Christmas and Beirut

This is already the last post of the year - hard to believe how quickly time has gone the past few weeks.
My trip to Beirut seemed like a blink. The team arrived in Beirut on a Thursday night, with just one hiccup - a 30 min delay at immigration while our only American team member waited to be allowed in the country.
























It was a fantastic sight to see the ship again and was so great to be welcomed by many old friends onboard. Unfortunately, our visit co-incided with one of the worst storms to hit Beirut for a long time and an end to the recent run of hot dry weather. We had almost non stop rain from Friday afternoon to Monday afternoon. This dramatically reduced the number of visitors coming on board and meant we probably didn't see Beirut in the best light. However, the team were still very encouraged by their experiences both on and off the ship.








































Highlights included 4 of the team going to a local hospital to be a blessing to children through a programme that included stories, baloons and making origami animals, all the team getting to go out to different churches on Sunday with Logos Hope teams, and a number of us visiting a work among the ostracised Turkman children in a suburb of the city where a young American guy regularly feeds the street children.



















The visit to Beirut gave me the chance to catch up with a number of old friends as well as lead the team and help them understand more about the ministry of Logos Hope, but it was too short a time to really get together with many of those that I would like to have met up with.

Once home, there has been yet more disruption from the snow, but that is finally going and we have had a slow thaw since Christmas day. Thankfully despite heavy snow falling in my parents town last weekend, they were still able to come up to Edinburgh in time for Kara's birthday and to join us for Christmas.
We had a great weekend, with services at our church on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Both sets of parents were at our home for their Christmas dinner and we all had a wonderful time. It was so good to be back in our own home for Christmas and able to cook what I wanted to cook for dinner.
Heather and I both have a good break over the Christmas holiday and are able to spend quality time together as a family.

The Logos Hope has now left Lebanon and is heading through the Suez canal and on it's way out to the Gulf region.

snow

Anyone that knows me knows that I love snow, always have since I was a kid. It is a love that I have passed on to my own kids.
So you can imagine my joy when we had our first snow fall of winter on Friday night - still November. But since then it has hardly stopped snowing and we now have something like 50cm of snow in our garden. I have never seen anything like it in the UK except up the mountains.
Normal life has ground to a halt. The schools have been closed for 3 days. There is no post or other deliveries, the local shops run out of basic items like milk. It is all a bit mad.
The first few snow days were fun, but now the reality of starting to miss out on planned activities is hitting home. Liam is supposed to be singing in his school choir on Sunday at the city's Usher Hall, one of the top concert venues. They were supposed to go there to practice today but the school is still closed. His German Market that they have worked hard towards for weeks will also almost certainly be cancelled.
We have a lot planned for the weekend and just hope the snow lets up so we can get out.
If you doubt the amount of snow we have - check out the pictures.




































Today Edinburgh airport is shut all day and there are some passengers that have been there since Sunday (it's now Weds). The Forth Road Bridge has also been shut all day so far due to a whiteout. Trees are starting to fall over from the weight of snow. I mean this is Edinburgh not the Cairngorm Mountains.

On the positive side, I've had some great walks with the dog through the trees alongside the river. It is stunningly beautiful there. Also given a good excuse to put the Christmas decorations up. But then when we went to get our artificial tree out of the loft, we found it had disappeared and been replaced by some strange "space saving" half tree that looks awful. So we ordered a new one online but of course nothing is getting delivered so who knows when we will get it.
I just hope I can fly out to Beirut next week.

However, all this discomfort and minor inconvenience is nothing compared to many very needy people who are really suffering, like the homeless, elderly and frail. It has been good to see a real sense of community spirit coming out around us as people look out for their neighbours. Lets hope it continues.

Heading to Beirut

Well winter has arrived here in the UK with many parts of the country already experiencing snow and Edinburgh expecting it this weekend.
It is a clear sign that Christmas will soon be here. We are very excited about the prospect of our first Christmas in our own home for 4 years.

Last week I was over in Northern Ireland again and was so encouraged by the meetings that I had with pastors, mission leaders and business men. I love going there as everyone is so friendly and there is so much potential. It's also great to get around so many people in a relatively close area.

