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)
1 comment:
Praying for you All!!!!
Lots of love
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