Off Days

Since I've been on the ship I've had quite a few chances to go out and experience the areas that we've been docked at. I'm going to mention a few of them just to let you in on the things we do that aren't necessarily work related.

This was our trip to Dunn's River Falls. If you ever see anything about Jamaica and what it has to offer, Dunn's River Falls is bound to be one of the places mentioned. It's location is very unique because of the way the waterfall ends on the beach! If you're interested you can read more about it by clicking on the title for this post.

When we were in Montego Bay we had beaches fairly close by so we would head out whenever the opportunity presented itself!

Phil, me, and Euan.

Below: Euan, Ida, Naomi, me, and Phil. This is also back in Montego Bay after we had been to the beach. There were quite a few nice little shops around that we spent some time going through. I think it's so cool how you can haggle and barter with the shopkeepers pretty much anywhere you go! There have been a token few who have had firmly set prices.

I think that the below picture is awesome! I have to admit though that I didn't (As is perhaps evident as the shadow on the right is me.) capture this photo. The credit goes to Liz. Also this picture was taken with a point-and-shoot camera so it's possible to get amazing pictures with an average camera.

Thanks for your patience with my posts! Yesterday was crammed full with excitement! It was my off day and a few of us headed out into Kingston to try to find a few shops to get some supplies from. It took a little research to figure out just where to go (There aren't many places in Jamaica that have quality products.) but boy did we hit the jackpot! There were even stores where they had name brand clothing! I really needed socks bad as well. I was down to 7 pairs and one pair was miss matched due to Euan "needing" one of my socks for himself on one of our outings. So yesterday went by amazingly fast so I didn't get the chance to post. I'll be back tomorrow with more!

God bless!

International Cafe

I had the chance in my first weeks on the Logos Hope to work in the iCafe on Deck 4 which is where some of the ministry on the ship takes place. When you come on the ship as a visitor you are first directed through the Book Fair and after you've checked out with your purchases you come through some displays and various video presentations until you come to the iCafe. There are tables and lots of space for people to relax and get refreshments and sit down and talk with crew members about the ship. This is when a lot of the crew get the chance to start a conversation about God. I had the privilege once to pray with two little girls to accept Jesus after another one of the crew members and myself did a presentation on the salvation message. Praise the LORD!

It was wonderful being able to see the front end of the ministry and work with the people who came to the ship every day and to do my best to shine a light for Jesus. Below is a picture of me and some of my coworkers.

Left to right: Elise, Rosy, me, Kathryn, and Sady

Popcorn was always a huge hit and it was all we could do most of the time to keep up with the crazy amount that people wanted! On the weekends we would actually have up to 4 people working on popcorn alone!

The cash desk can be really draining at times just because you have to serve so many people and try to understand the thick Jamaican accent and at times the people aren't very easy to work with but it's rewarding in the end!

Below is outside of the gate in Montego Bay. At this point the people you can see in the picture hadn't even been allowed to enter the line yet! School visits were frequent and on one of the days we had over 4,000 school children come through deck 4 and the iCafe!

I'm going to be doing a post every day over the next week to get you up to speed on my situation with extending as a Project Worker in the Marine Operations department as a Plumber.

Thanks for reading!

Deaf School

What a blessing it is to be able to serve people who are less fortunate than myself. I'm coming to realize more and more that the things we all take for granted every day really could be taken away at any time. The simple ability to see, feel, touch, taste, and smell are things that allow us to interact and experience the world around us.

I was talking with some of my friends here on the ship and someone asked me this question: "If you had to sacrifice one of your senses which one would it be?" It's strange thinking about it and most people came to decide that taste is the thing they'd give up. No one wanted to lose their sense of touch, seeing, or hearing. The simple thought of becoming deaf sends shivers up my spine knowing that in that situation I'd never be able to enjoy any sounds in the world from the simple every day sounds to the exotic sounds of music. Not to mention losing the ability to speak.

This is exactly how all of the kids at the deaf school must feel every day. Most of them have been deaf from birth. Our team did a number of different activities with the children. We had one individual who's parents had been deaf and therefore she was able to sign fluently. She shared her story and then we proceeded to play some games with the kids. Soccer is pretty much what everyone outside of the USA is obsessed over so that is what we played. I stayed behind the camera for the game capturing the beautiful Jamaican sunset and gorgeous lighting.

Above we organized the kids into two teams and held a relay race! It was really neat seeing all of them interacting and cheering each other on just by signing.