Now I am gearing up for taking my first team to the ship. In 2 weeks I am flying out with a group of 6 others to Beirut, Lebanon. 2 men from Northern Ireland, a man from South England and a family of 3 from Essex. The idea of the trip is to give them an experience of the ship ministry and really see for themselves what God is doing there. Lebanon should be exciting as there are many opportunities for the ship to get involved in lots of different projects.
I am hoping to do a video blog and post daily updates of the trip.
I'll let you know how you can see those posts before I leave.

More travelling - spreading the word

For some reason, it seems to have got much harder to write this blog in the past few months.
No idea why I struggle more to put words on the screen, but it is frustrating and I need to be more intentional about it.

The last 2 weeks have involved more travel and meetings. It is exciting being able to meet lots of different people and share about the ministry of Logos Hope. Last week my travels took me to Cornwall, Devon and Dorset to meet up with pastors and leaders as well as long term supporters of the Ships Ministry. One of the highlights of this trip was to be able to spend a night with my uncle and aunt in Bournemouth. I haven't seen them for 8 years, since my nana's funeral, so it was great to be able to have a meal with them and my 2 cousins.
























I also had a full day of meetings at a Baptist church in Slough near Heathrow airport. It was a real privilege to be asked to speak in both morning services and the evening service. This is a church that has been financially supporting the ship ministry for many years, so it was great to be able to say thank you.























This past week we have struggled a bit as a family as both Liam and Kara have gone down with a nasty sickness bug. Thankfully it only last 24 hours but it's not nice. We are hoping that Heather and I don't get it.
Also this weekend, our dog, Jaz has injured his paw while out running after a ball, so we had to take him for an emergency vet appointment this morning.

This coming week, I'm back to Northern Ireland again for a number of meetings. After this week, the next trip away will be to Beirut, Lebanon to take a team out to visit the Logos Hope. I'm really looking forward to that trip.

Latvia, Lithuania, Essex?

Foreign travel resumed last week with a trip to Latvia to visit one of our church missionaries.
Having taken over responsibility for missions again at our church, Carrubbers, I went out to Latvia to spend time with Dave. Dave is working with the youth of Grobina, a small town some 2 1/2 hours away from the capital Riga, not far from the Lithuania border.
























It's funny how so many people here in Scotland use the expression "it's Baltic" to describe cold weather. Well when you have been to the Baltic countries, you understand better what that means.

Each day I was there, I put on another layer to try and stay warm, and that was in the flat where Dave lives above the church! The heating has been broken since the spring and the cold in the kitchen just seeps through. Thankfully Dave has a good heater in his room so he isn't perpetually cold but I have great respect for him living in difficult conditions and investing his whole life in trying to bring the Good News of Jesus' love to the young people, particularly through music which Dave is very gifted at. Dave is trying to help a young lad who is a new Christian, learn the drums.



















As the border with Lithuania was so close, it seemed like a good idea to do a road trip and go there for lunch. Another young lad from Carrubbers was also visiting Dave for the week so we all piled in Dave's old Golf and headed for the border. We had a great lunch (steak for £5) and then went to the beach and experienced the true Baltic effect, as the wind blowing off the sea meant it felt like -10c.



















The journey home was a bit of a trek as involved a 3 hour bus journey to Riga through snow, there were 5 cars in the ditch on the way there, then a bus journey to the airport, a 3 hour flight and then a 3 hour train journey back home. It was so great to see Heather, the kids and Jaz the dog coming to meet me across the field by the station.



















Earlier this month I had my first full day of meetings at a church that supports the ship ministry - Rayleigh Baptist in Essex. This involved over night stays on the Saturday and Sunday nights at the parents of Doulos friends that live nearby. It was a great day with the opportunity to speak for 30 mins in the morning and 45 mins in the evening and I spent the afternoon with a lovely old couple who support friends in the ship ministry.
I really enjoy taking these meetings and letting people know all about what is happening in the ship ministry, but it is a shame that it has to involve more time away from the family.

Home life is getting more frantic now that Heather is working 4 days a week and the kids have so many activities. There are also lots of challenges associated with the missions work at Carrubbers. Last Sunday night we had an update night with all our missionaries around the world. This was a great chance to speak to them by phone and find out what was happening in their work and then pray for them. It is such a blessing to be involved in a church that is so involved in missions.

