Kingdom Seekers

It is finally full summer here in Portugal and we love enjoying the warm sunny days. It still feels strange to have summer in the middle of the year, because we are used to be in the middle of winter in June in South Africa.

April and May have been interesting, challenging and defining months for us. It’s been a time filled with a lot of thinking, reflecting and praying. Looking back, looking ahead and figuring out where we are at and what God is saying to us. We had to make some important decisions and there are some changes and shifts that we are excited to share with you.

Our chapter at Surf Church Porto has come to an end. We’ve been working and serving with Surf Church Porto for almost a year now and we are extremely thankful for the relationships we’ve built and the experiences we’ve had. It was truly a blessing and a privilege to be part of this community and we will always be grateful that we could serve here. We have grown and learned so much in this last year and we are excited and expectant to see what God is doing and will still do in and through Surf Church Porto. However, our time at Surf Church Porto has come to an end and we have decided to move towards pioneering and starting something new here in Portugal. This wasn’t an easy decision for us, because we truly love this community and have made great friends here, but we realised in the long term we need to remember why we came to Portugal and what we feel called to as cross-cultural missionaries.

At the end of April we attended a two day Church Planting training with Dynamic Church Planting International (DCPI), together with some other missionary couples and families, who also attended the training. The training was really impactful and helped us to re-evaluate what we are focusing our time and efforts on, what we are envisioning and dreaming about for the future and what changes we needed to make to keep moving in the right direction.

At the end of May we moved out of the house in Matosinhos, where we lived with the interns and visitors of Surf Church, to our friend Beth’s house in a nearby city called Santo Tirso. Beth is a friend who moved to Portugal 6 months before us, to obey God’s call. Beth recently bought a big beautiful old house with a big garden and some farm land with a vineyard, fruit trees and even some goats. She has a vision to see this property become a type of safe house and resting place for people who are burnt out or in transition. Beth is also very passionate about prayer and prophetic ministry and wants to see this house become not just a ministry house, but a property that can bless and empower the community.

The house hasn’t been used for 18 years, so even though it is very well built and beautiful, it has a lot of work. Beth has been working hard to renovate and fix up the house and property. We feel blessed to be able to help out with this big renovation project and to be here to pray with her about what God has planned with this property, what God has planned and prepared for us and also for Beth. These next few months will be a time of exploring and discovering.

This Sunday we will be at Surf Church Porto for the last time and they will pray for us, commission us and then send us out at the service. Like all endings in life, we are sad to say goodbye, but we are certain that the timing is right and we are thankful for the great friendships and the great journey we could walk together.

Since January our time here in Portugal has not been easy. In missions schools and trainings they always say that the first 6 months in a new country is okay, but after 6 months most missionaries usually experience going through a dip for the next few months to a year, because of culture shock, language barriers, missing home and many other challenges of missionary life. We have definitely experienced this 6th month dip and the last few months have been very challenging. We have really been struggling with learning the language and integrating into the culture and lifestyle in Europe and Portugal. There have been some challenges back home with our family, that have made us want to be back in SA so we could be there with them. We are also very sad because our beloved old dog, Voika, who stayed back in SA with my parents, also passed away in April. So the last few months have been very emotional and tough.

We are still waiting to get an appointment for our residency. Portugal’s immigration office is backed up with tens of thousands of international applications and we are still not able to get an appointment. This is a challenge, because we cannot leave Portugal without getting our residency. We really want to go back to South Africa to visit our family, but if we leave Portugal without our residency cards, we won’t be able to come back. So we will have to start the whole VISA process over again. We are really praying and asking God to make a way for us to get an appointment for our residency cards.

Thank you for praying with us and for us. We truly appreciate all your love and support and we would not be able to be here and get through difficult times without you. So thank you!

Have you not known? Have you not heard?
The Lord is the everlasting God,
    the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He does not faint or grow weary;
    his understanding is unsearchable.
 He gives power to the faint,
    and to him who has no might he increases strength.
 Even youths shall faint and be weary,
    and young men shall fall exhausted;
 but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength;
    they shall mount up with wings like eagles;
they shall run and not be weary;
    they shall walk and not faint.
Isaiah 40:28-31