Today,my sweet HandsOn Partner started her first surf lesson in Portugal! We call her Surfista (girl surfer)
Hannah is in a group surf class two days a week and our prayer is that she be able to proclaim the great love of Jesus Christ to her fellow surfer buds. I would love to surf alongside Hannah, however, I am not so graceful (to say the least) ha! Soo.. I am going to the beach with Hannah each time and will be prayer walking the area in hopes that the Savior will help me form relationships with locals nearby. I am so excited for Hannah, this is an amazing opportunity for her ; I look forward to seeing God use her to bring Himself glory. We are not here in Portugal for ourselves and everything we do, whether eating or drinking, (or surfing), we do it all for the glory of God!.( -1 Cor.10:31)
Please continue to pray for the Portuguese people, that their hearts be open to the good news of Christ Jesus the King.
I am so excited to share with you what all that has been going on lately in pretty,pretty Porto!!!
Saturday, Hannah, Michelle, and I attended an annual women's mission meeting that takes place once a month for several local churches in this area.This was such a neat, cultural opportunity for Hannah and myself to see how women, here in Portugal, worship Jesus. There were several different ways of worship including: by singing,guitar, piano, cello, hand bells,praise dance,scripture reading and a message all in Portuguese.
Though I can not yet speak the Portuguese language and could not make out some of the song lyrics or message, I COULD, however, feel the Holy Spirit moving in our time of worship together.During the message part of the meeting, Michelle helped by whispering some of the message to me in English; the speaker was sharing about the woman who washed the feet of Jesus and at one point, tears began to run down her face and I felt her passion for the Lord.Without understanding her words, I could clearly see that she had recklessly abandoned her life to Christ Jesus and longed to make Him known. This is the cry of my heart; I pray that people will clearly see Jesus when they look at me. None of Jennifer White.
This time of worship was very refreshing and was another great reminder as to why I have been placed here by the Savior,because, while at the women's meeting, my heart began to break even more for this country and the people here.
You see, there are about 10 million people living in Portugal and 2 million of these call Porto their home, yet, there are only 6 evangelical churches in this area with around 50 or less people attending on any given Sunday,
So, while sitting in the meeting, I began to wonder to myself, "Wow, If I were to invite each woman from each church in Mobile, AL, to an annual missions meeting;how large of a number would show and where on earth would I fit them all?!" You can do the math...
Yes, I know what you're thinking, there is no comparison to mission fields and that there are broken and hurting people in Mobile as well. You are so right, However, the amount of people without the love of Jesus here, is extensive and mind blowing. Not to mention that there are less than 2% of Christians here to date. Just to put things in perspective, I can look back on my high school days and remember over 100 students praying to Jesus around a flag pole on the national day of Prayer; yet,on the other hand, I spoke with a young girl the other day here who told me she was the only believer in her grade level.....
I felt so blessed to be surrounded by a room full of these devote,loving and genuine Christian ladies on Saturday, however, I pass so many each day on the street here that are searching for that love with desperation written on their faces and my heart breaks that they were not there Saturday nor will be in one of these six churches on Sunday.
Response : "How can they hear unless they are being told?" Romans 10:14
And, If they were all there, Saturday would have needed a much larger venue and I am pretty positive there would be more than 6 churches to be found....
So, It's time to step outside the comfy walls and live love like never before. I am a firm believer in wake up calls, and I am so thankful that the Savior is waking me from this slumber I have been in for years. I have for far too long sat around in the comfort of my own secure eternal future while thousands are dying daily and headed to a place of sheer torture in absence of the Prince of Peace. As John Piper says, "Don't waste your life!" I'm not sure about you, but I have for far too long, wasted my life on me. Let's wake up and live love.
Sorry it has taken me so long since my last update.This past week we had an amazing time teaching English classes at two local churches which I mentioned in my last entry. Each class went great and the Lord surely made connections there and opened doors. Hannah and I were asked to the movies by a group of teenage girls from one of the classes and we are so stoked about building relationships with these sweet girls. Also, we met a new friend named C.;she is very enthusiastic about learning more English and holding conversations. We will be meeting up with her sometime this up coming week to have conversational English. C. is a believer and it excites me that she is determined to know English. My prayer is that we will help her to learn the language so that she can teach others English as a way to ultimately teach them about Jesus. Do not get me wrong, I'm not saying that you must know English to know Jesus, however, English classes do open doors for conversation, which can (in our prayers) open doors for the message of Salvation.
