What do I do?

A very dear friend mentioned to me recently that they would like to read more about what my ministry is here. This reminder actually came at a very good time, as I've been pondering this topic lately myself. What exactly IS my ministry here? I find myself with quite a bit of free time, and I've done quite a bit of sight-seeing. If that was all I did, then I should refund all of my support money and return home because this is not supposed to be just a vacation for me, and I certainly don't want it to be.

So. My ministry. Well, it's pretty much exactly that: ministering wherever I can and to whomever I can. From what I'm told, my most important ministry here is watching Noah in the afternoons. It doesn't sound like much and it's only about 2.5 hours every day, but it's a huge blessing to Nick and Krista. It gives them peace of mind so that they can concentrate on language class. I wrote a post specifically about Noah some time ago; it's past time to write another one. So a post about Noah will be shortly forthcoming, I promise.

In the mornings, I go with my roommates to the school. Last week, I helped Tammy get caught up on her grading, but that was the first time I've done that. About three weeks ago, I subbed for Laurie in her 1st-2nd grade class, but that was the only time I've done that. :-) For the most part, I'm working on organizing the school libraries. Looking at it, one would never think that there was a need for that. However, upon closer inspection I discovered this to be the case. Don't get me wrong; it was very well organized. Several books were just categorized too generally. For example, the elementary library had 50-75 books categorized under Biology. Perhaps 40% of these were mammals, 20% were fish, 20% were birds, 20% were insects. These all have their own category under the Dewey Decimal System. In fact, the system gets even more specific than that. Therefore, it has taken me A LOT longer to organize the elementary library than I thought it would.

Weekends are spent with Jon and Marilyn Rust (my cousins) at their home in Samora. On Sunday, I play the piano for their church. On Saturday, I help out with whatever I can. One week, Marilyn needed some help with a wallpaper border. Often, we just spend quality time together. This too, though, is ministering. Jon and Marilyn are empty-nesters and miss their children. I'm in a foreign country away from my parents. So spending family time together, simply doing the dishes or bowling on the Wii, is a way for me to be a blessing to them and vica versa.

Lastly, there is a single lady missionary here named Miriam. She has many, many ministries and has had her hand in helping start many churches. One of the things she does is teach English from her home in the form of an English Club. It's free unlike so many other English classes, which makes it appealing to parents. And it's a way for her to make contacts and build relationships and introduce Christ. When I first arrived, Miriam asked if I would be willing to help her with this and I said yes. Due to one reason after another, the first day of this particular club will be next Wednesday night. I'm looking forward to seeing what will happen, though I'm not sure how much help I'll be since I don't know nearly enough Portugese.

So there you have it: my ministry here. Nothing very exciting. But it's enough to keep me busy for the most part. Like I said, I do sometimes have quite a bit of free time, but sometimes I have no free time at all!

Of a spider

I am not a morning person. Many of you probably just chuckled and nodded your head knowingly. It isn't that I wake up crabby, I just wake up slowly so please don't expect too much of me at the ungodly hour of 6:30. Let me go about my business in peace and quiet, and then when I'm fully awake I'll happily hold a conversation with you. Now that you know this about me, you'll understand the following tale a lot better. :-)

Yesterday morning, after hitting the snooze a couple of times I finally submitted to the inevitable and forced myself out of bed. The weather has gotten warm enough now that I can handle the temperature of the floors with socks instead of slippers, so wearing my socks I lazily stepped out of my room into the hallway. Upon entering said hallway I felt a small pebble or button or some such thing under my toes, so I stepped lightly. Then I turned around and saw him: large, motionless, and ominous. Some spiders look threatening no matter what they're doing, as though at a moments notice they'll charge or pounce. This was one of those. *shiver* Believe me, now I was awake!

Stepping gingerly around him, I re-entered my room, noiselessly and deliberately picked up a shoe, and then creeped back. *Bang* went the shoe and he curled up into a ball, mortally wounded! Now that my enemy was debilitated I could gather several tissues. A thick wad of tissues and a soft crunching sound finished the battle. Phew! Victory! Into the trash he went!

My philosophy is: bugs don't belong inside. Outside, I won't bother them because that's their domain. They enter my domain at their own risk. Now I know, we have spiders in the States too. In fact, I've probably killed this guy's distant relations at home in Illinois before. But the story was too good to not tell it! :-)

Oh no! I don't have time to write a full update! I did too many things this week, and I'm shortly heading into a weekend of no internet. My roommates and I are going north for a few days with no internet access and no pressing responsibilities. We're all looking forward to the relaxation. When I get back I'll try to post some witty highlights from my mini-vacation last week. For now though, I'll at least sum up a little.