The coming weeks are busy again with 2 days in Carlisle this week at a seminar, speaking at a church in Edinburgh Sunday night, 3 days in the South West of England next week meeting pastors and supporters and then another full day of meetings in Slough the following Sunday.
At least we don't get bored!!

Great reports on the kids

Last night we went to the first parent / teachers meeting at the school since we came home. After 3 years of living on the ship and Kara never having attended normal school before we went to Logos Hope, we have been somewhat concerned about how Liam and Kara will fit in to their school.
We were both overwhelmed by the positive comments from both of their teachers, both about their school work and their personalities. They have both settled in really well and are well liked by teachers and classmates alike. Kara was described as mature and caring and Liam is showing real leadership tendancies without being pushy or demanding.
We remember the first 6 months of our time onboard when they seemed to change teachers every few weeks and we had real concerns about whether we had done the right thing bringing them to the ship. Now we can see so many positives of that time.
Liam played for the school again on Saturday this time in goals. They had a great first half - it was 2-2 at half time, but the second half didn't go so well and it ended up 8-3. Still it's all good practice.

On Sunday, I had my first large scale meetings at a church in Rayleigh, Essex. It was great to be able to share in the morning and evening services about the ship and I got a great response. I challenged the church about their involvement in missions, the pastor to come and visit the ship next year, and the youth pastor to bring a Vision Team out to Logos Hope. Overall a very good day. Was also fun to stay with parents of a great friend from the Doulos days, who lived nearby.

The coming weeks are looking busy and next week I am going to Latvia to visit one of our church missionaries. Heather has just started a new job working at a travel clinic 2 days a week, so life is very demanding for her, particularly when I am away.
Winter seems to be approaching fast and the days are getting colder and shorter - sometimes we really miss the Caribbean sun!

Belfast and London

It's funny how hard it seems to be to be consistent writing this blog now we are home. On the ship I was pretty faithful and keeping it updated every week to 10 days whereas since we came home, weeks go by before I realise I need to write and do an update.
Of course the danger then is that people stop checking for updates.
So I will try a lot harder to write more regularly.

Last week was my first trip to visit contacts for the ship ministry. I spent 3 days in and around Belfast. it was great meeting up with supporters of the Logos Hope who had been involved in the visit to Belfast last year. I also caught up with a number of friends who have been on the ships in the past. One of my goals for this visit was to find out how much appetite there is for supporting the ship ministry on an ongoing basis and whether we can raise some teams to come out to Logos Hope from Northern Ireland.
Another key objective was to try and get some people excited about coming to Beirut in December to see the ship in action.
Overall it was a very encouraging visit and I certainly found a number of people who are very excited about the ship ministry. It was also great to stay with my Aunt who lives in Ballymena and to be visiting for something other than a funeral.
After getting back from Northern Ireland on Thursday, we welcomed ship friends to the house on Friday for tea (dinner / supper depending on where you come from) Becky and Alison were on a tour of various ship friends around the country so it was good to catch up with them.























Then on Saturday morning, we were off bright and early to the airport to fly down to London for a wedding. Chris had been the chief electrician on Logos Hope throughtout the project years and he was marrying a fellow Londoner, Sara, who had worked for me in the business centre onboard.
It was great to see many ship friends at the wedding and we all enjoyed the day, despite a bitter cold couple of hours spent outside on the lawn. The kids did very well and kept dancing until the newly weds left at around 10.30pm.
On Sunday we take the opportunity to meet up with Heather's cousin who just had a baby a couple of weeks ago. Once again we saw that Liam and Kara just love babies and are always keen for a cuddle. Doesn't mean we will be getting one though!




































This week it's back to a bit more normal work at the computer but in another week I'm back down south for a full day at a church in Essex.

The kids are now fully involved in lots of clubs and activities after school and in the evenings and are loving it. Liam is learning to Street dance as well as diving, running, athletics and Boys Brigade. Kara is also running and doing athletics and Girls brigade. She is doing swimming in school while Liam is doing cycling.

