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

a pRoPhEt oR a lUnAtIc...for me, A TRUE MAN OF FAITH OF THIS DAYS...

"Bono the preacher man on his mission to Africa" is the head title of an article in this link below
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/world/story/0,,1779874,00.html

I particularly liked this part when he speaks in a fashion show in Lesotho :
"...I'm an artist not a politician. But I prophesy that what was once impossible is possible. I prophesy that I will probably drink one too many red wines this evening. I'm sure, maybe, some people might dance on the tables."
( I just love the way Bono speaks about serious things with a cheeky sense of humor... )
He goes on...
" I prophesy that a day is coming when there will be no HIV.
I prophesy that this jewel of a kingdom is soon to become a giant.
Colin Powell once said that the greatest weapon of mass destruction is a virus called HIV. But no weapon of mass destruction could break the spirit I feel in this room. God is in the house, I feel.
A spotlight plays on his face, silhouetted, surrounded by the smoke from the fashion show. The crowd cheer, clap, ululate. Bono is a preacher. That's the difference. People shout: 'Bono, sing, Bono, sing.' He could do 'Forty' now and have them eating out of his hands. But he doesn't.
Later, outside over a glass of wine I ask him what was going on in there. 'The future,' he says. 'Didn't you feel it?' "

Is this a man of faith or what ?! Certainly a man of vision...

Click in the title of this blog to know more about Bono's trip to Africa...
Also check how good preacher Bono is in this ONE PODCAST at the Congressional Prayer Breakfast :-) at :
http://www.one.org/blog/
He quotes Jesus' first words in public when He read Isaiah in the synagogue, and Bono says that Jesus is actually speaking about a year of GRACE, which he believes we're still living in...and he goes on saying :
"... that same thought, GRACE, is now incarnated in a movement of all kinds of people, and it wasn't a "bless me" club...
this religious guys were willing to get out on the streets, get their boots dirty...follow their convictions with actions... making it really hard for people like me to keep our distance... I almost started to like this church people... (laughs)
the church was slow but the church got busy...Love was on the move...Mercy was on the move...
when churches started demonstrating on dept, governments listened and acted...
YOU CHANGE MINDS...
YOU CHANCE POLICIES...
YOU CHANGE THE WORLD..."

And he ends up quoting a friend who once told him:
"STOP ASKING GOD TO BLESS WHAT YOU'RE DOING,
GET INVOLVED IN WHAT GOD IS DOING,
BECAUSE IT'S ALREADY BLESSED"
Wow !!! no comments on that...

Well, this is challenging for me... I wanna be an instrument of change...and get involved in what God is doing...
let us be part of this movement, let us follow our convictions with actions...

This last sunday, the 21st also happened the "WALK FOR HUNGER" when in 118 different countries, in 420 different locations, around 760,000 people Walked against hunger!
In Lisbon we were around 800 people who whether walked 10 kilometers, or run 5 Kilometers... with this we hopefully made aware of the world's policy-makers and governments that they must do something about the hunger that affects 300 million children in this world, focusing more funds and resources on feeding children. These people have the power to improve the lives of children all around the globe. And we have the "voice" to shout in behalf of the poor and needy...

"Speak up for the people who have no voice,
for the rights of all the down-and-outers.
Speak out for justice!
Stand up for the poor and destitute!"
Proverbs 31:8,9

I paint myself a T-shirt with that verse to "Walk for hunger"
And I painted one for a friend who walked with me with Psalm 9:18

"The poor and the homeless
won't always be forgotten
and without hope."

check for more at :
http://www.fighthunger.org/about

nEw bLoG sTuFf...WeLL, nEw 4 mE...

I just found out how I can hide the whole posts so you don't need to feel so discouraged as you see my huuuge posts all the time :-)

cOoL pIcTuReS...

I just found this pictures a friend of mine sent me some time ago...
And I thought it would be fun to share with you :-)




This was a funny peacock !!!!

Whoever have anything to say against animals must have real serious problems :-)


And this is me and my lovely friend Sharon who sent me the pictures... this was last year in York (UK) around April...
brrrrrrrrrr, bit cold !!!

"pEaCe" oF LaNd iN pOrTuGuEsE mOuNtAiNs...

" Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest." (Mark 6:31)... I felt to respond to this invitation of Jesus after the Month of Prayer and specially the last week when I hosted a 24 hour prayer room...me and some of the Matrix family ended up the month with prayer for revival and reformation in this nation followed by a nice party barbecue at the Bordens's yard :-) ...



So, after that I really felt I needed some rest and quietness...not only because of the prayer campaign, but also because I needed some time off to think and process some stuff with God...I feel it's time to seek directions and make decisions ...time to be quiet, wait and listen...
So I went to this friends' farm that I wanted to go for sooooo long...
Yves and Regina are a Belgium couple who wrote me last september after I came from my trip in Europe... somehow they found my blog and wanted to meet me because they wanted to connect with the Body of Christ here in Portugal...so they came to Lisbon and told me their story... you can read more in their blog which is linked to this title or you can find them in my "relationships" links... I got impressed as I heard how they end up being here, somewhere in the country side of Portugal... Regina has her brother here and they used to come for holidays, Yves used to say that he could never come and live in this country... well, till God spoke :-)... they went once to the country side to see Regina's brother parents' in law and there was a farm to sell... They went there and God started to speak into their hearts... so they sold their business in Belgium and came here with all their things... Wow, that's faith !!! That's obedience !!! They didn't even had a clear vision for the place, and they feel they still don't, but they know God has :-) I was amazed and excited !!! I could feel God had a plan with this guys and with this land !!!

This was 6 or 7 months ago, and meanwhile they were out for few months from December to February... Now they are there, trying to work the land and learning all about it...yes, because they were not even familiar with farming before... they rented
a farm house nearby, because there's still no house with living conditions in the land...the top floor of the house is a flat with 2 rooms for guests, a living room, bathroom and kitchen... THEY ARE WILLING TO HAVE PEOPLE OVER TO HELP THEM IN THE LAND ... (in this moment they are in need to have some time alone to just pray and seek God, but is just a matter to get in touch with them)
They already have a horse and a sheep and they also sheltered one dog, Lassie, and one cat, Mia who became part of the "family"... they already had Twister who is a funny hyper dog who barks to plains and the moon :-)

They also got a tractor, a generator, a water pump, and some essencial tools to work and clean the land... I was working for 3 days, helping them just cutting the weeds... and there's still a lot to be done... we just cleaned 3 of terraces...
they have a nice vegetable garden already, and the olive oil they took from last year is amazingly tasty...they took 1300 Kilo of olives last year :-)... there's also cherry trees, oranges and tangerines, figs, oaks, few cork oaks, and small pieces of forest with pine trees and few eucalyptus... It also has a spring and 3 sources of water... It's just beautiful !!!

It's 50.000 square meters of Land, where it can be built 5.000 sm... it's a bit isolated from the next small village (which I consider a privilege)... we still see people coming from the fields in their donkey chariots :-) ... it is also surrounded by beautiful mountains and there are some lakes nearby which I only saw from the train as I was going back to Lisbon...
I just took some pictures with Yves' camera on the last day because mine is broken, but you can already have an idea !!!
IT NEEDS A LOT OF THE BASIC STRUCTURES ON THE LAND SO PEOPLE CAN LIVE...AND THEY ALSO NEED SOME FINANCIAL INPUT BECAUSE THEY SOLD THEIR BUSINESS TO INVEST IN THIS LAND...



Some impression they already got from the land is that is gonna be a SAFE place and a HEALING place... and I also felt is gonna be a RESTING place...
The last day I was there we had communion together, me, Yves, Regina and Marcel ( a Dutch guy who is there to help for a while) ... Then we dedicated the land to Jesus' Lordship, we symbolical poured wine along the borders of the land and anointed it with the Olive Oil from last year's harvest... Something Yves felt God wanted to be done ...
They don't want to develop any vision of their own, but they want God to show His vision !!! BE PRAYING FOR THAT !!!
They do want to be part of a community there which will reflect Jesus and they want to be used to lead others closer to God...

cHeEkY sMiLe...

This is for someone who misses my cheeky smile...
miss you too Lisa...

sTiiL gRoWiNg...

More then 60 cm already :-)


well, I was going to post this yesterday and somehow it didn't work... And actually, they are already between 67 and 70 cm :-)