Please be in prayer for our new friends and our ministry here, God is moving!!!
bellow is a brief list of the neat, funny, and lovely things that touched my heart and made me smile:
The Funny : Well in the Spanish language, to say french fries you must say
"Papa fritas" and you get your tasty potato side... HOWEVER, in Portuguese, this means " fried daddy's"
So guess who has been saying fried daddy's each time she ordered... yup, this gal!! HA!
I have finally discovered that to order french fries, I must always say, "Batata Fritas" oops! Yes sir, I'd like one large fried daddy please. Yuppers, I did that!
The neat: Did you know that the college students here wear uniforms sometimes and they are the inspiration for the Harry Potter uniforms worn in the movie... I'm not really that into Harry Potter, but I still thought it was neat. They wear all black with ties and a cape. Also, Hannah and I went down our street to get coffee and the sweet, older man working explained that J.K Rowling ( the author of the books) wrote the first of the series in that very cafe... Neat huh!?! I thought so...
The Lovely: I can not express to you the love I received this week from an older, Portuguese lady in one of the ESL classes. Each of the two days I saw her, she hugged me tight and kissed me and let me know in Portuguese that I was sweet and beautiful. What Girl does not need to hear that?! She loved like Jesus and I felt Him hugging me each time she did. She would look at me and go on and on in Portuguese with a big smile on her face. Though I had no clue what she was saying half the time, I loved her as if she were my grandma. She is a prime example of why I would love to learn the language quickly, so that I can hold precious conversations. The Lord does break all language barriers and still, His joy remains. There is a peace I feel here and it makes me see more and more that this is what I am called to do... I am called to love.
"You make known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand." Psalm 16:11
"Surely you have granted him unending blessings and made him glad with the joy of your presence." Psalm 21:6
Today was our first day of ESL class and it was a blast. We had about 16 students, old and young come to learn. We taught things such as the weather, parts of the body, and animals in English. We also had a time of Bible study and snack with peanut butter which most had never tried because they do not have it here. I loved every child and adult and can already feel myself growing attached; I can not imagine having to leave this place in December, I'm filled with tears just thinking about it.
Here are some photos from our day:
At the beginning of our time together, we all (old and young) did the hokey pokey to learn the different parts of the body in English, then we split up the older (12 yrs old &up) and younger for the rest of our afternoon.We did a matching activity to learn the weather and a game of charades to learn the different types of animals. Our last part of ESL class, was a Bible lesson given by the leader of the team from Tennessee that is here for a week with us. Lynndel spoke about the two house, one which was built on the sand that was quickly destroyed when the rain, waves and wind came upon it and the other that was built on the firm solid rock. He explained that Jesus should be your strong foundation that you are built upon like the second house. This afternoon was a great time to meet new friends, singing, and teaching English with the ultimate goal of showing the love of Christ. I look forward to meeting with this group again on Wednesday. God is moving here and I just kinda laugh a little when I hear phrases such as, "I'm going to take Jesus into this foreign country," however, He is already here!! We are not "taking Jesus" anywhere that He has not already been before. He created the entire world and every thing here, We are just here to be His hands, feet, and voice, though He will speak and do just fine without us. Guys,He wants us!
We do not have to sing for Him, read His word, go in to all the world and share His name, love, or give any of our precious time away.... nope, it's not that we have to do anything, BUT WE GET TO!!! What a privilege!
“I tell you,” he replied, “if they keep quiet, the stones will cryout.”
Today was such a beautiful day!The sun was shinning, it was breezy, and the word of God brought so much joy to my heart.
We have a team here from Tennessee that will be working with us in two local churches doing ESL
( English second language) classes and a kind of Vacation Bible school for children;they will be with us until Friday.This group is so sweet and I see such a willing and ready- to- serve spirit in each of them.
