I have lots to share since I last wrote...and I didn't have much time lately, so, I'm sorry if this will get too long...I'm using my day of rest to do what I wanted to do for so long...
there's a lot of work now on the land...every thursday and monday we water all the trees, more than 200, that we planted...they are so beautiful, and that's so encouraging !!!
We're also finishing our bathroom which is taking more than a month now, but it has been made with so much love by so many people, that I´m just letting it go...
we're also busy with our veggie garden, which is finally taking shape... sooo beautiful and peaceful to contemplate !!!
LUKAS AND JOEL LEFT US FOR A FEW WEEKS
LUKAS AND JOEL LEFT US FOR A FEW WEEKS
Lukas and Joel left us after their birth-days...24th and 25th of March... we had a nice barbecue party...Joel brought a generator to have some music on, but it didn't work quite well...anyway, we had fun !!!
The next day we were saying good-bye, as they were leaving for Germany for a punk-rock concert and also for Lukas to see his family and friends... they will hitch-hike back soon... we all miss them here...
The next day we gave Lukas his presents... including a recipe book we all participated in... he was delighted with that ...
The next day we were saying good-bye, as they were leaving for Germany for a punk-rock concert and also for Lukas to see his family and friends... they will hitch-hike back soon... we all miss them here...
The next day we gave Lukas his presents... including a recipe book we all participated in... he was delighted with that ... we had our first "community meeting"... it was mostly a time to hear each other's expectations and motivations to be here at this time... it is now the first time after one and a half years that a small group of people consider staying for longer periods...
me and Ton feel committed to stay for 10 years, Lyna and David who will soon have their baby here, will stay at least one year and Marcia until the summer...
Miri feels this is her home, but she wants to travel around as that is part of her nature (or the stage she is in at the moment)... Maren will go to Germany now to take care of some stuff and she doesn't know yet if this is her place for the moment... Joel will decide when he comes back from Germany and Lukas also said he feels like this community became his family and he will consider coming back after going to Germany for the summer...
It was a cool time and it was good to make things more clear...
One thing I know...this will remain God's for a community...as long as we follow God's purposes, God will be with us... that's what makes this place special to me and to many...
It was a cool time and it was good to make things more clear...
One thing I know...this will remain God's for a community...as long as we follow God's purposes, God will be with us... that's what makes this place special to me and to many...
I believe God will bring the right people at the right time...people who will stay for a longer time...people who will come and go...but God will remain the same...and hopefully the vision for this place will remain forever (whatever "forever" means) ...
MOST PART OF THE LOAN IS ALREADY PAID...THANK GOD AND MANY WHO PARTICIPATED ONCE AGAIN
As most of you know, God is in the centre of the story of this land right from the beginning. I reminded us all about that in the meeting we had, as it is important for me, and it is the foundation of this place...
God spoke to a couple first, who sold their business to buy this land for God... they eventually stepped back and we faced the challenge to buy the land back to God...or better saying, keep it as it was before... so we raised 30.000e in 5 weeks, to pay back to this couple, 10.000 of which were loaned by 2 friends for a year without interest...
Thanks to many of you who contributed to the "magic hat" these last weeks, we were able to gather 6.500e which I already sent last friday, 28th March, to these friends...we have around 2000e more, so we only need 1.500e to complete the full amount of the loan...
Once again, Praise God for being generous and using generous people... thank you all !
GOD ANSWERS SILLY PRAYERS TOO
God
answers "silly" prayers too (sometimes I feel my prayers are silly, but I do it anyway)...so, this week I had a couple of those... first for one of our cats, Sambo...she and Duma got sterilized on friday the 28th, and I had to give them shots...I hate that part...so Sambo didn't really like it either, so one morning she just ran away and was gone for 2 days... on the 3rd day in the morning I went to my prayer time and was calling her on the way... I couldn't hold it any longer...I could only cry and asked God to bring her back safe and to not allow any infection in her body... I felt I couldn't just stay there and cry, so I took a bit of cheese from my breakfast and went around calling her... nothing...no "meeaw" anywhere ... I went back to the prayer tent and worshipped God with the others who came (we now have prayer times together from 9-10 am )... As I went back to the kitchen, little Hanna came to me with excitement saying "Sambo is back"... wow, you can imagine my joy and gratitude... God started to speak to me, "Can you cry like that for those who are lost in this world without a family, without a home? can you go after them the same way? I'm so looking forward to bringing them back home"... Wow, I need to chew on this to even know what that means... It is still moving my heart... I want to be crying for those who are lost in life... I want to feel God's heart for them... May this land be a home and a family to many...
