Prayer Conference Pictures!

Quintessential French Child

Town of Gisor - New work

Magny church service

Prayer Walking

French Church History 

Praying inside

Doing the work.

Beseeching the Lord of the Harvest

Sisters from Australia and Pennsylvania

Kevin and Stephanie our new Pastor and his wife in Gisor

Downtown Paris to hear about ministry to new believers from other nations

Salem and Jerry, Our French Director

Easter morning walking along

These tulips (just the flower part) were at least 5 in. high and 3 in. wide!

Easter weekend Egg and Game Hunt

Wonderful church fellowship with our French brothers and sisters

On another bus to a new area to pray with our Australian and PA sisters

And they instantly left

Some friends of ours who do medical missions every so often were reading Spurgeon's morning and evening devotions. Russell reads them most days online. That day, recently, it talked about the disciples giving everything up instantly—leaving their boats and following him. It so struck our friends that the disciples instantly left their boats. They had been talking about financially supporting our work but hadn't called us in a while. They decided that day was the day and knew they had to instantly get up and call us. I sit here with tears in my eyes. If they only knew that we'd instantly leave if we could. And I appreciate their willingness to "up and call us" when they finished reading that scripture.

I know the Lord knows we are following him right here in Kansas City, but our path leeds elsewhere. We have a call to France. And, of course, sometimes we wonder how we could "up and leave" for France and continue the work. Why do things have to be so complicated? Paul experienced shipwreck, prison and years of preparation for his work. We have done our prep, our children are all in good places, our house is sold, and the only thing left is...     - Carol

We get asked, "What will your job be as a church planter?"

This is a general overview of our work, and we will share more specifics we learned recently from my work in France in February and March.
     Even though the church planter will do the job of a pastor at the beginning, this will change dramatically. We will be on a team who each have different gifts and we will use our gifts in a variety of ways to bring people into the Kingdom of God and train them to become disciples to take over our ministry. This will become their church that they will lead and we will leave. They have to know this at the beginning. They have to want to take over and then train others to start a new work. The following excerpt is so exceptional on this topic.

Craig Ott and Gene Wilson in their book, Global Church Planting:
     “From the outset national(s) must be trained to do all essential ministries: evangelism, preaching, teaching, counseling, administration. The church planter must surrender the desire to have “up front” ministry. His or her primary role is behind the scenes, equipping others. The church planter who loves to preach must learn to focus on equipping others to preach; the church planter who is gifted in counseling will need to shift emphasis to empowering others to counsel.
     The lay sermons will probably not be as homiletically polished or theologically astute as those the missionary could preach. But the reward will be the development of truly empowered local leaders who will serve the church well after the church planter has departed. The missionary is constantly working himself or herself out of a job, performing a ministry only so long as necessary to train a national. Indeed, apart from evangelism and initial follow-up, if a national is not available and willing to be trained, the ministry should probably not be initiated. This may make for a slower start but will result, we believe, in a more solid finish for the church plant.”
     One of the essential attitudes, though, needed to keep our hearts and minds focused on the endpoint is gospel humility. Without a heart mastered by Jesus, convinced of His incredible love for us, we could not keep an other-centered focus, where we would always seek to equip others in ministry and release them to that task.
     Don't you love that?!     - Carol

Rush, rush, rush - Time for a Breather

We've been running around like "chickens with our heads cut off" to move out of the house we've been staying in, visiting churches, having some meetings, writing letters to send to new people telling them about our work and consolidating our junk down to one car load. If you would tell me that I would go from a 4 bedroom 4 bath house to one car load and move 6 times in 2 years plus work in France for 2 months I would think you were crazy! God is honing us, stripping us of so many things, and yet blessing us beyond measure.

We are continuing to speak to groups of people "in person" in the Kansas City area between Lawrence and Raytown and all points in between. Then we will use our Macon, MO location to come back to for home base. There are some great folks all over these here parts. I'm starting to speak like my country folk and at the moment thinking a little less French. Tomorrow we will get back to French lessons once arriving at our friend Jana's house.

Our son-inlaw, Joe, is graduating from KU in film and Biology and we are very proud of him! Let's hope it doesn't rain for commencement. The school will put off the ceremony every 2 hrs. in the event of rain and if they put it off so long they will cancel it. Can you imagine?!! I hope that doesn't happen.

