Back in the UK! (Ok, ok Northern Irland)

We've safely arrived in Belfast! This picture shows the sun shining along the coast, like if God was telling us that there are yet many things to come... But lets not exagerrate, it has been raining the past three days! (yup it's just like home!) Let's not forget that we are in England! Oups, sorry, I mean in Northern Irland!

Islands, Friends and Fish

Wow!!! We've just had an AMAZING time in the Faroe Islands! Home to the Logos Hope, the Faroe Islands is a place I didn't even know existed before joining the ship.
Around half of this country's population is christian making it a heaven on earth...
It has one of the lowest crime rates in the world, the people are very friendly and the landscape is breathtaking (one of God's most beautiful handiworks in my opinion).
Being quite tired because of the ministry start of the ship many of us were glad for the change, before arriving we were informed: in the Faroe Islands you will be spoiled! That's exactly what we've been. Pastry donations, Fish donations and visits to the people's houses have been the main blessings. On my last off day I was able to spend the night with Woo Young Jung (South Korea) at some relatives of people on board... We had a great time! We got there on Friday evening, spent the evening with a local youth group (until 1:30 am...) got up late on Saturday and spent the whole day fishing (Woo Young and I have done quite a lot of fishing together in the Faroe Islands, I love it!!!) catching five Cod and a flat fish in the harbour. On Sunday we went to a local Faroese church and had a wonderful meal of Cod (My fish consumption has gone up 98 % since we've arrived) cooked in curry, apples, ognions and bananas! I'm energized and ready to resume work tonight (night shift 00:00 to 08:00) having the three next night watches while sailing to Belfast!
Lately people onboard have been tired because of the lack of people to work on the visitors deck. God has blessed us and has given to the Logos Hope community what it needs to keep going!
May he bless all the Faroese and may they through him keep blessing those around them.

See you later United Kindom!

We've come to the end of our stay in Scotland! With over 12 000 visitors and a strong partnership with the Scottish churches, God is and will continue working in this country.
We hope to see Scotland transformed through God's Spirit who's been at work the past 10 days.
I was able to participate in this work (in addition to my Engine Room job) by helping on Deck 4 in the International Cafe, welcoming visitors and distributing flyers in the Ocean Terminal Mall.
I also was able to spend the afternoon and have lunch at Alice Ly Tin's (France) aunt's house yesterday, enjoying the good food (homemade) and peace and quiet.
Our next stop is very exciting! Even though the Faeroe Islands are home to less than 50 000 people, the Christian population is quite active and they've taken care of everything for us. We are expecting to be greeted by a couple hundred people and the border/customs controls will be done while picking up the pilot, so that we may welcome people aboard as soon as we get there!
We left early this morning at 6:00 am and are expecting to arrive in port Friday evening!

Getting into it!

I'm finally getting into the engine work routine! After having spent a week of night watch (from 12pm to 8am) in the engine room with Olya (Russia) I'm starting to get a hang of the engine machinery. Though I must admit that my sleeping schedule was totally disrupted and I didn't feel like doing anything during the day. This coming week I'll be doing day watch (first watch alone) which will be kind of exciting and stressful at the same time.

The picture above is of Jaimee Moses (one of my room mates from South Africa) and I cleaning out the starboard black water sewage tank (fun!!!).
It's the tank that stores all the toilet water... luckily this one hasn't been in use for quite a long time and all we have to do is scrape the sediments off.
The mask we got to wear is a BA set (Breathing Apparatus) connected to a pressurized air line. This air allowed us to breath because we were in an enclosed space where we could be lacking air which could lead to passing out and even dying. As I was scraping away, the thought of someone shutting the air line came to my mind... nothing of the sort happened but once I got dressed after work I got to thinking:

The BA mask could be compared to Jesus Christ that God gave to us, giving us air to breath and keeping us alive. People without the mask eventually pass out and need someone with a mask to help them out (in other words someone who is born again preaching the good news). On the other hand people with the mask could have the air line closed on them by satan trying to destroy them, yet when they start to lack air if they react fast enough they can turn the air back on. The last category is those with the mask who take it off and pass out, ending up in the same situation as the first people.
This is something I've learned the past months. God took the first step, gave us Jesus and let us know him. Those who've had that privilege are now responsible for keeping the mask on, staying close to Jesus and turning on the airline when satan turns it off. For many the first step has been taken, that's easy because God took that one.
The next step is ours to take... not as easy... !

