les avions

here we are on our last night in France. stuff is piled all around me in our room as we start packing. i can hear exclamations from the Dutch Blitz table well below me. It's so hard to imagine that the summer has come to an end. So much has happened and at the same time not so much. We have gotten to explore a little, but for the most part, we just lived. We were discussing earlier how we haven't taken nearly as many photos this time around since it's sort of weird carrying your camera around the house while you clean.

God has really been working in my heart on love and trusting him in all that i do and think and not just on the things i consider to be big or a big deal. This being said, I know that Katie and I have both had troubles flying in the past. Please pray for us for calm spirits and easiness that I know only God can provide through our traveling. We will be getting on a flight at 11:00 am Paris time to fly to Toronto and then we have a layover there for a couple of hours and then will continue on to Atlanta.

Thank you for following our blog this summer and for keeping us and the institute in your prayers. Please also keep in mind in prayer all of the students who will be traveling, for safety and smoothness and that all reach their homes without any trouble. We love you all!

Amber

L'amour de Dieu

Bonjour everyone!

Today starts our last week here, which is, I think, pretty bittersweet for the both of us. This past week has flown by. We were able to have our last dance class with Anne yesterday. It was great! She's a very sweet woman, whom we are going to try and keep in contact with. She asked us if we could write her when we returned to the States. And we said, yes of course we could. Then she got excited about writing us back. So it's cool that we have been able to make this friendship here, and that we have the opportunity to continue it.

We had our last Bible study tonight. I think it has gone well. I started it hoping that students would kind of take off with it. I didn't want to be the one to talk the whole time. So we have been going through the book of Colossians, a chapter each week. I have learned so much from just being able to listen to the ideas and thoughts and questions of the students. I hope that they have also learned, and yet as I'm writing that, I don't think that it's necessary that we "learn" something each time. I think that the discussion itself can be sacred and holy.

I wanted to share one or two of the ideas/thoughts that we have discussed that have really touched me. Colossians 2:13b-15 says: "He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross. And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross." This is such a powerful image of Christ's love for us. When we were talking about this, we were talking about the fact that God sees everything; our mean thoughts, our sinful desires and lusts, our hurtful actions, our hurtful ignorance, everything. He sees all of the things that we wish to hide from everyone, including those closest to us, because we're so afraid that they won't love us any longer or because we're afraid of what they will think of us. And yet, God sees all of it and still nailed them along with His son to the cross. God sees these things and loves us deeper and stronger.

As we were discussing this, I started thinking about the fact that, as far as I can tell, one of the deepest desires of a woman is for a man to know everything about her, good and bad, happy and sad, clean and unclean, and yet for him to love her deeper and stronger as He finds out all of these things. We desire to be fully known and yet fully loved. This is God's love for us. Our deepest desire is fulfilled in Him. This for me was a startling realization. I mean I've heard all my life that Gd loves me (and I've believed that all my life), but not until that discussion did the true force of it hit me. He knows everything, absolutely everything, and yet loves me more with each disappointment, with each unkind thought, with each unthoughtful act.

Something we discussed tonight in chapter 4 was part of verse 12, where Paul writes, "He is always wrestling in prayer for you, that you may stand firm in all the will of God, mature and fully assured." We were discussing the fact that how awesome would it be if that is how each of us were praying. If each time we spent time in prayer with God, we were wrestling in our prayer that our friends, our family, our brothers and sisters in Christ would stand firm in all the will of God, mature and fully assured. We discussed that a lot of times in today's culture, we pray for people's health, that so and so would be able to find a job, that so and so would be safe while traveling, etc. And don't get me wrong, those are definitely things that we should pray about it. But how much more awesome would it be, if we were, first of all "wrestling" in our prayers for each other, and second of all praying that first and foremost, we would stand firm in all the will of God. Mature. And fully assured. This verse just made us think about how we were praying for other people and how we were desiring to be prayed for.

So tonight, my prayer for you is that I hope that God will reveal to you the extent of His love, the deepness and strength of it. And I pray that you are all standing firm in the will of God, mature and fully assured.

