Jon Archive | jon and layne heller

Harder Weeks

A Jon Post

Some weeks are harder than others. I guess this was one of those. It’s funny because there are actually so many things that should have made it a GREAT week.

We struggled a bit with Portuguese this week though we sent many emails to native speakers who told us we were speaking well.

We felt discouraged by the lack of progress with our Angolan visa though we actually made many good contacts, heard from some, have good friends here working hard to help us, and, in a practical sense, saw more progress this week than we have in a while.

So we keep pressing on. Some times our emotions don’t line up with reality and we just kinda deal with it.

We have only three weeks until we fly back to the United States. Some times that’s hard to believe.

Good news! Voices of The World (www.votwmissions.com) has officially received tax exempt status from the IRS. That is great news and a culmination of a lot of work from a lot of people.

To do our laundry we go to a local Laundromat a few bus stops away. It’s a bit expensive but then… everything is expensive for us because the US Dollar is so weak compared to the Euro. Also, it’s the only way to get clean clothes so we do what we have to. Usually we listen to a sermon podcast from a pastor in Dallas, Texas. We took a few pictures of our trip this weekend. Click on them below to see the full sizes.

I know we say it a lot but we really do love and need you all. Pray for us please.

: Listening to a Sermon

: Layne waiting for the laundry

: Jon waiting for the laundry

: Our Laundromat

September 6, 2009

Jon

Angola, Personal, Portugal

2 comments

Doing more… Still learning

A Jon Post

Well, another eventful week and plenty of new words to go along with it in Portuguese.

We learned quite a bit this week and have plenty to study this weekend. We have only 5 weeks left and we must be sure we use our time here to the fullest extent we can. We practice with each other as often as possible and our tutor this week has been fantastic. As our finish date draws nearer and nearer we continue to feel confident that we will speak and understand well when we are leaving Portugal at the end of next month.

We went to a new town this week. We met a friend from church named Elizabeth who was an incredibly gracious guide for us. She drove us around and showed us things we would NEVER have heard of had she not been willing to host us. She even took us to some Roman ruins that date back to 100 B.C.

: A restored Roman garden

: Jon at the Ruins

Elizabeth was more than helpful and it was an incredible joy to spend the afternoon with her.

We had a bit of an adventure getting back to our house the evening of our trip to Coimbra. There is a metro-train system here and one of the trains goes very near our house. We got on the train about 7 stops before our house and sat back and relaxed, waiting to hear our stop announced over the loud speaker. Before our stop, this train goes through a large station where all of the other metro trains connect as well. It is a large station and normally many people get off at this station. We arrived at the large interchange station and noticed our train start emptying most of the people but assumed this was normal and that everyone was getting off to catch other trains. As we were sitting, waiting for our train to start back up and continue on to our stop, the lights turned off, and the doors closed. A little perplexed we looked at each other but didn’t think too hard about it. The train started off and we sat back, ready to go home. Suddenly, the train turned off the main track down a side track and I thought, “This can’t be good.” I looked back up the train at the same moment Layne did and we both realized we were the ONLY people left on the train. Uh-oh…

We walked up to the front car and got the attention of the conductor who informed us that the main station was our trains last stop and we were supposed to get off there (hmm… it was starting to click). He told us this train was heading to the garrage for the night. Woops! He made a phone call and got permission to let us off at a stop on his way and we got a train back to the main station and MADE SURE the next train we caught was actually going to our house area. A little flustered, but none-the-worse for wear we got home and laughed at ourselves for not putting together the whole “lights-off, train-empty” connection.

Empty Train

Woops!

Somehow these posts always turn huge. I don’t know why.

We went climbing again this weekend. Layne lead her first climb!!! Lead climbing is when you clip the rope in as you climb up. It’s a bit more dangerous and takes more skill. I was so proud of her! She did wonderfully and I look forward to her leading more and more.

We love you all. Please do keep praying for us as we pursue minsitry and a life of service.

Thank you all so much.

We love you guys!

August 23, 2009

Jon

Personal, Portugal, Rock Climbing

3 comments

New words, New friends

A Jon Post

Well, we’re still here and we’re still learning Portuguese.

Last weekend, Layne and I were a little discouraged. We felt like we weren’t moving very fast with the language, we felt like nothing was happening with our visa to Angola, we felt like our time here was just not being used to its fullest.

Language: We both did well when we were in college and, when we don’t feel like we’re excelling in a class we’re taking, we get frustrated. Last weekend we just felt like we weren’t doing very well. We took it as a wake-up call and buckled down and resolved to study more, speak to each other more in Portuguese, and not take for granted that we were one third of our way through language school. This last week we were rewarded with noticing that we are beginning to understand more and more and feel more and more comfortable speaking.

Church: We visited a new church. It is about a 30 minute train ride away but is without a doubt our favorite church we’ve found here. Riverside Porto (www.riversideporto.com) is an English speaking church specifically ministering to people here for a short time. We met some new friends there who are anxious to help us get into Angola and start ministry there. They are missionaries themselves, working here in Portugal, and we spent Wednesday afternoon with them talking about ministry and how they want to help us get into and stay in Angola. It was so refreshing and encouraging to meet these new friends and feel so supported in our heart to serve the people of Angola. They know and introduced us to some missionaries to Mozambique who are on furlough here in Portugal. Mozambique is another Portuguese speaking country and it was a great time of fellowship and talking about Southern Africa and the needs there.

