Reflecting on Montenegro

 It's true that the ship has been in Cyprus for a few days now, but before I talk about that, I wanted to share and reflect about my time in Montenegro.

In my last week in Portonovi I was fortunate to make some friends with a young local couple. My time with them was most definitely something to remember and I'm so grateful to God that now I have some real friends in Montenegro!

Portonovi, the port which the ship was moored, is actually a resort owned by arabic owners. Indeed, Montenegro flags aren't even allowed to fly within the port. But the town adjacent is called Đenovići, and it really is the strangest thing.

Half the town is owned by foreigners that visit during the Summer, as in, the houses are empty half the year, leaving the locals to depend on the summer season and the tourism that this brings. The friends whom I made pointed to houses along the way as we walked and told me 'an American owns that house, a Russian owns that house, I've not seen the owners of that house for ten years'.

I made friends with this couple, gave them some tours of the ship and they gave us a nighttime tour of the old town (Herzeg Novi). The next day, myself and some friends squeezed into their car and we toured around some other areas of the bay. Really amazing!

They told me that many of the local people's only chance for a proper living is to work in the maritime industry. The woman said that she works as a nurse, but she hasn't been paid for a number of months, and she likely won't get paid until early next year.

They were open to prayer, and we prayed together, which I am so glad about. They wanted to show me more, but our schedules didn't align.

Getting to meet this couple was really super, but it still highlights ways in which the world is changing, and not always for the better.

Sailing Watch

This past week has been a real challenge. The ship has left Portonovi, Montenegro and sailed across the Mediterranean to Limassol, Cyprus. The journey took five days!

During this time, I had my first week of watch. This is when I keep an eye on all that's happening in the engine room, recording what the machine's do and making sure that everything is under control. Watch-keepers (that's me) do this for 8 hour shifts for seven days, but because this sail we lacked sufficient numbers of engineers, we had a more 'interesting schedule'.

While Logos Hope was at sea, my schedule was 4am - 8am, 4pm - 8pm. Four hours on, eight hours off. As you could imagine, pretty exhausting.

To compound the challenge, for a couple of days we were sailing in stormy weather, so most of the people onboard were feeling seasick (present included). People said this was the most difficult sail in a long time.

But actually, despite the circumstances, I really learnt a lot during my watch! The ship made it to Cyprus on Friday evening, and is now open to the public!

I'm really proud of how the watch-keepers worked together during this time, and I think we're better off for it after surviving such a temperamental first watch.

Cultural Café

 On Thursday evening, I had my first C-Day! It was a 'Cultural Café' on Deck 4! I of course represented the UK in the only proper fashion... a tea party!

I had prepared scones (homemade) and offered some tea to anyone who wanted to try. Believe it or not, but Yorkshire Tea is not common in Montenegro (or indeed most parts of the world).

There were people from South Korea, Switzerland, Moldova, Thailand and USA/Canada. We were able to have some good connections with the locals.

My friend Jib from Thailand had a wonderful conversation with a local woman and really encouraged her to pray and focus on Jesus. This local woman had developed an interest in Buddhism, but Jib being a former Buddhist wanted to remind her of the goodness of God.

 

Finished Engine Training

 At long last I have finished the engine training - at least the training in the classroom (training never really stops in the engine room).

I was so happy to finish, after so long I can finally get down to business working in the engine department!

To celebrate I painted my ear defenders, showing some national pride in the process! I hope you like it!

Yesterday I did some wire-brushing, making sure our floor plates are rust free. It was dusty work. Here I am after completing the task!

I’ve also been connecting with some locals, but I’ll have to share about that another time!

Welcome to Portonovi

So the ship moved again. This time a few hours north to the beautiful port of Portonovi.

To be honest, I've never been to a place like this; a playground for millionaires. All around the place there are yachts and super expensive resorts. We aren't even allowed to fish or swim in the pristine waters. It's really remarkable.

But its also winter, so the port is a ghost town. There aren't any wealthy tourists visiting, only poor missionaries, and as such, the town feels deserted. It was surreal walking through an empty 'Norwegian Village' with only an empty pool and a stray cat for company. 

But after a few minutes walking and signs of life! There were some locals teens playing basketball, so I joined in! I hope and pray this is the start of a great connection.

I also moved cabin. It was quite the epic tale of drama and betrayal (I betrayed myself by losing my keys for a day). In any case, I've settled in well! Guess which bed is mine.

I've also finished engine training at last! But more of that another day!

Chinese Choir

 In the past week, I've been practicing some singing in Mandarin. It's actually a lot of fun, and the songs that I've been learning are actually really beautiful and meaningful.

So on Saturday, we as a group went down to the Bookfair and we performed before some people.

It was such a joy to sing together, and the people even joined in at the easy parts. There was one moment that a little girl dressed in a tiger onsie started to dance along to the song, super touching! (No photo of this for obvious reasons).

But also the highlight was afterwards I connected briefly with a couple who were visiting. They said that they felt such a presence of peace onboard, and that they were believers and were so encouraged when they came on board. They promised to keep us in their prayers.

But most of my week was taken up with more engine training. Next week will be my last before I start work, but even still, I got the chance to do some practical work. 

We went inside a tank at the very front of the ship called the bulbous bow. This tank wasn't small, but most of them will be really tight, so that will be quite an adventure when I have to clean them!

In any case, tomorrow we're sailing to the next port, Porto Novi, so look forwards to a blog post about that! In the meantime, here is a cat!