I have been receiving requests from others to tell them how to post their own podcasts. I guess the only credibility I have for this is that I am extremely amature when it comes to podcast posting, so maybe it helps making it simple.
So here goes my very nontechnical and laughable instructions.
IN order to post a podcast, you just need a way to store it for public access on the internet. There are many platforms for this. The one I use is Podbean, but I am sure there are others. So, for the sake of this excersize one can just go to Podbean and set up an account by clicking the 'sign up' link found at the top of the www.Podbean.com website. The free account allows for 100 minutes of audio storage, which should be enough for the beginner to experiment with. From there, fill in the blanks like the first time you set up your hotmail or yahoo account. The next step will give you options to design your page with profile pictures and what not.
Once you have set up your account, you are ready to post a created mp3 Podcast.
After signing in to Podbean from the www.podbean.com home page, click the green tab that says 'Publish a Podcast.' This will take you to a page called 'Dashboard' where you can click on 'Publish a new show'. Here is a screen that looks like a place to send an e-mail. Here you can enter tags that help people interested in certain things like "underwater trains" or "tattooing domesticated plantlife" find your podcast if you should tag it with such words. You also get to title the podcast here, and post a long or short blog along with the podcast. Below the box that says post is where you can add your podcast from an mp3 file that you have stored somewhere on one of your computer drives.
In order to do this you have to upload the mp3 to your account. For this you need to look near the top of the page and click on the word that says "upload." When the next page opens, click on the big upload button in the middle of the page. When that page opens, you will see a box that says "Uplaod files to your account." In the "upload files box" there is a button that in German says "Durchsuchen..." When you clike on this button, windows explorer, or Finder for mac should open. When it opens, you can select the mp3 file you want to post. After selecting the mp3, you may have to click okay or enter, or some other button (in german it is the one that says "Öffnen"... I think.) After you have found and selected the file for loading, it should appear in the talkbox in the middle of your screen just above the upload button. Press the upload button, and your mp3 will begin to upload. This should take some time. It is important to just let the uploadder do its job without any interruptions. It takes I think longer to upload a podcast than download one.
I am a little fuzzy on this part as I am not uploading a podcast for this walk through. However, I think when the upload is complete it should take you back to the screen with the big upload button on it. All that really matters is that you know that the upload was successful, which you can be sure of if you can get back to the page with the big upload button in the middle of it (that is the page you are probably already on) and there in the current media files box you should see your file listed.
If the file is listed you are ready to move on. If it is not, look to someone else to help you decifer my confusing instructions so that finally the file appears as it should.
Once you are ready to proceed, the next thing you need to do is to click on "Publish" near the top of the page. This page should be familiar to you by now. In order to publish the podcast you just uploaded, you need to look a little more than half way down the page to a box that says "Podcasting". Just below this should be a box that says "no file selected". Click on the down arrow button just to the right of the "no file selecetd box", and select the file you just uploaded. Now this file should appear in the box where it used to say "no file selected".
Now if you are finished entering all the text fields (tag, title, and post) you should be ready to publish your first podcast. So when you are ready to publish, just click the button at the bottom of the screen that says "Publish>>"
Wait now just a moment for the computer to publish the post. The next page you will be on will look a lot like the page before, however at the top you will now see a blue box saying Post saved! view site>>. Click on view site>> to see and listen to your published podcast.
Al ist klaar?
have fun.
Let me know if this has helped you.
Thursday, March 20, 2008
Monday, March 17, 2008
new podcasts on podbean
Hello, everyone. Eddy and I have been in Odeceixe this week. I am posting some new podcasts of our travels we have stored up over the last couple of weeks. You can find them by checking out the leathersandal podcast link down on the right side of the screen, or going to www.leathersandal.podbean.com.
Enjoy.
Enjoy.
Thursday, February 28, 2008
Love to ya
Gonna write really quickly to say I have posted a new blog... Obviously, your are reading it. But actually, It takes to long to type and I have less computer access. So I am now doing voice blogs and posting them as podcasts on Podbean. So, click on the leathersandal podcast link on the right, or go to leathersandal.podbean.com, and listen to my latest. I am taking off with Eddy today down south and then bumming it around Europe. So that is the quickest in a sentance.
Pictures!! There are also new pictures posted on old blogs. You will have to go back to September's blogs to see them. I want to post some new ones, but my camera is left in Olieros, and I have no way to get it. So, anyone care to send me a dig cam when I get to Germany? Hope to make it there by April.
Enjoy the voice.
Pictures!! There are also new pictures posted on old blogs. You will have to go back to September's blogs to see them. I want to post some new ones, but my camera is left in Olieros, and I have no way to get it. So, anyone care to send me a dig cam when I get to Germany? Hope to make it there by April.