That is our prayer request this week. Please pray for both Amber and I, for each of the full time staff here (Elvira, Pia, Danielle, and Steve), and for the students that are here or have been here. Pray that we would stand firm in all the will of God, mature and fully assured, both here in France in our remaining time here, and also when we get home, and especially when we get back into whatever routine it is that we find ourselves getting wrapped up in.

We love you!

Katie

fidélité

Bonsoir tout le monde!

Sorry it's once again beena little while since we've posted an update. and forever since I have joined in on the posting. The internet here has been flaky for the past week but we think it's finally been all fixed up.

This was a very busy week once again with course finishing and packing and goodbyes to be said. The third group left this morning, bright and early around 5:30 am. For some reason, I thought it would be a good idea to get up and tell them goodbye so my day started pretty early, but of course I went back to sleep after they left for a couple more hours. The exitement really started when I was getting ready to start the dishes and they come running saying, get ready, we need to send you to Paris because one of the students forgot their bag. So I went to Paris today. A little running around with a big suitcase and some close calls, but all in all God made it happen and everything fell into place perfectly. All of the students made it on their way with their luggage (at least when i last saw them) and none had to pay overweight charges.

this all goes to say how much recently I've seen God with a hand in what I'm doing here or coming up in my life. or in every little thing from moment to moment. At times it is very easy to forget how He is watching every moment to belay fears or worries and guide our hand and words and thoughts. This summer has been a struggle for me with faith and understanding and fear of the future and what is going to happen. I had a friend last fall who gave me a devotional book called "Jesus Calling" which has really helped me recognize areas in my life where my focus may have failed or I have left fear take control of my actions. I want to share with you all one of my devotions from this past week that has really helped my regain some of my focus on God and giving him control:

• Bring me all your feelings, even the ones you wish you didn't have. Fear and anxiety still plague you. Feelings perse are not sinful, but they can be te,ptations to sin. Blazing missiles of fear fly at you day and night; these attacks from the evil one come at you relentlessly. Use your shield of faith to extinguish those flaming arrows. Affirm your trust in Me, regardless of how you feel. If you persist, your feelings will eventually fall in line with your faith. Do not hide from your fear or pretend it isn't there. Anxiety that you hide in the recesses of your heart will give birth to fear of fear/ a monstrous stepchild.... Concentrate on trusting Me, and fearfulness will gradually lose its foothold within you.

There have been so many fears to face traveling to a new country: travel stress and safety, language barriers, lack of communication, and just being away from good friends and family for an extended period of time. I have faced these challenges before with no issue so didn't feel there would be a problem with just 3 months in france. It's not the other side of the world, don't have to worryelectricity or any other day to day needs. But there has been a big battle of satan saying that I should be scared about obnoxious things like whether or not i will even make it back to the states or have a place to live when i get there. In the past few days, I have seen God provide in more ways than I can imagine serving as another reminder for the next time i fear somthing ridiculous, or not, that God is taking care of me even if it means waiting another day or two. 

We have an opportunity everyday here to recognize God's beauty in our surroundings and the people that have surrounded us. God has blessed us with new friendships and also time to relax in his presence. Please pray for us in our last two weeks here that we take advantage everyday of the moments he gives us to praise Him whether it is while we're doing the dishes, worshipping in church, cleaning a toilet, taking a walk on the beach or just having a conversation about what to make for dinner. Pray for our conversations, that we will use the time we have wisely and do not focus on the lack of time we have but instead enjoy everyday.

There have been some changes about the house as well and we seem to have gained another intern in the past 24 hours! Her name is Diana, and she was a student with Track C and is now staying on to help the institute. please keep her in your prayers and she adjusts to the change in responsibilities over the next couple of days. Also, with track C leaving there are only 6 people left in the house. This has already affected the sleeping habits of the students and the dynamics of the house. Please pray for Katie and I as we also adjust to the change in number and the difference in relationships that may develop with less people.

