We are in Portugal now, for a few weeks already. Now we are around Sines. When we left Alicante we moved more south and got a lot of more sun. We stayed for 2 weeks at a motorhome park in Almuñécar, where we had contact with a few people of YWAM. It was a good time for the kids to be there as well, they had space to play outside and they love the beach! So, we went there by foot a lot of times.

Around the time we were there, it was 3 Kings Day, 6th of January. It is a big event in Spain and there was even a parade. We thought it was fun to go there. It was for the kids, with a lot of people throwing candy from the parade and even they got some presents from the “kings”. In Biblical way it felt wrong, the kings were dressed up and made very important. Combine this with dancing girls in short skirts, disney figures and a lot of noise; it was far far away from the Bible.

After Almuñécar we went to Sevilla, to do a little city trip. We also found Holy Spirit filled Christians there, missionaries from the Netherlands. We asked if we could come over for a visit. They were so welcoming! We got the change to put our kids in a warm bath and wash and dry our laundry in a few hours. That is luxury for us! We talked about our shared passion: Jesus. It was lovely and inspiring. We travel some time now, and these kind of families share the same heart for serving others. We also would love to welcome people when we have a house and property. It is really on our hearts to welcome traveling families but also people who need rest or need to be build up in Christ. So, we pray for a place where we can start this. When this is the will of God, He will show us the right place. Jeffrey got a vision one night; he saw keys being given to us from a house / property. We will wait patiently!

From Sevilla we moved to Portugal, we stayed in Silves for one week. It is a lovely village and we met another Christian family who are traveling longer then we do. We met a few times and it was lovely to see the kids play together.

Where we are, we try to reach out to people. We also feel rejection. It is so good and also sad to know that they are not rejecting us, but they are rejecting Jesus. Some people actually can’t stand us because the Holy Spirit in us is irritating the demons in them. We learned it is nothing personal and bless them all in the mighty name of Jesus. When we get the opportunity to pray or tell more about Jesus, we try to do that by His grace. Sometimes is feels like we don’t do this enough, we are learning to step out in faith more. Not that we “need” to, but we really want to.

January was also the month of fasting (food fasting, like the Biblical fasting). For me (Marianne) fasting was always a kind of a thing. I really didn’t understand why you should fast, there are enough people who have no food so why not eat when you have the opportunity to eat?! Also, the Lord is working here! 😉 The Bible is not saying “if you fast” but “WHEN you fast”. In Matthew 6 we can read > when you give to the people in need (verse 2), when you pray (verse 5) and when you fast (verse 16). And after each verse you see the teaching about giving, praying and fasting. I have learned to give and to pray, but fasting was not taught. Yes, some people in church do fast, but I never got the explanation why.

The why I see now. God doesn’t need my fasting. I need my fasting. I need to come closer to Him and hear His voice better. I need to learn that my spirit is bigger than my flesh. I need to learn to deny my flesh. I really can say now that when I decide not to eat, my spirit need to be stronger. For me when I didn’t eat in time in the past, I became angry. This was also my excuse for a while to not start fasting, because “then I’m angry all day!”. It is not true. I just told myself a lie. My spirit is clearer when it doesn’t need to listen to my body. This is also a special time to hear the Lord better. Not to force Him to do something in this fasting time, but for me to pay more attention to His voice. That voice is not louder during fasting, my attention is more. Jeffrey was already used to fasting, and so we fast in different ways, and both learned different things. We also learn the kids now in a young age that fasting is important, together we decided that they can fast too. They didn’t eat ice cream for 21 days and they didn’t got morning snacks (around 11). Of course, they just got their normal meals. But these baby steps now, can help them later into a life of fasting and prayer, a life dedicated to the Lord.

We enjoy the nature here, our CREATOR made everything so well. We are impressed. We saw a lot of beautiful beaches and are planning to see so much more. Praise the Lord. We are doing good and hope to share next month more testimonies for His Glory.

With love,

The Draaijer family