Enjoy the voice.
Wednesday, November 21, 2007
Happy thanksgiving and greetings to all. I know that I have not blogged in a while, but I really don't have much to say now. I am wintering... that is it. I love this little piece of land I hardly ever leave. It is like a fallen garden of Eden. There is piece, quiet, provision, and time for me to seek out the Lord. Still, I want more of this time... guess it will be granted tomorrow:).
I did get out recently to go to a Portuguese punk show with Barbara. It was pretty cool to see the local scene and it's kids. Barbara has a lot of hopes to reach out with love toward these kids and the scene. Still, we are putting most of our focus at this time on our own spiritual walk, and the daily needs of the land. (If I may speak for Barbara, that is).
I wrote a friend recently, and out of that I thought I would post the following:
How are you?
I have been slaving away here in Portugal. No, not really, but we have been on the task of picking olives for the last two weeks. We finished today. We got a lot of olives. However, Barbara estimated that with how much we got it should come out to a whopping 25 liters of olive oil. Which at 5 euro per liter comes out to about 125 euros cash for out harvest. We still have to sort the olives and pick out the bad ones. So, what do you think? Care to buy a liter of olive oil at the fare trade price? I don't know what that should be, but I am thinking I am half way done and have put in 80 dollar days for the last two weeks. It could take another two weeks to sort them, we'll see. (actually we spent a week and should be done tomorrow, Thanksgiving)
Anyway, enough about the olives. I have been spending the rest of my time poring over the pages of Knowing God by JI Packer. I think it is a lot better read the second time than the first. It is a great season of working out the stuff in my heart and seeking God's face in the quiet before the unknown summer ahead. I still look forward to a summer of bumming it through Europe. By that time I hope to have a 1 year visa secured, and so I hope to take advantage of it by really getting into the street scene. Before I do that though, I am taking advantage of the slow days here to listen and find the pulse of the Lord. I need more grace than I ever dreamed toward this end. As you pray for me, pray that all the time I spend standing in one spot watering cabbage before dinner may be used to the good end of listening for the the voice of the Lord. Also entreat him to supply my recent feelings of insecurity with a swift kick out of my psyche. Also, old sins are rearing their ugly head (though I've been 6 months free this week!), and I need the discipline to grow knowing how I should buffett my body.
As for Europe in general, now that my immediate visa needs are taken care of, I have till the end of January to get my next application into processing status. I need to apply for a 1 year residency if I am going to stay. In order to do this I need to email an American office of the Portuguese embassy. The first trick is getting in touch with that office, and it has been difficult. Pray that what ever frustrations are in this process, they will have their way in improving my character. Pray that all may be accomplished without me having to return to the states to finalize as this will be an expensive inconvenience.
Here for the Holiday season,
I will leave generous hearts with two things.
It is difficult to get almost anything in this part of Portugal. There are stores in town, but not many of the kind I would shop in. My parents are sending me a care package, and that is well anticipated with warmness of heart. For those who would though, I have a wish list registry on Amazon which I need to update, but later it will mostly be in tact as is now. Just don't buy the first item on the list. You can access the wishlist from the Amazon home page by searching 'leathersandal', and send the packages to:
Barbara Leite
Attn:Jared Dunham
A/C Presidente Junta Freguesia
Avenido 1*- Maio,74
6230-600 Povoa D'Atalaia
I am on an American keyboard, but where you see 1*-,
that should really look more like this
' o'
1-
so that you have a '1' and then a little circle like if you were writing one degree faranheit, and then under the circle there would be a hyphen or dash. Ha ha that is a lot of wierdness, isn't it. Also it is just fun to know that the post man does not come out to us. The mayor calls us when we have mail, and we go by his shop to pick it up. So um, don't send any drugs. :)
Second>
Also, I am still cushioned for money okay through the rest of winter. When I get back on the road however, I may have to find food in unsundry ways. I probably should not say that. God has been so faithful in providing everything, and he will continue even beyond my dying day. Still, I want to leave open the opportunity for those who want to participate in what I am doing.
