In 3 days we are saying farewell to the Caribbean and crossing the Atlantic Ocean toward Africa. It will take 2 weeks of sailing before we hit land in Sierra Leone. It's an exciting time of not only looking forward to what God has prepared for us in Africa, but also to look back at everything that God has done in the Caribbean.
Our first port of call was St. Vincent, we arrived in July of 2009. 15 ports later, our last country visited was Dominica. In a feat of amazement, I actually stayed in one department for the entire tour! WAs an awesome job I've had! I've been the volunteer coordinator getting to work and train the local believers in each of our ports who have volunteered their own time to serve on the ship. The job has not been void of struggles and disappointments, but all of those have been outweighed by the blessings and joy of the people.
In the last 11 months I've welcomed 449 local believers into our DEEP program (D- discipleship, E- exposure to missions, E- expression of love, P- practical work). My busiest port was Kingston, Jamaica with 52 volunteers, my smallest was Hamilton Bermuda with 7. Our volunteers ranged in age from 17-79. They worked in the book fair, book hold, galley, and accommodations departments. in our first DEEP, in St. Vincent, we had volunteers representing 22 different churches on the island. They continued to meet regularly after the ship left, for prayer. Besides working on board the volunteers also get special training sessions each afternoon. We would have guest speakers talk on a series called "GROW, SHOW, & GO". I've had countless conversations volunteers eager to take a step into missions. In september we will welcome back on of our Volunteers from Jamaica who will join the LH for 2 years!
There is so much God has accomplished in the Caribbean. This is only a small sliver. Now I prepare for West Africa and beyond. We will visited 3 countries, Sierra Leone, Ghana, and Liberia. In each port we are accepting 50 volunteers, we've already had over 100 applications from each of the ports!! It's going to be exciting moving into a new culture, but I'm eager to meet more of God's people.
Please pray for me as the task is too much for me alone. Pray for the leadership on board to fulfill my request for extra help. I'll only be on board for 3 more months. My commitment will end in September where I will leave the ship from the Canery Islands. Please pray for my future and what my next steps will be.
