Port Mercy, our home base, is paid in full! Thanks to the Lord and to our great friends and support team. In the past 16 months, since we first began to tell you of this need, the entire amount required to pay the mortgage has been donated. Friend Ships now owns this wonderful property! As many of you know, we had a balloon payment of $450,000 due in May of this year. That has now been completed, a month in advance, and we have no further monthly payments. It is finished!

Until five years ago, Friend Ships did not have a home base capable of housing our ships, warehouses and offices in a central location. In May of 2003, we were able to obtain a contract to purchase 18 acres on the Calcasieu River in Lake Charles, Louisiana at a facility that was formerly part of the Halliburton Oil Company. The Calcasieu River is fresh, deep water and able to accommodate our ships with 1800 feet of waterfront. The facility is half a mile off the I-10 Freeway, readily accessible for trucks with railroad access right into the property. It has three warehouses and room to build many more with a maintenance center and an office building.

Life for Friend Ships has been revolutionized by having an adequate base from which to plant roots and launch out to send aid all over the world. From this little 18 acres, great ships of war go out to fight against need, to spread His love, His mercy and His joy. Port Mercy is a permanent sea port like no other, devoted to reaching the lost and hungry, planting seeds around the world that help shape the lives of millions of children, filling their bellies, and committed to mercy. It is now tax free and owned by Friend Ships, a nonprofit humanitarian aid organization dedicated to expressing God’s love through helping people in need. It is the Lord’s launching pad - sending out ships to fight against starvation and poverty, to meet people in their need during times of disaster and to bring medical aid when they are sick.

Also this month, in addition to being able to pay the final mortgage payment, ConocoPhillips, has donated funds to buy a new huge steel warehouse and construct it here at Port Mercy! AND we have been richly blessed with the donation of a new, wonderful and very large, two story houseboat! It has surely been a month of fun and excitement.

How can we ever thank you and express our gratitude to the Lord Jesus for making this dream come true? When we started this ministry 22 years ago with $38 and a dream, He spoke to our hearts that as we followed the call, He would provide our needs. We are here to tell you that He is faithful beyond our wildest thoughts and expectations. Not once in these 22 years has the Lord let us down. The provision of Port Mercy is a great gift from Him and from you to Friend Ships and to the poor. It is a gift that will benefit people in need for decades to come.

THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU!

Our deepest love and gratitude,

Don and Sondra Tipton
Founders and Directors, Friend Ships Unlimited