My brain is full. Life is good. Pray for Russell's dad, Sherman who has had some complications with his heart. We are glad to have spent this past week with them. He is doing somewhat better and went for a stress test today.

The World Team staff said we scored high on our Inter-cultural survey to see if we could live cross-culturally. That was good to hear. Some people have such a hard time melting into a culture and trying to get rid of the American mindset. We'll see how we do when we get back to France.

We believe 2 churches from this area are going to add to our support needs. Thank you Lord. Pray that God would move more people to want to partner with us in this venture. Pray for our new work in Gisor, France; for Kevin and Stephenie, Eliezer and Esther in this Normandy town. For the people they are meeting, a few in Gisor have met Kevin and they are Christians who are excited to have an evangelical church in their own town (there is only one Catholic church in an area of probably 40 or 50,000 people) and also pray for those who don't know God yet but have a spiritual need and want Kevin or Eliezer to help them find Him.

From France, to Britain and Home in the USA - nothing ordinary about that

William and Kate got married last week. I was so excited to view this historical event. How many high profile weddings do we get to actually watch on TV? Only this one. We didn't see Chelsea Clinton get married.  We haven't seen any president's get married or future presidents. But we did have an opportunity to see a future King get married. So many people passed this off as a ridiculous thing. But this is a future King who will rule one-third of the world. Many think the Queen is just a figurehead. But she works over 300 days a year along with the Prime Minister. They confer and run nations. I watched this wedding from my little dorm room and enjoyed it thoroughly. Christ was proclaimed!  It was a day in church with much scripture read. It was a day for Christianity and showed God's plan for couples. It was a big day for marriage. Let's hope the pressures of such a media life will not break this couple.

I'm glad to be back home but feeling wobbly and drained since arriving on Saturday. Immediately we had things to do and I was ready to do them. The children's musical at First Baptist in Raytown on Sunday was a great event. I didn't want to miss "Happily Forever After". Everyone did a wonderful job. Russell was glad to be a part of the set design. Then off to our daughter's scholarship art show at KU. I was glad to be able to attend. I could sleep later. It was a wonderful day to be back.

It's amazing how one day can change our world with the next big media event about the killing of Usama Bin Laden. Many emotions for everyone, including myself.  I was chastised by my daughter and her friends for being gleeful and was very glad that he was gone from this earth. Maybe I was too glib repeating something I saw on a home made poster that said,... When I heard they buried him at sea I thought, how perfect. There will be no place that people can make a shrine for him. They won't know where he's buried. No country would take him and as a Muslim he had to be buried within 24 hrs.

Even with that raw emotion many people have felt these last 2 days, we should take time to pray for the families of the victims, our military and those of our allies who are working hard to end this terror. One of my friends said, "the head of the snake is cut off!" We know there are many others working in the name of Al Qaeda and the war is not over but this was a victory for our nation.

I'm glad to be back but hoping we will be moving forward to working full time in France very soon. It's all in His hands, isn't it? Lord, help me to be plugged into your plans...

As I was packing..........

      Have two months really gone by? Believe it or not, it has, so I'm preparing for my journey back to the states leaving this Saturday morning. I would appreciate prayers for safe travel. As I was packing, I was reminded of a conversation with a widow who lived here at the Language school, working with various groups. She recently moved to Nice to work with an organization (pronounced Neece). While at the airport in London, a while back, she was asked to be completely searched - herself and her belongings. This woman is a seasoned traveller.
     The woman/officer searching her things had on her own nationalistic dress, not a security uniform and began going through her papers. The officer asked her what kind of work she was doing. Then asked her more specific questions about who she was working with—and confiscated her paperwork. This woman, we'll call her Maggie, became very nervous. I don't recall if they returned her papers which had all the names, addresses, type of work, her schedule and where she was going, etc. I imagine they did return her papers but she said it altered her view on traveling, even in countries which have freedom of religion. She said going forward she would not have any of her work information in paper form with her. So far, even though our computers are put through the screener, they are not being read while trying to get on the plane.
     I've decided not to have personal info about others I work with, or about the conference, in paper form in my purse or suitcase. Am I paranoid? I shared earlier on this blog about a woman who came to our school to get information, trying to take pictures, and was asked to leave. She was of another belief and they caught her snooping. If you know me at all you know that I love all mankind, no matter who they are but we are living in interesting times which call for using wisdom.
      I am looking forward to seeing family and friends. This trip was a fantastic time, and an opportunity for me to use the skills and gifts given to me. It gave me more insight into our future work and the wonderful team that is here working diligently, waiting for our full time arrival. Thank you for sending me. - Carol

Joyeux Paques!! - Happy Easter!!

