After much discussion and reviewing of all the work required to obtain our PSSC, we have come to the conclusion that we will definitely not be sailing before the end of the year. So we are now planning for Christmas here in Koge. We as a family had already made the decision to travel back to Edinburgh over Christmas as we need to return our car to Edinburgh before the ship starts sailing and I need some dental treatment over several visits which I can't get here onboard. So we will be in the UK from 20/12 to 4/1.
As the ship will be here for Christmas, we really want to open up the doors and invite the people of Denmark to come onboard so that we can share about the hope of Christmas and also give them the opportunity to buy our books and music in the bookshop.
Because the person overall responsible for the area of Public Ministries (Bookfair, Events, Visitor Experience etc) just doesn't have the capacity to take on this project, I have agreed to run it.
There will be a lot more to share about this in the coming weeks but basically we have 5 weeks to get everything set up and publicise the opening to get maximum visitors.
Also this week, our ships director, Mike, left for 10 days and for some strange reason decided to make me "acting director." I keep telling everyone that Mike does the directing and I do the acting.
Remarkably, as Mike was walking off the ship on Thursday morning, a group of highly influential Christian leaders from London were walking onboard for a days visit. So of course, I had the privilege of helping to host them for the day.
The ship is planning to visit London next summer, and this delegation visited to get a better understanding of what the Logos Hope is all about and how they can help facilitate the visit.
It was a remarkable visit as this group have so much vision and passion for the London visit and are so well connected that we are all very excited about all the posibilities.
We hope to have some definite dates for the UK visit soon, but of course we remain dependant on getting our PSSC and being able to sail.
Also this week, an old cabin mate from my early Doulos days arrived onboard for a visit and it was great to catch up. He encouraged us to shout a bit more loudly about all the work that has been finished because many people still think the ship is a building site.
The video below helps to show just how much has been completed.
This week the ship and children's librarys have been completed and the official opening is on Monday with yours trully having to give a speech and hand out the thank you gifts to the American team who have spent hundreds of hours sorting and cataloguing the books. Pictures to follow next week.
This week saw our first ever Vision Team coming to spend a week experiencing what ship life is like. A group of young German girls from Kiel came and stayed in our special dormitary style cabin and took part in training, work and ministry opportunities. We hope many more Vision Teams will come in the months and years to come.
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