It's been such a long time since I last kept track of such missionary-related events in town that, had it not been for a friend who posted about it on FB, I wouldn't even have known that Doulos the Floating Bookshop ship had berthed in town.
I come from a background that's been (somewhat) familiar with Logos, Doulos, missionary work and the like, so the presence of this ship, the organization to whom she belongs, and the work she does, is not new to me.
But the years pass, and I cannot now remember when it was that I last went on board this ship.
It might have been decades ago.
It might have been less than that.
There was a piece of news once about Doulos (was it Doulos I or Doulos II) that the vessel would be decommissioned, and sent to the scrapyard. After that there was another piece of news that the vessel would be towed (or sailed) to a neighboring island in Indonesia to be retrofitted, something like that.
I don't know if this is the same retrofitted ship or if it is another one christened with the same name.
There was no time this evening for me to look.
I was busy gazing down at the visitors queuing to go up the gangway to board the ship, visit her bookshop, and maybe take a tour.
I was busy gazing at the lifeboats and the ship's personnel who looked over the railing to the people on shore.
And my mind was occupied- recollecting one of my all-time favorite books about missionary work, the mission of the "Floating Bookshop" combined with real-life nautical anecdotes.
Perhaps the charm of "Worse Things Happen At Sea" isn't just the description of events alone but also the humorous, yet realistic narrative of its author Clive Langmead who served as an Officer on the Bridge.
Had it not been for this book, I wouldn't know the ports to where the "Floating Bookshop" had sailed. I wouldn't have read about Nassau or Dover or Rio De Janeiro either, not to mention knowing what a sextant, or what a davit was.
There's very little talk about the visitors who come on board (except that they're usually very patient whilst being very excited, or schoolchildren who were ferried to the ship in boats) or even who the dignitaries are.
But there's a lot of mention about the cabins (they got a porthole), the food (too much rhubarb, sometimes), the navigation, the administration, and the confusion that erupts when different nationalities, linguistic abilities and personalities are thrown together onboard a ship for a singular faith-driven mission.
There're anecdotes that I've not forgotten- like that of the ship having to vacate its berth because a cruise liner had come earlier and a resourceful staff member (left behind) on land communicated via morse code to the author, like that of how the wife of a crew member had gone into premature labor and the Bridge had to be assembled to get to the nearest port for her to go to a hospital, and like that of how their suitcases in storage were ruined because one of their engine rooms got flooded and had to be shut down whilst their engineers pumped the water out.
Whether or not these anecdotes do happen upon this ship, I don't know, but she looked so peaceful, and serene in the dusky twilight that I felt she probably might have.
Maybe one day someone will write a book about these anecdotes again.
And maybe one day I'll get to read them.
It is as HE determines, yes?