Flyin' Home through China!

Wesley Methodist Church: Penang, Malaysia

For my last church visit whilst living on the Logos Hope, I had the pleasure of leading a fantastic group of people to share about the ship's ministry at the first Tamil-speaking church in Penang. Planted well over one hundred years ago by two American missionaries, a majority of the members come from Indian decent, although now Malaysian-born. After the warm greeting, worship in the Tamil language began. It was nice for them to spell out the confusing language for us with English letters via PowerPoint, but it was still quite hard to pronounce any of the words correctly (as shown above). When it was our turn to present, I introduced the team (from USA, Jamaica, Finland and South Africa) to speak one by one. Since most people, especially the young adults, were bilingual, it was the first church in recent memory where we needed no translation. Randy, who brought along his father from America, prepared a message and preached powerfully about missions with positive response from the church members.
Following the service, Randy and I were invited to lead the youth group meeting upstairs. Most of the people were between 15-20 yrs old which made for some fun connecting time. It was interesting for me to see how much alike the young adults half-way around the world were to the Americans I personally know! Their jokes, insight, mentality and general behavior and outlook on life would make you think they came from a Western country, but traditions such as clothing (at least for the ladies) were strongly Asian focused. Overall, the time was most enjoyable and I felt that my knowledge of Malay people greatly increased because of that hour we spent together.
Before arriving back home, in traditional Indian hospitality, the pastor and his family took us out to an area in Penang known as "Little India" for some chicken and rice curry. I tell you that some of best (albeit incredibly spicy) food I've had in the past two years has been Indian. They sure know how to cook a mean chicken that'll leave your lips tingling!

It's fun to serve at the...

Except for the Arab World, the "Y" has opened across most of the world like this one in Visak, which offers a special ministry for street children. While planning this event, myself and five others were told that each of the 20+ children (6-14yrs) we were going to meet are picked up from the railroad area, sent to school and live at the YMCA. Our goal was to present an exciting program they would enjoy while showing them love and teaching the importance of respecting others.
To get there, all six of us had to squeeze into a cramped tuk-tuk (which is no easy task for more than three people) and remain alive on the Indian roads till we arrived. Fortunately, it was only a ten minute trip. The event started with the usual introduction of ourselves holding a large map for the kids to see the countries represented. Besides two from the U.S., there were England, Brazil, Australia and South Korea represented. Each turn, a boy was picked to point out where the country was, and every one was spot-on. Then I brought out two life jackets and explained their use and how to tie it properly. As boring as that sounds, their adrenaline was soon amplified with an invitation to race each other with stopwatch in hand. This game definitely loosened any tension between local kids and visitors from a Western culture. We then performed a drama that focused on respecting others, and ended our evening by splitting up into stations around the room doing something different. I was teaching juggling, but another taught origami, one painted faces and one told stories using the Mr. Coconut character prop (aimed toward the younger crowd).
Before heading back to the ship, we had a quick tour through the shelter where each one lived. It sure made us thankful to live on such a roomy ship...especially after being shoe-horned into another tuk-tuk for the ride home.

Bridge of Hope, India

For my last church visit in Visak, I had the opportunity to not only spend time at a church, but also see the large building project on the same property, which included a hospital, orphanage and vocational school. A friend of mine on board from the Netherlands told me that her local church just began a partnership with this organization called Bridge of Hope. Upon arrival, you really only notice the church at first. But after walking around the back, you start to see how big the property really is. We were welcomed by a very kind older gentleman (one who has a supporter from Phoenix ironically), and enjoyed some tea while getting to know more about what B.O.H. was all about before going to the church service. Afterwards, they gave us an official tour to show the school and hospital, which is still under construction. There are many branches around Southeast India that are performing free eye surgeries and giving medical help to many people in need as well as offering scholarships to young adults who otherwise couldn't afford a college education.

