The Back Blog

2009-08-10T08:49:00.002-04:00

I apologize that it has been so long since we have written. Moving back overseas has been no easy feat and then being pregnant on top of that has made me run out of energy super fast. And on top of that our computer hasn't been working so that has put a kink in a lot of things. But things are starting to shape up. We got a new car, well new to us. It was such a blessing, we worked with an agency called Mats.org. They help people in full-time ministry find cars that they can afford that are reliable. We paid a couple thousand dollars less than we would've at a dealer. We got a 2008 Chevy Malibu Classic and we love it!!! After having old cars for so long it is so nice to have something reliable that can spend a couple hours on the freeway and doesn't have maintenance problems every couple of months.

We still need to find an apartment in Indy. We went once to look at places we had liked online, but when we got there, it was like no thank you!! Not a neighborhood I would feel safe walking around with a baby. So we need to head back and look again.

So that is what we have been up. We also have new cell phone numbers if you want them!!

Oh and the baby is 13 weeks today, we are getting out of the woods for a miscarriage, which is such a nice feeling. It was incredible to see our baby in the ultrasound, such a miracle that is forming in me. We both said how could anyone have a baby and not believe in God.

Pictures from the March pour Jesus

2009-06-29T09:41:00.002-04:00

Notice the guy on slits he was my favorite!! It was so encouraging to see so many churches and ethnicities come together for one purpose. Our students were so encouraged and kept saying things like "I never thought I would be singing 'Blessed be His name' downtown," or "This is so crazy, look at everyone watching us." This really meant much more to the French to be able to do this in their town than we can even imagine! We had a fun time, but did get a little hot towards the end. I don't know how the older people from our churches were doing it in suits and dresses with hose! And maybe in one picture you can see the Police. No we weren't breaking the law, it was completely legal. Every manif gets a police escort to hold off traffic.

Chain Saw

2009-06-09T02:42:00.002-04:00

So yesterday it rained all day here. Which isn't odd in and of itself. But while it was raining all day, they were cutting our grass and trimming our bushes. I always thought it wasn't wise to cut grass in the rain. But my favorite part was when the thunderstorm started about 5pm. It is thundering and lightening and downpouring like crazy. Then what do I hear, but a chain saw start as they continue to work on the bushes. These are some dedicated lawnservice personnel!!! No thunderstorm will stop them from hacking at our bushes!!!

Running...

2009-06-02T02:36:00.007-04:00

So a couple weeks we went on a little vacation to Scotland. It has always been one of Keith's dreams to visit this country up north ever since he was little. So in order to make it happen we just asked for money for our Christmas gifts to put towards this trip. Thanks to some friends of friends that allowed us to stay with them a couple nights and low cost airfare carrier RyanAir we were able to make it happen. We really had such an amazing time together. We have gotten to travel a lot for our job, but every time obviously we are with our team and students. And while we love them all dearly, it was quite nice to get away just the two of us. The scenery was quite fantastic as well!

But we have a little funny story to share, that was not quite so funny at the time. So in order to use Ryanair we had to fly through Dublin, this wasn't really a connecting flight, but more of two flights. We had about a 5 hour layover in the airport. Everything with Ryanair is a la carte, so we get the bare bones. You can pay extra to be one of the first ones on the plane, since there is no assigned seats. Well we never do that, so we are in the regular line of people to board the plane first. We step up ready to board and the guy says that we can't. He says since we are not EU citizens we need this visa stamp on our boarding pass. We had printed our boarding passes off online, again it was the cheaper option. So we are like okay, where do we need to go. He says back through customs, through passport control, to the check-in desk to have them stamp this and then through security and back. We are like are you kidding, the plane leaves in 30 minutes. He says we need to do this or we cannot board the plane. Ryanair is not known for their customer service so we didn't think they would allow us reschedule our flight or be accomdating in any way.

Well we take off running through airport. We are those crazy people yelling "excuse me" and running. Thankfully we are in an english speaking country because having to explain this to people quickly in French would have been difficult. So we run through customs, explain this quickly to passport control so that they don't need to stamp our passport again. But while on the way, Keith is carrying one bag and I am rolling another. My foot gets caught in the wheel of our bag and I fall. Hard. I fall so hard I roll. Thankfully, I fell on my knees and not on my head. Everyone stops to look. I am slightly embarrassed, but also concerned that we have lost time. Keith after inspecting and seeing that I am okay, takes the wheeling bag and off we go again. We get the stamp on our boarding pass and then head to security, which now there is a long line for. They are nice and let us through ahead of people. But when they scan our boarding passes, their computers say we have already been through. So we have to go back to the check-in desk and get another peice of paper. I'm thinking if we have already been through security we are probably secure then. But we do this, you don't argue with airport security personnel. Then we zoom through security and then we are off in our last sprint. My knees are hurting pretty bad at this point, but you don't slow down when we are this close to your goal. Well we make it there, just in time. We are the last people on the plane, huffing and puffing. Since we didn't have assigned seats we couldn't sit next to each other, but to be honest we were so grateful we were on the plane!

That night when I looked at my knees they were all black and blue and it has take then about 2 weeks to look better. It doesn't really promote healing when you have to continue to run on them. But we had a lovely little trip, even though it was a rough beginning.

Hanging out by the Loch Ness.

Is that the monster?...Judge for yourselves.
Touching the water, that was as close as I would get, I mean you never know. Also it was really cold!Hanging out in the airport during our 5 hour layover, before the running started. It was also our first Starbucks overseas!

One day matters in eternity

2009-05-13T09:13:00.002-04:00

So today we go on campus like normal and to be honest I'm feeling a little out of it. We had women's and men's retreats this past weekend, so we had some time off to recoup from that, but I'm still pretty tired. (What can I say, I just can't sleep well without Keith). But anyway, we get there, and another girl on our team, Halle, said she is feeling a little bit the same and is having a hard time not just looking forward to the next thing. She was like, but I need to remember that one day matters in eternity. I thought that was a really cool perspective and something I really needed to hear.

So, Melinda, another teammate and I head off to the science campus. To be honest, I really didn't want to go there. Last time I was there, no one wanted to talk. They were cordial about it, but I was thinking no one here cares. So I realized I needed to go there again. Well this time I see 2 girls and a guy sitting on the ground, just smoking and hanging out. I felt like we should talk to them, but to honest, again, I didn't want to. I thought they looked "too cool" and wouldn't care or be interested.

But I was convicted so I went. I had our picture survey, Soularim, with us so we used that.

