RuA dA pAz...

Ok, I was just importing some pictures from my camera and just thought about sharing with you guys a bit of my life here at Rua da Paz in Lisbon...
It has been a real blessing to be able to host so many people...some have stayed with a room for themselves, but most of them have been packed in my living room :-)
I feel really blessed to have this privilege to offer others a shelter, when I'm most of the times the one who needs one when I'm travelling arround :-)
So, here goes...I think it doesn't need subtitles :-)

here again...

It's past 3am already and I just came from a spontaneous prayer meeting with 3 other young friends... I just remembered this afternoon that the month of APRIL would start tonight at 12pm, so we thought it would be nice to open up this month in prayer...
For those who are updated, this is the month of the prayer campaign, when the Body of Christ in Portugal is being challenged to pray 24 hours each of the 30 days of April...we shared the vision of the 24-7 prayer rooms and created a web site all in portuguese so that could be used as tools for this Campaign...
We'll see what God does...right now, only a group of university students signed up for 10 hours of prayer for this day, the 1st, and we (MATRIX) signed up together with 2 different congregations from the 13th till the 30th of April...
I feel this year will be just planting a seed hoping that it will spread by itself... I found a bit hard to share the vision clearly, just like the 24-7 prayer rooms, people use to be suspicious till they experiment... then they want more and they challenge others...and so it goes by itself!!!
I will keep you updated on that !!!


I just have to say that since my last post I haven't got much time to write 'coz I 've been having other things to update or organize... And also, since I came that my house has been packed with guests :-) ... I love it, but that makes me spending more of my time enjoying fellowship, going out, cooking or trying new specialities from foreign countries, and so it goes :-)...

O.k., I will keep this one short... more like a real blog thing :-)

Love to you all
PEACE

Time in London...

One more trip for the month...I went to London for different reasons...To see some friends and to go to the SPEAK conference...I already said before that SPEAK in a network of young people who pray and campaign on issues of global justice and fair trade...check the web site www.speak.org.uk...
I was a bit with Michael and Paula, who I 've met in Germany some weeks ago...It was really nice of them to pick me up at the airport and letting me sleep over that night... I really like them !!! it was a pity we couldn't hang out more time, but they were working and I was at the conference...
We were together again the day before I left on a dinner party...it was fun...I cooked "Moamba", an Angolan food...Tim and Charletta, who are part of the "Christian Peacemakers Team" and live in a Menonitte Centre, a christian house community, hosted the dinner at the Centre... Michael and Paula went as well as I said, Emma and 2 other friends she invited, and Amaro and Jacqui, two friends of mine and the reason for an Angolan meal...Amaro is a good friend from Angola and I also met Jacqui there before they got married...She's Australian and they're both working in London now to raise some support to go back to Africa and get involved in children's ministries (their passion)...O.K., that was a little introduction to some of the friends I met there...
It was really nice and fun to be again with Emma, who I met last year in different parts of my trip...it's one of those friendships set up by God which I'm really thankful for...I was delighted hearing some of her stories in Israel...she was there about 4 months doing different things, like working as volunteer for a christian palestinian family, where they helped collecting olives and plant 700 more trees on the fields...(check www.tentofnations.org)...she was also in different refugee camps doing different things... but what most impacted me in all her stories was the love God has put in her heart for all those she met on the way, and the way she would speak so personally about them...palestinians, israelis, christians, muslims, jewish...the measure of Love was the same... just like God's love for all... it's so different from the news we've been hearing about Israel, the war and so... it's so easy to forget we're speaking about individual people when we're speaking about Nations and it's political situation or it's religion... I think it's when we forget that we're all God's children anyway, all descendants of Adam, that divisions and wars take place...
I also had the priviliege to meet Hanna and Hattie, Emma's friends, who opened their house for us and some others who came for the conference...We had really nice times praying for eachother, having meals together and getting to know eachother a bit...really precious girls !!!


The SPEAK Conference was great as well... a bit different for me...but really encouraging to see young christians engaged in all these global issues as "Fair Trade" , African dept and aid, Arm trade policies, etc...And they are not only speaking about it or discussing it...they are actually engaged in bringing change in Goverments, Multinational Companies and people's lives through campaigning and praying...really powerful combination...
On Monday, the day of action of the conference, around 150 young people walked down to the Parliament Square symbolically carrying the burdens of poor people from different countries of the world...
"As they lay down under their symbolic burdens in Parliament Square, 150 student campaigners from the SPEAK network sent a powerful visual message to the government. They were imitating the actions of the biblical prophet Ezekiel, who lay on his side symbolically bearing the sins of Israel for 390 days. Through their action, as a culmination of their campaigning of part of MAKEPOVERTYHISTORY, SPEAK members repented for the burdens people in poorer countries suffer because of unjust trade rules, unpayable debts and insufficient aid. They later heard messages from the three main political parties about these issues, and lobbied their MPs about concerns relating to the Company Law Reform Bill that is currently going through Parliament..." Read more on the Link (press on the title of this post)...

