Bahamas

The Bahamas consists of 29 islands, 661 cays, and 2,387 islets. Thirty of the largest ones are inhabited. Population is estimated at 330,000. Beginning 50 miles from the Florida coast, the Bahamas form a 760-mile arc through the Atlantic. The island of Bimini is closest to Florida and the island furthest south is Insgua, just 60 miles from Haiti. The two most popular destinations for tourists are Nassau/ Paradise Island (where we are!) and Grand Bahama Island. Paradise Island is home of the famed Atlantis hotel. Nassau is the capital of the Bahamas. The majority of tourists (80%) are American. As one of the most prosperous countries in the Caribbean region, the Bahamas relies on tourism to generate most of their economic activity. Tourism as an industry not only accounts for over 60 percent of the Bahamian GDP, but provides jobs for more than half the country's workforce. After tourism, the most important economic sector is financial services, accounting for around 15 percent of GDP.

A few interesting facts ~
-The Bahamas were the site of Columbus' first landfall in the New World in 1492.
-The Bahamas are famous for their conch shells and also conch meat which can be served raw or fried or used in fritters, soups and chowders.
-The name of the country comes from the Spanish word ‘bajamar’, meaning ‘shallow water’.
-The official language spoken in the country is English and the currency, the Bahamas-Dollar is at par with the US-Dollar.
-The largest immigrant community in the Bahamas is that of the Haitians. 30,000-50,000 of the residents are concentrated in the New Province, Abaco and Eleuthera islands.

Goodbye Kingston, Hello Nassau

Greetings from Nassau, Bahamas! We arrived into Nassau around 4am this morning! We are RIGHT in the middle of town in the cruise terminal. As I look out our port hole, I can see a huge cruise ship - Carnival Destiny and the famous Atlantis Hotel! If I look out on the other side of the ship, I can see the British Colonel hotel where my parents honeymooned 40 years ago! Wow, how neat for John and I to have the opportunity to spend two weeks on this special island. But before we go into too much detail about Nassau, first a recap of Kingston.....

We spent February 16 – March 23 in Kingston, Jamaica. We think March was the busiest month we’ve had so far since joining the ship! During our five weeks in Kingston, we had almost 136,000 visitors!! And we broke the record for the number of visitors in one day – 7,138! We also ran 52 programs for school kids (19,000+ kids), had 48 events on board for the public to attend, sent out teams to 53 churches, and sold over 340,000 books (14,000+ of those being Bibles!). Wow, now you can see why we were so busy! The city of Kingston has a population of over 1 million people, so this definitely was our busiest Caribbean port. Praise the Lord!

Church on Sunday

Yesterday morning, we went with a team to Victor's Gospel Ministry Church in Kingston. What a joy! Our 10-person team did an hour program of testimonies, a drama, mime, missions presentation and a sermon. The congregation was so warm, friendly and welcoming. What a blessing to spend the day with them. John and I did a missions presentation for them about where the 450,000 missionaries today live and serve and where missionaries are most needed in the world today. Afterward, three people told us they were inspired to look into going into missions full time! Praise the Lord! The pictures below are of John and I presenting the missions presentation.

Women's Centre of Jamaica

On Wednesday morning, a team from the ship went out to the Women's Centre of Jamaica. The centre is actually a school for teenage mothers so they can complete their education. They bring their babies with them to the centre and they are looked after while the girls are in school. The centre also provides counseling and classes on mothering and basic living skills. Our team gave an encouraging presentation about God's Love to the 75+ girls in attendance and then spent time connecting and praying with the girls. We really enjoyed connecting with these young women.


Praying for the girls.


The girls loved taking pictures with us!


Besides loving taking pictures with us, they also loved wearing my sunglasses! ha ha!


Posing for the camera!

MC'ing on Sunday Night

Every Saturday and Sunday night for the past several ports, ship's company has been putting on something called a "Cultural Hour" for locals that are coming on board. There are two 45-minutes performances each evening and the program consists of cultural dances and acts from about the world, a drama and then the Gospel message. The program is held in our Hope Theatre and it's actually quite good!

We had the privilege of being involved in the two programs Sunday night as the MC's! We were asked to dress up as Western cowboys for the MC'ing! So we went all out with cowboy hats, boots, big belt buckles and John even wore chaps! What a hoot! John especially really got into the role and was teaching the crowd cowboy phrases like, "Howdy ya'll!" and "yeee haw." The crowd loved it! We had such a blast! What a fun opportunity to MC together.

After the programs, there is time to connect with the audience. We had a great time meeting the locals that came to watch the program and answer questions they had about the ship or the program. We got asked some funny questions like "Do ALL Americans dress like that?" and "Do you own a horse?" hee hee! The Cultural Hour has been a fantastic way for ship's company to connect with locals in a way that is entertaining yet impacting at the same time. We were so delighted to be involved on Sunday night.


