Sitting on a bench beside a dirt road in Africa surrounded by curious locals, I began to tell my testimony. Some of them only speak Creole, so every sentance needs to be translated and every response translated back again. Many local people had crouded around this odd looking white fellow figuring he must have something important to say. After telling them about Australia, I told them of a time that I called out to God before I even called myself a Christian and He sent my Dad to rescue me. Then I shared the Gospel with them. Everyone was very interested to hear what I had to say, even if they didn’t agree. I remember I was so out of my depth and if I had time to think about it I would have been scared, but God carried me through it and gave me the words to say. Though none of these people accepted Christ there and then, many said they would come to the evening programme at the local church.
As part of an e-day team I was paired with a local Christian lady who led me around the village introducing me to people and translating for me. Everyone was quite happy to invite me into their home to sit down – as I recall none of them had doors, yet we still called it door to door ministry. We also had the goal of inviting people to an evening program at the church which other ship people will share testimonies and preach. I had the opportunity to challenge one man to go back to church, since he had been going to church but stopped lately. Annother woman said she would like to pray with us, so my friend and translator prayed with her.
It sure is an amazing experience talking to African people – they actually want to hear about Jesus. Thankyou God for this amazing day.
Atlantic Crossing
Ocean in front, ocean behind, ocean to the left and ocean to the right. For 12 days the Logos Hope – my home on the sea – will sail from the Caribbean to West Africa. Anyone who knows me knows that I can be motion sick in just about anything that moves – cars, planes, busses, trams – and a ship is no different. You can’t stop the ship to get out and rest – you just have to keep going. Often I have been seasick for days as my home moves from country to country. One day a collegue of mine challenged me, she said that if I believe and trust God then he will help me to stay well despite the raging seas. I was unwilling to believe her there and then, but as I thought about it it did seem like something God would do – obviously I would be more useful to Him if I was not seasick. So this time I prayed (and I believe a lot of people prayed with me) that I would be well for the journey – and to no surprise I have been perfectly fine so far. –Update: I have not been seasick for the entire 12 days– So it goes to show that God can use you even if you think that you are useless.
The Atlantic crossing has so far been an amazing experience. We have had a Caribbean reflection day where we gave God glory for what he did in the Caribbean and then we each found a place to be quiet and reflect on our time there. We get to experience a little of each other’s culture through evening programmes and special dinners. I am looking forward to the Japanese Experience.
Leaving The Caribbean
Last night at midnight the Logos Hope – My home – left the last island in the Caribbean on our schedule – Roseau, Dominica. The Caribbean has been my home for 8 months now, though the Logos Hope is where I spend most of my time so every time I walk out the door I experience some culture shock. If I were to use only one word to describe my experience of Caribbean people – I would say alive. Alive in a way that European and even Australian people can be dead. People want to talk to you, to say good morning to you as you pass in the street. People are not afraid to ask you spiritual questions. In this way they are friendly, but in another way they can be rude. Sometimes the staff in the book fair struggled to deal with the demands of insistant customers who asked for discounts, demanded service and rarely smiled or said ‘hello’. Christians here are not afraid to spread the Gospel – and I have learned a little boldness from them. The nations I visited gain their income from tourism, hosting wealthy white tourists on sandy beaches – while their populace often live in abject poverty. The contrast is frightening to me, and it scares me that the tourists don’t see the poverty as they are wisked away from their cruise ships in a taxi to a nice beach.
In the Caribbean I spoke in front of another church body for the first time, handed out gospels on the street for the first time, performed an evangelistic drama for non christians for the first time, told a story to a group of kids for the first time, and started really trying to talk about Jesus one on one with stranges in the cafe. I have become accustomed to introducing myself as Chris from Australia – the land of Crocodiles and Koalas and Kangaroos. I have learned the hard way how to lead a team with love and patience – and discovered in me and weeded out a competitive spirit that doesn’t support the body of Christ.
The Caribbean has been a special time for me, and I will never forget it.
Sabbath Week
“72 Kilograms of tinned tomatoes are the main ingredient in tonight’s dinner”. For one afternoon I volunteered to work in the galley – the ship’s kitchen. Food is cooked in large amounts and served buffet style to the ship’s crew, so amazing amounts of food such as 30 tins of tomatoes, giant boiling pots and power tools for mixing come in to play. The end result was pasta with tomato and meat sauce which the crew enjoyed – and nobody got sick!
