The Hard Good-byes

Triune God, we rejoice in the unity we have in You, in which there is one body and one spirit, just as we were called in one hope of our calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all, and through all, and in all. (Ephesians 4:4-6)

Saying Good-by, Monday night, July 30.

The Last Sunday!

We started the day on the road, arriving home at 12:50 a.m. from our Saturday night Prophetic Conference. We set our alarms before heading to bed so that we would arrive at the Sunday morning service by 10:00 a.m.

We've been driving around in a 1989 nine-passenger Fiat van rented from another church. When we arrived, we asked Eduardo who would be driving. He shrugged and said, "9 members of the team; 9-passenger van." Then he circled his hand among us to indicate that one of us would have to drive! We thank God for Neil, who learned to drive on a diesel powered, stick shift just like ours. He was the one to drive! The first few days we followed Eduardo, but then a GPS appeared and we were on our own. We travel on two kinds of roads: narrow, winding drives on the sides of steep hills or crowded freeways where motorcycles zip in and out of lanes squeezing past cars at an alarming rate of speed, but thankfully cars travel on the right side of the road. On Saturday night we passed the 1000 km mark - and eventually accumulated 1300 km; 808 miles on the road. Thank you for your prayers for safety.

Our faithful Fiat

During the morning service, our team sang "To God Be the Glory" with one verse in Portuguese. Sherry was our music leader and Beth our linguist; we were still working on pronunciation in the van on the way to church. Road hazards were not the only distractions for Neal as he drove! God helped us, and the people smiled at our feeble attempt to sing in their own language. A sweet spirit pervaded the service and Neil preached with power. At the end of the service, our team stood in the front of the church with our hands extended, palms up. The people in the church raised their hands to offer their prayers of blessings on us, and Eduardo moved from person to person anointing our hands with oil. He told us later that he wanted us to return to America anointed by the Spirit to continue spreading the good news of Jesus. It was a precious time!

Cindi and Neil picking up supplies for the food distribution

Our schedule allowed us to catch a few minutes of rest on Sunday afternoon before heading to Santa Marta for the Feast of the Family Celebration. Some came in response to the fliers we had distributed the week before at the African "Can Community." Neal, Steven, and Eduardo had picked up the food from the Food Bank on Wednesday. With the help of others, it was packaged and ready to distribute at the end of the service. The opening music set the tone for the unified worship of people from Brazil, America, Canada, and several communities in the Lisbon area Team members gave short testimonies about their experiences in Portugal; we sang our Portuguese song and repeated our silent, cardboard testimonies. Pastora Cida gave a compelling sermon on the Samaritan woman from John 4 and invited people to come to Christ at the end of her sermon.

Cindi Angelo summed up the the experience in her Facebook post: "The feast of the family at our Church in Santa Marta was simply wonderful! 8 people (all of them, African) surrendered their lives to Christ! The Church was full, and the glory of God, so real!! I thank God for the fantastic team of workers that he has given us there! :)"

This dear woman, Mariana, had been attending the services for many weeks.  She was always the first to arrive and the last to leave, but she had never been ready to commit her life to the Lord until this Sunday night, July 29, 2012.  Great celebration followed her prayer of repentance!

Musings by Gerrilee

Pastor Eduardo joined us around our breakfast table.  The spirit of Jesus was keenly felt as he unfolded his testimony--raised in a Catholic home in Brazil, wandering away from his family's values, and then being invited to an Evangelical church and finding his life changed at 32 years.  He became a born again Christian.  Hallelujah!! His future wife, Cindi Angelo, was his seminary professor and God worked in their hearts.  They fell in love, married, and are now serving God's kingdom in Lisbon, Portugal in three vibrant churches!!

Sight seeing today included shopping for soccer apparel, enjoying sweet fellowship at a Portugal lunch buffet, and admiring the breathtaking scenery at the coastline.

Eduardo and Neil at Boca da Inferno in Cascais

Then our impressions from the last night of the Prophetic Conference-
The music team huddled in powerful, pre-service prayer
Glorious singing, shouting, praising
Worship- filled dancing
Sharing of missionary moments by our team:
Sherry - Bulgaria
Mary- Peru
Nancy - Haiti
Kathy- Spring Arbor FM Church & trips to Mexico, Kenya, Romania, & Costa Rica
Neil - Canada

Steven returned to the US on Saturday morning to get back to his job as a camp counselor, so all our translation and interpretation was left to BethSmith.  An important part of the work is faithfully conveying words and meaning of the spoken and written words.  We were blessed to have 2 people on our team who were like native Portuguese  speakers.

The Lord is doing amazing things among our team members and the Portugal church members!  The God-breathed prophetic services are underscored with worshipful music,  a sweet foretaste of heaven!

Pastora Cindi delivered the message from John 4:23 & 24, 34 challenging all 55 people to be true worshippers by going beyond the visible, having a heart in tune with God's heart, and keeping the hand to the plow.

Our team of 9 is spending precious moment of cross-cultural ministry and experiencing a "Summer of Spiritual Renewal." Glory to God.

Enthusiastic Fans

Some of us have been thinking about what we were doing a year ago: working at the church rummage sale! Our thoughts and prayers have been with you, and we pray that the sale was successful because we know that the funds are used to help mission projects around the world.

The favorite past time of many Portuguese citizens is futebol. We were fortunate that the Eusebio Cup was held in the Benfica Stadium while we were here. It was a "friendly" exhibition game to introduce the new Lisbon team and to recognize one of their former star athletes, Eusebio da Silva Ferreira. Benfica payed Real Madrid, winning 5-2. We were part of the over 35,000 fans attending. We didn't have the red team jerseys, so we wore our red VBS panda shirts from last year's Bible School. It was fun to see entire families dressed in red, waving or wearing the team banners /scarves. Their enthusiasm for the sport and pride for their team was evident.

