mOrE viSiTs, mUcH fUn & mUcH wOrK...

I haven't been so present with the updates of life in the land...it has been quite busy with guests and work and I haven´t got  so much time to be online...

The work keeps going well on the land, and the bath place is not finished yet... it's becoming a 5 star bath place now...
Many have been helping on this project too...
here's Hannes and Sven...







Hannes (from Berlin) testing the bath and showing the view from the still unseen window...

Marcia, Andrea and Miri are busy with the mosaic work...

very nice !
The design is Luka's... unfortunately he had a serious infection in one of his teeth, so he was not in the mood to do anything... I don't blame him!

I was in Lisbon for the weekend to meet some different friends... especially Maureen who has a chronic disease and had a relapse while Denny , her husband, was away ... she could not come to the land with her kids, Alana and Isaac as she wanted  and she didn't have much support for the domestic tasks without Denny... she was feeling a bit bad because she couldn't do much...most of the time she had to stay in bed, or lay down on the couch... It was nice to be with her and help a bit..

I met Sara as well, my old house mate in Lisbon, and she went one night to have dinner at the Hurst's... Isaac was on duty!

He's a great kid... actually he's amazing !!! I would say, unique !!! Apart from his talent to speak and tell stories in a really fun and dramatic way (which often makes me laugh a lot), he proved to be an excellent house keeper... he cooked for us once, he set up the table, he showed us where things are and how his mom usually does things, he went shopping with me, and he knew exactly what to get...well, impressive for a little boy !

He came with me and Sara to the land and spent some days...Marcia was going to Lisbon on Wednesday, so he went back with her... We all miss him here already... he definitely leaves a mark on everyone... he 's one of those people that if you meet him once you'll never forget him...

The work at the garden keeps going and it's becoming so beautiful !!! Actually, the hardest part about making a garden is to prepare the soil... taking out weeds (there is couch grass everywhere), stones and making it loose ... planting the seeds is actually the easy part... harvesting is fun and rewarding... Trish, Hanna (a german woman who came for 10 days to rest), Marcia, Isaac and Julian who was with us last year and he came now for a few days to help.. he's just a servant, he can't help it...

Julia and little Hanna have been some of the tough ones who have been helping to prepare our vegetable garden... we've been doing this for more than 2 or 3 weeks now...we are not just working, of course, and with this many people we spend a lot of the time in the day cooking, washing dishes and keeping our only common space a bit tidy...

We also had some more visits after Sara and Isaac left...

Julia and little Hanna, her daughter, came from Stuttgart for few weeks...

Lucy and Eileen came from London also for a few weeks...
Lyna and David are finally back to stay ...

their baby is about to come as well, and it will be so nice to have a child around...
They brought Taini, their friend who will stay for a few days... and Agneszca from Poland
She is a friend from my Polish friend Agata, who was also here for the weekend... she's also part of the Provizorka community in Poland together with others I also got to know on my journey in 2005...

we're getting a bit crowded... but it's good !!!
Finally there is a feeling of having a more permanent group who will stay for longer than just a few weeks, days or months... I hope so,otherwise,as much as it is nice to have all these visits,  it´s also too exhausting, especially when we don't have so many conditions to host big groups.

nEw bAtH pLaCe...

I know some of you might be concerned that you won´t be able to have those nice baths under the stars, but don't worry as it will remain  without a roof for now ...

We're making better walls with wood and the floor in cement... it's not my favourite material, but it's good for the purpose and to require less maintenance...

I think many times that we do need a good bath place for everyone... and it's becoming very nice...

Miri is helping, Lukas too and also Sven and Andrea who just came to visit from Switzerland...


Now we'll have a 5 star bath place.. we are keeping the same system with fire underneath to warm the water, and we can open or close the roof whether we want to see the stars or not, as it is not possible to take a bath on rainy days...

We also had a nice "talent show evening"...

it was very funny to listen to Sven playing the "blues" with the guitar...

Lukas, more punk style, used a kitchen funnel as a megaphone... we had lots of fun !!!

rEjOiCe WiTh mE fOr I hAvE FoUnD mY lOsT eArRiNg... :-)

Maybe this will sound totally silly to you... but you can't imagine how glad I was to find this earring I lost some weeks ago (the top one)... You might think it's just an earring... and yes, it's true... but you don't know the meaning it has for me (as everything else I wear), and all the story behind it... so let me share with you if you're interested...

This goes all the way back to India, 11 years ago ( wow, it's been a long time already)... I went there alone, with a sleeping bag and an empty book which was my only company and a way to express all the thoughts and impressions I was experiencing... At that time I was starting to know God as a Higher presence that was guiding me and protecting me... I didn't know God personally yet, but that presence was so real and intimate,that I just kept following the signs I was given along the way... I would speak with it, I would follow signs like eagles in the sky (who would show me where to camp), feathers which would lead me the way, etc... 