Well...I'll save you the suspense, we had an incredible conversation with them. Turns out they do care! The two girls admitted that their science has taught them that nothing happens after they die and they find that sad. They both also said that they are afriad to see what will happen after death. We talked to them for over an hour and talked about ultimate truth vs. relativity (can anyone be good enough, where is the line), heaven and hell and religion vs. God. It was such a nice converstation and relaxing. It seemed so normal to talk about these things. Even though we go on the campus all during the week, I still get nervous and wonder if I am crazy for wanting to talk about this with people. But it was a good reminder of how normal talking about our faith should be. People think about what will happen when they die and what the purpose of life is. They may not accept Jesus, but how can they even make that decision if they have never heard?

God is at move here too

2009-04-27T10:48:00.002-04:00

So coming back from East Asia was a little hard. We saw so many cool things happen there and in such a short time, it made us kind of dread heading back to campus here where not as many students are interested. We were praying about and praying like always that God would lead us to interested students. It has been so incredible, because the first day back on campus, Halle (the other awesome 2nd year stinter with us, who will be returning to minister long term in France) and Keith met a girl on the medical campus who is actually thinking a lot about God and wants to learn more about Him. After she finishes her exams on May 27th, she wants to really concentrate on knowing the God of the Bible more. Maeva is her name.

The next day on the humanities campus, Halle and I met a girl who grew up Catholic, but now has a lot of questions and we spend 1 hour and a half talking to her about them.

Then today, Kathyrn and I met a girl again on the humanties campus who was interested in God. She said she cannot believe in Him, because she has an ongoing sickness and she often wonders why me? She was really open and refreshing and wanted to share opinions with us. We offtered to buy her a book, Case for Faith, in French and meet again to continue to talk and give her the book. She was really interested in that. Pray that she will continue to take steps closer to the Lord, Justine is her name.

So basically, God showed me this week that He is moving here and He has placed eternity in the hearts of all people. It has been super encouraging and again challenged my views of God when I put Him in a box.

Video of orphans singing!

2009-04-21T04:57:00.003-04:00

I was able to upload the video that I talked about. The children do concerts to raise money for their orphanage and when we were leaving for the day they were getting dressed up for one of their concerts and they were all so precious in their suits and dresses. You just want to take them all home with you!

More pictures!

2009-04-21T04:19:00.002-04:00

2009-04-21T03:55:00.002-04:00

Hello, first off, I want to apologize that I won't be able to show you more pictures of our time in East Asia. For security reasons we don't want to share any pictures of nationals or that could give away where we were. But as you can see we did develop great chopstick skills. You are hungry, there is food and the only way to get it from the plate to your mouth is chopsticks, so you learn quickly. Also we found Dairy Queen there! Since I worked there for 7 years it was very exciting and special. We ate there 3 times! It was also so nice to live in a place where the exchange rate was in your favor. Keith got to see his favorite animal the panda with a couple students we met. We also spent one day at a French run private Christian orphanage for blind children. It was amazing. All of them standing there are singing, open the eyes of my heart Lord. I started crying right there. So many truths from blind children singing open the eyes of my heart Lord, I want to see you. Also our students loved the trip and a couple of them are thinking about going back for a stint in 2010, pray that they won't forget how God moved in their hearts in this time. Actually pray that for all of us!

Pictures from the Basetball tournament/outreach

2009-03-31T10:31:00.004-04:00

Some pictures from the basketball tournament....

It is only 40 minutes...

2009-03-22T11:33:00.002-04:00

We were walking home one night at 11pm from our weekly meeting with a non-Christian Chinese friend and his friend. We were about to turn down a side street to go to our apartment when we asked him how much further he had to go. He said from Michlet Science is it only 40 more minutes. Now from where we live to Michlet Science is probably about a 20-25 minute walk. At 11pm at night, in about 35 degree weather. We told him he could stay with us, but he said he likes to walk. The next week he brought his bike and we told him again he could stay with us, but he insisted on biking home. We called him the next day to remind him about English Club on campus and he said he caught a cold because he was riding his bike home in the cold weather. So this week he will be staying with us after the 'party' as he calls it.

After talking to him the first night we were wondering how many Christians, let alone non-Christians would walk over an hour at 11pm at night because they wanted to go to a Christian meeting. People are so hungry for the gospel and it truely is the bread of life! We have so many oppurtunties to grow as Christians and get fed that it can lose its preciousness to us, especially in America. It was really convicting for us to think would we walk that far to be in Chrsitian community, worship God and grow in the Word as Christians, as beilevers, let alone if we didn't believe?

Exciting news though: after the basketball tournament this past week, while he was walking home with Keith, he asked Keith if they could get together this week to learn more about what the Bible says. Praise God! He is on the move and we couldn't stop Him if we tried!

What we have been up to recently...

2009-03-10T12:29:00.002-04:00

Keith got these huge chocolate chip cookies downtown at a bakery with a special they were doing for Valentines Day. We ate them after we had Dominos by candlelight. It is always a treat to have American food, though the four cheese pizza with bleu cheese on it, didn't taste too American!

We found a pizza place for Keith's birthday with an unlimited salad bar! The French aren't into unlimited as much as we are. We have never seen unlimited drinks of any sort except tap water. This place was far away, we had to take 2 trams and a bus to get there. The buses in our town don't run after 830 so we had to have a student come and pick us and take us home. They are always so sweet in chauffeuring us around if we need it. We are so blessed by that!

"Random" meeting

2009-03-10T12:21:00.002-04:00

So this story actually comes from Keith and his experience on campus this week.

This week on Monday he went sharing on campus with Carolyn (we normally split off two by two on campus, kind of like the animals on Noah's ark). Well as Carolyn tells it, the Holy Spirit must have just whacked him on the head because he didn't say anything to her and then all of a sudden stopped this guy who was walking by. Normally we prefer for people to be sitting down or at least look like they are not in a rush.

Well Keith invited this guy to a 3 on 3 basketball tournament outreach that our ministry is doing on the 21st. Then he told the guy some different things about our ministry and who we were. Urban (sp?) got so excited when he found out that they were Christians. Not always the response we get.

He called himself "a motivated evangical Protestant" and thought it was so cool that they were on campus sharing their faith. He is studying in Nantes and has not been able to get plugged in to a church here yet. He was of African descent but we don't know he was born in France or if he is from Africa. Well anyways, he told them that they were an answer to prayer and is so excited to come to Bibou (our weekly meeting) and Keith's mens Bible study.

Praise God when all we do is step out in faith and He uses us! There are people out there who are ready to hear the gospel and recieve Christ, like Sophie, and others who are looking for Christian community, like Urban.

