A Look into Ministry

Sorry for the gap in time from my last post. I am feeling like the pace here is picking up and sometimes, by the time we get home, cook dinner and finish eating, the time is midnight and the last thing I have energy for is blogging. So, I thought I would make good use of my downtime this afternoon and give you a little update on what life in Portugal has been looking like as of late.

With Christmas just around the corner, there is lots to get ready for. We are putting on Christmas programs for the kids here. Getting people to commit to coming to practices and RSVP to things is nearly impossible, so we have decided to bribe the kids to show up for practices. If the kids come to 3 practices in a row, we are going to take those kids out to McDonalds, which is a HUGE deal for them. Our first practice is this Saturday, so we'll see how many kids show up this week. Who knows, it could just be our team :)

We are in the process of painting/drawing backdrops for Christmas, decorating the churches, creating window displays, etc. It feels good to be busy. Plus, I really enjoy this kind of thing - the decorating part that is. Crafting has never been a real gift of mine :)

This past weekend we had a women's retreat with the ladies from the churches here. It was only for a night, but it was a really neat time. The theme of the retreat was "Loved by God". One of the missionaries told her story and the rest of the time, we wanted to just love on these women. We painted their nails, did facials, I did massages, we had teas and coffees and chocolate goodies out to indulge in. I think these ladies felt very loved and pampered. That was our goal. In our last session time, we invited some of the ladies to share their stories of how God has moved in their life. It is important to understand that people here are not easy to share with people. Relationships take a lot of time to build. We were blown away by the vulnerability these ladies displayed as 3 women stood up to speak. Their stories were incredible. God broke my heart for these women so that I could truly love them. The things these women experience on a daily basis was incredible to hear and also sad.
Heidi, Rachael, Aleah and I were talking once we got home about our experience at the retreat and we were all in agreement that we walked away feeling extremely blessed by these ladies. We had gone into the retreat thinking we were going to be the ones blessing them, but in turn, they ended up blessing us more. I feel honored to be a part of these women's lives and to get to know them better in the coming months. The lack of communication was in no way a hinderance to us building relationship, which was also very neat. God is definitely working here and I am excited to see what He will continue to do both in these women's lives and also in mine.



The whole group of ladies

Facials with Paula

Rachael painting nails.



Luz, Rosemary & Dona Joanna

Carla, Dona Joanna, Cris & her daughter Maria

Marjorie and Myra - the organizers of the retreat.

Last week, Lisbon was a pretty happening place. The NATO summit was meeting here last Friday and Saturday. One of the missionaries we work with, Joe, is a huge aviation buff. He can tell you anything you want to know about planes. No joke. He wanted to take us to watch the different planes fly in for NATO. So, we ventured out to the airport area, where he found us a spot about 320 feet from the runway (yes, we google mapped it). Just leave it to Joe.



The aviators :)

Our fearless leaders from left to right: Joe, Otto, Matt & Doug

Air Force One

I'll be the first to admit that I am not the biggest aviation enthusiast, but it was pretty neat to see Air Force One land along with the other countries. TV stations were around filming and it turns out, that after only being in Lisbon for 2 weeks, we have already made it onto television. Who would have thought? We didn't see it, but Joe is getting us the link for the clip. I'll post it when I get it.

Other tasks that have been keeping us busy is getting ready for a bazaar that the church in Loures is holding this coming Saturday. We have been cleaning the Massama church, organizing and rewiring (the boys were in charge of rewiring, not I. So far the building has not yet burned down, so I guess they did a good job).
We have also just been spending time with Otto, Marjorie, Doug & Myra and Joe & Paula - these are the leaders here at the churches. It has been neat getting to know them better and building relationship with them. We have been blessed with really neat people to look up to and walk beside us as we do ministry.



This is the Massama church, the Espaco

God continues to stretch me and challenge me daily. You know the phrase, "you learn something new everyday"? Well, it's true. God reveals something new to me everyday. I continue to pray that my eyes would be open and that my heart would be broken to see these people as Jesus sees them. I am learning about relationships and how to build them. I am learning to trust God and find peace and strength in Him when things suck and when I am missing home. He is my source of strength and my refuge. In Him, I find my resting place. I am clinging to these truths.

Thank you for your continued support and prayers. Please continue to lift up me and my team here. We have some things to work out among us and so we could use prayer for team unity. Please continue to pray for safety and also a boldness to engage with the locals so that meaningful relationships can be built. God is good and He is moving.

Pictures, Pictures, Pictures.

Lisboa

Last week, we spent some getting to know our way around Lisbon and getting a feel for Portugal. We must admit that we felt a little touristy, but it was good to discover a bit more of the city. Let me just say, that I have fallen in love with Europe. I will definitely be leaving a chunk of my heart in this place.

Took a walk down the high fashion area. It was awesome.

No purchases have been made here yet...

The architecture here is incredible. That's all I have to say about that!

Palm trees are everywhere here. It's kinda nice.

This is a monument of the promise that was made between Portugal and the Jews saying that Portugal would no longer persecute the Jews.

Us girls and our tour guide/teacher of all of the ways of Lisbon, Ines

Have I mentioned that I love this place???

Down by the river. This was the original gate that people would pass through when they came by ship to be in Lisbon. This was the gate to the city.

We explored some ancient Roman ruins under the city. After the earthquake in 1755, Lisbon was rebuilt on top of the old city. There is a lot still left underneath the city. Once a year you can go down the man holes in the street and explore the old ruins. We went underneath a bank to see these particular ruins. It was pretty neat, but not meant for people over 5'6".

The view of Lisbon from a famous elevator in the middle of the city. 

Sintra

Another day last week, we had a team fun day where we headed 20 min away to a small city called Sintra. The place was incredible. So much history and character in this place.

This is a city known for its monastaries, castles and palaces. We never got to see them all in one day, but this will be a place we revisit again in the near future.

Rachael & Aleah enjoying lunch in the park.

We got a little confused sometimes in where we should be going. We figured it out though.

Beautiful Heidi

This is an old mansion called the Quinta da Regaleira. It was used to connect the Royal Palace to the Palace of Seteais. It was also the home of the Carvalho Monteiro. It was built in 1697.

We explored the grounds for a number of hours. I'm not sure about the exact size of the estate, but if I had to make a guess, it would be something like 20ish acres or so???

Part of the estate included walking through underground caves. Seeing as none of us typically carry a flashlight in our bags on a regular basis, we relied on our camera flashes to light the way because it was complete darkness down there. Many good laughs were had.

This was a librairy in the mansion. This would be a dream of mine to have one day. It was incredible.

Exploring and getting a feel for the country has been a lot of fun and I am looking forward to knowing more about the Portuguese people and their culture. More pictures will come soon.