Heather has been offered work as a nurse at a travel clinic, a job she is well qualified for and she is very interested in that idea. So we'll see what happens regarding hours etc.
On Sunday, she is doing her second big race in a month - the Kilamathon. 26.3km from Edinburgh, over the Forth bridge and back. She hopes to do a full marathon next year.
Well that's all for now.

a reminder of the Caribbean

ok, if you have a bit of time and want to escape from whatever drudgery or rainy day you may be experiencing, here is a little slideshow of some Caribbean beaches.
I appreciate that this will give totally the wrong impression of life on Logos Hope. It was actually hard work and we only got one day off a week, but many of those days were spent on beautiful beaches and we often went to more than one in a day.
So enjoy.

Caribbean Beaches Slideshow: Packwood family’s trip from Edinburgh, United Kingdom to 12 cities Montego Bay, Antigua, Curacao, Netherlands Antilles (near Willemstad), Nassau, Tobago, Saint Kitts and Nevis (near Frigate Bay, St. Kitts and Nevis), Saint Lucia (near Marigot Bay, St. Lucia), Bequia island, Grenadines (near Kingstown, St. Vincent and the Grenadines), Bermuda (near Tucker's Town, Bermuda), Barbados (near Bathsheba, Barbados), Aruba (near Santa Cruz, Aruba) and Grenada (near Grenville, Grenada) was created by TripAdvisor. See another Jamaica slideshow. Create a free slideshow with music from your travel photos.

Finding Normal

The past few weeks have been all about trying to find out what normal life is all about.
After 3 years living on the ship, it is taking time to adjust to life back here in Edinburgh.
We are back in our old house and going to the same church, but Heather and I are both doing different jobs and still trying to get used to different routines.
It's funny how you can forget how much time it takes to go food shopping, cook, clean up, keep a house and do all of the other "normal" things that most people take for granted.
Of course, it doesn't help when you have 6 weeks of school holidays, a month long mission at your church and all the other disruptions that the summer holidays bring.



















The final week of Room 65 saw a Californian band called "Least of These" playing every night. They were excellent and Kara really took to them, especially the female lead singer, Katy.
So here we are now in September, the nights are drawing in, the kids are back at school and life is taking on some routine.



















It has been great to have a number of ship friends visit over the past few weeks and it is always a bit surreal having people in your house that you have only known on the ship. Rob from Australia, Dawn from Scotland and Johann and Jael from Netherlands.
We also had some friends of friends visit - 2 Aussie girls traveling around Europe for a few months. It was fun introducing them to some Scottish culture.























Meanwhile, the Logos Hope has left Africa and is now in the Canary Islands. The time in West Africa was very signifcant with many lives changed by the visits to Liberia, Sierra Leone and Ghana. The ship will soon be heading into the Mediterranean and then later on towards the Gulf region.

one final thought on life at home - it is harder to blog! On the ship, we were changing ports and countries every few weeks and there was so much going on. Now we are settling down again, there is the question, what will people want to hear. Ah well, I guess we need to find that out too!
Time will tell what makes good reading.

Exciting days on Logos Hope

A major milestone was reached as the one millionth visitor climbed the gangway to visit OM’s ship Logos Hope in Monrovia, Liberia, this week. Francis Mulbaha, a local university student, was welcomed at 1300 local time on Wednesday 18 August by Director Gian Walser (Switzerland) and Captain Dirk Colenbrander (Netherlands). The ship’s mascot El Capitano was on hand along with crewmembers in national costumes. Excited, as well as somewhat overwhelmed by all the attention, Mr. Mulbaha said he had heard about the visit on the radio and was keen to come on board to find books for his studies as well as his family. To mark the occasion, Mr. Mulbaha was presented with a gift of books and a discount voucher for the onboard book fair.

















I“To reach a million visitors is a wonderful testimony to God’s grace and faithfulness,” said OM Ships International CEO Peter Nicoll. “It is our privilege and a great responsibility to welcome so many people in these past eighteen months and we have seen so many lives changed as a result. This is only possible because of the faithfulness of partners around the world who support this ministry financially and in prayer.”

Just a few days previously, Logos Hope was honoured to receive the President of the Republic of Liberia, Her Excellency Ellen Johnson Sirleaf. “Knowledge is the one thing that propels any person, any group, any nation,” said Her Excellency. “So when you come and get us exposed to the books you have, you contribute a whole lot to our rebuilding process.” After a short welcome programme, the President mingled with local citizens on the Visitor Experience Deck, especially the young ones. The President has a passion for children, books and education and was very appreciative of the value of the visit of Logos Hope to her nation, still striving to recover from the devastation of civil war.

