Congratulations to me!

2009-02-28T04:02:00.002-05:00

I think most of you have heard the good news about a Chinese student here in our ministry who accepted Christ on Thursday. It has been an incredible time for us and our students. Being in Western Europe, we don't get to see that happen a lot. Our students were so amazed and shocked! We are really praying for her now that she will become a multiplying disciple of Christ and not just a believer in Christ.

I gave a talk a couple weeks ago about being transformed into the image of Christ and how God doesn't just want warm bodies in heaven, He wants transformed lives. I had a student translate the talk for me, since that would require less time in preparation and make me less nervous up there. Well the student translated it to say that God doesn't just want vegetables in heaven, He wants transformed lives. I really liked that translation, because when you think of a vegetable you think of something that is limp, weak and doesn't really do anything. I mean God wants people to be saved, yes! But He wants people to then enter into His Kingdom work in some capacity and allow them to really change their lives. I think of John Newton, the author of Amazing Grace and how even after he accepted Christ, he was still the captain of a slave ship. Just because we accept Christ, doesn't mean that all the wrongs in our lives will be righted and that our lives will automatically shifted around. Don't get me wrong accepting Christ, radically does change your life, but we aren't just done after that. We need to continue to walk with Him daily and allow Him to then change things in our lives daily.

So that is our prayer for our new sister in Christ and all the students we work with here. Can you join us in praying for that?

Midyear conference in Spain

2009-02-01T07:40:00.003-05:00

With the Doughetry's. Wonderful people in the regional office that really help us out a lot!

All the Stinters (1-2 year missionaries) working in France.

Keith enjoying our balcony. What an incredible gift! We were sooo grateful!

Keith with Erik, another stinter in Montpellier (the south of France). They both wore matching shirts one day. Not on purpose though, that would be weird.

Flu Season

2009-01-31T10:30:00.002-05:00

Sorry it has been so long since we last posted. I think our title gives away the reason. The flu season hit France really hard this year. And it hit us really hard this year as well. Well, basically just me, Keith was able to withstand it so far. Which is really quite a miracle, seeing how I would cough all night and sneeze all over the house. He really did a great job taking care of me though. One week I wasn't allowed to leave the house at all because my blood pressure had gotten too low from fighting off the flu for so long. He had to do all the cooking, shopping, cleaning, laundry and run the ministry. He was superman for a week!

But...hopefully we are done with that for now. We were able to make it to our midyear conference in Spain, which was incredible! Got to share with missionaries from all over the world, and hear solid Bible teaching. It definitely fell on thirsty souls as all of the teaching we get is in French. There were 200 Christians there, the most Christians we will be around the whole year! We cannot say enough how encouraging of a time it was.

So we hope you all are doing well and aren't too snowed in and that the flu season doesn't hit your house that hard!

We love you all!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

2009-01-04T10:43:00.003-05:00

Can you believe that it is 2009 already? I sure can't! I have a thing for even numbers so I don't really like the sound of 2009, I prefer 2008 or 2010. But I am so thankful for another year and all the blessings from it. We are so often a forward moving culture. "Keep moving forward" (Meet the Robinsons movie quote). Often we forget to look behind and thank God for what He did. In the Bible Abraham was always building little monuments to thank God for what He had done. I need more of that in my life. I need more people asking me what I'm thankful that God has done, instead of what am I doing next. And I need to ask more people that as well.

Things I am thankful for in 2008

1. God bringing us to France-it has not been easy, but we have seen so much more of Him and grown so much

2. Health for our famalies-always a worry when you live far away

3. That I live in a country with good food-can't argue on this point.

4. For amazing friendships here. We were worried when we left that we wouldn't be able to find other young couples to be friends with. God provided, not one, but two couples we thank Him for.

5. My new black boots-super cute-I'm finally French!

6. Our comfy apartment with amazing heat.

7. At the beginning of the year we played a get to know you game in our Bible study and I had to say what was one place I wanted to go to. I said East Asia. In April, Lord willing we will be going.

8. Keith as always, every day I thank the Lord for him. Also grateful for his blooming culinary skills

9. Candles, it would be hard for me to live without them, especially smelly ones.

10. Our wall of Christmas cards from friends and family back in the states who love us!

11. I could go on and on, but that might get kind of boring.

Happy New Year! Bonne Annee!

Sweet Little Jesus Boy

2008-12-20T04:01:00.002-05:00

So last night we went to a concert downtown. We got the 3 Euros, young person, night of the concert tickets, which meant we had to sit on little pull out chairs on the end of each aisle.

The concert was nice, they did excerpts from West Side Story, An American in Pairs and Porgy and Bess. For the encore, the two American singers who sang for the Porgy and Bess part came back out. (Which we all had to clap in unison for, that was fun clapping in unison with 300 other French people).

When they came back out the guy said "since its close to Christmas I'm going to sing a Christmas spiritual." Then he continued to sing Sweet Little Jesus Boy. I included the lyrics below. I had to hold my breath when he was singing this song. Basically the gospel was getting shared to 300 French people. Unfortunataley, it was in English, so probably few of them understood it. To have come half way around the world to share the gospel and then here it pronounced to 300 people took my breath away. It touched me so much to have my Savior's name pronounced in a positive way. The words were also a good reminder personally as I continue to prepare my heart for the Christmas season.

Sweet little Jesus boy, born in a manger
Sweet little Holy child, we didn't know who You were
Long time ago it seems You were born
Born in a manager Lord, sweet little Jesus boy

Didn't know you'd come to save us all
To take our sins away
Our eyes were blind we did not see
We didn't know who You were

You have shown us how
And we are trying
Master You have shown us how
Even as You were dying
This world treats You mean Lord
Treats me mean too
But that's how things are done down here
We didn't know it was You

Didn't know You'd come to save us all
To take our sins away
Our eyes were blind we did not see
We didn't know who You were

Recent life in Nantes

2008-12-14T11:42:00.002-05:00

Mashed tators anyone?

Sorry for the vegetarians, (look at those muscles!)
Cecile and I braving it out to cheer on Nantes to yet another defeat, maybe they will be better next year...?

