31 May 2006

WiLLoW fReAk...wHaT a tRiP !!!


I don't even know where to start (I warn you this is gonna be long...but with a lot of pictures)...
we arrived 2 days ago from "Willow Freak" (Jesus Freaks Leadership gathering) in Germany, but we're still recovering...I went with Jasmin, Ben and Juran (this picture is in the way back...we're totally knocked out)...it was really cool to not travel alone this time... It was really hard for all of us to go to Germany when we were already enjoying the summer here...it was literally like going back to winter...And that was NO FUN AT ALL !!! We are so glad to be back in summer again :-) ...
Ok, at Frankfurt-Hahn, we had a ride with Debora, leader of "Jesus Freaks-Frankfurt", a real sweet heart and a blessing to us all... it all went fine to meet her and start the trip...till the car broke :-( half an hour away from the airport, we were not even in Frankfurt yet (for those who don't know, Frankfurt-Hahn is about 150 Km out of Frankfurt :-) )...So we waited around 2 hours till the tow truck came to pick us up...
cool truck by the way... Ben is next to me right now and he wants me to make sure I will mention that we had to add more and more layers of cloth every once in a while because of the cold (poor guy, he suffered)...well, we even had to exercise coz we couldn't wait inside the car (german rule) and it was getting too cold for us...Thank God the rain had stopped !!! "Nach mude com bleut" !!! - a german proverb I learnt last year :-), I'm sure I spell it wrong, but it basically means "when you get tired, you get silly"...I guess we were on that stage :-)...at least we kept the good humor :-)
But check out the car we got in exchange :-) ... much better... I guess God was planning ahead...you'll understand when I mention the way back :-)... the car that broke was an old one from Debora's mom and unfortunately there's no repair :-( ... but she was not so bummed with that...Thank God for ADAC !!! :-)...
The rest of the trip was smooth and nice ... having time for some sleep as well :-)...





















After more or less 3 hours driving, we finally arrived in "Siloah", a christian Eco Village where "willow Freak" took place ... It's such a beautiful place... I love it and it brought me good memories of last year when I met the Jesus Freaks for the first time :-) ... I feel like family among them already !!!
It was really nice to see again all those I met last year during my trip, specially those with whom I got to spend more time in the rainbow gathering or those who came by to Lisbon...
Besides the weather, rain and cold, we had really cool times in worship and prayer, hanging out with people and having fun...we spent a night till 2am just jamming with a guitar, "self made" percussions and goofy lyrics... we also found some sun glasses which all those around had to put on... it was really fun, and I loved Silvia's laugh, a girl from Poland I just met there, I couldn't stop laughing with her :-)...you know when it gets contagious?! we were like that !!!




This was the goofiest guy making up lyrics...He wan the night award !!! :-)

This is why I never use sunglasses :-) ... Maybe I don't have enough nose :-) of too small face...





Our troubadour...


Amazing worship time with this acoustic group...

And also some anointed hard core worship with Obadja...check out www.obadja.com (link on the title)
They started from Willow Freak their tour around Germany, Czech Republic and Poland...and after the tour they will keep moving as a "Mobile Church", taking the presence of God wherever God will take them with the vans :-) One of the couples, Frauke and Dominike want to come down to Portugal for the winter to have their baby :-)... Pray for this family on the road!!! This "Mobile Freak Gemeind"... And support them in whatever means if you feel led to...

The place we slept after the first night... I actually slept well in the tent, but I was between Ben and Jasmin and they didn't say the same... too cold for them... so, we moved to the tea room... it was actually really warm because of the straw :-)... the only problem was that we had to wait till everyone went out so we could come in and make our bed... well, Jasmin in the last day just slept anyway in the middle of a "Sushi Party" :-) where they were sharing about Japan and challenging the freaks to join to what God is doing there among the punks... amazing stuff as well...check it at www.jesusfreaksjapan.de


The cutest little girl...


Amazing times with friends...






O.K., now the way back...and you 'll understand why I said God was thinking ahead... because if we had the old car, most probably was for us to get stuck in the traffic and not get the ADAC tow truck to come to us... we were around 6 hours on a traffic jam... And I thought the traffic in Lisbon was the worst... Juran even went out of the car and walked... we end up meeting a lot of Jesus Freaks also stuck in the traffic...some even used the opportunity to distribute flyers for the "Freakstock" festival :-)

Some got bored and went to the roof of the car :-) Silly Tobi !!!



