At breakfast we have bread and cereal. At lunch we have bread and a hot dish. At dinner we have more bread. The European lifestyle is a little different to that in Australia. But it is not without it’s advantages. In the food department they have a drink called cola mit orange which obviously is like combining coke and fanta. And there is a musli cereal with chocolate prices in it. Brilliant. It is in a way the same with the culture. Sometime I must speak slowly for others to understand but sometimes I learn or practice their language so it is fun.

I am here to learn about culture differences and other difficulties that I may encounter while I am on logos hope. Also I am going through a transition from my life back home to my life overseas.

On Sunday I will fly to Trinidad for ten more days of pre ship training near the ship and hopefully board the ship on September 10th. I will have no Internet until then so don’t worry if I don’t post until then.

Blessings.
Chris.

I have arrived in Delden, Holland at a conference center called de Kronze Danne. I am here to train and prepare for my two weeks on board the Logos Hope. The conference centre reminds me a lot of surf camp and soul survivor. I am staying in a cabin with 4 other men in a block called ‘de Els’ which seems to be an L shaped building. Of those I am staying with one is from Switzerland, one from France, one from South Korea and one from the UK so this is good preparation for life on the ship. There is a main area called ‘the Hof’ where we have worship and teaching for the 250

new recruits. There is also a massive dining hall where we have our meals together and between meals where everyone seems to bring their laptops to use the internet. My first day here was nice and easy while we got to know our surroundings and each other. I have met a number of people, some of who will go to the ship with me, others who I may only see in heaven but are still amazing people to meet. Also I have seen some familiar faces from last time I was on board, I thank God for that. Our first actual scheduled event was a praise and worship session in the evening followed by an introduction to the wonderful staff and and the program for the week. Today we only have a couple of sessions planned (including our ship meeting) as we all slowly adjust to our new surroundings. Tomorrow we will get into some good teaching and preparation. It’s going to be a very good week-and-a-bit.