Hello from Portugal! I write this to you from Radio Transmundial Portugal's headquarters in Mem Martins just outside of Lisbon. I have been here for one week and will be here for another three weeks learning about and assisting with the ministry, getting a thorough understanding of the culture, and speaking a LOT of Portuguese (though the people here say I speak "Brazilian"). :)
Much has happened since my last blog entry. One of the big things was the Annual Partners Conference which took place April 25th-27th in Bratislava. This is TWR Europe's biggest event of the year, and I just basically did whatever Cristy (event coordinator) told me to do, assisting with set up and tear down, taking photos for future use, and keeping people informed of the happenings via the internet. Here are some tidbits from an article I wrote giving an overview of APC 2012.
"Another Annual Partners Conference has come and gone. Representatives from TWR and our Partners came from over thirty countries throughout the TWR Europe region to participate. This year’s theme was Women, Media, and the Future. The wealth of insight shared and the time for networking among those present provided for an extremely successful conference."
"One of the highlights of the conference was when all of the women in attendance received a rose—a symbol of love and acceptance and the acknowledgement of an unfortunate history of churches and ministry organizations overlooking their contribution to God’s work. This year’s multiple speakers, men and women both, provided a broad overview of the situation of women all over the world—many seeming utterly hopeless."
You can read the full review HERE if you're interested.
TWR President Lauren Libby
There are some cool things happening through TWR these days! Besides having the opportunity to be in Portugal, I'm also excited that my friend, colleague, and roommate for the next year, William Baker, has joined the TWR Europe team! He is from South Carolina, an incredible photographer and videographer, and a fun-loving guy that will be an awesome addition to our team. We have some huge plans for this next year! He arrived in Slovakia less than 12 hours before I left Slovakia. Ha!
TWR Europe just launched a Photo Contest yesterday on our Facebook Page. This is open to anyone, so, by all means, please join! We are hoping to get more traffic, generate more interest in TWR Europe's ministries, and build community. The winner will get published in one or more upcoming publications that will be used to promote our ministries needing more funds for further expansion, speaking Hope where it is most needed.
We are also active on Twitter and Instagram (twreurope) if you'd like see what's going on! Another exciting thing is that our website has a new layout that is about to be launched. It looks a lot better, is much simpler and cleaner, and has a lot more opportunity for user involvement.
There is so much more I could say, but I will end it here. Please know how much I appreciate you all. Thanks for all your encouraging words! This last month was pretty rough as I was getting overwhelmed by everything, but through it, God revealed Himself to me and gave me peace.
I saw how "lukewarm" I've been living my life, which only results in misery. God doesn't want or need a part of us, but demands all of us. Being enslaved to Christ is the only place of true freedom. Keep me in your prayers as I seek to honor God with my life and ministry here. I know you all are on this same journey as well, and I'm so grateful for like-minded friends and family that are in this together with me!
I will be adding more photos of my time here in Portugal throughout my stay. To see more photos, click HERE.
I'm probably using Twitter more than Facebook now, so if you'd like to keep updated on things that interest me and see photos of things that fascinate me, "Follow" me HERE.
My May 2012 newsletter can be seen HERE.