The above picture was from one of the skits that we performed for the kids. Everyone on the team got to show the children their flag and tell them a little bit about their home countries and families.

I have a huge respect for the attitude that the kids all had despite their circumstances.

Please keep the Logos Hope in your prayers as we continue to share the message throughout Jamaica.

Thanks for reading.

Montego Bay, Jamaica

The sail from Aruba to Jamaica went amazingly well considering the way the weather was supposed to be bad and all. I had no trouble at all with seasickness. Thank you LORD!

Here is a fisheye shot while we were on our way to Jamaica. It took us about two days to arrive safely in Montego Bay.

Whenever I get the chance to I take my camera and a few friends and head out into the city. Here in Montego Bay it is different than it was in Aruba because where the ship is docked is about 2 miles away from the main city so in order to get to anywhere that has to do with the city you have to take a cab. Typically it costs less than 2 US dollars to go all the way to town. This picture was taken near the ship a little way from town.

In order to go out of the ship there are a few things that have to be in place.

1: You must leave your badge at the front desk. This ensures that they know who is on the ship so that should there be an emergency they wouldn't spend precious time looking for someone that isn't even on the ship.
2: You must have at least 1 other person with you at all times. You can't go out with just a girl and a guy however because this would break SP (Social Policy) or if you go out at night there need to be more in the group.
3: Have some sort of ID that would allow you reentry to the ship and be in the ship at Midnight.

It's fairly simple and makes good sense but sometimes if you can't find anyone to come along with you outside it can be annoying.


On our off days we can do whatever we choose so we went to the beach this time! It was beautiful. The majority of the people on the ship get their off day on Tuesday because that is the one day that the ship is closed during the week.

Above: Phil - Scotland, me, and Euan - Scotland

It's crazy how fast the time has been going by! It's already been about three weeks and it doesn't feel that way at all. There are so many awesome people representing so many different cultures and geographic locations all around the world. It really has been broadening my perspective.

Whenever I'm able to I try to get up early enough to see the sunrise and have my personal devotions on deck 9. It's so peaceful standing by the railing and breathing the crisp air early in the morning.

I'll be posting soon about my Eday to a deaf school here in Montego Bay.

OM Aruba

Hey everyone! I just wanted to give you an update on my trip so far.

Here is just a little bit of info about how OM works with the volunteers.

I applied for the STEP (Short Term Missions Program) opportunity which is pretty much the shortest available option for serving on the Logos Hope which is typically about three months in length. If the trip is too short then the time that it takes to train a person in is not efficient for the short time period. Most of the people are staying on the ship for about 2 years (non-STEPpers).

Since the "STEPpers" are short term most of them get placed in something like "The Angels" (Cleaning), Galley (Kitchen), or something of similar nature. Very rarely does a STEPper get to do any of the more involved jobs.

But... God is great and somehow I got placed in an area called the iCafe on deck 4 where all of the people come on board and buy books and get to learn about the gospel message. I work behind the counter making ice-cream and selling all sorts of small snack food items. My working shifts are either in the morning from 9:00am to 3:30pm or in the afternoon from 3:30pm to whenever we finish closing/cleaning everything which is usually around 11:00pm. I am so blessed to be able to work in this position as it offers me so many opportunities to interact with the people that come on board and send a message of love to every person who walks through the visitors experience deck.

As I had mentioned to many of you before I wanted to do something with photography and therefore I brought almost all of my equipment along with me. Well, it turns out that their previous photographer left right as I arrived and the next photographer won't be here for a while yet and so it looks like they will be putting me to work behind the camera just like I wished for. Actually I just finished my first project which was photographing an event for a story the journalist is writing. God works in great and awesome ways doesn't He!

Now, I did inform the mechanics about the plumbing and heating aspect of my background and they actually wanted me to work in their department but it looks like my iCafe managers need me more in the iCafe because in Jamaica it is going to be super busy all of the time.

I stay on deck 1 of the ship right above the engine room with 5 roommates. I've been picking up the accent of the Scotts lately which is completely weird. I think by the time I come back I'll be talking very strangely. It will be some combination of pretty much every accent in the world.

My roommates:

Justin: American, 18

Josh: American, 30

Euan: Scottish, 18

Phil: Scottish, 18

Sylvain: Swiss, 22

My schedule for a typical* week goes something like this:

5 work days: Tuesday through Saturday

1 Eday (Events/Ministry day): Sunday typically

1 off day: Monday typically

Every morning there is a devotional service in the Logos Lounge as well as a church service on Sunday and small groups on Thursday.

