Home again

Praise God for a safe, albeit long, trip home. What a great group to go on a mission trip with and what a privilege to serve our God! We will pray for fruit from the contacts we made for the missionaries and church there.

Portugal is a beautiful country. The people are friendly and the history there is so interesting. It is really cool to visit castles, ruins and palaces!

Thanks ever so much to all those who prayed. And a big thank you to those who provided transportation to and from the airport.

One final prayer request: there were five pieces of missing luggage we hope will catch up to us.

Last Full Day--Sunday

The team attended morning worship at a small church in a nearby town. We performed the "heart" skit, the brass quartet played, the ensemble sang "Sanctuary," Larry sang a new song he wrote this week (in English) and Danny gave a testimony which Gil translated.

After lunch we went with Cant'Arruda to a nursing home where we did all of the above again except the brass quartet and Danny's testimony. Cant'Arruda, the local choir that Gil directs, sang several songs. The choir sang three times and we did all of our stuff twice since there was more than one building housing senior citizens.

Then we headed right to Gil's church for the evening service. The team performed the "heart" skit once more, Danny gave his testimony and Larry sang his new song again. After service we had snacks with the church folks. The team had a late dinner and several desserts, played a rousing game of Outburst, played ping pong and listened to a commedian. Oh, and we had another announcement of an upcoming birth: Chris and Catrina found out this week that she is expecting.

We "oldest ones" are headed to bed. We must be up early in the morning for final packing and our trip to the airport. See you soon!

Day Nine--Saturday

Today was another excellent day exploring Portugal. We had a caravan of three vehicles containing 17 people. We explored the ruins of a really old Moor castle and then a "new" castle built around 1840. Some of the time we had clear blue skies and awesome vistas and then the clouds would move in and it was a bit eerie! We had a picnic lunch and from there we went to see the Boca do Infierno (Mouth of Hell), a place where the sea, when it's choppy, comes flying in and makes quite a display. Gil said today was the calmest he'd ever seen it. (Anybody seen the Devil's Churn off the coast of Oregon? Same kind of display.) Guess who dipped a line?? Then we shopped for souvenirs and got some good buys.

Gil grilled hotdogs for dinner and we feasted on good food. Pastor Dan gave the evening devotion. As I type, Catrina and Melissa are in the Thomas' kitchen making peach crisp and chocolate chip cookie bars. Members of the team are setting up the church for services tomorrow and cleaning up the building.
It has been a nice home for us this past week.

Day Eight--Successful Tournament!

This morning's tournament went really well. The FOCUS team played pitcher and catcher, umped and coached and the kids made up the teams. We had two teams of eight and one of nine that played for first, second and third place. The Portuguese kids took to the game during the week and played very well.



Medals were given out for placing and trophies were presented for Best Attitude, Most Improved, Best All-around Player and Best Hitter. We had lots of smaller prizes--balls, balls & bats with gum/candy inside, baseball caps, etc. Everyone got several things.



The team performed three skits, two funny and one evangelistic. Melody gave a testimony which Gil translated. We also had wordless books (with the explanation inside) to hand out. The head P.E. teacher presented our fearless leader, Pastor Dan with a medal from the school and gave all the team members lanyards and some publications from the school.



We took a picture of the entire group. It's sad to think we will likely never see the kids again, but it looks like Chris & Catrina may run some wiffle ball games in the future. It could be the start of a youth group in Arruda!

For our last meal at the school cafeteria, we took some homemade American cookies to share with the ladies who prepared our meals. They especially liked the peanut butter cookies with the big kiss in the middle.

Dinner was at a restaurant in town and was it ever good! It came in courses and we had a stack of three plates, and silverware for each course. We had appetizers of olives, cheeses and bread; then salad and a fish/cheese/potato dish (yum!); then pork, rice, French fries and some fruit for the main course. It was fun to eat there since we had Gil to explain how/why things were done.

We did see some of the kids again! Tonight was the end of the year party at the school and we were invited. There was folk music playing and people were eating sardines on bread and beverages were available for purchase. Part of "The Sound of Music" was performed by students (including three of our ballplayers) and other students played guitars and sang. Some high school students practiced their English with our teens.

Thanks so much for praying!

Day Seven

There were 17 kids out for wiffle ball today and some new adults stopped by to watch and take photos. Three were new players and the rest returnees.

Tomorrow is our tournament. We are hoping that lots of kids will turn out. We have had a display of medals, trophies and other prizes throughout the week. We have two skits ready, one of the teens will do a testimony and it will be translated, we'll have the awards ceremony and whatever else Gil has planned. Pray!

The gym we are using belongs to the town and the school has first dibs on it. It is a nice facility, mainly set up for soccer but also with movable basketball hoops. The school has fed us a delicious lunch each day at 1 p.m.

The garden project was finished this afternoon and the auditorium ceiling is textured but not yet painted.

Tonight is the Portugal-Germany soccer game. Half of the group went with Gil and Chris to a Bible study out of town. They will watch the game, have Bible study during half time and then finish the game. The rest of us are here at Gil's house. We have the game on and will bake cookies for the kids tomorrow and maybe play some games.

The temperatures couldn't be better and the surroundings are so lovely. We have the windows open and it is comfortable. There are hills with vineyards around Arruda and you can see for a long ways.

