We have safely arrived in Kingston for part two of our visit to Jamaica. It is not the most picturesque of ports but it is renowned for seeing huge crowds of people come to visit our ships. We had over eighty thousand visit in four weeks in Montego Bay and I wouldn’t be surprised if we top 100,000 in these next five weeks. It’s exciting to serve that many people but also a lot of work for everyone to try and ensure people have a good experience despite what could be some hours of waiting to come on board. Thankfully once they get into the ship it is air conditioned and provides some relief from the heat outside and of course Jamaicans love a good book.

The sail down here was quite pleasant and along the eastern coast we passed the John Crow mountains. I have found out while here in Jamaica that they call a type of vulture a John Crow. This term has become a bit of a derogatory term locally and so I always get a bit of a chuckle when I introduce myself. It’s fun way to engage with people here in Jamaica.

Holly is getting ready for a big week next week with multiple training opportunities coming up. She will be training a few teams and is also kicking off the next “stream” for some of the latest group of people who joined the ship crew in Montego Bay. She excited about it but it also takes a lot of effort.

The kids started back at school this week for three days and they are getting used to the schedule again after 10 days of school break. They really enjoy their group of friends on board and have gotten very settled with life on board. Sometimes this presents a challenge as it can be a real struggle to get them to come off the ship with us when we have a day off or an opportunity to go ashore. Thankully we usually have a great time when we do get out and experience the local culture.

For myself there is a lot going on work wise at the moment. We have a new photographer who is settling in to the role and learning all the responsibilities. We also have another new team member who will be taking on the media relations role. So there is a lot of change and training going on but ultimately it will help us in a big way.

I have been working on a special project of designing and getting printed a t-shirt to commemorate our first year of ministry on Logos Hope. On February 19, 2009 the ship set sail from Denmark after about five years of the project to prepare the ship and now here we are a year later and it’s amazing to look back at what we’ve had the privilege to be a part of during this time. In this year we have visited 23 ports in 18 countries and seen God working in each port.

Thank you for your part in making it possible for us to be here!