     Easter in France is known as Pâques. (pronounced "Pack"). Something I read said, "The historic country of France is widely famous for its deep rooted religious faith in Catholicism; hence Easter festivities in France are in perfect tune with the secular French rituals of today." They leave for the vacances (vacations) here as they have a week off. Many go to Tunisia or other warm places by the beach but it was in the 70s all week so many stayed here. People here rarely go to church. Some might show up on Easter morning - but few. They are willing to go to the malls to get ready for spring and they have a meal with families and of course have the bunnies and chocolate eggs for a hunt with the children. I did not buy one chocolate egg or boil any. A little girl in church today handed me a blue foiled chocolate egg. It's still in my purse and her beautiful dark face and large dark eyes will forever shine in my mind as she handed me that precious little gift.
     One of our churches had an Easter egg hunt in a neighborhood yesterday which I helped with. 30 children came to hunt eggs and the parents had their cameras as the 3 to 6 year olds played a bunny hopping game to pick up the boiled eggs in the center of the field. The older children played a "ball" game while some of our adults and youth hid the chocolate eggs in various places around the park. I helped to poor the drinks and cut the gateau (cake) for them after the celebration.
     Pâques, the French word for Easter, comes from the Hebrew word Pesach which means Passover. The Jewish feast was at the setting for the Easter events recounted in the Christian Gospels.
     The only written record explaining the origin of the word Easter dates to: AD 725. The English historian Saint Bede explained the origin of the word Easter in his work "De Temporun Ratione". Eosturmonath, meaning "Easter-month", was the Anglo-Saxon name for the month of April. Easter comes from ancient roots meaning "shine and dawn". East—the direction of dawn, came from the ancient root, aus.
     For those of us who may do an easter egg hunt in the states but have gone beyond our wonderful Easter family times to know what Easter truly means, we say, "He is Risen, He is Risen indeed!!" He lives forever with his saints to reign!
     Thank you Lord Jesus! We are forever in your debt. - Carol