After resting up this winter, I still intend to bum around Europe to get in touch with kids where they are at. I hope to be hitching through the mediterranean in the spring, then up through Switzerland to Germany as summer begins. I am looking forward to breaking and refreshing at Freakstock, spending some time in Berlin making some connections with a budding YWAM street ministry. There is Slotfest in Poland, which is a well known arts festival, and there will be rainbow gatherings to attend. From Poland I expect to check out Romania and get a good taste for Eastern Europe in the process. I can also see myself spending a lot of time all around Germany. I have an invitation to build a recumbent bicycle at a friends house in the south, and want to get back to Karlsruhe to regroup with friends I made on my last visit. These are just a brief of some of the things I am looking forward to next summer. Really it is a packed schedule that I have no intention on keeping so much as I have intention to meet and figure out what all the kids are up to. (more on that in a future blog). Finally, there is getting back to Amsterdam if I can manage it, and returning home to Portugal in time for the Olive Harvest. It should be a much better year for the olives next year.
All this traveling may just seem like 30 year old Huck Finn foolishness. Some of that is true, but I believe the Lord has something very meaningful in it which I am still postulating an address of in a coming blog (stay tuned, but don't expect it to be the next one). I see what is to come through the glass darkly, so even though I intend to do most of this with my thumb out, and my bed in the bush, I will still need finances to keep me going. I wanted to foot the bill like the street kids do it. But that requires panhandling and getting a monthly check from the government like in the states. I don't see such means applying for me, though this very blog seems like it is turning into a high tech transcontinental pan handle. So nothing further on that, I just wanted to let you know how this is all working itself in my head.
I'll make my exit from this post in this fashion:
If you are wondering how to enable this seeker of the Kingdom making his way through the dark places hoping to shine the light of the gospel, you can make out a check to: Life House Ministries, right my name in the designation line, and mail it to>
Life House Ministries
6209 E. 110th Street
Kansas City, MO 64134
May you have a blessed thanksgiving.
I did get out recently to go to a Portuguese punk show with Barbara. It was pretty cool to see the local scene and it's kids. Barbara has a lot of hopes to reach out with love toward these kids and the scene. Still, we are putting most of our focus at this time on our own spiritual walk, and the daily needs of the land. (If I may speak for Barbara, that is).
I wrote a friend recently, and out of that I thought I would post the following:
How are you?
I have been slaving away here in Portugal. No, not really, but we have been on the task of picking olives for the last two weeks. We finished today. We got a lot of olives. However, Barbara estimated that with how much we got it should come out to a whopping 25 liters of olive oil. Which at 5 euro per liter comes out to about 125 euros cash for out harvest. We still have to sort the olives and pick out the bad ones. So, what do you think? Care to buy a liter of olive oil at the fare trade price? I don't know what that should be, but I am thinking I am half way done and have put in 80 dollar days for the last two weeks. It could take another two weeks to sort them, we'll see. (actually we spent a week and should be done tomorrow, Thanksgiving)
Anyway, enough about the olives. I have been spending the rest of my time poring over the pages of Knowing God by JI Packer. I think it is a lot better read the second time than the first. It is a great season of working out the stuff in my heart and seeking God's face in the quiet before the unknown summer ahead. I still look forward to a summer of bumming it through Europe. By that time I hope to have a 1 year visa secured, and so I hope to take advantage of it by really getting into the street scene. Before I do that though, I am taking advantage of the slow days here to listen and find the pulse of the Lord. I need more grace than I ever dreamed toward this end. As you pray for me, pray that all the time I spend standing in one spot watering cabbage before dinner may be used to the good end of listening for the the voice of the Lord. Also entreat him to supply my recent feelings of insecurity with a swift kick out of my psyche. Also, old sins are rearing their ugly head (though I've been 6 months free this week!), and I need the discipline to grow knowing how I should buffett my body.
As for Europe in general, now that my immediate visa needs are taken care of, I have till the end of January to get my next application into processing status. I need to apply for a 1 year residency if I am going to stay. In order to do this I need to email an American office of the Portuguese embassy. The first trick is getting in touch with that office, and it has been difficult. Pray that what ever frustrations are in this process, they will have their way in improving my character. Pray that all may be accomplished without me having to return to the states to finalize as this will be an expensive inconvenience.
Here for the Holiday season,
I will leave generous hearts with two things.
It is difficult to get almost anything in this part of Portugal. There are stores in town, but not many of the kind I would shop in. My parents are sending me a care package, and that is well anticipated with warmness of heart. For those who would though, I have a wish list registry on Amazon which I need to update, but later it will mostly be in tact as is now. Just don't buy the first item on the list. You can access the wishlist from the Amazon home page by searching 'leathersandal', and send the packages to:
Barbara Leite
Attn:Jared Dunham
A/C Presidente Junta Freguesia
Avenido 1*- Maio,74
6230-600 Povoa D'Atalaia
I am on an American keyboard, but where you see 1*-,
that should really look more like this
' o'
1-
so that you have a '1' and then a little circle like if you were writing one degree faranheit, and then under the circle there would be a hyphen or dash. Ha ha that is a lot of wierdness, isn't it. Also it is just fun to know that the post man does not come out to us. The mayor calls us when we have mail, and we go by his shop to pick it up. So um, don't send any drugs. :)
Second>
Also, I am still cushioned for money okay through the rest of winter. When I get back on the road however, I may have to find food in unsundry ways. I probably should not say that. God has been so faithful in providing everything, and he will continue even beyond my dying day. Still, I want to leave open the opportunity for those who want to participate in what I am doing.