This morning, their leader shared about Jesus in English and the pastor from one of the two churches we will be working with this week translated; this was exciting for Hannah and I, because there probably will be very few( if any) English spoken sermons this semester.He spoke on 1 Timothy 4:12-13,and shared that we are to be set apart and show the love of Jesus through all that we say and do, even when we are being looked down upon.
After the morning service, we showed the team a glimpse of the beautiful Porto and introduced them to a traditional Portuguese sit down lunch. We then went to the second church that we will be working with this week and joined their night service. The video of the worship artist, Kari Jobe, that i have posted above was shown in the service tonight. It brought tears to my eyes and reminded me how much the Lord is truly "for me." He is for me EVEN WHEN I sometimes choose to speak and act like I am not for Him. It just amazes me how much He has loved and will continue to love a sinner such as I. I pray that you are blessed by the message of this song and I also pray that you have a relationship with Jesus Christ, who is for you and not against you. I love you my friends.
Yesterday afternoon as Michelle, Hannah, and I were on a bus headed toward a Bible study we have each week with two sweet, sweet friends from Portugal, Michelle shared something that really touched my heart and I would like to share it with you guys.
Michelle began to speak about she and her family's ministry in Porto and how they choose to never refer to themselves as "missionaries." She explained that they would like people to know and see that being a Christian was not just their job title or "what they did," but it is who they are. They are choosing and striving to live their daily life,loving people as Christ, Himself, so that He is revealed and not themselves. I just thought that was a beautiful way to define a true follower of Jesus.
We are ALL called and ALL chosen by God and for God to share God's love, mercy, grace, peace, hope, kindness, patience, goodness,truthfulness,gentleness... and all the fruits of the spirit to those we meet in our day. We are not called to turn that on when we go "on" mission trips and then off when we return home, it's a lifestyle... "it's who we are." Why must we "go on?"Should we not already be on? I'm just a little confused and curious how we came up with this, where is this written?!?
I feel so very blessed to be serving here, in Porto this semester. However, I need to always remember that God wants my obedience wherever I go. He wants my heart to be willing and ready to love and share His name whether I am here or in Alabama.The bible never once mentions that a certain type of person is called to proclaim His love to the nations, nope, God's word declares (commands) that we all love and make the name of Jesus known to all men, everywhere.
So I want to encourage you to take a nice look around at where the Savior has placed you. Are you a nurse, a teacher, clerk? You are placed in a field somewhere and you are called to work.The Harvest is ready!
Many are searching for Hope, true satisfaction and everlasting joy, however, there are only few of those who have it that are willing to share. This free gift of freedom from hell and eternal torture is not one to be kept a secret. Jesus made Himself all men so that ALL men might know Him and be saved.
He told them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.
Yesterday, Hannah and I went on our second photo scavenger hunt and had a blast!!Though taking a photo of the massive amounts of pigeons huddled together was not on our list, I chose to take a picture; I wanted to get one last look at the peaceful, feeding swarm of birds before I sent them off into mass chaos by running straight through the middle of their little dinner meeting. Needless to say, I think interrupting the pigeons din din is my new favorite past time. You should try it sometime!!
Anyways, It was just a great day of fellowship with my roomie and exploring the city where God has placed us. The more I venture out, the more I fall in love with Porto and realize this is exactly where I am supposed to be. It is a beautiful thing to know that God is writing your story,that He has everything in control, and that you are living for Him and for His will alone;It is something called complete surrender. This surrender concept was something I have truly struggled with;I battled with the holy Father and argued that I knew better than He. As a believer, I would hear the word surrender in church services over and over again, yet it was still as foreign to me as the Portuguese language.Until, I just gave up!! I decided that I had no clue what the future holds and I admitted this to Jesus (though He already knew!); I told my Daddy that I wanted Him to take control and that I needed His direction and Help as a child is in need when learning to walk.
The reason I share this with you is because I see so many of my brothers and sisters struggling to give up as well. Surrender is not just giving up in the hard times, it's also about giving God full control in the joy-filled times.In every season God is asking that you surrender to His will and purpose. He has a plan for your life and if He did not have a plan in store, you would not be alive today.
"Many are the plans in a person’s heart, but it is the LORD’s purpose that prevails" - Proverbs 19:21
I love you my friends, Always remember that God loves you so much more and Has a breathtaking plan for your life.
