Engine Room Team -

Larry, Chuck, Elanor, and Dave

This is the first version of video clips

from our Barbados Trip. FYI - my Blog-meister

will be helping me upload a larger file for

better resolution. Check back later.

...Here's an entry from Dave's Journal...

At 6 a.m. in the bowels of the ship I was awake. In my bunk, in the dark (remember, I'm in the bowels of the ship) I could feel a definite rocking and hear the sloshing of water. Then came the announcement: In 10 minutes we are casting off the lines and moving off shore to stay at anchor. To stay longer at berth would result in damage to the ship. "All shore leave is cancelled."

So much for our plans that day to be on shore in Barbados. No sandy beaches, no warm blue sea. No contact with the local people. At anchor we "enjoyed" the swells which turned us into staggering drunks. No walk was in a bee line. Looking out the window it was always a changing blue. The horizon would appear, then disappear into blue sky. Appear, then disappear into blue sea. Rock-a-bye-baby. Blue up, blue down, blue up, blue down. Some people developed green gills . . . but I didn't hear any projectiling.

Our next 5 days were completely on board Logos Hope with no opportunity to go to shore to do ministry and no opportunity for people on shore to come to us for ministry. Happy people that we are we set about doing all kinds of practical and needed things on ship. One day 3 of us worked in the engine room (see photo). Hard to imagine, but Elanor LOVES that place!

Time to cover their butts -- Our two women mended torn overalls and sewed curtains for 3 days.....the progress was noticeable. Joel worked in the mess a couple of days. 20 pounds of cutting onions is a mess. Hey, there's 390 people on board that need to eat. A lot of time was spent working in the book hold....pricing books, clearing space for the next shipment, and sprucing up the book exhibit. The book exhibit is the big draw to the ship. They say that in Trinidad a bible was sold every 40 seconds! All of us had great interactions with the ship company.

When Lee discovered there were 46 nationalities on board he bought a world atlas (in the book exhibit) and got people to show where they lived. Counting up the nationalities so far encountered we realized we still hadn't met the lone representatives from Israel, Kazakhstan, Belgium, Austria, Croatia and Paraguay. It became a treasure hunt. I found the Israeli girl right away and discovered the Kazakhi and Croatian guys. Lee was amazing. He got people to sing their national anthems. Without hesitation most put their hand on their heart, closed their eyes, and sang their anthems. The true United Nations.

I will be busy for several weeks following up with churches of the OMers we met and worked with on the ship. In the longer run this will prove to be the most valuable outcome of the trip for me.

Despite the disappointment of not being engaged in direct evangelism the team had a great attitude and all said it was worth the trip, something we should do again....together!

I'm intrigued

Dave (and Connie)

Reflections on our Vision Team Mission trip to the Logos Hope

Reflections on our Vision Team Mission trip to the Logos Hope

While sorting through my photos and trying to organize my thoughts, I have been reminded of numerous specific events and several overall perspectives that remain as fond memories. Everything from the initial commitment and preparations to the return and wind down has brought with it a flood of emotions and excitement about what God is doing now and what He will do next.

Well, “they” say that a picture is worth 1,000 words… I have over 1,000 pictures which should translate to a million words… minimum!... and that’s just the beginning. Those of you who have had to endure my ramblings know that I have a difficult time “making a long story short” and have gotten more than you bargained for since I’ve gotten home from our trip. I’ll try to condense my current thoughts into a word picture that hopefully will be an accurate analogy of what we experienced on our trip. By doing so, I hope to paint the picture that will give you the gist of our experiences and will definitely have at least 1,000 words behind it.

My word picture for today would have you consider the enthusiasm and energy that you would typically experience on a college campus or in a college town. It can be energizing and exciting to be around young adults with great hope for the future and a fresh outlook on life… That’s what we experienced on the Logos Hope. But it gets even better.

The intensity of college-type enthusiasm is typically magnified when the course of study is common within a group. For example a group of Medical Students or Music Students will have a much more focused and intense camaraderie within their group as well as a greater impact outside of their group. That’s what we experienced on the Logos Hope.

Without fail we heard from these young adults and all of the crew that God had shown His providence and direction in bringing them to the ship. We heard over and over that they were open to God’s leading every day through their experiences and beyond their term on the ship. Wow! What an encouraging and refreshing perspective on how we should all live our lives and finish well! That’s what we experienced on the Logos Hope.

The analogy of college life breaks down slightly when considering the “dark” side of the college experience, which we are accustomed to hearing about. This “dark” side typically involves aberrant behavior, which the culture of this world excuses as “adolescence” or a “rite of passage”. Baloney! It’s nothing more than sin. On the ship, however, because of the singular focus on Godliness, growth, and ministry, this dark side either doesn’t exist or is very minimal.

Finally, all of the statements that you have probably heard from other members of mission teams apply: You had to be there. I’ll never be the same. God has shown me new perspectives of His character and His power.

So what does this all mean? Most of all I hope to encourage YOU to go! You’ll never be the same. God will show Himself mighty and powerful to you in unexpected ways. He will build your faith, hope, and love.

