Back from Poland

I was able to attend the second Global Roundtable for Emerging and Underground ministries which was held at the SLOT ART festival in Poland. I was one of the representatives for Portugal and was the "Underground" one :-)

Met alot of cool people from around the world (on top is Andrea & Diniz Vargas from Brazil; on the bottom is Andrew Jones, Derrick Chapman & Wolfgang Fernandez) and instead of me writing more about what happened just check out these blogs from a couple of them:



http://harrystravels.typepad.com/blog/

http://www.emergentvillage.com/weblog/emerging-in-eastern-europe

Check out our new video

2009 Hurst video from Denny Hurst on Vimeo.

Alive & Kickin'

I know, I know, it's been months....well, what can I say, I just can't get those creative juices flowin'. So I'm just stoppin' by to say hey and here's the latest fam photo that we took when we were in the USA for Christmas. CYA

Heaven's Door festival

This past weekend I went with Triplet to Strasbourg, France for the Heaven's Door festival.
TRIPLET rocked the house and they were one of the best bands of the evening (definitely the hardest).
I had the pleasure of seeing an old (in more ways than one :-) friend that I haven't seen for sometime, Jean-Pierre Rudolph, who lives in Strasbourg. Many of you may remember that in Italy we booked many a tour with Rodney Cordner and Jean- Pierre Rudolph. I wish I had a pic of us together to put up here, but maybe that will be for another day. It was great to see him and talk about the ole' days touring in Italy.
That was then, but this is now and I'm really enjoying working with TRIPLET in Portugal and on the road in Europe.... and hopefully beyond!

Just havin' fun

Isaac has his eye on doing commercials and I think he has what it takes. :-)

Beautiful October day in Portugal!

Today was an incredible warm & sunny October day in Portugal. I love the warmth and the sun. The weird thing though was after we went and picked Alana up from the beach (isn't that great, going to the ocean in October!) on our way home we saw an incredible rainbow in the sky and it hadn't even rained. What's that all about? Anyhow, even though the pics don't show you what we REALLY saw, here are a couple that I took at our house after we got back.

To blog or not to blog

So yesterday, Maureen says to me, "So are we gonna get rid of this blog?" and I'm like, well NO, I will eventually get around to it!! Then she mentions that it has been 4 months since the last entry ....
How do you guys do it? I think I understand the why you do it, but I can't even do a monthly blog much less a daily or weekly!! O well, I will try to do better. There actually is alot to update which also is the problem. We'll see, maybe I will end up just throwing in the towel and realize that I'm just not cut out for this thing called bloggin'

We're in the Top 5!!!

It is amazing that just weeks after getting on the MTV Portugal Hit List that TRIPLET's video has hit the #5 spot having surpassed bands such as Paramore, Linkin Park, 30 seconds to Mars, and many others!! The number one spot doesn't seem so impossible to reach anymore!!

Thanks go out to many of you that have voted and have kept on voting!!! We need your continued support so please keep those votes coming.

Just click on the link below and choose TRIPLET - Eye 43 and click on the bottom
"Este é o meu voto":

We're in the Top 20

TRIPLET's video "Eye 43" just hit #14 today on the MTV Portugal Hit List!!! The Hit List is where people can vote for their favorite video, and the more votes, the more the video plays on MTV. This is only a week after the video was put in the voting!!!

You can vote too! Send in your vote each day and help us get the video to the top of the HIT LIST!!
To vote, go on this link below and choose Eye 43 - TRIPLET and click on the bottom
"Este é o meu voto":

http://www.mtv.pt/tops/mtv_tops_votacao.aspx

The really cool thing is that there is so much positive feedback that is pouring in from those who have seen the video. It's a song of hope and it's exactly what the young people in Portugal need right now.

