Port:Nanaimo B dock
Crew: 21 Filipino
Names of Ship Missionaries: Dennis Ano, Frank Sciarpelletti, Grant Sandeman-Allen
Result: 9 came to hear the gospel
Items taken on & given out: 21 gifts, 9 Tagalog New Testaments
I (Grant) had to work late so Frank agreed to go on the ship with Dennis so there would be two missionaries as per our requirements. Frank picked Dennis up and they boarded the ship around 6:15 and checked in with deck security. The security officer took them to the second deck via an outside stairway and just inside the door was the crew mess.They greeted the available seafarers and began to visit with them and then at some point Dennis said that we would like to share the good news with them.
They had 9 seafarers join them and Frank started off with an introduction explaining the holiness of God, the problem of sin, and that Christ came as our redeemer. Dennis then took over and just as he was starting to share, I arrived with the gifts and Tagalog New Testaments. The Testaments were distributed to the crew and Dennis had them look up scriptures to read aloud. Since he presents in Tagalog, Frank and I pray for the message and I try to guess what Dennis is talking about. For instance, he was using the dart board to describe missing the mark (sin), and often he has one seafarer be a judge over another, who has committed an imaginary crime, to demonstrate God’s judgement of sin. At the end he had them pray a prayer to receive Jesus as their Saviour.
I then took over and spoke on Romans 8: 28-30, which is called “the golden chain.” It outlines God’s plan for salvation and has many important teachings in it: God has a plan of Salvation for each one of us, and we are all “called” to be children of God. It outlines how God knew about us before He created the world (foreknew), see Psalm 139:16, He wants us to be like Jesus (His Son), and that we will be adopted by God and be brothers & sisters with Christ, that we are “chosen” by God and that He works to bring us to Salvation (predestination). Finally, it talks about glorification which gave me a chance to talk about the process of Sanctification that we go thorough. I also talked about how just saying a prayer doesn’t mean they are a Christian, but that it’s just a start. They need to recognize their sin, how they cannot stop it without the help of the Holy Spirit.
After I was finished encouraging them to read the New Testament and praying to God to forgive them and bring them the Holy Spirit, Dennis asked Frank to pray for the crew, their voyage to Japan, and their families back home.
We took pictures and left the ship rejoicing over such a good visit. We pray that they will read the materials in their gifts and also begin reading their Tagalog New Testaments. As we were leaving, two of the crew asked to be dropped off at Port Place Mall, so I took them to the entrance to London Drugs. They appreciated our visit and hoped to see us again sometime.
Report submitted by: Grant