Volunteering in the galley was my way of pitching in to give others some time off during Sabbath week on board Logos Hope. Every year, the ship’s crew takes a week out from our busy schedule to reflect, recharge and reconnect with God and with each other. Since the ship is closed to the public, those who work in events, book fair and office jobs will work in other departments to spread the load and give everyone some needed rest.
During this week I have really learned the value of forgiving and loving other people. We are a community of Christians from over 45 different nations working together to bring in the harvest. If we work as individuals we will ultimately fail in both our purpose and our example. I have identified people whom I have forgiven – the next step for me is to approach them and tell them.
A day of blessing
“Do you recognise me?” Is always a tricky question for me, but always there is a blessing in store when I realise who is talking to me.
Today when I woke up I realised that I needed to spend time to reconnect with God. After reading my bible, I said to God: “I want to spend time with you today and draw closer to you. Please help me connect with you today”. I think God was really quite happy to oblige with that request, and already he had his plan in motion. At that moment I felt like it was finally time for me to go down to the book fair and buy myself a study bible like I had at home, so down I went. As I was browsing through the large selection of bibles that we have on board, a local gentleman asked me that question “Do you recognise me?”. I didn’t immediately recognise him and thought for a moment. “I am the worship leader from the band last night” he said. Immediately I remembered. Often I have little time to speak with visiting worship leaders from events as they come late, perform and leave early – but I had spoken to him breifly. We compared the bibles we were looking at and made decisions, paid and left the book fair. I bought him some popcorn and a soft drink and we sat down to talk. He gave me a first hand account of what it is like to be a descendant of slaves brought to work on the plantations by white people, to not have an identity of your own and to have your history written by your oppressors. He shared many of the struggles his fellow countrymen experience. Then he began to encourage me. The words he spoke from the bible were exactly what I needed to hear. I had been struggling with hardships and difficulties and as a result I had become frustrated and angry. He assured me that any hardship must come through God first, and he allows these things to happen for my growth. He encouraged me to give praise to God and to seek the lesson that is in the hardship. I was so blessed to hear these words, God always knows just what we need if we are willing to seek him for it.
Help West Africa
“It will be a new experience” I thought as I cautiously signed my name. Whenever I’ve been stopped on the street by a charity organisation, I’ve tried my best not to be rude – but I do my best to avoid them. Now I would be the one asking people to give.
A month ago, the leader of Corporate Services onboard – the work division comprising of finance, IT, AV, Business services and service desk, a very work orientated department – set us a challenge. We are always so focussed on internal ministry in our jobs that we rarely are directly involved in our Father’s work in this world. He showed us that many school children in West Africa do not have pens and books, and that classrooms have no equipment. We were to put together a stand to facilitate people giving towards packages for school kids, teachers and classrooms.
I was sceptical. It would take away from my work time. It would add extra stress to my team. Yet I convinced myself that this plan was the way of Love, the way of our Father. So I had my team add two screens to the stand – one with a looping DVD of pictures of the dilapidated classrooms and the other for connecting a laptop. But that was only the beginning of the challenge. We were asked to assign time from our team towards running the stand. I would not. I simply encouraged them to sign up themselves. One of my team members put her whole heart into it. She was often there nearly pleading with people to give. I didn’t volunteer.
Many, many people gave. The number of packs for students, teachers and classrooms amazed me and I began to look ahead to walking into those schools and giving out the packages. Another port arrived. I decided I need to assign some team time, so I assigned one person one hour on the schedule (which was filling up) – but I knew I couldn’t ask someone to do something I was not willing to do, so I signed myself up.
I talked with my Father beforehand – asking Him to influence people, rather than me. At first it was scary, asking people if they would like to give. Maybe they would buy one less book for their family. Many passed on the opportunity and I politely allowed them to continue, but many people took the slips to pay at the book fair. Maybe it’s best that they pay for the donation somewhere else – then I don’t know how many people really gave, but I think it was quite a few. I was really encouraged by the experience and would do it again. I really look forward to arriving in port and visiting these schools and seeing the smiling faces.