Taking it to the next level

Today TRIPLET signed with a Portuguese booking agency called Magic Box! It's amazing how much this agency believes in the band and wants to help us take it to the next level. They have worldwide connections and, most importantly, are well-established here in Portugal. The very first time that Ben, Jasmin and I went in to meet with the agency, we had the gut feeling that this was right. Even before we signed the contract with them, they were getting us gigs. They are an agency that for years was only bringing foreign bands - mostly Reggae - into Portugal and then recently decided to invest in a few Portuguese bands, one of which is TRIPLET.
So now we're on the path to greater things and once again we
see the favor of God in opening this door for us!
You can check them out here: http://www.myspace.com/magicboxpt

Best Rock FM interview

Ben & Jasmin from Triplet recently had an interview at Best Rock FM which is the biggest rock radio station in Portugal. The DJ was a bit of a jerk as you'll see in the video. He kept pronouncing Triplet wrong and also some of the questions he directed towards Jasmin had strong sexual overtones. She handled it really well though.
We have been told that the radio really wants to get behind the band and will do a more extensive interview in the future - with another DJ! Our hope is that they will add the single "Eye 43" to their hit list and start playing some of the other songs off the CD as well.


Triplet radio interview from Denny Hurst on Vimeo.

Here it is!

So, we had Triplet's video release party last night. "How did it go?" you ask. Now, that is a very good question! Besides the fact that the club failed to inform us that they wouldn't let anyone under the age of 16 through the doors (many of Triplet's fans are under 16 & that's never happened to them before here in Portugal!) and that their projector (it must have been ancient!) did not jive with the DVD copies that we made, resulting in a distorted image of the video....it went great!
Sambo & Ryan from Reform the Resistance (with special guest Genette, Ryan's girlfriend, sitting in on keys on one song) did an opening set which they pulled off really well! Then Triplet rocked! The pleasant surprise of the evening was their version of Michael Jackson's "Beat It", which I think should become a regular part of their set.
Although it was a bummer that some kids never got past the security guards (we did manage to get Isaac in :-), those who were there to celebrate with us the release of "Eye 43" on MTV Portugal did have a good time and it was more like a party with faithful fans of the band than a concert.
Here is the video, and in coming months we're hoping to get it to the top of the MTV Portugal Hit list, as well as shown on MTV all across Europe! Enjoy!!



Untitled from TRIPLET on Vimeo.

When God opens the doors

There are some really awesome things going on right now with the band TRIPLET! One of the most exciting is that their video "Eye 43", is in rotation on MTV Portugal which, by the way, still plays music videos. We have been praying that once this video started to air that it would open more doors for the band in this country. Well, a week after it started to air, the biggest rock radio station in the country, Best Rock FM, contacted us and they want to start airing Triplet's music on their station! To start with they will be doing a live interview with Ben & Jasmin on Tuesday May 13th and this will also help promote the video release party that we're doing on Thursday May 15th!
Next week after the party I'll put the video up here for you all to see. Ben will also be putting it on YouTube and I'll give you the link for that as well.
Stay tuned for more.....

Historical day

Besides the fact that I'm posting 2 days in a row, today is a historical day in that Isaac had his first surfing lesson in the ocean! I wish I would have taken a camera, but I didn't and all I did was lay on the beach and enjoy the awesome warm sunny weather as I watched Isaac trying to get up on the board (which he did with the help of the instructor). We are blessed to be friends with the number 3 Portuguese surfer (she has been as high as #2) Joana, who is pictured here with Isaac. She is a new believer and Isaac hit it off with her the first time they met.

Before leaving Italy, one of Isaac's older friends at the Sk8park said to him that he would have to come visit him here to see him surf. Isaac's response was, "You won't have to do that because you'll see me on TV!!" That's my boy!!!

Hurst fam rocks Portugal video

I did a vid for our church's mission conference and I thought that those of you who hadn't see it might enjoy seeing it here in spite of the poor quality. Rick Cua, who is one of those friend's that we haven't seen in way to long, did a song that just captures what we feel about being in Portugal and about what God is doing in and through us here.
Hope you enjoy it!



Hurst fam rocks Portugal from Denny Hurst on Vimeo.

