Community
North Sider joins missionaryvessel
Mr. Conrad Connolly.
Thirty-seven-year-old North Side resident,Mr Conrad Connolly, left the country last Friday (January 5) tojoin the Logos II, a missionary vessel popularly referred to inthe wider Caribbean as 'the floating bookshop'.
Mr Connolly, who resigned his job with the Department of Educationto pursue his calling into full-time ministry, flew first to Londonfrom whence he was scheduled to travel overland by ferry and coachto Spain where the ship is docked.
On his way there, he was to have made brief stops at Calais (France),Zaventum, a town just outside Brussels in Belgium, and Mosbach(Germany), where he is scheduled to attend a 10-day conference.
A staunch member of the North Side Wesleyan Holiness Church, BrotherConnolly, as Mr Connolly is known amongst his brethren, was putin touch with Operation Mobilisation, the British-based internationalChristian organisation which runs the 'Logos II' and its sistervessel, the 'Doulos', by his minister, Pastor Kenneth Melville.
Pastor Melville, who first came into contact with the organisationduring the 80s while posted in Barbados, said: "I knew aboutthe organisation and felt that it sort of fitted the bill forConrad's kind of ministry."
He said that while in Spain, Mr. Connolly will spend some timeundergoing orientation and training before the vessel weighs anchorand sets sail for Asia and the Far East.
Sister vessel, the 'Doulos', he said, currently plies the watersof Africa, the lower Caribbean and South America. Over the nexttwo years that Mr. Connolly will be apprenticed to the ship asa volunteer, he will be supported financially by the local Churchwhich has begun a fundraising drive towards this noble cause.
While on board the vessel, which is in essence a "floatingBible School", Mr. Connolly will be taught such subjectsas Church History; Knowing Yourself; Understanding Others; andPsychology. He will also have opportunity to learn a life-skilland the relevant maritime documentation in the area of seamanship.
"As a volunteer," he told Cayman Net News shortly beforehis departure, "I will be given opportunity to develop myskills for the Christian ministry; be a part of a multiculturalgroup of over 3,000 persons; learn seamanship; and fulfil my dreamof helping the neglected peoples of the world."
He promises that at the end of his training he will return toCayman and serve his community. "On my return I intend touse my skills and training to challenge our youth, particularlyour young men, to embrace Christian principles and lead productivelives," Brother Connolly said.
Meanwhile, he says: "I feel all excited about the prospectof travelling the world and look forward to seeing the Lord dogreat things in my life through this opportunity."