Portuguese Sunset

With the Germans...

Hello friends! It’s been quite a busy week; sorry there hasn’t been an update.

So, in Portugal it never rains during the months of July and august. I was going for a walk and just starting praying That God would rain down his living water (John 4:13-14) on a country that is thirsting for him and is quenching their thirst with things that are leaving them thirsty (Psalm 63:1)… Those two verses have kept coming up in my life so I prayed with them in mind and just quoted them back to God. The next 3 days there was a light rain!! It was so cool! The missionary we’re working with was so in shock about the fact that it rained. He said in his 3 years in Portugal it has never rained in July. God is good. ☺

Well, after the Germany team arrived and we painted the Loures church…it was a good time of fellowship, service, and laughter. There was language barrier but most everyone on the team spoke a little bit of English. We ended up becoming really good friends with the team and it was sad to say Goodbye knowing we probably won't see them again, but though the interactions were brief, they will leave a last impact.

Last Sunday we went to a church that spoke Portuguese, Lingala, and French. It was an African church and so there was a lot of dancing and clapping. It was long, and unlike North America, but their passion was evident and the service was very fun. Afterwards we went to the Loures church with Marcos. I love that church, the people there are so friendly towards us. But in the last 3 sundays we've been to 5 churches and no English services, so pray that God gives us endurance and continues to fill us in our solo time with him.

Monday through Wednesday we put on a kids camp at a bible college for all the kids that attend all the MB churches. There were about 15 kids and it was a really good time. The kids spoke a little English, but communication was still hard. We worshiped, played games, and had a luau... It was evident that God was at work in the kids life. There was one kid named Selso, and he really stuck out to me all week. He just had a huge heart for God and a desire to spent time with the guys on my team and learn from them about God and life and sports. He was like a sponge and so respectful. He even joined our team during team time for prayer once. He was just an awesome kid.

The German team left this morning and today we're just relaxing and recovering from a long few weeks. We had a retreat in Algarve, Southern Portugal on friday through sunday, and then we leave for Africa for the remainder of our time. There are two weeks left until I'm back in Canada for debrief. God has been good to us here, and I'm excited to see what he does in the next few weeks. Pray for our time in Africa, that God will protect us and give us guidance and knowledge, and for the man who will be taking us over there, that he has compassion towards our team.

pictures!

So, i meant to post more pictures but I'm running out of time on the Internet, so only one for now. This is my team our first day in Portugal with gifts from our missionary hosts.

The first week

I think it's time for an update...

Well, the first week has come to a close and it was a good start to my time in Portugal.  After taking care of flood damage and getting that all under control, we spent the next few days working at the Massama church plant.  Most of our time there was spent painting, but we cleaned a little as well.  This church was one big room with a kitchen sink and a big divider.  It made me realize a lot about the church... It's so much more than a building here.  These people were definetly a family, and appreciated every inch of space they had.

Sunday morning we got to attend the church we painted during the week.  Their gratitude was beyond what we deserved and their joy was contageous.  The church started in the afternoon and they had this amazing chocolate cake ready for us upon our arrival.  :)

After this church service, all in Portugese, we left to drive to the Loures church, about 15 minutes away.  This is the church we'll be doing work at this week.  During the service i had the opportunity to share my testimony along with two other members of my team.  It was challenging to be vulnerable, (especially in a cross-cultureal setting when a translator is expressing your story) but it was a good lesson in obedience.  We also played for worship, while our missionary led in Portugese, but then we also led two of our own songs in English.

After the service we stuck around and played some games with the little kids of the church and some pretty intense ping-pong.  It was a fun time to just relax, then we went and had a late dinner at Marcos' house with his family and played some Dutch Blitz.  It was overall a really good sunday.  

Monday, we had a day off!! We spent the whole day exploring Lisbon.  We went to a castle, walked around soaking in the culture, and ate a picnic lunch right by the river.  Then we had some amazing Portugese coffee and dessert with Marcos and his family, and then went to the beach for about an hour.  It was really funny to see little 10-year-old boys in Speedos!  We definetly could tell we were in Europe.  It was kind of weird to be on the "west coast" and be at the Atlantic instead of the Pacific, but it was a good time.  We weren't at the beach long but it had already been a long day in the sun, and we're also spending the whole day on Friday at the beach.  

Tuesday we went to prep the Loures church for painting, and met a team of about 15 people from Germany who will be joining us for the next two weeks.  

