Beau & Valerie Moore
Portugal
BBFI
http://www.moores2portugal.com/
May 2020
I had to let out a bit of a nervous laugh as I opened
this document to type a new prayer letter. I see that
the last one we sent out was titled “Yay, 2020!” Can
we all agree that 2020 has taken a quick, and sharp
turn for the worse? It really did get off to such a
good start in our ministry here, but we soon found
ourselves closing our doors, as so many around the
world have been forced to do, and we have turned to
on-line platforms and phone calls to continue
ministering to our people the best we can. We
“endured” 52 days of strict quarantine in Portugal,
during which we were not able to leave our home.
“Not being able to leave your home” when you live in
a 1200 sq. ft. apartment is a different scenario than
“not being able to leave your home” when you live in
a free-standing home with a porch and a yard:). I
thought one of my favorite memes appropriately
illustrated this point.
Even “drive-in” or
“ d r i v e – b y ”
situations have not
been an option for
us, as we have had
to carry special
paperwork with us
at times, just to
d r i v e o u r c a r.
Thankfully, the
c h u r c h i s i n
walking distance,
so we have still
been able to use
the building to
record sermons
and music, and
h a v e t a k e n
advantage of the lack-of-people to paint the
auditorium!
Portugal is now starting to lift some restrictions and
re-open some businesses.
While we have endured some long days at home with
3-cooped-up kids, and have been afflicted by
distance-learning, we recognize our situation is still
better than many.
One thing we have learned in life is that no matter
how bad you think you have it, it doesn’t take much
looking to find someone (or many some-ones) worseoff than you, and that helps keep our grumblings and
gratitude in check.
In our last letter, we mentioned how we were
counting down the days to our stateside time, and
how anxious we were to see our friends, family, and
faithful supporters. Alas, our flight was canceled.
Even today, we are still sorting out the details
concerning our return, and of course, even the 9-12
months of scheduled stateside travel has a lot of
question marks surrounding it. We are trusting the
Lord a step at a time and trying to be patient in the
midst of it.
As people’s focus quickly turned “local,” one of our
friends realized it was about to become very difficult
for us to raise the remaining $4,000 we needed for a
furlough vehicle. He was correct; while we had been
seeing a steady stream of offerings coming in,
designated for a vehicle, they immediately stopped.
He took it upon himself to make up the difference
between what we had and what we needed in order
to have a vehicle. During so many days of
uncertainty, it feels so good to have that one detail
squared away and certain. What a blessing! Thank
you to everyone who contributed for that need.