Finally my internet has connected! Due to some technical problems, my first post is already a week and a bit into my trip. So to catch you up.....
My team of 7 met for pretty much the first time (other than a few previous relationships) on Sunday, May 4th at Camp Crossroads in Muskoka, Ontaio. It was a bit of an adventure getting there; between sitting in the airport for 3 hours, a car accident, a very long car rental procedure and a couple hour drive I was very ready to be in bed. Then started our week of orientation and training for the mission in Portugal. There was a ton of learning and prayer and devotional time, mainly centred around the ideas of our identity in Christ, who God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit are, and how to really dig into studying the bible. It was a lot to take in but I've already learned a lot, and look forward to seeing God working here in Portugal.
We left camp Saturday morning at 9 am and spent the day running errands and in the airport. Our flight took off from Toronto at 6:40pm and arrived in Lisbon, Portugal at 6:30 am at which point we began a veeerrryyy long day running off barely 2 hours of sleep. We dropped our things off at the Insitúto Biblicó Portugal where we're staying for the month in a town called Tojal, just outside of Lisbon. From there we travelled as a team to a lunch at one of the churches where we are involved (Masima) for a lunch and service (all in Portuguese), then straight to our second church (Loures) for another Portuguese sermon. I'm proud to say I understood a small portion of it due to my slight Spanish knowledge, which is an even bigger accomplishment considering we could all barely keep our eyes open. A quick dinner and we were off to bed for a refreshing 12 hour slumber.
Monday was our day to relax, which we spent getting transit passes and then heading to downtown Lisbon. It was absolutely GORGEOUS!! One of the local missionaries' sons, Afonzo, was our tour guide. He took us around downtown and then we trekked up a hill through the houses to a castle! Gorgeous gorgeous gorgeous! The view from the top is indescribably beautiful. The whole city is visible, I can't believe I've been so blessed to have the opportunity to be here. After touring the castle and having a lot of peacocks squawk at us, we went back into the city for a traditional Portuguese dinner. I had a small bass; head, tail and all! I've learned that in fact the cheek of the fish is the most tender and delicious meat. And the eye is still creepy no matter how you cook it but apparently some people eat it.... Eek... After dinner we took a metro and a bus back to our bible-institute home, and ended our day.
Today was our first real day of mission. We had a few errands to run in the morning and then we went to Masima to help out in the secondhand store beside the church! We had a fun and hilarious day of sorting and boxing clothing to be sold. Masima is a poorer neighbourhood so the community being built at the church there is extremely important. In the evening we made dinner for some of the missionaries and church leaders we are working with and had a meeting to figure out some details for the rest if the month. It sounds like there will be a lot of good things happening and a lot of God's love being shared! I'm very excited to share what's happening and what I'm learning on this journey.
Well that's a brief update! I hope to be more current with my blogging but we'll see how it works out. Boa noite!
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