God Provides

It is just over a week since I landed in Portugal, but it seems like I have been here much longer, it is already feeling like a second home to me.  Many of you are probably wondering the facts of where I'm living, what I'm doing, and how my trip was, so let me fill you in a little.  We arrived in Portugal will all of our luggage, except for the guitar that came with our team.  This was a huge answer to prayer and we got the guitar right away the next day as well.  God was definitely present as we traveled and I so appreciated every ones prayers.  Our team of six is divided for our living arrangements.  The two guys on our team are living with Pastor Marques, the pastor of the one of the churches here.  And we four girls are living in the dorms at a Bible College right now, but we just found out today that we were accepted for a seven month lease at an apartment that we wanted and were really praying that we would get.  It is in a great location, on the 11th floor, right above one of the churches that we will be working with a lot. This is such an answer to prayer, God is good and He has shown His provision!
The first week and a half have been fairly low key, Otto and Marjorie, the missionaries that we are working with, have been very good to us and have been letting us adjust and have time to get over jet leg at a good pace.  So this first little bit we have been getting to know people and the city in and around where we live.  We have spent a couple of days with our Portuguese language teacher touring the city a bit and seeing the sights.  The people here are very proud of their country so we are trying to learn and absorb as much history and culture as we can.  It has been a great experience so far and I have been so excited to see how God is working in our lives and answering our prayers on a daily basis.
We will be focusing mainly on language learning until Christmas, as well as getting to know the churches we will be working with and starting to get to know people, especially the youth/young adults.  I am really looking forward to building relationships with the people here in Portugal!  Please pray that language learning will go well and that we will be able to build trust and relationships with the people here.  Pray that God will continue to guide us to whatever ministries God has in mind for us.  Thank  you so much for your prayers and support.  I will try and continue to keep you posted! 

Here are some pictures of Lisbon!

The Countdown Is On!

Training is done.  Commissioning has happened.  Good-byes have been said.  Other teams have left.  And we are next.  My team will be leaving on Wednesday to start the next step of our journey in Lisbon, Portugal!  This week we have been on our own in Abbotsford and we have been doing different ministry opportunities here.  Today we went to Gleaners to help in the process of making soup to send to people overseas.  Tomorrow we will be going out to pick up some ministry supplies to bring with us to Portugal.  Our team has also had some good team building experiences in the last few weeks.  We are becoming such a united and close team.  This is truly an answer to my prayers that I have been praying since I decided to do TREK.  I feel that God has blessed our team abundantly and He will use us in great ways!  Last week on the last official day of training we did foot washing in our team and it was a time of fellowship and a very good way to connect and encourage each other.  That night was then our TREK commissioning service where we were blessed by many people coming out to send us off, pray for us, worship together, and encourage us.  I was also blessed by having one last day at home where I go to go to church and see many people (thank you everyone for all your prayers and encouragement, I will carry that with me always).  It was also very nice to have one last day with my family before I get on a plane for 7 and 1/2 months.
Speaking of planes, we will be getting on a plane at 8:25pm on Wednesday.  Please pray that our travels will go smoothly, that we will get through all of the security and customs with no issues, and that all of our luggage will arrive when we do.  We will arrive in Portugal at about 6pm on Thursday (Portugal Time, which is 8 hours ahead).  I am very excited to take this next step in this Journey of Faith that I am on, I take it with confidence that God is walking with me.  I will try and keep you updated on what is happening when I get to Portugal, but I do not know what my Internet access will be like or what my schedule will be like in the first few weeks.  Thank you all for reading my blog and praying for me!  God bless you!