At a certain time I lost an earring my cousin had given me...it was a sun... so I thought, "well, if I have to replace it, another one will come my way" (I never buy stuff I wear, usually they are gifts that "come my way")... I don't know if on the same day or a few days after that thought, I was going to a new place and I was waiting for a sign or direction to show me the place I would camp... it was a beach with nice cliffs and jungles... Om beach... I went for a walk, and the eagles came...my favourite sign...there were 2 in the beginning, then 3 more came along... it was a family, 2 big ones that I presumed would be the parents, and 3 youngsters... I was amazed with their flight, I ducked down and simply contemplated the beauty of it... suddenly, something deeper touched my heart... I was bursting into tears, and I was feeling some sort of healing happening deep in my soul... I have no idea how long that lasted... it could have been minutes, but it felt like hours... I knew I had to make that cliff my new home for that time... the eagles went away, I was filled with gratitude to this Higher Presence that became closer than ever before... When I stood up, I turned, and laying on the rocks, right in front of me, this earring was shining to me as saying "it's for you" ... I thanked again to The Spirit that led me there... I was in awe...

One year later, in Angola, where a civil war was as old as I was then, I was introduced to this person, Jesus, who claimed to be God, The Great Spirit incarnated... I was in a community where many people were following Jesus and saying with full confidence that they knew Him personally because He was still alive today... Hmmm...I had my struggles with that "christian stuff" and any kind of religion, but these people were really honest and I could see it was not only coming out of their mouths, but it was real in their lives...

I was given this book to read, a Bible, which told the story about a God and Jesus, and many other things I didn't really relate with... Ecclesiastes was the book that most attracted me because it was more philosophical and I related a lot with many of my thoughts about the world around... I was alone in my room, with this book in my hands, filled with questions and doubts in my mind... And I asked the question that probably many people ask one day "O.k God, if you are the one that this book is speaking about, show me"... 

I felt a voice deep inside of me saying: "remember this?! ", and in my mind I was led to remember this specific story with the eagles and the earring I just described you... "yes, I remember" I said, and the same voice replied : "It was me" ... and "remember this?!", another crazy story with a dog who was protecting me...yes, a dog...and in the end the same words : "It was me" ... and one more time I was reminded of another powerful story when I was inside of a tree trunk, and the same voice was reassuring me in the end, "it was me!"...

 I was amazed, thrilled, in awe, in ecstasy... 

it finally made sense... I finally connected that guiding Presence that I was following with the same God of that complex book that Jesus called Father ...

This earring was a present from God... It became a symbol of my commitment to follow God all the days of my life... 

Now you can understand better why I was so sad when I lost it...and why I am so happy now that I found it again...

I was not eagerly trying to find it... I let go and gave it back to God and said : "If you want me to have it again, bring it my way"...
and so it happened... I was building a new bath place together with Andrea, another visit from Switzerland... 

the old place had been partly destroyed and we were closing the sides to pour cement in... 

Andrea needed some help and I went there... what a surprise when I found my earring, in the middle of the dirt... it would be like finding a needle in a straw pile...a miracle...a sign...
I'm really happy !

When I was alone I went to put it and thought it was going to be hard...rings are often harder, with no mirror and no one to help... but it was like God was helping me... it just went in straight away...

It felt like a renewal of my commitment with God now in this land... Last year was full of trials and struggles, but now I'm at peace again...

I rejoice today that I 'm found by God to be special... I might be special to many people like my parents, family, friends, but only God knows how precious and significant I really am... How precious and significant each human being is, each animal, each tree, each plant... 

God knows every single one of us as no one else does... God created us... God watched us being formed in our mother's womb...God watched us grow... God watched us getting lost and confused...God watched us making a lot of mistakes in our lives... 

God is always part of our journey, whether we recognize it or not, God is always around, sending us signs, giving us directions, protecting us, guiding us, loving us... until the day our eyes are opened... maybe many different days when our eyes open a bit more at a time... 

bUyiNg tHe LaNd bAcK 2 GoD...

As most of you know, we had to buy the land last year around this time ...with 5 weeks to raise 30.000 Euros, God was faithful, and there were people participating in what is now God's land, as it was supposed to be from the beginning... we learned that nothing depends on us and God is sovereign when we choose to listen and follow God in our choices... we can participate in what God wishes to do or not, and that´s such a privilege... obviously when people choose to live their own way, they may risk hurting themselves or others, because our knowledge of what is best is so limited...

