“You have got to be Chris’ dad!” is something I’ve heard a lot this week. You see my Dad and I look almost identical, give or take a few years – so it would be impossible for me to hide the fact that my parents have been staying on board Logos Hope this week. After spending a week onshore getting some much needed R&R and spending quality time with my parents, this week I am back to work. In fact this week I am starting as the leader of the AV team. You may remember that I was the team leader some months ago until the opportunity for someone more experienced and gifted with team leading could take the burden from me for a while. Catherine has done a magnificent job of bring us together as a team and sorting out scheduling and logistics and I hope that I have learned well from her example. I also feel that I have good support now from my supervisors and from my team as well. Please pry that I would be a good team leader, always looking to the needs of my team.
While my parents have been on board my Dad got a taste of what it is like to work in the AV team, and boy did we work hard. Dad helped me to set up all new music stands and a lectern for the main meeting room. He was also able to re-string a guitar that had been disused for some time – and now it sounds great! One night he had the opportunity to work with a larger team as a camera man for a youth event. Packed with over 400 youth from fellowships the event was a great success. All in a day’s work for the AV team.
Author Archives: Chris Young
Break
“The more I shop the more empty it feels” – this is what I posted to facebook last week after spending three days in some of the world’s biggest shopping centres (or malls as they are called in Dubai). This past week I have been very blessed to have a week of break time where I could stay in a small hotel onshore – but best of all my parents came to visit me! I have missed them dearly for the last year that I have been away and it was wonderful to see them and catch up on all that has happened.
With my parents came wonderful gifts and cards from many of you and some very generous financial gifts. I am very thankful for your loving support. With the money I have purchased myself a new camera to replace the one that broke in Egypt – it is a Sony HX1. I have really enjoyed taking lots of photos recently and I hope to share many nice photos with you in the weeks to come. I have been able to bless my fellow crewmembers by taking photos of them to send to their families and in their newsletters. I was also able to buy some nice respectable shirts, pants and shoes which I need for the Arab world.
During my break I was able to visit the world’s tallest building and go up to the one-hundred-and-twenty-fourth floor! What an amazing view it was from up there! I also went as a passenger 4 wheel driving over sand dunes in the desert and riding camels. Now I am well rested and ready to return to the ship and make the most of the next 7 months before I return home.
Welcome to the AP
Sailing south to the Arab Peninsula for the new year brings fresh culture and people. I have been able to walk the city streets and meet the local Arab people and the many foreign workers from India and other countries. I even got to visit the local fishery and see how the fish are prepared after they are caught – I couldn’t take the smell!
On board I really enjoy sitting in the cafe and talking with various people both locals and migrant workers. They tell me all about their work and their home and I can tell them about life on board a ship with people from 51 different nations and visiting many different countries. There are some local fellowships here amongst the ex-patriots and it’s fascinating to hear their stories. One man that I met in the cafe even gave me a lovely lapel pin shaped as the country’s coat of arms. I am really excited about fostering peace between the west and the middle east by interacting with individuals and sharing the positives of our cultures.
A time for Community
With a 10 day long journey from our Christmas port the middle east, on the way to the Arab Peninsula, this year’s new year holiday had some fascinating scenery. Just after Christmas we set sail south where the ship sailed through a man made canal. Either side of the ship there was land and we could watch as the scenery passed us by. With the book store closed and no events on board, the workload of cooking, cleaning and running the ship was distributed evenly amongst the crew for a lighter workload over the Christmas break – and with no opportunity to go off the ship for 10 days we used the time to draw together and connect with each other. On new years eve we had a reflection service where we remembered where we had been in 2010 and revealed where we would be going in 2011. We celebrated new years eve gathered together for a countdown and an irish and american dance hall after midnight. We have spent time learning about the countries we will visit soon, time drawing closer to our Father and time having fun together playing games and watching movies. I feel like I had a great holiday and I’m super excited about the 8 months that I have left. Please remember me this year as I travel.
Christmas on Logos Hope
‘As I walk around I don’t recognise any of you until I look closely’. Such was the transformation of the ship’s community for our Christmas celebration. Everyone was dressed elegantly for our Chrismas Eve dinner. What made this dinner really special wasn’t the suits and ties and dresses, and it wasn’t even the meal itself – though it was delicious. It was that the regular galley staff were seated with the rest of the crew in our ship-family groups and the 3 course meal was served to us by the ship’s leadership team. Yes, our wonderful leaders served us hand and foot for the evening as a show of love.
After dinner we enjoyed a fantastic carols service and then we all exchanged small gifts.
On the 25th we had another amazing meal, a full brunch. This time buffet style without the formalities and sitting with friends. Then we had a fantastic musical play performed by the kids from the Logos Hope School. Their performance was amazing and there was much applause at the end. Finally we took a photo with all of the ship’s crew on the bow of the ship.
Truely this was an amazing celebration filled with meaning and joy.
Concerts on Logos Hope
“You and your team are very professional”. The man who said this to me works with the band Stronghold in his spare time, whilst working as a systems administrator, producer and studying. Stronghold is quite famous in Lebanon and tickets to the event were sold out long before the ship arrived in port. Of course this event was more than just a concert – our drama group performed a drama about a lost son and a crew member from Australia shared his testimony of why he was on the ship and how he had chosen to follow God. Many youth decided to make this same commitment to seek God’s will in their lives.
