March 25, 2009


Dear Friends of Port of Hope,

Every two weeks the M/V Sea Explorer sails in to Georgetown, Guyana. It services the eastern Caribbean although it is hardly a Caribbean cruise. Chaplain Darrio Henriquo tries to visit them almost every time it arrives. This year he delivered Christmas ditty-bags to the 14 crewmen.

Last fall a Russian seafarer joined the ship as Chief Engineer. On January 29th, while sailing between St. Lucia and Trinidad, Constantine became violently ill and began vomiting blood. Then he died. His body was flown back home and the ship had to sail on. They don't make money sitting in port.

When 14 men work together 24-7, the sudden loss of a crewman is hard. And every man was once again reminded of the risk of being sick or injured at sea.

Of all the ports the Sea Explorer visits throughout the eastern Caribbean, only Georgetown has a chaplain that comes to the ship. When they arrived they contacted the agent and asked for Darrio to come and "have a Mass" for the Engineer.

Whether they admit it or not, many seafarers are superstitious. They might be thinking, "Did anybody hear church bells while at sea? Did someone see a shark following the ship? Did the Engineer have a black travelling bag?" These are a seaman's harbingers of death.

So it was not surprising that as soon as Darrio arrived they wanted him to exorcise the man's spirit out of his room. He explained that the Bible says that when a man dies his spirit leaves immediately and returns to God. The men seemed to accept this because of the trust Darrio had built with them. Gathering the men together, he held a brief memorial service for the Engineer and reminded them that they too will stand before God. Were they ready? Then the ship had to sail on.

Interestingly, this would be the last visit of the Sea Explorer for a while. Ships are like pawns in the sea trade. The M/V Shamrock now sails her route. She may return in a year or two. Darrio just made his first visit to the new ship and her new crew.

Most ships working in the eastern Caribbean have no chaplain visits. It is our goal that every ship arriving in Georgetown will have a visit from Darrio.

We have so many tools available to us for ministry, from Bibles and literature to the JESUS Film to the Internet. Yet ultimately it's "boots on the deck" that counts, meeting seafarers face to face…one by one, building credibility to speak to the entire crew.

Thank you for your support of Port of Hope Ministries. Here is a little piece of information I received from the Canadian Council of Christian Charities. "While some ministries are struggling, Christian donors appear to be faithful in their financial support of Christian ministries, perhaps sacrificing elsewhere to do so." Don't you think it's because people like you see the bigger picture of serving others with genuine love and compassion of Christ?

Thank you for making those sacrifices to keep this ministry going. We appreciate each and every one of you.


Very sincerely yours in Christ,


Phil
Director, Port of Hope Ministries