Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from Our Family to Yours!

Celebration of the Birth of our Lord Jesus
What a joy it is to celebrate together the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ!  We trust you had a wonderful time with family and friends during the holiday season!  As a family we retreated into the mountains for a few days for Christmas, and we had a great time!  Let's celebrate our Lord Jesus each and every day!

Prison Ministry
The awesome ministry that our church has in a local prison continues to be blessed by the Lord.  We have seen several decisions for Christ, and new faces come to our meetings almost every month.  I continue to meet with a prisoner named Michel from Holland several times a month.  We have seen encouraging spiritual growth in him, and our prayer is that the light of Jesus will truly shine through him to those around him in the prison.

Casas Farol
As I have mentioned before, Casas Farol (Lighthouses) are an integral part in the vision of our church here to reach the lost for Christ.  In these meetings we get together in homes throughout the city to sing praises, study the Scriptures, pray, and share.  We hope to soon, in these meetings, begin to also gather around a meal to celebrate the Lord's Supper.  Please be in prayer as this year we are going to start what will be our fourth Casa Farol in the southern part of Porto.  It is our prayer as a church to see Casas Farol in every corner of this city!

Music School Ministry
Our church's music school ministry is doing very well.  The purpose of this ministry is to train people within our church to be able to use music to serve the Lord.  There are classes in piano, guitar, bass guitar, and music theory.  We also hope to have voice classes soon.  We have already seen fruit, as one of our students now plays bass guitar in our services.  I am encouraged as I am progressing with the guitar, and have already been able to use what I have learned with our girls, as well as in some meetings with church members.

Thank You
It seems as though the transition with our support has gone quite smoothly, and we want to thank you all for that, and for your faithful partnership!  We are so blessed to have each and every one of you alongside us on this journey!

Important and Exciting Changes!

The address for our support funds has changed! Here is the new information:


Twin Cities Church
memo: Portugal (Darling Family)
2375 W. University Ave, Suite 100
St. Paul, MN 55114

Any questions please contact finance@tccmn.org.


NOTE: You can also go to http://tccmn.org/give/ to give online or have automatic withdrawal set up!


Seven years ago a man named George Stagg felt the Lord leading him from Oakwood Road Church, the church where BILD International was founded, to plant churches in the Minneapolis and St. Paul area. They now have a thriving church that meets in both cities (You can read a little about their story here - http://tccmn.org/about/).


This church (Twin Cities Church) has recently become a partner of our church here in Portugal, Antioch Baptist Church. They have felt led by the Lord to join forces with us in reaching the lost here in the city of Porto. George and his wife visited us just a few months ago, where we strategized together on the best way to organize our churches so that the Gospel will spread in the most effective way possible.


We are very excited about this and everyone involved felt it important to make this change, as Twins Cities Church is at the moment better set up to handle all finances involved with our support. As you read above, there are now many different ways you can give, which we hope will make things easier for you going forward.


Please contact me if you have any questions. Thank you, as always, for your partnership!


Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!


In Christ,


The Darling Family

P.S. Stay tuned for an update on what's going on in the ministry here in Porto!

Blessings Abound!

Baptism
The Lord continues to bless the ministry of our church here in Porto.  Last week we had the joy of witnessing the baptism of a recent convert who came to Christ through the faithful example of a member of our church. Please pray for this young man from Colombia named Jhoan.  Pray that he would grow in spiritual maturity as he seeks to serve the Lord.

Bible Studies
An awesome part of our ministry here is the opportunity to have weekly Bible studies with several of the young people in our church.  I meet with three of our young men on separate days of the week, Caryne meets with several of the young women at least twice a month, and together we meet with a young dating couple each week.  It is such a privilege to study and grow in maturity together, and to see these young people with the desire to serve the Lord with their lives!  Please be in prayer that the Lord would guard their hearts, and that they would be effective witnesses to those around them!

A Special Visit
We were so blessed to have my parents here in Porto for two weeks!  They had a great time getting to know the ministry here, and visiting places in and around our city that are special to our family.  The girls loved the time with their grandparents!

What a joy it is to serve the Lord in Portugal!  Thank you for your partnership!

Plans for a Trip to the States

A Furlough
As the Lord continues to bless the work here in Portugal, we have begun praying about the possibility  of visiting the States to spend time with family and partners.