A week’s rest (and how God used it)
“Are you really all volunteers” asked the museum curator, “Even the captain” I said. The man was simply amazed that so many people would volunteer two years or more of their lives to serve the people of Bermuda and of the world. He was delighted to see a Christian ministry that really responded to people’s needs.
But wait, wasn’t this articled called “A week’s rest”? Well yes. Upon my arrival in Hamilton, Bermuda my parents came to visit me. I welcomed them to my new home and showed them around. My Mum worked in the galley (the ship’s kitchen) helping prepare food for the crew, and my Dad worked with me in the Audio Visual team. It was great having them around, sharing meals together and giving them a taste of the life that I am living.
After a week of experience, I then took a week break from the ship. My parents and I stayed together at a local hotel and enjoyed some rest and relaxation – a long shower, a big bed, buffet breakfast – and some sightseeing. I really had fun that week and enjoyed reading from my favourite novel and reading more of the bible.
Of course along the way I met many friendly tourists and locals who would ask me which ship I came in on – tourism being primarally via cruise ships not via airoplane. This was an opportunity I often used to tell them that I was a crew member of the Logos Hope. For tourists I explained to them what the ship was about, and for the locals I answered more detailed questions like how long I was staying on board, and to all of them I could explain why I was serving on board, because of Jesus. It was amazing how many people I was able to chat to and plant a small seed of the gospel. I thank God for using me even on my holiday.
The Fence
“She didn’t want to choose between Satan and Jesus, so she chose the fence, but the fence belongs to Satan so he captured her. But when she prayed, Jesus came and rescued her”.
This is how I quickly explained to a volunteer from Bermuda the meaning of a drama I performed the night before in the Hope Theater for an event called ‘Sunday Night Live’. The event was hosted by a local church called ‘Cornerstone’ and ran a lot like a talent show – around 7 acts from local Christians and ship’s crew. The difference of course is that each person brought glory to God in his or her own way. Some sang worship songs and others did stand up comedy without the dirty jokes.
At the end a pastor gave a short message challenging the youth. While he was speaking we – the drama team – assembled on the stage behind the curtains. I prayed “Jesus, please help me to portray you accurately tonight and to perform to my best”. Representing the character of Jesus is indeed a challenge for anyone, since we have all fallen short of his moral standards and gone our own way at times, and I was suitably anxious as his message drew to a close. But as the curtains opened and the lights came up God used me to present this message – don’t sit on the fence. Many said they were impacted greatly by the drama and some asked me to clarify it’s meaning, and I was happy to explain it to them.
Mission: Bahamas
“Please Lord send me to the Bahamas” might be the catch-cry of the lazy missionary and a joke to others, but when fellow crew member Randy Grebe felt called to take his young family and go to be a missionary in the Bahamas, he took it very seriously.
Randy’s ministry was not in the nice places, not to the tourists, and never at all easy. Through many years of hard work and lots of sacrifice, Randy and Kim impacted the heart of the island chain. Their most famous acheivement was the construction of the Adventure Learning Centre where kids come to learn about creation and many make Jesus their Lord an Savior. I was on camera tonight for a reunion dinner with so many people who testified to the way that Uncle Randy touched them and brought Jesus into their lives, and on Tuesday I will visit the Adventure Learning Centre – the result of a man who listened not to men, but to God.
The harvest is plentiful
“The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few” I read aloud as I motioned to some volunteers from the congregation. Four people represented 40% of the world’s population who have not been reached with the gospel, and one man represented the 10% of Christian missionaries working with these people.
At the Franklin Town Church of God we were asked to take the service after worship. “G’day, my name is Chris and I come from Australia, the land of Kangaroos and Koalas” I said as I addressed the church. After our introductions I gave a presentation with the aim of mobilizing Christians in Jamaica to be a part of world mission. Jamaica and the surrounding Caribbean has been reached by the gospel by brave souls who came before us and now it is time for Caribbeans to go into all the world.
Others from the team presented a mime-dance and a testimony, and one gave a powerful sermon. Afterwards we were able to sell books for people who couldn’t make it to the ship.
I always enjoy the experience of speaking to a church body and helping them to understand the need for following the great commission.