wHaT iS tHe "rAiNbOw fAmiLy" dOinG bEsIdEs mEeTiNg iN tHe nAtUrE ?!!!

I will paste here a bit of an e.mail I received which thrilled me...
Some people think the “Rainbow family” is just a bunch of “hippies” who do not conform and adapt to this system we live, which they interestingly call “Babylon”...
But they are doing so much more than that...First of all, the way they position themselves in society, weather in cities or isolated in the country side, already speaks something for those who think there´s no other way to live in this world...they have been proving that it is possible to live differently without “conforming to this world”...actually the apostle of Jesus, Paul, adverts all christians to live like that in his letter to the Romans, chapter 12, verse 2
One of the goals of the “Rainbow Family” is to seek for peace in this world…not only between men and nature, but between tribes, peoples, languages and cultures...
So here goes the e.mail...

“About 5 years ago I was sitting in a café in Goa, India, and we
overheard some travellers at another table talking in a language
we didn't recognize.
We asked them where they were from and they said "Iran."  I was
really surprised because they didn't fit my idea of Iranians.  
For one thing they looked like hippies and the women weren't wearing burkas.  They told us that there was a counter-culture
movement in Tehran, but that it was completely an underground,
grass-roots movement and in many ways was opposed to the
many of the government's fundamentalist Islamic dictates.

I just filed this information in my mind, as something fascinating. 
Then recently I was at a Rainbow Gathering in Israel and we saw an
interesting notice for an upcoming Rainbow Gathering in Turkey.  It
was titled the "1st PEACE IN THE MIDDLE-EAST RAINBOW GATHERING." 
My friend Eric and I asked around and discovered what this was all about.

It turns out that several months ago the World Rainbow Gathering (held
somewhere different every year) happened in Turkey.    
Well, at that Gathering there were many of the leaders of the Israeli
hippie/New-Age festival scene and also some of the leaders in this
underground movement in Iran.  The Iranians came to the Israelis and
said, "It's really not fair that you call the Rainbow Gathering in Israel the "Middle-East" Gathering,when we can't even get into Israel.  
So they decided to have this upcoming Gathering in Turkey to try to
foster peace and understanding between Arabs and Jews.
...these Iranians would be returning in March to Turkey for
this event…Iran is the most fundamentalist Islamic nation in the
world…(Dates of the Gathering : 29th March till 27th April)
Rainbow is the perfect forum to build deep friendships.  We sit in the woods
for a few weeks and eat with the same people twice a day.  There are no
distractions.  People are there specifically to make friends with other
people who care about spiritual things.
These Iranians seem to be willing to travel out of their country for Rainbow
Gatherings.  It is likely that we will be able to see them again, maybe at
the European Gatherings for instance...”

Yes, the Rainbow Family and Rainbow Gatherings are crossing borders...
This “counter-culture” is reaching Peace where “Babylon” is failing...
Can we learn from them ?!! I believe we can...we can learn a lot from them...
If you´d like more informations you can send a post here and I´ll be glad if we can keep in touch...

SHALOM

tHe FirEs hAvE sTaRtEd...

I came from Faro with this feeling…the “fires” already started in Portugal…
And this time we´re not speaking about the summer fires which destroyed most of our forests ( which is really sad to see them burnt all along Portugal)…
I´m speaking about people…young people…
on fire to seek God´s presence and intimacy…
I went with Juran who came from Austria (Jesus Freaks) and will be around for a while, and Sara, another friend from Lisbon…oh, and Amelie, of course, Juran´s dog…

We had a nice trip together in Juran´s van…without any rush, we just escaped the high way and took time to appreciate the beautiful villages we have in Portugal and the amazing landscape of Alentejo…

We stayed in Algarve with a beautiful family, Rodrigo, Zeza and Rafa , who moved from Lisbon some months ago and are still adapting to a new house, new relationships and new city…in a way, it´s been easier for them to be out of Lisbon ´coz they really prefer smaller places (after spending 5 years in Guiné Bissau working among the “fulas”)… They were extremely hospitable…Zeza cooked everyday for us and made special Portuguese traditional dishes for Juran to try…her home made bread was delicious as well… It was really good to get to know them better and hear really encouraging stories about Guiné Bissau…They are a great model and encouragement for me in many ways…


We started the prayer room on Thursday at midnight…at 8.30 that night there was a prayer meeting where I could share about the vision of the Prayer Month and we had a nice time holding hands in a big circle and raising our voices to pray for our Nation and this generation…I really love this community in Faro which I met already last year and I visit during our second “Connect Portugal”…I start to feel a bit part of them as well…
I had a nice time with Raquel, a teenager with whom we got close with during “Connect Portugal”…one of those teenagers who got on fire by God and who is spreading it among her friends at school !!!
The 48 hours of the prayer room were really good…we hardly had time for ourselves, ´coz the slots were all covered…this one was coordinated by Junior and a Mission Organization he serves called “Missão Horizontes”.