Tram riding

2008-12-14T11:36:00.003-05:00

I think I have blogged before about the tram, but riding public transportation always provides interesting stories. This one is kind of interesting, kind of sad. So yesterday we were on the tram headed to the grocery store. All of a sudden, it slams to a stop. Then it creeps forward, the doors open and people get on. This woman and her daughter of about 4 years old get on. Then the conductor comes storming back and starts yelling at the woman. Apparently she walked in front of the tram. He tells her "that if she does that again she will be dead." He goes on to say "that someone died last year and someone just died last week, you will be next if you do that again." He seemed really shook up so it must have been a close call. Then the woman sitting across from Keith and I starts yelling at the conductor saying that she wasn't that close. Then a guy a few feet behind us starts yelling at that woman that "the tram is not a car it cannot just stop, the tram is not a car." Everyone around us is yelling, sometimes looking at us trying to get into the mix. I was not about the argue in French, though Keith kept telling me in English "he is right the tram is not a car, she will get killed if she does that again, I agree with the conductor." Ahhh...this is when I wish we had a car!

Thanksgiving

2008-11-21T04:22:00.002-05:00

So next week is Thanksgiving.
It has gotten me thinking a lot about what it means to celebrate holidays again a world away from our families and what seems normal to us. I must admit it is a hard thing and never really gets easier. However, I am excited to celebrate them for what they really are. As I begin to get ready for Thanksgiving (we are doing a huge outreach and planning for 100 people to come), I have been thinking about what that holiday means to me this year. It obviously can't be about spending time with family, black friday, cranberry sauce or pumpkin pie. But in spite of all of that the purpose of the holiday remains, to be thankful. I do have so much to be thankful for. And most of all Christ. As we prepare to cook this large meal for students and open up our hearts for them I am reminded of how much I have in Christ. I guess it is my thankfulness for the life I have in Christ that propells me to give up my holiday to serve the Lord and prayerfully bring people into His Kingdom. The sadness will still be there on the day (especially when I remember how good my mom's pies are and see all my family together on the webcam), but I do pray that all of us, not just Keith and I, will be able to experience this holiday in a new way and focus on our thankfulness instead of everything we feel is missing in our lives.

Just as I am

2008-11-07T10:48:00.002-05:00

So I have recently started reading Billy Graham's autobiography "Just as I am." I don't know about you, but I love learning about Christan lives that have gone before us. I love hearing about those lives straight from the person and reading about them as well. So often I think, 'God what are you doing with my life, does it have any order to it? or is it just one turn after another?' It is always so encouraging to me to read about other's lives and see how God worked in them. All the twists and turns that God takes us through really do have some sort of purpose. It has been incredibly refreshing to see the struggles Billy Graham had in figuring out what to do with his life. Certiantily, if God had told him when he was younger what he was to do, he might have been too afraid to do it. And this is Billy Graham we are talking about, we hail him as one of the greatest Christians of our time period.
As we start processing through what to do next year it is easy for me to feel like my life is just a sersis of twists and turns with now real purpose to it. I want the purpose of my life to glorify Christ and acknowledge Him as supreme in all that I do. I do acknowledge that I fail daily in that, but I often wonder what God is using in all these twists and turns to make that purpose come true. It will be wonderful, (I hope), to look back on my life at the end and see how God ordained everything and how it all fit together in a wonderful masterpiece only by His hand. Until then I guess I just need to trust Him with my future and know that nothing in the lives of His children in is vain.

THANK YOU!!

2008-10-16T11:56:00.002-04:00

Hello!
So unless you have been living under a rock, I'm sure that you know about the financial crisis that has been hitting the entire world. It has been all over the French news and from what I've heard all over the American news. It has made us very reflective over what is stable in this world and where we put our hope. It has also made us very thankful for our supporters. We realize that you are all giving out of faith in the midst of what is going on. It could be so easy in this time to just hold onto what you have in fear. But instead you have chosen to invest in something where you will have eternal investments. You are putting your resources somewhere that the stock market can never touch. We thank you so much for your faithfulness and dedication to the gospel.
Also we have been praying for all of you that the Lord will use you during this time. I'm sure many of your friends, family, neighbors and coworkers are filled with fear for the future right now. What a great time for Christians to shine their light and show the world that though the future may be uncertain we can have a peace that passes all understanding through Jesus. Please let us know how we can be praying for you in this time. Also we would love to praise God with you as the Lord uses you to further His Kingdom, please share with us any stories of how that has happened.
Praying for every one of you!

Some pictures of our city and us that Larry on our team took. He obviously has good photography skills.

Neighbors

2008-10-01T07:20:00.002-04:00

We are in our 3rd year of living in apartments and are used to most of the noises that neighbors can make. Crying babies, scraping chairs, loud opening and closing of shutters, loud talking, TV's, we've heard most of it. But last night we heard something that shook us to our core. We believe there is a couple who lives on the 4th floor in our building (we are on the 2nd). I don't think I have ever seen them, at least not the woman. That is not too uncommon as the French are very private and keep to themselves. I have heard them have a bad fight once before but last night it was horrible. It started out as a fight and then it got to bloodcurdling screams. Not screaming words, just screaming. My heart was pounding and we wanted to help, but did not know what to do. We went to call the police, only to realize that we didn't know their number. Stupid, yeah we realize that now (there isn't a 911 number in France, ambulance, firefighters and police are all separate). So then Keith decided he should just go up there, but then the guy ran down the stairs and it was over. He went upstairs and heard the woman talking to another woman, so we knew she was okay at least. We need to look into what to do if/when this happens again. We would appreicate prayers for wisdom, discretion and courage. Without being fully confident in the language we feel a little unsure. Tuesday night is our night in the week, where we commit to it just being us each week. While we were both very shook up, it really did make us appreciate each other that night and be grateful for each other all the more. It also made us realize what a fallen world we live in and how urgently this world needs to see the Kingdom come!

Gratefulness

2008-09-24T07:29:00.004-04:00

So I have really been learning a lot recently on being grateful everyday and how that is a choice that we have to make everyday. I am so much like the Israelites. God gives me one thing and I am grateful for a minute then I want something else. I am trying to cultivate in my heart gratefulness every day to God. And not just for the big things, but for the little things. For instance I can be so focused on the fact that it is cold in our apartment and that the heat won't get turned on for 3 more weeks (or whenever some person somewhere decides to turn it on) that I can forget to be grateful that I have a place to live. And I'm saying to live like a martyr, with the thought of someone somewhere has it worse than me, but to be concious of the things that the Lord gives me everyday. Like take for instance yesterday. For some reason all of the public transportation in our city was closed. Something called of day of solidarity to honor someone who died. But it was beautiful outside! Today it is rainy and cold. Normally, even though it was beautiful I wouldn't have taken the time to walk to campus. But in some ways I was so grateful that God shut down the transporation system because it made me enjoy the day. Its just a little change of heart that I know will go a long way in how I deal with different circumstances. So thank you Lord for the internet...even when it's slow...

The public transportation system in our city

We're here!

