Mission in Lisbon, Portugal
By Shawn Smith
Blessed! That is the one word I would use to describe the experience of visiting Lisbon with a group from FBC during Spring Break 2020. While the trip didn’t go as planned, God still used our time in Portugal for his kingdom.
My adventure began in the fall of 2019 after learning some of the students I worked with in the university ministry were planning to go to Lisbon. I knew that my family would not be going on a family mission trip as we had done in the past. However, I was interested in serving the Lord with those university students. After I signed up, Nathan asked if I would be the team leader for our group. Even though that was not what I had initially envisioned, I could see that God had put me in this group for that reason.
Our group consisted of four adults and seven university students. Starting in late January, we met regularly to get to know one another and learn more about what we would be doing in Lisbon. We knew we would be working with Bethany and Jonathan Sharp to reach out to families and students in their area. The Sharp family and two of their local ministry associates greeted us upon arrival at the Lisbon airport. Another group from the Baptist Student Union at Hinds Community College joined us shortly after. It was great to make new friends from home, even on the other side of the world!
We started with Bible study and learned how to share our faith in the Lord with students in Portugal, a lesson we could easily continue on our return home. Bethany and Jonathan are both incredibly talented in helping others dig deeper into God’s word and leading them in becoming effective communicators of faith.
After lunch, we participated in a prayer walk around the Sharp’s neighborhood and invited local families to join us for an afternoon of activities in a nearby park. Our students created balloon animals and entertained children while visiting with their families and invited them to attend future Bible study outreach events.
Following a good night’s rest, we began Monday morning by meeting with a group Bible study and planned to visit college campuses later in the day. We divided into our two groups to cover nearby local schools to meet students and invite them to join us at the park for afternoon games.
It was slightly intimidating to encounter students in a foreign country where I don’t speak the language and ask, “Do you speak English?” But when I approached it with the knowledge that God will place the right people in our path and allow us to be involved where He is at work, it became easier. Mr. James Henley and I set out for the engineering building. Now, my best friend from college is a chemical engineer, but that is as far as my knowledge goes. I was sure that Mr. Henley could talk engineering with anyone whether they spoke the same language or not! We were able to meet several different groups of students and invite them to join us later that afternoon.
Our goal was to build relationships with students and hopefully encourage them to participate in other activities we had planned for the remainder of the week. We enjoyed lunch on campus and then met back with our group to venture to a nearby park and set up an area to play games like corn hole, ladder ball, disc toss, and toss around a football. We were able to meet more students at the park and get to know some of them. I did more prayer walking around the perimeter of the park, asking God for His blessing on the interactions between our group and the Portuguese students. As we wrapped up our afternoon, we invited the students we’d met to meet us back in the same place on Wednesday.
It was on Tuesday, as we enjoyed touring around Lisbon and traveling by train around Portugal, that we learned our plans would be changing a bit. Portugal would be closing college campuses beginning the next day due to COVID-19. Wednesday morning, we met again with the Sharps and the Hinds group for Bible study and to help the Sharps prepare for upcoming events. We stuffed Easter eggs with candy for events in their neighborhood and with their local church. We also put together invitations to a Bible study for local young professionals.
Since we wouldn’t be going to college campuses to meet more students, we returned to the park we visited on Monday afternoon in hopes that some of our previous contacts would return. We arrived at the park and enjoyed a picnic lunch from a local eatery. We did indeed have some friends return that we’d met on Monday. Several of our students were able to share the gospel with friends they’d previously met. We firmly believe God will continue to bless the seeds we planted.
After exploring a new area of Lisbon, we enjoyed a delicious authentic Portuguese seafood meal and prepared for bed. We were awakened shortly after by news that the U.S. president had announced a travel ban from European countries. Thankfully we weren’t negatively affected, but it was still alarming to receive that kind of news in the middle of the night. We met with the team from Hinds, who had decided to leave early, to debrief and share in prayer for our respective travels home.
While I wish we had been able to interact further with the students we met in Lisbon, I’m happy to have had the opportunity to travel with this group and would love to revisit Portugal. The students I traveled with are the MOST AWESOME group of young people, and I 100% would go anywhere with them, although hopefully without another global pandemic!
Thank you, FBC Starkville, for encouraging missions around the world and supporting everyone who participates in Spring Break mission trips through prayer and financial contributions.