Updates so far

(Apologies if any of this info is repeat. I can't remember who has heard which stories)

Why I hate New Jersey and other tales of travel woe
So getting here. Everything was great until Newark. I find I lack fondness for New Jersey. Our flight was supposed to leave at 8:15 pm to arrive in Lisbon at 8:15 am local time, about 2:15 am ET. Three planes, two gates and two set of airplane food later (the first sets went bad we were waiting so long), we took off at 3 am ET. Yes that would 45 minutes after we were supposed to be Lisbon. Sigh.

On a positive note I'm happy we didn't fly over a big blue ocean on a BROKEN plane and we ended up on a bigger plane than scheduled which meant everybody had room to stretch out and it was the one with the little screens in the seat back. Got to see the new Pirates movie finally, rock. And the denizens of our flight were surprisingly laid back and calm about the delay. We broke into applause when we landed, remembering our crew had been waiting the extra 8 hours with us. I hope the stewardesses were pumping them full of coffee.

But getting here was the only harrowing part, everything else has been amazing.

Who knew a speedo could double as a cooler... while being worn

So we went to the beach the first afternoon. Yes, where we are staying is 10 minutes from a great beach. It's ok to be jealous. They were giving away this new yogurt drink as a promotion so there was a small mob of people. Free stuff gets the same reaction everywhere. So there were a couple of guys who I guess figured, "hey as long as it's free..." and would get a couple of bottles then get in line again. Keep in mind they are coming from the beach. A European beach. Speedos everywhere. (side note: interestingly and terribly unfortunately, only people over 40ish seem to be wearing speedos. Everyone younger wears American style trunks. I mean no one looks good in a speedo, but beer bellies don't improve the look) Now that you've got the image, being that most of these guys were wearing just speedos which are lacking in the pocket department, where to put the extra bottles? Well in the waistband across the back of course. And if two fit, why not, let's say 6 or 7? Seriously these guys were loaded up. It had to be cold.


American Idol and Oprah and taking over the world

So there is a lot more American TV than I was expecting. Some with voice over, some with subtitles. (Myth Busters in hilarious dubbed) We came home the other day and Deborah, Robert and Derlani's daughter was watching Oprah with no commercials
Its on a special "women's channel" with Dr. Phil etc. And I am grieved to report that last night flipping through the channels we actually saw WWF wrestling. You just can't get away from it.

I know American Idol started in England as Pop Idol, but I didn't realize the extent to which it had swept the rest of the continent. We watch a show called Superstar Familia the other night. It's American Idol with two family members who have to have at least 10 years of age difference. And it was the first night. You know, bad singing is funny in any language. Especially when accompanied by an 11 year old playing a synthesizer.

New vocabulary learned at soccer matches

We went to a soccer game on Sunday night. It was amazing. The stadium is enormous it hold 45,000 and it's not the biggest in town. There are three super liga (premier league) teams in Lisbon and countless smaller teams. The largest stadium in town (which is near the one we went to) hold 70,000. And there are nothing like European soccer fans. There was a guy in front of us who I can only describe as having a prolific vocabulary and I don't speak Portugues. So quick lesson in words and hand gestures not to use. But he did have the most impressive whistle I've ever heard in my life (they whistle instead of boo). I can't even really describe it in writing. You'll have to ask me for an impression in person.

The real reason we are here

So after all of those stories, you might be thinking "Didn't they go to Portugal to see if they wanted to start a church there?" Why yes we did. And the work towards that has been really good.

We've visited the churches that Robert and Derlani have been working with over the last 19 years and the people were very friendly and welcoming and all asking us in Portuguese when were are moving here because Portugal needs our help.

Yesterday we went across the river to Almada and Setubal (Google maps will help you out) to do prayer walks which simply means we walked around the area and prayed asking God where he wants to start a counseling center and church and to speak to the people in the neighborhoods we were walking through. There is an enormous statue of Christ like the one in Rio called the Cristo Rei that faces the city. We started there and went up on the monument and looked over the city. It was an awesome experience to stand at the feet of Christ (literally and figuratively) and pray for the people of the city.

I'm going to try to post some pictures, I'll include another post with the link.

We appreciate all of your prayers as we try to figure out if Portugal is the right fit for us.