2008-09-15T13:25:00.004-04:00

Hello Everyone,
Sorry it has taken so long to write. We have obviously been busy settling back into our place. It has been so much easier this year. What a blessing to come back and already have a bed and internet. We have purchased some new items to make our apartment feel more homey like a TV and curtains.
Also it was so great to have friends here waiting for us! It can take a long time for the French to warm up to you, so it has been great having people here who want to hang out with us! I felt so loved when there were about 5 students waiting for us to get into Nantes. I have defintly learned a lot from the French about what biblical friendship looks like. One of my best French friends told me how one thing she doesn't like about Americans is how competitive they can be. I think our competitive nature can work against us in friendships. We are always comparing each other and trying to be better than someone else. That doesn't really enable us to be happy for others when something happens. I also love how they view time (well sometimes, not when I'm waiting for someone) but when a need comes up and they will drop everything to help you or just spend a day with you.
Well those are just some things that I realize are biblical in their culture. We talked at our culture training on how to take things from different cultures that are biblical to make ourselves a more biblical person. I think my American view of time and things to do can defintely make me an unbiblical person. I'm working on it though...

Some pictures from our in country briefing in Rennes

At dinner with our lovely trainers the Kellums, who have lived in France 15 years now. Congrats!

Don't you just love French food. And it does taste as good as it looks!

Packing...

2008-09-02T13:22:00.002-04:00

Frankly, our suitcases this year look like a Kroger store. We have packed so much food. We left a lot of our clothes in France so that enabled us this year to take over food and toiletries. I refuse to spend 3 Euros on a travel size bottle of deodorant in France. We are also taking lots of gifts back to our French friends. I can't wait to see their faces when they see what we have gotten them. We have bought OSU shirts, games and candy as gifts for different people. Also France doesn't seem to enjoy brownie mixes (or brownies) like we do, which are the perfect 'sorry I forgot to tell you, people are coming over, or I said we'd bring a dessert' fix, so we have a few of those packed as well.
On a more serious note, please pray for our families as we leave them again. They do a lot of behind the scenes work to make sure we can do this, like taxes, taking care of our car, insurance issues and basically everything we cannot do over there. Also we know it is hard for them to see us leave. They are proud of us and have enjoyed seeing us this summer. It is always a teary-eyed event on both ends when we leave . Please pray that God keeps them safe and comforts them while we are gone.
...Next time we write it will be on the other side of the pond.

2 years and a mechanic

2008-08-30T11:02:00.002-04:00

So last Tuesday was our two year anniversary. I love anniversaries. It's just your special holiday and it's an accomplishment. This anniversary didn't go exactly as planned. Our car died. Dead. The brake line broke and the mechanic said the rear brake line could go tomorrow and so could the fuel line. He said the job would at least be 600$, but probably more. After putting about 1000$ in it this summer, I think we hit a wall and said we are done with this car. At first we were upset and frustrated thinking here we go again, another car problem (this was the 4th time our cars were in the shop this summer). But then Keith reminded us that Satan comes to steal, kill, and destroy and he wants to return our joyful anniversary. We decided that was not going to happen and now we are kind of excited to buy our first car together when we get back from France and hopefully something reliable.

His parents allowed us to borrow their car so we could still go to Kelley's Island for afternoon. That was much appreciated. It is always nice to get away and spend some time just the two of us doing something fun. I think that is something we have found working together is that we get to spend a lot of time together. Which we really enjoy don't get me wrong, but we don't want our marriage to become just two coworkers living together. So it's great to get away and just be married sometimes!

Just before our anniversary we were at a wedding where they did the anniversary dance. The couple who won was married 55 years. What a blessing that is to have that many years together! I pray Keith and I get to enjoy the same thing!

more pics of briefing

2008-08-29T20:37:00.003-04:00

Some pictures from stint briefing I forgot to upload....

One day at briefing everyone goes up the mountain to have lunch up there. Believe it or not, it was snowing, hailing and raining that day, so we couldn't go up. We went up another when we only got a little hail. All in August.

Our team and the team going to Montpelier France. Notice 3 men to 10 women. Bless those men.Keith carrying the American flag during our 'opening ceremonies' at briefing. Such pride.

STINT Briefing

2008-08-29T20:23:00.004-04:00

Hey everyone! So sorry we haven't updated recently. I will write a bunch of posts in a short amount of time, so get ready...

So we were at Stint briefing not that long ago. There is our new team!
(Rachel-Chicago, Me-Ohio, Carolyn-Tennessee, Keith-Ohio, Halle-Ohio, Larry-Alabama, Melinda-Alabama, Kathryn-Canada)

We are excited to have everyone next year. And you won't believe it (maybe you will), but we are so much better organized this year. We have the schedule made and the trainings and bible studies prepared. It feels so much better going into this year than last. I really noticed it at the conference as well. We were able to really focus on the material and not be worried so much the whole time about where we will live or what it will be like.

One of my highlights was hearing about the good words, good deeds program that CCC is doing. That is something that Keith and I are both very passionate about. Sharing the gospel and showing the gospel. That is my dream job. I don't know quite what that will look like. If you find one like that, let me know please! So often I feel like organizations or churches share the gospel and don't always show it or vice verse.

Also I always love seeing everyone going literally to the ends of the earth. It feels like such a privilege to be able to worship with people like that for a week. I love hearing about their hearts and how God has brought them to that place in their life. I can't wait to hear what God does in all the different locations next year.

Like a song we sang that week:
"Who is like our God and who can compare to you?"

Almost time to go back...

2008-08-07T21:23:00.002-04:00

Another back joke just seemed to work so well. I couldn't let it go by. But here we are with only 4 weeks left of our summer at home. It seemed like we would have so much time when we left France to be at home, but with 27 days left it has flown by. We learned about 1 month in that it was impossible to fit in everything we missed while we were gone. That time away we will never get back. Sad. I mean you know that when you leave it just hits you when you get back.

However, it is exciting to go back and a lot less nerve racking. This time around we have an apartment, cell phones, internet and friends! It some ways it like leaving home to return home. Also a prayer request while I think of it. The single guy on our team Larry, will be living with us until he finds a place to live, so pray that it comes quickly. After about 3 months of living with our parents I think we will be ready for our own space not a house guest. So pray that this apartment comes quickly for him!

We leave in a few days for our global stint briefing. I think we will be able to focus more this year on the content because we won't be as worried about moving and all the newness we will be experiencing. I got a peek at the seminar list and I'm quite excited for a few of them. We'll let you know how it goes.

We have loved seeing all of you, each one of you is so special to us!