All of your free time can be taken up by optional events if you'd like. So far I have signed up for only a couple of things but as I get more comfortable with things I'll be doing more.

I’m sure that everyone has heard about the earthquake that took place in Haiti and OM is currently working on the best strategy for providing as much aid as possible. We are still planning to go to Jamaica as planned while the details are coming together. OM has an official page about the upcoming plans.

http://www.omships.org/haiti

The weather on the way to Jamaica is shaping up to be pretty rough so pray that I don’t get seasick too easily.

Your prayers are very important and much appreciated! I’ll be posting more very soon!

God bless,

Benjamin Sahlstrom

* There really is no such thing as "typical" on the ship.

Johann Sahlstrom

Erina Peace

I came home one day after work and my mom told me to go see my siblings in the attic because they were having a wedding! Thought it was worth taking a picture or two.

Annika's First Pheasant

So I finally purchased a pheasant license a few weeks ago when my dad convinced me to do so and I think I've only went hunting three times and shot 4 birds. I guess the price of buying a license deters me more than anything from heading out with my 12. I sometimes bring my camera instead just because I don't have to buy a license.

All licenses and cameras aside, I love getting out there and trudging about in the long grass just waiting for that moment, that very fleeting moment of motion, sound, and awesome excitement (That is if it is a rooster and not a hen. Seeing a hen is kind of like showing a little kid a piece of candy and then taking it away again.) when you have that chance to shoot that glorious Chinese bird. My sister Annika has, as of this past weekend, shot her first one ever! (The crowd goes wild!)

Just Life

So lately I've had some time to spend with my siblings which is always great! Below are a few of the pictures I took while we were out on our little adventure.

Below is our beloved dog Ginger. She has been an awesome pheasant hunting dog for us over the past few years but sadly she has picked up some kind of a blood disease from a bug bite. We are hoping that she will make a full recovery and your prayers would be appreciated. The vet has been out many times and improvement is only slight.

Below from left to right:

Katrina, Reuben, and Erina

Have a wonderful day!

Star Trails

I'm not sure if you've noticed but lately I haven't been updating my blog frequently. This is mostly due to my poor time management skills. I could say that I'm just really busy but everyone says that. Truth is I've been putting in very long hours working for my dad doing various HVAC and plumbing work. I've been averaging 10 hour days since I returned from Colorado.

Even with the long hours I have been able to squeeze in a few pictures here and there. Lately I have been really captured (forgive the pun) by long exposures of those little sparkling lights in the sky we call stars. The above picture was taken after I was done with work at about 11:30pm. Reuben came along to keep my company while the exposure was being completed.

Every time I take a picture with a long exposure, (*10 seconds and up) my camera perform what is called "Long exposure noise reduction". This process attempts to eliminate as much of the "digital noise" generated by the long exposure by processing the image for the same amount of time it took to actually take the picture! This means that if I were to take a picture that was a 30 minute exposure I would have to wait an entire hour before the camera would be ready to take another! Very cool technology but somewhat annoying...

Taking star trail pictures is not very difficult. The hardest thing is finding a perfectly clear sky with no major cities near you. The smog, combined with the city lights, will over expose your pictures and what could have been crisp star trails become nothing more than uninteresting smears of light. That is why you don't see pictures of the Eiffel Tower with the stars streaming behind it.

The other part of taking star trail pictures is your exposure. If you are going to take really long exposures you really don't want to have to take very many test shots. I bet you can figure out why! So think through your camera settings before you take a 30 minute shot!

I've found that for a 30 minute shot the following settings work best for me:

ISO 200

f/8 (Gives you a good DOF)

Shooting in Manual mode with the shutter speed set to "bulb"

Use a remote trigger

*Approximation

Thanks for reading!

Photography Internship

Earlier this year I sent off my application for OM (Operation Mobilization) to go on the ship Logos Hope on a missions trip for three months starting in the beginning of August. I got a response via email notifying me that all of the spots were already filled. At first I really didn't know what to think. I was trying to think of why it didn't come through. I set apart this time for this trip to serve and here it turns out that it really isn't going to work.

As many of you know I had the opportunity to go to Summit this year and while I was there I ran into Rowan Gilson (The President of IPS) who had been one of my photography instructors in San Diego. Turns out he wanted me to come back to Colorado to do an internship with him from September 8th to October 4th in Manitou Springs, CO! The same time I would have been gone on the missions trip. It is truly amazing how God works!