The other "silly" prayer was a bit more silly...ok, our water pump broke down...and we need it especially now to water the garden...it takes us at least 2 hours now to water everything every evening...
MOST PART OF THE LOAN IS ALREADY PAID...THANK GOD AND MANY WHO PARTICIPATED ONCE AGAIN
As most of you know, God is in the centre of the story of this land right from the beginning. I reminded us all about that in the meeting we had, as it is important for me, and it is the foundation of this place...
God spoke to a couple first, who sold their business to buy this land for God... they eventually stepped back and we faced the challenge to buy the land back to God...or better saying, keep it as it was before... so we raised 30.000e in 5 weeks, to pay back to this couple, 10.000 of which were loaned by 2 friends for a year without interest...
Thanks to many of you who contributed to the "magic hat" these last weeks, we were able to gather 6.500e which I already sent last friday, 28th March, to these friends...we have around 2000e more, so we only need 1.500e to complete the full amount of the loan...
Once again, Praise God for being generous and using generous people... thank you all !
GOD ANSWERS SILLY PRAYERS TOO
God
answers "silly" prayers too (sometimes I feel my prayers are silly, but I do it anyway)...so, this week I had a couple of those... first for one of our cats, Sambo...she and Duma got sterilized on friday the 28th, and I had to give them shots...I hate that part...so Sambo didn't really like it either, so one morning she just ran away and was gone for 2 days... on the 3rd day in the morning I went to my prayer time and was calling her on the way... I couldn't hold it any longer...I could only cry and asked God to bring her back safe and to not allow any infection in her body... I felt I couldn't just stay there and cry, so I took a bit of cheese from my breakfast and went around calling her... nothing...no "meeaw" anywhere ... I went back to the prayer tent and worshipped God with the others who came (we now have prayer times together from 9-10 am )... As I went back to the kitchen, little Hanna came to me with excitement saying "Sambo is back"... wow, you can imagine my joy and gratitude... God started to speak to me, "Can you cry like that for those who are lost in this world without a family, without a home? can you go after them the same way? I'm so looking forward to bringing them back home"... Wow, I need to chew on this to even know what that means... It is still moving my heart... I want to be crying for those who are lost in life... I want to feel God's heart for them... May this land be a home and a family to many...
The other "silly" prayer was a bit more silly...ok, our water pump broke down...and we need it especially now to water the garden...it takes us at least 2 hours now to water everything every evening...I had spent the whole day fixing the pipes and when I was ready to run the pump I noticed that the fuel was all gone and dripping somewhere... I was pulling the rope over and over, but nothing... Fuck!n ow what?!!
we couldn't wait, so we just went back to our old way of watering the garden...I picked as many buckets as I could find, Ton, Marcia and little Hanna came to help and we pulled bucket after bucket from the pond to water all the plants...
we need around 200 litters to water all the plants... but we made it ... Hanna was our command, she wouldn't stop saying "schneller, schneller" ( it's "faster, faster" in german)... and that made it really fast, and really fun !!!
The next morning in our prayer time I dared to ask God to fix our pump as it was really tiring last day... my faith was not so bold, so I asked at least to get someone who could fix it... after siesta, I was going to the village to find someone who could come and see the pump, but I decided to go check it first... the fuel was not dripping anymore, so I thought about the prayer, and even though I felt silly I decided to give it a try... I didn't even have to try several times as usual, it started immediately ... I couldn't help but laugh, and thank God...
we need around 200 litters to water all the plants... but we made it ... Hanna was our command, she wouldn't stop saying "schneller, schneller" ( it's "faster, faster" in german)... and that made it really fast, and really fun !!!
The next morning in our prayer time I dared to ask God to fix our pump as it was really tiring last day... my faith was not so bold, so I asked at least to get someone who could fix it... after siesta, I was going to the village to find someone who could come and see the pump, but I decided to go check it first... the fuel was not dripping anymore, so I thought about the prayer, and even though I felt silly I decided to give it a try... I didn't even have to try several times as usual, it started immediately ... I couldn't help but laugh, and thank God...
This prayer stuff works, I tell you...
SOME MORE VISITS
we had Juran back for a couple of days, together with Pedro, my cousin from Porto...he's like my brother, we grew up together as our parents were best friends...It was so nice to have him here, even if it was just for a couple of days...