Katie has her third bible study tomorrow night and the person who had been helping out with the music is one of the students who went home. Please keep her in your prayers as she prepares for the discussion tomorrow night and thinks on how she would like to handle worship.

and thank you all, whoever you lay be, for taking the time to read my ramblings this evening. some of this has been weighing on my heart for awhile and I'm glad I was able to share it with you. Good things are happening here in France with this ministry and the new relationships the institute has formed through opportunities they have had this summer. Praise for the neighbors that have become buddies for the students as well as the neighbor across the street who helped provide housing for a professor for a month this summer.

love you all! have a splendid sunday!! (cause it's already sunday here)

-Amber

La tarte de pommes

Hello everyone!! Sorry we haven't updated, again, in a while. The internet has been in and out here, so we haven't had enough time with it to update. Last week was a busy week for us. Amber and I are working on some new projects for the Institute, some research and things of the like. Also last week we organized a small party for Bastille Day, July 14. (France's Independence Day, sort of.) Amber decided on what to cook for the party and then did the cooking! She made apple pie! It was amazing! :-) I decorated the dining room in festive flags, streamers, etc. We enjoyed doing it a lot, because some of the students were sad that we didn't celebrate the 4th of July. So this was a kind of 4th of July celebration for them. (It was just for France's day instead.)

I have now had two Bible studies since we last updated our blog. And I think both times went really well. I was pleased. I hope the students were as well. I had decided before hand that I just wanted the students to be able to initiate and kind of "drive" this study. So I chose for us to go through the book of Colossians, a chapter every Sunday night. We just sit, read, and discuss the verses. It's amazing for me to be able to just kind of facilitate and sit back and see where the conversation takes us. The students are amazing at sharing their thoughts and questions about the verses. I, myself, have learned so much about these verses, just by hearing the different ways that people understand these verses.

Prayer requests this week are for all of the students as they are finishing up their courses and are working hard on final projects and papers. Also, please pray as some new relationships have opened up for the institute through the students and through this program. Please pray that God would just go before the institute in these relationships and would just work in the hearts of these new friends. Also, please pray for the group C students as they leave Saturday morning to return home. Please pray for safe travels for all of them.

We love and miss you all!

Katie

Les Chateaux!

Bonjour everyone!! I hope that you have all had a wonderful fourth of July holiday! I'm sorry that it has taken us so long to update you!! We have had a busy week, but it's been a great week! The full-time staff here was gracious and generous and gave Amber and I three days off to travel! We were so excited!! There was a lot of work to be done beforehand, but we finished it and were able to be gone for three days. We decided to travel to the Loire Valley for a day or so and then head up to Paris. On Thursday, we took a train down to Tours and then another train over to Chenonceau, which is in the heart of the Loire Valley. We stayed at a hotel right outside of the Chateau (castle) of Chenonceau. On Thursday night, we just walked around and enjoyed the small town that we were staying in. It was very quaint and very French (obviously). On Friday morning, we got up and walked over to the castle and spent a couple of hours there. It was beautiful!!! I guess the most famous story behind this castle is that King Henry II gave it to his mistress, Diane de Poitiers as a gift. After King Henry II's death, his wife, the queen Catherine de Medici, took back possession of the house from Diane de Poitiers. Here is a picture of the Chateau de Chenonceau.

The next photo is of Amber and I from one of the balcony's in the house with the tower that reminded my of Rapunzel in the background.

After Chenonceau, we hopped on a bus and went to the city of Amboise to visit the Chateau Royal d'Amboise (the royal castle in Amboise). This castle was the royal residence for King Charles VIII and Francois I, which was during the late 15th century and the early 16th century. Within the gates, there are a few buildings that are still standing. However, this royal residence used to be a lot bigger. Leonardo Da Vinci's tomb is in the small chapel that still stands on the grounds. Here is a picture of the Chateau Royal d'Amboise.

After that, we walked over to visit Leonardo Da Vinci's house. This house was given to Da Vinci from King Francois I. This is the house that he lived in for the last three years of his life. Francois I and Da Vinci were good friends. From his bedroom window, Da Vinci could see the royal castle.

Here are a couple other photos of us on our mini-trip!

After visiting the Loire Valley, we hopped on another train and headed to Paris! One of the students that was here at the beginning of the summer was staying in Paris, so we were able to stay with her and hang out with her for awhile! We really only had Saturday to do stuff in Paris. So we slept in (of course, what else would we do with vacation time?), got up and went to the modern art museum called Centre Pompidou, and then we decided to just be Parisian, rather than be tourists. So we walked around just enjoying being in Paris, shopped a little, and had a long dinner at a café. It was wonderful and just what we needed, I think. It was nice to not be running off to see how many things we could visit while in Paris. We've seen them once and will hopefully see them again in our lifetimes, so we just wanted to enjoy being in Paris. :-) I will say that visiting the castles made me feel like a little girl again. It felt as if we were in the "foyer" of some fairy tale. Being in the castles made it seem as if we were almost in a fairy tale but not quite all the way there yet. It was wonderful!

