I've been blessed with the opportunity to come out to France with Liz and 2 other ladies, Amber and Linnea. We've been having a great time of fellowship together and the Lord is providing us with ministry opportunities within the area of Couture D'Argenson. When we first arrived to Paris, France; we got our rental car and stayed in a hotel the first evening. Everything went well minus a few wrong turns here and there. I will say, I'm glad Liz is driving because I would be terribly confused driving the streets of France, but God bless the person who thought of Round-A-Bouts. If you don't know what that is, let me know, I'll explain. As we were taking the 4 hour drive from Paris to Couture, we took a few detours to look at a castle, we went to Chartres Cathedral and Leonardo DaVinci's house. Leonardo DaVinci's house was a pretty amazing place, it was fun to see his experiments and to see the beautiful acreage his house is on. It is a stunning place and seeing such history in front of me was a lot of fun.
Leonardo DaVinci's House at Night.
When we stopped in Chartres Cathedral, it was something I've never experienced before. The cold and drafty church with years of history inside and out was a bit overwhelming. You enter and immediately you feel the need to be very reserved and show a bit of humility. As we were looking around inside, randomly someone started playing the massive pipe organ. It was absolutely gorgeous. I took a seat in a pew and read Revelation 19. I don't normally open and read Revelation, but I felt drawn to read about the rejoicing in heaven, the marriage supper of the Lamb and to read about the Rider on a White Horse. What a gorgeous opportunity to sit before the Lord in such a historic place.
A Castle in France on the way to Couture.
After a day of sight seeing, we finally reached the little stone house late in the evening. Got to sleep and slept in late into the next day. We all suffered severely from jet lag. I think some of it had to do with the cold, rainy weather. After a few days of recuperating from jet lag, getting used to the house and getting the house warmed up with fires and heaters - we put together gift baskets for a few of our neighbors and the mayors of Couture & Chef Boutonne. We went down the street and visited with our neighbor Norma and gave her a gift basket, complete with chocolate, lotion, a cooking sheet and other little trinkets. We also gave her some Bibles to put in the rooms of her B&B. The smile on her face was enough to light up the room. Visiting with her was so much fun and I just fell in love with her. She is a beautiful lady and I hope to spend more time with her throughout the trip and get to know her a bit more. That is kind of the vision we have for this particular trip, to reach out to the town and bless the neighbors in anyway we can. We want to emanate the love of Christ to all those in this area.
A Gift Basket.
Liz, Norma, Myself and Amber.
We met up with some friends from the UK in front of the Little Stone Church. We thought that we'd only visit with them for a few minutes but we were so excited that they accepted the invitation to come over for some Chili! We rushed home, set the table for all 12 of us, Liz cooked up some amazing chili and we had some time together. It was so nice to just sit and entertain some friends. They were very encouraging and so kind! I wish they could have stayed longer but they were on their way back to the UK in the morning.
Mayor's Office in Chef Boutonne.
A table set for Twelve!
The table, filled with 12!
We have also been cleaning here and there around the house. We're also just having a bit of a retreat if you will in the evenings, having fellowship together - having great conversation and moments of laughter that bring us to tears! Its been very relieving from the normal life in the States. Its very relaxed out here in the countryside! I love it. I even love the cold rainy weather. But with that being said, God did bless us with a beautiful day of warmer weather and sunshine! We took the opportunity, fixed up the garden outside, planted a few plants and then headed out to do some more sight-seeing because we are not sure when we'll have another nice weather day to do so! We drove to Melle and went to the Post Office to exchange some DOllars into Euros and walk around. We visited a church that was built in the 11th Century. The acoustics were so amazing. Liz had me sing (as that's my most favorite thing to do EVER!), so I sang Amazing Grace. It was a phenomenal feeling to sing in a church that has so much history! It moved me almost to tears, I squealed like a little girl with excitement. We also drove and visited the Cele-Sur-Belle Cathedral. It was a beautiful time of day as the sun was setting. The scenery in France really makes you quite speechless!
On the road to Melle.
Cele-Sur-Belle Cathedral.
On Sunday, we had church at home. Amber and I led worship and Linnea led us in the scriptures. We read out of Daniel 2 and discussed King Nebuchadnezzars Dream and how God revealed it. It was a nice time of discussion. After we spent about an hour or so covering this little town in prayer, that the Gospel would go forth, even with broken French, a limited amount of time, and bad weather. It was one of my favorite days spent so far. Amber woke up and found a butterfly in her bedroom, and the picture just reminds me of the newness of life that is found in Christ and the burden we all feel to tell all those in our path of His beautiful redeeming Love and His sovereignty.
