wrappin' it up...

Hello friends! i wanted to wrap up my time in Portugal with a final post.

I flew home from Canada on the 21st, only to head straight to JBU to visit a few friends before heading home, I made it home late last night. Debrief was a really good time, it was a chance to reflect on all the experiences I had, and all the work God did not only in my life, but also in the life of my team and the people in Portugal that we interacted with.

Some of my favorite memories will be:

~ Working at the kids camp along side multiple other cultures. (German, Brazilian, Canadian, Portuguese, and several African cultures, plus me the American)

~Seeing God answer my prayer for living water through providing rain.

~Putting on a silhouette skit of John 15: The Vine and the Branches.



~Getting to experience the joy of the Portugal Christians at 3 separate churches, and seeing the same joy at all of them. No matter the size of the building or congregation. They were full of love.

~ Learning more of how to serve God through photography, a gift He has given me.

~ Getting to share my testimony and help lead worship in the Loures church.





~ Learning to pray using Scripture and experiences the power of praying God's own heart. And also learning that Prayer is ministry.

So, that's just a few of the lessons and ministry experiences that I will always remember. I want to thank you all for your prayers and support, you helped me learn that God provides and to trust in his plan and timing. I pray God's blessings on you for your willing to answer his call on advancing global missions.

Well, my ministry time is over, however keep checking back! In 7 days I leave for a semester of study in Northern Ireland. I would love to continue to share in my experiences with you!

more pictures!

1. team: This is part of the team washing walls in the Massama church.'

2. city: This is Portugal, taken from a castle in Lisbon.

3. building: This is the Portugal flag, seen flowing from many houses and businesses. This one is being flown from a bank in downtown Lisbon.

4. team: This is the team on our first day at the aquarium looking at the big fish tank.

5. Child: This is a little boy that went to one of the churches we attended. He was really shy.

pictures!

i have a folder of my favorite 30 pictures to show you blog readers! i got 5 posted right now. I will briefly explain them...

1: Piano: The piano picture was taken during practice at the Loures church. We've gotten the oppertunity to help lead worship (play while they sing in portugese). It's been challenging but a good experience.

2: Group: It's my team and me at a cove with feirce waves.

3: Tree: Thats a cork tree, they harvest cork here! This tree has been freshly harvested, they get harvested every 10 years or so.

4: Wedding: It's the bride at the African wedding we went to!

5: Lighthouse: This is a lighthouse that was down by the cost near one of the monuments.

The final week

What a better way to understand a culture than go to a wedding! On saturday we went to an African wedding. It was about 3 hours long. The bride and groom danced down the aisle with their party, the bridesmaids had air horns. The first half of the wedding was a church service with lots of special music, and the second half was the wedding. We left before the reception but apparently all the wedding guests dance and present their gifts, one by one.

Sunday we went back to the Massama and Loures churches, and then to an Egyptian restaurant. It was neat because Portugal has a lot of North African influence, so we continued to experience how the cultures overlapped. Our team leader had been to Egypt, so she helped explain a lot to us during the meal, where we were seated on the floor on big round pillows.

Monday was Muslim day. We spent the day in Lisbon observing Muslims, and that evening we went to a Mosque where we got to watch the prayer time, get a tour, and hear the call to prayer. It was a really unique time and a great experience for me. Learning about Islam, from Muslims is the way to go. I feel like I need to learn more about different religions, mostly so I can pray for them more specifically.

Today, we went to Fatima, (who happens to be one of Muhammad's daughters). Fatima is a pilgramage for Catholics. We got the chance to observe and pray and just understand Catholicism a little better. After that, we went and checked out a few different cathedrals a bit North of Lisbon. It's been a good few days of observing more of the culture and the religious differences here.

Tomorrow we spend the day debriefing with our missionary hosts, Otto, Marcos, and their wives. Thursday is the big day of packing everything up, cleaning our house, and going out with the larger missionary team we've worked with. We fly back to Montreal all day Friday (the 15th), we get to the airport at 7:30 am our time, which is about 1:30 a.m friday morning in Kansas. I leave Montreal on the 21st, and am excited to see all you of and hear how God has worked in your lives during the past few weeks as he's worked in mine.

Mid-term retreat

So, we got to have a time of relaxation halfway through our time in Portugal.

About 3 hours south in very southern most part of Portugal is a place called the Algarve. The Algarve is the Florida of Portugal. It's the vacation spot with warm beaches and lots of tourism. During the months of July and Aug, everyone gets 3-4 weeks vacation and a huge majority come down here.

We're getting the opportunity to swim, go to the beach, do a little shopping, have some team prayer, and it's just been a great time of rejuvenation. Our hosts Otto & Marjorie returned from their trip to the states, so they're joined us here at our retreat. (they also brought food from the states for us!)

The camp we're staying at has a really cool ministry. The take youth girls for two months & teach them basic household chores, cooking, and other things they need to make it, (motherhood related, how to fill out an application, etc.) After the two months is over, they follow them, and keep in touch for two years to help them get their feet on the ground. While they're here they're also shown tons of love and taught Christian values. It's really neat to hear about this kind of ministry.

One night we got to go up to the top of a mountain and watch the sun set and pray over Portugal. It was a really encouraging time.

I want to thank you for your prayers. God is teaching me stretching me and knowing I have your prayers is very encouaging.

God Bless---- ANDRA BETH

A change of plans...

We just got back from our midterm retreat in Algarve (which is the Florida of Portugal). There were tons of fruit trees, and it was a really good time. I'll go into detail when I have more time.

The purpose of that post is to tell you that our trip to North Africa has been cancelled. I don't know many details, but I'm trusting God blinding and trusting our missionary hosts to follow Gods direction. God is a mysterious God, but he calls us to be obedient. Please pray that our team listens and obeys Gods guidance in the next week of making plans of ministry to do to replace our North Africa trip. Blessings...