A Late Weekly Update December 29, 2008

As you all know, Christmas was this weekend, and it was my first Christmas away from home. In all honesty, it didn’t quite feel like Christmas, as it was almost uneventful. The biggest absence in the season was all of my family and friends, and it was just odd not seeing all of them. It was fun though, don’t get me wrong. On Christmas Eve, I slept until about 12 or 1 and then laid around until the time came to get the animal off of my face by shaving. It took me about 2 hours to shave, and a half of an hour to put on my suit. It was the longest I can remember taking to get ready in my life, but then again my beard was quite large. After taming the beast was the famous dinner, and it was delightful. We had good steak with some vegetables and for dessert were cream puffs. After dinner there was a worship service, in which we sang a lot of carols and Christmas music. After that was some movie watching, and then bed! All-in-all, I had a good time on my first Christmas Eve away from home.
Christmas Day was even less eventful, I slept in again and then woke up for breakfast and continued to do nothing all day. This was surprisingly welcome in my life, and enjoyed doing nothing pretty thoroughly. Other than that, this week I have been painting and took a trip on Sunday to play some basketball with a few people. It was fun, but still no football! I can’t believe the Lions went 0-16! What a shame. A new year is right around the corner, as is my next update, so in case I don’t see you, good afternoon, good evening, and goodnight!

Unmatched

I was given a task last week to write a poem that may be read aloud at the next church service, as our PST is running the service, and here is what I produced.(If you are from the ship please refrain from reading it until after the service.)

One cannot write a more beautiful rhyme
An artist can’t paint a prettier picture
An inventor couldn’t dream higher
Nor could a commander inspire more
Just as I cannot express with these words
The love engrained into my very being
The concept is too high for me to know
Your face is woven with beauty
The same beauty you sent to earth
The exact beauty in every stroke
Every stroke of the brush used on my life
The beautiful tapestry you made me
Absence of you leaves a void
Beauty beyond measure
With no hope of true value
A precious stone cast into the sea
My mind can’t comprehend your ways
They are so foreign yet so lovely
One word is foremost in your creation
The world revolves around it
Men run after it like fools
It is our true desire
We can’t even dream of understanding it
But we feel hints of it
The love you pour into us is unmatched

Weekly Update: December 17, 2008

This past week was a short one, with not much activity. On Saturday, I again was a part of the Christmas Around the World, but I played a different role. This week I was *forced* into being a Wise Man in our live nativity. The role wasn’t as bad as I first thought it would be, and I almost enjoyed it. I had a couple of lines I had to say every so often, and had to help look after a live sheep. The only problem was that the costume was far too small for me, and I could barely move my arms.

On Sunday, I participated in the American booth and passed out candy canes to visitors passing through. This was cool, and I got to talk to a bunch of Danish people and catch funny looks all for a couple of hours. It may have been this animal growing on my face called a beard. Speaking of beards, mine is looking extra large the past couple of days, as I got my hair cut yesterday, and cant trim my beard for a week. I get a lot of laughs when people see my new short hair and my huge beard, it’s pretty cool.

Weekly Update December 10, 2008

This past week has been somewhat of a blur. The first memorable day to me was when I had a day off on Friday. I chose to do something instead of lying around the whole day, and went exploring. I got up and took off into the woods of Køge, and it was awesome. The woods here are not quite like woods at home. The woods here seem a little less wild, but all the more full of wonder. The density is not what it is back home, and less animals roam the forest, but this makes for more silence than one is used to. I felt like a kid again as my imagination went wild and I dreamt of the same things I did when I was a kid. I used to see myself as a ranger or rogue wandering the woods looking for artifacts or for evil to vanquish. This thought was furthered by a discovery for me; in the middle of the woods was a row of trees with a path splitting them. At the end of a path was a little round wall, and inside the wall were graves and a crypt. I think it was the coolest cemetery I have ever seen, and I wanted to get in and explore it, but it was locked.

Later on in my walk, I stumbled upon something stranger than I expected, even eerie. Beyond the crypt was an abandoned military compound, and a lot of the buildings were made like hills. The fence stood about 8 feet high and was barbed wired. I longed to climb the fence and explore the fort, but I was alone and had to get back.

The other notable thing that has happened this week is the development of the writing ministry and my role in it. Clayton and I are kind of heading it off, and we are meeting this Saturday to discuss our first project which is a publication of our talents, just to give the decision-makers ideas on how to best use our skills. Pray that the ministry will start and flourish, and for it to bring glory to God any way possible.

I Sleep with Demons and Dream of Angels

I must rebel against my self
This damned being that lives with me
I sleep next to a monster
I kiss the mouth of a demon
At times I do fight with it
And tell it to leave just to let it back in
But I love the feeling of having it around
I can escape and I see that now
Yet my feet won’t move forward
I beat it into submission one day
Then nurse its bloody face the next
A fist followed by a kiss
Where lies the victory for me?
It lies in my true love
I don’t often see her, but I often feel her
She comes and graces my eyes
At times, she is all I think about
Her beauty is unmatched
Yet I sleep with this ugly whore
She seems so pretty when I draw near
But when I step back I see her ugliness
It just reminds me of your beauty
If only I was strong
For I am a juggler in a kings world
Only when I am around you
I feel so ashamed yet so in awe
You couldn’t be more perfect

Weekly Update: December 3, 2008

Weekly Update for December 3, 2008
This week has marked a few things for the ship. The most notable event has been the opening of our Christmas program entitled “Christmas around the World”. Thursday was our official opening, and we had a “V.I.P.” event here on board. The people who attended the event were people of fairly high stature, including a few different ambassadors living in Denmark. There were other guests that attended, but I didn’t get a chance to talk to them very much. I was the first person to welcome them to the ship as I was involved in the parking of our visitor’s cars. I basically told them where to park, and then welcomed them. There were about 100 people on board for that event.
The weekend marked the public opening for the “Christmas around the World” and most of us on board were involved. Saturday was the day of my involvement, and I was again one of the first people that visitors would see when they came on board. I manned a booth that was made to show what life on the ship was like. Nobody was very interested in this booth, mainly from the live nativity mere feet away. This nativity even had a live goat and a live sheep. A lot of people were intrigued by this, and I got to see it all day. I even saw the sheep defecate on the floor in the middle of a busy time.
On Monday, the ship also got a few containers full of food for the next couple of months, and it took all day to unload these monsters. There was a ton of food, and even some steak! It was a good day as it was different from what I usually do. I have been painting the rest of the week, and one major project (called the Steering Gear Room) is getting close to done. This Friday will mark the end of the second side-room, leaving a few things in the main room left to be completed. A lot of us are excited to be done with this room.
Another program that has started this week is a daily lesson on how to memorize the events and people of the Old Testament. The only problem with this is that it just runs through everything without explaining anything. I will continue to read the Old Testament on my own, and then proceed on through the whole bible. I appreciate all of you guys back home that enable me to be here, and please keep praying for me and my family.