Since August….

GO Conference

On the 21 August 2007, around 230 new recruits gathered together at a conference centre in the Netherlands for our second Global Orientation (GO) conference of 2007. Each year we run these conferences, one in January in Mosbach, Germany, and one in the Netherlands to help people in their preparation for going to various OM fields around the world. Some of these recruits have joined our work in places like Kazakhstan, Albania and Germany, while others have joined either the Doulos or the Logos II/Logos Hope ministry.

There was some great teaching covering many different subjects including our relationship with God, ourselves and others, as well as practical training on how to respond if you get challenged by customs and immigration officials when entering the country you are going to work in.

As most of you know, while I have been waiting in Bremen for the Logos Hope to arrive, I have not had too much to keep me occupied, so I decided to go and help out at the GO Conference wherever I could. To begin with I was going to work in the Dining Room, serving and clearing away at meal times, but a few days before the conference began, a good friend of mine, Christine was unable to come and fulfil her role of helping the Programme Team with all their administration. So, I quickly was asked to step into Christine’s shoes!

To be honest, this sort of admin work is much more up my street, and it was a joy to serve using the gifts and skills that God has given me. It was two rather intense weeks, but full of fun and excitement, although it had a few challenges too!

One of the fantastic things about attending such a conference is meeting up with old friends from around the OM World, as well as connecting with some new friends too. I had the opportunity of getting to know many who will serve onboard Logos Hope with me.

Returning to Bremen

On returning to Bremen, I was told that soon the Bremen team would be moving to Kiel, also in Germany to live onboard the Logos II (the ship that Logos Hope will eventually replace). This was a bit difficult for me, as I did not anticipate having to make yet another transition. Having only left Carlisle in May, I was still trying to adjust to my new surroundings and a new country, now I would have to get used to a different crowd of people and rather small living conditions. Logos II is quite a bit smaller than Doulos, and very much smaller than the Logos Hope!

Anyway, after the initial shock and realisation, I began to be a bit excited about this new phrase. Thankfully, through much prayer and pondering, God showed me many positive points about the move.

Quite trip to the UK….

A couple of weeks before moving, my boss (Brian) and his wife (Miriam) were making a trip to Trogir, Croatia to visit the Logos Hope. When they are away from Bremen, there is absolutely nothing for me to do, so Brian asked what I would like to do during their time away.

I had been thinking quite a bit about all my friends in Carlisle, and had also been in touch with a friend, David who works with our sports ministry in OM, SportsLink. David was in need of some help in getting on top of some of the SportsLink admin, so I decided to make a quite trip over to the UK for week. During that week, I managed to visit a few friends in Carlisle. Sorry, I could not see more of you but time was limited. David and I also managed to get some of the SportsLink admin done, although more was achieved in actually putting some of the processes in place to help SportsLink run more smoothly.

Some of the highlights of my little trip were watching the World Cup Rugby on TV. Here in Germany they were not showing it on TV, so it was great to watch a couple of matches. And, of course, I’m writing this after the grand finale where South Africa are once again the World Champions!

Another highlight was a brief walk along the coast at Morecambe Bay in Lancashire watching the sunset (see below)

Saying Thank You….

While we lived in Bremen, there were a number of people who made our stay possible and helped to also make it enjoyable. Towards the end of our time, we wanted to thank these friends and give them a small gift to show our appreciation. We wanted something special, but could not think up what to give them. Then one morning on the way to the office on the bus, I came up with the idea of hand painting the Logos Hope logo on hand towels! Great idea, but of course, I got the job too.

As most of you know, I love being creative and so I thoroughly enjoyed every minute of painting 23 hand towels. We then wrapped them with little ‘thank you’ labels and gave them to all those who had served us in this incredible way. Thank you to our friends in Bremen!

Move to the Logos II….

On Monday 8 October, after packing up again, Brian, Miriam, Louria (another South African awaiting the arrival of the Logos Hope), and myself made our way up to Kiel. Kiel is about two hours drive from Bremen. We arrived at about 4.30pm to a warm welcome from many onboard, and spent the evening settling into our new accommodation. Louria and I are sharing a small cabin on the B-Deck which is still well above sea level!

I had never imagined that I would get the opportunity to be part of the Logos II community, but I can now say that I have lived onboard all 3 of OM’s current ships, Doulos, Logos II and Logos Hope! Not too many of us can have that claim to fame!

