iN JeRUsAleM...

"But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth." Acts 1:8

Left: A Daughter and Mother singing an African hymn, the mother is harmonizing (this one is for you mom).

This past weekend I attended the first Action Bible Missions Conference. The church I have been attending here in Portugal is part of a group of churches called Action Bible and it was such a priviledge to participate in their first every missions conference.

The conference took place in the Algarve (south Portugal, a popular vacation place for Europeans) near the cities of Olhao and Faro. Action Bible has a small camp located there which housed people from outside of the area and provided the facilities for our meetings.

To say that this weekend was refreshing and encouraging to me would be an understatement. As I prepare to return to the states and look toward what part God has for me to play in His great plan I have felt drained and even discouraged. I began this weekend asking the Lord to renew me, to teach me, to help my heart be open to whatever He would have me hear this weekend - He answered my prayer abundantly! No, the Lord did not come down and tell me what the next phase of my life will look like. He did not give me a call or burden for a particular country, people or work. What He did do was draw me closer to Him, renew and encourage my spirit (in exactly the way I needed), and displayed His mighty and great work as many shared the vision and experiences in missions. I walked away from this weekend excited about what God is doing in missions.

Throughout the weekend we had worship through music and the word. Two speakers brought the word throughout the weekend, Pastor Paulo from Lisbon and Pastor Edison from Brazil. On Friday night Pastor Edison spoke from Acts 1:8 and shared that we need to be reaching our Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria, and the ends of the earth simultaniously.

This concept hit me. Many times missions has been spoken of as Going, and only Going to the ends of the earth. What hit me is that each one of us has a call from God to play a part in this great plan, God's plan to reach all the world with the truth of His love and forgiveness. We must understand the role that He is calling us to play if we are to reach our own Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria, as well as the ends of the earth simultaniously - not one is less important than the other.

Pastor Edison also spoke of the need to see the world through God's eyes and know the world with the mind of God. I am still wrestling with the depth and responsibility of all this. What does this all mean? What would it look like in my own life? In the life of the American Church?

Pastor Paulo made a statement on Saturday that really hit me. He said, "we can teach whatever we want but we can only multiply what we are." Wow, simple but profound! To share the love of Christ, to encourage people to grow in their relationship with Christ, to fulfill Christ's statement in Acts 1:8 and so many of His other commands - it must begin in me. You see it is not the one that yells the loudest, but rather the one that humbly walks steadily forward with their eyes afixed on Him that will make a difference in this world.

On Sunday there were probably around 300 people in attendance and Pastor Edison gave a call to missions, around 10-15 responded. It is my prayer that this is the beginning of a powerful movement of believers in Portugal that will stand in their Jerusalem while they help to send others out into all the world.

I pray that in my own life this will not be a soon forgotten experience but that I would rather be changed and with the Lord's help understand what I must do in my own life before I am what God would use to multiply in His Kingdom.

What will your response be? Are you being His witness in your Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria? Are you responding to His calling you to Go or to enable others to Go into all the world? I pray that you are hearing clearly whatever role the Lord is asking you to play in His amazing plan.

I declare today: "I HAtE pUbliC TrAnsPOrT dAy!"

Those living in the lap of luxury driving from point A to point B in your very own little car may or may not chose to read this blog, that's fine. And heaven forbid that anyone so gluttonous as to have 2+ cars at their beckon call should have to hear the woes of my own self-inflicted condemnation. However, for those fellow sufferers of the pain and anguish thrust upon the habitual public transit user please do read on.

Um, so yeah I pretty much LOVE (heavy on the sarcasm) Public Transportation. As a matter of fact I have decided to declare this my own special "I hate public transport DAY!!!" and I am not even kidding. Many of you (those of you who still read this rarely updated and often times boring blog) may be wondering why on earth I would say such a thing. Or if you are anything like my mother you are saying to yourself, "Well, hate is such a strong word she probably just strongly dislikes it." No I hate it, its that simple and let me tell you why.

Today is Thursday. Ordinarily I am not partial to any particular day of the week however I am seriously considering boycotting Tuesdays and Thursdays, but that's a blog for another day. Anyway, Thursday is Portuguese tutoring day and that generally means I need to leave my home at 9am (when not receiving a ride from my teacher) to travel a distance of a 15 minutes drive (by car) in order to reach my destination on time for a 1030am tutoring class at PBI. I was supposed to catch a 9AM bus and as I was grabbing my iPod I looked out the window (at 850) to see my bus speed by - YES, this is going to be a great day! Being the problem solving, quick thinking, lovely young woman that I am, I quickly consulted my bus schedule and realized that a bus going the other direction could get me within walking distance from my destination and would be here at 9AM so I grabbed my iPod and headed out the door thinking to myself how humorous it would be if I would miss this bus too (NOT really, I am kidding here - I don't think I would have laughed at all) so as I am walking toward the bus stop I see my bus coming at me and think - CRAP! So I stick my arm straight out and point with my index finger (the universal "hey stop the bus I want to get on sign here in Portugal") praying that it will stop even though I am not at an actual bus stop.

Well fortunately the bus driver either wanted to tie his shoe, look at the lovely roses planted on the side of the road or, and far less likely, he took pity on me and pulled over. This thus began my 40 minute ride and 10+ minute walk to my Portuguese tutoring. To make matters even better at 1030, when we were supposed to start, Ana (our tutor who is awesome by the way) was not there and Bobb's phone rang. It turns out she had gone to my house to pick me up and wanted to make sure that I was actually at PBI since I was not at home.

So let's recap, I have now missed one bus, nearly missed another, both of which I did not even need to take, helped cause our tutoring to start 30 minutes late, had Ana waste gas driving out to my house to pick me up even though I was not there, and its only 1030am. Yes, this is the best day ever!

I would like to tell you that my Public Transport woes got better but that would be a lie and if there is one thing I hate worse than Public Transport that would be lying. So all I can say is I miss my Honda and am looking forward to the day when public transport will no longer be my master and I can hop in my Honda, play my favorite CD and drive, for no reason whatsoever, to my favorite store (target) and buy absolutely nothing because I have no money. Ah, man that's gonna be great! But until then I will continue to make my own holidays and consider boycotting various days of the week. Got to run, I don't want to miss this next bus!