Last update from Le Gault la Forêt!

Hi friends! This will be my last update from our lovely town of Le Gault la Forêt in France! We leave tomorrow for North Africa! I'm so excited, especially because I'm finally done packing! Living out of a suitcase is definitely my least favorite part of traveling.... We've had an awesome time here at the base getting to know the staff and the communities around the base. We've made some really great relationships here and it will be hard to say goodbye. We're also having to say goodbye to the other half of our team that is staying in France. I will definitely miss them heaps!!! It's sad to leave such a beautiful place with such great friends, but I know that there are wonderful things in store for us as we head to Africa!

I'll try to keep you updated as often as I can, but I doubt we'll have reliable internet access while we're in Africa. Be aware that I'll be sparse on the details of where we are and what we're doing because of some security concerns, but I'll try to drop a line here every once in a while to let you know that I'm having a blast doing whatever it is we're doing. I'll try to post pictures when we get back to Sydney or when I get home (two months and counting!).

Miss you and love you all!!!

Other photo albums

Here are the photos from outreach week 3:

http://s622.photobucket.com/albums/tt307/smithmj13/France%20Outreach--Week%203/?albumview=slideshow

Trip to Reims and Epernay:
http://s622.photobucket.com/albums/tt307/smithmj13/Trip%20to%20Reims%20and%20Epernay/?albumview=slideshow

Outreach, week 4:
http://s622.photobucket.com/albums/tt307/smithmj13/France%20Outreach--Week%204/?albumview=slideshow

Enjoy!

Paris Photos

Here are the photos from Paris!

http://s622.photobucket.com/albums/tt307/smithmj13/DTS%20goes%20to%20Paris/?albumview=slideshow

Happenings in France

Hi friends! It has been another amazing week in France! We moved back into our rooms upstairs, which is nice. We had some amazing weather this week--very springy. We had a BBQ for one of the guys who has been helping out at the base and left to head to his next venture in life. It was fun to hang out with the base folk. I played with a couple of the kids most of the time, which was really fun. Kate, who is four years old and has adorable red hair, is my new friend. I will post pictures of our adventures if facebook ever decides to cooperate...

When we went to church this weekend, Liz, Brea, and I helped with the Sunday school kids--so much fun! We taught them Father Abraham and then took them to the park to play outside. After church, we decided to get lunch at the pizza/kebab restaurant in town. One of the ladies from church (who happens to be a primary school music teacher) saw us in the restaurant and gave us a bunch of certificates to pay for our whole lunch!!! SO NICE! We came back that afternoon and hung out in the beautiful sunshine at the base. It was pretty much the perfect day.

On Monday of this week, we went to Reims and Epernay, which are north of Le Gault. Reims has a huge cathedral where the kings of France used to be crowned, and Epernay is the champagne capital of France. We toured some churches in Reims, walked around the city, and ate morning tea at a really delicious bakery. We saw a street magician who must have been working on his portfolio because he had a video camera following him around. He was pretty good, but not as good as Heath Page (for any of my CSIN friends who know who that is....). When we went to Epernay, we toured the Mercier champagne factory, which was really interesting. They take you on this lazer-guided tram tour of their underground factory and tell you about the whole champagne making process, which is incredibly intricate. I bought a bottle of champagne that I am excited to crack open as soon as DTS is over... ;-}

This week, I got to babysit Yannick, the son of a couple from the base. He is a little guy--maybe around two years old, and he is SO CUTE!!! We ate lunch, read heaps of stories, and played with a stuffed Babar while we should have been napping. We also had a CRAAAAAZY thunder storm that almost felt like a tornado with how windy it was! We had way too much fun--I'll try to put up some of the videos I took of the lightning--it was pretty unbelievable!

Last night, Eliane, Brea, and I went to a home group that was totally awesome! The group is mostly non-Christians; neighbors and friends of the family who runs it. We played some worship songs, did a sign language performance, and Brea and I shared our testimonies. It was a really powerful time--I saw tears in people's eyes while Brea and I were speaking. The people were incredibly warm and hospitable, and we had a great time getting to know them and sharing with them. I am excited for how God is going to use what we shared last night to touch those people's lives.

Other than that, it's business as usual here! We're getting ready to leave for Africa on Monday! It's coming SO SOON! We're all really excited. I'm not excited to pack again, but I am excited to move on to the next adventure God has for us. We'll be spending a few weeks in the north working with some ministries there, and then we're going into the mountains for 6 days, which is going to be hard, but amazing! I'll try to get as much internet/Skype time in as I can this week, because we're probably not going to have as reliable internet in Africa as we do here. Still trying to upload my pictures. I think I've given up on Facebook, so I'm trying Photobucket, but I'm worried that I'll go over my limit because I take too many pictures!!!

Love you and miss you all!

Visit to Paris, etc...

