On Thursday we finished preparing items for distribution. Then we headed back out and depleted our entire supply of New Testaments and DVDs!! We covered a couple of areas of Lyon which had not yet been reached. We did encounter a few "questioning eyes" upon us, but God was victorious and blessed us with many open doors. We ran around on the bus to run errands and then back to the center to prepare and enjoy a "dinner in" together at the center. Euros doesn't grow on trees either much to our dismay, and we are all budget people, ha ha!
We are all now either cleaning, building, cooking and organizing today. We have a big day tomorrow, up and out to an Arab market by 7am (YIKES!) back for church by 9:30am, a lunch for the entire church after service and then a Soiree for the gals - WHEW! We are very much looking forward to the chaos!
We said goodbye to our LU friends this afternoon, boo hoo! We had a lot of fun with them, and they helped us so much while here!
We are loving the responses to our blogs - thanks for all your prayers. Over and out and 10-4 good buddies............
Saturday, December 16, 2006
Thursday, December 14, 2006
Church History
For our day off "Wednesday" we took a trip south. We first visited the site of Pont du Gard - which is a Roman aqueduct that was built at 1 AD, when Jesus was just a child. The aqueduct was built to carry fresh water to the city of Nimes and it took 15 years to build. The span that we visited is where the aqueduct spanned over a river gorge. It truly is an impressive bit of ancient engineering.
Our main stop was at the city of Aigues-Mortes, which was the first French port on the Mediterranean Sea. This city was used as the launching point of the 7th Crusade to the Holy Land, led by Louis IXth of France. Later it was one of the last strongholds that the French Protestants held before King Louis XIVth revoked the Edict of Nantes and basically made it illegal to be a protestant in France. We saw the Constance tower where protestant women were held as prisoners of conscious for up to 28, 36 and 40 years for refusing to recant their faith. It is a humbling site to see how much some of our spiritual fore-fathers suffered for their faith. It challenges us to examine how much we are willing to suffer?
Our last stop was the city of Avignon, where the alternative Pope ruled from during the Great Schism in the Catholic church during the 14th and 15th centuries. We just missed the last time to get in for a tour of the interior of the papal palace there. We did get to see the outside and to learn some of the church history there also.
Our main stop was at the city of Aigues-Mortes, which was the first French port on the Mediterranean Sea. This city was used as the launching point of the 7th Crusade to the Holy Land, led by Louis IXth of France. Later it was one of the last strongholds that the French Protestants held before King Louis XIVth revoked the Edict of Nantes and basically made it illegal to be a protestant in France. We saw the Constance tower where protestant women were held as prisoners of conscious for up to 28, 36 and 40 years for refusing to recant their faith. It is a humbling site to see how much some of our spiritual fore-fathers suffered for their faith. It challenges us to examine how much we are willing to suffer?
Our last stop was the city of Avignon, where the alternative Pope ruled from during the Great Schism in the Catholic church during the 14th and 15th centuries. We just missed the last time to get in for a tour of the interior of the papal palace there. We did get to see the outside and to learn some of the church history there also.
Distribution
On Tuesday we began distributing the gifts that we had prepared on Monday. The gifts are New Testaments that have bookmarks at several locations including the Christmas Story at the beginning of Luke. The other gifts that we are distributing are copies of the Jesus DVD. The DVDs have 13 language choices on them, including French, Arabic, Berber and other languages from this part of the world.
We were able to find a few mailboxes to put these gifts in before lunch, but after a "quick" lunch at a sandwich shoppe, we decided to move to a different area to hand out the rest of our gifts. We say "quick" lunch, because even a quick lunch in France takes a while. The French people believe that food should be enjoyed and that people should sit down and relate and talk during a lunch meal, just like any other meal. Our friends who live here have kids who are students in school and they get between 90 minutes and 2 hours off from school. So, after we moved to a new location, we distributed several hundred gifts. We would have distributed more, but several of the apartment buildings that we attempted were locked up and we were not able to access their mailboxes.
Thursday morning we spent only a couple of hours and we were able to find many families to give our gifts to. We found many large apartment buildings that were open and had families that we pray will be appreciate the gifts that we had. So, we have now distributed all the gifts that we have prepared, so we will spend this afternoon preparing more gifts.
Thanks for your prayers. Please continue to pray that those who received our gifts will view and read them and come to know our God.
We were able to find a few mailboxes to put these gifts in before lunch, but after a "quick" lunch at a sandwich shoppe, we decided to move to a different area to hand out the rest of our gifts. We say "quick" lunch, because even a quick lunch in France takes a while. The French people believe that food should be enjoyed and that people should sit down and relate and talk during a lunch meal, just like any other meal. Our friends who live here have kids who are students in school and they get between 90 minutes and 2 hours off from school. So, after we moved to a new location, we distributed several hundred gifts. We would have distributed more, but several of the apartment buildings that we attempted were locked up and we were not able to access their mailboxes.
