Two years on a ministry ship

Yakima, Wash. -- Her ship's come in.

After almost two years of living and working aboard the world's oldest active ocean-going passenger ship and visiting 13 countries -- three of them twice -- Taylor Sunwold is back home in Yakima, acclimating to life on land and in the U.S. and getting ready for college.

The West Valley High School graduate opted for adventure and a chance to see the world -- or at least much of Asia -- after graduating in 2007. She wanted to tell people about and strengthen her relationship with God -- and get out of her comfort zone -- before furthering her studies.

When she departed for the M.V. Doulos, she had only taken trips to Canada and Mexico.

This fall, she'll be two years older than other freshmen at Northwest University, a small, Christian college in Kirkland, Wash. And that doesn't bother her at all.

"Given the chance to redo it, I would do it without a doubt," says Sunwold, who turns 21 next month. "It basically confirmed just how important my faith is to me."

Plus, she's already seen more of the world than some people will get to do in their lifetimes. Her shortest port stay was one week in Muara, Brunei. Her longest was five weeks in Cebu, Philippines. And her favorite ports were in Papua New Guinea.

"The people are so friendly," Sunwold says.

Two days after her 19th birthday, she was on a plane to the Netherlands for two weeks of training. Then she headed to Hong Kong to meet her ship and embark on her 21-month mission, with many stops in what's known as the "10/40 Window."

The area extends from 10 degrees to 40 degrees north of the equator, stretching from North Africa to China and containing the largest population of non-Christians in the world.

Roughly two-thirds of the world's population -- more than 3.2 billion people -- live in that space, inhabited by people who are predominantly Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist and Jewish.

The Doulos, on the other hand, is home to about 320 Christians from approximately 50 countries. All staff and crew -- including the captain -- are volunteers. And as far as she knows, Sunwold was the only one from Yakima.

The Doulos, built in 1914, is owned and operated by Good Books for All, a private, nonprofit organization registered in Germany. The Greek name means "bond servant" or "slave," and refers to the volunteers on board whose mission is to serve God and the people of the nations they visit.

Since 1977, when Good Books for All began using the ship as a vessel for ministry, the Doulos has hosted more than 20 million visitors, stopping in more than 100 countries and more than 500 ports.

Sunwold heard about the Doulos through an older cousin who had previously served aboard the ship.

Not everyone who applies is selected. Volunteers must be at least 18 and committed to Christian beliefs, as well as the Doulos' core values: loving God, esteeming people, working as a team and serving with excellence.

An initial application can be made online at www.douolos.org. Among the questions, candidates are asked to describe their perception of their relationship to God.

If selected, volunteers are required to raise their own financial support. Sunwold says the experience cost about $860 per month, or about $21,000 in all.

"About 50 percent of us were straight out of high school," Sunwold says of the other volunteers who were on board during her stint. "For a lot of us, it was the first time we really left home.

"You learn to balance your life and really kind of live on your own," she says. "You grow up a lot on the ship."

Sunwold worked in the ship's bookshop and participated in evangelism activities, including Bible studies, skits and dramatizations, and service and other projects with Christian churches in different countries. She made presentations about the ship and its ministries while also giving her own testimony.

And she served as a member of three separate "land teams," evangelizing in groups inland in the Philippines, New Zealand and Taiwan for two to three weeks at a time.

Through it all, she says, she learned a lot.

"I learned to be a better listener. I learned that I'm more quiet than I thought I was. I learned a lot more about my relationship with God. I learned how to really open up and make friends.

"I learned about people: We're all kind of the same. We all seek acceptance and love and just want to fit in somewhere."

In port, thousands of people visit the ship.

"They ask you questions about why you believe what you believe," Sunwold says. "You're forced to answer questions that before you may not have had an answer to.

"You learn that when you really just break yourself down to where there's nothing left and let God work, then most things go right."

Guests take tours of the ship and participate in programming. They also have a chance to visit a "floating book fair." The bookstore carries more than 6,000 titles.

During her second year on board, Sunwold, the oldest of four siblings, served as a shift leader in the store. She was so busy, she admits, "I didn't really get homesick.

"You have a lot going on all the time. You never really have an opportunity to feel homesick."

She talked to her parents, Dale and Jill Sunwold of Yakima, on the phone every couple of weeks. And they got to see the ship -- recognized in the Guinness Book of World Records as the world's oldest active ocean-going passenger ship -- when they visited last Christmas in Malaysia.

Sunwold says she might want to return to the Doulos when she's married and -- hopefully -- working as a nurse.

Meantime, she's working as a swim instructor and lifeguard at two Yakima pools, saving money for school. She also plans to make a presentation about her overseas experiences during an upcoming Sunday worship service at her church, Yakima's West Side Church.

She's been home nearly a month now, and she's still getting used to it.

At first, "You get shocked by everyone's cultures, and then you return and get shocked by your own," Sunwold says, adding, "The more you get used to being back, the more the ship seems like a dream."

Where in the world did Taylor Sunwold go?

* Hong Kong, China

* Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia

* Muara, Brunei

* Batangas, Philippines

* Manila, Philippines

* Subic Bay, Philippines

* Lae, Papua New Guinea

* Rabaul, Papua New Guinea

* Kavieng, Papua New Guinea

* Alotau, Papua New Guinea

* Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea

* Santo, Vanuatu

* Lautoka, Fiji

* Suva, Fiji

* Auckland, New Zealand

* Wellington, New Zealand

* Brisbane, Australia

* Sydney, Australia

* Geelong, Australia

* Albany, Australia

* Fremantle, Australia

* Dili, East Timor

* Singapore, Singapore

* Kuching, Malaysia

* Cebu, Philippines

* Bacolod, Philippines

* Manila, Philippines

* Kaohsiung, Taiwan

* Hualien, Taiwan

* Keelung, Taiwan

* Hong Kong, China

-- Source: www.doulos.org

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