Last month I told you about Dave Stark, our new volunteer chaplain at the Fraser-Surrey Docks in Surrey, British Columbia. He's been around the ocean all his life. Last Sunday I took him on his first ship visit.

As always, we asked God's blessing on our visit, believing that God had prepared someone for our coming. Then we headed for the M/V Valencia Express, which had just arrived.

I hadn't been on this ship for several months. As we walked to the gangway I recognized the security guard at the top. It was Nepoleon, a Christian Indian seafarer I knew from another shiip! (Nepoleon also receives our Christian Mariner email.) He was all smiles. I asked, "Did you get married?" "Yes," he said, "Last September! I'll tell you more later!"

We visited with the First Officer, then went to the crew mess room and set up the wireless Internet computer. Like good fishers of men, we waited.

It didn't take long.  Men started trickling in to check their email. We didn't need to understand Hindi when the grizzled ol' boson came in and scolded a young cadet for checking Facebook while on duty. The cadet jumped up and ran as if he'd sat on hot coals.

"I don't even know how to use a computer," he grumbled to us. Generation gap!

We chatted as deckmen snatched up the hand-knit watch caps from the "Stitchin'-For-Missions" ladies at Ogden Presbyterian Church in Spencerport, New York.

Then Nepoleon came in for supper. When I meet last year he mentioned his upcoming marriage. At that time I had asked him, "Who's the lady?"

"I don't know," he said, "God knows. My parents are arranging it for me." Today we got the details.

Arranged marriage
"When I got home the marriage was arranged," he said. "She was from another city and we never met until a month before the wedding. But that's OK, that's the way it works."

After their marriage he stayed home for six months before returning to sea. (He joined the Valencia Express last week.) They still face issues but he's confident things will be worked out by the time he returns home in December. I guess that's how that works out as well.

One of the great joys of meeting strong Christian seafarers is they bless us as much as we bless them. We three shared each other's burdens. Dave gave his personal testimony. Then we opened the Word of God for guidance and prayed for each other. Indeed, God had prepared one man for our visit…and blessed us in return.

As we drove home Dave summed it up the best. "The highlight was when he grinned and said, 'You being here when I come to Canada…now it feels like home.' Relationships are so important. We gotta be waiting for him when he returns."

Dave's right. Relationships are important.

Thanks, Dave, for joining us…and thank you, dear reader, for making it possible for us to visit the ships by praying for us and supporting our ministry.

As always
Thank you for your part in our ministry. God bless you for blessing us with your prayers and gifts. We look forward to meeting Nepoleon twice before he goes home. We'll keep you updated. We genuinely appreciate your faithfulness in giving during these difficult economic times. Thank you again.

Very sincerely yours in Christ,


Phil DuFrene
Director, Port of Hope Ministries

PS: Darrio in Guyana called the other day. He's now visiting another ship that brings cement to Georgetown. He keeps routine contact with a Christian Filipino seafarer he discipled a couple years ago.