Now is a season of change for Logos Hope, especially in AV. This September I said goodbye to many friends, and also to two of the AV team who finished their commitment on board. Sam, who is a talented audio and video technician has worked in AV longer than I have and returns home to continue his studies and to get married. Glenn learned a lot about AV in his time on board and returned home to Denmark.
Now with the new PST joining my old friend Greg has returned to the ship. Greg, who comes from Singapore came on board for 3 months as part of the Short Term Exposure Program (STEP) and decided to return for two years to work in the AV department. He is a professional audio engineer and brings a wealth of experience to the team along with Sam from the UK who joined in February.
I have been learning a lot leading a team of professionals and trainees in such a high pressure environment, and whilst I’m glad that God has been stretching me, I’m also very glad that he has now provided someone to relieve me. Catherine from the UK is an experienced team leader and organizer and she will now be the AV team leader – dealing with schedules, management, communication and team building – while I continue to spearhead maintenance and training within the team.
I am enjoying the freedom that this change has brought and it has allowed me to reflect upon my own character even more.

Flags in hand, every eye watched as the coach reversed to reveal 60 new crew members. “Viva Las Palmas, Ole!” Was the melodious chant of PST Las Palmas. Eager to join the ship they have been preparing for over 3 weeks to see, they rushed toward the human tunnel of crew members from many nations all holding flags. 3 of these new recruits join my ship family – a group of people centered around a married couple who act as parents to us. Together we will celebrate birthdays and other special occasions and meet together regularly. 2 more of them are now my cabin mates. One is from France and the other is from South Korea. They are settling in well and have now got jobs in their preferred department – the galley. I look forward to getting to know each of these new people who have heard the call to come to the fields.

Santa Cruz was a busy port for the AV department. Since two people had left the ship at the end of their commitment, and new people are yet to join we were down to four people. We also had three really big events – three nights in a row. The event I enjoyed the most was El Foresterro – a musical about my lord set in the old west. The musical was entirely in Spanish, written and performed by a Christian drama company from Santa Cruz. Whilst I didn’t understand the entirety of the musica, the parts that I understood I was touched by. Many people came to this event and gave a huge applause at the end. It was worth every moment of preparation to see it complete.

“Seeing the way you guys ran AV for this event made the last three years of my life worthwhile”. Those were the words that AV system designer Andrew Lightoller left us with after watching a youth event on Logos Hope. Andrew spent two and a half years onboard Logos Hope designing and installing the extensive Audio Visual systems that we use today. The Hope Theatre is fully equipped with state of the art theatre lighting, screens, cameras and audio systems. Youth Events give us the opportunity to utilise all of this equipment and all of our learned skills to provide a program that will impact young people in each port we visit. The whole event is relayed onto big screens for the large audience to see every detail and the theatre lighting helps set the mood for each act, ultimately leading to a life changing message and a call to respond. Almost a year ago I inherited the responsibility for the people and equipment in the AV department onboard – it’s a daunting responsibility but it’s so worthwhile. This visit to Logos Hope might be Andrew’s last as he moves on in life to be a primary school teacher, so his job was to assess the state of the AV team and equipment. Whilst things aren’t perfect on board I am encouraged to hear that he is happy with what he has seen – and also that some problems we had will move towards a resolution. My prayer is that for the next year-and-a-bit I can continue to be a good steward of the wonderful people and mind-boggling equipment that God (and the ship’s leadership) has entrusted me with.

“Just as we tie the ship to the land with strong ropes so that we do not drift out to sea, so we each tie ourselves to the solid rock – Jesus – that we might not drift away”. Having left the Caribbean region where a large percentage of the population were believers, where we urged the local body of believers to “pray to the lord of the harvest to send out workers into the harvest field” – a new ship presentation was called for, and I was delighted to present it for the first time to a local church in Africa.
The church itself was held in a primary school (sounds familiar doesn’t it?) which they had decorated. The congregation was spit into two groups. One group at the front were the english speaking congregation who listened to the pastor preach in english. Behind the last row of this group there was a translator wearing headphones who fervently repeated his words in Twi, one of the common languages of Ghana. Whilst we spent around 15 minutes on stage, there was also teaching, bible reading, a sermon, an offering or two and a few old hymns like It is well with my soul. Here is our new presentation.

	Flags When you first visit the ship you might notice we have a tall mast with a few flags flying on the top. We use these to communicate with other ships and ports about where we come from and what we are doing. We also have over 45 different nationalities of people with their own flags on board – but we all fly under the one banner, the banner of Jesus Christ.
	Charts Sea charts provide the knowledge we need to avoid rocks and other dangers to ships. We bring knowledge to the places we visit in the form of the books we sell in our book fair. We have over 7,000 different titles of books. We also provide training conferences on board.
	Life Ring Sometimes everyone needs some help. A lifering helps someone to float in the ocean. We like to help people by building buildings and giving dental care and other forms of practical help.
	Mooring lines These strong ropes hold us to the shore so we dont drift away. Just as these strong ropes keep us attached the the shore, we each attach ourselves firmly to the rock – Jesus Christ – so we won’t drift away.
	Captain On board we have many professional sailors, but also many regular people. None of us are more spiritual than anyone else, we are people just like you who are obedient to God’s calling to bring in the harvest.

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.

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.

“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.

“I really like dressing in black and feeling what it is to be sort of selfless – you forget that people are watching you,” described Joy Lin (Taiwan). She and nine other crewmembers were responsible for the sound, lights, and video at an event in the Hope Theatre. Considering there are only six people in the audiovisual department, it is evident that making these types of events happen requires dedication. For a two-hour event, the team had a walk-through a few days earlier, a meeting the day before, and was on the job for seven hours the day of the event. However, for this bunch of crewmembers, it is important to see things from a deeper angle than just the technical side. Working behind the scenes can be difficult, but as Joy put it, “it teaches you to be humble.”
Source: http://www.omships.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=5&Itemid=141&resourceid=R20352

One year ago on 19 February, Logos Hope sailed into active service. An audiovisual summary of the year was presented last night – 23 ports, 18 countries and 565,000 visitors later as part of the celebrations. Throughout the evening crew and staff watched as due honour was given to the thousands of volunteers who contributed to the project of preparing the vessel. However, one of the most interesting aspects of the celebration was brought to light simply by the fact that 12 crewmembers from Doulos had arrived a few hours earlier. “The ship is only steel, but what’s really special is you, the community,” attested Director Gian Walser (Switzerland). This is true of both vessels although one has just completed her service and the other has just begun. The appreciated presence of OM Ships’ CEO, Peter Nicoll (South Africa), created added anticipation on board over the week leading up to this unforgettable anniversary.