One last time...this year

As the minutes tick away to the end of this year, I thought I'd squeeze in one more post. December is always a busy month for everyone, it seems. This year was special because of the arrival of a missionary family from Brazil. Pastor Moiséis and his wife, Alice, and sons André and Pedro arrived on December 12. They had tickets to arrive the day before, but because of mix-ups in the Portuguese consulate and immigration services, their visa came through the day after their airline reservations. That meant extra money to change the flights, but they did arrive.




In the short time they have been here, they have already joined in the work of the ministry. Besides preaching, Bro. Moiséis made a hospital visit this week, when I couldn't go because it was right at the time of the weekly prison ministry meeting. Alice, with only a couple of weeks to practice, joined in the choir for our annual Christmas Eve cantata. Despite Abbie's grave fears, and because of many prayers and the grace of God, the cantata went very well. That was in Portuguese. We'll be singing the same cantata in English on the morning of January 10 at our English-language services. More prayers needed! The church is rejoicing in the many blessings received this past year. We expect greater blessings in 2010!

Vacation's Over

Obviously. Two months and no time to blog. I won't bore you with the details,...yet. Some of what's been going on will come out in the course of events. After we got back from the US, we did travel to the mainland for a week at the end of October and beginning of November. That trip included a couple of days at the Embassy in Lisbon, a couple of days down at the southern end of Portugal at Faro, with one of the missionaries of our church, Pastor Neilson, and another couple of days with Jackie and Jaime up near Porto in northern Portugal. From Faro to Porto was 6 hours by train, at speeds of up to 140 mph (220 km/hr).


Baptismal First

Last Sunday we baptized Lisiane and her husband, Alex. He plays football (soccer) and they accepted the Lord when they were in Brazil in June and July. Evidence of that was the fact that the first thing they did when they got back to Madeira was to end their 9-yr. live-together relationship and get married. What was "first" about this baptism? It was our first night baptismal service. Alex had a game at 4 p.m., and as soon as he was through he rushed to the church, arriving in the middle of our 6 p.m. service, just in time for the message. The baptismal service came at the close of the service.







The first pictures show Lidiia cleaning the baptistery earlier in the afternoon, while the surrounding church yard is being cleaned by her husband, Petro, and Nadezhda. These three Ukrainians come for the Russian-language services at 4 p.m.

In the pictures of the baptisms, the light of the flash reflecting from the water gives the impression of jewels sparkling. In reality, the jewels of the Lord were gathered there; you should have seen the eyes of Lisiane sparkle!








When the choice is not easy

Last Sunday night, at the end of the message and before the baptisms, Rui came forward to publicly profess Christ. It is always a joy when any soul comes to the Lord; Rui's case is special: he's a Madeiran. Why is that special? Because it is very difficult for a Madeiran to come to the Lord. Just to give you an idea, only about 1/4 of our membership is Madeiran. The other Madeirans that have made professions of faith and been baptized over the past 33 years have gone back into the world.

Rui's case is special for another reason: he's not from Funchal, which is a large city (100,000 people, more or less). He comes from a small village in the mountains. A very small village. When the people there (many of them his relatives, of course) found out about his interest in the gospel, the sky started falling. Threats have been made; he is no longer considered to be a part of the family; he is considered an outcast. His wife came with him Sunday, but she has serious reservations. Her Catholic upbringing is strong: the comments by her neighbors about her having anything to do with a religion "that doesn't believe in the Virgin" makes her stop and think. Of course, it doesn't help that one of the "pilgrim images" of Our Lady of Fátima (Portugal's own version of the Virgin) is currently making the rounds of all the parishes on the Island. The image was brought from the sanctuary north of Lisbon on October 12 by plane. The image traveled first class (Seat 1A) and the rest of first class was occupied by priests. The image was met at the airport by church and local government officials and brought to the city by Popemobile, the vehicle built especially to bring Pope John Paul II from the airport to Funchal and back (12 miles/20 km each way) on his 8-hr visit back in 1991. The bullet-proof, 4-wheel drive vehicle has been in storage ever since, never being used. Until now, that is.

As for the church/state relations at the regional level, suffice it to point out that the support of the Regional Government for the construction of Catholic Churches is on the order of €13 million (approx. $20 million) for recently completed or soon-to-be completed projects around the island. Rui is one of the rare jewels to be mined out of the spiritually rocky slopes of Madeira. Pray for his faith. Pray for his family.

December Serenade

It was 6:20 a.m. when I suddenly awoke and realized today is the 1st of December. The sounds of a marching band and a hundred or so people walking past singing a patriotic anthem in praise of Portugal was not a dream. I had heard the same band and song before. In fact, that's how I immediately knew it's Dec. 1st. Every year on this date, at precisely 6:20 a.m., the procession passes by in front of our house, and as soon as they finish the final chorus, they start all over again. They march off down the avenue and the sounds fade away. Silence.

The troupe goes to the next street corner, turns left and comes back down the street on the other side of our house. Having regrouped on the street below our house, the band strikes up again, and after singing through the song a couple of times, the final words again fade away as they march back towards the center of the village. "...Portugal! Portugal! Portugal!" However uncertainly the words of the verses of the anthem are sung by the hardy lot of marchers, the last three are sung with gusto.

It's Restoration Day, in commemoration of the revolt in 1640 that ended the 60-year reign of the Kings of Spain, Philips II, III, and IV. A crisis in the royal succession in Portugal in 1580 opened the way for the crown of Spain to take over the crown of Portugal, as well.

Thus in 1640, Portugal regained its independent rule over the western chunk of the Iberian Peninsula, first recognized in the 1100's. Therefore, be informed: we do not speak Spanish in Portugal. And some people are so enthused by that fact that, 369 years later, they're willing to get up and start marching through the streets at 6:00 a.m. and at the top of their voices remind those of us still in our beds that we live in Portugal, not Spain.