We also had the pleasure of hosting Bill Drake for a concert only a week before. Having listened to his CDs that we sell in our bookstore it was great to meet him in person and experience a live performance. Just like Stronghold, Bills band didn’t perform a show for the audience, but rather led them into a place of worship.
The AV team on Logos Hope has been really glad to have some professional bands to work with and create a great sound. Personally I had the pleasure of doing the lights for both these bands and I was pleased that many people commented that the lights were really good for the drama and the bands. I enjoy putting my best effort into these events and using my creative abilities to add depth to the atmosphere.
Once upon a Christmas
As in many other countries, here in Beirut, Lebanon the Logos Hope is happy to receive visits from many local schools. Thousands of students visit the ship each day to browse the book fair and to experience a drama. Since it is Christmas time we have put aside our regular program and have made space for a local production company called Just For Kids to present a Christmas musical.
Without giving too much away, the musical centers around two pirates who put Christmas in a box and try to hide it from the world, and three silly characters who find the box and discover Christmas. What they discover inside the box at first is only superficial but as they look deeper they find something more meaningful.
Kindness of Strangers
The strangest thing happened to me last night – and it all has to do with the amazing culture of Egyptian people. You see a friend and I went for a walk after work to get some fresh air. Along the way we met one of our collegues and her 4 year old daughter. So we decided to go for a walk on the beach and enjoy the sea breaze (I don’t ever really crave the sea breaze since I live on a ship, but it’s still nice). And as we were strolling on the beach we met a local man and his daugher, who was also 4 years old. And then the two parents talked together and the kids from different countries (neither speaking each other’s language) played together. Then another man invited us to sit down with his family who were having a picnic. So there I sat with my friends from Germany and China and an Egyptian family on the beach watching the sun set and listening to the waves break on the beach, enjoying His creation. We talked about the countries that we had been to so far, our faviourite places and people, and our experiences. We talked about what we do on board and that we work for two years as volunteers, in fact our families and friends pay for us to be here – How blessed we are. We talked about the things we like about Egypt and our experiences so far and they told us about their resteraunt businesses and their experience of Egypt. I’ve never experienced this in Australia, and my friend said this would never happen in Germany, but how nice it is to be welcomed by friendly local people when you are a guest in a country. I hope I would do the same if I had a picnic and met some random strangers. Thankyou to all my friends and family who enable me to meet such wonderful people.
Connecting
Middle eastern culture is all about relationships, not work or deadlines. If you had an appointment but an old friend stopped in to visit, then you would not tell your friend to come back another time – you would make him some tea and some food and enjoy his company. Then when he decides on his own to leave (though you insist he stay) you can go about your appointment, though this may be several hours later. So it’s a good thing I don’t have a great deal of appointments or events to manage right now. Rather I have spent a lot of time in the international cafe meeting local people and getting to know what life in North Africa is like. One thing I realised is that I can easily sit in the cafe and go about reading a book or having a drink and within moments someone will start a conversation with me, which is fantastic since I love to meet local people but I’m such an introvert! Among the many wonderful people I met this week was a captain in the Navy! Wow.
Another special opportunity I had was to be a part of ‘Open Ship Day’ where we have cultural exhibits from all different parts of the world. The first stand I was placed at was the European stand where many of the cultural items were from Germany and Holland – such as clogs, windmills and hats – and a Swiss horn. I think with my Dutch and English heritage I can pass off as European long enough to start a conversation with someone and say ‘actually, I’m from Australia’ which in many cases was more interesting!
I also got to be on the Sub-Saharan African stand (now I can’t pull that one off but I have been there) and the deck and engine stand with all the big ship tools. It was really fun showing people a little bit of life in other countries and on a ship and that somehow in all this diversity we still have harmony and love.
Friends and Family
This week God has directed my attention away from the things I usually think about – tasks, deadlines, responsibilities – and towards the object of his affection and attention – people. People are the reason that he led me to leave my home and join this ship. People are the reason this ship sails from port to port. People, nay each Person should be at the center of our focus wherever we go and whatever we do. Here in North Africa, we each prayed that He would give us a good friendship with one person in each port. This week I had the pleasure of making friends with a young man we’ll call Steve. We met in the international cafe when he invited me to sit at a table with him, and for a long time we talked about language. He spoke very fluent English and enjoyed practicing his English with the ship’s crew. He was kind enough to teach me many Arabic words and write them down for me so I can practice them. I may never be able to speak Arabic properly, but at least I can say hello, how are you, nice to meet you, how old are you and say some things about myself. On other days I saw him again and spent time with him and his friends and my friends talking about language and culture. When Steve shared with me a difficulty he was going through, I was able to share with him that I had gone through a similar difficulty and that his feelings were quite normal. I enjoyed coming alongside someone and encouraging them.
This week the crew of our ship have been encouraged that ‘we are not just a community of like minded people, but rather a family’. If we are all children of God then we are all one family together, brothers and sisters with each other and with Him – and we should love each other accordingly. As a ship’s crew we are all in close contact and we learn to live together not just tolerating each other, but loving each other – and the same is true for local fellowships. We are not just a gathering of people in a building one day a week – we are indeed a family.