Backs are back

2008-07-02T16:03:00.003-04:00

Yes, I know that is corny. I still love dishing out my share of jokes on the last name. We are just loving being back though. We feel so blessed and relationally full. This past year, I often felt like something was missing, but wasn't sure what. I realized coming back that I didn't have as many people in my life over there and so I wasn't as "relationally full." But now I am. Which makes me sad to go back, but also hopeful now that we have built more relationships there. Also makes me realize the importance of pursuing people outside of 'official ministry business.' (kind of sounds like harry potter huh?) Although for those who have been in the ministry they know that ministry is basically your life and you are never 'on or off duty.' I quickly realized that last year. So there is this desire to be hospitable and welcoming and also the desire to have boundaries and have married time. So it becomes about having a balance. More and more I realize so much or life depends on having a balance. We are always walking this tight rope and when we fall off one side we get back on and then fall off the other side. At least I do. So thats where grace comes in, to give to ourselves. We will never get the balance perfect until heaven. Maybe I should have named this blog random instead. But support is going well, at 38% and look forward to chatting with those that we haven't gotten a chance to yet! Love to all!

U. S. of A.!

2008-06-01T15:34:00.003-04:00

Hello! Sorry is has been so long. We were really busy with finishing everything up back in France and getting ready to come home. It is great to be home. We are enjoying seeing family and friends. I have realized how full my life is of people. In France we really don't know a lot of people outside of the work we do there. It is so great to have such a rich life with so many people we care about and who care about us! We are also enjoying the freedom that a car gives us. We hadn't ridden together in a car for a year and when we had to make a little trip recently we remembered how good those times are for conversation.

The grocery store has also been fun. Its amazing how many new products are added just in one year!
The picture is of us in the Paris airport waiting for our plane. We got up about 3.45 am that morning and there was still a lot of traveling left! We couldn't sleep on the plane, we were too excited to watch all the American movies. We each watched 3. I feel a little bit more caught up now.

Wedding!

2008-05-04T09:30:00.002-04:00

On Friday we had the honor of attending one of our friend's weddings here in Nantes. She is French and his from the Faroe Islands (north of Scotland). They met when they were doing missions together with Operation Mobilization. It was a beautiful ceremony! It was really touching to watch them put Christ first in their marriage from the beginning.
And.....the reception was in a castle! I felt like a princess there and I wasn't even the one getting married. It was just picture perfect. French weddings are obviously a little bit different than American ones. We asked one of our French friends what would happen if we clinked our glasses with our knives (thinking that at American weddings the couple knows to kiss then). She informed us that if we did that people would think that we were going to give a toast. Good thing we learned that beforehand. That would have been a little bit embarrassing! Though there was definitely time for lots of toasts with all the different courses. The party didn't even start till about midnight. We left a little after 2 and people were still partying. I was impressed!

2008-04-24T06:35:00.003-04:00

Hello!

We are back safely from Romania. It was an incredible trip. I think all of us walked away deeply touched by the people there and the needs. It the first time any of the staff or the students had been to Eastern Europe so it was neat we go to experience it together. I think all of us were impressed how much easier it is to share the gospel there than in France. First off, most people believe in God, where in France that is not true. The Orthodox church is big there so most people think that since they go to church they are Christians. After explaining the gospel to one girl (in the 2nd picture with glasses) she said "I think I am starting to understand the purpose of life." I was blown away by her comment. It was a spiritual breath of fresh air to be in a country not as hardened as France. One girl involved in ministry there said they have about 1-3 people a month accept Christ, if not every week. What a difference from France. I thought about staying there because it seemed so much easier, but I know God doesn't value easy and He wants everyone to hear about Him, including the French.

Then we spent some time in the orphanages there. It was sad and eye-opening to see all the poverty there. So many kids without parents! Very sad! One orphanage we were at I saw 4 bunk beds in a room. Eight beds in one room with girls about 10 years old. A little different from how I grew up. The group we were with, Children to Love, ministers in the government run orphanages. Some of them were better than others. We brought socks and other gifts for the kids, but the CTL staff said to not give it in some of the orphanages because the staff there just steal it from the kids. Can you imagine stealing from a 5 year old orphan!?!

It definitely reminded us of how blessed we are to have what we have. Keith and I kept wondering why wasn't that us, why weren't we born there. The only answer we came to, was that we were born with what we have to be a blessing to others not to serve ourselves. After all we have a God who emptied Himself out for us and made Himself nothing on our behalf.

The gray haired man is actually Josh McDowell. He was in Romania doing an outreach related to sex and than at church on Sunday he spoke about the historical validity of the Bible. We were all excited to see him (the Americans in our group, the French didn't really know who he was, but the enjoyed his talk). Then the students I met on campus and then doing collages with the orphans. If you look closely you may be able to see LeBron James on the green paper, thanks to Keith.

Romania here we come!

2008-04-07T03:02:00.002-04:00

Hey sorry it has been so long, we have been really busy here. CCC at OSU brought over a group of students for spring break here. A lot of them were really young and for 2 of them this was their first time sharing their faith. It was exciting to watch them take steps of faith. Then my parents were here for a week. That was nice to see them after 6 months of being apart. I had so much fun showing them our city and going to Paris with them.
Now we will leave for Romania this weekend. To be honest its a more than a little scary to think that you are leading a trip to a country (or a part of the world) you have never been to yourself. I guess it really really makes me rely on Christ. It has been a lot of work preparing for it, but I know it will be worth it once we are there. The students are excited so that makes me feel like it is all worth it! We are spending half of our time with CCC in Romania. Its interesting but the name there means 'Choose Life' in Romanian. The other half of our time we will be in different orphanages doing a program on Easter.
So or donc as the French would say, it will probably be awhile again before I can write, but I'll let you know all about our time over there!

Community church

2008-03-15T04:01:00.002-04:00

So this past weekend, all the churches in Nantes were invited to attend a community church service. Granted not all choose to participate, but it was still smaller than my church back home. However, for some reason having all those people there and just an overall bigger feel made it feel more like church to me. All the different ministries were also allowed to have a table to explain themselves to others. There were a grand total of 5 tables though. But ours was right by the door so it was interesting to watch our students walk in. Since their individual churches are pretty small they felt quite overwhelmed by the number of people here. I heard many times "There are people here I don't know!"
For me it was a very encouraging time to see all the Christians together and putting aside their minor differences for a bigger purpose.
Afterward there was a picnic lunch. I had to laugh because our American team all pulled out their peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. However, all the French famalies brought out homemade quiches, wine and pans of homemade desserts. I again realized that I don't think like a French person. Very few people in the states I think, would think to bring a whole bottle of wine for their family at a church picnic.

