Cruise Events

We made it! Just as we thought, they re-arranged our ports and we never knew there was a storm out there. We had perfect weather the whole time, very pretty. We love cruising because we feel like we are out of the fishbowl for a few days, but God seems to always have some friends for us to meet. The first night we had a Romanian for our waiter, Gabriel. That always gets me all wound up and makes me feel connected to my second home. Then, there was the morning we ate in the dining room, and we had this cute little guy from the Philippines for our waiter. He had way too much spunk (for one who is not a morning person) and he was singing his way all around us. Since it WAS in the morning, and I WAS in a bit of a daze, it took a while, but Cary and I realized about the same time that he was singing a Christian song. Cary asked where he had learned that from. Without a bit of hesitation and with all the boldness and spunk he was capable of, he said "I AM A CHRISTIAN." He stood so straight and proud, so unashamed. He told us he had accepted Christ while he was in high school, and that he has met a lot of Christians while working on the ships. Near the end of the week we sat close to a couple at dinner, close enough to talk a bit. It ended up that he was a minister in Montana and they were celebrating their 25th anniversary as well. Of course we had plenty in common and ended up spending some time with them before the end of the cruise and exchanging information. Cary's favorite "moment" was when we were in line with a couple and Cary asked where he was from. He was a heart surgeon (didn't look old enough to be such!) and was from Guatemala. He is in charge of the volunteer fire department. We ended up comparing all our Guatemala stories and experiences. Before we parted he volunteered his info and offered to help us out any way he could whenever we are down there. Reading between the lines, we are pretty sure he must be from a prominent family with influence. Those are always good people to have phone numbers for when you're down there! My favorite moment was at dinner one night, when we were sitting next to an older couple. Much older. Very old. Cary and I were talking about what we had been reading that day and basically saying how very blessed we are, how very wealthy we are-compared to SO many in the world. Wealth being defined monetarily, but not exclusively. We have seen enough of the world to know we are the exception in many ways, but we also know because of Jesus we would feel wealthy no matter where we lived. We are BLESSED, and we are well aware of it! Well, our conversation was stopped cold when a man walked up to the older couple and thanked the man for serving our country and providing the freedoms we enjoy. It was Veteran's Day. Obviously they had met somewhere along the way and this gentleman had gotten up from his table and made the effort to walk over to thank this dear old man. Tears in my soup! I was stopped cold! Cary and both had to take a deep breath. Our country and freedom was a blessing we hadn't mentioned, but the foundation of what we had been talking about, and certainly one we should have been adding to our list on such an appropriate day. All these things were really neat things that God had planned for us, divine appointments. I will save some of the details and pictures for another day, but we had a great time and met some really precious people!