When we now say that this land belongs to God, we really mean it... "The Earth and everything in it belongs to God", so how come humans decided to privatize lands and create boundaries to build nations?

Being "God's land" , it became many people's land... from all those who have been passing by (I never counted, but more than a hundred for sure), from all those who have been praying, from all those who have been generously putting money into it, donating books, buying trees, bringing buses, giving tents,etc... also from the local people who have been supporting us in so many ways... We are all simply carers and guardians of what belongs to God, and each of us plays our role in it...

We're really thankful for Mike and Ed who generously lent us 8000BP (+/-10.000 Euros) to be able to pay back to Yves and Regina the total amount of 30.000 Euros by April last year...

We're almost in April again and we need to be faithful to our word and pay them back the money...
We must have around 1000 Euros that some people have been giving throughout the year, so we still need to raise 9.000e more until April to cover up the total amount...

We thought we could sell our olive oil to help, but this was not a good year for the trees, so we cannot count on it...we only got 30 liters this year, which is not even enough for our regular use...
As I was delighting myself a few days ago with the beauty and the amazing smell of the little Almond tree we planted, I was reminded by God of His promise last year as you could read in this post ...

“The word of the LORD came to me: "What do you see, Jeremiah?"
"I see the branch of an almond tree," I replied.
The LORD said to me, "You have seen correctly, for I am watching to see that my word is fulfilled." (Jer1:11,12)


As it happened last year, we'd like to offer you again the opportunity to participate in all that God is doing among us and donate some money for this land... 

it doesn't need to be much as we've been also learning that "little is much" in the Kingdom of God... consider it as a seed that God will multiply... consider it like planting a tree, proclaiming hope in this land for God's purposes to be accomplished...


we have the official papers as well (after almost a year of paperwork) and the land is now in the name of an Association we formed 4 years ago in Lisbon called "White Stone", that anyone is welcome to be part of...
So here are White Stone's bank details...
--
White Stone – Associação Recreativa e Cultural
Banco Millennium BCP (Portugal)
NIB- 0033-0000-45315758012-05

International transfers:
IBAN- PT50-0033-0000-45315758012-05

SWIFT- BCOMPTPL

Address: Rua da Santa Rita, 78;Almoinhas Velhas;2755-199 Alcabideche - Portugal


Share with your friends as well... you can also make different initiatives, like the "Jesus Freaks Community" in Cologne who are setting up a big party with concerts and making t-shirts to sell to raise money for the land :-) Thank you guys... this community as been a blessing to the land in many ways !!! They are beautiful people !!!

This is already a miracle land... and I'm not only speaking about raising money, but mostly about people's lives being transformed, people finding the peace and rest they were longing for, people being literally delivered from death, people being affirmed in their identity and a barren land being transformed into a beautiful and peaceful garden :-)

Thanks to you all ...
And thanks to God
who make impossible things come true !!!
Above all , pray :-) that's the most powerful gift...

PEACE

pLaNtInG tReEs...

These last 2 weeks were busy planting the trees we bought...more than 200 new trees for the Mount of Oaks...here in this picture is Lukas, Jared and Nuno planting Silver Birch... they were all excited about it !!! we all were...


I was not expecting we'd get such tall trees already, so when we plant them they were immediately visible...
Maybe in 20 or 30 years this will be an amazingly beautiful place... it is already, but it was left so barren... I´m not sure how many of these will survive but when they will reach their full size it's going to be amazing !
This is not about us anyway ( I speak for myself), I have no idea where I am going to be in 20 years from now, but I'm glad to picture how this place could become one day...

This is about planting hope... This is about believing that it is worth caring for what we have today... even if the world ends tomorrow...It is about realising that we're just stewards of what belongs to God... land should have no owners, but carers or guardians... As God intended us to be...

Anyway, I love to take care of this little piece of land, and help it become a pleasant , restful and peaceful place for all those who are already here and for all those who will still come...

here's Gloria burning grass where we would plant the new trees...me and Marcia were helping her...
in the picture before, Marie (before she ate the plant), Gloria and Marcia, were planting Silver Birch in front of the prayer forest...

here Lukas is preparing a compacted field for Cherry trees... he was having a hard time with the rotavator, it´s not easy to make it work...but look at his hair style ...

Joel came yesterday with a better rotavator to plough the land... it's from his grandfather and we can use it until next week... so cool !!! They were both all excited , they didn't even want to have a siesta...

Joel has been a great help here as well... it's really nice to have him around... he's thinking about staying longer... 
Soon we can start with the vegetable garden... A lot of work this season... It's nice to have a lot of people as well...
Step by step.. everything in its timing...


...here's Pula...

here with Lukas ...

Marie Luise is out of the hospital...