Hey everybody! It's been another crazy week in France! On Tuesday, we all went into Paris to see the sights for our day off. It was pretty much amazing! We left SUPER early in the morning, so we were all way tired, but we wanted to have heaps of time to see everything because this was probably our only shot to get to the city. We saw the Eiffel Tower, Town Hall, the Paris Opera House (where Phantom of the Opera was set and the movie was filmed), Notre Dame, the Louvre Courtyard, and a bunch of other amazingly cool places. We went to one church and saw a Lutheran Choir from Wisconsin getting off a tour bus. We went up and talked to them, and it turns out that one of the guys is from PARKLAND! I flipped out! How random is it to meet someone from Po-Dunk Parkland in Paris!?!?!?! We had lots of fun, despite a few snags in our travel plans....

I haven't done much but sleep for the past two days because I've been sick, which is kinda lame... But I'm on the mend, so it's all good. We've moved out of our rooms at the base we're staying at because they booked a huge group in here before our travel plans changed, so they're being amazing and bending over backwards to find a place for us to stay. Four of us girls are crashing in the lounge room at the house we have been in, the other four are in the basement prayer room at the other house, and the boys are tenting it in the backyard. We're here until the end of the week, then we get to move back into our rooms.

Travel plans for the next leg of our journey are really coming together for our team. We heard from a contact who wants to take us into the mountains to work with an unreached people group, which is really exciting because our team has gotten heaps of words from the Lord about mountains! We're in the logistics phase right now--trying to figure out travel and accommodation plans. Keep praying that everything works out and that we go and do exactly what God wants us to.

Keep lifting up the France team in prayer as well. They are under some serious attack from the enemy with their travel plans, and they need breakthrough! Pray that contacts and people to stay with will come out of nowhere and that God will orchestrate their travels and outreaches.

Love you and miss you all! I'm in the process of posting pictures from Paris, so be expecting those as soon as our internet decides to cooperate!

Exciting news!

Hi friends! We just got word this morning that our contact came through for us in North African Country Number 2, so we're officially going!!!! I can't tell you how excited I am, especially since that's the country I've had on my heart the whole time! We're staying in one city in the north for the whole month unless we find contacts in other cities. Keep praying that all of our travel plans go through and that we go to the exact places God wants us to go. Also be praying for one of the staff from that base who is really sick and is having surgery on Wednesday. Pray for a full, quick recovery so she can continue her ministry in this country. Also be praying for the France team, as their travel plans are slightly more fluid than they would like them to be (aka, they're supposed to be leaving here on Wednesday, but they don't have a place to go...) Pray that God's will be done and that people will take the swift action they need to take to make things happen for the France team.

Thanks SO MUCH for your prayers! The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective! They're not just words--we pray to a living and active God who changes circumstances on our behalf. God is so good!

Week 2 Update

Hey friends! This has been a CRAZY week! We had an open air in a town called Provins (pronounced pro-vAAn, with the French sounding nasal vowel) on Thursday. We had prepared a bunch of stuff, and as often happens, things turned out completely differently than we had expected. There were heaps of kids in the square we were in, more than the base staff had ever seen before. We taught them Bambalela, a fun African praise song we do all the time at our base, and did a drum circle. Some of the kids came and played drums with us, while others played a game like musical chairs, but with scraps of paper instead of chairs. We handed out pieces of paper folded like hearts with scriptures and encouraging words on them to the kids afterward. It was really exciting for us, because God spoke to us before we got here about ministering to children and how they were going to be the key focus for our ministry.

Last night, we went to a house group run by some of the people from the base. We lead worship, and then another French person who has been at the base for a while shared his testimony. It was really fun to be able to meet with and bless some of the people from the community, as well as continue to build relationships with the family from the base.

Today, we had a crazy move of God's Spirit in our team time. The Lord brought up a lot of stuff for us to deal with, and there was a lot of healing that took place in relationships with each other and our relationship with God. God spent all week preparing us for this morning with different words and things he was speaking to us, and I think now that we've gotten rid of a lot of junk in our own lives, our ministry will be much more effective. I'm excited to see what God does at the Youth Group service/hang out time tonight at the baptism service we're helping with tomorrow!

In my last update, I mentioned that we were having trouble with our visas. Turns out, there's no way for us to get visas for the country we were going to, short of going back to each of our country of origins and applying at our local consulate (which for me, would have meant applying in person in Washington....DC!). The option we're exploring now is going to the other country in Africa that we were originally planning to go to but cut out of the plan because of finances and timing. If you're confused about which country I'm talking about now, e-mail me and I'll give you a hint... :-} We need mad prayer!!! Pray that our contact in Africa still has room for our team to come in June and pray that everything with finances and travel works out. We've had a lot of changes and disappointments with our travel plans so far on this team, and I think all of us are ready for a little stability! Pray that God would speak to us clearly about what we're supposed to do and where we're supposed to go. Pray that he will open up doors and provide contacts for us so that we can have effective ministry in the places he wants us to be. Pray for our team to be encouraged and strengthened by the Lord, and that these changes won't distract us from the plan he has for us while we're in France.

Thanks for all your prayers! Love you and miss you all!