I am slowly getting used to ship life again. Of course, it is a BIG adjustment from living on land, and your prayers for this transition will be appreciated. The main things I have to get used to are, meals being served at certain times, and not just eating when I am hungry. Not having much natural light (no porthole in my cabin). Making sure I actually get off the ship each day for some fresh air. Unless you plan to go out, you can go the whole day with not stepping off the ship because everything is provided onboard!

There are also regular meetings that you are expected to attend, such as Devotions in the mornings and our weekly prayer evening. All of these are normally very good, but getting out of bed in the mornings to be at Devotions by 7.45am, and having eaten breakfast, showered etc, beforehand, can be a bit of a challenge!

Teen Street

Wow, can't believe that Teen Street happened over two weeks ago... time flies! I had an absolutely fantastic time at Teen Street! It was great to get to see so many old friends and also to do something useful. Waiting for a big white ship which never seems to be arriving is frustrating, so Teen Street gave me the opportunity to do some more practical stuff, and to fulfil my purpose of serving others.

I spent my days sewing, painting, collecting information for statistical purposes and doing other people's laundry!

Here is a picture of me sewing a 'green' screen (used for audio-visual purposes - just like when they do the weather report on TV!)
Took my sewing machine to Teen Street and spent most of the rest of the week sewing not just one, but two of these green screens, each 4m x 3m! Both had to have ties on two sides so that they can be hung on a truss for use.

Here I am using my painting talents! Yes, part of the programme called for some Viking shields, so my friend Sabine crafted them out of wood (she is a skilled carpenter by trade) and then I had fun painting them!
We had to get very created with the finishing touches, using paper plates and bowls covered in aluminium foil as the centre and covering round cardboard circles with foil as the 'buttons'.

These are the finished articles being 'modelled' by Ant & Bine (Sabine) Pritchett. Same ones whose wedding I went to at the end of June!
Thought the shields turned out quite well! Even though I say it myself!

AIDSLink which is an international ministry of OM were at Teen Street this year, sharing with the teenagers about HIV/AIDS etc, and trying to dispel some of the 'myths' that surrounds HIV/AIDS. In order to help 'educate' the youth of Europe on this subject, a questionnaire was distributed for the teens to complete. I, among others, spent time working through these questionnaires collecting statistics on how European teenagers really view AIDS. We were all shocked at the ignorance there seems to be in how you can contract HIV, in the number of Christian teenagers that think it is absolutely fine to have sex before marriage, as long as you love the person, and that they think that they will NEVER be at risk of contracting HIV. Unfortunately, they are not alone, many young people around the world have not been taught the truth about AIDS.

And now to the laundry.... yes, I would come home on the train in the evening from Teen Street loaded down with laundry, throw it in the machine and first thing in the morning I would turn the machine on and get it done. Just before rushing out again, I would hang it all around my apartment to dry, returning it to its owner two days later all nicely folded! Thankfully, the weather was a bit colder and so the heating would come on and dry everything much faster!

So those were my adventures of Teen Street.

The theme from Teen Street this year was 'CONTAGIOUS'. If you want to see and read more about this year's Teen Street, go to: http://germany.teenstreet.om.org/

After Teen Street I spent a little bit of time doing some hospitality, which I so enjoyed! I had one of the AIDSLink ladies stay for a few days and then walked her to the bus stop at 4.30am so she could catch the bus to get a plane to Sweden. I also had another friend that I met in Trogir, Croatia, staying for a few nights, and the following morning I had to walk her to the bus stop at 4.30am! I think the regulars on that bus wondered what was going on!

I was then back in the office, trying to keep myself busy, but now I am off to the Netherlands to our annual summer Global Orientation (GO) Conference. This is where a bunch of new people join OM and are orientated to the organisation and the areas that they will be working in. This year 231 new workers are joining us and many of them will be joining the Logos Hope project which is exciting!

So, watch this space for an update from the GO Conference... until then....

Images of Bremen....

This is the story of the Bremen Town Musicians....
You can read the story by clicking on this link: http://www.bremen-tourism.de/english/bremen.cfm

A park in Bremen with a 'massive' art display

The 'brass pigs' in Bremen city centre!

Being in the office....