Despite living in Edinburgh now, our hearts are still very closely linked to what is happening onboard the Logos Hope.
Last night, I took my first meeting in a small local Baptist church, sharing about the ship. Hopefully this will be the first of many.

Room 65

One great thing about being back in Edinburgh this summer is to be able to get involved in our churches annual outreach during the Edinburgh festival - Room 65.
Edinburgh hosts the largest arts festival in the world every August and around 1 million people from all over the world come to our city during this time.
Over 10 years ago our church, which is located on the famous Royal Mile in Edinburgh, began opening it's doors to visitors, inviting them in for a cup of coffee and to listen to some live Christian music.
The outreach has grown over the years and this year we are open for the whole month of August. A band will play live music on stage, the church is very attractively lit inside and out, and we serve free coffee to everyone that comes in. Then we have the opportunity to speak to people around the tables. Each week we have around 1000 people come in and many great conversations. This year we are giving everyone a copy of Mark's gospel as they leave.
I am back doing what I enjoy most, standing out on the street and inviting people to come inside.
Check out www.room65.org
















Most weeks the music is provided by groups from our church, but the last week we have a band coming from California. Check them out below



So far this week we have already had over 500 people come through the door and we expect it to get busier towards the weekend. So we are looking forward to some exciting nights ahead.

The beauty of the iphone

For the past couple of years, many friends at home talked about their Apple iphones.

On the ship, we were removed from all the hype but the leadership team onboard did get Nokia smartphones to use and I soon began to rely on it for my email, calendar, internet even my Bible.

When I came home, I really wanted to find out what all the iphone fuss was about. As I need a mobile phone for my job, I asked OM if it would be possible to get the iphone and was very pleased when they said it was no problem.

So a few weeks ago, I got a brand new iphone 4.























It has been incredible to find out all the things you can do with this phone. The GPS maps mean you don't need a seperate SatNav system. you can even have a speed camera app that tells you where all the cameras are so that you know which are the dangerous roads - haha.
Yesterday I found a radio app that allows me to listen to our favourite Christian radio station in Florida any time I like. I can check my bank account, read the news, talk on Skype, even write this blog!
So I am now an iphone convert and the best part is that I don't even have to pay for the phone.

Hopefully most of you will know that you can help us out whenever you want to buy anything from Amazon by going through this site first. If you just click on the Amazon link, we will get a small commission. Please do remember and use this site, as it doesn't cost you anything but could be a big help to us. Check out the widget next to this entry - I'll add on a new song each time I update the blog. This first one is called The Show by Lenka and is a great happy tune that our friend Beth sang on Logos Hope one night in a talent show.

so what do you do?

The past few weeks I have been trying to work out exactly what my new role is with OM.
My title is Development Manager - OM Ships. That means I am responsible for developing relationships with churches, supporters and donors of the ship ministry in the UK. As this is a brand new role, it will take some time to develop this but what is becoming clear is that I will be at the heart of the marketing and publicity for the ship ministry. This week we are looking at how we are going to promote the ships for the rest of the year and what we want to raise finances for.
For years, the ships have increasingly relied upon the booksales in each port to cover the costs. We want to move away from that and see more support coming from different countries around the world, like the UK.
So in the coming months I will be working hard to find the Christians in the UK who are excited in the ship ministry and let them know about the needs that we have.

















Right now, we are enjoying a couple of days visiting Heather's brother in the North of Scotland. Liam & Kara love playing with their cousins and it has been great for them to get together again. Yesterday they actually were swimming in the sea which doesn't sound much if you live somewhere with warm summers, but here in Northern Scotland, the sea is freezing.
















So wetsuits are the order of the day but the kids had fun, particularly jumping off the harbour wall.
Back to Edinburgh tomorrow to see how Jazz survived without us.

returning to "normal life?" what's that?

After nearly a month back in the UK, I guess we should be getting back to normal life. However I'm not sure we know what that is anymore.
By far the biggest change in our life since coming home, apart from being in a house in Edinburgh rather than a cabin on a ship of course, is bringing dogs into our lives.
Before we went to the Logos Hope, we had agreed that we wanted to have a dog when we came home - specifically a labrador.
Then 2 weeks ago we heard that Heather's uncle was trying to find a home for his golden labrador because he could no longer cope with walking him. We were excited at the opportunity to give Jasper, or Jaz as we call him, a home.

