a taste of ministry

A full week has come and gone as of tomorrow morning. As time continues to fly by, I am trying my very hardest to soak up each day, each moment and each conversation that I have here in Portugal.
It's been a good week. I think it is safe to say that we are officially over jet lag and find ourselves feeling much more energetic today in comparison to the beginning of the week. Praise the Lord!

This week we have spent the majority of our time at the Espaço (the church here in Massama) doing various cleaning and organizing and gearing up for our VBS week, which starts next Tuesday. Our first day working, we were greeted at the church by 2 of the neighbourhood boys..João Pedro and Martim. They hung around with us for the morning, so two of us would continue to work and two of us would play with the boys. By mid afternoon we had 11 kids in the church playing and dancing with us. Our organizational work was put on hold and we declared that kids week would start immediately.
I have thoroughly enjoyed reconnecting with these kids, they have grown up so much in the last year. Between their broken english and my very broken Portuguese, by the grace of God we have managed to have successful conversations. My heart remains full!

Martim

getting posters ready for VBS

Fatimata & I

Ludmila & I

Sara & Kristen

João Pedro, Martim & Pedro

Raiza

Prior to arriving here, I felt like I really wanted to spend time praying through the streets of Portugal. I feel as though God has been pressing on my heart, this idea of intercession. Seeing as we are working and living in the Massama area, I thought this would be a good place to focus in on. I love prayer walks and I love the community of Massama. Today I invited the rest of the team to join me in walking through the streets and asking for God's heart and eyes for the streets and buildings which surround the Espaço. I love how God has so much to say to us when we take the time to listen. I'm in the process of working on a prayer map assignment, which will be completed by the end of our time here. Stay tuned. The plan is to walk the streets of Massama a day or two every week and listen for what God might be saying to us and being attentive to what he is doing in the neighbourhood.
After our time of prayer this afternoon, I find myself once again with a broken heart for these people, the community of Massama and the country of Portugal as a whole. There are a variety of emotions that are pumping through me at the moment, but I feel a little like what I would imagine Nehemiah felt like as he prayed and pleaded to God on behalf of Israel. As I walked and prayed and listened, I found myself being drawn back to Isaiah 43 and 44. These were verses that God laid on my heart last year and has continued to be my prayer for Portugal ever since - that God would make streams in the deserts and wastelands, that water would be poured out on this dry and thirsty land, and that this would be country and a people who would proclaim the Almighty God as Lord. But in these verses also lays a promise that God is doing a new thing in this land - in these people. I am choosing to take a posture of being on my knees - repentant and yet hopeful and excited for what is yet to come in this place.