We left on Saturday afternoon ´coz we still had a long trip ahead to Lisbon…we enjoyed the mountains of Monchique and we stopped in a beautiful place to make some tea and a nice fire to warm up…Juran went for a walk and found out a lake in the valley with a shape of a heart…so cool !!! How creative is our God, the Creator !!!
One more time I thought about the fires and how God is calling us as “fire starters”…
When we were going down, we stopped on a beach to watch the sunset and we had a nice time worshiping and praying…there I had an impression about the prayer rooms…it´s like we´re just going to build a fire place…
The rest is up to God…the fire is His…the One who blows, is His Spirit !!!

“Let it burn…
Let it burn till the dreams of God come true”



God bless PORTUGAL…
God bless ALL NATIONS…
God bless THIS GENERATION…
God bless YOU...

bEgiNnInG tHe nEw YeAr...

It´s been a while since I wrote…sorry, but with the beginning of the new year I needed first some time to be alone with God, and then I had a bunch of e.mails to reply and stuff to organize…but now is getting better…
I have some news…First I would like to give thanks to some friends(Marc,Mike and Andrew) who challenged me to raise some offering to buy myself a lap top, and so I did…I have all the money I needed now, thanks to God and those He used to bless me with their money…
I hope now I will be able to update more often my blog :-)…and I hope I´ll not become a computer freak…I wouldn´t like that at all !!! I hope I´ll be able to use it and not being used by it :-)...

I ´m also starting the year with some more small trips…I will go to Germany first, from the 10th till the 13th of February, unfortunately I´ll not have much time to visit any of my dearest friends there…This will be a meeting between “underground” church planters, from different parts of Europe, from UK, Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, Austria, Holland, etc…I just got the invitation a week ago, but I immediately felt I should go and connect with all of them…
On the 20th Feb I leave again, now to London and I stay till the 1st of March…I will visit a precious friend and sister of mine, Emma ( I mention her in my posts last year)…she will be just coming from her 4 months experiences in Palestine and Israel and I´m sure we´ll have a wonderful time together…Then , from the 24th till the 26th of February, I will be at the “Soundcheck”, the annual gathering of SPEAK (www.speak.org.uk ) who are a network of students and young adults who pray and campaign on issues of Global injustice, and through this aim to share their faith in God…Soundcheck will examine the perception and use of power in the church and in the world. What does the Bible say about power, and how should it affect the way we campaign, the way we pray…the way we live…
I´m excited about this time, ´coz I do feel inside of me, since I met this crazy campaigners, that God wants me to not only know more about it, but to be active as well…to make more difference by speaking out for the poor and in behalf of justice…



About the 24 hour Prayer Rooms, I also have some more news …
I´m going to Faro (south) from the 19th till 21st of January, to help organize an experiment prayer room of 48 hours, with teenagers and young people from different churches of that area…
I have a meeting with some young people on the 28th of January to share about the prayer month in April…
I´m going to Braga (north) on the 17th and 18th of February to help in another prayer room of 48 hours. And I have already 4 different connections in Porto and another in Coimbra ( 2 other districts north Lisbon)…

Young people are getting excited everywhere I go to share or simply by sending e.mails…God is raising up this generation !!! Come on God !!!

In Porto, that group that I mention, who are praying for the nation every week, they have been fasting this whole month to see revival in this Nation !!! Yes, this generation is willing to pay the price… Come on God, we´re desperately longing for YOU !!!

O.K., I don´t wanna make this longer than it is already, but I have some cool things to share with you about my “tribe”, the rainbow family !!!