Marilyn's sister, brother-in-law, and niece came to visit so they invited me to spend the week with them. It was a LOT of fun! But not relaxing in the least, like most mini-vacations. Their plane arrived on Saturday morning and they wanted to hit the ground running. So after a very, very short nap we headed into Belem to see the Monument to the Discoveries and to eat dinner at Portvgalia (this makes my third visit to both of these places and I'm still not tired of them!). On Sunday we had church in Samora, lunch, shopping, church in Miratejo, dinner, shopping! lol. When you're only here for a week you have to squeeze in as much activity as you can!

Monday morning we drove down to the Algarve, which is the southwestern tip of the European continent. The Algarve is to Europe what Florida is to America. So much of our time was spent in the sun and the sand, and yes I did get a slight sunburn of course. Fair skin can be a curse! We stopped at a castle or two on the way down and took lots and lots of pictures which I will post a link to later. Then on Tuesday we drove the hour or so into Spain for more pictures and more shopping! I guess Monday through Wednesday can be summed up in castles, beaches, shopping, traditional dinners, and pictures galore!

Thursday was more shopping at the market at Boca do Inferno. Small market, all of the traditionally Portugese souvenirs, and great prices; set up next to one of the wildest and prettiest ocean locations I've ever seen. And since we were so close to Sintra we drove up to Palacio de Pena (another castle) for more touristy sightseeing and pictures.

Wow, for a "sum-up" that's a lot of information...and it barely scratches the surface! Just wait till you see how many pictures we took! :-)

Like watching a movie

On Saturday afternoon I sat down to read by the window in the Rust's house. Instead, I spent an hour watching the square below and the people who frequented it. A man and his dog hung around for a good 30 minutes just watching and sniffing respectively. A family of four strolled through twice talking and laughing, the baby running and playing. Two or three boys started a futeball game that eventually moved into a side street. Then those same boys came back out in the square to pet and play with a dog. A young couple walked through with a baby stroller, and an elderly couple meandered through holding hands.

On the street, a woman opened her window and scrubbed the windowsill. Another shook the crumbs out of a tablecloth. Still another just stood outside her open door and watched the world go by; she was eventually joined by a man. Several windows had laundry hanging down. And with my window open, I could hear the children playing and the people at the corner cafe talking. Of course, I didn't understand a word. :-)

It felt like something out of a book or a movie. Maybe I just haven't lived in a small enough town, but I know of nowhere in America that is like this. People stop on the street and talk, they stroll around town on a Saturday morning, they play in the square, they meet at the cafe, they stand in the door of their shop and hold conversations with their friends who walk by. The other day, my roommate and I were parked in a long line of traffic, and ahead of us the man rolled down the window of his car to talk to his friend who was walking by. It isn't just that everyone knows everyone, and everything is at a slower pace. There's a certain atmosphere about it that I'm having a hard time explaining in words. Suffice to say, it's different and it's beautiful...and I LOVE it!

A night of firsts

Several weeks ago, we bought tickets to go see - and hear :) - the Philadelphia Orchestra perform in Lisbon. The night finally arrived on Wednesday! Hurray! So this was a first of course; hearing a famous American orchestra play in a foreign country. Certainly something I never expected to experience! And it lived up to my expectations completely.

There's nothing quite like a live orchestra, especially when they're one of the best. Most of the line-up was early 20th century which, I have to admit, is not my favorite period. However, they played Beethoven's Egmont Overture - one of my favorites - and I really enjoyed the rest of the music as well! The violin concerto was amazing! The audience loved it so much and clapped so long that the violinist had to take 3 bows and then finally gave an encore...before the intermission, which is almost unheard of. The encore was probably the most impressive piece all night; I didn't know it was possible to play a violin that fast! If it had been on a CD, I would've assumed that it was two separate instruments.

We ate dinner at a great little Portugese restaurant a few doors down from the theatre, where I had another first. I like fish...they cook excellent fish here...so I ordered the sea bass. And I did something I thought I would never do: I ate a fish cooked whole. It tasted great! Plus, it was fun, lol. The only thing I didn't eat was the eyes and the cheeks, though I know in some cultures they are considered a delicacy. I just couldn't.

