—MO January 11, 1975 NO.337C—DFO

Copyrighted January, 1975 by The Children of God

P.O. Box 31, London WC2E 7LX, England or GPO Box 3141, San Juan‚ Puerto Rico 00936

1. IN VIEW OF THE CONTRASTING EXPERIENCES OF SOME OF OUR TEAMS I WOULD SUGGEST THAT BOATS ARE THE BEST BET, not only cheaper but also easier and with much less trouble of changes, delays, layovers, etc., and it always gives the prospective team members a chance to relax and recuperate en route from the usually last hectic days of preparation and packing to go, as well as that nerve-wracking last minute rush to the scene of departure.

2. I REMEMBER LEE SHELLEY, FRED'S MISSIONARY DIRECTOR, SAYING HOW MUCH HE AND HIS MISSIONARIES APPRECIATED THOSE NICE LONG RESTFUL PEACEFUL RELAXING BOAT TRIPS between the hectic hours of their departure and their trying hours of their arrival in a new situation. It gave them a chance to catch up on their reading and writing and mail and thinking and praying and planning and so on, as well as maybe a little loving of mates.

3. I KNOW THAT MARIA AND I ENJOYED OUR BOAT TRIPS IMMENSELY as they were such a relief from the usual hectic grind of travel and more like a hotel vacation than a journey, with the exception of a little rough weather once in a while which merely induced us to spend more time in our bunks relaxing our nervous stomachs, as sleep is the best thing in the world for sea sickness, plus the pills.

4. WE GOT A LITTLE NAUSEATED ONCE IN A WHILE, but neither of us have ever thrown up aboard ship since we all claimed the victory that time en route to the Bahamas. Besides, they keep your tummies so weighted down with all that good food you could hardly vomit if you tried, and there are so many things to do‚ from recreational sports, movies, and entertainment to just plain relaxing in the sun, plus all of your own private work, that you hardly have time to think about getting sick, and you can carry about four times as much luggage and travel at about half as much cost!

5. SO I WOULD HIGHLY RECOMMEND BOAT TRIPS FOR YOU EXTREMELY BUSY PEOPLE who need a little timeout between rushes and grinds and pressures. And if you must keep in contact with the home scene in cases of emergency, there's always the radio telephone at only about four Pounds a shot from anywhere around Europe, the Atlantic or Mediterranean to anywhere in Europe, the Mideast or North Africa or even anywhere else in the world if you must. So you're not completely isolated or totally out of touch and can be contacted or contact if necessary. It gives you anywhere from a day or two to perhaps a week to catch a breather, and transoceanic it gives you from two to four weeks vacation‚ praise the Lord!

6. SO THERE'S NO EXCUSE FOR YOU PEOPLE WORKING IN THE EUROPEAN AND MEDITERRANEAN AREAS WHERE THERE'S OODLES OF WATER for not taking nice restful boat trips to where you're going between jobs. Even a trip across the Channel can be fun and a rest and a helluva lot cheaper, as well as a Mediterranean cruise of several days.

7. YOU CAN GO TO ALMOST ANY OF THE MAJOR COUNTRIES IN EUROPE OR THE MEDITERRANEAN BY BOAT from London, France, Scandinavia, Germany, Spain, Portugal, Italy, etc. It only takes two or three days to a week at the most when you have time‚ as well as being a wonderful place to witness and catch up on your paper work.

8. WE GOT SOME OF OUR GREATEST REVELATIONS AND WROTE SOME OF OUR MOST IMPORTANT LETTERS ABOARD A SHIP when we had time to relax and pray and think and get alone with the Lord, PTL! So, as busy as we are, if we have time to do it, why not you? Squeeze, don't jerk! No matter how many times I've written these things and recommended boat travel, very few of you have ever taken me up on it or followed these recommendations‚ except those I insisted travel that way at my own behest.

9. INSTEAD OF BEING JERKED OUT OF ONE HECTIC SITUATION AND IMMEDIATELY PLUNGED BY PLANE INTO ANOTHER just as hectic, it gives you time to catch your breath and rest up for the next battle as well as eliminating all the time-lag fatigue which affects so many plane-flying globe-trotters.