It is such a privilege to be a part of the Lord's work here in Portugal.  On June 15 of this year, we reached two years of living in the great city of Porto.  We are now praying for the opportunity to visit the States on a short furlough in the summer of 2015.  We are looking specifically to arrive on June 20, and stay until August 20. We will begin to connect with our church partners to see about opportunities to visit and share all about what the Lord is doing here.

Trip Expenses
As we are a large family, the biggest financial challenge will be the cost of airfare.  We will be needing to purchase six plane tickets.  We will also have in-country expenses like van rentals, etc.  Our plan will be to spend time with our families in the northeast, as well as visit each one of our church partners, both on the east and west coasts.  Would you prayerfully consider giving towards our visit to the States?  Thank you, as always, for your partnership!

Important
If you would like to give specifically towards this trip, please write your check out to BILD International (as always), and include "Darling Family Furlough" on the memo line.  You can also give by credit card by calling BILD at the number in the upper right hand corner of this blog.


   

Greater is He that is in You

New School

One of the awesome features of our new home is that the local school is within walking distance for Caryne and the girls.  For both Anadia and Cora it will mean moving to a new school and everything that a change like that brings.  This past year they had been attending separate schools, but praise the Lord they both have been accepted into the new one!  They certainly are excited that they will be together every day!  Please pray for them that they will integrate well will their new teachers and classmates, and that above all else they will be able to show God's love to those around them!

Special Project

As you all know, there are always extra expenses at the beginning of the school year for things like books and supplies.  If you would to give toward a special project specifically for the girls' schooling, the costs will be around $200.  

This little one has discovered the joys of walking :)

Recent Convert

Please be in prayer for a recent convert in our church named Laura.  Please pray that she will grow in Christ, and that we as a church will be effective in leading her to maturity in the Lord.  We praise the Lord for all that He is doing through this local church!

From a recent day trip to Gerês, northern Portugal.  

Getting Settled

Our New Home/Cora's Birthday
We are feeling wonderfully blessed as we settle in to our new home.  On July 9 we had the joy of celebrating Cora's sixth birthday, along with hosting our Casa Farol (led by Pastor Figueira).  We had many church families come to celebrate with us, and to dedicate our home to be used for the advancement of the Gospel.

Prayer Request - Neighbors
We are encouraged as almost right away we have connected with two neighbor families in our new community.  Our girls have struck up friendships with the children of these families, and we are excited about what the Lord has in store.  Please pray continually that the Gospel has an impact in our community!

Thank you for your partnership!

On the Move

We're Moving!
We have reached the two-year mark since moving here to Portugal, and we have decided to move to a new house and new area of Porto.  When we first arrived we were tremendously blessed to move into a beautiful apartment in the same building that Pastor Figueira and his family live.  It has been a wonderful place to call home and it will be bittersweet for us to say goodbye to it.

But as our church continues to move forward with the vision to reach this great city for Christ, we have felt the Lord leading us to strategically relocate so that our family may be used by the Lord in a more effective way. Our new home is in an area close to several families of our church, and Lord-willing we will launch a new Casa Farol there.  If you remember (Info on Casas Farol), Casas Farol are an important component in the vision our church has to reach the lost of Porto.  It is a home located in a quieter area of the city, with a little more space for the girls to play, and within walking distance of their new school.  Thank you for your prayers as we make this move!

Special Project - There will be some new expenses related to the new home, so if you would like to give to that specifically, you can send funds to BILD International with a note containing the title "Darling's Moving Expenses."

Nana's Visit

We had the wonderful privilege recently of receiving a visit from my grandmother, affectionately known as Nana, along with her friend Sue.  They spent several days with us here in Porto getting to know our church family and our city.  I was also able to travel down with them to Lisbon, where we spent another several days revisiting where I grew up and where Nana and my grandfather had visited so many years ago.  It was a true blessing from the Lord to be able to spend that precious time with her and Sue!

Music School

Several weeks ago, another important component in the vision of our church, a music school, was launched. Understanding the importance of music for the growth of any church, we began in May with over 10 students, with classes in music theory, piano, guitar, and bass guitar.  Several of the men involved in this school, including myself, are either current or future leaders of Casas Farol.  This school will enable us to learn to read and play music, giving us the ability to lead worship within Casas Farol.  The school also gives our kids and youth interested and/or gifted in music an opportunity to develop their abilities.  Please pray that this school will be used in a mighty way to spread the Gospel!