Sunday afternoon, we returned to the institute and to work. It's been a good week getting to know the new group of students as well as getting to spend more time with the students that have been here for a couple of weeks now. Amber and I both have new projects we are working on for the full-time staff, data entry and some research work. Both of these projects will help the full-time team with the ministry throughout the year, not just this summer. So we are happy to invest our time in these projects to help further, and ease, the work of the ministry and the team. I'm also going to be starting a Bible study with the students this coming Sunday night. I'm really excited and a little nervous. It will be in English, because the students have 5-6 other opportunities to worship in French. When I was here, I remember wishing that there was at least a couple of opportunities for me to worship in English.

Prayer requests:

We are extremely grateful and thankful for the time off and the opportunity and ability to travel! It was a wonderful adventure! We are also thankful that the group B students arrived home safely at the beginning of this week!

Please pray for the students as they are in the middle of their classes and as they continue to get to know each other and interact with one another. Please pray for the Bible study this Sunday night, just that God would work through me and the study in whatever way He sees is best.

Also, today is July 7th, which means we have about a month left of our time here. This realization is very bittersweet for us!

We love and miss you all!

Katie

Bon voyage!

Just wanted to send another short note to let you all know that we are leaving in just about an hour to travel for a couple of days, so we'll be out of touch for a little bit. But we'll let you know when we get back on Sunday!

Also, please pray for groups B & C as they head to Paris. Pray that they have a wonderful/safe trip, and that group B gets home safely. Keep the full-time staff in your prayers, as they are busy on the Paris trips, driving back and forth between here and Paris, and getting the house ready for the new group to arrive.

We love and miss you all!

Katie

aigu

Hello all,

It has once again been a fairly eventful week. We thought that with mostly everyone back in the house things would calm down a little, but they haven't quite made it there. I apologize it has taken so long to sit down and actually do this. Good news - it's 80 degrees here today!!! Finally some fantastic beach weather! Unfortunately, I decided to challenge that weather with losing a pair of sunglasses in the ocean, breaking one of my flip-flops and cutting a gash in my foot in the ocean(hence the title of the blog today, it means sharp)...i'm batting 1000 today =) it's okay though. Got myself all bandaged up now I just feel I may need to replenish the first aid kit here since I've used it so often. It was wonderful to get out in the sunshine, but be able to cool off in la manche (english channel).

A couple of weeks ago (it's hard to imagine it's been that long), we were just trucking away at all of the cleaning and not really seeing our purpose in being here. It's always enjoyable being here of course but it was getting discouraging as well. Thankfully, this week, Katie and I have both sat down with Steve to discuss more of why we're here and other ways we can serve the students and the institute. I am going to sit down with Pia tomorrow morning and try to help out with some of the accounting backlog they have. I'm very thankful that I already know a little bit of the Quickbooks system since that's what we used at my previous job. Since most of the team will be in and out with another group going to Paris, I hope this can take one area of worry away from them. Katie met with Steve more about the student's needs in being here and has discussed the opportunity of doing an english bible study with them in the evenings for all who would like to participate. Sometimes even though you may be singing the same praise and worship songs, it's hard to fully get into the spirit of worship when you're concentrating on saying the words correctly. The do something called reveille each morning which is a time of worship and prayer in French already so this would be in addition to that. I believe Katie will also be doing some data entry through excel to help with some institute organization.

Thanks to Katie, I got to go to church this morning. It was nice being back in a church and getting to worship with more people. It was a little different that the normal service for me but the message was good and strong. The pastor spoke of a divided house and the need to throw Satan out of our lives and not just ignore his presence or be passive about temptation. I hope I will again have the opportunity to attend church because the people were really nice and it was a little fun singing out of a hymnal again although I found it a little more difficult to follow along when you don't know the tune or how to pronounce all the words!

