Arrival: Montego Bay, Jamaica

Montego Bay is our first stop in Jamaica, with Kingston being next. This country is a lot different than the last Dutch islands we visited, mainly because of its terrain. Beautiful mountains, streams, waterfalls, and foliage are decorated inside a crystal clear (in most areas) coast. The people seem very eager to come aboard the ship and we're expecting large crowds almost every day. A little F.Y.I. for you: Jamaica has more churches per square mile than anywhere else in the world.

Oranjestad, Aruba

View of our dock from deck 9.

Portion of the main street right off the ship.

There's even a Taco Bell....with French fries!

Eating Little Ceasar's with Tom(ENG) and Gina(USA)

Docked beside the Scientology ship!

Lighthouse on the North tip of the island.

In a city referred to as "Little America", Oranjestad (Orange Town) is probably the wealthiest stop thus far since arriving on the ship in September. As I write this, I'm sitting outside the top of a second story building beside a Little Caesar's (Pictured above), Dunkin' Donuts, and Baskin Robbins. Many massive cruise ships come and go daily to transport people who are eager to spend large amounts of money at the Casinos and very high-end jewelry and clothing stores. It's the first time I've ever seen not one but three Rolex stores within a quarter-mile. You may be thinking why our ship would even be at a place like this...That was my initial thought, before I traveled behind the opulent tourist trap. My friend asked me if I would drive a few of us behind the main street to give a sandwich to a homeless lady she met a few nights ago, and wanted to continue to give her the Gospel. As I crept down the road to look for her, the cleanliness suddenly disappeared and the spotless cobblestone walkway turned into unsupervised children loitering on concrete. I was instructed to stop in front of this salmon colored cement structure and the passenger to my right mentioned it was a drug house. The homeless lady named Mecksie took my friend inside the other day after they met down the road and took a walk together. Soon as I stopped the van, a couple guys with sticks began approaching the vehicle....

Two polar opposite realities hit me within two city blocks. Two vastly different lifestyles; yet both with the same vacancy in their life if they aren't regenerated. Some people may think our time is useless in places that seem so affluent on the outside; but it's quite the contrary. There are no more difficulties evangelizing to the very poor than it would be to the person outside a trendy fashion store; all need to hear about Jesus. At least the poor aren't usually fooled by the world system of happiness through materiel wealth. My views on life are always changing at every port and Aruba is no different. The Logos Hope departs on Sunday; we were only here for a short time. Oh, one more thing: The picture above actually is the Scientology ship right next to ours. As I write this, a group of people are taking a tour of the inside and there are sign-up sheets to join more tours tomorrow. I know our ship community is praying for them and their misleading religion.

First church team in 2010.

This is the first church I've been to where a translator was needed when we spoke to the congregation. I really tried to think of all the Spanish words remaining in my head since high school and hit a wall after saying "Hola, me llamo Steve"...
From left to right:
Freddie- Sweden
Maddy- England
me
Lydia- Romania

Happy New Year

Willamstad, Curacao (cure-ah-sau) Arrival!

Curacao is part of the Lesser Antillies owned by The Netherlands. This is an incredible country with European flavor in the southern Carribbean. We are extremely blessed to celebrate Christmas and New Years in such beautiful surroundings. I was shocked when first departing the ship in this port to see many cacti and animals indigenous to.....Phoenix! It was like being home, but with beautiful waters; the best of both worlds perhaps?

Parika, Guyana Day 5: Finish small projects, then return to the ship

Sun rising over camp

Moving a couple toilets...

After hanging the fresh sign by camp's entrance


John and Tyler would be proud!

Jaimee and I absolutely exhausted.

Monday morning. Last day in Parika and we had only a couple jobs remaining: begin to dig another foundation (which Roger would finish), repair the chicken coop, move some outhouses, and finish painting the office. I went to work with Roger on the new foundation, then painted the new YWAM office. Josef and Anderson hung up the sign out front to complete our work. So much was completed and there is so much still to be done. I pray that future missionaries staying at camp will have the wonderful experiences that we all were blessed to have. Now it's back to "normal" life on the ship...

Parika, Guyana Day 4: Church and Alligator hunting!

Our church was right down the street from the YWAM camp.

The way I play cricket....by smashing softballs with the wooden paddle!

Aboarding the first boat with Roger as motorman.

Clueless of the adventures that were in store for me.

Passing some locals while boating down our first river.

I was fearless with my machete...outside the murky, gator infested waters.

Going to board the hunting boat named "Sea Wolf"...sounds threatening to gators!

Local boy, Jaimee, and myself before getting into the hunting boat.

The local holding a live pirana with his bare hands

The hunter was becoming impatient for alligators....

Have you ever seen such smooth water? All cloud details are reflected!

Holding the lethargic beast...yeah they are both still alive!

the locals will cook these guys on a BB-Q later

Sunday morning we had church within walking distance from our camp. All 12 of us gave a presentation about ship life to the entire church. After service, I went back to have lunch and change into my gator hunting gear. During the down we had between lunch and hunting, I found some fun times wacking a softball to the local boy via cricket bat. When it was time to leave, 9 out of the 12 ship people walked over a half mile to the river where we would board the boat. As we were navigating up the river, we passed a couple docks with locals enjoying the calm waters. One group of people were fishing with sticks and strings. We then arrived at the dam where we would remove the outboard engine and evacuate the boat. The side we arrived on was level controlled for the community, but the other side was 100% uninhabited; marshland as far as the eye can see. I felt like I was in the pages of National Geographic. As we made our way to the next boat, we saw that it was flooded and the locals were scooping out the water. During their laborous discharging process, one guy picked up a Pirana right out of the boat...which made me feel "safe" about our near future voyage. He brought the carnivorous Serrasalmus over to us in a bucket and picked it up with his bare hands and placed a twig in front of its chompers. Immediately, it bit down hard and he was able to let go and allow the fish to hang there a while before falling into the bucket. After throwing it back into our hunting waters, I boarded the boat last because the front is where the action is. The water was like glass the entire rest of the way; an absolute perfect reflection from the cloudy sky. The sun was starting to hide behind the horizon and adrenaline was starting to rise. I asked the local when the hunt begins and he responded with a surprising answer: "When it's dark, with flashlights". Oh, wow... About 15 minutes later, the breeze starting to become chilly and my eyes struggled to see anything beyond 10 feet in front of me. They pulled out flashlights and told us to look for red eyes near the boat; that would be the gators. Noone spoke and the engine was turned down to idle to be as quiet as possible. The man in front motioned with his hands to the guy in the back who was steering the boat. He motioned to the left and the boat coasted into the swamp-grass and he reached down into the water (bare-handed, of course...) and pulled out a small, baby alligator. He mentioned that in this area, they are smaller and less aggressive. He pointed out to the left and said "That's where the big crocs and Anacodas are"..I found myself to be content in the smaller-gator area. A little while later, he pointed to the right and swept his hand into the grass. I couldn't see what or if he picked anything out because the moon didn't supply adequate lighting. When his hand arrived closer to my face, he shined the flashlight on the 2 1/2 foot long reptile. When you hold them right below their head, they are quite still and put up no fight whatsoever. We passed it around the boat and headed back to our starting point. Some friends were in a different boat and they, too caught quite a few big ones (pictured above) but already killed two of them. We walked back home pretty late and the locals took the gators home to eat in the next days. I never did have the opportunity to taste freshly caught gator...not too sure if that is a bad thing.