Port: Harmac East
Crew: 21 East Indian, 1 Sri Lankan
Names of Ship Missionaries: Frank Sciarpelletti, Grant Sandeman- Allen
Result: Met with 13 of the crew & had a good visit
Items taken on & given out: 22 gifts
I picked Frank up at 5:30 and we checked through both security levels and were in the crew mess by 6pm. The 2nd officer, who took us there, visited with us for a little while and said that he would send in other crew members to meet us. He is from Punjab and Frank asked him if he was a Sikh, since that region is known for its Sikh population, but he said “no.” He left and then several groups of seafarers came in to meet with us and visit for a bit. They were all very thankful for the gifts and they’re all very polite. The messman brought us Chai tea and I got a bottle of water from Australia!
After most of the crew who were available had come and gone, the messman invited us to have dinner, to which we accepted. We had a good dinner with curry chicken, jasmine rice, a lentil dish, and Chapati, with custard and fruit for dessert. We met the 3rd engineer at dinner and then after he left we had a very good, and long, visit with the captain. He’s from the Goa region and has traveled around the globe on ships. This ship is loading until May 8th and then they are heading to 3 ports in Japan, then one in China where the ship will go into dry dock for its 5 year refit. We talked about all sorts of things and when the Chief Officer came in he joined in our conversation as well. We spent over an hour visiting with them and got to know them quite well.
Although we didn’t get an opportunity to talk about spiritual matters, we did show them God’s love through the gifts and our visit with them. We know that they all have the printed materials in the gift so we can pray that the Holy Spirit will minister to them.
We Thank God for the opportunity to make a good contact with the crew on this ship and pray that it will come back again after the refit. We pray that they will read the materials in their gift bags and that the Holy Spirit will minister to them on their voyage to Japan and China.
Report submitted by: Grant