Amber's butterfly.
I pray that we will continue to bless those that come in our path. In the coming up week we have some more friends coming over for dinner and Amber and myself will be going to the Retirement Home to sing to the residents there. We're very excited with what the Lord is doing and I am humbled to be able to spend time in this beautiful town with so many amazing faces. Thank you all for reading and we covet your prayers as we do have another week and a half left on our trip.
Leonardo DaVinci's House at Night.
When we stopped in Chartres Cathedral, it was something I've never experienced before. The cold and drafty church with years of history inside and out was a bit overwhelming. You enter and immediately you feel the need to be very reserved and show a bit of humility. As we were looking around inside, randomly someone started playing the massive pipe organ. It was absolutely gorgeous. I took a seat in a pew and read Revelation 19. I don't normally open and read Revelation, but I felt drawn to read about the rejoicing in heaven, the marriage supper of the Lamb and to read about the Rider on a White Horse. What a gorgeous opportunity to sit before the Lord in such a historic place.
A Castle in France on the way to Couture.
After a day of sight seeing, we finally reached the little stone house late in the evening. Got to sleep and slept in late into the next day. We all suffered severely from jet lag. I think some of it had to do with the cold, rainy weather. After a few days of recuperating from jet lag, getting used to the house and getting the house warmed up with fires and heaters - we put together gift baskets for a few of our neighbors and the mayors of Couture & Chef Boutonne. We went down the street and visited with our neighbor Norma and gave her a gift basket, complete with chocolate, lotion, a cooking sheet and other little trinkets. We also gave her some Bibles to put in the rooms of her B&B. The smile on her face was enough to light up the room. Visiting with her was so much fun and I just fell in love with her. She is a beautiful lady and I hope to spend more time with her throughout the trip and get to know her a bit more. That is kind of the vision we have for this particular trip, to reach out to the town and bless the neighbors in anyway we can. We want to emanate the love of Christ to all those in this area.
A Gift Basket.
Liz, Norma, Myself and Amber.
We met up with some friends from the UK in front of the Little Stone Church. We thought that we'd only visit with them for a few minutes but we were so excited that they accepted the invitation to come over for some Chili! We rushed home, set the table for all 12 of us, Liz cooked up some amazing chili and we had some time together. It was so nice to just sit and entertain some friends. They were very encouraging and so kind! I wish they could have stayed longer but they were on their way back to the UK in the morning.
Mayor's Office in Chef Boutonne.
A table set for Twelve!
The table, filled with 12!
We have also been cleaning here and there around the house. We're also just having a bit of a retreat if you will in the evenings, having fellowship together - having great conversation and moments of laughter that bring us to tears! Its been very relieving from the normal life in the States. Its very relaxed out here in the countryside! I love it. I even love the cold rainy weather. But with that being said, God did bless us with a beautiful day of warmer weather and sunshine! We took the opportunity, fixed up the garden outside, planted a few plants and then headed out to do some more sight-seeing because we are not sure when we'll have another nice weather day to do so! We drove to Melle and went to the Post Office to exchange some DOllars into Euros and walk around. We visited a church that was built in the 11th Century. The acoustics were so amazing. Liz had me sing (as that's my most favorite thing to do EVER!), so I sang Amazing Grace. It was a phenomenal feeling to sing in a church that has so much history! It moved me almost to tears, I squealed like a little girl with excitement. We also drove and visited the Cele-Sur-Belle Cathedral. It was a beautiful time of day as the sun was setting. The scenery in France really makes you quite speechless!
On the road to Melle.
Cele-Sur-Belle Cathedral.
On Sunday, we had church at home. Amber and I led worship and Linnea led us in the scriptures. We read out of Daniel 2 and discussed King Nebuchadnezzars Dream and how God revealed it. It was a nice time of discussion. After we spent about an hour or so covering this little town in prayer, that the Gospel would go forth, even with broken French, a limited amount of time, and bad weather. It was one of my favorite days spent so far. Amber woke up and found a butterfly in her bedroom, and the picture just reminds me of the newness of life that is found in Christ and the burden we all feel to tell all those in our path of His beautiful redeeming Love and His sovereignty.
Amber's butterfly.
I pray that we will continue to bless those that come in our path. In the coming up week we have some more friends coming over for dinner and Amber and myself will be going to the Retirement Home to sing to the residents there. We're very excited with what the Lord is doing and I am humbled to be able to spend time in this beautiful town with so many amazing faces. Thank you all for reading and we covet your prayers as we do have another week and a half left on our trip.
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