So 2 weeks ago, my parents came up to Edinburgh for a visit and brought Jaz with them.
The whole family has fallen in love with Jaz. But one dog isn't enough.
Before we came home, our closest friends asked if we would look after their 9 month black lab put while they went on holiday for 2 weeks. So just a week after getting Jaz we also took in Rocky. Now we have 2 dogs dictating our lives for us - walks, more walks, barking, hairs everywhere. But it is worth it and we are loving having them.

However, with the dog walks comes some risks as we discovered on Sunday when we lost Kara for over an hour in woods. We were very concerned and called the police who came to search ther site and brought in a search dog. Thankfully she was found back at the place where we had left the car over half a mile away, but it was a very worrying time for us.

The kids had a great 3 weeks in school before finishing for their summer holidays. Typically just as the schools finish, the weather changes from the lovely warm sunshine of our first 2 weeks home, to wet and windy weather.
Heather is slowly getting used to working back in the NHS and moving between different doctors practices. It is a long way from working in the Logos Hope clinic.

I started my new job with OMUK last week with a visit to the headquarters down at Oswestry in Shropshire. This week I am working on putting together a visit for a team to the ship later in the year and a proposal for a mailing to supporters.
The office is in Glasgow so it means about 90 mins of travelling 3 or 4 days a week initially.

So we carry on adjusting to life in Edinburgh and enjoying the opportunities that "normal life" offers.

back in Edinburgh - back online

Well it's been over a month since we left the Logos Hope in the Caribbean.
It's been the longest period since we started this blog that we haven't written so we will try and get back into the habbit of keeping you updated on what we are doing.
After leaving the ship, we travelled to Florida where we spent a great 2 weeks on holiday with Heather's parents. We certainly needed the break and it was great to get quality time with Heather's mum and dad before coming home.
We enjoyed a few days at the theme parks and lots of time relaxing by the pools and eating out.
On Saturday 12th June, we flew back into Edinburgh and moved back into our house for the first time in 3 years. Friends from our church had worked hard to ensure the house looked great - they even decorated the kids rooms - giving Liam a jungle theme and Kara a Hannah Montana room. The kids were so excited.
We were given a great welcome back at our church on the first Sunday and it was so good to see many friends again.

The kids started school on their first Monday back. Kara had never been to a proper school before but they both loved it. Liam came home and said that he had been treated like a celebrity.
On the Friday it was school sports day and they both were involved in races - running and the sack race. Kara won her race which made her mum very proud.

Heather also started back at work, returning to nursing in doctors practices in our area of Edinburgh. She had been on a career break when we were on the ship, so she has returned to the same hours and same work. Hopefully after the school holidays she can look for more / different work.

I start out in my new role with OM UK tomorrow. I am starting with a visit down to the UK head office which is on the Welsh border in Shropshire. 6 hours on a train tomorrow - yeah! I hope to start getting a better idea of what the new role is going to entail and what my days and weeks will look like.

The biggest change for our family since we have come home has been getting a dog. Jazz is a beautiful golden labrador. He belonged to Heather's uncle who could no longer look after him. So on Friday my parents brought him up from Manchester and we are loving having him in the family.

It is great to be back in our own home again and picking up our lives here. However, we are still very much part of the ship ministry and excited to be able to continue to support the work from here in the UK.

our final post from the Logos Hope

Well the day has finally come, our last day onboard the Logos Hope.
Tomorrow morning we fly to Florida to meet Heather's parents for a 2 week holiday.
The past couple of weeks have been a bit of a blur. We have been in 3 different islands since the start of the month. We have had a number of different farewell get togethers and dinners, given our farewell speech and packed all our bags. So now we are ready to go.
Tonight we will have an open cabin to let people come and say goodbye, then at 9am tomorrow morning, we will travel in a ship van along the windy, bumpy little road that forms the main highway between the capital and the international airport in this amazing island of Dominica.
Tomorrow evening we will stay overnight at a friends house near Miami airport and then on Friday drive up to Orlando to meet Heather's parents at our accomodation.

