mUcH 2 sAy...nOt mUcH TimE...

here I am in the usual place where I work on my e.mails, blogging, etc...
It's now 4.45pm, and I arrived around 10.30am... I just finished reading and replying my latest e.mails... I had too many as the last times I came to town the internet was too slow and I didn't have enough time...
So, to make it easier for me, I will just put some pictures and write some comments :-)

Bruno and Maio, his horse... we love having them around...Bruno had his sheep on our land to eat our grass, but now they are having babies, so it's better to be in a safer place :-/ We miss them ... but Maio is still there :-)
What better place they could have found to take a nice nap :-)

Lassy and Snoopy also went with the sheep... Snoopy just went today coz Bruno couldn't hold it...

But look Snoopy here...yes, that's true !!! we could not only hold it but let him sleep in our lap like a baby :-)

we also got some visitors... Angela, a girl from Germany who was on her way to the Iberian Rainbow gathering...
here is she, saving this Cork Oak who had to leave this place, because it was on the way of another fruit tree...so, she took it out from the deep root, and planted it near the house... she wanted to plant this tree for God, as she experienced Him so strongly in this place as never before :-)

But she also planted 2 more kiwi trees...one for her, the other for a friend... one male and female, it works like that with kiwi trees to bear fruit :-) cool ah !!!

Miri and Benjamin... Miri fell in love ...she's missing benji so much already :-) ... I told her she needs to watch out ... she's becoming a hippie :-) ...this is a joke between hippies and punk-rockers , eh, eh :-)

she was the one taking care of him, coz he was born before time and it was the first time for his mom to have babies... so Miri had to help him getting the milk from her mom who was often running away...and now benji goes after her like a dog :-)

Me and Angela went to help sometimes as well ...

And here is the second baby after being born :-) so cool !!! Also Benji we didn't know he was about to be born...suddenly he was there :-)

This is Rita... our snake ... she was just on the way this day and we could come close and touch her :-) ... she's not poisonous, don't worry... the grand daugthers of the Mayor told me once that there were 2 snakes before when they use to go there, Rita and Joana, so I guess we met one of them :-)

Our beach in front of the house :-) Miri was just laughing at me coz she said I looked like a german tourist with that hat and seating on that chair...but I think I was missing the sandals and socks to be complete :-)

Finally we planted our potatoes and onions next to the big pond... it is still hard to water it by bucket...but I guess our friends from "Riverside" in Lisbon will donate a pump for us :-) as they wanted to donate trees as well...that would be great !!! I explain how we are taking more then 2 hours now to water everything with a bucket, so they are interested in helping us with the pump first :-) !!!

And finally , our little protest in Fundao... some young party of Fascists were putting terrible posters everywhere against "freaks" like us, against imigrants, black people, etc... Pffff, really silly !!! So Miri made a poster to respond to it :-)
It says something like "when we fear what we don't know that's how we become", and then you have a bunch of people without face , looking the same... what kind of people still think like that ?!!! Oh well !!! I'm glad in God's Kingdom there's space for all kinds of diversity :-) I love that !!! RESPECT ONE ANOTHER !!!

iT's dOnE...aLmOsT !!!

o.k, gotta be fast..my battery is nearly dead and it's holiday in town so I find no place to plug in my laptop :-/
I just came to bring Ben to the train at 5.30 am, and I stayed to come to internet and do blogging and e.mailling...but I didn't know it was a holiday in town today, so I'll not do much...
ben came here yesterday on purpose to sign the check to buy the land in the name of White Stone...

It all seems weird still...
Yves and Regina were one more time at the land to ask me to write some document in portuguese for them to cancel their internet contract... it was probably God's... coz we had the opportunity to pray all together... we were praying for different people, but then we went on praying for the land...
Miri started to cry in the midst and I could sense why...
we were done with prayer, but Miri kept staring down and sobbing...after a while Regina broke the silence and asked her if she had anything to say... she just loked at me, kept sobbing and looked down again...
when Regina asked the second time she said she would speak, even though she didn't want to...
She opened up the "game" and said directly and clear that what they were doing was wrong, and God didn't want them to sell the land, coz it was His already...
It was not a matter of the land or the money, but it was about them and their hearts...
well, I don't want to go on details here, but in the end they said they would pray again in the night and see if God would tell them anything...
For us it was all clear, but I was glad Miri was able to tell them... I believe it was our responsibility to confront them and in a way, warn them about what they were about to do...

