semana nove, dez, e doze em Lisboa, Portugal

March 27th – April 23rd

Family and friends, I am so sorry that I haven’t been updating you through blogs as I have been in the past. Life has gotten busy and it is hard to find time in the week to load up my computer and equipment in search for Wi-Fi to post.

So, let me take the time to quickly inform you on the highlights of the last couple of weeks.

During the week Callie was in France, I met with several students. I felt like the coffee queen because I had about 12 coffees the entire week with different students. On one occasion, I met with a student, Madalena, who is a believer and actively involved in GBU (the Christian group on campus). I met her for coffee with the intention of asking her to start a Bible Discovery Group (BDG) with me. When I asked her what she thought her eyes lit up and she was all for it! She even said, “Ash, we have to get this started because you leave soon and I need to be able to keep this going!” That is such a praise!! In another occasion, I met with two seminary students, Ricardo and Diana, who asked for help starting a BDG on their campus; I am super excited to be helping them! With the other coffees I had I was able to share my testimony several times and elaborate on the Gospel during the conversations. It was so so amazing!

So, all of that amazing stuff happened and then I went on vacation in Madrid, Spain (which you can read about in a separate blog post).

When I got back from Spain this week, all of the previous stories above exploded and in a good way! Tuesday, Callie and I expected to head to campus to meet Diana and Ricardo to do an outreach to see if students would be interested in attending our BDG, but that wasn’t exactly what happened… When we showed up, Diana and Ricardo had brought TWELVE students with them! At least three of the twelve were unbelievers!! So, we improvised and ended up doing Soularium with all twelve of them, which is the longest Soularium I have ever been involved in. We had such an amazing conversation and through that I was able to share a little of my testimony and the Gospel with the twelve students there. At the end, Ricardo invited everyone back next week for a Bible study. I am super excited to see how the Bible study continues to grow and reach people for Christ!

Also, while I was gone, baby Isabella was born!! I was able to visit her in the afternoon. She is so precious! Congratulations to Bethany and Jonathan!!

On Wednesday the previous stories continued as well! In the morning I met with a student, Ana Sofia, and she shared her testimony with me. She also elaborated on her life and how she desires to serve God on a mission trip to Madagascar but lets her pride get in the way when it comes to the finances of the trip and not allowing people to give her money. I was able to pray with her about this and hopefully I will be one of the people donating money for her trip to Madagascar next year!

In the afternoon, Madalena and her friends (Henrique and Joana) came to the apartment for dinner and a Bible study. The entire night was full of good conversation. We studied Luke 7, the sinful woman that came to Simon’s house when Jesus came for dinner. Joana is not a believer, but it was interesting hearing her point of view on the scripture and to pour truth into her life from scripture.

That is a very short snippet of the last two weeks, but those are probably the two best stories of the two weeks!

As my time in Portugal is coming to an end, the idea of that is crazy, I am beginning to get stressed about meetings with students. How do I meet with all the students that I want to meet with? How do I keep these Bible studies going when I am not present here? How do I…? How do I…? How do I…?

All of my questions involved “I”, Jesus reminded me this morning in Luke 10 that it is not about me.

Martha was getting frustrated with Mary because as she was running around trying to make preparations, Mary was sitting at Jesus’ feet. Jesus said to her “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, but only one thing is necessary.”

I can hear Jesus saying, “Ashton, Ashton, you are anxious and troubled about many things, but only one thing is necessary. Come sit at my feet.” That is so true. Only He is necessary, an attitude of worship is necessary. Jesus will handle all the students that I have invested in. It’s not my job to scoop in a save them all, Jesus is doing that in His own time and I have faith that He will continue work in them.

Like I said, my time in Portugal is coming to an end so these next couple of weeks will be very busy. I will try to keep you all updated!!

See you all soon!

Love,

Ashton

Praises:

-An amazing BDG with Ricardo and Diana

-An amazing BDG with Madalena, Henrique, and Joana

-mvmt’s Glow in the Dark Dodgeball tournament and the 63 STUDENTS THAT ACCEPED CHRIST AS THEIR SAVIOR!!!!

Prayer Requests:

-That we can meet with Cristiane, we have not met with her in a long time do to conflicting schedules

-That the BDG with Ricardo and Diana will grow and students will come to know Jesus

-That the BDG with Madalena will continue and grow, that students will grow closer to Christ

-That I can meet with as many students as possible, Lord willing, while I am ending my term in Portugal and finish well

-Safe travels for Madison and Anna as they come visit next weekend (April 28-May 1)

-Bethany and Jonathan as they balance having a new born, Eliana, and ministry