This week Group B (who came in the same day we did) will be leaving. They will first go to Paris with the middle group so Katie and I will be in charge while everyone's gone, but that also means we have a lot of work to do to get ready for the new group to come back in. However, to reward us, we get 3 whole days off!!! After we finish our work on Thursday, we're free until Sunday evening. So, we're going to get up at the crack of dawn with the students to get the work going and then hope a train about 1pm to head to the Loire valley to see some castles! I'm really excited about the opportunity to travel a little bit since we didn't think it would happen and since there will not be any students around it won't be a problem!

I think that maybe sums up all that we've been doing this past week. It's been a little of a whirlwind honestly and I can't believe we've been here almost 6 weeks already. About 6 more to go.

Updates from prior prayer requests:

• Kate and the students from Group A all made it home safely and enjoyed their time in Paris.
• The new group seems to be doing well here and well as been an encouragement for the Group B students who are not quite at the same French level. It's been good having them in the house and getting to know them.

New Prayer Requests:

• I know that God is watching me, but please pray that I will be more mindful of what I'm doing and stop injuring myself. 
• Safe travels for the groups coming into Paris tomorrow and leaving for Paris on Thursday. I know there are mixed emotions of sadness and excitement for Group B as they near the end of their time in France.
• Pray for our safe travels that we are mindful of our surroundings and thoughtful when making plans.
• Pray for the new opportunities we will be starting with the institute. That Katie will be able to find students who want to participate in worship and that the work we do will take some stress away and allow the full-time team members other opportunities of service.

Thank you all for your notes and comments! We love you all! and now I must go help with dinner =)

amber

La maison du vin

I'm sorry that it's been a whole week since we last posted anything. It's been a crazy few days for us. On Monday, a new group of students arrived. They all got here safely, and are still a bit jet-lagged, I think, but are doing well. I went to Paris on Monday to help pick up all the students, so it was a long day for me, as we are about 3 or so hours from Paris, and I had to stay late and pick up a student and take the train back. But it was an even longer day for Amber, who had to stay here and help with all of the meals, as well as change beds, have students move, clean the rooms, etc. This week is just a crazy one because the other intern who was here, Kate, left Monday. And two of the full-time staff are in and out this week, taking people to the airport, picking people up from the airport, and leading the excursion in Paris. So there's more work for those of us who are still here at the Domaine. It's not bad, just a busy week.

So yes, our friend Kate left Monday morning. We were sad to see her go. In just the three weeks that we got to spend with her, we became good friends. But we are hoping to get to see her sometime during the year. (We're trying to convince her to come visit us in Knoxville.)

The first group of students, group A, left this morning. We were also sad to see them leave, but we know they are probably having a wonderful time in Paris right now and are probably excited to get home and see their friends and family. Amber and I are excited about the possibility of getting to see some of the students when we get home in August. Some of them live in and/or around Knoxville, so we look forward to keeping in touch with them.

The pictures at the top of our blog are some that Amber uploaded last week. I think most of them were taken at the D-Day celebration that I wrote about last week. This past weekend we were able to go to a Venetian festival, which was neat. We missed the big part of the festival, but we still got to see the town decorated a little bit.

Thank you for your responses and comments on our last blog! Your encouragement and support are help keep us going!

Prayer requests this week: Please pray for Kate and for group A as they are all traveling this week. Pray that they will continue to keep their hearts open to the work that God was doing in their hearts while they were here.

Please pray for our team as this week is a bit crazy and busy. Pray that everyone is able to receive very restful sleep each night, and that God would just give each of us the energy and the joy needed each day for our service.

Pray especially for Amber as in the midst of all this busyness, she managed to twist (or something like that) her finger. I think it's still hurting a lot. Pray that it would heal quickly!

Pray that the new group of students would adjust to the time change and to the change in culture and language. They had their first class this morning, and I think it went well. Please continue to pray for their class and for their anxiety of being in class at a French University. (They've been pretty anxious/nervous about it the past couple of days.)

Please pray for a couple of our friends who we are not able to be with right now, but whom we are grieving with and aching to be with them. Their hearts are hurting, but I know that they are drawing close to our Father who knows and loves them better than we ever could.

We miss and love you all so much!

Katie

P.S. At some point, we'll explain the titles of each of our blogs. :-) Some of them have funny stories behind them, such as today's... Others don't. Haha, but at some point, we'll explain!

