*** CURRENT - 2020 - If your interested we're making some REALLY TERRIBLE videos based around food and family over at tyronebcookin.com . Our plan is to get better as we do more. LOL!***
[JULY 2019] THANK YOU for following our journey these last two years as our family served with Mercy Ships! We appreciate your prayers, encouragment, financial support...We are so grateful for you partnering with us! -- We are now back in Alabama trying to transition back into our community. ~ The Barton Family

About Us

Tyrone
I have had many titles and positions in the foodservice industry. Today it's easier to say "Food Service Professional". Currently, I am the Food Service Manager on the Africa Mercy.
Tyrone on LinkedIn

Stephanie
I have been a registered nurse for over 17 years. Working several years in different areas. The last 6 years I have worked in pediatrics. Currently, I work in the hospital on the Africa Mercy.

Tytus & Ezra - Our boys, affectionately known as "The Homies"!
Tytus is 9 and is sweet, handsome, and as Stephanie would say "Has big feelings!". Ezra is 6 and is more like "A bull in a China shop!" (or more like his Daddy). Handsome yet stubborn, with random spots of sweetness and affection showing through! But together they can be rambunctious and hard to tame.

The Story
Stephanie (Nurse) and I, Tyrone (Chef), met on the Mercy Ships Caribbean Mercy. We were on outreach in Honduras(2003). Stephanie was short-term and I was long-term(starting in 2001).

In 2004 I went to the Anastasis filling an intermediate position. In 2005 I returned to the Caribbean Mercy. Later that year they retired the ship. I stayed on board as a "caretaker" and later went "home" to sort out my next steps.

During this time at home, I called Stephanie. We arranged to meet and see how things were in our "after Mercy Ships" life. She had been back in the states working for a year or more.

Things progressed from long distance dating to engagement.

I returned to Mercy Ships International Operations Center in East Texas in 2006. Stephanie travel-nursed a position in Dallas and later Tyler Texas. This gave us time to work out our engagement by closing the distance. We later married at the Roseland Plantation in Tyler Texas. [For those of you who enjoy pictures, Our Wedding]

Married, we went to another ship in the Mercy Ships fleet, the Africa Mercy. We spent most of 2008 on outreach in Monrovia Liberia. Then our support, our funding to be missionaries, was dwindling. The Financial Crisis of 2008 was affecting our supporters.

After much prayer and consideration, we left Mercy Ships in 2009. We fulfilled our commitment to the organization and returned to the United States.

Since returning to the states in 2009 we were blessed with two boys Tytus and Ezra! Missions have never left our hearts and God has been faithful to see us through some difficult times. We have again found hope to return...AND WE DID!

First single, then married, and now the whole family!!!

P.S. Next I would suggest "Getting Started Q&A" AND "Getting Started Q&A #2" currently we are looking for Financial Partners!


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2020 UPDATE: We are back at tyronebcookin.com doing cooking posts on our blog and our Youtube channel Youtube.com/tyronebcookin.