From a French perspective

       R spoke at one of our gatherings at the conference last week. I wanted to share his powerful story with you.
     He grew up in Burgundy, France and never knew a Protestant in France. In school they did talk about Protestantism and he knew a little. He grew up with a little Catholicism. (He's probably in his 40s now). His father was an atheist and his mother was rejected by the Catholic church because she married a divorced man. As an adolescent he liked most to make fun of Catholic Christians. His friends and he formed a "hard rock band" and they mocked people who believed in God.
       It was ironic because in his band they were involved in the spirit world of demons - making tables move and dealing with spirits themselves. He met friends who were in secret societies like the Masons. His experience went deeper into esoteric studies. While in high school and later he began doing more religious study, and more into the occult world. "The Bible is a reference for those in the occult but they twist its meaning". As he began to understand the Bible better he hadn't met an evangelical Christian yet but one day he and a friend were playing their guitars and singing down in the Metro train area to make some money. Someone with a "shining, smiling face who looked peaceful" dropped a paper into his case. He thought, I'm going to read this later. But he didn't find the paper and forgot about it. A year later someone was in his guitar case and found the it stuck in a section of the case. His friend asked him if he was interested in Christianity, Jesus and the Bible as he'd read the paper. He told him that yes he was so he read it too. It was a tract about the Gospel.
       Next he went to Grenoble, France to school and got into another secret society. But on the floor where he lived at the school there were others there who invited him to come to a Christian meeting. He told the guys that he didn't believe in their ideas and felt that truth could be explained by esotericism and secret societies. He decided to go to the meeting to explain his thoughts. (I looked this up - what is esoterism? Here's what Wikipedia says).
       The term energy has been widely used by writers and practitioners of various esoteric forms of spirituality. Spiritual energy is often closely associated with the metaphor of life as breath - the words 'qi', 'prana', and 'spirit', for instance, are all related in their respective languages to the verb 'to breathe'. Sometimes it is equated with the movement of breath in the body, sometimes described as visible "auras", "rays", or "fields" or as audible or tactile "vibrations". These are often held to be perceptible to anyone, though this may be held to require training or sensitization through various practices. Many energies of this type lack scientific evidence.
       R told these other students at the meeting that you can't gain understanding from the Bible. They weren't convinced but glad he came anyway. He talked to the guy from the US who led the group and was shown that from their perspective Jesus was the Savior of the World and that the Bible was the inspired words of God. The man was patient with R but R was not interested in believing. 2 years later the group leader felt R was so closed. He said this guy will never believe.
       R said to us, that fortunately, the guy was wrong. He felt God was opening his mind. His conviction was strengthened by reading the Bible more. He'd found out a certain number of Christians had been praying for him. "I began to believe that something was happening to me." I came to believe that Jesus was the Savior of the World and that the Bible was the inspired word of God.
       I didn't understand about rebirth. Six monthly later he said, "I received a strong conviction about my sin. That evening alone in my room, and has never happened since, I saw scenes of my life played out. You know how people see their life flash before them before they die? I began seeing things in my mind that I had done and how impure I was. I fell apart. It was like a pin in a balloon. I became more conscious of God. I remembered the holiness of God. I felt I couldn't come close to him. But, in the midst of this conviction I realized Jesus had taken my sin on him. The revelation of the cross became real to me and what it meant for me. In that moment God truly revealed himself to me. The room was full of light. I understood the love of God for me! A watershed moment. I never turned back." he said.
       "It was a revelation from God. As we turn to him we are completely forgiven."
       His studies led him first to become a computer professor. He went to Bible school in Grenoble for 3 years and to school in the US for 1 year. He got his Masters of Arts in Missions and he studied French history in the US. For 10 years he helped to start churches south of Grenoble. Then he began to get involved in a group where churches work together in France. He's been a pastor for 10 years in the Paris area - not far from where I'm currently living. He feels the doors are opening for the gospel in France.
       He said, "God's church goes across boundaries to work together. That's what we are doing." He's starting to see college students coming to Christ in the universities and in the ivy league schools here.

       Pray for R today as he embarks on a very big job in the coming months.

- Carol

Remember praying for Lambert?

Lambert (pronounced Lahmbare) accepted Christ as his Savior 2 weeks ago! I shared with you that he is dieing and Pastor David told him he needs to make a decision for Christ because he's going to meet God soon. Lambert finally told David that he believes but that he didn't think he had sin in his life. David said to Lambert, you are a really good man and you have loved your family and your neighbors but it is not good enough for God Lambert. David asked him if it was okay to lead him through prayer to Jesus and Lambert said it was fine so David led him into salvation after 8 years of trying to get this man to understand. Praise God!

I have so many wonderful stories I will share in the upcoming days but for now I need to rest after a great week. Enjoy this week of preparation for the celebration of our resurrected King - Jesus!

Paris Conference

   The conference is going well and I am enjoying this very much. It's hard work and long hours since I'm working during all this. But I get to hear the speaking and join in after we get the lunch ready for everyone. I have a few helpers and we get to the site early and go to a nearby store to buy our groceries and baguettes at the boulangerie every morning. Then I help the participants get to the sites an hour or more away from the downtown conference area following the speaking and worship. If you ask Russell he'll tell you they are helping me get to the sites. Sometimes they have a better sense of direction as we all try to figure out the train and bus rides. Some locations I've gone to before and other times it's a first for me. A couple of the old timers who have lived here many years are going with us on the train to some locations. I am sooo glad!
     Yesterday we had a little break in the afternoon and took some attendees down to the Eiffel Tower. It's a marvelous monument. People are all over and some are trying to entertain others but what you hear and see is a very dark side and you can see these things in America. We don't really have a gypsy problem, though, like they do in France, or in Europe for that matter. The gypsys were really out trying to ply money off people with a handicap scam. (asking for money to give to people who have handicaps) I noticed the police rounding a bunch of them up as we were leaving. We prayed for the people of France while gathering there.
    Today, after the morning session, we will go to a town that we pronounce Jeezors (spelled Gisors). We will hear what is happening with the new work there. I will update on the blog this weekend. Tomorrow we will go into an area where Said (pronounced Sah-eed) and his wife will share their work. We were able to hear him speak in 2005 and I am very excited to see them again to hear about their work in the downtown area.
     We will share more specifics through our newsletter that we send via email since some things are more sensitive.

