Friday

Portugal Team Reports



There are so many good memories from our trip to Portugal,
with a wonderful team and great missionary co-workers. But
a couple of my greatest memories are of God’s direct intervention
for our safety.

We were driving two rental cars, and on our day off were following
the missionary’s car through crazy Lisbon traffic. Tony, driving the
third car, was doing very well until he lost his concentration for 3
seconds (noticing an aqueduct), then caught sight of Ron’s vehicle
and ours taking an off-ramp, which he had just missed! He was on
his way over a very long bridge, with no obvious turn-offs. Ron noticed
immediately that Tony had missed the turn, so he quickly found a
stopping place at the end of the off ramp, and came to consult with
the second car. The one with a phone in our car called the one with
a phone in the lost car – it was turned off! Ron didn’t have a clue how
we would ever find Tony in this huge city with no normal street plan.

As we prayed and fussed, suddenly a car pulled up behind us – Tony!!
How he got there we don’t know. He says there was an off-ramp, and
as he drove around it, he could see us sitting down in the valley. I say
some angels picked up his car and plopped it down behind us. Whichever
way it was, we feel it was God’s miracle.

The other time was again in Lisbon, where our third car ended up
driving on fumes (because the gauge was deceiving). We were right
downtown, with nowhere to buy gas until we got out into the outskirts.
Driving on empty on very busy streets is a tense activity, and there
was a lot of praying going on. When we pulled into the service center,
we all shouted “Hallelujah, Praise you, Jesus!” The bill was high –
it was a VERY thirsty car!!

Carolyn




As I reflect on the TEFL trip to Lisbon, I think it was more of a blessing
to me than it was for those I went to minister to, which is probably typical
of how most people feel after going on such trips. That is the way the Lord
often works!

I heard of the opportunity through my daughter, Kate, who is on staff with
GEM in the mobilization department. She knew I'd never been on a mission
trip, though I've been supportive of others, prayed for many, and been
willing. Since there were openings that needed to be filled, she asked.
After prayer and the encouragement of family members, I completed
the application and background check. Other than having to remember
all of the places we've lived since I was 18 years old, the process wasn't
too difficult.

The next step was participating in the online cultural training course.
I found that to be quite helpful. It got me to really grasp that I was going
to be traveling abroad and dealing with things that were definitely
different from the normal routine for this stay-at-home mom. It introduced
scriptures that were helpful, as well as concepts that we needed to be
prepared for. Another benefit was it helped us get to know our teammates
since we were all from different areas of the US and Canada.

While in Portugal, a member of out team actually said, "do you remember
that part of the online training that dealt with car sickness? Well, it's
happening!"

It brought humor to a somewhat awkward situation and the teammates
stepped up and did what was needed to get us home safely.

The overall experience was a really positive one for me. I recognize that
it may have been a bit disappointing to the field missionaries, Ron and
Idalia Fairbanks. They had done a lot of prep work, had been told there
would be a certain number of students, had been told there would be
classrooms available, but.... Again, the online training had covered this
type of situation as well. We need to remember it's God's plan, His Way, in
His time. We adjusted. Some of us taught twice each day and some only got
to teach once. Some of us had a decent size class. Some taught only a few
students. But all of us did what we were asked to do and with His joy. We
all seemed to have connected with our students well. It was really amazing
how much we were able to instruct them on in a mere 5 days. It was even
more astounding how much we grew to love them in such a short period
of time!

One day one of our students came in a bit late and a bit flustered. She
was able to communicate to us, with the help of a bit more advanced student
that she was late because she had been at the house of one of the other
students. That woman's husband had collapsed and he was on his way
to the hospital. We asked the other students to join us in praying right then.
With tears in all of our eyes, we led them in prayer. It just so happened
that the vocabulary words for that day included occupations so we then were
able to explain more clearly how we had asked the Lord to be guiding and
helping the doctors and nurses, as well as to comfort our student as she
stood by her ill husband. It was a very good illustration of how many of
our testimonies had explained that our God is more than just a Sunday
God. He is the God who we could be in a personal relationship with.

The Fairbanks family was such a delight and treated us with such warm
hospitality. They introduced us to many family members, as well as other
missionaries, serving in Lisbon. They showed us many beautiful sights and
tried to please us in many ways. It was a blessing to worship with them,
fellowship with them, and laugh together! We had a wonderful time with
them and left them with sadness but with the privilege of calling them
friends!