Ups... the police came....but the guy was nice and understood :-)... anything could be excused after hours in that traffic...

well... some things were weird...like some ladies coming out of the bus to pee, but totally choosing the wrong spot... everyone could see everything...oh no !!! No pictures, don't worry !!!

we also spent a lot of time worshiping with Jason Upton (another detail, the car that broke had no music :-) )


But the worst was to choose between MacDonald and Burger King to eat....there's nothing else along the high-way, besides the expensive stopping places...oh well, I surrendered...but at least NO MCDONALD'S, we chose the B.King instead !!! We cannot complain of Portugal on that...we don't miss choices to eat :-)



O.K., this is too long already...
Broken, tired, ill, but really happy to be back in the sun... Check this sun at 8.30am :-) we even got in a convertable :-)



Love you all
Shantii Shantii

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

Long long post! But it seems you had a great time :-)

Agora em português: as últimas viagens que tinhas feito, tinham sido boas mas com companhia deve ser muito melhor. É bom saber que foste muito bem acompanhada...

Muitas saudades e muitos beijinhos***

Henna Hippie Mama said...

Hey, you ever hear of anything coming to the states, let me know. I would love be a part of it. heck, i would love to take a trip there but that season is in the future to come...three kids, and God leading elsewhere,,,ya know how it goes.

thanks for sharing your journey.

Anonymous said...

Now that I am almost fully recovered from my fever, sneazing, coughing, soar throat, asthma, drippy congestionated nose ad ears, and the usual headache, I can say that it was an amazing trip. It was cool to see so many diferent people come toguether and get along just fine. I hope we can start to see that in Portugal. Freaks, Punks, Rockers, HardCorer's, Goth's, plain ppl , and weird mixes among all those kinds, under the same roof, holding high the same banner of love. Despite the rain, mud, cold, and more rain, it was really cool to be there.
I loved to meet, and re-meet all my german friends, but you know what?
Portugal Rocks my socks...we get in at 8:30 in the morning ans it's allready more hot that in any day in Deutschland. I just love the heat wave, walking around bear footed, no t shirt. god bless u freaks anyway, well see you all at freakstock.

Anonymous said...

oi BABA! I MISS YOU! I MISS YOU BEN! I MISS JASMINE!
i miss hippy freak people, and especially those hippy freak people that love jesus.
i miss europe...i miss portugal...i miss the matrix...i miss my family....i miss you all.
one day we will have to make a trip to germany together...and then another day we will have to make a trip to a rainbow gathering together...and then of course one day we will have to make a trip to angola and kenya together...
(boy those are three big tasks...we better start quick!)
lots and lots of love from me here....
i am SO excited to see you all in a week!
ITS ABOUT TIME!

Baba said...

Yeh, We will make those trips JESSE :-) I'm loking forward for that... I MIIIIIIISS YOU SOOOO MUCH AS WELL...BUT YOU'LL BE HERE SOON :-)
I LOVE YOU JESSE !!!

HEY BENITO, thanks for the post...cool tips for the portuguese :-)... lets takes advantage of our good weather and get some people together here :-) maybe more freaks will come to Portugal then :-)
It was so nice to go with you :-) really !!!

fussgeherin said...

it was so good to see all of you at willow freak, made me lion-hearted for my time in spain. and I hope I get to visit you in portugal once I'm down there where it's warm and sunny.

thank you for being the way you are.
be blessed and hugged.

Anonymous said...

hey baba, its amazing, how much trouble and stress u accept only to see us!
thank you for being with us and make some ideas international ;-)

fat fat blessing, sprotte (jesus freaks berlin, germany)

Maresa said...

Fue tan lindo con ustedes! Que privilegio de conocerte... Cuándo volvímos a Freiburg (mi ciudad) teníamos más lluvia que en Siloah... increíble!!! Toda la semana fue horible, pero ahora tenemos SOL!!! Por fin...
Te debo saludar de Matthias - después de 7 o 8 horas de viaje él no quería´más busvar su coche. Y por eso dormió en mi casa. Un muchacho bien amable!
Que Dios les bendiga todos y hasta muy pronto al Freakstock!!

Anonymous said...

reading that in bed with the biggest sore throat imaginable and fever i have to laugh...haha it was a fun filled trip..my most extreme trip ever! yeah more extreme then africa...i loved my traveling buddies...u guys rock-never a dull moment! Praying now that when we return this summer it will be HOT HOT HOT in Germany!!!!!

Baba said...

Yeh, I hope it would get HOT HOT HOT in the summer :-)... it will :-)

yah sprotte, it was worth it to see you all there... it feels family to be among you :-)

PEACE
Bless the family in Berlin :-)

Anonymous said...

hey

.. nice to see the last pictures of that dying car ;)

see you soon ... probably at freakstock

Anonymous said...

good news..sounds like a very speziel time together..for me its amazing to see the connection between the people i met in lisbon and the place siloah where i lived quiet a while- two stations in my live geting together..that weekend i had a speziel seminar ..so i missed it..so far ..everybody stay in the spirit of the horse ..for hidding backs trough the very speziell backcountry..leon der leon