Well, next day we met in town to sign the papers but they didn't mention anything about prayer or what God might have told them...
I felt weird all day but didn't know what else could we do...
It still felt wrong inside of us...
Nothing changed for us really... and in the end we just got a procuration from them that will able us to buy the land without their presence here anymore, and we gave them the 30.000 Euros check for the land... giving back what they gave to God before... it felt weird again !!!
But , it's not in our hands anymore !!!
we are free to decide whatever, and we are free to make mistakes... even Yves said that all the mistakes he did God always turned them into good... but it was weird to hear that before he could do the mistake (in our eyes)...

But everything is done now...well, not everything, I stilll need to figure out what to do to get the land in White Stone name, but to be honest, it doesn't really matter... all this paper stuff is so fictitious !!! BUt I know it needs to be done...
We still live in this world so we need to play their rules... BUT WE DON'T BELONG TO IT, AND I DON'T WANT TO FORGET ABOUT THAT...
WE ARE TO LIVE IN ANOTHER DIMENSION... ANOTHER KINGDOM... THAT WAS THE CENTRE OF JESUS' MESSAGE !!!!

GoD MaDe iT HApPeN !!!

Yves and Regina just came yesterday to the land to say they arrived and to start the process to buy the land…
And I just want to make clear about who made all this happen…
WE’RE BUYING THE LAND NEXT WEEK … And I want to give ALL GLORY TO GOD, coz HE WAS THE ONE WHO MADE IT ALL HAPPEN …
They will leave on the 25th so everything must be done next week…
Ben, from Lisbon also needs to come to sign the papers as we are buying it under our Association “White Stone”… Pray that he will have the possibility and time to come here…
We prayed to know God’s will and He confirmed He still wanted this land separated to Him… we prayed for the money to buy it, and He miraculously provided through many people who promptly offer their money to buy the land…a lot of friends and also people I never met before…some gave big amounts, some gave the little they have, but all with the same heart… TO SEE GOD BEING GLORIFIED !!! my friend Ruben from Lisbon really impacted me… he took all his coins from his pocket and said :
“ Here, it’s for the land…it’s not much but it’s all I have”… and I knew it was all he had…2,19 E … And that’s how God is glorified… by people’s hearts !!! THIS IS THE KINGDOM OF GOD AT WORK !!!

Many people told me the same “well, it’s not much, but it’s what I can give now…”…but I always said and I believe that LITTLE IS ALWAYS MUCH IN THE KINGDOM OF GOD… like the guy who gave few loafs of bread and some fish to Jesus…He simply gave thanks to God and God multiplied, feeding thousands with that “little”… THIS IS OUR GOD !!!
So, here’s the miracle for those who don’t know all the story:
it was only 5 weeks ago when I started to share about the need of buying this land after knowing from Yves and Regina that they didn’t want to give it to God anymore as they said one year ago… I came here in the first place because I believed this land was dedicated to God to be a place where people who want to live together could come freely …

Others joined me to spend the winter and we were between 12 and 15 people from October till January… We spent the winter in vans and tents and we fixed the old stone house to make our communal kitchen and to have a more secure shelter for all to be together…
Yves and Regina went back to Belgium to make the same business they sold before to buy this land…
In February we heard that they were selling the land to some business people to make turism… I asked Yves if at least we could buy the land as well, and he said yes, if we would have 45.000 Euros till 15th of March… we had one month then…

I was at peace because I knew God had to have a plan… but at the same time everything was too confusing for me … I didn’t understand how could they use the name of God so quickly without taking it seriously… That was really annoying me… how come the land was dedicated to God and now is not anymore?!!!
One thing that was coming constantly to my mind since the beginning was this:
“Don’t trust men, trust me!!!” … and I believed that was God’s voice, because it was always bringing me peace when things seemed to be confused (and there was a lot of confusing times since we came)…
so , deep inside of me I knew I was not here because of Yves and Regina, but because of God… even if they failed in their commitment and stepped back, God would not fail… I knew He would do something, but still I needed a clear direction…
So I prayed and waited for almost 2 weeks and finally I felt I should decide to buy it and share with others… We had 10 days to raise 45.000 E, even though I never felt the business people would buy the land anyway… Yves said if they would give up we could buy it for 30.000 E…