As I've tried to process my first mission trip, I realize it was a pretty
cushy one...the accommodations were very nice, the expectations on our time
and energy were not tremendous, and I met and served with a terrific group
of people who I am still in contact with and who have become my friends.
Thus the reason I feel more blessed than those I served! God is so Good!

Beth



God had great things in mind when he sent our team to Lisbon,
Portugal to teach English recently. I felt the nudge to go without
knowing why. I am glad I listened and followed.

We arrived to 85 degrees and sunny, beautiful ocean views,
a dynamic city, and we joked that it’s not always hard to work
for Jesus. But we quickly remembered that over 99% of the
people we have seen are not believers, many of whom have
never heard that Jesus died for our sins and was resurrected
as our Savior.

God was truly the great designer when he handpicked the
wonderful women that I taught. There were eight in my class.
All of whom in their fifties and worked as the support staff
for the school that I taught in. They were all wives and mothers,
some were grandmothers too. Their children were right around
my age. I think God planned it this way so that relationships
would be built quickly. It was not long before the class and
I were laughing throughout the entire lesson. When I shared
my testimony, they looked at me in a motherly way and afterwards
told me they loved me. I know I felt their love, hopefully they
felt the love of Jesus Christ through me.

The first step in helping someone to accept Jesus Christ as their
Lord and Savior is to plant seeds in their heart. Not only did each
one of my students hear the Gospel, but they heard it from someone
that loved them more than they had known. I cannot help but be
reminded of 1st Corinthians 13:13; “And now these three remain:
faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.” It is very
evident that God was working in this way when he sent our team
to teach English in Portugal.

Aaron

Cascais, Portugal

Portugal is 98% Catholic and the people have heard the name
of Jesus many times, yet still don't follow Him as Lord and Savior.
For me, this trip was such an eye opener to how much we, as the
human race, struggle with accepting the free gift of salvation from
Christ. We don't think it can be that easy. We think we need to earn
our way to heaven. We want to do it ourselves!

Through our work in Portugal, we tried to share the importance
of a personal relationship with Christ, above all else. The way to
the Father is through the Son. We devoted our time, energy and
finances to showing Christ's love to our students and other people
we came in contact with. I saw the most significant reactions during
our time of sharing, when each of us on the team would share our
testimony with our students, who were the staff at the schools where
we were teaching. Hearts were softened and tears were shed. I think,
if nothing else, a seed of truth was planted. I pray for those who heard
the message, that they would have the courage to break free of the grasp
that 'religion' has on their lives, intensified by tradition, culture, and
background.

We have the names of those who heard the message, and continue to
pray for them and the growth of the seed that was planted. Praise God
for local missionaries, like the Fairbanks, who will continue to embrace
these new relationship and further the development of the message!
This is why I am so supportive of short term missions, as they give
a boost to the already blooming ministry performed by our local
missionaries. Praise God for allowing me to be a small part of His
work in Portugal.

Tony

http://easywebsite.net/images/Portugal0128-Cascais-StreetScene.jpg

The past 10 days spent in Portugal have truly been rewarding. There is not
one moment that I have ever felt that this was not what God wanted me to do.
During our time in Portugal we had the opportunity to minister to the
Portuguese people by teaching them English and sharing God's love.

We( Lesley, Kate and I) only ended up having a group of seven women ranging
in ages from about 25-50 years of age, but each one was special in their own
way. One women that I would say touched my heart was Maria, she did not know
any English and presented us with some challenges but all in all was very
rewarding and I feel that we had made progress with her over the short 5
days of teaching. Maria tried especially hard to understand and master the
English words and always had a smile even though she was finding things
difficult.

A typical day consisted of teaching new words - names of people, parts of
the body, clothing, days and months of the year, numbers and the alphabet
along with teaching bible verses, bible stories, skits, singing and sharing
our testimonies. I felt the the testimonies by each one of the teachers was
a time when we really had the attention of our students and believe that
their lives were touched by these.

God has really worked in my life through this and I pray that we were a real
blessing to those we ministered too also.
LaVerne




TEFL trips are the most exciting, fun way to share Christ that I know!
Nothing
ever goes as expected, I was tired the entire time and I came
home
almost unable to move. BUT it is so obvious that God has moved.