10. IT WAS NOT SO WHEN I WAS A LAD: OCEAN LINER LUXURY WAS CONSIDERED THE ULTIMATE in luxurious vacation travel and probably saved the world from a lot of hastily made decisions and split second diplomacy in the days when men took time to think on their leisurely travels. So, I don't know why we can't do the same.

11. WE'RE GOING TO HAVE TO DO IT AGAIN ONE OF THESE DAYS WHEN THE PLANES RUN OUT OF FUEL and the cars run out of gas, thank God! I've been dreaming a lot about steam engines lately and thinking a lot about the old sailing days when great ships were wafted silently along in stately‚ graceful dignity and style without haste by God's good breezes, the cheapest fuel on Earth, absolutely free and almost always available everywhere!

12. THE GREATEST DISCOVERY AND EXPLORATORY JOURNEYS IN HISTORY WERE WIND-POWERED and went sailing along like a breeze, noiseless, fuel–less, engineless, pollutionless and free as a breeze!

13. I'M SURE THIS WILL PROBABLY BE ONE OF THE MAJOR MEANS OF TRAVEL IN GOD'S MIRACULOUS MILLENNIUM and Heavenly New Earth. What a relief! Thank God! Why not try it today, you might like it! Maria and I in our European travels even found you could travel inside many of the European countries or from country to country by boat on some of Europe's great rivers and lakes.

14. YOU'VE GOT NO IDEA HOW RESTFUL TRAVEL CAN BE AND HOW BEAUTIFUL UNTIL YOU'VE TAKEN A TRIP BY LEISURELY SHIP along the Rhine or Rhone or the Thames or the Po, the Oder, the Elbe or the Blue Danube or across the straits of Scandinavia‚ or along the Adriatic or amongst the Grecian Isles or through the Bosporous or on Lake Geneva, Lake Lucerne or the Zeider Zee‚ etc. My idea of the most luxurious and comfortable travel known to man is floating silently along through space on God's first great spaceships which have become the modern luxury hotels of the average steamship line. So, why in the world don't you give it a try?

15. IT'S CHEAPER THAN ANY OTHER FORM OF TRAVEL, TOO, when you consider that you're getting your room and board as well. Only the transoceanic trips are more costly than the average plane fares, but you can still bring a lot more with you and sometimes even work your way if necessary.

16. YOU FOLKS LIVING NEAR GREAT DEEP–SEA PORTS HAVE A TREMENDOUS OPPORTUNITY TO ENJOY THE PLEASURES OF BOAT TRAVEL and are foolish not to take advantage of it in such places as Stockholm, Oslo, Copenhagen, Hamburg, Bremen, Amsterdam, Rotterdam, London, Liverpool, Le Havre‚ Cherbourg, Bordeaux, Bilbao‚ Porto, Lisbon, Casablanca, Gibralter, Santa Cruz, Barcelona, Marseilles‚ Genoa, Naples, Athens, Dubrovnik, Venice, Istanbul, Izmir, Crete, Rhodes, Cyprus, Haifa, Alexandria, Tripoli‚ Tunis, Algiers, etc., not to speak of all the other places in the world around all the other continents and isles of the seas. So, why don't you at least try it once? You'll not only like it‚ but love it!

17. NO CHANGING PLANES OR TRAINS OR BUSES OR HECTIC DASHES from one terminal to another of uncertain connections‚ frantic rides, dangerous takeoffs or landings, rough air currents‚ jerky starts or stops, bumpy roads or rattling vehicles. You just go sailing smoothly, quietly along with rarely a storm or a wave to rock your boat.

18. MEANWHILE, YOUR LUGGAGE AND BAGGAGE TRAVEL JUST AS SECURELY WITH YOU and are much more sure of arriving safely at your destination at the same time as you do instead of getting lost in the shuffle from plane to plane or train to train or getting banged around as much and suffering so much damage with so many changes or being dropped from the cargo hatch of a plane to the tarmac 30 feet below! So why don't you try it just once at least and see how wonderful boat travel can be. Boat travel can be beautiful!—And certainly much more restful! Please try it!

Copyright (c) 1998 by The Family