Alcobaça

election 09

We're coming up on a big election this weekend for Portugal. Yep, I said weekend. On Sunday the polling stations will be open so people can vote. I thought it was interesting that Portugal decided to have elections then, but I guess it makes sense. As one of our friends said, "more people can go vote instead of having a work conflict on the weekday."

It's interesting to see the political process here. It's not very different from the States; political ads, newspaper reports, campaign pledges. One thing I think is very interesting is the presence of the communist party (Partido Comunista Portugues) here in Portugal. They are alive and well, although not as big and powerful as they probably would like to be. During the past couple of weeks a car has driven through our neighborhood blaring communist ideals from a loudspeaker. Funny to hear because we grew up with such a disdain for the communists.

The communist party here actually holds one of the biggest concerts each year. Thousands go to hear bands and the party takes the opportunity to share its vision and hand out leaflets. There are other parties here as well....like the left bloc (Bloco de Esquerdo), Social Democrats (Partido Socialista), Social Democrat Party (Partida Social Democrata) and other smaller ones. The election this weekend is parliamentary so the office of Prime Minister will be up for grabs. I think the election for president is not until 2011.

Anywho, just thought this was interesting information about the Portuguese political process...

The mob has spoken

I'll keep it. But, don't hold your breath. I'll still be a bad blogger. I'm not giving that up. What I will try to do is try to post more about life in Portugal because it's interesting and worth keeping people updated.

So, late-breaking news.....On Sunday night I went to a Sporting game. We live about 10 minutes (walking) from the stadium so when a colleague called and said she couldn't use the tickets she had bought, I jumped at the opportunity. Our seats were on the second row so needless to say we saw the action close up. Sporting won 1-0, in fact, they eked out the win when Liedson headed a ball with authority into the back of the net in the late minutes of the game.

Seriously, living here is just an incredible blessing. I grew up as a kid watching futebol and playing it every waking moment. To be able to live in Europe and go see professional games is just an incredible experience. Plus, it gives me plenty of opportunities to talk with people as futebol is pretty much more important than who's getting elected this year. I've never had anyone turn down a conversation if I start with a question or comment about the local teams.

Okay, so there you have it. I've finished my quota for this week. :) Ate ja!

Death of a Blog

Okay, we'll take a poll. Please be honest.

My vote is:

A. Press delete already.

B. Drag it out for another six months of not posting anything

C. Press delete, have bloggers remorse, and start another one

D. No, keep it! I read it when you actually get around to posting something

E. Start one in Portuguese

Leave a comment and we'll see where this goes. If nobody posts within a couple of days I'll do a countdown and enact option #A.

Germany part.2

So you can keep up with a more chronological update via Hannah's blog here as I'm not really trying to put this in a neat order. I will say that Hannah has all the great pictures so normally if you're a grandparent this is only a brief layover to the better blog! :)

So one of the neatest things about being in Germany was that we got to visit Kaiserslautern where we lived many years ago. In fact, it was the first place we lived as a newly married couple. We stayed there two years and in the process had sweet little Sahara (who is still sweet, but not so small anymore!). Well, as you can imagine, we didn't expect to find everything exactly how we left it. We didn't even know if we'd be able to find the landlady whose house we stayed in. But, low and behold, we drove up the first afternoon after getting into town, rang the buzzer and got invited in.

Mrs. Muller recognized us (from over 8 years ago!) and we spent the next 5 or so hours chatting and catching up. Her daughter heard we were in town and came over as well! It was a neat time and we got some great pictures. Mrs. Muller is an incredible woman---she is a strong believer and loves to garden, (the front of the house is still as beautiful as ever for those of you who remember visiting us) sing in the choir, and play with her grandchildren. Her family has rented to Americans ever since the end of WW2 and so she has many neat memories of these times over the years.

While we were talking I was struck by this thought: Although the German culture is often called a cold climate culture (which sometimes gives them the bad rap of being stand-offish), these Germans are some of the sweetest people we have ever met. In fact, after visiting with Mrs. Muller, her daughter (who is a doctor) invited us over to see her new clinic and house. She made us promise when we return that we'll stay in her house! After visiting we drove over to our favorite Mexican restaurant and stuffed ourselves on some great food. We also found our favorite Italian restaurant, ate German food on the Walkplatz (not sure how to spell that), and visited some favorite stores. All in all a great return trip to Kaiserslautern!

Oh, and one sidenote: We couldn't get on to "little America" (aka Ramstein Air Base) because I don't have a military ID card! But we didn't care because (no kidding) all of our favorite memories are from OFF the military base! :)

Germany part.1

During our first week in Germany we had company meetings. It was a good time to draw back from our respective countries of service and hear good speaking, attend workshops, and just fellowship with friends. The highlight of the week, however, was when one of the speakers (I avoid putting his name here for obvious reasons) recited the first 8 chapters of Romans from memory......

...did you catch that? From memory! This young man, who is a pastor from the States, simply used God's Word to minister to us and let me tell you; that 20 or so minutes represented the best sermon I've ever heard in my entire life. I was amazed at how strong the Word is when it's not accompanied by much trivial commentary; not to upset pastors, but the strength of the message is always in God's Word and not in the cute stories......and this sermon was 8 chapters full of the truth; unabridged, unchanged, non-paraphrased, and directly convicting.

I remember taking the class "pastoral ministry" at university---it was an incredible class that looked at the biblical mandate for pastoring as well as the rich history of the church as this role has been undertaken---I was reminded after hearing this sermon that the role of the pastor/christian worker is to bring the Word into contact with people. Far too often we try desperately to invent new and clever ways to entertain people, but it hardly ever has anything to do with the Word. I'm reminded afresh, like I was during that class, that God's message must be heralded in the form that it was given; not with much to do about ourselves, but making much about Jesus, the cross, and all it entails....because, as Paul writes in the first chapter of Romans, "For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek."

Back in Lisboa

Wow, we're back! For those of you who don't follow our FB updates, we have been in Germany, Austria, Lichtenstein, Switzerland, and France. We had a week of meetings (more on that soon) and then took a week to travel around. We even got to return to Kaiserslautern, Germany where we lived for two years and where Sahara was born!

So much happened that I don't even know where to start. I'm sure Hannah will post some pictures on her blog (and also on FB) so you can see the amazing things we got to do (like visit with our landlady and eat dinner at our favorite Italian restaurant). Oh, and horseback riding in the Austrian mountains, buying a Swatch watch in Zurich, and so much more! It was quite an adventure and we enjoyed every minute of it!

I will post (tomorrow) about our meeting time; specifically about how the Word was used in a powerful way to minister to us during the week. More to come....