I also felt the power of money needed to be broken here, and so I challenged people to raise 35.000 E so we could give to some one else, or some other project, the 5000 E…
It was amazing how people promptly offered money to participate in all this…
On the 15th of March we had about 12.000 E and a possible loan of other 12.000 E without any interests for a year… I called Yves and said we’d buy it, so he said he would come here around the 15th of April and we could sign the contract…
We had 4 more weeks and now we have all the money… I accepted the loan of around 12.000 E for a year and I believe we’ll be able to collect that even in less than a year… I don’t know if we got 5000 E to give away, but at least 3000 E we have…and I also have a person to give it to, which I believe it’s another “good land to sow” as well … That’s how the Kingdom of our Father in Heaven works ☺

"All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of their possessions was their own, but they shared everything they had." (Acts 4:32)
"All the believers were together and had everything in common." (Acts 2:44)
If we really believe in Jesus, we need to believe that's the way He wants us to share our lives with one another :-) ...
And I'm really happy and encouraged to see that there are many who believe this, and not only believe, but practice it !!!
When we step by faith into the words God speaks, and we practice them, we end up realizing that he does mean what He says :-) And it's so cool when we live that out and see God at work in our lives and in other people's lives :-)...
ALL GLORY TO JESUS !!! HE IS ALIVE AND HE IS REAL !!!
BELIEVE IT OR NOT, THAT IS THE SIMPLE TRUTH !!!

SO, GOD MADE IT ALL HAPPEN !!! AND HIS NAME HAS BEEN GLORIFIED IN ALL THIS !!!
THANK YOU GOD !!! YOU’RE GREAT !!! THERE’S NO ONE LIKE YOU !!!
THANK YOU FOR SHOWING US THAT YOU ARE REAL !!!
I LOVE YOU :-) !!!

pLaNtInG hOpE...

Finally we are planting the trees...
It was hard to find the best time coz I went away for a while and before we couldn't order them on time...
But now we're planting HOPE in this land that is about to be bought...
I really want to thank all those who gave money to buy these trees... we end up buying 22 trees, mostly fruits :-)...and I'm looking forward to watch them grow ...
It all comes on the perfect timming anyway :-)



PEACE

gReAt wEeKeNd...

I had a great weekend with Miri and some young people from Castelo Branco... Finally we hang out with more alternative people around here... even though much younger than me, but well, I love hanging out with them...people think I'm younger anyway :-) eh, eh...
They are all friends of my cousin, Paulinho :-), and most of them celebrated new year with us at the land...
Joel is studying theatre in Madeira (Portuguese Island) and came for holidays with his girlfriend Silvia...so they had the chance to play together with their band "Blue Mind" ...
they are really mind blowing for this people here who are not so used to anything alternative or "out of order"... revolution is in their hearts, and I believe they will be used here to bring something new for this generation... Lets wait and see :-) !!!!
These guys rock !!! we had so much fun at their concert on friday night in a small village, in a place like the "Club" in Povoa de Atalaia, but a bit bigger and with a stage...

We went earlier to make sound check and all that stuff, so we had plenty of time to wait till midnight till the concert started...
we had nice time just goophying around and having fun together... Me and Miri also went with Lopes to his family's house in the village and lot loaded with nice food... Miri got to know more of the portuguese culture this weekend... she sat down in many kitchen tables and ate all sorts of things :-)... That's so part of our culture :-) !!!
We went for the concert venue and they were playing "Pimba" music (that's really bad folk portuguese music), but it's good to have fun... even though I always have a hard time to try to avoid the lyrics (they really suck)...
The first band started, but they were not so good, just covers from other bands...poor guys, they're just starting... but we tried to cheer them up, singing along and "moshing"... in the end we had all of them jumping out from the stage and "body surfing" in the little crowd ... I think most of those people never saw that for real :-) so funny !!! But they seemed to enjoy...
So then they came... the goophy guys :-) ... To start, Petra, the drummer girl :-), lost a piece of her pedal :-) ... they say it's already normal for something to go wrong :-) eh, eh, Punk style...


Then they started and people really liked it... everyone was having fun and the concert went on and on... They have a great presence on stage...they're not so much looking for perfection in their music, but really having fun together :-) and they really set people free while they play... it was a cool atmosphere...we never knew when it was really over :-) ...