Please continue to pray for team unity and positive spirits.  The stronger we are in those, the better God will be glorified through our work here. (the spell checker isn't working on my blog website currently, pardon my errors) 

 

The first few days

So, I made it to Portugal!  We left Montreal Monday at 4pm EST and had a layover in Philedelphia for a few hours.  The flight from Philly to Portugal was about 7 hours, and I slept for quite a bit of it I think.  I got to middle seat between two of my team members, so I used their shoulders as my pillow.  We arrived in Portugal Tuesday morning at 3 am EST, which is about 8 am Portugal time.  All our luggage arrived with us, which is a huge blessing.  

After we arrived, we were greeted by our host, Otto, and then off we went to his house for some breakfast.  Portugal is know for it's bread and coffee, and it has every right to be, it was delicious.  The rest of the day we just got settled into our apartment, took naps, took showers, ate some dinner, washed dished, and went on a walk to explore our new neighborhood.  It's really beautiful here, and unlike anything I expected.  I don't even know what I expected.  I'll post some pictures of our walk soon! 

The team of missionaries we're working with has one family back home on Ferlough, and so they're letting our team stay in their house the whole time we're here.  It's cozy, but very nice to have a clean, private place to stay.  It's really easy to feel at home and relax there, which is helpful to adjusting being in a new culture.  

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Our missionary host's father-in-law past away last night, please keep him in your prayers.  He is flying home to California today and his team will continue to host us in his absence.  

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Yesterday was our second day in Portugal and it was quite eventful, to say the least.  We had some orientation at Otto's house with Marcos, the other missionary we'll be working with.  That took up most of the morning.  After lunch we went on a bit of a tour around Loures, a outlying town of Lisbon.  We went to a park and a mall and walked around the River front.  While we were there we visited the Aquarium, which was pretty fun.  We saw this really slow, really big, really ugly fish.  I've been to a few Aquariums in my life and this was unlike anything i've seen.  We watched it for a while.  

While we were there, Marcos got a call that there was water coming out the backdoor of our apartment.  He went to go see what was happening and then we got a call that he was coming to pick us up.  Our apartment flooded.  A pipe broke under the sink and EVERYTHING got wet.  All our clothes, our bibles, our journals, and my laptop.  Luckly God was taking care of us.  My laptop still works, i'm writing on it right now, it does have a few water spots on the outside, but that okay, it works.  So, last night our team split up and the girls went to Marcos's house and stayed in his daughters room and hung our clothes out to dry, and the boys went to Otto's and hung out all of their clothes.  

Aparently, the pipe would have broke if we were there or not.  So, it was a blessing that we were there to help clean up the mess.  But, God is teaching us flexability, and to keep joyful attitudes in all we do.  Today, instead of going to our hosting church to start painting, we're cleaning up at the apartment some more.  

More stories to come :) 

Stuff I Forgot

So theres just a bit of stuff I forgot to tell you about my time in Montreal...

We went to an international fruit market, it was like we weren't in Montreal anymore.  There was fruit there that is definetly not sold in Kansas, but it was a really cool place ad the fruit was delicious! I'll post some pictures of it soon...

On Sunday, it was rainy all day and so our team got up and did laundry and just relaxed most of the day.  We went to church that evening at an arabic speaking Christian church.  It was really cool to sit and listen.  They were all really nice and wanted us to come back during debrief to tell them about our trips.   

Getting Ready

Hey friends!  well, orientation is coming to an end.  It's been an intense, challenging week but we've all learned a lot and I think we're ready for our adventure overseas.  Tomorrow we're going to do laundry and finish up final prep for our trip.  I'm getting pretty excited.  The Thailand team leaves tomorrow, and we leave monday, as well as the France team.  I'm sorry I don't have much to say but please continue to pray for our ministry. Once I'm there I'm sure I'll have much more to tell you about. 

Orientation

Well, Orientation is in full swing.  I met my team on Saturday, there are 3 boys and 3 girls, including the team leader.  They're all Canadian except me, but I think we'll get along fairly well. 

The Sessions have been good, long and numerous, but good.  We've been learning about prayer and authority and the power that the Holy Spirit can have in your life if you make space for him.  It's been challenging but really good.  

Yesterday we went to the Tams Tams in the park.  It was a good time, listening to music and just being submerged in the culture.  A guy stopped me and commented on my JBU shirt, and said he had friends that went there and he grew up as an MK and went to Faith Academy.  (Bethany, he knew your family, he was in your sisters' class).  So, that was fun talking with him, he was here on missions too.  

Today, we've had some good time to relax and have some alone time.  It's busy, and a bit tiring but I'm learning a lot and hanging out with some great people.

I miss you all.  This is my prayer: Ephesians 6:19-20.