Visitors!

2008-03-08T02:56:00.002-05:00

Sorry its been awhile. Its been busy here. Keith's sister came to visit us the last week in Febuary. We had a great time with her and took her to Paris. Even though this was my 3rd overall time in Paris (1st this year though), I realized that I really do love that city. I would never want to live there, too many tourists and way too big. But it is such a pretty city overall. We got some restaurant recommendations from Agape staff in Paris so that was so nice to know that we don't have to worry about being ripped off at a tourist joint.

Before we went to Paris, we had a day long conference for all of the local leaders in France. It was a great time to come together and hear what everyone was doing on their different campuses and also the struggles we were all facing. Agape France is doing some exciting things, like the first all French summer project. Right in our city, Nantes! Keith and I will be back in the states when it is going on, but we know it will be fruitful in our city and in our students.

Joyeuse St. Valentin Jour!

2008-02-17T02:25:00.002-05:00

Thats Happy Valentines day!

I know I'm a few days late, but it still counts right. It is really interesting because Valentine's Day in France is something that is celebrated exclusively between couples. So we went out on campus and passed on candy to girls with a verse attached. Some girls didn't want to take it because they didn't have a boyfriend. I found myself saying a lot, 'everyone needs love, even if you don't have a boyfriend.' What was neat was that we say some of the people that we have been meeting with on campus and were able to give them candy as well. Keith and I have a lunch appointment with a girl next week. Last time we talked to her, she seemed really open and said she believes in a force and another world like in Matrix (well not exactly Matrix world, but the idea of something else out there). It is so interesting how people who have never heard the gospel believe some of the basics of it, but in different words.
A funny story is that on Valentines Day we had our weekly meeting with a Valentines Day theme. Since we eat together every week, I decided to make pink rice krispy treats. Not hard to do, since marshmallows are half pink and half white here. Well rick krispy treats are strictly an American dessert, but the French LOVE them. They were gone in just a few minutes. The funniest part was the two French girls that came up to me and wanted the recipe. They were so intent, I was trying so hard not to laugh. They kept thinking it was something complicated to make and couldn't believe it only had three ingredients. They both said they were excited to try them. So I guess I'm leaving my mark here on France with pink rice krispy treats.

Spain Mid-year

2008-02-10T02:27:00.000-05:00

There is our team on the beach is Spain.

Spain was an incredible time. We were gathered there with over 100 other missionaries from all over Western Europe and...other places. It was such a time of encouragement and community. They flew in a worship band from the states and had a couple really great speakers. I don't think I realized how much my soul really did miss singing praise songs in my native language and hearing talks in English (that weren't online). Also I hadn't been around that many Christians since I left the states, it was so nice to be in a large Christians community, even if it was for just a week.
I also appreciated how they gave us extended times with the Lord. There is just something about meeting with the Lord and watching the waves roll in.
We spent some time also talking to other teams and finding out what they are doing on their different locations. While some of the stuff wouldn't work well in the culture we are in, we did get some great ideas. It also made us very thankful for the ministry we do have as in many of the locations, if they even have strong believers, they are having a hard time getting them to go out and share their faith.
Overall, I think I felt less alone after the conference. It is easy to feel like we are all alone in our little corner of the world, but meeting everyone who is doing the same thing in locations that are not all that far from us, helped ease that.

The Nations worshiping

2008-01-26T04:24:00.000-05:00

What an awesome week this has been! We called it "crazy week" in French and the students really caught on to the idea. Every day we had students come out sharing with us, a few for their first time. A couple days we even had the same number of students as we had staff. The students were so encouraged by each other and the conversations that they had. I met two French students who openly admitted that they were on a spiritual journey. And their journey will take them to of all places San Fransisco next summer. But we talked with them about the possiblity if there could be an end to their spiritual searching and if there was any truth to be found. For the French who have moved so far away from God, just getting them to think that it is possible that God exists and that the gospel might be true is huge!

But we ended our "crazy week" we a spaghetti dinner for the students, a time of sharing about our sharing and extended worship music. It was such an incredible night. One of our students is from England and is leaving to go to Spain today. So another of our students is from New Caledonia, an island by the Fijis. He performed a New Caledonia dance for him. It was a worship dance to God. It was absolutely incredible to watch. We got such a picture of what heaven will be like when all cultures worship God together. I guess I'll be in European-American/European corner, struggling to get our hands above our heads. It definitely expands your view of God when you spend your Friday night worshiping with people from France, Germany, England, Africa, Panama, USA, and New Caledonia.

I included some pictures from last night.

Everyone worshiping together

New Calodonian worship

Our English exchange student with a t-shirt that our other students made for him.

Everyone eating dinner together.

Big Week

2008-01-20T03:04:00.000-05:00

Hello Everyone,

I just wanted to let everyone know about our big week next week. Keith gave a talk last week at our meeting about sharing our faith and the importance of doing it. So this week we are having four different options a day for the students to join us on campus. One really neat thing that we have started to do is using the Solarium cards. I don' t know if people have heard of them, but they are 50 pictures in the shape of a post card. You ask the person to pick 2-3 images that describe their life right now, what they would like their life to be like, their spiritual journey up to this point, their image of God and a few other questions. You do it a lot slower and I've been impressed with how much people open up and are willing to talk. The French are especially sensitive to beauty and art, so it works well within the culture. It is even fun to do with people you know and the cards seem to lead to deeper conversations.

On a lighter note, we would out about the Ikea breakfast this week. At Ikea you can get breakfast, which includes a pain au chocolat (croissant bread with chocolate in it, popular in French) bread and jelly and unlimited coffee, hot chocolate and pop. You get all of this for 1 Euro! So we went this Saturday and it was very good. The hot chocolate was very rich as well. We were wondering if they have this breakfast at Ikeas back home...

FYI: We will be gone for awhile so I will post in 2-3 weeks.

2008-01-15T04:46:00.001-05:00

This picture is of two French students and a stinter making Christmas cookies at our apartment. I know Christmas is over, but they had never made cookies before and loved it! Especially the gingerbread man shape. Un bon homme they call it.

The two main things I want to share are actually two links. The first link is an article about the ministry going on in Nantes, France (where we live) that was written in the Agape Europe monthly newsletter. Agape Europe is Campus Crusade for Christ in Western Europe.

Click here for that.

The other link is to a 5 minute video about the New Years conference that we had. It shows highlights of the conference. People are speaking French and English in it, so you would be able to understand most of it. It also shows people doing some of the different outreaches we did in Chamberay (a town close to where we had the conference).

