Christmas in Portugal!!

In some ways I was bracing myself for impact not know exactly how my first Christmas away from home would actually go. I was bracing myself for a Christmas without snow, without my parents, bro’s, sister-in-laws and nephews, without my innumerable extended family members, without grandma’s pig-n-blankets, and without my Chihuahua. I wasn’t sure how it was going to feel spending my Christmas in another country with people, all of whom I had known for less than a year. But to my grand surprise it was actually wonderful! Ok so there is nothing that can replace said list above, but the fact that I was extremely happy and contented without aforementioned list makes me think that God really did provide for me this Christmas. The party began on the morning of Christmas Eve when I met my Portuguese mother Lourdes and a couple of her friends for coffee. I put on a a festive red sweater and with gifts in hand sauntered down to Café Alice. Café Alice is a stone’s throw away from my place and though the ambience is nothing to write home about, it does carry with it a Cheers-like atmosphere where everyone knows your name! We enjoyed our little lattes and exchanged presents. It was a special time, because unlike the presents I had shipped to my family via amazon.com, I was able to wrap these and give them myself. Manual, the owner of the Café Alice, looked at me with disgust when I handed him a present wondering why in the world I would give him anything. At first I had wondered if I had done something culturally inappropriate but Lourdes assured me that his dismayed look was only evidence of the fact that he had nothing to give me. I laughed and explained that the people in this café were my family this Christmas and hence were the ones I bought presents for. It was a special time I was glad that I had stayed in Portugal for. After coffee, I tried my hand at making Christmas cookies by myself for the first time! With the help of my friend Whitney they turned out fabulous, almost perfect! We piled them on a plate to take to our Christmas Eve service but instead of taking them we decided to give them to the ladies working in the bakery just below my apartment! They were delighted, and oohed and ahhed at the colors and sprinkles. To my surprise, after explaining the tradition to them, one of them whipped around and grabbed one of their “Bolo do Rei” cakes (meaning cake of the king, a traditional Portuguese Christmas cake) and handed it to me in exchange! It was again a neat time of giving and receiving! Whitney and I then buzzed up to the Christmas Eve gathering where we sang carols and focused our attention on the reason for the season! However, at 7:00pm the night was yet young for at 7:30 my Portuguese friend Mari, was scheduled to pick me up to share the evening with the whole of her extended family to celebrate in typical Portuguese fashion. Little did I know that I would not see my bed that night until 2:00am! The Portuguese are the most sleep deprived nation in Europe, but they sure know how to have a good time. I felt so honored to be able to step into Mari’s world and experience Christmas with her. She showed me around and introduced me to her aunts, uncles, cousins, and grandma and I thought to myself, how it was not very unlike the crazy Christmas Eve gathering on the Statema side!Some of the festivities included drinking soup out of a small bowl as a starter, eating Codfish and of course a plethora of desserts, and drinking a strong dose of Portuguese coffee around midnight. Presents were stealthily placed under the tree while the children were in another room trying to spy out a window for Santa. Then with a bell and a lot of clapping we pretended to wave goodbye to Santa as the kids rushed in so bummed that they had just missed him. Their disappointment didn’t last long however, because they soon had their hands full tearing open their presents! It was such a fun night, and though, I missed my family, I was able to appreciate Christmas on the Portuguese side of things! Christmas day was a day filled with relaxing, eating and playing games with some other Americans in the area. I was glad to have a day to recover from the craziness the day before. All in all my Christmas, though very different, was wonderful! It was filled with my family here, both American and Portuguese, and I am so grateful to have been able to celebrate the birth of my Savior with so many!

Thanksgiving in Portugal

Yes, I realize Thanksgiving happened several weeks ago, but I didn’t want to miss the opportunity to tell you about my Thanksgiving celebration. So I figured it was better late than never, so please bear with me. I thought I would be ok spending Thanksgiving away from home this year, since I had done it several times before, once while I was in Venezuela and twice out in California while I was studying at Fuller. However, for some reason this Thanksgiving was actually pretty hard. Though my roommates and I had tried to make the day fun by eating a big breakfast and even going to the opening night of New Moon, the movie we had been waiting to see, I still ended up breaking down, just wishing I could be home enjoying the deliciousness that is Thanksgiving in the Tolman Barn. (yes, its true, my family and I celebrate Thanksgiving in a barn.) Even though theThanksgiving Day held more tears than normal for me, the following Sunday, when we celebrated as a community, more than compensated for it. We celebrated Thanksgiving together in the school where I teach Physical Education. The spread was amazing as everyone contributed something. And since 7 of my volleyball friends came to join me, I finally understood what my mom goes through each holiday, as she has to make enough food to compensate for the number of mouths that are coming to the table. I made a gigantic vat of mashed potatoes, heated up some corn and whipped up an extra sweet apple crisp dessert. I was so excited for my v-ball friends to come, experience a truly American Thanksgiving and to meet all my other friends and “family.” And after seeing the movies and sitcoms portray Thanksgiving with its turkey, cranberry sauce, and American football, the girls were equally excited. I discovered though, that their perceptions of Thanksgiving revolved around the idea of the day just being for family, and though that is a big part of the day for many, it is actually a day to give thanks to God for his faithfulness to us. A colleague of mine shared this very important message and then offered a chance for people to share what they were thankful for. I was touched when one of my volleyball players stood up and shared that she was grateful for the change in her life, for the opportunity to be on our team, meet me and come to the Thanksgiving gathering. I then stood up and shared how I was so grateful for my friends, this group of volleyball girls who accepted me and continued to include me realizing that they didn’t have to! I shared how grateful I was that God would provide me with such good friends here in a foreign country. After I was finished, I looked down and saw tears forming in the eyes of my girls! It was such a neat opportunity for me to really share with the girls what they mean to me as well as introduce them to the One my thanksgiving goes to. This is quickly becoming my most favorite of holidays!!

