Abu Dhabi, U.A.E.

For our second Emirate port, Abu Dhabi is known as being more low-key than Dubai; although the tour through the opulent Grand Mosque was certainly anything but low-key, and not to mention an entire theme park dedicated to Ferrari (I was sure not to miss it), appropriately named Ferrari World. Other than that, this city seemed more conservative by holding strong to the Arabic culture. The people were as kind and hospitable as ever, and like Dubai, a major chunk of the population is from other countries.
Because of our short stay of less than two weeks, I only visited one church, which happened to be the first Anglican church I've ever been to in my life. My role was to explain what life is like aboard the Logos and speak about our focus as a ministry vessel including some detailed stories of our past ports in places like Sierra Leone, and how the people in Abu Dhabi can get involved. The couple that I'm standing next to in the second to last picture were members of the church, originally from England and Spain, who took me and three other guys out to the Crowne Plaza for lunch where I was able to enjoy amazing Chinese food for the first time in a long, long while! Another highlight was taking an educational trip to Heritage Park where I learned about the ancient civilization that formerly settled there, birth of the unique Abu Dhabi culture, and after enough peer pressure from an American with a camcorder, swung from a tree...now onto Qatar.

Two weeks in Dubai, U.A.E.

As our eighth stop in the Arab world, Dubai can be easily titled the city with the largest collection of cultures from around the world. Working on the visitor deck, I quickly learned just how friendly the locals are and had the pleasure of meeting many people from many places; even as close to home as Pennsylvania and Arizona. One of the local volunteers introduced me to her husband Craig, who was especially hospitable and offered to take me out on numerous occasions to key spots around the city. I joined him for church on Friday, which was in a hotel inside of a mall. The pastor was from Texas and the church (part of the 9marks org.) was planted by Capitol Hill Baptist in D.C. with a strong affiliation to D.A. Carson and Piper. Needless to say, the most solid preaching I've heard since joining the Logos Hope; it was like a breeze of fresh Reformed Living air!

The time flew by and it is hard to believe that two weeks can pass so quickly. A major highlight was being picked up by a guy from the U.S. and joining him to minister to some guys from Pakistan inside a building where 10,000 men live together whose day job is construction on any one of the countless skyscrapers in Dubai. This may seem like a lot of people in one place, but it is dwarfed in comparison by the desert camps 30min outside the city that house hundreds of thousands of workers in military-styled barracks; mostly from India, Philippines, and Bangladesh. The majority of the men left their own families to move here for work, but still financially support them by mailing their income back home. This situation creates (among other things) people who are very open and eager to not only start conversations with, but more importantly, hear the gospel for perhaps the first time. Knowing that their stay is only temporary, what people share with them now can be taken back to wherever they call home and spread even more.

Apart from the amazing opportunities to connect with people and build relationships, Dubai also boasts a mighty collection of the world's largest, tallest, biggest, and fastest...stuff. It felt surreal when one night I was watching the most spectacular water fountain and light show outside of the biggest mall, beside the tallest building (2,400+ft) with some local friends from 8 different countries. Dubai felt like a central meeting point of everything and everyone from everywhere.