24 January 2006

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...

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