Click here for that.

Please let me know if either of these links do not work for you!

Back in Nantes

2008-01-06T09:53:00.001-05:00

Well we are back in Nantes and the New Years conference was incredible...we will share more of why in our next update.

We ended up coming down with colds right before Christmas. We actually went to the doctor on Christmas Eve thinking that we might have strep throat. Thankfully we didn't, just viruses!

The Thursday after Christmas we took a train all the way across France to get to the conference. Our city was the second farthest away city that was there and we had the largest amount of students. It was fun being with the students and meeting the staff from all over France. The scenary was beautiful in the Alps and it was great seeing students from all over France and hearing what was happening on their campuses.

We had one afternoon to go skiing at the conference, but since Keith and I had never skied before we thought this might not be the time to start. We also figured we have had enough run ins with French doctors already. So we decided for a safe alternative of sledding! The snow was up to my waist deep. But we had a lot of fun as you can see from the picture. Unfortunately only our tennis shoes made it across the ocean, no snow boots for us. Our feet were cold for a long time!

Christmastime

2007-12-26T03:10:00.000-05:00

Sorry to not have written for awhile, it has been busy here. We just celebrated Christmas here yesterday. We couldn't find a ham, so we did salmon and shrimp. Tomorrow we will head (very early) to the Alps. France has a New Years conference for all the students. Our city has the most coming from any city in France. We got an email saying that the place we are going to, got a bunch of snow. We are excited to see snow since it hasn't and probably won't snow in Nantes. We will have a chance to go skiing as well, but since Keith and I have never skied I don't know if the Alps would be a good place to start. We've already had a little bit too much experience with the medical system here.
One that is different here is that the only Christmas Eve services available in France are midnight masses. The Protestant churches don't hold Christmas Eve services. It was weird to stay home that night. We listened to an old Christmas Eve service online, but it just wasn't the same.

The picture is of Keith decorating our Ikea Christmas tree. Soon we have to take it back to get our money back.

2007-12-03T03:10:00.000-05:00

It has been a little crazy here, with having visitors for the past 4 weeks here. Different people from Agape in France and Campus Crusade for Christ in the states. Its been fun, but busy. It has also been great to get an outside perspective on how things are going here. When you are in it, day in and out it is easy to never step back and praise God for everything He has done. Now we are preparing for some Christmas outreaches and the New Years conference (kind of like the Christmas conference conference in the states, but more of a retreat feel). When the team came over from the states they brought us food we can not get here. It is so nice to eat a Reese's cup again!
We also are getting ready for the Christmas season at home. We bought a live Christmas tree from Ikea. If we take it back after Christmas, we get all but 2 Euros of the cost back. But Keith had to carry it on the tram. There was a bunch of little kids who kept looking at it and saying Christmas tree in French, some even came up and touched it! Have a great week!

2007-11-24T04:10:00.000-05:00

A FRENCH STUDENT EATING HIS FIRST PIECE OF PUMPKIN PIE.

Hello Everyone, I just wanted to say thank you for praying for our Thanksgiving outreach. We had 70 people come! We actually ran out of food! The French loved our American Thanksgiving cooking. We had a ton of new people come and it was great as they got to interact with us and the French Christians as well. One girl I had just invited that morning came with her brother and friend!

We had 3 kitchens going all day to make it work, one was ours. Our tiny little stove (it is very tiny compared to American stoves) never had so much work. I had to cram the bird on an angle just to get him to fit. When I walked into the church where we have our meetings carrying the last of the food from our place, I was greeted by one of the French student leaders holding a knife and looking at one of the turkeys. He said 'I don't know how to do this' and gave me the knife. That is how I carved my first whole turkey on my own. Many students asked us 'What exactly is stuffing?' That is kind of a hard question to answer. This weekend Keith and I had our own Thanksgiving while the rest of the team traveled. I didn't cook a whole turkey again though, just some pieces. Now we are praying that all those new students come back the next week for our Alpha meeting.

2007-11-17T02:52:00.001-05:00

Just wanted to make you hungry. We have found at this pastry shop that they go on sale Saturday night so that is the only time we get one.

But other than that there have been some really awesome things happening here. We have found that a lot of French students actually want to play American football so Keith and some other guys have been playing with them on Sunday afternoons. It is a great way for the non-Christians to be introduced to the Christian body in a non-threatening environment.

Also this upcoming Thursday, on Thanksgiving we are having a big Thanksgiving dinner for all of the students. We bought 4 turkeys, 6 kilos a piece (about 14 lbs). But since they don't celebrate Thanksgiving we had to order them from a specialty butcher. Apparently they only have them in the stores at Christmas. We are really excited about it and are praying that a lot of students come, especially new students.

Have a great turkey day!

Recipe

2007-11-02T03:29:00.000-04:00

Hello Everyone,

I just wanted to share with you a recipe that I got from a French cookbook of a girl in my Bible study. I made it for our weekly meeting this past week, because we do a potluck and it was a hit!

Rochers Gourmand
4 King size snickers bar, cut into little pieces
1 c. of peanuts
1 c. of little marshmallows
1/4 c. of rice krispies
400 g. of milk chocolate
1 T. of veg. oil

Mix the top for ingredients together. Then melt the chocolate over low heat with the veg oil. When fully melted, take off heat and mix in other ingredients. Don't stir too much or the marshmallows will melt. But in an greased and foiled 8x8 pan. Refrigerate until solid.

Everyone loved them! It was also exciting because this week the students were all on vacation but we still had about 35-40 come to our weekly meeting and even some new students. Way more than we were expecting! One of the girls in my Bible study shared her testimony and from that we got into some great conversations with students.

Have a great weekend!

2007-10-26T16:53:00.000-04:00

Hello Everyone, Welcome to our first post. We are very sorry that we have not updated before this. We just got internet in our apartment so we are back and connected to the world. We got internet just in time to watch the Cleveland Indians lose the pennant. That was a sad day here in France for Keith. Overall we are adjusting pretty well. Almost all of our Ikea furniture is built and our curtains are hung (though I was getting very good at shutting the shutters every night). As it feels more like home here, I sometimes forget how far away we really are. Cooking has been a big adjustment for me. I always spend 2 hours at the store and am always going back and forth through the aisles looking for something. It is frustrating when I plan a meal and then I cannot find one or two ingredients that I need. I have realized that I cook American, not French style. I hope by the end of the year that I will be able to cook French style.

Here is a picture of us at Mont St. Michel, a 10th century abbey in the north of France