Our friends from church invited us to a Medieval Festival near Porto and after that we were able to go with them to see a basketball game between the Portugal national team and the national team of Bosnia. For those of you who have been to the Renaissance Fair in Arizona it was like that but with a castle up on a hill built in the 900s. Definitely cooler.

Please keep praying for us. We need it so much. We cannot do any of this alone. We need prayer that we continue to learn Portuguese. Please, please pray that we learn well. Please pray that we get a visa to Angola.

We love you all. Thanks for reading this massive post. Click on the pictures below to see the full sizes.

: Go Team Portugal!

: The Castle on the hilltop at the fair

: Layne in the streets of the fair

: At the Medieval Fair

: The Castle! Built in the 900s

: One of the beautiful gardens in Porto

: Jon at a lunch spot in Porto

August 9, 2009

Jon

Angola, Portugal

4 comments

One Quarter of the Way

A Jon Post

Three weeks and counting and we’re one quarter of the way through our stay in Portugal. It seems like it’s going fast and we are encouraged by what we are able to communicate in Portuguese. Right now the biggest obstacle is our comprehension. People here speak FAST! Many times we are caught staring blankly at a person who has just asked us a question as we try to put together the few words we DID understand into what that person might have meant.

We are planning to visit a new church on Sunday. “Pentecostal Igreja Novo Jerusalem” or “New Jerusalem Pentecostal Church”. Meh… we’ll see how it goes and see if God says to stay there.

Last weekend we decided that we could stand for a little adventure while here. I had read about a place to go rock climbing near Porto and so we figured we’d try to make it there last Saturday with a friend we have met at school. We got up, grabbed a meal at the only Subway in Portugal, rendezvoused with our friend at the train station and headed out. A train to a village 30 minutes away and half-understood directions from a girl at the station saying “about 10 kilometers that way” and we were off, lugging a 40 pound backpack full of climbing equipment and hoping to hitch a ride from a nice driver “that way”. 1 hour later and with tired thumbs and legs we arrived at our destination. It was a beautiful little area right next to an old chapel and a gurgling stream. We climbed for about 3 hours and, exhausted and hoping for better luck with our thumbs, headed back towards the train station. About half-way back a flatbed truck driver saw our weary thumbs and pulled over and gave us a lift back to the train station. It was a great day. Click on the pictures below for full sizes.

: Jon Leading a Climb

We have received some encouraging communication about our visas from some friends in Angola and we are hoping to hear more from them and soon.

We could not be here without your prayers. We are so proud to represent Christ and to represent all of our supporters here in Portugal and into the world.

Please continue to pray for us and for our time here and for our time in Angola.

We love you all.

Jon and Layne

July 24, 2009

Jon

Portugal

1 comment

One week in Porto

A Jon Post

Hello From Porto,

This week we’ve been thrown into the city and language at a breakneck pace. We’ve been studying with our tutor for three hours a day and going out with other students or simply on our own in the afternoons and evenings using what little we’ve learned so far. We found out that Porto is full of incredible sites and culture. Gustav Eiffel (of that one well known tower in Paris) began his career here in Porto designing bridges. The one in this picture is a well traveled bridge and it turns out people are allowed and often do jump from the edges (the lowest line in the picture, not the highest) into the water below. Upon seeing some people jumping, Layne and I immediately made plans to do so ourselves some time in the next three months.

Our lessons have been going very well and we have been told we are learning very fast. My Spanish language background and Layne’s French have helped us quite a bit (though some times they just end up confusing us). Last night, after one week of classes, we were able to converse enough in Portuguese to explain what we want to do in Angola, why we want to do it, and that we want to raise a family there and live there indefinitely. There are still plenty of words and terms and tenses we don’t know but we were encouraged by our first week.

Our tutor, Ana Raquel, is a wonderful woman and is currently studying to graduate in December with her PhD in teaching language (it has a longer and more official sounding name but it’s in Portuguese and I don’t remember it). She is a perfect fit for us and, after meeting and spending some time with all the other tutors, we like her the best.

Today we went out and explored Porto more than we had all week. We actually went on quite an adventure because many of the bus routes were closed or changed for a car race/show/some-kind-of-event down at the beach. We had no idea it was there until we got there and found rows and rows of incredibly expensive cars. We jumped at the chance to get our pictures with a supped up Ferrari and an antique Lotus.

Please continue to pray that we study and learn well and that we progress to the level of understanding our staggeringly fast speaking host named Maria. At the moment we are able to get OUR point across but she responds with a flurry of words we’ve never heard of or can’t understand for about five minutes every time she speaks.

Also, please pray we find a church that is alive in Christ that we can plug into while we are here. We have noticed some in town and we will try one out tomorrow.

Enjoy our pictures. Click on them to see a full size view. Please pray, send us emails, comment here, or just remember we’re here.

God bless!