Jon and I have left Portugal now, and we have begun our long journey home. Thankfully, we will spend one night in London before the long flight over the ocean. We hope to rest well.

We have a huge praise report already, and our travels have just begun. Because our flight to London was booked separate from our flight to the States, the airline on our way out of Portugal said our weight limit was cut in half. According to the new limit we would owe approximately $1000 in order to get our bags back with us. Jon explained and explained, as this had not been a problem on the way here. Apparently, it should have been, but thankfully we were shown mercy. As long as she could check our bags all the way through, she would not charge us the extra. It worked! We were and are so very thankful. Now we will continue to pray our bags make it on the airplane tomorrow.

Our last few days in Portugal were wonderful. We spent much of our time with friends we’ve made along the way. Because of the internet, “Goodbyes” are not quite as horrible. Staying in touch has become more and more possible.

We have what is possibly very exciting news.
There is an organization in Europe and Africa (Angola included!) that we have been put in contact with by wonderful friends we made in Portugal, Elizabeth and Armenio. The branch in Portugal had a meeting this week and looked over our business plan, which has now been sent to the main European office. They will be making a decision about whether or not we can possibly partner together soon. It seems that their goals and ours could mesh quite nicely.

Please join with us in prayer as this process continues. We want the blessing of the Lord in every step we take. If this is our open door, we praise Him. If not, we praise Him still.

We hope to see many of you very soon in Arizona and then in Corpus Christi. I am constantly amazed by your love and support for us. Thank you.

P.S.

Ladies, there is a neat opportunity to support Jon and I and get a really nice lip-gloss. Pretty cool, huh? My best friend, who lives in Ohio, sells a product by the name of Arbonne, which many of you probably already know. (Great quality!) She has teamed up with a few of my family members and they are doing a fundraiser called “Lip Gloss for a Cause”. There are 6 colors of gloss (https://www.arbonne.com/shop_online/showCatalog.asp?category=183) each selling for $11. Jon and I will receive 52% of the profit.  If they are able to sell 500 glosses, Jon and I will receive approximately $2850! This is a great time to think about Christmas and upcoming birthdays. If you are interested, let me know and I can put you in touch with one of the sellers. =)

Here’s some pictures of our last week in Portugal. Click on them to see the full sizes.

Well we’ve got only one week left and we’re outa here. Hard to imagine some times.

Still working on our visa for Angola, PLEASE keep praying for that.

Still learning Portuguese. We are happy with how far we’ve come.

We’ve been putting up huge walls of text recently so I’ll finish here. Here’s a bunch of pictures of a trip we took today. We went to a vineyard and picked the grapes, gathered the grapes, stomped the grapes, broke the thing that presses the grapes (oops, Jon’s fault) and had a great time.

Love you all! Where’s all the comments to let us know you read this thing? Click on the little bubble at the top right of this post and add a comment! Come on people!

Click on the pictures to see the full sizes! Oh, sorry about the strange captions. It’s been a long day and I couldn’t get this out of my head.

This week had a bit of a different feel, as our classes did not begin until 3 in the afternoon, as opposed to our usual 10am. Originally I did not know which I would like better, but looking back the morning classes are definitely better. I would say this for a couple of reasons. First, because our mornings seemed to go by entirely too slow, leaving me munchy and drowsy. And secondly, the buses we usually catch are terribly inconsistent in the afternoons! One day we waited for an entire hour, while some six buses did not come at their scheduled times. When a bus finally did come, it was so packed the doors barely squeezed shut behind us… talk about hot and uncomfortable, and this is afternoon standing irritably for an hour in the scorching sun!

Anyways, on a more positive note, our classes went well and we learned quite a bit. As we quickly approach the end of our time here, we are encouraged about our Portuguese and feel confident in all that we have learned.

We continue to make contacts for Angola, and we feel that we are being diligent with what we have. I am extremely thankful to all those who have made effort on our behalf; it is humbling. I do not feel like we are at a standstill with things, which is encouraging, yet no definite progress is being made. We only trust the Lord and His perfect time.

The evenings here for the next week and a half or so are going to be in the upper 50’s. That is right, the 50’s! One word: glorious! I love needing a little sweater; it makes me feel “Fall-ish”. The only thing missing now is my pumpkin spice latte, a pumpkin cupcake from Sprinkles, a piece of pumpkin cheesecake (yes, 2 desserts!), and my pumpkin colored toe-nail polish. Mhmmmm. What cozy thoughts!

Jon and I will be returning to the states now in a mere 2 weeks. Wow! We will only have 3 weeks in Arizona and about the same in Corpus Christi before we head back to Southern Africa. We hope to be able to connect with as many people as possible during those times, while also allowing ourselves time to pack, prepare, and process prior to our “one-way” trip to Africa.

We love you guys. Thanks for helping us feel encouraged and supported. Many blessings.

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.