News from Kiel, North Germany

While still in our PST, we had no access to internet so we were forced to utilise good ol' snail mail ...



We left Cuxhaven at 6.00am in the morning ... I was up early for work so captured some photos of our departure ... the Logos II's final voyage ...



We arrived in Kiel on Wednesday, 19 September 2007 having sailed for 12 hours through the Kiel Canal or as it is known in German, the Nord Ostsee Canal - a very long canal (98km) which takes ships from the North Sea through Germany to the Baltic Sea. The North Sea is known as an epeiric sea of the North Atlantic Ocean which means that it is a large body of sea covering over part of a continental shelf. By sailing through this canal, ships save themselves an average of 519km of journey time getting from the North Sea to the Baltic Sea. If they do not use the canal, they have to travel up over the top of Denmark to reach the Baltic Sea (Info researched from Wikipedia after John pointed out some amendments to my previous facts - thanks!)




We have now been in port for just over a week and have a fantastic spot right near the centre of the city. We have all started our work and I am working as an "Accommodation Angel" which is actually a lot of fun. Currently, we have no internet access on the ship so I am writing this from a local internet cafe.

I am really enjoying ship life - it is a really unique and amazing experience to be sharing daily life with people from all different nations. About 50 people left the ship to go down to Trogir, Croatia to assist in the completion of the Logos Hope project and we are now in the waiting phase. We are waiting for the Logos Hope to come to Kiel so that we can transfer over to it and then finish the final touches so that it can sail into ministry which is very exciting.

Saying Goodbye to our friends at 4.00am on Monday, 24th September ... very sad moment - (L-R) Georg (Germany) went to Trogir and Misha (Russia) and I stayed behind here in Kiel!



The weather in Kiel has turned really cold and wet in the last few days and so we are bracing ourselves for a cold winter and possibly a white Christmas. We have had lots of opportunities to do ministry in the streets of Kiel, to meet with the local people, build relationships with the local churches and bring the love of Jesus to this part of North Germany.

Mirjam (Switzerland) and I at the Eis-Cafe for our PST Farewell party!



Love to all of you ... wherever you may be in the world!

On Board : MV Logos II

Well it has been a while since I was able to update my BLOG and I will be sending out my next newsletter in the next week or so. I am now on board the MV Logos II after 2 weeks of pre-ship training (PST) with about 55 other people in North Germany. We have had a fantastic time getting to know one another and learning heaps about ourselves and the ship ministry and getting prepared for ship life.

One of the most eventful days was practising our life safety in a sea pool in Cuxhaven which was supposed to be heated but was a chilly 15 degrees ... it was a true life experience of what could happen and the seriousness was not lost on me.



After nearly 2 hours in the freezing water, hypothermia set in and I was convulsing (Massive, whole body shivers) from the cold ... just floating around in my life jacket and learning how to use my clothes as life jackets in the event that I fall in the water without my life jacket on. We also had to practice righting an overturned life raft and then climbing into it but by the time this exercise came around to my turn, I couldn't feel my hands and feet so getting into the liferaft became somewhat difficult! I was actually not so bad but a few people from our group suffered really badly and had to receive medical attention so it was not a game or fun at all!!! Anyway, it was all part of the ship experience. We are now on board and I worked my first full day today as an Accommodation Angel - it was fun and not as bad as I had expected! Tomorrow we are sailing up to Kiel in North Germany which will be about a 12 hour journey through a man made channel that runs through Germany near Denmark. We have water restrictions on board so no showers or toilet use during particular hours which will be interesting!

I have been incredibly blessed to be given my own little cabin which is fantastic! It means that I have my own little space to decorate and call home for the next month or so whilst we wait for the Logos Hope project work to be completed in Croatia. The Logos Hope will then sail up to Kiel to join us and we will transfer over to and assist in completion of the outfit so we will be based in Kiel for approximately 4-6 months.

I've been having a fun time getting to know people from all over the world and have made good friends with people from my PST Cuxhaven training. PST Cuxhaven is our code name and every time we hear it, we all hoot and whistle, clap and scream ... it's quite funny sometimes but it is a real bonding experience and they are like our family on board. But then we also have a ship family and a Big Sister who shows us around and helps us with the location of various things and routines etc. It is so well organised and I love the community atmosphere. We've also had excellent teachings in our devotion times from Godly men filled with spiritual wisdom and knowledge which has been so challenging and I'm just drinking it all in.

I've been doing as much walking around the little city of Cuxhaven as possible and I'm hoping that I will not suffer sea sickness - I felt a little queasy this morning while working ... and I've got my pressure bands on each arm so I hope things will settle down.

PST Fun ...

Some fun photos from our PST ... what a blast!!

Celina (Holland) working her magic on Toby (Germany) in the hair department!!



Each week, we had a prayer night for different countries ... this night, we prayed for Mexico, Switzerland and the island of Antiqua.



We had to learn a drama called "The Fence" ... this was my team ... it great fun! (L-R) Micha (Switzerland), Toby (Germany), Svenja (Germany), Me and Matthijs (Holland)



We often went for long walks in the countryside ... we could also walk to the sea - here Mirjam with Jael (Switzerland), Georg (Germany), Marsha (Holland) and I enjoyed the outdoors together.