Day Six

We had another great day of wiffle ball. We had a new group of girls, probably 7th graders and many of our boys came for the third day! I think there were about 25 kids in attendance and after the clinics, we were able to have two games going simultaneously. One boy, Patrick, lives in an apartment near the church and he stayed with us for lunch, our afternoon project and dinner. He speaks some English and loves the teenage boys.

We had chocolate salami for lunch dessert. Sound weird? It's a chocolate loaf, kind of like a stiff brownie with vanilla cookie crumbs baked inside. It comes in a loaf like salami and is served in slices. Yum!

After our usual hour rest, we began planting and mulching the church flowerbeds. We split up clumps of flowers and spread them around and also planted new plants that Gil purchased. The team made good progress but will have more of that to do tomorrow afternoon. Adam and Tim continued texturing the ceiling in the church auditorium.

We're practicing a new skit to use on Friday at the tournament. We're doing the one where the girl carries around her heart, people mistreat it and eventually she gets a new heart from Jesus. (Remember when it was last performed at FBC, Shanna was the girl.).

Prayer meeting was at 9 p.m. (that's late for us!). Gil gave a devotion on the tongue from the book of James, and went back and forth from English to Portuguese so everyone would understand. Then we broke up for prayer time, followed by snacks.

Now it's bedtime and as usual, I'm the last one up, typing away. I will post more pictures as soon as Pastor Dan gets them to my computer.

Ciao for now.

Day Five--IMPORTANT Announcement

DISCLAIMER--The following information is being provided at the request of those most intimately concerned: Tonight it was discovered that we have a stowaway on this FOCUS trip! Yes, FBC actually sent 14 people to Portugal. Are you confused yet? Well, a certain married couple, last name of Gibson, are expecting come January! Cool beans!

On the ministry front--today we had quite a few boys return from yesterday plus five sixth grade boys. We also had two large 4-5 year old classes and 24 fourth graders, not all at once! It kept us busy and Gil was very happy with the good will we are creating in the community and the potential contacts. A great time was had by all.

A van load of our group helped the Herricks move things from their apartment. They will be living in Gil and Denise's house while they are on their leave of absence during the next year. Larry, Daniel Comings and Adam are working on smoothing out the ceiling in the front of the sanctuary. Beth went shopping with Katrina for groceries and Emily, Connie and Beth did some baking for the group. All in all, another busy and productive day.

Thanks for your prayers!

Day Four

Oh, boy, did we have a big day today! After breakfast we headed for the school's gym where one of the PE teachers let us in. We played wiffle ball for a few minutes against ourselves while kids filtered in. Today fourth and fifth graders were invited. At first we only had four so we got them into the game and we were amazed at how fast they picked it up. Then a few more came and a few more until we ended up with 17, four of whom were girls. We ran clinics to work on the various skills and played with teams made up of a mix of our group and the kids. Later we made it a FOCUS team against the kids and they were so excited! We finally had to call it quits because it was time for lunch.

Lunch, oh my what a feast! The school cafeteria provided a bountiful and delicious spread for us: 2 pieces of breaded chicken fillets, rice (a staple here), soup, green beans, salad, a roll and several choices of fruit. We were stuffed!

Tonight after dinner the Arruda community choir came to practice at the church. Larry sang with them, even though the Portuguese was hard to pronounce. After they were done, our team sang "Sanctuary" for them in Portuguese and English, did the doctor's office skit and sang King Jesus.

Larry gave the devotion tonight and lights are to be out at 11 p.m. My lights are going out now so I'd better go to bed quick! Thanks for upholding us in prayer.

P.S. Tomorrow, the same kids are invited back again, plus the next age group up. And our tournament will be held on Friday.

Connie
FOCUS team scribe

Day Three, June 15th

Today so far, we visited the Monument to the Discovers and the National Palace in Lisbon. We ate lunch at a McDonalds (Gil´s suggestion), walked through an outdoor craft sale and a few of us went inside the cathedral.

We will soon be heading to Sunday school and then the worship service. We will participate in song, special music and a skit.

Tomorrow morning we begin teaching wiffle ball. Please pray for us as we begin to make contacts with the kids and invite them to our tournament.

Oh, and there´s soccer on tonight, so guess what many of our guys will be doing?!

FOCUS teams lands in Lisbon, Portugal

We are all here!

We arrived safely and on schedule in Lisbon, somewhat rumpled and tired but happy to be on the ground again. Gil, the Herricks and Jose´, a man from their church met us. We had a caravan of two vans and a small car to get us and all our baggage to the church in Arruda, about an hour´s drive. We cleaned up, had a snack and a rest. Then after lunch we took off for some touring. We visited an old walled city (Obidos), ate a picnic dinner and drove over to the shore in several areas.

There are two double beds, two cots and three bunk beds at the church and they sure looked good as we fell into them and turned out the lights!

More later!

Commissioning Service and Spaghetti Dinner

What a great day at Fellowship Baptist Church yesterday! The FOCUS team led the morning service with the theme of worship. The team provided lots beautiful music (including part of a song in Portuguese), the Bible reading, and a poignant skit. Our missionary to Portugal, Gil Thomas and his daughter, Andrea were able to be with us.

Our wonderful church family prayed over us and dedicated us and our work in Portugal to Him for His glory.

Then we headed to the fellowship hall for a wonderful spaghetti dinner/fundraiser put on by several of the moms of our team members. We had delicious food and a great time fellowshipping. The team performed three entertaining skits, two of them have few words and can be used in Portugal. Gil shared a bit more about what we will be doing and some prayer requests.