The Changes on the ship....
Hi Everyone,
How are you all doing!!!! I know it's been a while since I updated my blog... It's been hard for me to update this as much as I would like, because there is so much I have been involved in lately, and it seems like there are very few times when I get a spare moment to write... I'm so sorry about this.... But, I just want to let you all know that I might not be able to write every week... Thank you all for your patience and understanding...
Today, I just thought that I would show you a little bit more of the ship and what changes have been happening to the ship... It really is so neat to see the ship transformed, and it is such a priviledge to be able to help the ship get ready to sail... As of right now, we don't know when we are leaving the port of Koge, Denmark... It's looking like sometime in December/January... But, I'm trying not to have expectations, but to enjoy being here and make the most of this opportunity here... ONe thing is for sure though, when we leave here, the ship is going to the UK ( Scotland, Ireland, England, etc)... I am so excited about this, because like I've told many of you, it has always been my dream to visit Scotland (where my papa grew up)..... Right now, the port we are in looks like this:
Hopefully, you can see the ship in this picture... It's right in the center of the picture....
One of my favorite places on the ship is in the staff lounge. This is a place where the ship's staff can hang out, buy snacks from the "ship shop" and relax... Last week, for my first time, I got to work in the ship shop... It was so nice because I got to talk and interact with a lot of people, but it was also embarassing because I got so confused with the danish money... Two of the coins look exactly the same to me.. So, I kept giving people the wrong amount of change. Thankfully, everyone was so gracious about my mistakes.
Another big change that happened in the ship two weeks ago was the opening of the Logos Lounge... When I first arrived on the ship, the Logos Lounge was called the "Mess hall" (and it literally looked like a mess). It was the place for all of the people working in the engine room or on the deck to eat , since they were normally covered in oil and dirt.... But,,, two weeks after I arrived on board, my work team, the angels, got to help transform the room... We folded down all of the tables, tore all of the cardboard off the carpet and scrubbed all of the walls and cealings clean. That week, the ship had a grande opening for the Logos Lounge... We know use this room for all of our conferences and for Sunday services... Here is what it looks like know....
The Last project that has been worked on within the past two weeks is the library. I did not help organize or set up this room. But it is so awesome to see this room completely altered from when I had first seen it. Here is the before and after picture.
Other than the ministry that is happening on board the ship, many of you might be wondering what ministry is taking place outside of the ship... Well, the ship works with tons of different ministries on shore. I've been to one of those ministries called Jabez ( this is the same ministry I shared about in one of my first blogs). But, beside this ministry, I have spent my ministry days doing a pray walk around the town of Koge; I have gone out into the area and talked with the Danish people. But, before I tell you what else I have done, first, I want to explain what happened when I first interacted with the people of Koge. We found that the best way to start a conversation with someone was to tell them that we were new to this town and ask them if they knew of any stores or neat sites that we should see. After asking this, many people would notice, through our accent, that our group was made up of many different nationalities. So, they would ask us where we were from and why we were here. This presented us with the opportunity to share about the ship.. But, I realized that as soon as we mentioned the word, "ship" or "Logos Hope," most people would say very sharply and abruptly, "O.K. Well, I have to go. Nice to meet you" (as if they wanted nothing to do with the ship). This was a very discouraging start for me! I learned later on though, that most people here think that the ship is a cult... Well, the next day I was still feeling discouraged and wondered how I would ever be able to start a meaningful conversation with someone, when all of the sudden something unexpected happened. I had been shopping in town, and I was making my way back to the ship when a man and his mother stopped me and very curiously started asking me questions about the ship. I was so excited that God gave me another opportunity, and I began to realize that God is at work in this place! I just have to be open to being used by God when an opportunity arises.
Last week for my Experience day, I went on a scavenger hunt in the town... My team had to perform different tasks (like finding a person riding a bike, someone reading a book, someone in a red shirt) and we had to take a picture with these people, learn their names and find out an interesting fact about them.... I was excited to discover, through the scavenger hunt, that my team was able to get to know many individuals and have good conversations with them... Also, many of our conversations allowed us to share about the ship and a lot of people sounded interested when we invited them to visit the ship.. Here are some of the people we met. The first picture was an older man from Afghanastan who would like to go back to his country, but can't because it's too expensive. We met him near the train station, reading a book about his country... The second picture is a guy with his moterbike who very openly shared with us about his past and about his present experiences too. When I first told him that I was from the U.S., he said to me, "I've noticed that Americans don't know our Danish language at all. All they know is French and Spanish." I felt really bad when I heard this! I really want to start learning more about Denmark and their language know. So hopefully, I can show the people how important they are to me.
The last thing that I thought I would share with you all is something fun that happened two weeks ago.. Well, I guess not everyone would call it FUN! But I had a lot of fun doing it! You see, safety on the ship is a huge priority. The Deckies are constantly having drills, practicing how to put out fires, how to lower the lifeboats and how to do other things just in case there is an emergency........But, two weeks ago, the captain decided to have a drill for ALL of the people on board (not just the deckies)..... So, at 9 o'clock on a Wednesday morning, the ship's alarm went off and the loud speaker announced that everyone had to evacuate the ship (don't worry, they announced that it was just a drill so that no one would completely freak out). So, everyone walked down the gangway and gathered in their muster station (muster stations ensure that everyone is accounted and no one is missing). It took the ship about 20 minutes to evacuate everyone while the fireman put out the (fake) fire inside... It was funny to see how curious the people of Denamark were! One man sat in his car, right in the middle of the street, for about 15 minutes, just watching us.
Hope you all enjoyed the pictures and news........ As you can see, I am having a lot of fun on board the Logos Hope!.....But, in the midst of fun, pray that I'll be able to keep up my energy everyday, because it is so easy to get extremely worn out and tired. Thanks you all! I love you!
Again, Please know that I am praying for you all.. If you ever have any prayer requests, please, please,please, send it to me and I would love to pray for you!!!! Even though I am on the other side of the world, your needs still mean just as much to me as they did when I was back home! Have a blessed week!
love you ,
Joslynn
P.S. A letter just isn't a letter without a P.S., Right?
Here are just a few more fun pictures that I've taken....
First picture, me and many others have learned to be careful for what we pray for. My roomate prayed for chicken and got chicken two nights in a row. She also prayed for cake and got cake three nights in a row... I prayed for pancakes ( because I was missing them so much) and I got pancakes two days in a row... Although we had a good laugh when God answered our prayers,,, I have to say,,, it hasn't helped my weight much!!!!
Here is most of the Angels team... When we are all together, some people call us the "Red Army."
I've got the priviledge of scrubbing the walls with paint thinner within the past three weeks... These are the masks we have to wear when working with thinner....
