, it was such a special place. Allow me to collect my thoughts into something coherant;

• As Keith mentioned, crew size played a major role in the atmosphere and feel of the ship. Everyone knew everyone.
• There was no interent back then. I have said this before, the internet is the commuity killer, and if the CMB were still going today, it wouldn't be the same because crew would be sitting on the devices or laptops. Instead, we had rich conversations and worship time in the aft lounge, and many many games of mafia.
• For Lee-Anne & I, it was also a time of our crossroads (YWAM version of OnBoarding) which was held on board (no pun intended). It was a special time of spiritual growth for us. We had amazing speakers visit each week and teach us things we had never heard before. They poured themselves into the community and richly blessed us with their teaching.
• We had diverse and smaller departments which guarded against silos of operations and allowed the crew to operate as one team rather than many departments. 
• We also had the Evangelism team which provided opportunities for crew to break out of the normal work duties and mix not only with the local people, but with other departments in drama and song and testimonies. It kept our focus on Him.
• We sailed alot. OK I admit I am bias on that one being a mariner, but it made for a special time travelling along the East Coast of the USA then down to Central America.
• If we didn't have crew (usually engineers), we waited and prayed. While this created certain challenges re-sceduling surgeons, it built an amazing belief and unity in the community.

I could go on, but work is calling !