Surf and Spirit Weekend!!

I honestly thought that after my best friend Holly left, life would slow down a little and settle back into some semblance of a routine, however, the ball has continued to roll fast. (Which is actually a pretty great thing considering that the holidays are here and I don’t really want to slow down too much to have to miss my family more than necessary.) Anyways, one of my roles on my team here in Portugal is to hang out with the youth of the community as sort of a youth pastor sort person. We have a great group of young people here, and conveniently enough, most of them are girls! So this past weekend, we packed them up, rented a large house and had one massive sleep over. We named it Surf and Spirit, taking the time to hang out with each other, get some professional surf lessons, dance in our pajamas, eat lots of food , watch some chick flicks and go a little deeper with God and with each other. The weekend was a tremendous success and though I barely made it out alive, being completely exhausted, it was totally worth it. As you can see from the pictures, these girls are full of life, keeping my friend Jasmin and me on our toes. Most of the girls seen are a part of the Christian International community here, some of them even being missionary kids. Many of them know the basics about the faith, but what we wanted to do is give the girls some time to go deeper. We wanted to give them space to grow, to pray and to just be with God and be together. One of the nights we took some time to reflect on the story of Hagar. Hagar is an interesting gal in the Bible who through a series of twists in the story ends up in the dessert alone a couple of times running from home. As we read the story, we realized that God came to find her and bring her back to where she needed to be. Hagar responds to God in a unique way: she gives God a name. She calls him: “the God who sees me.” The story really ministered to me as it lets me know that even when I feel alone and completely invisible, God still sees me, e still cares, and He still loves me. God comes for us. It was cool to watch how the girls processed this, seeing that God cares for them in the same way. As a youth being raised by American parents and yet in a completely different culture, one can feel pretty alone at times, but God still sees them. He still finds them where they are and meets them. Though these girls know the stories, the facts and the Bible pretty well, our hope was to lead them deeper to a place where they absolutely know that they are loved by God. I think the Spirit was at work in our midst! Another cool thing that happened beyond the surfing and the chick flicks, was that each of the girls received a verse on Friday and another verse on Saturday, both chosen at random by Jasmin and me. It was amazing to see how God used the verses to speak to each of the girls something different and yet something they felt they needed to hear. Overall the weekend was a huge success. Sure it left us tired, dirty and even a little salty, but I could see on the girls faces a renewed hope and excitement about how is working God in their lives.

Recent Activities and Random Thoughts.

One fact that I don’t often share with people is that my apartment is a mere five-minute walk from the ocean. (I don’t enjoy incurring jealousy.) Nonetheless, I simply walk out my front door, down a few blocks and a staircase and suddenly I stand before the massive Atlantic. The sea is not only beautiful but it almost always speaks a deeper truth to me. One of my favorite things to do is to take a twilight jog along the boardwalk that hugs the ocean so that after my there and back route I can sit and stretch by the sea while the moon light flickers on the water. I love taking in the sound of the waves and the water crashing on the rocks. I love to look out into the inky black ocean, watching it stretch out till it blends into the darkness. And I love how it makes me feel. I feel both small and incredibly significant. I feel small in the sense that it reminds me that there is so much happening throughout the world beyond my personal sphere and yet, I feel significant because God loves me as if nothing else is. It’s a paradox really, and it’s a tension that I think sometimes makes it hard to grasp the truth of who God is. He is huge and yet so small. He is beyond powerful, and yet infinitely gentle. He is spinning the worlds of a billion galaxies, and yet the details of my day are important to him. It’s almost impossible to fathom, but I’m grateful for the ocean that helps me try.
I thought I would dive deep to start, to let you know some of my more recent revelations, but a lot has happened since my last blog so I thought I would also include a general run down of what I have been up to. Last week was a big week for me. Not only did a short-term missions team come from states but I was also shipped off to Brussels again to finish up the second part to my field orientation. I had been preparing a lot for both of these events the week before: arranging the details and daily schedule of the team, booking van rentals, and coordinating meals and work projects all the while finishing up the projects I was to present at my field orientation that of course, I had previously procrastinated on. Needless to say I was quite busy.However, I managed to pull everything together in time to board the plane just as the short-term team was landing into the country. While I was in Brussels for the week, I presented my projects, listened to my colleague’s projects, toured a little of the city and of course ate a Belgian waffle and plenty of Belgian chocolates. Sadly I had to miss a couple volleyball games and a few practices, but because I brought back a box of fine chocolates for my team, they readily forgave me. This week I have enjoyed a peaceful apartment as both of my roommates are off on quick trips to the states. I, however, am preparing to receive someone from the states as a guest for two weeks! My best friend, Holly, is arriving today!!! I have been looking forward to her coming as she is the first person from home that will get to know what life is like for me here. I’m sure by the next blog I will have several hilarious stories to share, as we never seem to avoid mishaps and crazy adventures. But for today I guess I will just show her the sea. ☺