What a trip?

We had an awesome time on the cruise. Seven days was just right...long enough to really relax yet short enough to not go bonkers spending too much time on a floating resort. All three stops, (Puerto Vallarta, Mazatlan, and Cabo San Lucas,) were awesome and the weather was great the whole time. And yes the adage you've heard regarding cruise ships is true: You get on as a passenger and you get off as cargo! There is just way too much food accessible too many hours of the day.

I LOVE the international crews that these ships have--this one had people working on it from 57 different countries! I meet as many of them as I can and look for opportunities to connect with them. Our final night I met the Filipino guy who was singing in the restaurant and it turns out that he was in college in Cebu City during the same years we were in Cebu--and it was the college less than one block from where our church met at that time, (University of the Visayas.)
He wasn't a believer at the time, but he did come to the Lord a few years later. It looks like I'll be able to correspond with him by e-mail. I also met a girl named Alesia from Belarus. When I greeted her with a Russian word and told her I had been to her country, she almost dropped the tray she was holding. Turns out she's from Minsk, the very city I visited back in 1995. She said I was the first one she's met on the ship that knew anything about her country or had ever visited it.

I was able to read a few books on the trip, the most enjoyable one being the latest by Bruce Olson, called: "Bruce Olson and the Motilone Miracle." It's a follow up to his classic book, "Bruchko" and gives the history of what's happened with him and the Motilone indians from the mid 70's through 2006. If you're at all questioning the reality of the gospel and whether God is making a measurable impact in people lives, you need to read this book. Thank God for giants of the faith like Bruce Olson.

So, it's back to the regular life and ministry groove. I'll be speaking at CC Cedar City in Utah this weekend so if you think about it, pray for me.