We went directly from the game to the second night of the prophetic conference where families from the three Lisbon area Free Methodist churches  gathered -- about 50 people. Wouldn't it be great if the Lord would send revival so that the religious conferences had to be held at the futebol stadium.

Just like the futebol game, the families arrive together, but they are ready to worship, learn, and fellowship. It is remarkable to see little children walk the aisles, snuggle in their parents' laps, or lovingly smile at us from the arms of a spiritual "aunt or uncle." We have difficulty sorting out the real parents of the children because they enjoy the laps of many of the teens and adults during the three-hour services.

Steven with ministerial candidates Moises and Jacione and their daughter Filipa.

All participants wave their hands in praise, high and lifted up. We commented afterward that the passion and fervor of the worship service seemed to be greater than the enthusiasm of the sports fans. Praise the Lord.

Pastora Cida Matos

Joyful worship

Palaces and the Prophetic Conference

Eduardo loves to share with us the history of Portugal and it has a LONG history. Lisbon is the oldest city in Europe. In the center of Sintra is the Castelo dos Mouros which is the best example of Arab military architecture in Europe. On Wednesday we went to the historic center of Sintra where this castle is located which is about 3 miles from our house. On Thursday, we visited Palacios da Pena, the emblematic work of Portuguese Romanticism. This houses the most important collection of Mudejar tiles in the whole of Portugal. Stunning! It is one of the 7 wonders of Portugal. We ran into many other Americans at this site. It overlooks our rented home, high on the hill above Sintra.

Pena National Palace



Thursday night we attended the first service of the prophetic worship conference. They hold three conferences a year. One focuses on worship, another focuses on leadership, and this conference centers on missions. Gerrilee and Steven gave an update-to-date report on China and Cambodia. Our entire group presented silent cardboard testimonies about how God has worked in our own lives. A special speaker, who Cindi and Eduardo met him at the Ministerial Association, provided the main message.  He is the pastor of a church near Charneca with a congregation of Gypsies. We could sense his passion even though we could not understand the language.

Gerrilee's Cardboard Testimony

  

Youth Service News

The youth service was supposed to start at 8:30 at the Charneca Church. But it did not start until 9:00 because we were delayed in traffic; and we had the speaker, Steven Owsley, with us. Urban ministry has its challenges and one of them is definitely getting from place to place. The traffic is typical for any large city, although the frequent roundabouts help the flow.

About the meeting, Nancy commented that it was spirit-filled, well-planned, and perfectly executed. We all were surprised by how many of the young people participated in the service with so much expertise. One led the service; several danced with the music; a skit, The Prodigal Daughter, showed the father's love. Veronica was prepared to give a testimony at the end of the service, and we were all moved to see how her prepared words perfectly synced with the message of this skit. Thank you for your prayers which empower us to be united in the spirit in this way.

Young adults leading the worship time

  One of the young men who appeared to be quiet and reserved did a rap song and dance with one of the girls. It was amazing to see him perform joyfully, alive in the spirit. Another one of the young men, Matthew, who had played the guitar at the teen cell group commented to Sherry that he had come to listen and learn not to participate in the music. A sweet spirit permeated the service. Steven preached without an interpreter. We couldn't understand the message, but we could see the response from the crowd. All eyes and ears were attentive, and several responded to the message by coming forward to pray for God to help them in one of three relationships: God, Bible, or others.

Eduardo praying for Steven before he spoke.

After the service, snacks were sold to raise funds for the mission trip that the Portugal church is sponsoring. 14 people will be traveling to Greece in October including three couples from Brazil for this musical journey with the Free Methodist singing group, Shekinah,

Our first Sunday in Portugal

Neal preached in two Sunday Services. At 10:00 a.m we returned to Charneca. Young teens who had given their hearts to Jesus in the VBS came back for Sunday morning worship. Tiago, a member of the worship team, gives music lessons to two of these boys so it is encouraging to know that the Christian relationships have already been established. The worship time was energetic and enthusiastic, graced by the young women who danced for the Lord. Neil's sermon topic was on faith-- faith for the day.

Pastora Cida speaking to the team.

We enjoyed a potluck dinner with the church members. The meal was delicious and concluded with a table full of dessert: mango ice cream, jello, flan, chocolate, Neapolitan ice cream dipped up in glasses, brigadeiro, a delicious chocolate pudding cake.

Potluck dinner at the Charneca Church

Sunday afternoon we visited the "can" neighborhood, squatter houses made of scraps of tin. We handed out invitations to a food distribution for the next Sunday night. We were touched to see Cida's relationships with the people. She had established a church in the village and preached there for 3 years before the church moved into a new space about 2 blocks from the village. Cida is a Brazilian Pastora who supports the Free Methodist work in Lisbon.

Sunday night we attended the Santa Marta Church which began at 6:00 p.m. Again the worship was sweet and blessed by the presence of God. What a privilege to join with these Christians who are pioneering the work in this urban area.

Another meal followed the service and it ended with a big birthday cake for Mary who celebrated her ?? birthday in Portugal.




Then we got the call. Steven's bag had arrived. Our 4th trip to the airport did not begin until after the Sunday evening service and dinner, so we arrived a bit late.  The lost luggage section closes at 10:00 p.m., and the agent came out and sternly spoke in her best English, "Sir, you know that you are 1/2 hour late." Steven quietly replied in his best Portuguese, "My Bag has been lost for three days. I am sorry that I am late, but I hope that I can leave with my bag." His winning smile and command of the language won her over. Steven reports that "a soft answer turns away wrath"...especially when a blond- headed guy, with an American passport can speak the language.