The opportunity to go and serve is right where you are. Don’t go looking for it anywhere else. Look for it right where you are. Seize it! Take a step of faith to move forward. Trust God to show you your next step(s).

We all learned to walk with baby steps. Our walk by faith should be similar: Baby steps lead to wobbly steps... lead to walking on solid ground… lead to walking through rocky or risky ground… all beginning with baby steps. Are you willing to trust God with your first baby steps? I pray that you are and that you will be introduced into the incredible world of God’s ministry through your life.

The choice is yours. If you’d like to get a deeper perspective on God’s calling for your life and your opportunities to finish well, I would strongly encourage you to read and reflect on the truths and principles presented by John Piper in his book, “Don’t Waste Your Life”.

With the love of Christ and for the glory of God,

Lee

p.s. OOPs! AARGH! The word count is 752. As expected, I couldn’t make this “long story” short. That’s what I get for setting expectations… but that’s another commentary for another day…

Pictures

Sunset on the seas

The Vision Team (Left to Right-Larry, Lee, Joyce, Dave, Sue, Chuck, and Joel)

Photo courtesy of Larry Sisk. Taken on the Hope Experience Deck (The Book Fair).

Lee's Update from Barbados

All I’ll add at this time is that we are “rockin’ and a rollin”! So far it hasn’t gotten to me but some of the others have been queasy at various times.

When the Captain announced (at 6:32) that we would be leaving the berth at 7:00 I scrambled up to the outside/ 8th deck to watch the action. As you can imagine it is a major endeavor to get a ship moving.

Later, as we were dropping the anchor, I met a young lady from Slovakia. As she was sharing about her journey to the boat I was struck by three remarks that seem to be common in the conversations that I have had with everyone else: She has seen the hand of God moving through the process, He has built her faith, and she is fully open to what God has in store for her in the future. It is exciting to be in an environment like this with so many committed Christian young adults... and to think that, by the Director’s estimation, there have been at least 12,000 who have been through the program since its inception.

At lunch I ran into an OM guy from Southampton who enlisted my assistance in data entry for some reports. I spend several hours on the bridge typing. It was very interesting (and a privilege) to be up there. It looks like I’ll do more for him tomorrow. He is conducting an Internal Audit of the practices and procedures on the Logos Hope and it has been enlightening to hear more about the details of the ship’s operations. The enormity of it all is amazing.

Finally, in our “debriefing”/ team meeting we compared notes about our experiences of the day, our disappointment in not continuing the ministries that we had expected and hoped for, and our excitement in knowing that our re-directed plans have been orchestrated by God with new opportunities and for His glory.

Update from Barbados

This is Joyce McElroy that is along with the group from OM down in Barbados.
We have been moved to “SEA” all day today — we had many plans for today going on land to the beach, shopping, & there was a really nice couple that we had plans with tonight also. Randy & Kim Grebe had arranged a van for us & were planning to take us down to the boardwalk @ 5:30 P.M. today. All our special plans were changed @ 6:00 a.m. this morning when the captain announced that we would be moving very shortly & anchoring out to see.
Apparently we were moving too much because of the “SWELLS” at the port we were in, so we had to move. There is also a “flour” boat coming in tomorrow that was getting out spot & we were going to have to move on Tuesday anyway. We are not sure how long we will be out sea at this time. The disappointment is that no one got to go on land today unless necessary. Our mission of being able to minister to the locals boarding the ship is not possible. I am sure your Dad has told you that the ship is “bigger than Life” ministry in where the locals come on board, they visit the huge book fair, & then most of them stop in the International Cafe. At this time, we have an opportunity to talk & minister to them if they will allow us to.

Today was our off day as well as most of the crew. Tomorrow we have assigned duties here on the ship & most of us will have something to do, but not the intended mission. Dave (our leader) is trying to arrange a trip for us on Wednesday night at a local church & possibly spend the night with families of the church. We will have to let you guys know how this works out for us.

“Ship Life” is very unique to say the least / today we have swayed back & forth all day. The weather has been a little ruff & being out to sea, we constantly moving when it is like this. The cafeteria seems to be the hangout. The food is normal food & there is plenty of it. We have coffee, Fruit punch, pink lemonade, milk, water, & juice some of the day to drink. We have plenty of bread that can be toasted & people eat quite a bit. There is usually a choice of fruits at each meal. Plenty of cereal in the mornings & you will definitely have to ask your Dad about the “FISH STICKS”. We will never look at a fish stick the same way. We definitely will not go hungry while we are here & the amazing thing is no one that is on board seems to be overweight. Could be all the stairs we have to climb multiple times a day — there are 7 decks, so depending on where you are going you could be going up & down all day. There are some shortcuts, but “NO ELEVATORS”. Your Dad has decided he is going to get a workout plan going when he gets back home (LOL). I am trying to encourage him though.
Well I better go / we have our team meeting & we have a hard time getting everyone together. One gets here & another leaves. Then that one gets back & another leaves / anyway you get the idea / it has been a big joke with the guys & I am trying to keep them in line (LOL). Talk to you soon.