Backstage preparing to start the show!

Website Changes

We wanted to inform you about a few changes to the OM Ships websites. In the past, we've had two different websites for our two different ships -- www.logoshope.org and www.doulos.org. With the decommissioning of the Doulos, soon OM Ships will just have one ship (Logos Hope). So with this change, we'll now just have one ship website -- www.omships.org. So please begin using that website instead of the Logos Hope website. We also have another website www.gbaships.org (which is where you'll be redircted from www.logoshope.org), but it's a more technical website for suppliers, government authorities, marine authorities, etc. So please begin using www.omships.org for all of your Logos Hope news! And just a reminder that every few days, there is a new story on the homepage, so please make sure to check the website every so often for the latest happenings on the Logos Hope.

Haiti

Last night during our ship prayer night, our OM Caribbean Field Director shared about Haiti. He's traveled there many times since the earthquake (he was just there last week!), so he was able to share last night about his experiences and show us lots of recent pictures. God is moving in AMAZING ways in Haiti.

News sources didn't cover the fact that one month ago, on the 12th of February, the President of Haiti canceled Carnival and called for three days of Prayer and Fasting instead. You've got to watch this video about the three days. Over 1 million people in Haiti gathered together to seek the Lord. You can watch the video on You tube. Click Here Praise God.

A.W. Tozer Quote

This quote was on our daily calender this week and I love it so much that I want to share it with all of you.

"An infinite God can give all of Himself to each of His children. He does not distribute Himself that each may have a part, but to each one He gives all of Himself as fully as if there were no others."

May this quote become real to all those reading this blog.

AIDS/ HIV Seminar

I had the awesome privilege yesterday of presenting in an all-day seminar on board for locals about AIDS and HIV. The target audience for the event was Christian leaders in the community. The seminar was two-fold in purpose -- to educate, but also to encourage the community leaders to start formulating a response to the AIDS epidemic within their communities and their churches. I gave two training sessions -- one on Global AIDS Statistics and one on Guiding Principles (the principles that should guide Christians in their response to AIDS). The seminar was well attended, so we were so thankful! We pray that the seminar will prompt Jamaicans to take action in the fight against AIDS. In the global AIDS pandemic, the Caribbean is the second-most affected region in the world (first is Africa). Among adults aged 15–44 in the Caribbean, AIDS has become the leading cause of death. Pray for those infected and affected by AIDS in Jamaica, the Caribbean and throughout the world.

GPS Seminar

On Tuesday, I coordinated an all-day seminar for crew members that have been on board for 18 months (the crew members that we joined with in September 2008). GPS stands for "Global Purpose for Self." The day included sessions on Spiritual Gifts, Personality Types, Strengths & Abilities, Holland Codes, and Passions & Values. Thankfully, I had many people assist me in leading the different sessions. I'm so thankful that the day went well and many people seemed to really benefit from the sessions. The purpose was to give direction and guidance to these crew members as they begin thinking about their life after the Logos Hope.

Our Sunday

We had a terrific day yesterday in Jamaica. In the morning, we had the honor of attending the home church of a fellow Jamaican crew member and friend Tami. We really enjoyed being a part of her home congregation. We were made to feel very welcome and really enjoyed meeting so many wonderful people.

In the afternoon, John was a part of a team that put on a youth program in a small village about an hour from our ship. I was supposed to go on the team as well, but I have a horrible cold, so couldn't muster up the energy. boo hoo. Anyhow, John really enjoyed helping put on the program for 200+ youth ages 5 - 19! The highlight for John was connecting with two young boys at the end of the program that both made decisions to follow Christ. Praise the Lord for His amazing work in Jamaica.

Day out on Monday!

On our off day on Monday, our Jamaican friend (and former ship son) Terrance took us out for a local taste of Kingston. We took the bus into town and had quite an interesting day exploring the inner-city of Kingston. The first picture is us on the bus ride and the following three pictures I took from the window in the bus of the local market.

Christian Businessmen's Luncheon

For lunch today, I (John) had the opportunity to share my testimony with men and women from the Kingston, Jamaica business community. On the first Thursday of each month, the Full Gospel Businessman's Fellowship of Jamaica has lunch together. FGBF is an international organization of business men and women who are united in Christ, and have a desire to leverage the gifts and talents that God has entrusted to them for Kingdom work. They meet regularly for prayer and fellowship in a non-denominational setting and are encouraged to bring non-believing business associates along to hear testimonies of the transformational power of Jesus. It was a great privilege to share and fellowship with these wonderful community leaders.