Port:Harmac West
Crew: 21 Filipino
Names of Ship Missionaries: Gary & Gina Steele, Cecilia Lorenzo, Result: 9 heard the gospel, 4 went to church
Items taken on & given out: 22 gifts, 22 Tagalog New Testaments, approximately 100 tracts
We arrived at 5:30 and checked through all 3 levels of security and then went to the crew mess where we introduced ourselves. We start our conversations by asking what part of the Philippines they are from since Gina and Cecilia are both from the Philippines. Sometimes a seafarer is from the same area and this is a good way to start a conversation.
After a good visit we began sharing the gospel with John 3:16 and then Matthew 24 and John 1:12. We all gave our testimonies and shared various stories and scriptures with them. They were very attentive to our presentation and afterwards we prayed for their safety on the ship, traveling back to Asia, and their families in the Philippines. They were very thankful for us coming to visit with them.
After our visit the Chief Engineer asked if someone could take 4 of them to church the next morning. I called Grant and arranged this with him.
Report submitted by: Gary
August 31st
Last night Gary called me to ask if I could take some of the crew to the Church of the Nazarene tomorrow. He gave me the name and number of the Chief Engineer whom I called this morning to coordinate meeting them at the front gate around 10am. When they arrived I had them fill out the waivers and I always take pictures of their passports so that I have a record of who I’m taking. We arrived at the church shortly after the service had started and they showed us seats near the front behind Gary, Gina, and Cecilia.
The service was very good and afterwards we were invited to join them in the hall for refreshments. There were many Filipino people attending so the crew sat down; two with the pastor and two with Cecilia and several other Filipino people who came to visit with them. I knew a few people there as well so it was a good time of food and visiting by all of us. One couple also gave the seafarers a flat of pears and a bag of cherry tomatoes to take to the ship. After they were done visiting we went across to Save-on-Foods to do some grocery shopping.
We had some good conversations both to and from the church and shopping. I dropped them at the front gate and the walked back to the ship, happy to have such a good day. They leave for China tomorrow at 1am, but will be back in October again. They mentioned many times that they are looking forward to come back and see us again. Oh, one more thing; I was supposed to do congregational prayer at FBC today, but a few weeks ago another church member asked to trade with me, so because of that I was available to take the crew to church. God is good!
Grant