So here I am, typing on my desktop, enjoying the company of so many awesome Christian photographers. I am really excited to be here learning as much as I can during this month long ordeal. Above is an HDR (High Dynamic Range) image. It is three images with different exposures merged together therefore gathering as much detail as possible both in the highlights and the shadows. The photo was taken with my 10-24mm wide angle lens.

The above picture was a bit of graffiti here in Manitou Springs. The image has been tweaked with Lightroom. ESCAPE is exactly what I feel like doing sometimes because what I have been assigned to working on requires a lot of time spent in front of my HP monitor. If anything it has been teaching my to be patient. Don't get me wrong though I really do like what I am doing. I just don't like sitting in one place for as long as I have been! ;)

Brad Hicks was here for the first week because he came for the IPS reunion. We had a blast going out in the evenings and getting some interesting shots! We had a blast. This photo was taken using an external flash and self timer on my D90.

On one of the mornings we got up at 5:30 and hiked all the way to the top of Red Mountain! The climb was intense! Once we got to the top I really wasn't all that excited about taking many pictures but I did manage to pull this one off! Sorry I haven't been updating my blog very actively. I will try to keep you posted while I am here in CO! We are planning to get Starbucks in the morning at 6:45 so I had better go for now. Hope your September is going great!

Mount Rushmore

Hey everyone! I am sitting on a log on a steep slope in the Black Hills borrowing some wifi from the kind neighbors! It is getting hard to see the keys as the darkness is swiftly closing about me while I am frantically posting my short little note about our vacation out here in the Black Hills!

Yesterday we had the chance to visit Mount Rushmore! I had been there once before but for the rest of my siblings it was their first time. The pictures above and below were taken during the evening show which was very awesome!

To every great achievement there is a great man that deserves the recognition for his accomplishment. This man being Gutzon Borglum. The master designer/sculpture of Mount Rushmore.

God truly blessed us with some beautiful weather!

It took us awhile but we did eventually find the Minnesota flag! Go Minnesota!

Below is me feeble attempt at creative composure for your viewing pleasure/horror. Lets hope it is not the latter. ;)

Oh and don't forget the shot that has been taken millions of times! It's so important that you see the faces from that awesome angle that you have seen a thousand times before. You know sometimes I almost don't take a picture because I know that it has been completely "shot to death"! Just a random thought.

Well I hope you enjoyed this post! I'll be back soon with some more updates on our trip! My battery is about to die so I am going to quickly post this and head back to the cabin before I become a snack for some fortunately large animal/monster as it is almost too dark to see the ground, The light from the computer screen being all that is illuminating my skilled keystrokes! 10% battery remaining! I'll check in later!

Summit Ministries

I am currently in a beautiful little coffee shop in downtown Manitou Springs, CO enjoying the crystal clear air of the 6,000 some foot altitude. I am here for a two week academic camp called Summit Ministries! I am learning a ton about the way we as Christians should view the world around us.

Every morning I get up at about 5:45 and go out with those who are able to get up early and go for a walk for about an hour! It's so much fun to be able to just plain relax. Some mornings I take pictures and others, like today, we simply find a coffee shop and chill.

The Summit building is what used to be a 5 star hotel in its day. The building and the surroundings are beautiful.

We were able to enjoy that awesome fireworks on the 4th that were launched from the mountain side.

God is great and I'm excited to learn as much as I can from all of the great speakers this week!

Canada Fishing!

Gliding across the crystal clear water on one of a

series of beautiful lakes in Canada is something that little else can top. Catching the fish, enjoying the shore lunch, playing games late into the night, watching the sunset, and taking photographs made this trip one of the best I've ever been able to go on!

Above is an amazing waterfall that was about 16 miles on boat to get to!

I used a polarizing filter that allowed me to see through the reflections in the pond allowing you to see the bottom.

Below was our fuel for the trek up to Canada early Friday morning! Here is "Big Ben's" first bite of grandpa's oatmeal!

This picture was taken on a rock close to the bottom of a waterfall as you can see the reflection in the right lens of the glasses.

Just one of the amazing sunsets that I was able to enjoy, capture, and share with you!

Shore lunch happened every day any time from 11:30am to 4:00pm.

Here are the guys filleting out the morning catch!

Practicing the crucial discipline of keeping the truck topped off with top quality gasoline!

This is what I like to call a "Sunburst" with the rays of light coming through the clouds.

A short video clip.

Thanks for reading!