Great Sabbath Week!

We had a wonderful Sabbath week here in St. Lucia. We went through a six-series training on the Tabernacle from the Old Testament. What a powerful message. The speaker was a pastor from Bermuda and he tied the Tabernacle in so beautifully with the life of Christ. We also had lots of time to rest and relax -- much needed after several VERY busy ports in the last few months. This was the first break we've had on board as a ship's company, so we really enjoyed the blessing of it. There were also lots of fun community events, so that was a blast. Now on to Guyana tomorrow! Please pray for safe and smooth sailing.

Goodbye Barbados, Hello again St. Lucia!

We left Barbados late last evening and arrived in St. Lucia early this morning. Quick sail! Some of you might be thinking... weren't you just in St. Lucia?! Yes, we were! The reason we came back to St. Lucia is to have a "Sabbath Week" for the crew. Approximately once a year, the OM Ships take a Sabbath Week (this is our first!). The purpose of the week is spiritual refreshment, teaching, community building and rest. The week will be filled with teaching, community events, personal time and free time. As you can imagine, we're quite excited! After being on the ship for almost 15 months now, we're definitely looking forward to this week. Please be praying that we can feel rested and rejuvenated at the end of this week. We'll be in St. Lucia through next Monday and then we'll be sailing on to Guyana!

Salvation Army Church

We had a great time yesterday at a local Salvation Army church. We gave a presentation to the church congregation on missions and they really seemed to enjoy it. You can see from the pictures below that there are lots of fun props and costumes to illustrate the presentation, so the kids seemed to really have fun. After church, a wonderful lady and her daughter invited us to her home for lunch. We got to try the Barbadian national dish - flying fish! What a treat.

HIV/ AIDS Training

Yesterday morning, I was a part of a team that lead a training on HIV/ AIDS for 20+ local child care workers. What an awesome opportunity. Six of us from the ship lead a two-hour training on many aspects of the virus. I lead a session on "How does HIV attack the immune system?" The last 20 minutes or so of the training was the highlight of our time. We spent the time in small group discussion and I joined in on one of the groups. I really enjoyed hearing the issues that the Bajans are specifically facing in regards to HIV/ AIDS. Meeting these dedicated child care workers was so encouraging. May God bless their amazing work in Barbados.

Ashfords' Visit

Enjoy a few pictures from Wes and Joanne's (John's parents) visit. We really enjoying celebrating Joanne's birthday with her! And John is definitely enjoying his fried banana with ice cream!

Barbados

Easternmost of the Caribbean islands, Barbados is often called "Little England." Barbados means "Bearded One." The name is said to be given by a Portuguese discoverer because of the beard-like vines on the fig tress. Barbados is one of the most densely populated countries in the Caribbean, with a population of 279,000 and size of 167 square meters. The capital is Bridgetown, where we are berthed.

Here are a few fun facts about the island:
-Barbados is hailed as "the land of the flying fish."
-George Washington's only trip abroad was to Barbados.
-Barbados is the birthplace of the grapefruit - a cross between a pommelo and a sweet orange.
-South Carolina was originally settled by Barbadians, and it's first Governor was a Barbadian.

Dr. George Rekers

We had the great priviledge this past week of sitting under the teaching of a wonderful man named Dr. George Rekers, Ph.D., Th.D., MBA. We have never met a man that knows so much about so many topics! To us, one of the most interesting things about him is that he was one of the founders of the Family Research Council, a Christian non-profit lobbying organization. Over the past week, he taught the ship's company on many topics such as leadership, stress management, marriage and parenting, homosexuality, mentoring, and slavery's affect on the Caribbean. What a privilege to sit under such a man.