Last but not least, the other "first" was riding the Metro into Lisbon. No, I didn't take any pictures because it's basically the same as riding the Metra or the subway or anything else the world over. But it was the first time in Portugal, and I'm sure it won't be the last! :-)

Coffee, my new addiction

As most of you know, I've never much liked coffee; partly because it doesn't like me. :-) However, the coffee here in Portugal is wonderful! Every morning (almost) my roommate and go to the cafe to have a "meia de leite e pastel de nata". The pastry is a yummy custard, which Tammy says she justifies eating because the cream is made with egg so it's protein. And the drink is half coffee, half steamed milk. It doesn't sound like much...but it tastes marvelous!

I think I discovered a problem today though, and it makes me very sad. I've started waking up with a headache again lately. When I'm at home that just means it's time for a trip to the chiropractor or that I need more sleep, and it eventually goes away. But this is the second time in a week that it didn't go away; both times were days that I didn't get my coffee. So the logical conclusion is: oh no! I'm going through caffiene withdrawal! I've joined the ranks of addicted coffee drinkers!

So now the question I must pose to myself is this: do I want to begin to slowly wean myself off the coffee now before it gets worse? While that would certainly be wise, can I give up the yummy taste? Plus, it does help me stay more awake and alert during the day. So is that a fair trade-off? After all, when I can't get coffee, Ibuprofen is a wonderful thing too! :-D

Church in Samora

Since I got here, I've been attending different churches in the area; partly this was to experience as many as I could, and partly because the church in Samora wasn't meeting on Sundays yet. However, as of last Sunday, the Samora church is officially having public Sunday services! For a while now, they've been meeting on Thursday nights at the Rust's house, but no more; now they have a public place to meet! It's so exciting!

Such a bustle of activity went on at the house Sunday morning, making sure that we had everything we needed. And we arrived at the hotel early (I think Jon was a little nervous :-) ). They've rented a nice little meeting room, with plenty of space for growth. It didn't take too long to set up, and then people started to arrive! It was a small group this week - the regular 2 families that have been coming on Thursdays, and a family visiting from another church to show their support - but we all have high hopes of visitors in the future!


Several months ago Jon and Marilyn asked if I could play the piano for the congregational songs, which I agreed to though I was certainly nervous about it. Thankfully though, I only made a few mistakes. :-) It helped that, for such a small group, they sang louder than I expected.


Marilyn and Tammy took the children to another room for their own class. This is the first time the kids have had a structured class time while their parents are in church. That considered, they sat still as well as could be expected for the verse and story. Only Daniel did the motions for the songs, but the other two at least paid attention! They were pretty happy when they could commence with playing though.

It was a short service - 2 hours including set-up and tear-down - but everyone was encouraged. Discussing it over dinner at the Rust's, we're all excited for next week!

I posted additional pictures of the church service here if you want to see more.

Capela dos Ossos (and the rest of Evora)

Translation: The Chapel of Bones, which is exactly what it sounds like; a chapel built out of human bones! The chapel was built in the 16th century by the Franciscan monks as a place for prayer and meditation on the human condition. The inside is completely made by human bones that the monks dug up from graves in the area. Over the entrance is a marble slab that says "We bones that are here, we are waiting for yours." Creepy, huh? And one couldn't help but notice the size of all of the bones (skulls especially). I know people were smaller in the past, but some of these are really small!


The walls of the vestibule outside the chapel are decorated with tiles telling the story of the crucifixion. No burial, no resurrection, just the crucifixion. That, combined with my visit to the cathedral in town reminded me once again how depressing Catholicism is. Everything is focused on the crucifixion; preoccupied with death. The chapels and cathedrals have rich furnishings, elaborate architecture, and beautiful art; but they are dark, cold, dismal, and oppressive. How grateful I am that we have more hope than they give!


On to cheerier subjects! :-) Evora has a taste of Rome with the ruins of the Temple of Diana. Though I hope to see Roman ruins in Italy some day, there is no guarantee that will happen, so this was a nice treat. Another treat was the main square of town, Praca do Giraldo. After lunch we rested on benches, soaking in the sun, watching the pigeons, smelling the roasted chestnuts from the cart close by, and snapping picturesque photos of the square. It all felt so wonderfully European!

There are more pictures of the sites in Evora here if you would like to see them.