semanas quatorze e quinze em Lisboa, Portugal

Family and friends…

Sorry I haven’t posted in a while, but most of you have been keeping up with me somehow. Too much has happened within the last two weeks to include into one blog, but I will share some of my favorite moments in between bites of lemon basil gelato at Choupana.

This last week, Bethany got the opportunity to meet Cristiane. Most of you have been praying for her throughout my time in Portugal and I thank you so much for that. Together we all went through a Bible study with Cristiane; it the first time we were able to have a large portion of the Bible study in Portuguese and it was amazing to see Cristiane’s eyes light up while hearing the ideas conveyed in her heart language. Bethany and Cristiane were able to connect in a big way, exactly what we were hoping for. Another praise was that Cristiane's fiancé, João, who has been very harsh to the Gospel actually read the Bible with her and found a passage that spoke to him personally. It's not much, but it's a HUGE step for João.

We continue to meet with Pedro and Raquel, it’s awesome to see them grow in their faith and see them using the tools we’ve taught them into practice. This week, at our GBU nucleu, Pedro used the sword method, that we showed him a couple of weeks ago, to discuss Philippians 2. It was an amazing time of discussion, reflection and worship.

Like I said above, too much has happened to fill you in on all of it. But that is a little snippet of what has been happening over here in Portugal.

Oh! Also, Callie and I received the VISA extension- which not a lot of you knew about, but we got it. So that is a huge praise!

Tomorrow starts my last full week in Portugal. It will be VERY busy and full of teary goodbyes, good food, fun adventures, Jesus moments, and everything in between. So, make sure you keep your eyes out for a blog post within the next week.

But most important, as these final days are winding down, could you please pray? The picture above says it all.

Pray that I can end my time here well.

Pray for Cristiane and João.

Pray for Pedro and Raquel, Diana and Ricardo.

Pray for Merritt, Madison and Beth (the summer missionaries) as they arrive soon.

Pray that the relationships that Callie and I have created with students are easily passed on to Bethany and Jonathan and the three summer missionaries coming in.

Pray that our last week will be filled with Gospel conversations that need to be had.

This list could go on for forever, just please pray.

I will see you all soon, too soon actually.

-Ash