Le ménage

So in the past week, we have cleaned the bathrooms several times, done a lot of dishes, and set the table multiple times. I find myself sometimes questioning God on my purpose here. How am I being useful? How does this help bring His love to the people of France? Is this all I'm suppose to be doing? Then, slowly, I remember that even the small things matter. Being in ministry isn't always about ministering to people in a direct, face-to-face way. It can also be in a behind-the-scenes manner, in which I am ministering to them and serving them in Christ's love. They just might not know that it's me. I think cleaning the bathrooms can help one realize how much pride one still possesses. It's very humbling to clean the bathrooms, wash the dishes, etc. day in and day out as part of your ministry. It's not a bad thing by any means, and in fact I think everyone should experience it at some point. It's just a new lesson to learn.

I was reading in Oswald Chambers' My Utmost for His Highest, and found this: "Rise to the occasion; do the thing... May God not find the whine in us any more, but may He find us full of spiritual pluck and athleticism, ready to face anything He brings. We have to exercise ourselves so that the Son of God may be manifested in our mortal flesh. God never has museums. The only aim of life is that the Son of God may be manifested, and all dictation to God vanishes."

The line "God never has museums," can hit home I think with a lot of Christians, including myself. I'm not here in France to become known as a devout Christian who helped lead a revival in France. In fact, I'm not here to become known at all. I'm here to serve in whatever way He has opened for me. So maybe this summer, Amber and I are just here to clean the bathrooms and to improve our French. Maybe by doing these things, He is preparing us for some other ministry later on in our lives. Those are just what my thoughts have been recently. :-) And I just thought I would share.

Besides the cleaning, we did get to go to dance class again, which is always fun and tiring! We always got to go to the D-Day celebration that was held here in Merville-Franceville. There were veterans from the 9th battalion who came to the service. They were men who were paratroopers who parachuted in during the night of June 5, 1944 to take over/stop the German battery here in Merville-Franceville. This battery was defending Sword beach. If I can remember the story correctly, there were around 750 paratroopers who jumped out of the plane that night, but only about 150 survived the jump and were able to assemble together. The German general had flooded the area around the battery, and the paratroopers didn't know. So a lot of them landed in the marshes and drowned. The survivors, however, pulled together and neutralized the battery after a hard fight. (There's a chance that I got some of that information wrong, but that's the gist of the story.)

It was humbling to see these men who had fought in the war, and to be surrounded by the land that they fought on. It's one thing to learn about wars in a history book. It's quite another to see it's remnants, the environment that it destroyed at one point and the people who risked everything during it.

Please pray as this group of students finishes up their class. Please pray for them as they are going to visit D-Day sites and museums over the next few days. It can be a very emotional experience, but also one in which a lot can learned about war and about God's goodness and love in the midst of it.

Also pray for the students that will be arriving next week. Please pray for their safety in traveling, and that God would begin to prepare their hearts for their time here.

Pray that Amber and I don't seek God's reason, but more seek that He would transform and change us through our cleaning and serving here.

We love and miss you all!

Katie

beurre de cacahuète

D'accord!

Well, we went to our ballet class on saturday afternoon. it was a great success. Anne is a fantastic teacher and person that is just fun to be around. She is very understanding with our still progressing french and it's fun interacting with her. She's the first person outside the institute we have gotten to interact with thus far but I know there will be a prayer meeting this week sometime and people from the community come to that as well. we're looking forward to our next class this coming Saturday althou i don't think my legs have quite recovered from the last time. (we live on the third floor as well so there's a lot of stair climbing being done daily)

They finally got us started on our cleaning on sunday. "Maman" taught us how to clean the bathrooms and that is our responsibility everyday now. every other day we have to do a deep clean and the days in between are for "contrôle" (make sure everything is tidy and change towels).