Enjoy your days !!!
Shantii

...aNd ThE fIrE iS nOt :-(

Well, I don't even know how to word this, but I feel I have to...
I came back from the Mission Youth Congress really dissapointed...
Maybe I was expecting too much...maybe I'm used to different kind of meetings with christians...
I was simply waiting to see portuguese young people wanting to seek God's face, longing to hear His voice, willing to follow Him wherever He would say and willing to pay the price no matter what...
But I didn't come with that impression...
Maybe it's me...maybe it's just my human eyes...but I was not the only one with the same feeling, and some didn't even stay as much as I did...
I didn't stay till the end as well...I left on the 31st after my seminar on "Urban Tribes" (which went pretty well)...so, I didn't stay for the "great night", as they were announcing...I sneek out of there!!!
Nothing was really attractive for me...
There was a huge stage with a huge sound table (big enough for a stadium concert) in a big sports pavillion (the place itself didn't help the atmosphere)...there was maybe 10 different stands of different mission organizations presenting their visions ( I still don't know if many young people commit with any of them) and we had a 24 hour prayer room...I put a paper outside for people who wanted to commit with the April Prayer Campaign, and on the last day I only had 2 names, Ron and John (definitely not portuguese, and not young as well)...I was sad with that, so I wrote underneath it "What about the portuguese?"...and finally 2 girls signed in ( I hope it was not just the presure)... they didn't show "The Vision" and the April Campaign challenge as well (well, I did show the vision in my seminar)...they said they had no time in the program, and they didn't even wanted to see it...But I didn't heard or seen any National Challenge besides reaching the unreached counties (which the prayer campaign is part of)
It was all about programs...which never run on time anyway...but that's typical portuguese :-)... no surprise on that!!!
On the first day we got there, "Triplet" was also playing at night ...the concerts only started after 1.30 am and hardly no one was there, even though we had lots of fun...the band who played before was really cool as well...we thought everyone was tired, and they all (arround 300) had to go to another place to sleep (6 km from there), but then we got to know that they all went to that place and chat all night, they didn't really went to sleep...
A big lack of respect, in my opinion, for the bands who drove 2 hours or more just to play for them...
On that day we felt that was not exactly a place where "The Vision" (check www.24-7prayer.com) would be an impact...we were even considering projecting it before "Triplet" concert, as it's part of their vision as well, but we felt it was not worth it...
The worship times were loud, a big band, a lot of instruments, impressive...but empty for me...
That was the thing that was disturbing me the most...I couldn't feel the presence of God there...I couldn't see God's leading...I couldn't see people being broken...and I know I don't see the unseen...I repeat, this is meerly my impression...
The word shared by George Verver (O.M.) was good, the teachings in the morning by Paulo Pascoal were good, the seminar themes were interesting...the prayer times, well, they were bad...we split in groups to pray for the unreached portuguese counties, but my group spent the whole time speaking and in the end we just prayed 3 minutes in smaller groups...sorry, but that's not praying for me...that's just to relief your conscience...
I don't know.forgive my openess and maybe too strong words...I don't know how to word my feelings, but I feel very frustrated and sad...
I rather think about groups like the one I met in Porto, where they were sincerelly seeking God's heart on their knees, and they don't need big structures and efforts...they just need to gather...and wait for God to show up...

I know all the ones who organize and all the volunteers work very hard for all this to happen, they hardly sleep those 3 days...but I ask myself : " Was God asking for that?" , " Wasn't that only human effort?"... That's what it seamed to me...
And I might be wrong here...and forgive me if I sound judgmental, but I had to say it...

I love the church...but that makes me feel ashame of it...
I DON'T LOOSE HOPE THOUGH...'COZ I STEEL BELIEVE GOD HAS AMAZING THINGS TO DO IN THIS NATION...AND I BELIEVE IN THE POTENTIAL OF THIS GENERATION...I BELIEVE GOD IS CALLING OUT THE WARRIORS, BUT I KNOW MOST OF THEM DON'T EVEN KNOW CHRIST YET...
I FEEL IT NEEDS TO START WITH INTIMACY...WITH STILLNESS AND QUIETNESS BEFORE GOD...WITH LISTENING EARS...WITH BROKEN AND HUMBLE HEARTS...WITH WILLINGNESS TO OBBEY...TO SURRENDER ALL AND FOLLOW JESUS' TEACHINGS...
AND NOT WITH BIG EVENTS...
WITH SIMPLICITY...
"If My people, who are called by My name humble themselves and pray, and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin, and will heal their land" (II Cron.7:14)

It makes me think about our goverment...maybe a mirror...they build big soccer stadiums, shopping malls everywhere, a lot of "christmas" lights, and now they want to spend a lot of money on a Tgv train...but still, a woman gets in the hospital at 10a.m. with a serious problem in her heart, and she has to wait, without getting any food, till 6 pm...
THERE'S SOMETHING WRONG WITH PRIORITIES HERE...THAT'S MY FEELING...
THOSE ARE MY IMPRESSIONS...

and God led me this morning to read this :

"Go out at once into the streets and lanes of the city and bring in here the poor and cripled and blind and lame...
Go out into the highways and along the hedges and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled..."
( Luke 14:15-24)

The called ones X The chosen ones...
What a shame for the Church...
I don't wanna loose Hope in the Church...but if those who are called are not answering, I know God will not waist more time...
I want my heart to be ever gratefull...never forgetting what He did for me...so I can be passionate to Love Him and live my life in behalf of those who need to know Him...

Love you
THERE IS HOPE...ALWAYS !!!



PEACE