After resting up this winter, I still intend to bum around Europe to get in touch with kids where they are at. I hope to be hitching through the mediterranean in the spring, then up through Switzerland to Germany as summer begins. I am looking forward to breaking and refreshing at Freakstock, spending some time in Berlin making some connections with a budding YWAM street ministry. There is Slotfest in Poland, which is a well known arts festival, and there will be rainbow gatherings to attend. From Poland I expect to check out Romania and get a good taste for Eastern Europe in the process. I can also see myself spending a lot of time all around Germany. I have an invitation to build a recumbent bicycle at a friends house in the south, and want to get back to Karlsruhe to regroup with friends I made on my last visit. These are just a brief of some of the things I am looking forward to next summer. Really it is a packed schedule that I have no intention on keeping so much as I have intention to meet and figure out what all the kids are up to. (more on that in a future blog). Finally, there is getting back to Amsterdam if I can manage it, and returning home to Portugal in time for the Olive Harvest. It should be a much better year for the olives next year.
All this traveling may just seem like 30 year old Huck Finn foolishness. Some of that is true, but I believe the Lord has something very meaningful in it which I am still postulating an address of in a coming blog (stay tuned, but don't expect it to be the next one). I see what is to come through the glass darkly, so even though I intend to do most of this with my thumb out, and my bed in the bush, I will still need finances to keep me going. I wanted to foot the bill like the street kids do it. But that requires panhandling and getting a monthly check from the government like in the states. I don't see such means applying for me, though this very blog seems like it is turning into a high tech transcontinental pan handle. So nothing further on that, I just wanted to let you know how this is all working itself in my head.
I'll make my exit from this post in this fashion:
If you are wondering how to enable this seeker of the Kingdom making his way through the dark places hoping to shine the light of the gospel, you can make out a check to: Life House Ministries, right my name in the designation line, and mail it to>
Life House Ministries
6209 E. 110th Street
Kansas City, MO 64134
May you have a blessed thanksgiving.
Monday, October 29, 2007
Breathe Easy!
Bless the Lord! For he is good. Great and mighty is he.
I just thought I would shoot out a quick blog to say that I am breathing easy now. I was in the passport office today in Castelo Branco where I was able to buy a 90 day extension on my visa. So now I have another 3 months in Shenghen while I work on getting my one year residency. Many thanks to Barbara and the organization White Stone for helping to make this possible…( Obragad para sua ajuda). I am told at the office that I have to return back to the states for this. I will make an attempt first through friends stateside to see if they can grab the paper work and get it all taken care of perhaps through the mail. Regardless, I am looking forward to 90 more days at the Mount of Oaks.
I am having a great time here. It is a time to really rest from all the preparing and hard work over the last four years. If the remainder of my time goes like this last week, then I am on my way into a surprise short sabbatical before springing off into this summer. Apart from the Olives I’ve been picking with Barbara this past week, time here has been slow and quiet. I am filling it up with much needed reading and reflection.
One quick reflection is that rest, while still in this fallen world is rest with a promise. The promise is that such a rest as this is a storing up of potential energy, as one who is recoiling and readying himself to charge. One who gets an opportunity to rest in this life, doesn’t get that just before he dies. There is no point. People do not end their lives after a long period of rest. They generally go out fighting. So this rest is not only a relief to me, but the feeling of a promise that there is a reason to rest… somehow I am going to need it. And this is a thrilling thing. I do not know what this summer holds, but I am continually at awe with the empowerment of the Lord to enable me along this road that in some ways is so clear what is ahead though in most is absolutely bewildering and dauntingly hazy.
So, for the winter, please pray along with me as you never have before, and not just for me only but for yourselves as well, “May the words of my mouth, and the meditations of my heart be acceptable in your sight, Oh Lord, my strength and my redeemer.”
Bless the Lord! For he is good. Great and mighty is he.
