As the water receded we were able to see just what Logos Hope looks like beneath the water. I even had the oportunity to go down and stand underneath the ship and see the propellers. Andy why would we do such a thing? Twice in every five years ocean-going ships are required to go into dry-dock to do routine maintenance and inspection of the hull and all of the below water fittings. It also gives us the much needed opportunity to perform maintenance and repairs while the ship is closed for business that would otherwise be very disruptive to the ship’s normal operation. And that’s what I’m doing here. I have many repairs to make that have made quite a mess. Hopefully when we open for business again all the little problems will be fixed.
When the water was taken away we could see the condition of the ship, but also when the air conditioning is switched off and the luxuries taken away I can see more clearly who I really am and how much or little I love or respect others when I’m uncomfortable. I pray that God would use this time of hard work and discomfort to break me and mould me to be more like Jesus.

A few years ago I was asked to describe how I want my life to be in 10 years time. I came up with something like this:

I am in a dissuesed factory in India. I am working with a team to install the audio/visual and it technology for an evangelistic event for thousands of people.

There was more to it, but that was the crux of the dream.
Two days ago I lived that dream. Over 3000 people came to the Logos Hope International Night in Colombo, Sri-Lanka. I came a day beforehand and worked hard to install stage lighting and cameras while my collegue Greg worked on the existing sound equipment. Days before-hand I had worked long into the night preparing the equipment that we brought for this event. Now I saw it going into place and working perfectly. During the event I was the video director. My job was to coordinate 3 camera people to provide video coverage of the event. Two were regular camera people from the ship, and one was from the church where we held the event. I chose which camera to put on the screen at any given time. At the end of the event I had almost lost my voice since I was speaking so much to the camera people (not shouting, just giving nice instructions), but it was well worth the long hours and hard work to see the event come together in such an amazing way. the 3000 visitors were mainly Christian so we tailored the event to encourage Christians to ‘go into all the world’. Thank you God for bringing me here to this place and including me in your plan.

Cherith Hamman (USA) uses the coloured ball to explain the Gospel at the World Cup event held in the Hope Theatre. Photo by ship’s photographer
My first time to Africa is also the FIFA world cup’s first visit to Africa. Football fans in their hundreds flocked to the Logos Hope to watch the world cup on our big screen in the Hope Theatre. During half time, Logos Hope crew members interacted with the crowd using simple games and testimonies to communicate the Gospel. The world cup proved to be a stressful time for me as the technical challenges involved in getting satellite TV coverage on board a ship seemed almost insurmountable, but with prayer and a little faith the coverage was achieved. Satellite TV however is not invincible, and in one match shown on board with only 10 minutes remaining a heavy rainstorm set in outside, completely obliterating our TV signal. Many people stayed in the hopes the signal would improve and while they waited for the signal to come back on Cherith took the opportunity to explain the Gospel using the coloured football pictured. Gold reminds us of heaven where God lives, and God is perfect. The dark patch reminds us of sin, the selfish acts that our perfect God will not abide with. Red reminds us of the blood of Jesus – the payment for our sin, so we can be friends with God again. White reminds us that we are purified from our sin and are called to live a righteous lives. And Green reminds us that we are a new creation.