This message arrived today. I’ve edited part of it for
possible security reasons.
To; John (and crew)
From: Mark (aboard the U.S,S, ship name - deployed)
I wrote to you awhile ago before leaving on a 6+ month deployment for the US Navy. ..to thank you and staff for a wonderful addition to my sea bag, a combination prayer book / bible. I told you at the time that space being limited it was surely to be a treasure aboard. While originally ordered from you, for personal use, it (the book) had turned into much more than that!. You see ..on board services are non-denominational, but out of a crew of over 5,000 it had become the principle book of worship for a few of us 'hard-core' Episcopals. Maybe 4-6 folks on any given Sunday use it for worship services on our own. Operating 24 hours a day, 7 days a week we are lucky to have an hour or so each week to pray together! Life aboard is challenging so stealing away this time for worship is important - quiet time (if you can call it that!) is VERY hard to come by. We use the prayer book solely as it seems no one else thought to bring one along! I even share it with my fellow crewmates so they can say their personal prayers throughout the week! While her pages are quickly becoming frayed it makes it much more valuable to me personally!
Again, thank you for a wonderful addition to the Navy 'arsenel' (lol) and be sure to share this email with your staff. The work you do is much more important at times than you can imagine!
From: Mark (aboard the U.S,S, ship name - deployed)
I wrote to you awhile ago before leaving on a 6+ month deployment for the US Navy. ..to thank you and staff for a wonderful addition to my sea bag, a combination prayer book / bible. I told you at the time that space being limited it was surely to be a treasure aboard. While originally ordered from you, for personal use, it (the book) had turned into much more than that!. You see ..on board services are non-denominational, but out of a crew of over 5,000 it had become the principle book of worship for a few of us 'hard-core' Episcopals. Maybe 4-6 folks on any given Sunday use it for worship services on our own. Operating 24 hours a day, 7 days a week we are lucky to have an hour or so each week to pray together! Life aboard is challenging so stealing away this time for worship is important - quiet time (if you can call it that!) is VERY hard to come by. We use the prayer book solely as it seems no one else thought to bring one along! I even share it with my fellow crewmates so they can say their personal prayers throughout the week! While her pages are quickly becoming frayed it makes it much more valuable to me personally!
Again, thank you for a wonderful addition to the Navy 'arsenel' (lol) and be sure to share this email with your staff. The work you do is much more important at times than you can imagine!
I wish you, your staff, family and the world we live in
Peace in Christ!,
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