Katy's Logos-Hope Update
Restrictions, Rain, Representation, Ride, & Responsibilities
Ship Life
Coming up with an opening to this newsletter has been nearly impossible. As I sat here trying to cleverly introduce the fact that, in these past three months, I’ve fed 300 plus underprivileged children in Tanzania, went to church on a crocodile farm/ banana plantation in Mozambique, traveled to Hungary on a presentation team, got charged by an elephant in South Africa and even changed jobs. Eight months, twelve countries, unending amounts of crazy stories, and this can all be summed up with two words, “Ship life.” So let’s tackle these one by one.
Tanzania! Government Restrictions
Tanzania was the first port the ship visited in mainland Africa. This was a very exciting port for many crew members since it was our first time to visit Africa. I had the amazing opportunity to go on a ministry day to a feeding program for underprivileged children in a village outside of the capital city Dar Salaam. The program is run through a church based in that village that currently has no roof because of a fire started by lightning. The village is Islamic and the Muslim locals have complained multiple times to the government about this church for the amount of evangelism they do in the area. The day my team made a visit to this church, the government decided to as well. This greatly restricted what we were going to do and we were unable to share all that we had prepared. Still, we were able to serve the people and children there. As unfortunate as it is that we were restricted that day, I think the fact that the government came to the church shows the impact that it is having in that area.
Miracle Rain
From Tanzania we sailed to Mozambique where we saw a miracle from God first hand. For the past year Mozambique has suffered from a horrible drought and the ship arrived right at the peak. There was so little water in the country that even the ship lost access to water. The ship went three days without running water and the ship’s company started praying for a miracle to happen. Once we had gone a few days without water on the ship our leadership was faced with a difficult decision: to stay or to go. The next day we woke up to the sound of pouring rain, the country of Mozambique had not heard this sound in many, many months; it was a sound they would continue to hear for the next few days. It was an amazing miracle where we were all able to see the power of prayer. In this port, I also had the opportunity to speak at a church that was located on a Crocodile farm/ Banana planation. It was one of the most interesting churches that I have been to on this journey so far.
Re-PRESENTATION Team
Presenting Logos-Hope in Hungary
Safari Friends
Another Safari Friend?
Safari Ride
After our month in Hungary, we met up with the ship in Richards Bay, South Africa. (I would like to call out Lisa Farquhar and Stacy Valentine to say I did it!) I went to South Africa and I went on safari. However, I did not just go on a safari, I drove the car. I was the only one in my group who knew how to drive a stick (thanks dad.) So it was up to me to drive our group to, through, and back from the safari. Although an elephant might have charged us, it was an amazing experience and we got fantastic pictures. The ship will continue a tour of South Africa until mid-July. We are currently in East London and will be visiting Port Elizabeth and Cape Town before leaving South Africa.
New Responsibilities
Wrapping Up
In mid-July I will be making a trip home for a family wedding. I hope that during my time home I can catch up with you and have the opportunity to share more in depth about all the amazing things that have happened on this trip so far! Thank you so much for your continued prayer and support!