My Journey To Crew Member
This page shares the transformative journey that led me to my first commitment serving with Mercy Ships.
I had been familiar with Mercy Ships for several years and was impressed with their work so I contributed to them financially, but being a medical ship, it never occurred to me that my contribution could be more than financial.
In what is a much longer story, early in 2024 I began developing a story for a novel. One morning I opened my iPad to continue research looking for insight into the story line I had for the main, female character. I opened YouTube and at the top of my feed was a documentary: All or Nothing: Sister Clare Crockett. It had no further description. I looked at the hour and thirty-minute run time and groaned, “I can’t sit through another dead end.” When I finished watching, the only thought I had was, “How have I never heard of this woman before?”
I didn’t find the answers I was looking for in the documentary, but I believed that a deeper dive into this religious sister who was born in 1982 in Northern Ireland and died, at the age of 33, in an earthquake in Ecuador, would. I spent many hours finding all I could about her and that led me to acquiring the first biography written about her, Alone with Christ Alone. From the biography, I not only found what I was looking for, I found so much more.
My faith journey has taken me on many paths, including a number of years as hardcore atheist. After my conversion, I have spent the last thirty plus years trying to grow deeper in my faith life. As a recovering atheist it is often hard to not let that mindset begin to creep back into one’s spiritual life. It is also easy to think you are much further on the path than you are. Occasionally, it takes something or someone to help you take a closer look at where you are. For me, that was Sr. Clare Crockett. The young Clare Crockett was an aspiring actress who sought nothing less than fame and wealth and had little use for God. She was increasingly successful, including having been offered a role as a presenter with Nickelodeon. Unexpectedly, one Good Friday, she had an encounter with Christ Crucified. She struggled with what she was called to do. Eventually, she realized she would not find peace if she didn’t surrender and accept what God was calling her to do. The Lord transformed her soul, and she no longer desired anything other than the Love of Christ.
Sr. Clare spent the rest of her life serving the Lord wherever he sent her (from Ireland to Spain, the United States and Ecuador) with a determination of “All or Nothing.” It was her surrendering everything and giving the Lord a blank check that moved me to double down on my spiritual life. It was often said that Sr. Clare was very docile to the movement of the Holy Spirit. As my prayer life deepened, I began to sincerely offer the Lord a blank check and in the spirit of Isaiah 6:8 saying, “Here am I Lord. Send me.” One day, while praying in a small chapel, before the tabernacle, two words came to me, “Mercy Ships.” Less than two-months later, I was crew member of the Global Mercy ship. It was fast, and there were many obstacles along the way, but at every moment that I wanted to abandon this path, the inner voice would come to me, “This is what I’ve asked you to do.”
I really knew very little about Mercy Ships and what serving would look like. At the time that I was praying “Here I am Lord…” the Mercy Ships organization was also praying. The lone AV tech on the Global Mercy was about to complete his commitment and they had no one to replace him. If I could have gotten through all the vaccines quicker, I would have been in Africa two weeks sooner. I would not learn about this and how unusual it was for someone to come onboard so quickly, until after I arrived in Africa. It is uncommon for one to make it through the process in less than a year. I came to meet people who waited five years to be offered a position. Two years is quite common.
It was a very challenging seven months I spent on the Global Mercy. The challenges and difficulties are much easier to deal with when you get to work with a group of people that are dedicated to carrying out a mission that is bigger than themselves.

- To learn more about Sister Clare Crockett, click on the Sr. Clare tab.
The Journey Continues
- If you would like to follow my journey, write to me at: marty@martywagner.com