Free Medical and Eyeglass Camp in Sabbavaram, India

The Logos Hope paired with a non-profit Indian mission called Operation Blessing for five days to provide free general health and eye care for the people who live around the Visakapatnam area of Eastern India. I had the privilege to serve on the 4th in a very poor market area with a lot of people in desperate need of medical attention. Two doctors from the ship and many local doctors and medical students met at a community center to set up for the day with myself and nine others who were dressed in look-at-me bright blue Logos Hope shirts to help wherever needed.
After riding for almost an hour in a school bus that was only slowing down to avoid hitting stray cows on the road (stopping at a red light seems optional in this part of India), we finally made it to our destination to meet the people from "OB". The friendly Indian doctors had plenty of experience doing this sort of thing, so they made every step really easy and stress-free. They brought their own medical-mobile that is sort of like a book-mobile except filled with x-ray machines and pills that make you happy in lieu of Nancy Drew. My job was crowd control and escorting the elderly to each station who had trouble walking or standing. The visitors first had to sign in before waiting for blood pressure, weight and other vitals. Then they waited for either an eye examination or general health if they had any sort of pain. People from all ages came to experience God's love from volunteers who had an immense heart and desire to help any way possible. At one point, my job was handing out comic book-style illustrated versions of the New Testament in the local language of Telugu, and I encouraged those with new spectacles to try them out on the books, albeit most were Hindu. Of course, I can't speak much more than a few phrases, which made it even better having the local helpers nearby to translate. Other ship people assisted the doctors and handed out clean drinking water among other things.
Overall, the response was fantastic and the people were so grateful to have this type of free service available in their area. Just watching the genuine care, medicine and glasses being handed out again and again really warmed my heart. Oh, and in case you were wondering about the last picture, allow me to explain: I took a snap shot of some people waiting for their prescribed pills while I was sharing with them a bit about myself. So, even if it seems like a scene from a scary movie, they weren't trying to break down the gate to attack me, in reality they were so much fun to talk to and surprisingly patient...patients.

Dutch Reformed Church: Galle, Sri Lanka

Dedicated in 1755, this beautifully preserved historic church is located in the tourist area of Galle Fort and is known for seeing many visitors year round. I believe it to be the first place I've spoken at where shortly after the service, a bus full of Asians holding cameras quickly departed a sightseeing bus to flock inside for a closer look. It was also the first time where I faced a surprising challenge to have not one, but two translators. The first from English to Sinhalese, then from Sinhalese to Tamil as both are widely used in this region of Sri Lanka. This required great concentration and effort to remember what I was talking about by the time it was my turn to speak again! It was also the first time I spoke while standing on tombs...which were scattered around the entire church floor, dating back even before the church was completed.
As usual, the Logos Hope sent a team with me to present ourselves, our country and how the ship's ministry gets involved with the community in every country where it is docked. The other five people were from: Germany, United Arab Emirates, Northern Ireland, Holland and England. We all enjoyed a traditional meal for lunch which involved eating with our hands as they do here, and consisted of delicious rice and curry, as well as some other Indian inspired dishes. Normally I don't stand on tombs or eat with my hands, however I chose to follow the old saying: "when in Rome..." or in this case, Galle!

Challege Team: 9 mission conferences in 5 days throughout Southwest India

Early Friday morning, my team of five people embarked on a journey from the Logos Hope to a small town named Chenannur by way of bus, tuk-tuk and a lengthy train ride. Our mission was to represent the ship's ministry as well as the entire organization of Operation Mobilization at many mission conferences that were being held throughout the rural Southwest. The program we brought included: introduction of ourselves, ship and organization information, personal testimonies, and a sermon. The organizers of our team decided to make me team leader, which was a new experience for me. I've led church teams in the past to 1-day locations, but never anywhere this far away for so many days.
Other than myself, the people represented the countries of: Canada, Papua New Guinea, Peru, and the U.K. Needless to say, the local people (most of whom never left their small town) were astonished to not only see, but personally meet people from all over the world...four different continents to be exact! Our host, an overseer of 18 different churches was also Director of Hospital Ministries India(HMI). He picked us up from the train station in the "HMI" van and took us to his home for dinner before dropping us off at the orphanage where we'd sleep. No matter where we drove, the land was a thick and lush bright green jungle contrasted only by a rainbow of strikingly painted homes. Perhaps it is a cultural fad to have a house bright blue with orange and green trim? Or a home with three shades of pink? For some reason, they did not seem out of place once you are introduced to their colorful culture and personalities.
As the title explains, we had to visit nine different churches in only five days which would've only been accomplished with team unity. My goal was to meet every morning and have a daily briefing, devotion, and prayer for one another. Without that, the cohesion wouldn't have been nearly as strong. We tried hard to look after one another and esteem with encouraging words. This is one of the specialties of OM ships: so many nations in one place for one purpose and goal.
Besides preaching at churches, we also spent a lot of time eating. Indians love to eat and show hospitality by giving more food to guests than one could handle. We would have a big breakfast, drive to church, eat, drive to some one's house, eat, drive to another church, eat, another home, eat...not to mention that every bus ride included a pit stop on the side of the road to purchase fresh fruit (that was filling in itself). Not a single meal went without Indian tea, which complimented the Curry and other spices quite pleasantly.
My Indian experience was nothing less than sensational. The amount of knowledge I've gained from the culture, the public speaking experience (with a translator) and the overall lesson to be flexible with an attitude of being prepared at all times, taught me infinitely more than if I would've never left the ship. I suppose that is one of the purposes of a challenge team: to stretch oneself out of any comfort zone and look only to God for comfort and peace.