We left students that had sooo improved their English, we made
new friends with our students, the missionaries there in Portugal
and the team made of four US and five Canadian citizens.

Our days were busy. We taught from 9-11:30 AM and 2-5:30 each
afternoon. We had hand work to do and lesson plans along with
devotions each night. We each wrote "our story" to share with our
students in group time at the end of each school day. In group time
there was a skit that told a Bible Story and then a testimony to explain
salvation and how God has worked in each of us. All of this was translated
by "our" missionary Ron Fairbanks who is with Greater Europe Mission.

I am so excited to have left all of these sweet people with Ron who
is very conscience of the work God has started in their lives. Pray
for the Portuguese and for Ron to have wisdom and sensitivity to
God's leading.

Thank-you so much,
Patti

Thursday

Thursday

http://www.airports-worldwide.com/img/w/lisbon_airport.jpg

The team is in flight home.

http://betterthanfree.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/747_takeoff.jpg

Wednesday!

http://saotome.org/wp-content/uploads/lisbon.jpg

We had a few spare hours in the morning, so we took 
a quick trip to down-town Lisbon to see the “commercial 
area”, which is lovely “old” buildings which are really 
not so old. Lisbon was almost totally destroyed by an 
earthquake in the 1700s, and completely rebuilt, so the 
buildings are relatively young.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9c/Lisbon_-_typical_street_and_tramcar_in_the_Bairro_Alto.jpg

We dashed back to Tojal to get ready for the 
“graduation celebration” in the afternoon, 
which went really well, with lots of hugs, 
kisses, and tears. The students were so 
drawn to the team, who loved them well. 
Idalia, a Portuguese, told her story, which 
was very good for these ladies to hear. 
Some show real interest in what Ron 
and Idalia (full-time GEM missionaries)
are doing in Portugal.

http://www.travel-in-portugal.com/photos/data/media/3/lisbon-baixa-cross-st.jpg

In the evening, all our team plus the two missionary 
families who helped us, had a appreciation dinner at 
a nice restaurant, shared experiences, what God did 
in us during the week, and exchanged gifts. Very nice 
time.

http://www.jeffreytowne.com/Travel%20International/Portugal/95%2011%20Lisbon%20street.jpg

Tuesday

Teaching Tuesday!


On Monday, while the one team was teaching, the other team
was invited by Vicki, another missionary here, to go and see
a monastery.  They enjoyed the library, the town and some
beautiful flowers, blooming on the trees.  They also shared
some delicious pastries with the rest of the team when they
returned to the Bible Institute.  (if it seems that we are
enjoying the food here, it is TRUE!!)  We all taught in
the afternoon, continuing to teach vocabulary, but also
increasing the conversations we are having with our
students.  We are learning about their families, their
likes, their jobs.  We are truly enjoying getting to know
our students!


Monday evening Idalia prepared a delicious meal for
our team, 3 of their children, and Vicki and her daughter. 
Patti shared from the book of Hebrews for devotions,
reminding us to spur one another toward love and
good deeds. It was so great to have the Fairbanks
and Vicki here to share in our devotional time. 

Ron encouraged us that we MAY not see the fruit of
our labor but we can trust that as we obeyed the will
of God in our lives, HE will bring about fruit.  We had
a sweet time of prayer together.


We finished out the day by playing a couple of games,
requiring creativity, expressing ourselves with many
words, one word or by acting out a word!!  If laughter
is good for the soul our souls must be very healthy!


Again, thank you  for those who are praying for us. 
We are grateful that you share in our ministry. 
We ask that you pray as we say good bye to
our precious students, that their hearts may
have been softened to the Gospel; that they
realize we love because Christ first loved us.


 It’s our prayer that we are one link in the chain of events
that will ultimately bring them to the saving knowledge
of Jesus and they, too, will find themselves in a personal
relationship with the Lord!


{Click on Pic to Enlarge}

Monday

Sunday In Portugal


Sunday gave us a glimpse of what the missionaries’ lives 
look like as we attended 2 church services.

It was great to worship with the Portuguese!  We even knew 
some of the songs.


At the 11am service in Lisbon the Angolan pastor shared 
about a 14 year old girl who has never heard the name 
of Jesus.  He had the 15 young people of the church 
stand and challenged them to be bold in their faith.  
Then the congregation prayed in small groups for 
150 free tickets to an upcoming soccer game; 
each of the 15 young people are to invite 10 of 
their friends to the game so that they can meet 
a few of the players and hear their testimonies.  
Join us in praying!  He also challenged the 
adults to be a part of this to provide the necessary 
transportation.

