Greetings from Beautiful Key West friends and followers of Sail and Serve!

After four wonderful months on Marco Island we've finally sold our van, left the comforts of the marina and have now begun this new chapter which completes our transition from mere "live aboards" to full-fledged "cruisers." Each is an interesting and diverse sub-culture and we enter into this new phase with no small measure of respect for what it entails. Gabriella has been chomping at the bit to get moving for many weeks now and is truly in her element now that we are. She swims daily, fishes with me every chance she gets (had a nice sea trout on the line near Pine Island) and just yesterday had me drop her and her brother off on Wisteria Island (a small uninhabited island just off Key West) where she collected shells, sponges, for her hermit crabs and drift wood for carving. Josh also is doing well and seems to have already beaten the withdrawal pains from giving up 24-7 internet access. It is a joy to see him rediscovering his love of reading. The problem now is keeping enough books on board to satisfy his voracious appetite. He’s devoured about five big books in the last ten days.

We've read about it, but are now experiencing that the lows are lower and the highs much higher than normal life on shore. Already we have spent cumulative hours standing on deck or sitting in the cock pit reveling in the beauty of our surroundings as the sky is painted uniquely once again each night at sunset. Several times I've been in the galley preparing a meal or making a cup of coffee and looked out the port there to see a dolphin playing just off our bow or a pelican diving recklessly from the sky for his next meal.

Conversely the hard work and sleeplessness of even a single night passage can leave one feeling fatigued and in a sour state of mind wondering what exactly we've gotten ourselves into. Just the other night I went from one of these lows and back to a high in just a few minutes. It was on the midnight watch from Panther Key to Key West (about an 80 mile trip). Right after I took over so that Beatrice could get a little much needed and deserved sleep the wind died and it started to rain. I felt miserable. I'd hardly slept at all in the last 24 hours and now I was going to sit in the rain and probably would have to motor for a while, which I really dislike. I decided to praise God for His goodness and faithfulness to us anyway and in just a few minutes the rain stopped, the clouds parted, revealing a brilliant star studded sky and the wind picked up to 15-18 knots allowing us to make 5-6 knots for most of the rest of my watch. In the space of a few minutes I'd gone from pure misery to near euphoria.

Our time on Marco Island was special in many regards, but especially because of all the good friends we made there. We felt that our "assignment" there was to encourage and support a local church that God lead us to, and although we feel He did use us through prayer meetings, participation in a couple of classes, prayer walks, fellowship and worship on Sunday we really felt that we were the ones edified and blessed. Marco Island, and especially all the wonderful people we met at New Life Community Church (newlifemarco.org) will forever have a place in our hearts.

Friday September 26th Pastor Thomas, his wife Daryl and our friend Rob came to our boat at the marina to pray with us one last time before we cast off for the last time. Daryl handed Pastor her purse as she stepped aboard and there was some talk of him looking somewhat the sissy just standing there like that on the dock, holding a woman's bag. After just some brief observation I was forced to concur with this unfortunate assessment, to which the good Pastor replied "call me a 'sissy' and I'll just hit you with my purse." I love a man who with such humility and humor can play so loosely with his own masculinity!

We will never forget the Thursday night prayer meetings in the old historic church building that now sits on New Life property. As we sat in those old wooden pews Pastor Thomas lead us right into the presence of an Almighty God. He added his faith to ours we had no doubt that our prayers were in fact being heard by a Living God and that they were changing the world. We were also greatly blessed by the class that Cathy and sometimes Keith lead about finding freedom in Christ as we discover our true identity in Him and what he has already done for us. We grew and learned so much there that it does not seem possible that we were only there four months. 

In fact, after leaving last Saturday and going North for a few wonderful days moored off San Carlos Island near Ft. Myers then anchored off Pine Island and between Cabbage Key and Useppa Island (all marvelous places) we sailed through the night back South past Marco and spent the day anchored at Panther Key, which we had visited back in June. Beatrice said "doesn't it seem like we were here last summer?" and we all had to agree.

Now we are here at Key West, (a place that has grown on us tremendously) right on the cusp of a grand new adventure. From here we will travel East and North back up through the Keys and then when we get the right weather window we'll cross the dastardly gulf stream to the Bahamas. We will Island hop our way down through the Turks and Caicos, Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico, hopefully reaching St. Croix by early December.

Although our next long term "assignment" is as "Mission Builders" at the YWAM base on St. Croix we know God has plans to use us along the way. Sometimes I think that just hearing about what we are doing inspires and encourages people and makes them think about their own dreams and what is really possible with God's help. Just last Sunday we visited the United Methodist Church at Key West (keywestumchurch.org) for the "come as you are” service, and Pastor Rubin introduced himself to us before the service. After hearing our story he introduced us to the congregation in his introductory remarks and several people connected with us after the service with questions and comments. We even got the contact information of a couple from the congregation who are currently at the YWAM base in Hawaii studying with the hopes of bringing YWAM to Key West. Last time we were here we just had the urge to pray for God to bring YWAM here!  God is moving and working through all of our efforts and we are so excited to see what is next! 

We are about 30% funded, but used a great deal more of our nest egg than anticipated equipping the boat for long passages, so we would gladly welcome any spare change you might have hiding in a sofa around, or, even better, if God has tugged at your heart at all would you please consider becoming one of our support partners? Your prayers and support are indispensable to us. You can visit our web-site at sailandserve1.blogspot.com where you will see instructions for making tax deductible donations by check or pay pal. We also would love to have any of you join us so consider coming for a visit. Come Sail and Serve with us! 

Lots of Love from us to you!

You are so precious to us and we love you all!

Kenny, Beatrice, Josh & Gabriella
sailandserve@gmail.com