Ironically enough, there was a large group from King that arrived Monday night for dinner. Another way the institute brings in income is to help out groups by showing them around Normandy and being a tour guide. it was great seeing some familiar faces and getting to visit with them. it was a long night with so many people in the dining room but a blessing as well.

we got to start working in the café bar for the students. and i think that's our favorite part. we get to hang out with the students while we all work on our french and sell them things. it's only bad because we keep wanting to buy things for ourselves. katie really has a problem with the chocolate. i'm doing okay so far...althouth, i am very accident prone as most of you know. last night i was closing the shutters right at the end of my shift and didn't realize the crank had a mind of its own and it whipped right around and smacked me right in the forehead. it still hurts a little bit. everyone in the café was worried about my safety except for katie. she was practically rolling on the floor she was laughing so hard. guess i can't say much tho because i would've have done the same thing. it's a danger zone here tho. someone also thought it'd be smart to put these light on the wall right next to my head. yeah. i think you can see how this story ends.

well, i need to go run and help with lunch help.

prayer requests:

- katie is still having trouble with her bank card not working here. pray that it all gets resolved as soon as possible.
- my safety, all minor things so far. cuts and bruises. pas mal
- and still for our french and the students. they seem to be doing well and liking the new professor a lot

à bientôt,

Amber et Katie

Rez-de-chaussée

Yesterday and today have both been orientation days for us. The team here is slowly introducing us to the different daily tasks as well as to information about the institute/ministry itself. So far, we have done well with handling the tasks and information, however there is more to come! We'll see how it goes! :-)

Amber and I are going to be taking dance lessons from a professional dancer who is a friend of our French "maman" (mom), who cooks, as well as does a bunch of other things, here at the institute. We met with our instructor yesterday, and we have our first dance class tomorrow. We're pretty excited! She's a very sweet lady who lives to dance. Yesterday she said, "c'est mon drogue." (It's my drug.) So I think we'll enjoy our time with her.

One of the programs of this ministry is a summer program where students come to study abroad in a Christian program. Not only are they exposed to the language and take classes here, they also participate in community service projects, travel to different places in Normandy and to Paris, attend a local church on Sundays and are encouraged in their spiritual walks through daily group devotionals and worship. The students here are currently finishing up their first class. As I type, I can hear them downstairs studying for their final tomorrow morning. Amber and I commented earlier that we're glad we aren't them this time. It's nice to be able to be here to serve and to help and not to study.

Tonight we helped with dinner preparation and clean up, which was a little overwhelming, but that's as it should be when you're cooking a mostly French 4-course dinner for a large group of hungry students. This will get easier as we get used to what we are doing, hopefully. :-)

Please pray that our bodies continue to adjust to the time. (I had a difficult time staying awake today!) Please pray for our team - that as we get to know each other better and start dividing up the tasks, our hearts and minds would become more in sync as we serve Christ. Also pray that Amber and I are able to help relieve some of the stress of the full time staff while we are here. Pray for the students as they finish their first class and move into the second class with a new professor. Pray that they would see Christ through our work and service and that He would draw them to a deeper relationship with Him. Also pray that our French would continue to improve as we interact more frequently with people in the community!

Also, here's our address in case you need/want it.

Domaine L'Estuaire

c/o (Amber or Katie or both)

44, avenue de la mer

14810 Merville-Franceville

FRANCE

We love you all and are praying for you!

Katie

enfin

We are here! safe and sound. The day started out magnifique with an upgrade to first class for our first flight which included a wonderful meal and hot towels! Minor hiccups in Canada with bad weather, circling the airport for about an hour and then running through the entire toronto airport after they made us check our bags at the door to the plane...luckily our flight to paris had also been delayed so we were able to hop right on and take off which was pleasant despite the aching legs and sweat dripping down our foreheads!!

Tommorrow, they have given us a chance to rest some more and catch up on the sleep we didn't get before we left.

God has watched over our travels and made things work out in ways that seemed impossible at the time. Please keep us in your prayers that we can use tomorrow to fully relax and prepare for the coming work they have planned for us.

we love you all and will start trying to post pictures soon!

à bientôt

katie and amber

chouette

I wanted to do a quick post to start out this lovely blog idea. I spoke with Katie on the phone earlier and I think she may be less stressed than I, but that's okay because we start our journey tomorrow no matter if I finish packing my house or not.


As we commence, I would just like to ask for prayer for us in safety, peace of mind for flying and I need help releasing control to God this week. He watches our every move and knows better than us and it's easy to forget all this when life gets hectic and crazy. 


I hope our blog postings will be filled with interesting and funny stories of the things we may encounter or God will teach us along the way!


love you all whoever you may be!


Amber