I just thought I would shoot out a quick blog to say that I am breathing easy now. I was in the passport office today in Castelo Branco where I was able to buy a 90 day extension on my visa. So now I have another 3 months in Shenghen while I work on getting my one year residency. Many thanks to Barbara and the organization White Stone for helping to make this possible…( Obragad para sua ajuda). I am told at the office that I have to return back to the states for this. I will make an attempt first through friends stateside to see if they can grab the paper work and get it all taken care of perhaps through the mail. Regardless, I am looking forward to 90 more days at the Mount of Oaks.
I am having a great time here. It is a time to really rest from all the preparing and hard work over the last four years. If the remainder of my time goes like this last week, then I am on my way into a surprise short sabbatical before springing off into this summer. Apart from the Olives I’ve been picking with Barbara this past week, time here has been slow and quiet. I am filling it up with much needed reading and reflection.
One quick reflection is that rest, while still in this fallen world is rest with a promise. The promise is that such a rest as this is a storing up of potential energy, as one who is recoiling and readying himself to charge. One who gets an opportunity to rest in this life, doesn’t get that just before he dies. There is no point. People do not end their lives after a long period of rest. They generally go out fighting. So this rest is not only a relief to me, but the feeling of a promise that there is a reason to rest… somehow I am going to need it. And this is a thrilling thing. I do not know what this summer holds, but I am continually at awe with the empowerment of the Lord to enable me along this road that in some ways is so clear what is ahead though in most is absolutely bewildering and dauntingly hazy.
So, for the winter, please pray along with me as you never have before, and not just for me only but for yourselves as well, “May the words of my mouth, and the meditations of my heart be acceptable in your sight, Oh Lord, my strength and my redeemer.”
Just when you thought it was safe to breath,
Current mood: sarene
Originally posted on myspace October 16, 2007
So, I finally made it to Portugal, and my new home (hopefully) Castello Novo. Just when you thought it was safe to breath, however, I found myself in Castello Branco listening to the Visa Police saying that they can extend my visa 3 months (hurray!!!!) But only if I have a ticket saying I am leaving the countries included in the Shengen agreement, health insurance, and 70 euros. (Booo!) Well I'll do some checking, but I think my health insurance is good up through July '08, and though my money is shrinking I do have 70 euros (yea!) However, I do not have a ticket to go out of Shengen, nor am I sure of where out of Shengen I would like to go (Boo!) Once I have my new 90-day tourist visa, I can begin applying for a one year visa! (Yea!!!) But in order to do so, I would have to return to the states to apply for one there at the Portuguese consulate (Booo!)
This is the news I got on Friday. I had a difficult time, and weighed several options. After some prayer, journaling, and a few nights sleep waiting for Barbara to return from her weekend in Lisbon, I found myself sinking into a comfortable plan of flying to the states at the end of January to spend a month at the Ocala rainbow gathering, then travel around seeing friends while also finding some temp work to make some money while waiting for the visa to get approved (Yea!!!! See mom! See dad! Yea!!!) Then Barbara came home from Lisbon with some interesting news (Ohh…) She said that she has some American friends from back in the states who are living in Lisbon and are applying for their one year visa in the states by proxy, meaning they are not returning to the states to get it (yea!) So, I asked her,
"I will not have to return to the states?"
"I don't know," she said, "I will have to do some more checking." (Booo!)"
So this is where I am now. There is a chance that I may be able to get a one-year visa. In order to do so, I first will get a 90-day tourist extension, and then I will contact friends at home who can help me stateside with whatever I may need to get a one-year non-working visa. So, I will be able to stay in Shengen with this visa, and can apply for another visa in Portugal at the end of that year, and then I can apply for a residency after two years. However, these first two visas at least, will be non-working visas. So, officially I will not be allowed to work with this sort of visa.
So far, I think this is a good direction for me right now. I will be busy as a volunteer under the association titled "white stone," in English. I will be camping here on the land during the winter (my hammock is a fight every night, but still the most comfortable hammock I ever slept.) This is a quiet place for reflection yet not without plenty of comings and goings of locals, alternative Christians, hippies, and Jesus Freaks. Every day I find myself discipling and being discipled. It is also a place of connections. Barbara knows a lot of people all over the world who I would like to get to know if I don't know them yet. Then there are the people from all over the world (but mainly Germany) who come here. If I work hard at it, I could possibly get a little handle on German and Portuguese by the end of the winter. There is plenty of care needed for the land. So far, I have been involved in bringing in drinking water from the spring, cleaning out another spring, digging drainage trenches, pruning orange trees of their wild and fruitless vines, and harvesting figs to name a few things. I can fill my time very easily with caring for the land. Then there are the projects I have for myself: such as some sewing projects, and all the books I hope to study. Actually, I could spend 8 hours a day alone, just getting into that and prayer, which Barbara encourages to make as the priority, only that she also encourages the learning to make a prayer out of every aspect of life, from study to, big land projects, to mundane chores. Today I was naming and considering an aspect of God for every scoop of dirt I shovelled out of the ground.
