JOSHTEERLING.COM

It has been 3 weeks and we are slowly getting settled into our routine.

There could be a lot to cover for these last 3 weeks, so lets get started with a quick summary of what happened:

March 25th saw me in Split, Croatia to begin my first 2 weeks of my SONS school. Our school stayed with the YWAM Croatia crew at their base in Kastela, Croatia, a 20-25 min drive outside of Split. The first week of our school was spent attending our STCW course, learning about general safety when on board; basic fire fighting, first aid, and general ship safety. On Monday and Tuesday of the following week, our school was able to go out to the sailing vessel they have in Croatia. We got to spend a portion of both those days out on the water practicing our sailing and doing some knowledge reviews focused on parts of the ship. The remainder of the week involved some intro to meteorology, which to be honest, was something I never thought I would really use when I went through it in high school. Look at me now.

Saturday of the 7th of March was our departure day. The departure flights to Athens, Greece left from a city called Dubrovnik, and I must say, if anyone is planning to go to Croatia, the drive from Split to Dubrovnik is one of the most beautiful I have been on. Its a relatively short 3 hour drive where you get to see some of their hill land, a short 25 minute drop in to Bosnia where it divides Croatia partly on the coast, then the remainder of the drive takes you along the beautiful coast. Myself and a class mate were unable to get a flight from Athens to Lesvos on the same day, so we spent our Saturday night at the Athens staff house, where we got to participate in an Orthodox Easter Sunday celebration. Not to take to long o n this, but it was cool to see the importance they had of the symbolism in their service. The passing of the light of Christ through candles, turned into hundred’s and hundred’s of hand held candles filling the streets at midnight.

Sunday we met up with the rest of our team in Lesvos. We were finally here and could settle in on the ship, The Next Wave.
Our first week was spent focused on becoming familiar with the S/Y Next Wave, brief introductions to the mechanics on the inside, and started to help clean her up a bit, as sailing has not been her main focus for the past couple years.
I also got to see some of the Village Church missions team who were staying on board the Next Wave in between their work in the refugee camps, which was great, as I knew a few of them.

That brings me to now. There is still a lot to do before my training under the SONS school is done, though it feels like it is moving a little fast. We are going to be helping prep the ship for our weekend sail coming up, as well as continue with our studies, but it will be nice to start putting some learning to practice, as the practical experience is quite important in a field like this.

On another note, I am really liking where the ship, and its leaders are going. Their focus to get the ship back out on the water, being heavily involved in sail training, DTS’s, and still being involved with those here on Lesvos working with the refugees, as well as a couple other bible teaching plans for the future. All of it is stuff I would love to be involved in.
As I have stated before, where God was calling me to serve was not very clear to me, but the pull to get involved with what is going on here on the Next Wave is quite strong. More concrete decisions will come eventually, until then please be praying for myself and my classmates. Pray that we can remain attentive to all that we are being taught. That we can soak it all in, and apply ourselves to studying. There is some talk of going right after this coarse in mid June, and spending a couple weeks preparing for an additional certification, bringing me to a RYA coastal skipper, instead of just the day skipper we would end with. This is a practical test, not just having to sit down and write an essay. It is a great opportunity to bring up my training and skill quickly, and be very beneficial in the long run, with advancing training in general, and in being able to help out in serving roles. So prayer for that would be great. That we would be able to get it done, and we would be prepared.
You can also keep the Lesvos team in your prayers, as they are working to get themselves settled here, to continue their work with the refugees.

Also pray for VISA’s. Currently YWAM is working to be recognized as a charity in Greece, something they have been working at for years. Without that recognition, getting a VISA to stay long term for a foreigner is a bit more work than is ideal.

Finally, support. There have been some thoughts that I could go back home for a bit before I go out again to do my serving, but in doing that I feel I would not be walking towards what God moved me to do. He called me to come and get my training, then serve. So that is the direction I am going. Because of VISA’s and such, there may be a couple weeks where I will be home sometime in summer, but not permanent.
So I am asking you all for support. Yes, support through your prayers, but also financially.
My additional training that I would do for the couple weeks after has not been priced out, so I will be working on that, but that is something I don’t have covered financially. So, even though my serving location is not set in stone yet, anyone who wishes to help support me financially can start right now, and it would be a blessing. It has been a step for me to move in this direction, and in many ways I don’t like it, but its a step in growth.

I will be needing Monthly support, so if anyone wishes to give monthly, please let me know.
I have on my website joshteerling.com, under donations, a link to my PayPal. You can start there. Hopefully in the near future I will be under YWAM Canada, and donations would be able to be made through them, enabling all donor’s to receive tax receipts.

I will end with this. My future posts will try to be more focused on a specific topic. With this one being the first, there was a lot to cover.

Until next time,
Josh