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