{"id":6251,"date":"2025-02-05T16:07:39","date_gmt":"2025-02-05T16:07:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wordfree.net\/news2\/?p=6251"},"modified":"2025-02-06T06:05:07","modified_gmt":"2025-02-06T06:05:07","slug":"family-update-january-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wordfree.net\/news2\/?p=6251","title":{"rendered":"Family Update – January 2025"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Donna:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00a0We welcomed 2025 in Zhuhai ! During our time in the mainland we were\u00a0blessed to meet together with some dear brethren from our past fellowships. It was\u00a0great to connect with old friends after many years!\u00a0 God continues to move mightily in the mainland and we were inspired to share\u00a0our vision for future\u00a0plans for the Lord’s work. We also\u00a0made new friends and we are excited to return whenever possible!\u00a0 We are very positive about God’s promises, forgetting the things that were before and looking forward to the things that are to come!\u00a0 The future is as bright as the promises of God, dear Lord increase our faith. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Macau view from Hengqin<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Back in Macau we were able to spend valuable time with family and friends. Outdoor activities together were a real blessing for everyone. We celebrated Emanuel’s birthday a\u00a0few days\u00a0early, with the enthusiasm and\u00a0 joy that we were together again and that Emanuel is thriving,\u00a0healthy and fit as ever!!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Hot Pot family dinner<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Fun and games<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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at Gabriel and Selen’s<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Family time<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Badminton court<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Joana and her nieces<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Ben and Emanuel on the Court<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Mandy in style<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Emanuel with Bel Bel on his birthday<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

At the end of our stay we moved forward to start learning some Turkish vocabulary from Selen.\u00a0 I have to admit, it is not an easy language to impress on the memory, and after spending 3 days in Istanbul, I do think I was finally able to say thank you in Turkish and actually could hear someone echo\u00a0it back to me, albeit more quickly and with a different cadence:)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Haggia Sophia<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Mom at the palace<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Dress Code<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Haggia Sophia amazing mosaics<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Besides the lovely time we enjoyed with Selen’s family<\/strong>, we learned lots of history during our short stay in Istanbul<\/strong>. Constantine, the\u00a0 Byzantine Empire and Hagia Sophia, the Ottoman Empire, etc. etc. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is amazing to realize\u00a0 how much of the growth of Christianity took place in Turkey.\u00a0 Just a few things mentioned in the book of Acts: On the day of Pentecost, Jews from Cappadocia, Pontus , Asia, Phrygia, and Pamphylia , all part of modern day Turkey, along with Jews from other\u00a0nations\u00a0 were gathered in Jerusalem. and they all heard the gospel in their own languages.\u00a0Acts 2:10. Paul <\/strong>, formerly Saul, was\u00a0from Tarsus, which is in the shadow of the Taurus Mountains, located in modern day southwestern Turkey. Paul later wrote many letters to the churches established in Asia Minor, i.e. Turkey. The believers were first called\u00a0Christians in Antioch, south central Turkey.\u00a0 Acts 11:26. Paul and Barnabas had\u00a0 extensive missionary journeys in Asia Minor. The letters written by John to the 7 churches referred to in Revelations chapters 1-3 are all located in Western Turkey. The isle of Patmos where John was exiled to is in Turkey. Noah’s ark came to rest on Mount Ararat, northwest Turkey. The First Council of Nicaea was held in Nicaea, now Iznik, Turkey, from May\u00a0 until the end of July in 325. It is an interesting study indeed and I\u00a0am still investigating different aspects of this history.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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For more pictures from Istambul check the Albums below<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Album of Palace<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Album of Hagia Sophia<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Istambul Museum<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hotel, Streets, etc<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Upon arrival in Portugal, we were just in time to celebrate Cristiana’s birthday! It was a very festive occasion with lots of music, singing and dancing! Cristiana, Nuno and Afonso are very happy in their new abode and are very excited for the year to come. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Nuno, Cristiana and Baby Afonso <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Cristy and Gloria with Afonsinho<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u00a0 \u00a0As of today we are\u00a0 back to the farm. Upon arrival we were greeted with intense rainstorms.gale force winds and low temperatures.\u00a0 It has been an\u00a0intense winter so far and we still have a few months to go! Before we left, we pruned many of the olive trees but did not have time to clean up all the cuttings. We purchased a small tractor to help us haul all the branches to the front of our property in order to burn them. This vehicle has been a great help and is saving our backs and knees!\u00a0 We are in the middle of the clean up, but it is much easier now!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Pond is full<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Like a river<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Water everywhere<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Farmer’s Ferrari <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

On the 21st of January, Philip celebrated his birthday. We chatted online and are glad to see he is feeling great, was dropping the kids off at school and heading to the gym!<\/strong> (sorry, no pictures received.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00a0 \u00a0Last, but not least, Xin Nian Kuai Le to all those who celebrate Chinese New Year<\/strong>! May the joy of the Lord be your strength!\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Assorted <\/strong>images from January:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Tractor in action<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Sai Kong explorers – Emanuel and Gabriel<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Upcoming Coach, Jason <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Ben amd Kat – as we met for dinner in Hengqin<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Great effort towards’grandfather of the year’ award<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Glorious Serrra da Estrela (nearby us) waiting to see you one of these winters<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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After the storm<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Donna: \u00a0We welcomed 2025 in Zhuhai ! During our time in the mainland we were\u00a0blessed to meet together with some dear brethren from our past fellowships. It was\u00a0great to connect with old friends after many years!\u00a0 God continues to … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6251","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-wordproject_news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordfree.net\/news2\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6251","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordfree.net\/news2\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordfree.net\/news2\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordfree.net\/news2\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordfree.net\/news2\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6251"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/wordfree.net\/news2\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6251\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6301,"href":"https:\/\/wordfree.net\/news2\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6251\/revisions\/6301"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordfree.net\/news2\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6251"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordfree.net\/news2\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6251"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordfree.net\/news2\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6251"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}