My tatoo...

Ouch...this time was more painful...Paulo said our skin has those things, some days it doesn't hurt as much as others...But well, I'm really enjoying the way it's looking like :-) ... I just had some more colour this time on the tree and the fire !!! Paulo said I need to put some more yellow next time...
Now it's easier to see the different seasons on the tree... Oh, and I think I never post a picture with the verse...so, underneath I put a verse from the Bible where is written " GREATER IS THE SPIRIT IN ME" ... I wrote it in portuguese, but with a font that makes it look like hebrew... from the verse comes the fire, representing the revelation of the Holy Spirit, which produced Life in me, the tree :-)
Later on , I want to put the same verse in Aramaic in my right leg, near my ankle...This has a meaning too...My tatoo is now on my left arm, the closest to the heart...and my right leg, my strongest...

LAsT tImE FiRe...tHiS TiMe iCe aNd rAiN !!!

Well, for those I told Portugal is hotter...check this out !!!


We went to another district of Portugal to help setting up another prayer room and share the vision of the National Prayer Campaign in April...It was an amazing time we had together with a group of young people from Braga (north Portugal)...they are from different churches and are already used to gather and pray together...Their heart are for unity among all different christians in that district and beyond...Joana was telling me how she's been growing so much just by opening her heart to accept different expressions of christianity and different opinions in some "non essencials"...It's a real encouragment to see young people thinking that way...They are giving a great example to many "grown ups"...That's the way !!!

I went on Friday with Joao, from the Matrix, and Edna, my sister, who offered to go and help... Juran also went with his van to meet us on saturday...

It was really nice to meet this group in Braga and also Sara and Daniel who open their house for us to sleep on friday...What a sweet couple...what an open heart...I was glad to know I will meet Sara soon in London...it was really funny, because I relly wantted to involve someone from GBU (University Bible Group) with "SPEAK" (the network of campaigners/intercessors) with whom I'm gonna be with in London next week...so, Sara is one of the leaders of GBU in Portugal and she was already going to London anyway, exactly the same days of the "Soundcheck" conference... and she thought she would go just to be with a friend and help her to bring some things back to Portugal...Ah, there are no coincidences !!!!
So, this group of young people got the vision and I believe they will spread it well...Claudio, a young guy who just came from Cape Verde (Africa) to study in Braga, got really impressed with the vision of the prayer rooms, and he was helping us during the setting up, so he knows what to do now...well, there's really not much to do...that's what I most enjoy in the prayer rooms...it's all about God !!!

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

ThE FirE iS hErE!!!

I was this Monday at a prayer meeting of young people in Porto (in the north). Some time ago they had 200 young people together praying for Portugal …I was really encouraged by what they´re doing…I shared with them about the 24-7 prayer rooms and about the Prayer Campaign in April…I challenged them to set an experiment room of 2 or 3 days before April and they seam to be interested…they are from different denominations and not only from Porto but also other districts around…and they are praying that God will join more denominations and more people from other districts…it´s so cool…they call themselves “Aliança” (Alliance)… they are having wisdom with the pastors as well, they are not in a rebel attitude, but they recognize the changes that need to take place …besides the Monday meetings, they also have every once in a while a meeting called “The fire is here” and that´s where they had 200 young people…they try to invite different people to preach and last time they had a pastor from a gipsy church with prophetic gift and it was powerful… of course some pastors didn´t like and even said some things were heretic… from all the 4 big gathering they had, there´s always some pastors saying they don´t agree with this or that, but then they just accept their opinion and thank them for telling them, but still, they allow God to be the judge in their hearts…I felt a lot of potential there…the only thing was that most of them were Brazilians and Peruvians, not so many Portuguese, but on the bigger gatherings there´s more Portuguese I think…
Wow, I´m happy and hopeful …
I believe the youth will break a lot of the things that divide the Body of Christ in Portugal…Pray for that !!!
Oh well, if this is God´s, who will stop it :-)