In the summer, I hope to hit the road lite, and tour Europe meeting squatters, punks, and people of the streets. I don't know what sort of budget that will require, but I am sure by that time I will be out of whatever finances I need. So, what I also need are some good ideas of what I can do in ways of a travelling job, or perhaps there is a good cottage industry I can develop while I am on the land. As for normal every month expenses, they will be low, but some do exist. I will need to finance health insurance (hopefully a travellers insurance will suffice), visa taxes (I don't know how much the yearly one will be but for the next three months it will be 70 euros.) I will be taking occasional trips this winter, like next weekend I am going to Portu to visit Barbara's family and take a dip on the beach before it gets too cold. This summer, I will need regular food expenses, occasional moneys for travel and some youth hostels. Primarily, I am hoping that I can walk, hitchhike, couch surf, and assist others along the way. I think it would be cool if I found that most of my monetary outflow went to things like buying Warren that meal he got in Salamanca after not eating for a few days.
I am glad this is a short blog. I could say more, but I am coming to that part of the blog where I am asking for support from others. So far, God has continued to provide by other means thus making my financial needs small. I hope to see exactly what my spending habits have become in order to see what I am really doing, and what sort of money I will need to make or raise to maintain my present habits. In the meantime, I want to ask for prayer.
That I may know God, and find myself with a maturing intimacy, discipline, and obedient love toward Him necessary though for a greater end then this summer, yet still not short of needing a powerful summer of leaning on his strength in my weakness. So may this practically monastic winter be blessed with (often commonly elusive) great studies resulting in awesome personal times with our Father, Groom, and most Holy King, not falling short of acquiring a great apologetic to proclaim to this fallen and wicked generation. And may the cross be ever present in this experience.
That all may work out with visas, even so that I may not have to return to the states lest He truly wills it, but rather that I may find wisdom that follows in the best choices such as finding the right ticket to buy for the seemingly superfluous trip out of Shengen required at the end of January.
That I may discover a way to follow in Paul's example. I would be happy to work hard from town to town, making tents, however, I am not seeing such work as a viable market. I am asking that the Lord may lead me into such a lucrative trade as will provide for my means in legal ways without compromising but rather even cultivating the higher calling of bringing the cross along with the knowledge of El Elohim to the disenfranchised whom even those of the church commonly despise in this present age.
Finally, that the Lord will continue to find favour for the community on the Mount of Oaks. May we be wise caretakers who are successful in keeping this place friendly to the traveller, the seeker, the locals, the pets, and the local plant and wildlife without making a single concession to compromise our primary friendship with Christ the Creator, and his cross.
Beloved, Thank you for your interest and your prayers.
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
So, I finally made it to Portugal, and my new home (hopefully) Castello Novo. Just when you thought it was safe to breath, however, I found myself in Castello Branco listening to the Visa Police saying that they can extend my visa 3 months (hurray!!!!) But only if I have a ticket saying I am leaving the countries included in the Shengen agreement, health insurance, and 70 euros. (Booo!) Well I’ll do some checking, but I think my health insurance is good up through July ’08, and though my money is shrinking I do have 70 euros (yea!) However, I do not have a ticket to go out of Shengen, nor am I sure of where out of Shengen I would like to go (Boo!) Once I have my new 90-day tourist visa, I can begin applying for a one year visa! (Yea!!!) But in order to do so, I would have to return to the states to apply for one there at the Portuguese consulate (Booo!)
This is the news I got on Friday. I had a difficult time, and weighed several options. After some prayer, journaling, and a few nights sleep waiting for Barbara to return from her weekend in Lisbon, I found myself sinking into a comfortable plan of flying to the states at the end of January to spend a month at the Ocala rainbow gathering, then travel around seeing friends while also finding some temp work to make some money while waiting for the visa to get approved (Yea!!!! See mom! See dad! Yea!!!) Then Barbara came home from Lisbon with some interesting news (Ohh…) She said that she has some American friends from back in the states who are living in Lisbon and are applying for their one year visa in the states by proxy, meaning they are not returning to the states to get it (yea!) So, I asked her,
“I will not have to return to the states?”
“I don’t know,” she said, “I will have to do some more checking.” (Booo!)”
So this is where I am now. There is a chance that I may be able to get a one-year visa. In order to do so, I first will get a 90-day tourist extension, and then I will contact friends at home who can help me stateside with whatever I may need to get a one-year non-working visa. So, I will be able to stay in Shengen with this visa, and can apply for another visa in Portugal at the end of that year, and then I can apply for a residency after two years. However, these first two visas at least, will be non-working visas. So, officially I will not be allowed to work with this sort of visa.
