Retirement home in Roseau, Dominica.

Katie (U.S.), Danielle (N. Ireland), Jos (Neth.), Mok (S. Korea), Me.

This weekend was different than usual because instead of attending and speaking at a local church, I was asked to lead a group to a retirement home. There we would converse with the residents and do a few songs, which the folks were not too shy to sing along to the familiar ones. One of the ladies I met was 103 years old and a few others not far behind. According to a couple internet resources, it turns out that Dominica has more people 100 and over per capita than any other country in the world!

Canefield Mission Church, Roseau.

Anne (Netherlands), Me, Jayne (Australia)

This church team was a bit different than usual because we had a group of about 6 people join us from the U.S. who are visiting the ship for about a week and one of the guys delivered the message. They are not pictured above, but seemed to really enjoy the new cultural experience. The two girls on my team gave an interactive missions presentation, then after that I spoke to the crowd of about 150-200 people about my story how God called me to the ship's ministry and urged them to encourage others who have a desire to go out into the field. Church members were very responsive with a lot of quick shouts of agreement when any of us were speaking. It may sound a bit distracting, but we are all used to it after 8 months in the Caribbean! The day seemed a lot hotter and more humid than usual, and when you combine that with a shirt & tie combo with no air conditioning, things became a bit uncomfortable really quick. Especially when you are facing a bunch of people you don't know, it becomes a game of keeping the sweat out of your eyes without making a scene. Our time finished with some freshly-squeezed local fruit drinks, which is always a happy ending.

Roseau, Dominica (Domineeka) Arrival!

Tuesday afternoon around 3pm, the breathtaking island of Dominica was in view from the ship. Our very last stop of our Caribbean journey before sailing across the Atlantic to west Africa. We first docked at the industrial port for the ship's Sabbath days where we all took some much needed time for rest. We then shifted Saturday morning over to our port where we will be open to the public for the next week and a half. During our first evening in Roseau, the Logos Hope is putting on a live Christian music show for the city which has been advertised throughout the island for weeks; we are expecting large crowds. Dominica is a very special place because there are not many tourists or much industry here at all; the entire island feels incredibly pure and natural. I will be leading a church team from the ship as well as a group that flew in from Atlanta this Sunday, which one of the men from that group will be preaching.

One More Picture from my time in Saint Kitts.

I drove a few guys from the engine department to the other end of the island during our last off day. Half-way to the destination we stopped on top of a hill where my friend pulled out his professional Nikon to snap a beautiful panoramic picture of the eastern half of the island with Nevis in the background (Nevis being the sister island).

Zion Moravian Church, Basseterre.

John (U.S. & U.K.), Tom (Eng), Mel the ship's doctor (Germany), Me

We stopped at the Atlantic coast to admire the rock that was once lava.

So this looks a bit different than all the other churches I have been to, right? Notice it is the first time on a Sunday where they told us to wear t-shirts and jeans. A nice little break from wearing the full dress clothes with a tie in the immensely humid Caribbean. Today the service was aimed toward the youth of the church. Our messages we gave were missions focused like usual, but this time we had the privilege to enjoy a high energy dance routine about the Gospel message from church members...and it was quite good. After the service, our group of 4 had the opportunity to spend a lot of time with the youth over a homemade lunch followed by a thorough bus tour of the island before coming back to the ship.

5 Days in Basseterre, Saint Kitts & Nevis.

12am we left Antigua and arrived at Basseterre about 6 hours later. Short voyages are definitely nice, especially before our 10 day Atlantic crossing! The ship will only be docked here from Friday morning to Monday night. There are two islands and St. Kitts is larger with the majority of the population; which is still way less than 100,000. The other island, Nevis (long "e") will be transporting almost every school kid over to our ship via ferry. Notice the tall, green mountain in the first picture ascending into the ominous clouds...that is a dormant volcano. In fact, the entire island looks as if it was formed from it. Because of the extreme steepness in the middle of St. Kitts, mostly all residents live on the perimeter of the island, traveling by what is the only highway here that loops around the edge. One interesting fact about the capital city of Basseterre is that you'll never see a traffic light while driving through it, which makes walking across the road a bit like a life-size Frogger game. Sunday I will be going to a church for the day and have the opportunity to speak to over 300 people with the focus being on the local youth. Speaking of a church team, I was on one in St. John's, Antigua but still haven't posted any pictures as of yet because of photo issues. Hopefully you will see them up here soon with a complete description about my time there.

Arrival: St. John's in beautiful Antigua

Green, green, and more green: Friday morning we arrived at a destination I've never even knew existed before joining the ship and coincidentally the most "Caribbean-feeling" of all our stops this year thus far. The interesting terrain reminds me a lot of St. Lucia with its abundance of hills and little mountains poking up sporadically across the horizon; a snorkeler's and hiker's dream because Antigua (combined with its sister-island, Barbuda) boasts 365 beaches. Although that may just be a catchy marketing ploy they tell people, it seems like a legit figure to me. The first noticeable thing different from our last port, Bermuda, is the humidity; and I don't think I missed it at all. Besides sweating, I spent my day off exploring St. John's while mingling with the locals, telling them about the ship and encouraging all to come aboard during our 10 day stay. Even though Caribbean culture can be a bit intimidating at times, the people have been extremely friendly and welcoming. We've only been open one full day and have already seen an amazing number of visitors. The population including the island of Barbuda (Don't worry, not too many people have ever heard of Barbuda, either) is roughly 85,600 and I wouldn't be surprised if we see close to 50% of the country spend some time aboard the ship. Tomorrow I will be going to an evening church service and taking part in a kid's program. I'm a bit rusty with the children songs and games because the last time I've done anything like that was in Trinidad...um September. Wow, I've been on board now for 8 months!