End of the Caribbean?

Zoooming by, created in order to keep man accountable to God, this vague concept of time does not seem to ever slow. Yes, our last two visits to Antigua and St Kitts announce quite clearly "Our Caribbean time is coming to an end!", Dominica, our present port is the last port we are visiting before crossing the Atlantic Ocean to reach out to West Africa!

In St John's, Antigua I had the opportunity of playing soccer as the sun set (see above) enjoying the warm homie feeling of the Caribbean, for yes, I have gotten used to the "mindset" of the Caribbean. What mindset you ask? The one of "Yea Mon, it's gonna be alyrigh", a very laid back culture from the children whom always seem to be just "hangin" to the old men with their Bobcaps sitting on a wall. It will be very strange going from this very open culture to the more "restricted" countries in North Africa.

I've also been busy with my band on the ship, enjoying playing on Sunday mornings for church and Monday nights for worship nights. Playing trombone is one way for me to relax and just praise God for who He is. I do miss my euphonium and am looking forward to taking it in my arms when I get home..

We only stayed in St Kitts for four days due to our schedule but many people came and it left me the impression that it is a beautiful welcoming country. To get a feel of it's land, a group of friends and I climbed "Monkey Hill" and got an awesome view of its surroundings. We also discovered mangoe trees (which were ripe for this is their third season) and tree Crabs.

Ash, Simon (two of my close pals onboard) and I observing the lay of the Land...

Prayer Points:

-My leadership role in the Plumbing departement has proven to be quite stressful and I'm not sure I'm handeling it correctly, pray that God would lead me!

-The piping project in the Engine room is going well (apart for the fact that we still are waiting for specific pieces) pray that we would do a great job as well as finish with the project!

-Pray that God would lead me to do more personal ministry with people I meet (sewage guys, people in the streets or guys I meet on church teams.)

Thank you for praying,

BeeeerRRRRrrrmmMMuuuUUUUdaAA!

Bermuda? The first thing that comes to my mind when I hear "Bermuda" is the place where Merlin (The Sword in the Stone) went on vacation with his flower shorts... Well it isn't far from reality for Bermuda is made of numerous small islands somewhere in the Atlantic. With 60 000 citizens it is also the fourth richest country in the world! (in average pay per person) 7.00 US$ for a cheese... That's not cheap. But its economy is not its only strength, it also has beauty beyond imagination with its striking clear blue waters and pink beaches.

As we touched down in Hamilton a team of 12 (the "Gold Team") was put together to welcome at the Willow Bank Hotel between 150 t0 200 supporters of the Logos Hope ministry. I was chosen to be one of these 12, welcoming and just being available in any way for these people (transport, communications, food etc...). The first day of their arrival I got the immense pleasure of being the "luggage man", one of the reasons I enjoyed it so much is that I had a golf cart to help me... I miss driving so much!

We had five amazing days getting to know our supporters and explaining to them our futur projects for the ship.

Personally I learned how to take initiative when it comes to services (calling a taxi, giving info, contacting the right people). Yes, we did get to enjoy the island at the same time, the simple fact of passing in front of such a gorgeous view (first picture) every time you're putting luggage away was... well, a blessing. It is true that the Island is beautiful, yet I must explain that as it is a norther island it was very cool at the time and wearing long sleeves was not uncommon...

Fruit of this port:

-Motivated supporters having a new passion for our ministry

-A good donation for our school projects in __ (a futur port of call)

-Books and ministry (yes we did have many visitors)