To finish this chapter, and for those who have been following this story, Marie Louise is back on the land...
she still needs to rest but the level of enzymes has decreased considerably... I believe it is one more miracle... she also needs to drink lots of water and on tuesday we go back to the hospital to check if everything is back to normal...
Praise God once again!
I just wanted to add here the pictures of the plant she ate, Water Hemlock or Cicuta,
just in case it comes your way somewhere... It´s really tricky because all parts of the plant look like they could be another edible plant...
ANYWAY... DO NEVER TRY ANYTHING WILD UNLESS YOU ARE TOTALLY SURE IT'S EDIBLE !!!

This one is easily mistaken with a wild white carrot, it's leaves look like parsley (even though Cicuta gets a bit red near the ground and it does NOT have tiny hairs like carrots ) , and the flower grows to 2 meters high... every part of it is EXTREMELY poisonous and deadly...Often poisonous plants have similarities with other normal plants ... BE AWARE PLEASE !!!

a rEaLLy hApPy BiRtH dAy tO mAriE LuiSe...

We all went to the hospital for the 22nd birthday of Marie Louise ...her bed number was also 22...
After all she went through we have even more reasons to celebrate her life ... She's now in a room just waiting to get better and get out... her blood enzyme level is still too high, around 30.000 , when the normal should be 200 (when she came in she had 57000)... so she needs lots of rest...

Thank you to all those who are praying all over the world... Please continue to pray that she is not left with any major problems in any internal organs.

 
This day was special and we went to celebrate with her and bring some joy to the hospital...

the doctors gave us the waiting room to be with her... we took some cake, juice and lots of balloons ... yes, this was in the hospital!

We got her presents... lots of chocolate (which she loves), a new pair of shoes that she really needed... and even some comedy moments provided by Ton - he made this with a hemlock root...

dark humour I know, but very funny!!!...she laughed as well... yes, now we are all able to laugh about the silliness of the whole situation... hard way to learn a lesson...



Lukas and Ton being silly ...

Trish, Gloria and Lukas... Trish is a friend of Ton who just came saturday from New Zealand... Marie was looking at her very seriously and asked "do I know you?", and we said "what?! You don't remember Trish?" ... of course we were teasing and we all burst into laughter again, because she really didn't know her... 

Some more dark humour from our part because after she took the root she wouldn't remember any of us except Gloria, her cousin... yes, now we can all laugh about it, but it was not funny at all to go through this experience ...

we laughed a lot playing with balloons too... I laughed so much that my stomach was aching. it's so good to laugh...

and of course, Marie, Gloria and Lukas had to play a game of their favorite card game...

they were always playing in the land !

She also said she learned a new word in portuguese that people are always saying: "Pronto" (which means "ok")

Marie and Gloria, her cousin and best friend !!! So sweet !!!

we asked Marie if she experienced God in a special way and she said something really nice ... she said she asked God why S/He didn't let her go yet... she heard that God still has things to do through her here in this life... 

" I'm so excited" she said, "God must have really nice things for me" ... so cool to hear these words... I believe the same !!! and we're all glad she's still with us... her family is also grateful that she is with other Christians and that we're taking care of her... but really, God is the one who is taking care of her, wherever she will go, no matter with whom she will be, we're sure she will always be taken care of...

We surely had much fun...and Marie was very happy that we went there...
In the end the others left and it was just me , Gloria and Marcia... We prayed for her and Marcia also had this passage from the Bible God shared with her while praying for Marie Louise Psalm 116... it's like it could have been written by herself in this situation 

"I love the LORD, for God heard my voice;
S/he heard my cry for mercy.
Because he turned his ear to me,
I will call on God as long as I live.

The cords of death entangled me,
the anguish of the grave came over me;
I was overcome by distress and sorrow.

Then I called on the name of the LORD:
"LORD, save me!"

The LORD is gracious and righteous;
our God is full of compassion.

The LORD protects the unwary;
when I was brought low, he saved me.

Return to your rest, my soul,
for the LORD has been good to you.

For you, LORD, have delivered me from death,
my eyes from tears,
my feet from stumbling,

that I may walk before the LORD
in the land of the living.

I trusted in the LORD when I said,
"I am greatly afflicted";

in my alarm I said,
"Everyone is a liar."

What shall I return to the LORD
for all his goodness to me?

I will lift up the cup of salvation
and call on the name of the LORD.

I will fulfill my vows to the LORD
in the presence of all his people.

Precious in the sight of the LORD
is the death of those faithful to him.

Truly I am your servant, LORD;
I am your servant, as was my mother before me;
you have lost my bonds of affliction.

I will sacrifice a thank offering to you
and call on the name of the LORD.

I will fulfill my vows to the LORD
in the presence of all his people..."