SOME MORE VISITS
we had Juran back for a couple of days, together with Pedro, my cousin from Porto...he's like my brother, we grew up together as our parents were best friends...It was so nice to have him here, even if it was just for a couple of days...Edna, Paulo, Pamy, Joshua and Nelson also came form Porto to spend a night and a day...it was so pleasant to have them all here...
here's Pamy planting some Cherry trees with me...
Christian also came from Lisbon... what a boy (sorry Chris to call you boy, I hope you don't mind)... it was such a blessing for all of us to have him around...he just carries the presence of God in such a sweet and tender way... he delighted us with his amazing troubadour's romantic heart and songs... Thank you Chris... you are such a beautiful person... he also helped Juran prepare a good "sweat lodge" ...
it was so nice, even though not quite hot and sweaty yet... we need more blankets... And the lodge could have been a bit lower... next one we will improve...
The following was much better, covering all the holes around and making the stones very hot ...wow, so good!!! it's becoming a nice fellowship time as well, for those who go in the sweat lodge, and for the others who stay outside praying and playing guitar until late in the night...
some of the privileges of living in the wild ...
LIFE IN THE LAND
with all the busyness, some storms, some spectacular and some normal things of daily life in the land, life goes on... Lyna and David are almost finishing putting up their Yurt...
shantii, shantii... I guess the next storm will test it ...it's looking good though...
The work in the garden continues... Marcia and Maren are helping
and Julia often joins me to help...
Miri is almost finished with the last details of our bathroom, finally...Ton is always busy with the trees and the upper forest. It's becoming so beautiful as well...
It's been very good to have the prayer time in the mornings, and once a week (we still didn't figure out which day would be better) we have the "Dance Floor", where we'll feel free to dance with the Spirit, being led as The Spirit wants...we never know how it will look like...
CRAZY WEATHER
We've been having some crazy weather as well, with really strong winds, rain and haze
Now a very hot sunny week...
it makes me wonder about God's creation, and how fragile we are before it...
here's Pamy planting some Cherry trees with me...
Christian also came from Lisbon... what a boy (sorry Chris to call you boy, I hope you don't mind)... it was such a blessing for all of us to have him around...he just carries the presence of God in such a sweet and tender way... he delighted us with his amazing troubadour's romantic heart and songs... Thank you Chris... you are such a beautiful person... he also helped Juran prepare a good "sweat lodge" ...
it was so nice, even though not quite hot and sweaty yet... we need more blankets... And the lodge could have been a bit lower... next one we will improve...
The following was much better, covering all the holes around and making the stones very hot ...wow, so good!!! it's becoming a nice fellowship time as well, for those who go in the sweat lodge, and for the others who stay outside praying and playing guitar until late in the night...
some of the privileges of living in the wild ...
LIFE IN THE LAND
with all the busyness, some storms, some spectacular and some normal things of daily life in the land, life goes on... Lyna and David are almost finishing putting up their Yurt...
shantii, shantii... I guess the next storm will test it ...it's looking good though...
The work in the garden continues... Marcia and Maren are helping
and Julia often joins me to help...
Miri is almost finished with the last details of our bathroom, finally...Ton is always busy with the trees and the upper forest. It's becoming so beautiful as well...
It's been very good to have the prayer time in the mornings, and once a week (we still didn't figure out which day would be better) we have the "Dance Floor", where we'll feel free to dance with the Spirit, being led as The Spirit wants...we never know how it will look like...
CRAZY WEATHER
We've been having some crazy weather as well, with really strong winds, rain and haze
Now a very hot sunny week...
it makes me wonder about God's creation, and how fragile we are before it...
It´s easier to realize that when we live among trees that bounce around like crazy dancers, like our fragile tents in the middle of the meadow... but we are all safe ...
Another storm is coming again soon by the way...I can hear the thunder already now...I better go take refuge in my hut...
bless you all
PEACE
Another storm is coming again soon by the way...I can hear the thunder already now...I better go take refuge in my hut...
bless you all
PEACE
2 comments:
Baba, I'm so excited to hear about all the new things at the land! I really miss the land, the people and the work! Mount of Oaks has a special place in my heart =)
I can't wait to come back!
And as silly as they make look to you, all of your prayers are important. You and your prayers are precious to God!
Love and miss you!
Whitney
hei baba,
thanks for sharing all those stories and impressions from the land - i really like reading about your life there on the mount of oaks. and thank you for the lovely pictures of you people, especially of hanna & julia.. i'm sure they gonna bring some very good experiences with them. i hope you can still go on without the massive help of little hanna :)
wish you all the best.
and someday i will come visit you as well, seeing and feeling this all by myself. blessings.
birger in germany
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