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Portugal UBF
March 6, 2014

Mark 6:34 “When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. So he began teaching them many things.”

I thank and praise God for his wonderful grace of salvation to sinful men like us through his one and only Son Jesus Christ. I thank and praise God for Jesus the good shepherd who leads us to green pastures even in this turbulent and chaotic world. He gives us peace and joy and true freedom. As I look back on 2013, I cannot but praise and thank God for his mercies and blessing upon our ministry in Portugal. As it is well known, the last two years have been very hard for Portugal as a nation and the Portuguese people as a society. The economy suffered hard, unemployment sky-rocketed to 16.4 %, particularly the youth unemployment rate hiked by 36.2 % which is unprecedented in the history of Portugal. The country had to go to IMF and European Union (Troika) for a bail-out package in order to pay its debts and public finances. From a human point of view, the situation seems to be very dark and fatalistic. But from a spiritual point of view, this is a wakeup call for the happy-go-lucky youth of Portugal. They became restless and began to wonder about their future. The leaders of the nation have no vision and no direction. Even the Prime Minister suggested to young people to migrate and find jobs in other countries. Jesus sees them as sheep without a shepherd and has compassion on them. He wants to give them the word of life and a vision to be a light for all Portuguese-speaking nations in the world. Now I would like to report in brief God’s work in 2013 in and among us in Portugal.

First, One to One Bible Study Ministry
One remarkable work was that Sara Neusa grew as a good Bible teacher and shepherdess for two students. Several students came and went. M. Grace, M. Rebeca and Shepherdess Sara visited campus diligently and invited students to Bible study. Sometimes they faced a lack of space since our center has only one room. Watching sheep coming to our center gave us a vision to be a source of blessing for all Portuguese-speaking countries in the world.

Second, Disciple-making Ministry
Shepherdess Sara grew consistently as a good disciple and Bible teacher. She served message on every other Sunday worship service. She also participated in leaders’ group Bible study every Saturday. Despite her busy research work she faithfully served Clara and Ana Paula with God’s word.
Sister Clara is doing her master’s work in translation. She suffers from Asperger’s syndrome. Due to her condition she had relationship problems with her parents and colleagues. She despaired a lot and found no meaning in her life. Her only dream was to get married and have children but due to her disorder she became hopeless. However, through Bible study and the love of Jesus, she repented her despair and began to love her parents. Shep. Sara is serving her as a good spiritual mother with a great hope to raise her as a prayer mother and Bible teacher like herself. Ana Paula is a graduate in Information Technology. She is also the younger sister of Shep. Sara. She is very skeptical about Bible study and Bible teachers. But with prayers and the love of Shep. Sara, she changed her attitude and is studying the Bible continually. We pray that through God’s word she may meet Jesus personally.
Brother Nuno is another growing disciple candidate. He is the presider of our Sunday Worship Service. M. Grace served him just like a babysitter every week. We are praying that he may be a transformed man of God and good Bible teacher in 2014.
Sister Maria is another growing disciple candidate. She is a law student of New University of Lisbon. M. Rebeca served her like a spiritual mother. Maria suffered from meaninglessness and fear. But through Bible study she gained strength and peace. She plays guitar during singspiration and participates in music and dramas with great joy.

Third, Sunday Worship Service
We held our worship service at 15:30 hrs. M. Mateus and Shep. Sara Neusa gave messages in turn. We studied the gospel according to Luke in this year. 12 – 14 persons participated in the worship service and listened to God’s word. Our second gens played music and prepared a spiritual environment where God could be praised. Brother Nuno presided over the service faithfully. M. John took care of finances and prepared the proper environment every Sunday. We prepared a larger hall in the same building of our center for our Sunday worship service in which 20 people can sit and worship. We pray that in 2014 God may fill this place with many young students.

Fourth, World Mission
Last year M. Mateus and Shep. Sara participated in the International Summer Bible Conference in the USA. Shep. Sara shared her life testimony on the opening day. It was God’s blessing that through her life testimony many people around the world prayed for us. In January, M. Elijah Park of Brazil visited us and had fellowship with us.

Fifth, Second Generation
By God’s grace our second gens grew spiritually. Eun Hye who is eldest among four took charge of group Bible study for all four second gens every Saturday while their parents had Bible study at the center. They kept their spiritual identity despite a materialistic and hedonistic culture. All of them excel in their school studies. I was deeply moved by their sincere and frank sharing after the Sunday worship service. It was soul refreshing. I pray that they may grow into spiritual prayer mothers and Bible teachers for their generation in the coming years.

Sixth, Bible Retreats
By God’s grace we had two Bible retreats in this year. The first Bible spring retreat was in spring from March 16-17. Twelve people attended the retreat. Shep. Sara delivered the message “Jesus Rose Again” (Luke 24:1-25). Maria prepared a drama on Jesus’ resurrection. Nuno, Eun Hye, Ji Hye, Maria, Debora and Lidia participated. Through God’s words on resurrection we renewed our faith in the resurrection.
On Dec. 14-15 we held our Christmas Bible Retreat at Baptist Camp. M. Mateus Singh delivered the message “Let’s Worship Jesus, our Shepherd” (Mt 2:1-12). 13 people participated in the retreat. We worshiped Baby Jesus with our hearts and souls, and we were filled with great joy. All the participants were joyful and thankful to God who sent Jesus as our shepherd. Clara was the most joyful and thankful. Maria, Nuno, Rosa, Clara, Eun Hye, Ji Hye, Debora and Lidia played their roles in the drama. On Dec. 22 we had our Christmas worship service. Shep. Sara delivered the message “The Baby in a Manger is our Savior” (Luke 2:1-14) 15 people participated in the worship service. The second gens sang a special song. It was a quiet and very graceful worship service. All of us were moved by the grace and unconditional love of God to sinful people like us.
I personally thank and praise God who blessed us so much in 2013. Apparently, it seemed that nothing much was happening. But God with his invisible hands was very busy in planting hope in the hearts of some young people when hopelessness and despair prevailed. God helped me fight spiritually and serve the mission by faith. But as a sinful man I have been complacent and did not struggle hard enough to preach the gospel among the students through one to one Bible study. I was the only person who did not have any sheep in 2014 among all missionaries. I repent before God for my spiritual laziness. I pray that I may fight a good fight of faith in 2014. I pray that I may serve one student with God’s word and raise one disciple of Jesus in 2014.

Our Prayer Topics for 2014
1. Raise 12 house churches in Portugal beginning from Shep. Sara Neusa
2. Luke’s gospel ministry
3. 21 one to one Bible students and 12 students in SWS.
4. Portugal to be a source of blessing for all Portuguese-speaking countries

Mateus Singh