Miri also went on stage to sing along... she was really excited... she really misses her punk-rock friends... and she really loved these guys...

Joel on guitar and vocals, Paulo on bass, Petra on drums...

Petra was already out of the drum set and the guy from the other band came to play along :-)...nobody cared about anything anymore :-)

It was really cool !!! Thank you "Blue Mind" !!!

We slept in Paulo's little farm house, just next to my aunt's ... and we woke up late after the long night... we had "brunch" with my aunt and uncle... we went to visit another cousin in the city and then we were ready to go out again to another concert in Covilha...about one hour from there... It's crazy that most of the times we had no place to go out, and this weekend was too much...
this concert was supposed to have a punk-rock band, but they failled, so it was only Metal, which is not particularly my kind of music... none of us like it, but it was cool to be together one more time...
well, I was totally exhausted on sunday... I made a nice bath with fire and relaxed...
Fiiiiuuu !!! Maybe I am getting too old for this things :-) ...

hOw cReAtIoN mAkEs yOu mOrE hApPy...

Look at this woodpecker, just behind my hut in the woods ... I'm so glad God is such a wonderful creator, and so creative !!!
I was lying on my bed almost all day so I can recover well...I'm still not good and the weather doesn't help much as well... windy, sun comes, sun goes, bit of rain now and then...Rrrrr, not funny !!!
I was also trying to read and study some things, but Michu was making it hard sometimes... Why cats always have to seat right where they shouldn't ?!!!
What else can I do but laugh...

I love nature...
Miri, the " punk city girl " is also marvelled at all the animals we now have in the farm... the sheep, the dogs and now Maio, the horse... she 's all excited telling me how cool they are ... she's also helping to prune the olive trees, she's excited about all those things she never thought she would find herself doing it ...
It's so cool to have nature around !!!
Even in the city, I remember telling a friend, we can always appreciate the trees, the flowers, the birds, the sky... we don't notice them sometimes, or we can ignore them, but they are there... I like to see sometime trees and bushes coming out of roofs and things like that...or the roots of a tree breaking the concrete... nothing can stop it !!! so cool !!!
O.K, this was just for you to remember :-)
PEACE...

hOmE sWeEt hOmE ...

Yep, that's how it feels to be back to the land...
I had a wonderful reception as I got off the train... a sweet old man who was also coming out offered me a ride on his tractor :-) he's my neighbour ... I didn't recognize him but he imediately offered a ride as we were coming out of the train... :-)
It's nice to have this feeling of coming home... specially being sick still :-/


Miri was still in Fundao coz she was going to the dentist :-/ I end up knowing she was not well for the last week because of her tooth... what is this all about ?!!! Bummer !!!
she's taking anti-biotics now and she's gona have her tooth removed... she hates that !!! pray for her if you remember !!!

The land is so different from 2 weeks ago... the plants grew a lot ...
even inside my hut in the woods :-) so funny !!!

it was nice to enjoy the view and the fire from my "balcony"

Miri also built a new shower place next to the bath place so we can move the tools back to the room in the wooden house :-)

And we have great news... check this out !!!

Now we have sheep and dogs (Leon and Lassie) in our land... and we'll have a horse as well sometimes ...
they're all from our friend Bruno, a young sheppard who saw how big our weed was and asked if he could move his sheep in to eat it... Of course we wouldn't say no...first it's handy for us coz we won't need to cut the grass, than it give us nice compost, and above all, we loved the idea of having sheep in the land :-) Me and Miri are all excited about it !!! It couldn't be better !!!! Sooo cool !!! look at them :-) sooo sweet !!!

O.K, I'm gone...
More on the land situation next post... things are going well :-)
I'm so thankful to God and all those who are joyfully participating in all this... This is the Kingdom at work :-) ... This is God's family being one ... Thank you all !!!

Ireland & Emma...