He then preached on Galatians 1:6-9.  Do you know 
the Gospel the way God’s Word presents it?  Is it a 
 pure Gospel?  We must know the one True Gospel!


After enjoying a nice lunch at “home” we piled back 
into our cars for another church service at 4pm.  This 
church is the daughter church of the church we attended 
in the morning, and the services are held at the institute 
where Kate, LaVerne, and Lesley teach English.  This 
was a much smaller church, and after the service we 
enjoyed a light dinner.

Pastor Paul preached on Matthew 9:35-38 – the harvest 
is plentiful but the labourers are few!  He reminded us 
that if we are disciples, we are automatically labourers.  
And what happens if it’s not harvested?  We lose the 
harvest, so act now!


With no financial, family, or geographic limits, what 
would you be doing?  Perhaps this is what God is calling 
you to.....

What a wonderful reminder that our God is the God of 
all people, tongues, tribes, and nations!


(Click on Picture to Enlarge!)

Sunday

Our GEM TEFL Team & Portugal's Coast!






{Click on Pic to Enlarge}

Friday's Update


As the supervisor, I can say that the teachers are doing
a wonderful job.


I am so proud of them!


They are teaching like professionals...


and sharing the joy...


and love of Christ...


with their students.


The students love them!


We are all aware of your prayers...


every day...


and are seeing answers before our eyes.

 {Click on Pic to Enlarge}

Friday

Thursday Update!


At group time, Neil is explaining the meaning of a
Biblical story.


Here is Aaron, Patti, and Beth outside of the Portuguese
Bible Institute.  They are preparing for another day of
teaching at the school in Pòvoa. 


Lesley is standing in the beautiful foliage found around
the campus at the Portuguese Bible Institute.


Each day the teams prepare for the lesson.  Games, activities, 
conversation, and vocabulary repetitively enforce English language 
learning.


After teaching the memory verse “I am the light of the world” 
John 9:5b to the students at the school in Pòvoa, one of 
the students taught the verse to Aaron in Portuguese.  
It reads: “Eu sou a luz do mundo” Joas 9:5b (it sounds 
a lot different than it reads)!


Tony is teaching the pronunciation of a word ending in 
“th.”  See how he is using his tongue... he is exaggerating 
the mechanics of the mouth in order to produce the sound 
effectively.  “Th” is a very difficult sound for the Portuguese 
to produce.


This is an example of a drawing completed by Tony
which was used as a visual aid for learning the parts
of the body.

{Click on Pic to Enlarge}

Thursday

Teaching English Today!


Yesterday was our first day of teaching!


One group (Aaron, Tony, Beth, and Patti) taught from
8:30-11:30am then again from 3:30-6pm.  The other
group (Neil, Kate, Lesley, and LaVerne) taught
from 2-5.  Though the numbers of students aren’t
exactly what we expected, we trust that the Lord
has brought the right students to the right classrooms
with the right teachers to accomplish what He wants
this week!


A challenge is that our students understand and comprehend
a LOT of English from watching English TV and listening
to English music; however, they are at various levels of speaking
abilities.  The first team, at the public school, has all level one
students (about 16 altogether, split into 2 classrooms).


The second team, at the school for children and adults with
disabilities, has 7 students, many of which are upper-level
one, but there are too few students to split according to
levels so they are all in one classroom.  All of the students
are eager to practice their English with us!  Pray that
the teaching would be valuable and the conversations
meaningful!


Following our English lessons, we taught a Bible lesson
from John 3:1-16, the story of Nicodemus, and a few
of our students knew exactly what we were sharing. 
They knew John 3:16 in Portuguese and were able
to clearly explain the story in their own [English]
words.  We are anxious to continue the Bible
lessons with the hope of engaging in deeper conversations.


  After singing “Glorify Your Name,” one student asked
me what we meant by “worship” and why we say that. 
They are listening to and watching us; pray that we
would be Jesus to them and that His love for them
would be abundantly clear.


After our day of teaching, we enjoyed another dinner
with the Fairbanks family.


Pray for Ron’s back – he often feels this pain when
teams are visiting and God’s doing big things.  We
are ready!