Wednesday was Goto's birthday. He's now 17. Unfortunately for him, you have to be 18 to drive... shame.

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So, I've now been here for three and a half weeks, and it's a great place to be. What's more, this week has been absolutely beautiful, with no rain at all! One morning we had some low clouds and mist and stuff, but they lifted pretty quickly. In its place, we've had warm sunshine, bright blue skies and temperatures of around 15/16ºC! Compared to Britain's snow-temperatures, I think it's positively baking.

I finished my ground digging work on Monday, as far as I can tell, but it has yet to be tested to see whether I have actually succeeded in levelling it out. I have now moved on to recobbling a path way that leads up to the volleyball and football pitches - the edge stones have all come out of place. So that's quite exciting. Also, this week, I've been putting edging stones back in around the driveways, and I also had to fill this massive hole in the corner of the volleyball court. It was really deep - like, I could stand up in it I reckon! (No, unfortunately, I didn't try...) I just had to get rubble from round the back and put it into the hole and then put sand over the top. Manual labour. Brilliant.

There's an English speaking church in Porto, and so on Sunday I went along to their service. I've been conversing with Bill and Tina, the couple who open their house each week. They seem like a lovely community, and very welcoming. I also went to a party their last night (Saturday 14th) for Bill's 60th, which was good to go to as I met some more of the community and was able to just hang out. Also, going on the train there is marvellous. 4€30 return, and it takes about an hour and a half. The only trouble is one of the changes which is a ridiculous half an hour for a ride which takes 1 minute. (In fact, you can walk it in 20 mins, but since the only time I've done it has been at night, I decided not to risk getting lost this time...)

I must admit, I've been a little lax with my quiet times this week. Mar has been away on conferences in Spain, and left me her computer. Whilst this is very nice, and quite useful as I've been trying to organise trips to see my family, it is also very distracting. And I am easily distracted. So, I've got to keep my discipline up. Having said that, 1 Peter is a very encouraging letter. It's all about hope, trust, and love. Chapter 1 v 19 says, 'We put our trust in God through Christ. And, since God raised Christ from the dead and gave him great glory, we can put our hope and faith confidently in him.' (I've been trying to decide, and I think that 'him' at the end refers to Jesus Christ...) I've also finished 'The Shaping of Things to Come' - if you still haven't read it, go and start reading it! - and am now going through 'The Younger Evangelicals' by Robert E Webber. It's quite a good way to follow on from 'The Shaping' since it is pushing for Christians to stop thinking of themselves as higher than everyone else, and live the lives we're meant to live!

This has been a bit of a sporadic entry, and I'm not sure why, since I've been doing a fair bit since my last entry a week and a half ago. So, sorry about that. There's been trips down to the river by Susy and me, which has been beautiful, especially just at dusk when the sun lights up the clouds with soft pinks and yellows, reflecting in a mirror-still river flowing past newly created walkways and ancient Roman bridges, drawing small blue fishing boats along as they come home from the big city...

Also, asking how much it costs to develop a film, and to then get a response which seems to go into the intricacies of how films are developed, when you don't speak any Portuguese, is quite funny, and a little confusing. As far as I could tell, it would cost 10€ at a shop near here, plus a free roll. I think I'll shop around...

Today, we're off to the Theatre with the kids! It's extremely exciting, and I have no idea what we're going to see.
Até breve, amigos!