Well, I just wanted to leave a quick note about my time in Ireland coz I didn't have the time to post while there... It was short, but intense, as I would expect from being with Emma... she totally runs on a different speed than mine :-) ...
Emma is a great and special friend ...and I'm so thankful to know her...we get more and more close as we get to meet more often... this is the 8th nation we meet since our paths crossed 2 years ago in UK... All together we didn't have much time together, but it's always deep and intense... Also between our meetings we often call each other and pray for each other on the phone (yes, weird, but possible)... so, even in different countries, we kinda journey together and support one another...things that new technologies provide for us this days :-)... Maybe Paul and Barnabas couldn't say the same :-) ...
well, it's like we know each other for many many years...does this ever happen to you ? so you know what I mean :-) ... God is an expert on this kind of connections too :-)
So Emma invited me to visit her for a week in Ireland... she picked me up in Dublin centre after she finished school... she has been having intense subjects in her studies and it's so delighting and also challenging to hear her speak about those issues... she's doing a masters in Philosophy... Peace and Reconciliation studies, and it is so her heart... she's so passionate about that...well, she's easilly passionate about people...
So we updated our chats on a nice reggae cafe in Dublin and in the end of the day we went for a beer on a typical Irish Pub... I don't appreciate beer that much, but I enjoyed it... we met there with this amazing guy, John, one of those people Emma meets everyday :-) ... so , she met him on a bus stop and they realize they were both on the journey with Jesus... he was a drug addict and now he's helping kids on the streets of Dublin not to mess with that stuff like he did... we had such cool conversations at that pub and in the end we just hold our hands together and prayed for each other... so nice !!! We had found a new brother on the journey... it's like God is networking all these connections all over the world :-)

we went to sleep on a really cool place as well... Emma's friends... A family who has been in Tanzania for 20 years and now they live in the suburbs of Dublin... I immediately connected as I saw the African leather map on their wall :-) ... I can't help it... I loved meeting them,Tiffy and Brian Allan, and their older son...forgot his name :-/ I'm so bad with that !!!

Next day we went to Tara, a very historical place where all the kings use to go, and now is being threatened by a Motorway that is gonna cross it ...we were going to join a protest against it ...

Until we met Eugene who gave us a different view of the issue... well, we went to Tara to know more about the place and Eugene came up and started to speak with us (that's so normal for Irish people, I loved it...such a friendly people ) ... he was explaining us about the place and how he loves to go there... then we asked about the Motorway and he said he wants it coz it will make traffic so much easier... "it's always nice to hear the local's oppinion" - said Emma :-) ...
he went on his way, but soon after, as we sat to have our lunch break, he came again and kept chatting...we end up counseling him to take flours to his fiancé, coz he said he was annoyed with her that day... :-) well, too long stories to share here...
but he end up taking us on a historical tour, to Slane Castle and where christianity first started in Ireland through St.Patrick, and also the spot where the battle of Boyne took place... I hope I'm right on this, coz I'm pretty bad in history, but that was the place where all the divisions between catholics and protestants started...


O.k, he finally left us on the road and we hitch-hiked to Belfast, well, to a city nearby and then had to get the bus coz it was dark already...
We had 2 nights in Belfast before going to Emma's parents farm... the first night after the bus trip we just slept... the second night, after a "kinda" reggae party and few glasses of wine, we didn't really sleep before the sun rose :-) A fun night and again, nice chats with different people...


Finally we got some rest...Fiiiiiiiu !!! I am not used anymore to this rhythms :-)
It was really nice to meet Emma's Mom and Dad, and her younger brother, John... I have heard so much about them before...Emma really loves her family, and it was so nice to see that...
It was also nice the next day to weed the little green house, cut some grass and prune some bushes :-) ... I miss to work in the land...
what I didn't think of was that it was not a good idea to cut the grass bare-footed ... it was sunny actually, the whole week... but it was not as warm as in Portugal...
I got a bad cold with my "smart" idea... Bummer !!!
So, my last days were not so pleasant... :-/

we went to Belfast again and I still had time to have a drink with Brian and Pauline Houston whom I met in Portugal through Byron and Lisa...
I also got to meet more of Emma's family, but I could only seat on the couch and look like I was going to fall apart :-/
well, not very exciting !!!
We took an early bus in the morning to the airport... I flew to Porto... Emma went on a ferry to U.K...she was going to Synergy in London... A cool project where SPEAK usually have a room and participate in different ways... Emma went to be an "angel", handing out hearts and messages to people, and I'm sure she had good chats as well :-)...
well, this is just a bit of few stories on the journey ...
I feel I wrote too much already :-)
Cheers !!!