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.

Orphanage for boys: Somewhere in Sri Lanka

It has been a while since I've had the opportunity for ministry somewhere besides a local church (not implying that I'm tired of visiting churches), but it was a nice change of pace going to an orphanage. Upon arrival, my team and I were expecting a couple kids and were shocked when more than two dozen guys from 5-18 years old came outside to greet us. Even though we arrived with eleven people from the ship, we split up (some went to a retirement home, and some to a girls orphanage) which made it me plus three others: Adam from Texas, Teschee from Japan (the one behind the camera), and Saravanan from India.

We began by showing a short ship film for children starring one of the kids who lives on board, searching the entire inside of the Logos Hope for the captain. Afterwards, all four of us introduced ourselves and spoke about what life is like living with 400 people. Then I pulled out some life jackets I brought along and made the offer for some people to try it on and demonstrated how we would rescue someone by performing a "Man Overboard" drill. This gave us plenty of opportunities to share our faith openly and allow then to ask us questions.

We proceeded outside to play some games with the soccer ball (I hardly remember having the kind of energy they had!), and then I had an idea to teach them hacky sack. As I stood inside of the circle already formed from the soccer ball game, I kicked it to each one of the kids to see if they could return it. I still can't believe how focused they were...we played for over an hour straight and could have gone on for literally hours more. Unfortunately, with the Sri Lankan heat and humidity consuming me in the worst way, I slowly stumbled back inside the house where I was greeted with a cold glass of Avocado juice (which is delicious by the way). The boys shortly followed me inside and asked if I'd like to watch the World Cup Cricket game on T.V. that was currently being played in the same city. After weighing the options of returning to the ridiculous heat or staying inside for cool breezes via fan and sports on the T.V., I quickly decided on the latter.

A few other guys who originally went to the retirement home came to meet us for dinner and attempted to explain the game of Cricket to me. Not sure if my brain was fried from the heat, or I have a general dis-interest for Cricket, but by the second hour of watching, I was more confused than when it started. Dinner was then served and all of us enjoyed a home cooked meal Sri Lankan style. Which is a story in itself!

Christian Reformed Church of Wallawetta in Colombo, Sri Lanka

Longer Than Planned In Doha, Qatar

Ten. That is the number of ports the Logos Hope visited in the Middle East since we first arrived in Libya. Come to think of it, if I tally the three ports in Libya and the one in Egypt, that comes to almost half of the places where we've docked. A revolt against the government shortly followed after our departure. Of course, ship's community is in prayer that the timing of our stops would be divine. Meaning, that we all hope that the "hope" we brought on the Hope was a positive influence on the people who visited the Hope. And even though we had our first canceled port (Bahrain), we know that God had plans for us to stay an extra week in Doha.

So, how was Qatar different than the U.A.E? Well, for the most part they are quite similar. Wealth, new construction projects galore, arid climate and Arabic traditions. Another factor is that both have an incredible number of people living there from around the globe. I've met more Americans in the last three ports than any of the previous twenty-four ports...combined. Another factor would be that the churches are under strict gov. watch at all times. Well, Qatar far more than U.A.E., which is why I didn't post any pictures of speaking at churches (or any ministry pictures in general).

From the churches that we did visit, a family would usually take a group of us out to eat following the service, and that is quite a nice treat! So, through days such as these, I had the wonderful opportunity to spend time with Malaysian, South African, American, and Sri Lankan families. Out of all of them, I only actually preached a message at the Sri Lankan/Indian church.

Overall, I think I'll miss the Middle East. The warm and friendly hospitality of the Arabs is something that will stick in my memory bank and only collect interest as I strive to treat others with the same generosity. The church also needs much prayer as it is not easy for a lot of expatriates to worship in secret, and sadly at times, see their friends and families be deported for sharing the good news with locals.

What am I looking forward to in the following countries of Sri Lanka and India? Learning the culture which is utterly different from anything else I've experienced thus far. Also, going back to the "freedom" that our ship once had; to be bold for Christ and to lift His name to the visitors who board the ship. And, the freedom to share with you what all I'm involved with and places where I will be speaking or preaching.

Please keep the Logos Hope in your prayers as once again we will be endeavoring a long voyage through (slightly) pirate(y) areas. Also, pray for dry dock, which will happen after being open for three weeks to the public in Colombo, Sri Lanka. Don't worry, I'll explain in a later post what exactly dry dock is...just know that it involves much, much labor during long hours every day to fix any existing or potential problems with the ship. As always, if you have any more questions about the mission trip so far, or what will be happening during my last 6 months, don't hesitate to drop me an email. Of course, you can email me just to chat, too...I love hearing from my family and friends!