MORE ON THE PRAYER CAMPAIGN

O.K guys, I think we need to change strategy here…
I`ve been travelling with Paulo Pascoal to share the vision of the prayer rooms for April, but I feel we´ll get no where through pastors…I mean about the Prayer Campaign, ´coz Paulo is sharing about the vision of reaching every county still unreached in Portugal…But for the Prayer Campaign I feel we need to reach the youth…
We´ll have a prayer room set in a Mission Congress for youth between the 29th of December till the 1st of January…And we´re still struggling to convince them to project some power points we have to challenge all the youth there (around 300)…
So, what came yesterday to my heart, and I already started to challenge some people about it, is to connect with key young people in different districts and organize prayer rooms of 24 hours for 2 or 3 days…just for them to get the taste and desire for more :-)
We want to challenge the youth at the Mission Congress to participate in the organization of one of those, so they can get the vision and spread it to other districts…
So, I need your prayers for this…
First of all, for openness of hearts to receive the challenge…and key people in each district who will have connections with other young people from “different churches”
( I know it´s weird to say that knowing that we´re suppose to be One church, but you know what I mean, right? A major problem in Portugal is division among the Body...needs to change!!! )
Then, if I need to carry things to all these different districts to set up prayer rooms, I will need someone to lend me a car, and money for petrol… And if the churches have no financial conditions, I will also need some money to buy some things for the rooms, as paints, tape, candles, etc…
I would also need a lap top to present the power points we have and the web site for people to have a better idea how things will work on April…I might have one I could use, but I´m not sure yet if it will be available or if it will work because is an old one…
O.K, I think that´s it
Thanks
Shalom

Barbara

“LET THE FIRE BURN,
BURN IT IN MY HEART
TO SEE THE DREAMS OF GOD COME TRUE”

I started my tatoo...

well, it has been long time since I wanted to make this tatoo, and finally I got the right thing to do...My brother in law, Paulo, is a wonderful tatoo designer, so I could trust him...I just told him the idea and he draw it...just like that !!!
So,let me explain...the black bracelet is the same as my best friend had,Jorge, a wonderful person and amazing artist (he died in 1997)...he has made it many years ago, it was also designed by Paulo specificly for him...I didn´t know Paulo then...only when he started to date my sister some years ago...the world is small
:-)!!!
So, underneath the bracelet I will put a Bible verse where it´s writen "Greater is the spirit in me" (I john 4:4)...I will leave that for christmas time when I visit my sister again...
From those letters, the fire will come, representing the Holly Spirit
From the fire comes a Tree, which seed God created... the tree of my life,which bears fruit in it´s season (Psalm 1)...and you can see the 4 seasons in it :-)...
It still misses some colour, but it looks great already!!!
So, I´ll send you more pictures after december :-)

A Whole month of 24hour Prayer in Portugal

Me and Jasmin started to share the vision of the prayer month with the leaders of each district of Portugal…We are going with Paulo Pascoal, a portuguese visionary who God put in the Evangelical Alliance to mobilize the Body of Christ to be and act as one…The vision God put in his heart, inspired and supported by Dawn Ministries, is to reach till 2015 all unreached areas in Portugal (still 46 counties), making the Gospel accessible and relevant to all Portuguese till then…
There are 3 basic areas, Prayer, research and strategic vision, which he would like every district to have a leader for…So, he has been travelling already throughout the country, to every district, to pass on the vision and raise up those 3 leaders in each district…
Me and Jasmin come here with the National Prayer Campaign in April, which we are coordinating , mobilizing the Body to get involved through prayer rooms…
We´re making a web site, which is almost done, we also have a power point to present of “The Vision” (by Pete Graig, translated in Portuguese) and we made another one to challenge the Church for the prayer rooms in April…
We are presenting this in every district (when it´s possible, because we don´t have our own computer…pray for this please, we really need a computer to work), and we will present it also at a Youth Congress that is going to take place in December, with approximately 400 young people from all over the country…

The reason I´m writing this is because we need as much prayer as possible…
We all know how hard it is when we deal with PRAYER and UNITY…
This last 2 weekends we went to 3 of the districts, Setúbal, where 50 pastors were invited…only 3 churches were represented there…nobody even bother to say they couldn´t come…and those who did, simply said they wouldn´t come because so and so would come…there´s a lot of divisions among “denominations”…they are even taking issues to the Court…what a shame to God´s name…
this last weekend happen the same in other 2 districts...
So, please pray for this…Pray for open and humble hearts…I believe this is a Key time for Portugal and God is already aligning everything…all these visions, the one to reach all Portuguese counties, the Youth Congress and the Prayer Campaign in April, came into different people´s hearts, and God simply crossed us to work together…because these are visions of the Kingdom, these are visions for a Nation, and hopefully they will bless other Nations as well…

I suggested Paulo that he would not only invite pastors, but also youth…because they are noticing the youth is actually gathering to pray, without any problems of “denominations”… He agreed, so hopefully, the youth will come and bring unity…

Thanks for your time to read and pray.
God bless You with His presence

PEACE
Barbara