Well we made it to Seattle, that means
the generator project was a success. It was a major process to convert
all the systems on the ship to be able to run on the new generators, the
old ones were 46 years old and made DC power, the new ones make AC power.
It was neat to see how God brought together all the right people for this
project, welders, motormen, engineers, electricians, plumbers, etc.
All in all we were only four days behind schedule leaving San Diego.
We will be using San Diego as a stopping point for supplies and fuel over
the next several years, It was good to spend so much time there and to
get to know the city. The first three days of the sail to Seattle
were very rough. We ate a lot of soup and crackers those days.
The last two days of the sail were very nice, calm, smooth waters and we
saw several types of whales swimming along side, including Orka whales.
Tours are in full swing, a lot of people
are coming down to see the ship and get a tour of the facilities on board.
We have tours for two main reasons, one for awareness of who we are and
what we do and why we do it, and second for support and supplies,
all the relief supplies we take on out reach are donated to us.
Our evangelism team has been real busy
learning new dramas for the outreach, one of the ways that we share the
gospel is with drama's narrated in Spanish. This is usually done on site
at the clinics or the cataract screening area.
Our next stop is Portland, Oregon,
we will be there until June 8th. We have been asked by the city to
participate in the Rose festival which will be going on in Portland.
I am not sure what this is but it sounds like it could be fun.
The DTS is back on board they had to
move off the first couple of weeks they were here because of all the technical
work. One of the advantages of the DTS being here is that every week
at our community meetings (church ) we get to enjoy great guest speakers
from all over the world. The DTS will be going on outreach with us
to Nicaragua. We leave for Nicaragua on June 15th it will be an eight
day sail. I am looking forward to the out reach in Nicaragua.
updated 05-03-98
The first two days
of the sail were very rough, but we all survived the pacific coast of California.
On the third day we had Orka whales swim along side the ship, what a sight
to see. The last two days of the sail were very nice and smooth.
Seattle will be a busy port for us as we are only here thirteen days and
have a lot of catch up to do. Tours have started and we have been
blessed with a great tours department. After we leave here we sail
for two days to Portland, Oregon and while we are there the Rose festival
will take place, we are going to be right in the middle of it, the
city of Portland has asked if we will participate in the event. Our
evangelism team has a lot of outings scheduled during these times and will
be very busy, please keep them in your prayers. Over all the
ship is back to normal operation, with a few technical things to be rapped
up over the next several months. The DTS is back on board and we
have enjoyed some great guest speakers at our community meeting, Art Collins,
Peter Warren, Pari Rickard, Dean Sherman, Gayle Erwin, and several
local speakers as well. As the DTS is almost half way into their
lecture phase, we will see many more great speakers over the next few months.
