We thought we would have some fun to say goodbye to one of the members of our kids club.

Have you ever made a soda fountain before?

If you want to know the reciepe then all you have to do is ask...

six weeks to go...

Well dry dock is now officially over. We are back to a normal working
schedule and we are hit with the realisation once again that we do not
have long before we leave; it is six weeks on Thursday and counting. I
start to train up my replacement tomorrow and by the fist week in
September I will be phased out! - onwards and upwards. Hey ho

K

We're coming home

We have now booked and received our tickets to fly home.  We leave Trinidad on the 21st September and arrive 09:50 in London, Gatwick. 

We are looking forward to seeing everyone again and excited to see how God will use us in England.

If you would like us to come to your church or meeting to talk about our experiences, about OM or about missions in general then we would love to hear from you and will do our best to fit it into our schedule.

Just email us at steve@chedgzoy.co.uk

Choices

Two Roads

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood
and sorry I could not travel both
and be one traveler, long I stood
and looked down one as far as I could
to where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair
and having perhaps the better claim
because it was grassy and wanted wear;
though as for that the passing there
had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
in leaves no steps had trodden black
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
somewhere ages and ages hence:
two roads diverged in a wood, and I
I took the one less traveled by,
and that has made all the difference.
                                                     Robert Frost

Two years ago we came upon two diverging roads;  we "took the road less traveled by" and that has made all the difference.  We now spy another two roads diverging in the wood and are looking down them both as far as we can.  We must choose one of the roads, we cannot travel both . 
Which one to choose, which one is right,
which one will make all the difference.

K

Under Canvas

Got back yesterday from a short camping trip with the four oldest kids
on the ship. We went and camped in the grounds of some rich guy in
Barbados. The bodyguards arranged it all for us and hosted us.

We had a great time with the kids; Andrew, Samuel, Bethwyn and Aneka.
We arrived Sunday afternoon, set up the camp and then went to the
beach. The waves were rough but the beach was lovely. We came back to
camp before dark and collected firewood, built the fire and started
toasting hotdogs and dough.

Steve lead some devotion time around the fire, looked at Philippians
2:1-12. The kids learnt how we are to be humble because Christ was humble.

We stayed up until midnight and then everyone crashed. The weather was
stormy overnight and it was fun to lie in the tents and listen to the
wind and raining (and distant waves) it took me back to camping as a kid
myself.

Next morning we rose with the sun (well almost) and had morning
devotions - this time girls and guys separate, following on from where
Steve left off the night before. The kids discussed ways in which they
could shine as stars for God and how it is through our actions that we
glorify God and lead others to Him.

We ate breakfast, packed up camp and headed off to the beach again. The
waves were even rougher and the kids enjoyed having fun on the boogie
board lent to us by one of the bodyguards. It rained intermittently but
this didn't matter as it helped to cool us off from the sun.

We left the beach for a late lunch and clean up time.

As we were playing some last games whilst waiting to be picked up, we
spotted some wild monkeys that had come to take a look at us. We threw
them a bit of banana to encourage them closer. More and more appeared
and we watched them, thoroughly enjoying seeing monkeys in the wild.
They eventually left us, scampering back into the brush.

We arrived back on the ship dirty and tired but with happy hearts,
seeing the smiles on the faces of the kids.

If God had a fridge

"If God had a refrigerator, your picture would be on it.
If He had a wallet, your photo would be in it.
He sends you flowers every spring and a sunrise every morning.
Whenever you want to talk, He'll listen.
He could live anywhere in the universe, and He chose your heart.
What about the Christmas gift He sent you in Bethlehem;
not to mention that Friday at Calvary.
Face it, He's crazy about you!"

Quoted by an 8-year-old Boy in his homework

Want to hear more?
Have a read of the letter to the Ephesians in the Bible; Ephesians ch. 1

England a dissapointment

I did watch it though!! shhhhh don't tell anyone! for us it was during
work hours! Well I make up for it in overtime anyway!!
But it was a naff game to say the least. If we are going to get anywhere
then we best do better than that.
Maybe we will do better when we don't have a biased referee!!!

Come on ENGLAND!!!!

Steve

True World cup fever

Imagine sitting in a room full of Germans and Costa Ricans watching the Germany vs. Costa Rica game yesterday. This ship is an interesting place, where else in the world do you have all the nations in the world cup represented! The ship seemed to come to a standstill yesterday afternoon as we were all up in the main meeting room watching the match. I think that just about everyone who was not German in that room yesterday were cheering for the Cost Ricans - such is the politics.

The great thing about it is that as soon as the game was finished, life was as peachy as ever - no sulks or bad feelings - everything just went back to normal. :-D

The question is .... will I be watching the England game today? we will see.
Kathryn

Pray for me y'all 2

That was me, Kathryn, who is going on the Action team. Steve gets to stay at home and enjoy a week of freedom haha!

Pray for me y'all

I'm off on a week of adventure into the world of the unknown. I'm off on my Action Team tomorrow. Six of us from the ship are going to spend a week with a load of teenagers with issues - drugs, alcohol and abuse. The lady we are going to work with says we will either come back "wounded" or "grown up." Not sure I want to be any more grown up than I am but I know what she means.

In the words of the small child being carried out of a church service by his father:

"Pray for me y'all."

"That was close!!!"

Ok I have some eye drops from the nurse on board for conjunctivitus, I went to drop some in one day but I stopped and I said "that was close". "What...?"

I had alomost dropped some teatree oil in my eye! the two bottles are similar!
Ouch that would have hurt - anyone know what that would have done to my eye??

Steve

The 4000 ton rust bucket called home

I think I must be a late bloomer. This blogging thing has been going on for years and I'm onloy now catching on. I don't know whether thats cos I'm not so hot on sharing my feelings but hey, I'll give it a go.

So what's my life like? ...Strange, varied and remarkably uncomplecated. I live on a ship with 200 other people from 46 different countries around the world. We all speak different lanaguages and like different things and we all get on (for the most part!)

We work, eat, sleep, play and live on this 4000 ton rust bucket called home.

We've been here for 20 months, over half our married life together and in September we leave. We don't know where we are going we just know that God is calling us home (earthly home that is not real home)

So how am I feeling? excited, a little concerned, hopeful but above all calm. I know that God has it all mapped out even I don't know what that map is yet. I would like to know tho' just so I know we are on the rigth track.

I know that if I focus on God and on knowing him more then I will naturally know his design for us - even so I'm not the most patient person in the world!

Kathryn

A trip to the Salvos!

We went on a church team to the Salvation Army yesterday! It was
interesting to say the least.
Half on the congregation were under 15 and only 5 were male out ouf
about 30. We were asked to present a missions challenge, but we wondered
if really if that's what they needed. We did a Drama entitled 'Who will
go' kathryn shared a tesimony about the time we were doing outreach to
muslims in London and Steve preached on Matt 9:35-38 - " The harvest is
plentiful but the labourers few". Every Sunday for us is different, but
we are glad to have the opportunity share our lives with the people.

New Blog

Hi Everyone,

Keeping in touch is probably the most difficult thing to do!
Now hopefully you can find out what we are doing more easily with this blog.
and we can give more up-to-date info here.

So check back soon to see what we are doing.

Every Blessing

Steve & Kathryn


www.chedgzoy.co.uk