Back on blog

Hi everyone!
So people REALLY do read these things :-)!! We got several emails asking why we haven't written anything here in sooooo long. Well, besides that we got so busy and as a result forgot what our password was... we're also a bit on the lazy side when it comes to writing. Also, since Maureen is always writing to people and is on the computer instant messaging (I've been absent both on MSN and Skype), what I thought would be a natural process of her just taking off with the blog, turned out to be just one more thing that she couldn't find the time to do :-( I guess I should have checked that out with her in the first place!!!
So.... let's see how it goes this time, but don't expect anything like a daily entry.... we'll try monthly, with the hope of doing more. Here's hopin'....

So much for anarchy...

Wow.... I hate to see Christmas vacation end. I've so enjoyed relaxing with our family, sitting around the table laughing and telling stories with friends, watching movies and sleeping late. We've had some much-needed rest but aren't feeling quite reading to resume "life as usual" (whatever that is...). School starts again for Alana and Isaac on Thursday.

After a Christmas Eve dinner with 30 other friends and a quiet Christmas Day at home, we spent New Year's Eve at "Mount of Oaks", the restful community our friend Barbara has started three hours north of Lisbon. It was a day of talking with friends old and new around the table, walking in the woods, sleeping in the hammock, laughing around the campfire.

It was also a special day because we brought our friend Marcia and her few bags of belongings there, as she begins a new chapter "stepping out of the boat" that has been her normal life. Last Friday, she left her job and has now moved to Mount of Oaks, where she'll spend the next six months, resting, serving, growing, listening. After that, it's on to Mexico for a YWAM Discipleship Training School. May God's grace shine more brightly on you with each new day, Marcia!!

I was also touched to meet a young German guy at Mt. of Oaks - our daughter Alana's age and with a green mohawk that matched hers, too :o). Spiked hair, punk clothing, jacket toting the anarchy symbol... yet just a little love, caring and acceptance quickly shattered the rough exterior, revealing the heart of a child, soft and seeking.

In halting English, he shared the story of his recent difficulties in school, with his family and with the law, how he was ordered to find a place to do community service for the next 6 months and how he's ended up at Mount of Oaks to do just that. He says he doesn't believe in God but finds what's going on there at the land pretty cool. Late in the evening, he sat with our 10-year-old Isaac, asking him to show him the right way to hold the drum he was trying to play, to teach him about rhythm. So much for anarchy...

God is so good.

Christmas will feel different ...

Yesterday was the last day of school for our kids before the beginning of Christmas vacation... it comes a week earlier here in Portugal than it did in Italy. I love Christmas vacation with our family! If on their summer school break, we enjoy being outdoors - picnicking, going to the beach, taking walks - our Christmas vacation time has always been characterized by staying up late at night and sleeping in in the morning, playing card games and board games together, doing puzzles, watching lots of movies, eating haphazard meals and just enjoying each others' company.

Christmas will feel different this year - we're in a new country, in a new house, with Whitney far away in the States (she'll be spending it with Denny's family in Lancaster, Pa. If you live there, try to see her!)... and in times like this, I feel the weight of the transition a bit more.

Looking back, I remember our first years in Italy - with no children of our own, no family around us, and not very many good friends to spend Christmastime with. My first Christmas celebrations in Europe weren't really easy ones, but slowly we gave birth to a family of our own, we built deeper friendships, we developed our own traditions and the Christmas season came to feel more "ours" and less something foreign.

Yet, I can't help but think that Jesus' coming into the world as a man, as a child, has an awful lot to do with being a stranger in a strange land. How contrary must it have felt to our God's nature, to come into this world full of sin as a fragile child? How foreign must the very young Mary have felt giving birth to a child, conceived by the Holy Spirit, in a barn... in a town far from her home and family.

I find myself feeling so thankful once again for all that God has done since we've moved here to Portugal. Our house has come to feel like a home so quickly and the depths of the friendships that we so enjoy are surprising after such a short time. Our home is warmed by such a sense of "family" and of "community", there always seems to be someone extra around our table or sleeping in one of our spare beds when I wake up in the morning. God is so faithful to His promises...