So this is the last post from the Logos Hope. We will probably revamp our website when we get home and start to use that again but I'm sure we will also keep blogging so please do check again in a couple of weeks - we get back to the UK on 12th June.

Bye

Final voyage / Final port

In just a few minutes we will be setting sail on our final voyage - 15 hours sailing from St Kitts to Dominica. We have had just 5 days on this small island with a population of 36,000 and seen 20,500 visit the ship! It is amazing how people here just love the ship.
This week we are going to enjoy a few Sabbath days, when the ship's community pauses to reflect and have some extra time to hear from God and rest. It used to be a week, but due to the tight schedule before leaving the Caribbean, we have just 3 days.

Then it will just be a few more days before we are getting on a plane and flying to Florida.
On Friday night, we enjoyed a wonderful farewell meal along with a number of other long termers onboard the ship. The chefs cooked a delicious buffet and we all gathered in the lounge for dinner, followed by a time when those staying behind could say nice things about those of us leaving. It was so encouraging to hear the great things that were said about Liam and Kara.

They also had a farewell at the school from their teachers and class mates.

Saturday night we had a Brits party in the cabin which was a lot of fun - we ate custard and Cadbury's chocolate and played a few games.

Also on Saturday, Heather worked her final shift at the Service Desk and did her final on call shift as duty nurse. So everything is slowly coming to an end.

Of course on the Logos Hope, you are always saying goodbye to people as there is always someone leaving, but this next week will obviously be hard as we say goodbye to so many friends. We just trust that we are going to see some of them again at some point.

Today was our last day in St Kitts and we managed to get off the ship for a few hours and found an amazing spot along the coast where there are monkeys that come down and feed right in front of you. After visiting so many islands and the jungles of Guyana, this is the first time that we have seen wild monkeys close up. It was a great experience.

The beginning of the lasts

It feels like we are entering a season of "lasts"
We will soon have our last voyage, our last ship family outing, our last day out with good friends. The date of our farewell speach is set for 8 days time and we are busy chosing which pictures to show in our farewell presentation.
Tonight Heather and the kids are dancing the Scottish dance in a Cultural hour programme which may be the last time.
Of course every season comes to an end and our time on Logos Hope is rapidly nearing completion, yet we struggle with the bitter sweet reality of saying goodbyes and looking forward to going home.
On Tuesday we plan to send home our last few boxes and then it will just be the bags that we are taking with us left to pack.

This week was another busy week. The container loading on Tues / Weds went remarkably well with 13 containers loaded onboard in 1 1/2 days. It was great to get so many of the ships community involved in the work and see everyone pulling together. It felt like the book hold must have expanding walls.





































As well as the containers and packing, the kids were at school camp which they really loved and had a great time. I was acting director while Gian, our full time director was in Germany for meetings. I also helped with AV for a youth night on Friday which was packed to capacity with around 450 young people in the theatre. Heather is still very involved in drama and the Scottish dance, on call nurse and working at the Service Desk.

I am really looking forward to having my friend and old boss, Mark here for our last 2 weeks onboard. He has not been to the ship since we were in London and we have not seen him since his son died last August. I hope that we can get some good time together over the next couple of weeks. He was responsible for us joining the Logos Hope project and 10 years previously, joining the Doulos together.

A memorable voyage

Last Monday we set sail from Bermuda for a 4 day voyage south to Antigua.
Shortly after letting off the pilot and heading out to sea, the Logos Hope received a message from the Bermudan Harbour authorities, asking us to alter course to look for a missing yacht. A solo sailer was overdue in Bermuda and had not been heard from for several days. A radar contact had been picked up and we were asked to investigate.
We arrived at the position of the radar contact and discoverd that it was the yacht, badly battered from a storm. The sailor had lost all his sails, his engine room was flooded and he only had a very short range radio. He had just been floating for 24 hours hoping a ship would pass within range.
Logos Hope was able to provide communication between the yacht and the shore and help organise a rescue. We stayed on station for a couple of hours. lighting up the yacht with our searchlight until a rexcue boat arrived.

Once we got under way, we soon found ourselves in rough seas and for 24 hours, the ship bounced around with large waves breaking over the bow.

As this was our last significant voyage, it made it more memorable. The kids had to have school down in the lobby because their school on deck 8 was moving too much.

