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.



Portugal Update

This last week and half has been amazing. We are slowly getting settled into life here in Portugal. Portuguese lifestyle is very different to what we are used to. Culture is extremely relaxed here. Sometimes people show up on time, sometimes not. Sometimes we know what the week holds in terms of ministry opportunity and tasks to be completed, sometimes we don't. All that being said, life here is good.
We have now learned to use the transit system here in Lisbon, which consists of the train, the metro, the bus, the tram and boats. We have used all of them except for the boat. I'm not sure how often that will be used, but it feels good to have some independence here and experience big city living. Where we live, in Massama, we typically walk. It's a suburb of Lisbon I guess, but everything we need is within walking distance (well, except for maybe Starbucks - that's a train ride away).

The Portuguese people are a very private people. It takes a lot to be invited into someone's home for a meal or a coffee, so relationship building for us is a huge undertaking, considering we still do not speak the language. We have had some neighbors ring our doorbell, but that was only to tell us that we left our outside light on, so we don't really consider that to be a successful engaging in relationship. Within the church, enjoying a meal together is more common. We have been blessed with meal times with fellow Christians here in the Massama church and we are hoping that as language comes, we can build better relationships and get to know the people we have already met better. Language is a huge barrier for us right now. We commonly use the phrase "nao falar Portuguese", which means I don't speak Portuguese.

In terms of ministry stuff, it's been a little slow here. We have been doing tutoring monday evenings with some of the high school and university students in the Loures church. This past week I tried to explain the concepts of an article on U.S. Foreign Policy through google translater to a girl in University. I'm not sure how well that worked out, but hopefully she understood a little bit of what the article was saying.
This upcoming weekend, us girls are going on a women's retreat with the ladies of the Massama and Loures Churches. I am really looking forward to this weekend and having the opportunity to get to know these ladies a little better. There are some beautiful people here in Portugal.
A lot of our time is spent at the Espaco, which is the church here in Massama. Our job is to bring life to the church building by just spending time there hanging out. We're hoping that as people walk by, they might stop by to check us out and build relationship that way.
On Saturday evenings, we spend time at the youth group, which is an amalgamation of the Loures, Amadora and Massama churches. We have only had 1 week so far of youth, which was a bible study, so we felt a little useless there as none of us really understood what was being talked about. The missionaries here say that just us being present there, is a huge testimony and example to the youth, so we continue to go, regardless of our communicating ability.

Some other things about life in Portugal. The day here doesn't usually get started much before 10am. Often we sleep until 10 or 10:30am and aim to be down at the church for 12ish or so. Lunch is sometimes eaten around 1pm and can last for about 2 hours. People are always at the cafe's and coffee shops all throughout the afternoon. Life here is considerably more relaxed than in North America. It's kinda fun.
Supper is typically anywhere from 8pm - 10pm. No one goes to bed before midnight. If you do go to bed before midnight and somebody calls you on the phone, it is considered embarressing if you are caught in bed so early. After midnight it is acceptable to go to bed. I guess that's why they can allow for later starts in the morning.
People here do not smile readily. Like I said, people keep to themselves. Except, a girl walking down the street can often be whistled at by men walking or driving by. That is not uncommon. But you just don't engage in conversation with people on public transit or while walking down the street.

A piece of encouragment Otto, our lead missionary here, gave us was that you can look at all the apartment buildings here in Lisbon and feel discouraged very easily at the lack of people coming to know the Lord, but you have to focus on the fact that we are being obedient to where God has called us, regardless of the number of people converting to Christianity. We are called to be obedient to God and allow Him to use us in whatever way He chooses to plant seeds. We may not see results, but that doesn't mean that God is not working in this place. We are not expecting a big revival in Lisbon. The harvest is not ready yet. But God is working in the few people we know and that is exciting. This is what we need to focus on. We are here to be the hands and feet of Jesus. That is it. We are living life and trusting that God will move and work in and through us here.

Stay tuned for a picture update...

Apartamento

Check out our new digs for the next 8 months:

Front Entrance - also Heidi & Rachael's closet

Rachael & Heidi's Bedroom

Living Room

we have wireless internet, a tv and cable. It's a hard life here in Lisbon :)

Kitchen

our kitchen is equipped with a dishwasher and a washing machine. For a dryer, we hang our clothes out the window on the drying racks.

Bathroom

our bathroom is complete with a badet

The view out of our living room balcony. Who knew that Portugal had palm trees and that we would have one outside of our windows. I love it. It kinda feels like we're in mexico or something.

The view from our balcony looking down our street. Everyone (or at least the majority of people in Lisbon) lives in apartments. A house is very rare.

The next leg...

The next leg of this TREK adventure has begun. Training in Abbotsford has come to an end and team Portugal has made it to Lisbon. This still kind of feels surreal, but extremely exciting.


This last week in Abbotsford was definitely more low key than other weeks, but the days still somehow managed to fill up. Thursday night there was a commissioning service for us going out to our respected countries. It was an amazing night of worship and encouragement by TREK leadership. Steve Klassen spoke a few minutes to the Portugal team about going out into the field - radiantly shining for Jesus. The specific verse he gave us was Psalm 34:5

"Those who look to him for help will be radiant with joy;
      no shadow of shame will darken their faces."

I love this verse. This is my desire these next 8 months (and for when I return home to Winnipeg as well). I want to be radiant and full of joy because of Jesus. I know for a fact that I am flawed and I do and will continue to mess up in life, but despite all the mess that I create, Jesus does not cover me with shame. As I continue to pursue life with Jesus and seek to be in more intimate relationship with the Creator, I will continue to shine. I want the people of Portugal to see me, a flawed individual who has the grace of God washing over me so that I can live with joy. I believe that God can use me and will use me in ways that only God can conjure up so that I can be a light to people I meet in Portugal.

"Follow Jesus around the scriptures - be an observer

watch how He looks

watch how He touches

watch how He is present to people

watch how He prays and takes time out.

Let Him look at you

Let Him touch you

Let Him hold you

Let Him heal you

Let Him be present to you

Then, become the look,

become the touch,

become the presence"

~Doreen Kostynuik

This is my prayer for the year ahead. As we get settled into life here in Portugal in the next few days, I will update you with pictures of our sweet digs and what life in Portugal is like. Blessings.

Halloween Extravaganza

I figured it was time for a picture update since it has been awhile since I've given this blog any sort of attention. I apologize. It's been a pretty hectic couple of weeks, but I will try and put something together before I leave for Portugal, which happens to be in 3 days. Ahhh. Where did the time go???

So, this past weekend, was full of Halloween festivities. We turned a holiday often devoted to the darker things of this world into a weekend of fun.

Saturday a bunch of TREKers went to Vancouver to climb Grosse Grind, however I chose to stay back with Rachael and Carla to spend the day relaxing. The morning involved a trip to Starbucks, MCC for costumes and pumpkin buying.
Jess was watching Jay & Corina's boys - Jesse & Chase so they could take part in the hike. The 6 of us decided it might be fun to carve some pumpkins in preparation for Halloween.

Sunday afternoon Halloween Extravaganza began. Heidi and I went out Trick or Treating with Jay, Corina and the boys, which was pretty sweet. They were too cute. At one point Chase (who is 2) went up to a house and said Merry Christmas. By the end of the cul-de-sac we walked around, he had the trick or treat yelling down pat.

BOWLING