Thursday morning we spent only a couple of hours and we were able to find many families to give our gifts to. We found many large apartment buildings that were open and had families that we pray will be appreciate the gifts that we had. So, we have now distributed all the gifts that we have prepared, so we will spend this afternoon preparing more gifts.
Thanks for your prayers. Please continue to pray that those who received our gifts will view and read them and come to know our God.
Monday, December 11, 2006
Monday
We had another day that did not go as we expected. We planned on preparing for literature distribution in the morning and then doing distribution in the afternoon. Matt planned on going to the Hardware store in the late morning and working the afternoon at the center. However, our hosts are dog-sitting a friends dog and it got into the Rat poison and so needed an emergency trip to the Vet. SO... We spent all day preparing for literature distribution... That involves placing a sticker and 3 bookmarks into copies of Arabic/French New Testaments and then putting them together with a letter into a mailer. Matt did make a big trip to the HW store and had great fun looking around a French Hardware store. Tomorrow, the PLAN is to do distribution in the morning and the afternoon. For construction, tomorrow Matt and one other will be working on starting the shelf units and working on plumbing issues. We will see what comes.
Thank you for your prayers! The team is doing great and has fully absorbed our itinerant students from Liberty into the team. In addition, the rest of our luggage arrived today at noon. No real indication where it was hiding. Now we begin the process of filing claims with the airlines. Another item that wasn't originally on our agenda.
Several of us are praying for New Life church in our early morning prayer time, so we are helping to cover the 24 hour prayer calendar. We pray particularly for revival and that God would awaken a new sense of the urgency of prayer in our church.
Thank you for your prayers! The team is doing great and has fully absorbed our itinerant students from Liberty into the team. In addition, the rest of our luggage arrived today at noon. No real indication where it was hiding. Now we begin the process of filing claims with the airlines. Another item that wasn't originally on our agenda.
Several of us are praying for New Life church in our early morning prayer time, so we are helping to cover the 24 hour prayer calendar. We pray particularly for revival and that God would awaken a new sense of the urgency of prayer in our church.
Sunday, December 10, 2006
Fete Noel
The Christmas dinner went very well. God worked in mysterious ways. Due to a transportation strike in Lyon, many of our friends were not able to make it to the center. Those who were trying had to park 25 minutes away due to space limitations. Even with this situation - God sent at least 50 in a trickle. The people who did attend shared some intimate dialog including testimonies. WOW - One returned for church service today and we all shared lunch together afterward. Our newest arrivals are our new friends from Liberty U, Levi and Rachel LOVE THEM! Levi, in an effort to thwart oncoming jet lag, went for a walk. An hour and a half later, he returned - apparanty with a great sense of direction but a bad sense of timing.Let's just say, Rachel hosted a scouting party that returned after he did. Fortunately, they are still newlyweds......... :-) Still waiting on five of our bags, Kim, Roni and Steve have been dabbling in creative clothing. Latest news from Airlines is they have found them and should be delivered by Noon tomorrow. YIPPEE for us ALL!
We have prepared out literature to distribute this week and now are off to explore some of the city. Good night!
We have prepared out literature to distribute this week and now are off to explore some of the city. Good night!
Saturday, December 9, 2006
It's Christmas morning here!
We just received five of the ten bags we checked!!! All except one of our "party" bags arrived (please keep praying for it and Steve, Kim and Roni's clothes to get here soon) but we're praising Him still!
Yes, we are donning our new French lingerie--even if we fished it out of the bottom of a bargain bin, and let's just say that "Peanuts" characters are involved...not at all what we expected in the lingerie capital of the world. Maybe it's because JoJo was our escort to the mall???
We're learning that God loves us just the way we are--dirty dungeries and all! We must go get ready for the party! Thanks for your prayers and please continue to lift us up!
Yes, we are donning our new French lingerie--even if we fished it out of the bottom of a bargain bin, and let's just say that "Peanuts" characters are involved...not at all what we expected in the lingerie capital of the world. Maybe it's because JoJo was our escort to the mall???
We're learning that God loves us just the way we are--dirty dungeries and all! We must go get ready for the party! Thanks for your prayers and please continue to lift us up!
Friday, December 8, 2006
Prayer Walk - Soggy
Our prayer walk today in Lyon was a short and soggy one. While we were on our way to the Basilique Notre Dame (our first stop), the dark clouds overhead gave way to a full steady rain which settled in for the day. So after seeing the Basilique and seeing Lyon from the top of the Hill of Faith, we headed back to the center for Lunch and to get the center ready for the party tomorrow. Since we don't yet have the decorations we brought with us, we will use what we have available here.
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