So far, I think this is a good direction for me right now. I will be busy as a volunteer under the association titled “white stone,” in English. I will be camping here on the land during the winter (my hammock is a fight every night, but still the most comfortable hammock I ever slept.) This is a quiet place for reflection yet not without plenty of comings and goings of locals, alternative Christians, hippies, and Jesus Freaks. Every day I find myself discipling and being discipled. It is also a place of connections. Barbara knows a lot of people all over the world who I would like to get to know if I don’t know them yet. Then there are the people from all over the world (but mainly Germany) who come here. If I work hard at it, I could possibly get a little handle on German and Portuguese by the end of the winter. There is plenty of care needed for the land. So far, I have been involved in bringing in drinking water from the spring, cleaning out another spring, digging drainage trenches, pruning orange trees of their wild and fruitless vines, and harvesting figs to name a few things. I can fill my time very easily with caring for the land. Then there are the projects I have for myself: such as some sewing projects, and all the books I hope to study. Actually, I could spend 8 hours a day alone, just getting into that and prayer, which Barbara encourages to make as the priority, only that she also encourages the learning to make a prayer out of every aspect of life, from study to, big land projects, to mundane chores. Today I was naming and considering an aspect of God for every scoop of dirt I shovelled out of the ground.
In the summer, I hope to hit the road lite, and tour Europe meeting squatters, punks, and people of the streets. I don’t know what sort of budget that will require, but I am sure by that time I will be out of whatever finances I need. So, what I also need are some good ideas of what I can do in ways of a travelling job, or perhaps there is a good cottage industry I can develop while I am on the land. As for normal every month expenses, they will be low, but some do exist. I will need to finance health insurance (hopefully a travellers insurance will suffice), visa taxes (I don’t know how much the yearly one will be but for the next three months it will be 70 euros.) I will be taking occasional trips this winter, like next weekend I am going to Portu to visit Barbara’s family and take a dip on the beach before it gets too cold. This summer, I will need regular food expenses, occasional moneys for travel and some youth hostels. Primarily, I am hoping that I can walk, hitchhike, couch surf, and assist others along the way. I think it would be cool if I found that most of my monetary outflow went to things like buying Warren that meal he got in Salamanca after not eating for a few days.
I am glad this is a short blog. I could say more, but I am coming to that part of the blog where I am asking for support from others. So far, God has continued to provide by other means thus making my financial needs small. I hope to see exactly what my spending habits have become in order to see what I am really doing, and what sort of money I will need to make or raise to maintain my present habits. In the meantime, I want to ask for prayer.
That I may know God, and find myself with a maturing intimacy, discipline, and obedient love toward Him necessary though for a greater end then this summer, yet still not short of needing a powerful summer of leaning on his strength in my weakness. So may this practically monastic winter be blessed with (often commonly elusive) great studies resulting in awesome personal times with our Father, Groom, and most Holy King, not falling short of acquiring a great apologetic to proclaim to this fallen and wicked generation. And may the cross be ever present in this experience.
That all may work out with visas, even so that I may not have to return to the states lest He truly wills it, but rather that I may find wisdom that follows in the best choices such as finding the right ticket to buy for the seemingly superfluous trip out of Shengen required at the end of January.
That I may discover a way to follow in Paul’s example. I would be happy to work hard from town to town, making tents, however, I am not seeing such work as a viable market. I am asking that the Lord may lead me into such a lucrative trade as will provide for my means in legal ways without compromising but rather even cultivating the higher calling of bringing the cross along with the knowledge of El Elohim to the disenfranchised whom even those of the church commonly despise in this present age.
Finally, that the Lord will continue to find favour for the community on the Mount of Oaks. May we be wise caretakers who are successful in keeping this place friendly to the traveller, the seeker, the locals, the pets, and the local plant and wildlife without making a single concession to compromise our primary friendship with Christ the Creator, and his cross.
Beloved, Thank you for your interest and your prayers.
This is the news I got on Friday. I had a difficult time, and weighed several options. After some prayer, journaling, and a few nights sleep waiting for Barbara to return from her weekend in Lisbon, I found myself sinking into a comfortable plan of flying to the states at the end of January to spend a month at the Ocala rainbow gathering, then travel around seeing friends while also finding some temp work to make some money while waiting for the visa to get approved (Yea!!!! See mom! See dad! Yea!!!) Then Barbara came home from Lisbon with some interesting news (Ohh…) She said that she has some American friends from back in the states who are living in Lisbon and are applying for their one year visa in the states by proxy, meaning they are not returning to the states to get it (yea!) So, I asked her,
“I will not have to return to the states?”