There is not much else to report from the last few weeks. Each day I make my way to our little office on the bus. It's amazing that the days I manage to get out of bed earlier than usual, are the days I end up nearly missing the bus! How does that work? Oh well, thankfully, I have only missed it once! If I do miss it, there is another route that gets me to the office, but that means I have to change buses half way there!
Once I get to the office, I set up my laptop and check my e-mails... then it is time to do some work. While waiting for the Logos Hope to arrive here in the north of Germany, Miriam, my colleague and I continue to write documents for Partner Ministries, but there is only so much you can write!
Not having a major amount to do, means that my motivation levels are dropping and this is serious. I know from past experience, that when I am bored and unmotivated, my mind starts wandering off onto all sorts of subjects that are not normally an issue to me and don't usually affect my well-being.
Please do pray that I can find things to keep me busy and motivated, so that I don't fall into the trap!
The Logos Hope is still in the shipyard in Croatia and we are not sure when she will set sail.
Thankfully, this weekend, Teen Street (www.teenstreet.om.org) starts here in Germany. It is taking place in Oldenburg which is about a 40 minute train ride from Bremen, so I will be making some regular trips over there. There will be lots of people that I know coming to Teen Street, people that I have worked with over the many years in OM. It's always a great place to catch up with old friends, and also 'catch' the excitement for God and 'mission' of about 4000 teenagers who attend Teen Street each year...
I will keep you updated on what happens at Teen Street.

Since last time....

At the end of June I made the long trek to a little German village called 'Dorfchemnitz' to attend a wedding of two good friends. Antony & Sabine are both part of the Logos Hope project and it was great to celebrate this special day with them.
There were lots of OM'ers there, and also lots of ex-Ships people. It was good to catch up with them too. The weekend started with a church service at 11am on Saturday (30 June) morning, followed by a light finger lunch outside the front of the church. Then at 4pm we all moved to the local school hall for coffee and cake. Lots of cake!
In the evening there was a wonderful meal and lots of entertainment. Everyone had a lot of fun.
On the Sunday, all those who were still around, gathered again at the school to consume the leftovers and spend time with the bride and groom again.

What I'm up to...

Many of you may be wondering what I'm up to and have been up to over the last few years of my life, so I thought I would give you a quick run down of my life since I was about 18...
Don't worry, it won't take that long..., or at least I will do this in installments, so you should not get bored!

After leaving school....
After leaving school, I went on to do a secretarial course in Harare, Zimbabwe. After about 8 months I was bored and had done most of the exams so I dropped out of the course and went to work in a travel agency. Found I did not like that much, so moved onto another job... and to cut a long story short, kept moving jobs for the next few years.
At the beginning of 1993 I left my last permanent job in Harare, and was doing some temporary work, as well as being very involved in my local church. In June/July of 1993 there was a missions conference down in Cape Town, South Africa run by Operation Mobilisation (OM), which I attended.
I had never thought of going into missions before, but that conference changed my view of missions and my life forever....
On the way back from the conference and sometime in Mozambique, we had a car accident where I broke my pelvis and right collar bone - so out of action for a while! It did not stop me for long though, and I am grateful for the healing of both my pelvis and collar bone.
At this stage, I felt that I wanted to go and work with OM on one of their ship's the MV Doulos, but it took another couple of years before I actually joined OM.

Joining OM...
On 1 May 1995 my opportunity came to join OM. I was invited to join the team working in South Africa and be the secretary to the National Director of the work there. In OM we call them Field Leaders. So, I went down to Pretoria to work with Peter Tarantal, helping him and serving him in any way possible, so that he could do his job of leading the work of OM South Africa. I had 3 and a half great years of working with Peter.

At the beginning of 1998, I told Peter that he should start looking for a new PA, as by the end of that year I wanted to move onto a new challenge. In the middle of the year, I was in contact with a good friend of Peter's, Mr Viv Thomas who was working with OM in London. Viv was looking for a PA, and the idea of heading to the UK seemed good. Little did I know that the MV Doulos was going to be in South Africa and when I went to visit, I was challenged to join the ship. As you may remember... back in 1993 I wanted to join the Doulos!

So, after some negotiations, it was all sorted out for me to join the Doulos in January 1999. Sorry Viv, I'm not coming to the UK!

Read about the next step of my life next time....

Doulos Days....