Despite the rough weather, due to turning on an extra engine, the ship still arrived in Antigua ahead of the original schedule. The ship opened to the public a few hours later and in the evening held an Official Reception with the Prime Minister as Guest of Honour.

Also on Friday, the kids went off for school camp. They will be ashore for 4 days staying at a campsite in the middle of the island. We saw them today and they are having a great time with a swimming pool and adventure playground on the camp site.

This week we need to load 13 containers onto the ship on Tuesday and Wednesday. It is going to be a busy time. Also the ships director is away so I will be standing in as acting director for the last time.
Less than 4 weeks to go now before we leave the ship.

running

Today, Heather took part in a 20km road race here in Bermuda along with a number of others from the ship. She had been training for it over the past few weeks and spent the last couple of days eating much more than she normally would, to give her energy for the run.
Heather really wanted to set a good time but found it to be a very tough course with a number of long hills. However she did manage to finish in under 2 hours.
At the moment it feels like time is running away as we get closer to leaving the ship. We are about to set sail on our final longer voyage - 4 nights. The forecast is for strong winds so we will see if we actually get a rough voyage before we leave.
We are visiting 3 ports in 4 weeks in May so time is going to fly by.

We have really enjoyed our visit to Bermuda. It is a beautiful island and the people are very friendly. It is a shame we weren't here in summer when it's a bit warmer and we could enjoy the incredible beaches.



It has been exciting to see people coming through the Journey of Life and responding to it. Yesterday I spent a few hours down there just observing people's responses. It was great to see parents telling their children the story as they walked through.
Now we need to work on developing a film to go at the end of the Journey.
ok time to run - off to Antigua.

Journey of life - years in the making

This past week has certainly been one of the busiest and most intense that I have experienced during my time onboard.


Monday 12th, a team of 10 arrived from the States to begin the installation of the Journey of Life exhibit along with many other additions to our visitor deck. I have been working on this project for 8 months and it was exciting to finally see it all coming together.



















Concept designer Patrick Marsh

The original plan had been to work at night and still have the deck open during the day. However,customs authorities here in Bermuda had told us that we were not allowed to have our International Cafe open here to sell anything not bought on the island. So we took the decision to close half of the deck to allow the work to be done during the day time. The team actually worked two nineteen hour days to get the job done.
This was clearly a Divine intervention as it became clear in the subsequent days as we worked more and more hours,all through the day and well into the night, that we would never have got the job done just working night shift.
It was exciting to see the walls going up, the paint going on and then the story starting to appear.

Textiles from around the world



Half way through the week, we began preperations for the annual ships donor weekend which was to take place here in Bermuda. With my upcoming role in Partner development in the UK, I wanted to be involved in this weekend as well, so I accepted a role as transport co-ordinator, which proved to be a significant challenge.
On Thursday, I moved over to the hotel on the other side of the island where the donor event was taking place, and left someone else in charge of seeing the Journey of Life completed, in time for all the donors to have a tour on Friday afternoon.

Friday was intensely stressful as I had to oversee the transport for nearly 200 people by bus, van, taxi then boat to get to the ship, quickly change and MC the programme for them all in our theatre, then run up and stand at the beginning of the Journey of Life to explain it to everyone as part of their tour. After grabbing a quick bite of lunch, we took groups on a tour of the whole ship, ending up in our cabin for coffee.
I had less than half an hour to then race around the ship and find the installation team to say goodbye, as they were leaving next morning and I would not see them again.
At 4 pm it was back to the chartered boat to take everyone across the bay to the jetty where the buses would transport them back to their 2 hotels. It was well over an hour before we got everyone back to their hotel.

I realised that sometimes you just say yes to too many things and push yourself beyond your limitations; Friday was one such day.

The donor weekend went very well with all of those attending, mainly North Americans, excited and challenged by all that they saw and experienced of the Logos Hope. We were very encouraged that many of them gave significant financial gifts at the end of the weekend towards the ongoing work of the ship.

Now after a couple of days to recover, it's back to more normal work, trying to continue to push forward the development on deck 4 and do some training with the team on how to maximise this new tool for the gospel.



New interactive bridge display






Father & son reconciled


Finally - check out the latest video clip from the "ship shots" collection - the crowds in Kingston - go to www.omships.org/shipshots