“I don’t know,” she said, “I will have to do some more checking.” (Booo!)”
So this is where I am now. There is a chance that I may be able to get a one-year visa. In order to do so, I first will get a 90-day tourist extension, and then I will contact friends at home who can help me stateside with whatever I may need to get a one-year non-working visa. So, I will be able to stay in Shengen with this visa, and can apply for another visa in Portugal at the end of that year, and then I can apply for a residency after two years. However, these first two visas at least, will be non-working visas. So, officially I will not be allowed to work with this sort of visa.
So far, I think this is a good direction for me right now. I will be busy as a volunteer under the association titled “white stone,” in English. I will be camping here on the land during the winter (my hammock is a fight every night, but still the most comfortable hammock I ever slept.) This is a quiet place for reflection yet not without plenty of comings and goings of locals, alternative Christians, hippies, and Jesus Freaks. Every day I find myself discipling and being discipled. It is also a place of connections. Barbara knows a lot of people all over the world who I would like to get to know if I don’t know them yet. Then there are the people from all over the world (but mainly Germany) who come here. If I work hard at it, I could possibly get a little handle on German and Portuguese by the end of the winter. There is plenty of care needed for the land. So far, I have been involved in bringing in drinking water from the spring, cleaning out another spring, digging drainage trenches, pruning orange trees of their wild and fruitless vines, and harvesting figs to name a few things. I can fill my time very easily with caring for the land. Then there are the projects I have for myself: such as some sewing projects, and all the books I hope to study. Actually, I could spend 8 hours a day alone, just getting into that and prayer, which Barbara encourages to make as the priority, only that she also encourages the learning to make a prayer out of every aspect of life, from study to, big land projects, to mundane chores. Today I was naming and considering an aspect of God for every scoop of dirt I shovelled out of the ground.
In the summer, I hope to hit the road lite, and tour Europe meeting squatters, punks, and people of the streets. I don’t know what sort of budget that will require, but I am sure by that time I will be out of whatever finances I need. So, what I also need are some good ideas of what I can do in ways of a travelling job, or perhaps there is a good cottage industry I can develop while I am on the land. As for normal every month expenses, they will be low, but some do exist. I will need to finance health insurance (hopefully a travellers insurance will suffice), visa taxes (I don’t know how much the yearly one will be but for the next three months it will be 70 euros.) I will be taking occasional trips this winter, like next weekend I am going to Portu to visit Barbara’s family and take a dip on the beach before it gets too cold. This summer, I will need regular food expenses, occasional moneys for travel and some youth hostels. Primarily, I am hoping that I can walk, hitchhike, couch surf, and assist others along the way. I think it would be cool if I found that most of my monetary outflow went to things like buying Warren that meal he got in Salamanca after not eating for a few days.
I am glad this is a short blog. I could say more, but I am coming to that part of the blog where I am asking for support from others. So far, God has continued to provide by other means thus making my financial needs small. I hope to see exactly what my spending habits have become in order to see what I am really doing, and what sort of money I will need to make or raise to maintain my present habits. In the meantime, I want to ask for prayer.
That I may know God, and find myself with a maturing intimacy, discipline, and obedient love toward Him necessary though for a greater end then this summer, yet still not short of needing a powerful summer of leaning on his strength in my weakness. So may this practically monastic winter be blessed with (often commonly elusive) great studies resulting in awesome personal times with our Father, Groom, and most Holy King, not falling short of acquiring a great apologetic to proclaim to this fallen and wicked generation. And may the cross be ever present in this experience.
That all may work out with visas, even so that I may not have to return to the states lest He truly wills it, but rather that I may find wisdom that follows in the best choices such as finding the right ticket to buy for the seemingly superfluous trip out of Shengen required at the end of January.
That I may discover a way to follow in Paul’s example. I would be happy to work hard from town to town, making tents, however, I am not seeing such work as a viable market. I am asking that the Lord may lead me into such a lucrative trade as will provide for my means in legal ways without compromising but rather even cultivating the higher calling of bringing the cross along with the knowledge of El Elohim to the disenfranchised whom even those of the church commonly despise in this present age.
Finally, that the Lord will continue to find favour for the community on the Mount of Oaks. May we be wise caretakers who are successful in keeping this place friendly to the traveller, the seeker, the locals, the pets, and the local plant and wildlife without making a single concession to compromise our primary friendship with Christ the Creator, and his cross.
Beloved, Thank you for your interest and your prayers.
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