Logos Hope Journeys: God’s Protection and Provision
My name is Hannah. I served onboard OM Ships for the past two years and recently returned to Singapore about 2 months ago. I would like to thank JCC for your support which made it possible for me to serve onboard the Logos Hope.
Just a bit of background about Logos Hope. There are about 350 crew members from more than 65 different nationalities serving onboard. Every one of us, even the Captain and the Director, volunteers and is committed to serving onboard for 3-month, 1-year or 2-year terms. When we first arrived onboard, we received a few weeks of training before being assigned to our different departments.
I was assigned to be the Personal Assistant to the Director. This leads me to my first thanksgiving. I want to thank God for how He has prepared me for this role way before I even thought of joining the ship. I served as the Secretary in the Youth Leadership Team and on different committees in JCC before joining the ship. This gave me the experience of writing minutes and administrative work, which proved to be useful for my role onboard.
My second thanksgiving is for the opportunity to meet and befriend people from all over the world. It is really inspiring to see how even though we are so different, we serve the same God. I am also very impacted by hearing the many stories of my fellow crew members. One was persecuted by her own parents when she converted to Christianity and had to escape to a neighboring country. Yet she was still so willing to come and serve onboard when she heard about our ship. This is just one of the many individuals I met onboard. I am truly inspired by their commitment to serve the Lord and count it a privilege to have the opportunity to serve alongside them.
My third thanksgiving is for the countless opportunities to see God’s faithfulness. God never failed to answer our prayers as a ship ministry. He kept us safe through the storms and provided captain after captain when we were desperate for them to join us in order for us to sail to the next port.
We also experienced God’s faithfulness during the ship’s first-ever visit to Basra, Iraq. In order for us to reach Basra, we had to sail up the Shatt al-Arab river. It is a rather shallow river for such a big ship like ours. We ran the risk of running the ship aground. However, with much prayer and deliberation, the ship leadership decided to take the risk in order for us to reach out to the Iraqis. We encouraged those around us to pray alongside us for sufficient water levels for Logos Hope to sail safely up the river. God is faithful and provided us with rain. We managed to sail up the river and arrived safely in Basra. God also provided the rain when we sailed back down the river.
Personally, I also experienced God answering my prayer. When the ship was in Namibia, I took a break with my friends and went to stay onshore for two nights. However, I had to return early in the morning on the last day as I had to help out in an event onboard. The driver I contacted could only fetch me an hour later and I would be late for the event. I tried to get another driver on the app to no avail. I prayed desperately for the Lord to provide me with a solution. After praying, I decided to seek help in a nearby convenience store. While walking on the street, I saw a lady walking along the street as well. I felt an urge to ask her if she could give me a lift. However, I decided against doing so since she did not have a car. In turn, she approached me to ask if I needed to go to Walvis Bay. This was where the ship was docked at. I was so surprised by her offer and answered that this was exactly where I needed to go. She mentioned that her friend would be coming to pick her up and they could give me a lift. I managed to reach the ship on time for the event. I really thank God for how he has protected and provided for me during my time onboard Logos Hope.
Responses