In January 1999 I flew off to Perth, Australia to join the MV Doulos. During the next 15 months, I worked in many different departments onboard the ship, as well as going ahead of the ship to two ports to help with the 'advanced preparations'.

Onboard, I worked in the Book Shop, the Accommodation department, taking Tours around the ship, and 'Pantry' which is mainly making the dining room ready for meal times and then tidying up after each meal etc. I also was asked to co-ordinate a Short Term Exposure Programme (STEP) where a group of people come to the ship for about 8 weeks and have exposure to our ministry. Once that STEP was over, I then went off on my first 'Line Up' (advanced preparations).

A small team of us headed off to a little island called Manus, in Papua New Guinea. The ship arrived two and a half weeks later into port. We had organised many progammes and events for the local people to come onboard and see, as well as for crew from the Doulos, to go to churches and schools and other local places to interact with the people of Manus. It was a great visit.

Shortly after leaving Manus, I was then sent to Subic Bay in the Philippines to do my second Line Up, and on 6 January 2000, the ship arrived there.

Both my Line Up experiences were rather challenging, and I realised that doing that sort of thing is not where I thrive and excel. So, it was agreed by all concerned that I would not do any more Line Ups. I spent the rest of my time on Doulos in the Deck department, painting, scrapping, needle-gunning the decks! What fun!

The call to the UK then came...

Shortly after finishing my second Line Up, I heard a 'rumour' that Viv Thomas (the guy in London that I was originally supposed to go and work for after leaving OM South Africa), was still looking for a personal assistant! I could not believe it, a year and a half after I said 'no', he have not found anyone yet.

So, in a nutshell, after some e-mails flying backwards and forwards between him, me and others in the Ship's Ministry, I was all set to go to London. I did, however, go home to sunny Zimbabwe for about 4 months to catch up with family, friends, church etc., then off I went to London!

Viv and I worked well together and had lots of fun, but unfortunately, due to circumstances out of our control, the job description that I had originally gone to do - it was more than just being Viv's PA - did not materialise as expected. This left me unchallenged and unmotivated. It was very sad, but both Viv and I realised that I probably needed to move on to something else, if I was to 'survive'.

Enter Mr Peter Maiden....

Now Mr Peter Maiden at that stage was the Associate International Director of OM, and was due to take over the leadership of OM from George Verwer, who founded the organisation in 1957. There was a big celebration planned for August 2003 to commemorate the handover and someone needed to organise it!

Well, Mr Maiden got to hear that I needed a new challenge, and the rest is history.... In March 2002, I moved up to Carlisle, UK (near the Scottish border) and started the preparations for the General Council conference in August the following year. It was 17 months of hard work, but all worth it in the end. I realised that even though I did not enjoy my Line Up experiences, I had learnt so much during those that held me in good stead for organising this conference.

It was held in Keswick, about 40 minutes from Carlisle, in the beautiful Lake District. We booked over 90 Bed & Breakfast houses, 32 self-catering apartments and 5 hotels for our 1700 guests that were going to turn up at the conference! Yes, lots of negotiation, as well as all the transport and food arrangements that needed to be made. I had a great team of people working with me, and although there were a few minor hitches with the transport at the end - due to the trains not running on our departure day as they were scheduled to do - it was a great success, and a fruitful time was had by all who took part.

And so to the next chapter....

Final Chapter leading up to the present day...

Even though this final chapter before joining the Logos Hope spans nearly 5 years, there is not too much to write about it.

After taking a well-deserved break after the conference, I started working with Peter Nicoll in the International Personnel Department of OM. Peter heads up anything to do with 'people' in OM, so he oversees Personnel, Recruiting of people, Caring for our people, Training our people etc. My role in this department was to 'administrate' a lot of what took place.

So from October 2003 until 1 May 2007, I spent my days, e-mailing personnel staff, maintaining our international personnel list, gathering information of our annual OM address book and many, many other things too.

What am I going to be doing on the Logos Hope?

As you probably all know, I am a 'people' person. Most of my job over the past 5 years has been very administrative, so when I was challenged to get involved with people, I could not resist it!

My role on the Logos Hope will be in a new division called Partner Ministries. In this division, one of the departments is Guest Relations. Onboard the ship we have about 80 guest beds that we would like to use 'hotel' style, so that family, friends, prayer partners, OM'ers, donors, pastors, church members and many more can come and stay on the ship for short periods of time. I will be involved in all the practical arrangements that need to take place to make a guest feel welcome and have a fruitful and memorable experience onboard.