-Please pray that I keep progressing in my journey with Christ, that I will not wait for him to keep working in me, but that I keep working and searching harder to know him better.

A big thank you to you all who are supporting me through your prayers... It really does make a difference! God bless you!

Family and Friends in Holland on board the Logos Hope

With the ship being in Scheveningen I found myself only three hours away from home! In other words it was the perfect time for a few people to come and visit me.
The first ones to come and visit me (and Ruben and Betsy as well) were Nathan Philips (from my church) and David Edouart (the guy with whom I went on a bike trip) both good friends of mine!

We (the French people on board) then had the honor of welcoming aboard the director of OM France ; Jan Coetzer as well as his wife.
I was also able to welcome Kevin et Debbi Eggleston my "adopted grandparents" who are at the present moment working with my father.

And the best for last: I got to see my whole family! All eight of them and Debora my cousin were able to spend two nights on the Logos Hope and experience what it's all about. ( My Dad and Stephane are missing on the photo). You can see more pictures from this visit on my parents' blog.

It was really awesome to be able to welcome all these people on board and I've been encouraged by the time I spent with them (as well as spoiled by their gifts).
Our special time in the Netherlands is coming to an end, but I'm sure that Scotland has many surprises for us! (We leave tomorrow morning for Edinburgh)
I finally finished my classroom hours for becoming a watchkeeper and am going to integrate the practical side of things starting tomorrow morning!

Living as God sees it...

For three days now that I've been co-watchkeeping the machines of the engine room from 8 am to 4 pm... Making sure that the boat has enough fresh water, verifying that the generators aren't overheating, cleaning the heavy fuel and diesel oil purifiers, keeping the hydraulic oil running, getting the KaMeWa pumps running (the ones in charge of the main propellers) and so on... Honestly, I'm really going to enjoy this job!
I must admit, though, that I'm starting to realize once I've entered the full time working routine I'm going to have to be very careful how I use my time.
I would already like to spend more time with God, just listening to Him, studying his Word, but I'm too lazy and cannot make myself do this.
I thought I was ready to sacrifice all I had for God, (in a way material sacrifice is easy for me) but this is easier said then done (I need to give him my time, energy and personal pleasures!).
I want to sacrifice ALL to him but don't have the will to do it, I know that this would change my way of seeing God forever, but in the end I'm afraid of this change.


If you would be so kind to pray for me:


- That God would put aside my pride so that I can really sacrifice everything for the good reasons.
- That God would give me the strength to invest in his ministry for Him only, His glory and not my own.


God speaks to us when we take the time to listen, I've personally experienced it... Our life resembles that of a falling leaf; how much more is eternity worth our time, energy and strength. Why do I persist in being blind, why am I deaf... ?

Netherlands Here We Come!!!

Well, our three days in Sweden are over!
Everything went quite well taking into account that most events had been canceled by the line-up team when they heard that we needed another certificate...
They did resend the invitations out, but it created some confusion!
I was able to have my first E day (Experience day) and tried chatting with visitors in the I-café. But that wasn't my kind of thing so I switched with the poor Indian on the gangway greeting the visitors, (it was quite cold outside) and just loved it!!!
We had about 1300 visitors over those three days, which is relatively good for a short and confusing stop (not to mention in a European port).
Now we've been sailing for two days! The waters have been making us roll back and forth and a few have already been affected by seasickness... Personally I haven't been affected but may be with rougher weather.
As I look at the plot of our voyage on google earth I can see that we're at the border of the Netherlands! We should pick up a pilot who'll lead us into Harlingen very soon! (Yay!)