We're here!

To quote a great romcom...

Olá!
Yes, I arrived. Having carried 30kg of bags across London (thanks to Scot and Misty for the ride from the house to the station - I genuinely might have lost my arms walking all that way. I almost did through London!), having to pay 210 pounds for having double my weight allowance, and enjoying a 2 1/2 hour half-empty flight Ryan Air style.

It's been raining non stop here since I arrived. But it's really fine rain, as if we're just inside the clouds. Which is quite probable, because the orphanage is up in the mountains.

So, I met everyone and was told to just chill out and make myself at home. So I unpacked and everything, and then just burst into tears! It had been such an emotional journey, and past few days, and I was just quite overwhelmed by the language and the people, as well as feeling a little lonely. I just needed a good cry. Then I fell asleep for about an hour, before going to Maccy D's with everyone! One of the leaders - Mar- has made friends with the manager or something, and so once a month they give us a free meal for everyone! Amazing! Then Susy (a spanish helper who arrived on Monday, also for 6 months), Mar, Nelson (one of the boys) and I went to see 'The strange case of Benjamin Button' (A-MAY-zing) at the cinema for €2.10! Wednesdays is 2 for 1 night :)

Thursday was spent cleaning up a container with all the tools I'll be using - I have been told that I will be a sort of 'handy man' during the day while I'm here, fixing things and making the place look nice. Then just relaxed with the children and watched TV with them before going to bed. Still raining all day.

I'm reading this really great book at the moment. Read it if you get the chance. It's called, 'The Shaping of Things to Come' by Michael Frost and Alan Hirsch. It's all about returning to a post-
modern, missional church, like it was at the beginning, rather than the hierarchical, dualistic 'attractional' church we've had in all Christendom. Really inspiring.

Mar is taking Suzi and me to Porto tomorrow to have a day out. That will be nice. We will stay the night in a friend's house before going to church in the morning.

Please keep praying for the language barrier thing. I'm learning Spanish and Portuguese at the same time, which is fun! It's a bit lonely, not being able to speak freely with everyone, so please pray I get to grips with this stuff! Thanks a million. I'll keep praying for you all.

That's all from me for now - not sure when I'll next get to write.
But I'll update you as soon as I can.

For The King and His Kingdom!
A x