I look forward to welcoming many people I know onto the Logos Hope. Maybe if it is anywhere near YOU, then YOU can come and be one of my guests too.

Until the ship arrives here in the north of Germany, my days are filled with writing documents and thinking through how all this 'guest relations' stuff is going to work.... sigh!

Life after leaving Carlisle....

Thought it was about time to update everyone on what has been happening in my life over the last few weeks...

I left Carlisle on Thursday 10 May and had a very pleasant journey down to London, via Lancaster and Harpenden. Stopped by West Wickham, Kent, to collect some keys and have a cup of coffee, and then dropped my friend Christine and her brother off at Gatwick Airport.

Friday through to Monday was spent catching up with lots of friends in the West Wickham area, attending church and eating lots!

Then, Monday night I spent with an ex-OM friend fairly close to Stansted Airport, who very kindly dropped me off there early on Tuesday (15 May) morning.

By 10am, I had arrived in 'my new country of abode'. For how long, who knows....

The past 6 weeks....

At last I have found the time to update my blog and actually publish it. I thought I would spend a few minutes updating you on the last 6 weeks or so of my life and what has been happening since I moved to Bremen, Germany to await the arrival of the Logos Hope.

You may think from reading the following that I have NOTHING to do, except eat and party, but I want to assure you that I am also working. As most of you know by now, my move to the ship is to take on a new role in Guest Relations onboard. In order to fulfil that role, one needs a ship and some guests! That, of course, is not happening quite yet, with the Logos Hope still in the shipyard in Trogir, Croatia.

In the meantime, I am spending time writing various documents that will help to lay the foundation of our department, Partner Ministries, on the ship. Other than doing that, here are a few highlights and a few bit of information....

Where I live...

This is my 'house' here in Bremen. I live in an apartment in the basement of this church. It is a Brethren church in a nice leafy suburb of Bremen. The services are all in German, but there is a kind man who will translate the sermon for me!It consists of two bedrooms, a kitchen and a bathroom with separate toilet. I share this apartment with a Jamaican lady, Annette Harris. Annette does travel quite a bit, so I have it to myself quite a bit of the time.From here, it is a short walk to the bus stop where I catch the No. 29 bus to work each day. It takes about 20 minutes. Then I have another short walk to the office which is located in another church.

Meet the Team...

Here it the team presently in Bremen... we have 1 Jamaican, 1 Mexican, 1 Zimbabwean (that’s me) and the rest are South African!
Photographed are: Brian & Miriam, Jaco, Jenni, Louria, Annette, Neil and myself. There picture is taken out the front of the church where our office is. Not in this photo, are Neil's wife Marie and daughter Nicole.

There are 3 of us that belong to the same department on the ship, otherwise everyone is in different departments.

Watching Rugby...

The first Saturday I was here, some of the team got together to have a Braai (BBQ) and then to watch the Super 14 Rugby final. The match was between two South African sides, the Blue Bulls and the Sharks! With the team here being made up mostly of South Africans, it was great being able to watch the match via the Internet.

Jaco & Brian cooking!










Action in the Rugby!

Ladies Breakfast...

Now and again the ladies on the team get together and have a breakfast. At this one we made omelettes in freezer bags! Yes, that’s right, all you do is break two eggs into a Ziploc freezer bag, add any other nice ingredients like onions, bacon bits, cheese etc, and then boil the bags in a pot of water for exactly 13 minutes! This is a trick I learnt back in Carlisle and it works perfectly every time!

Trip to Mosbach...

A couple of weeks ago I went to Mosbach, where the OM Ships head office is located. It was a great time to catch up with many people that I know there and also to hear more about the progress of the Logos Hope in Trogir, Croatia. Of course, while I was there a few of us went out for a meal!

Bring on the Ferrari...

While in Mosbach, there was an exhibition at the local Shell Garage of a Formula 1 car. It was amazing to see a car like this close up and realise how small they actually are. Watching on television makes them look much larger!

Spending time with friends...

Yes, another braai (BBQ), this time at Andy & Irene Juliff’s place near Mosbach. It was a fun evening! Andy & Irene are part of the Ship's Team in Mosbach where Andy is involved in recruiting people to join the Ships.