(Pics: Me at Sunset; Me and Oli tying down the flying jib sail; Me and roommates Randi and Tasha)
Time has sailed by, quite quickly! I can hardly believe I have only 5 days left on the boat! The past few weeks were so busy…is it really the 16th of February?!
New Crew Has Arrived…
The Next Wave is always in a state of constant transition. This includes different countries, cultures, ministry opportunities, maintenance needed, who is on board… Recently, there have been several new crew. January 16 a new 6-month crew member from Germany arrived, Marcus. He has previously served as a counselor on a Swiss boat for troubled youth. Then January 30 my new roommate Tasha arrived (19, from Vancouver Island, Canada). She was a student in their last DTS on board, and is going to staff their upcoming September DTS. Tasha is such a joy and has made friends here so easily! I believe I am here to help her transition more easily, and we’ve become close friends. After we arrived in Greece, we were blessed with 2 ladies, Chris Quilling and Theresa Hafen, arriving to serve us for 40 days by cooking our meals for us. The awesome thing is that they are from my hometown Eureka, MT! They had connections to the boat through my roommate Randi, who knows Theresa’s son Daniel from the YWAM MT base. It’s such a small world! It’s a lil’ Montana takeover…awesome food-seriously-and blessed fellowship with these wonderful women of God.
Let me tell you about other roommate Randi.
Funny thing is Randi is also from Vancouver Island (quite a few here). She’s the person I knew when coming on the boat. I believe I first met her when she visited the MT base during my DTS; then she did her DTS and School of Biblical Studies at MT. We didn’t know each other well when I came, but we’ve become such close friends now. We encourage and de-stress to each other. God knew I needed Randi on this boat, but He knew she also needed me during this time—what a blessing in His perfect timing! She’s an amazing artist and loves the Word of God and loves to teach it. I can’t wait to hear the amazing ways God is going to use her! I will be sad to leave her, but excited to see her in the future, if God wills.
Ministry…
I was able to visit and share at our main contact Mario’s church 2 times. One of those times I shared on hearing God’s voice. It was awesome to see how each person’s message after me fit in with what I shared. I love connecting with people in this way and seeing people touched with what God desires for them. After church one day Captain Lehman and I went to eat at a Swedish older couple’s motor home (my first European mobile home park-unlike the U.S.-very compact). They came down from Sweden several years ago and just decided to stay in Sicily. Literally, their mobile home looks out on the sea! Beautiful. This lady Tes from England also ate with us. The couple has befriended here, and that day was her first time to church in many years. She is not a Christian and seems very superficial in most of her thinking, but she heard the Word of God. Please remember Tes in your prayers as that dear couple invests in her, and that the wall around her heart would crumble and receive true healing.
The DTS did a lot of prayer walking and spiritual warfare around the city of Catania while here. One of the areas they focused on was a street where the prostitutes lived, which they called Hope Street. Time there included talking to the prostitutes on the street, but my DTS friend Kate said that one prostitute even looked forward to seeing her again and wanted to know where a church was. Sometimes their pimps were unhappy with what was going on, but they were careful. A group from one of the churches also went with them one time and some of the Sicilians were surprised and never knew this area existed in Catania. Hopefully, this leads the church to seeing the need and doing more ministry in this area. The DTS wanted to end their time at Hope Street impactfully, giving victory to Christ, so at the end of our time in Catanai, DTS and some crew went to Hope Street one last time (I was at a Sicilian dinner so missed out). Some people prayed, others worshiped, and others cleaned the street as they walked.
Goodbye Dinner…
To conclude the ship’s and DTS’s time in Catania, Sicily, and to say goodbye and thank you to the many contacts, pastors, and churches we worked with, we hosted a thank you celebration dinner January 30 on board the Next Wave. Our saloon (main living area) was filled with shipmates and 20-25 guests (approx. 50-55 people)! A DTS student Missy and I spent 2 days organizing various jobs that needed to get done and pitching in all that day to prepare. Several of our students and crew made appetizers and desserts, representing several countries around the world. 2 generous Sicilian ladies cooked the main course for us. I was one of eight servers to tables, busy running around all night (and grabbing a bite in the back hall when there was a moment). The dinner was a huge success, and ended with worship, thank you, recognizing our wonderful and funny main contact Mario, and praying for each other.
The Sail…
We had to sail north to Messina, Sicily for more fuel before heading to Greece, leaving Monday night, February 2nd. All crew was on deck leaving port, manning different stations. I was on fenders, moving large balloon-type buoys, so the boat wouldn’t hit the keyside (dock) when pulling away. I was also on the 5-8am and 5-8pm watches, with watch leader Randi, crew Fred and Tamara, and DTS students Pendo, Gareth, and Jordan. It was an awesome watch being able to see sunrise and sunset each day when clear weather (I usually miss sunrises because I am not a morning person). Our watch and the 8-11am watch brought the boat into the Messina port, and I was asleep by the time be pulled out. Everyone, including me, had interesting sleep patterns between watches. 2 days of our sail were quite rough, with big swells that rolled the boat from side to side so that I could reach out and touch the water from the deck. I watched someone slide off the bench outside because they weren’t careful—this proved to be quite a hilarious site! The boat also rocked front and back at times. This sail I took precautions, just in case, with an ear patch to prevent seasickness. Others took pills. And still others, got sick anyway. I am thankful and happy to say I was NOT sick, and most of the time Randi and I were the only ones feeling good on our watch. We took ½ hour rotations as lookout (for other ships, objects in the water), writing down our coordinates and plotting our position on a nautical map, and being at the helm (steering the boat). Helming scared me at first because I am steering a big sailboat and I didn’t understand how to). But once I caught on, I loved it! In the wheelhouse, I watched the radar screen, which had my position and course (in degrees, like 70), and I tried to stay as close to that as possible. I also watched the rudder angle on another dial because that is what the wheel controls. One is always correcting (turning the wheel right and left often) to stay on course (straight) because of the waves and wind pulling and influencing the boat. One evening when we were in the large Greek inlet, Randi had me helm from the outside wheel! Here I had to follow a large compass (with no rudder angle or radar screen) to stay on course. I had never done is outside before, and we were heading towards a large suspension bridge! They said I was doing fine. I kept asking if someone else should take over because we had to line the boat up with 2 lights to position the boat in the right spot to pass under the bridge and not hit other boats coming the opposite direction. Well, I guess they trusted me cuz I steered the Next Wave under that massive bridge without mishaps, I might add! What an awesome sight—because the sun had set and the sky was darkening with the bridge lights on, and all heads looked up as our 2 masts reached to the sky and then to the bridge as we wondered if they were short enough to make it under (knowing they were)…and oh, they were…as we glided below. What a rush! I believe I was all smiles and practically jumping up and down. Afterward, Daniel told me they would have taken me off helm had they not trusted me and thought I was doing a good enough job.
I have like four more topics I want to write about, but this is lengthy as it is…and it’s getting late…so more to come on the fish dinner in Sicily…my Shipmates…the DTS outreach team leaving…and Greece (Kiato, Corinth Church—that’s right, I saw a baptism in Corinth!...).
Thanks for listening, friends! Blessings! Shannon
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