Back in Porto for a while

Where will you be this Thursday? Will you be eating turkey and mashed potatoes or enjoying some other type of feast? Will you be up shopping at 6 am Friday morning or putting up your Christmas decorations for another holiday season? Wherever you are and whatever you are doing, we hope you are as blessed as we have been the past month!

Mozambique: Already a month ago, Jeff returned from his first trip to Mozambique. The registration for our church will take longer then planned, but the trip was still a success. We learned many new things about the city we will be living in and the culture we will be doing mission work in. The plan now is to resubmit our registration in December and hopefully move in the spring.

Germany: We were very blessed to spend 10 days seeing Lutherland in October. Our trip started in a beautiful little village in the Black Forest. We attended a retreat for WELS members in Europe, many of them in the military. Then we drove to the other side of Germany and stayed with our friends, the Drechslers, in Zwickau. It was a beautiful time to see the Wartburg Castle and the city of Wittenberg, all the trees were full of color and the weather was brisk. The vacation was a nice chance for us to spend time together as a family and recharge before returning to Portugal and continuing our language classes.

November: After a month of irregular classes, due to all of our travels, we restarted Portuguese classes. One change this month has been the opportunity to meet with a Mozambican for cultural classes twice a week. It has been very interesting to here him explain the history of Mozambique. Another change is that on Fridays we are having a “practical class.” Jeff meets with Pastor Villares to work on liturgy and other church related language while I meet with Marta and “teach” a recipe and a bible story to her in Portuguese. It has been a nice change from the typical classroom setting we are used to.

Izaak: Our little guy just turned 6 month this past week and is becoming more and more interesting each week. He can sit alone, although a pillow behind him is still a good idea, just to be on the safe side. He started cereal, but is not a big fan and still prefers mom’s milk. He continues to go to daycare while we are in class and greets his teachers with a big smile every morning.

Thanksgiving: Last year we had 17 family members enjoying turkey together at our house in Omaha. This year, the numbers won’t be as high, but we are still looking forward to having guests! Jeff’s sister, Joy, and her husband, Rick, arrive this Sunday and will be here a week. Although we will be in Lisbon on Turkey Day, I am sure there will be plenty of opportunity to eat while they are here.

Prayers: Please continue to pray for the church’s registration, we can not move until this has been completed. Also keep both our family’s health and the health of the Meiers in your prayers – all of us have been suffering from colds and the flu. We join with you this Thanksgiving, and praise God for all the wonderful things he has given to us and pray that he continues to bless us in the years to come!