"I tell you the truth," Jesus replied, "no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and the gospel will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age (homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and fields—and with them, persecutions) and in the age to come, eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and the last first." Mark 10:29-31.

What to blog about

I'm having a hard time getting into this blogging thing. Oh well, maybe it will get easier and I'll do it more frequently, but then again....maybe it won't (where are those smiley things on this program?).
Anyhow, things are moving on with TRIPLET. This weekend, they have two gigs in Lisbon. The first is for another local band that played at their CD release party and so now this band, ENDAY, has invited them to play at their EP release. They seem to be putting alot of effort into this party, which will also feature some Portuguese actress. Anyhow, I hope that this will be a good opportunity to share the love of Jesus with ENDAY, as well as all those who come.
The other gig could possibly be one of the most important gigs to help get more exposure in this country for the band. They will be opening up for Portugal's most popular hardcore band, MORE THAN A THOUSAND. This is a great opportunity and we're praying that it will open up many more doors for TRIPLET here.
Ben is working on editing the video, but with the gigs and other stuff (like him getting sick), it doesn't look like there will be a December release of it, like we had hoped. He says that it's coming out great, so we can't wait to see it and see how God will use it.
As most of you know, Alana & Isaac were extras in the video along with alot of other TRIPLET fans. They acted out being TRIPLET in the video and here are a couple still shots of that.

Isaac actually wants to get into doing tv commercials, so it would be cool if this helps him get into that field (giving a cut to his parents, of course...I really do need to figure out how to use emoticons in this blog).

A House Fulfilling its Destiny

When we began looking at houses to rent last August before our move to Portugal, Denny and I thought we had a clear idea of what we wanted and needed. Yet, as we visited one place after another, God spoke to us even more about the kind of house He wanted for us, the kind of space He wanted us to create, not only for our own family, but for all those who would come through our doors. The more we searched, the more impossible the task of finding that place seemed, until our last day here before heading back to Italy, when we saw this beautiful house, the one that is now our home.

After moving in on the first of October, we set to work, to transform it... to create the environment that we felt each room should have, to fulfill its purpose. The living room/dining room - big and spacious, yet so "homey". The cozy, practical kitchen with it's corner bench table - a perfect place for a chat over coffee or tea. The family room - great for movies and meetings. The bedrooms - each suiting the needs of its occupant, decorated with memories of life in Italy and hopes for the future.

All rooms that have been in constant use since we moved in... giving a sense of warmth and shape to our family life, hosting dinners, meetings, movie nights, chats with friends, young people needing a place to work or to rest or to just be... all that we felt these rooms would become.

What had remained "in limbo" was the room we had set aside as a practice room for Triplet, the Portuguese band we're working with here (and our good friends). It's been sitting - basically untouched - serving only as a storage room for our sound and light systems and a host of musical instruments. We've been working to raise funds, while searching for the best materials and the manpower, to soundproof it so the band could begin using it regularly to practice. But still it remained a storage room.

This week, in view of their upcoming gigs - Thursday in Lisbon for MSN Portugal, Friday and Saturday in the Algarve - Triplet needed a place to practice. So, in lieu of "the real thing", Denny, Ben and Ruben (Triplet's guitarist and bass player) set to work soundproofing that room with the resources we had on hand - a roll of industrial carpeting, mattresses, pillows, blankets - you name it, it's hanging in there.

And last night, when the first sounds of Triplet's songs began to fill the house (not near as loudly as I had anticipated :o), I felt such a sense of completion... like finally, that room was fulfilling its destiny, being used for the purpose God had in mind when He gave us this house.
Sure there's still much to be done in every room of this house, but God's faithfulness is so amazing to me. Because as we offer all that we have to Him, He creates something that is so many times greater... and rooms built with brick,mortar and wood become places of destiny.