Dieu vous binesse! (God Bless You!)
Carol

Cowboys, Indians, the Wild West & Kansas City in a Paris English class

     I'll have 45 min to an hr. to share about anything I want with an English class. One of our teammates, Suzy, has been doing this class for a few years now. I have decided to share about our "Middle West" cowboy/Indian heritage in Kansas City. (The first cowboy boot was made in Olathe and continued the tradition until the late 1990s) I'll share about some of Russell's Cherokee background. France calls Missouri and Kansas "The Middle West." I like that.
     I decided to add in the part we heard from a Belgium guy at the "Perspectives" class in Olathe, KS who was approached by 2 large cowboy clubs in Belgium to do Cowboy Church. "Include everything", they said. "We want it all." So he came to Kansas City to speak and had to find out what a Cowboy church was. He didn't know. Someone told him there is an active church in Lone Jack. He had to find some cowboy boots and a hat. They are so expensive when bought new, so he found some used ones in the area. Off he went to experience it all. One of the cowboy clubs in Belgium has 250 members and the other one has 500 members. They do country line dancing and anything they can think of that relates to what American cowboys do or did.
     I thought I would throw in some Cowboy songs for my little French group. I googled Cowboy church to see what I can find.  Maybe she'll provide the harmony. I found some fun ones to play. One has a bluegrass sound and the other from Johnny Cash.   I'm getting excited! I heard the folks here are crazy about Black Gospel. So how about Country Gospel?
     Please see my daily requests for the next week, as the conference starts on Saturday!  -Carol

Flyers for the train people

     As you know I'm on the train most days traveling around the area usually taking an hr or more most ways. Our church plants are spaced out around the city and into the suburbs. Our team is getting ready to start a church this summer in downtown Paris.
     The church I visited today distributed small flyers that said at the top, "Venez decouvrir la FOI qui change la VIE" In other words, Come discover the FAITH that changes life.
     2000 flyers were passed out to people while getting off the train and also in the nearby neighborhood where the church meets at a community center of indoor tennis courts. One young man came  because he got a flyer. About 20 others came who  attend very infrequently. We probably had around 40 adults and a good number of children. They don't have a piano player but have a guitarist so they asked a small group of musicians from another church to come and play to make this day special. The jazzy choruses and hymns were a lot of fun. It definitely added to a sweet spirit.
     I thoroughly enjoyed it. They had testimony time where three of the French shared their thoughts and why they decided to trust in Christ as their Seigneur - Lord. Franck gave the message. He is very tall and very enthusiastic. He's also a bicyclist. The Lord told him one day that he should start speaking to people more. He was on his bike and saw another biker and began talking and after a while he realized the man had ear phones in and didn't hear anything he said and then rolled away. So he had to try again another day. This time the man he spoke to was listening and told him that he had followed Christ a long time ago, before he got married, but then fell away from his faith. He told Franck that he had never told his wife. One's whole life can change with one conversation.
     Are you looking for opportunities to share what God is doing in your life? Ask the Holy Spirit to guide you. Ask him for opportunities. He will. - Carol

A Bible for a special baby

     C & A (initials only), asked a couple of our teammates, their friends, if they'd be godparents for their baby. They said they would. A is a Christian and has come to the church on and off for a while. They'd moved further away and she has not been able to be as faithful. After the ceremony for the baby they gave her a Bible. 

     C & A had other friends there for the party and they scoffed at the gift. The husband, who is not a believer told them it was a beautiful gift. Our friends watched as the others came up and flipped through the children's Bible looking at it. Today C & A were both in church. Please pray for him. Normally he's only attended at Easter and Christmas. Sometimes a heartfelt gift can make a big difference.   -Carol

Getting to know Mademoiselle artiste

     Yesterday was eventful. I accomplished purchasing my monthly transportation pass with the help of a sweet young woman who worked at the train station. Then I went back to the small artist atelier/boutique to buy a gift for Rebekah, daughter-inlaw for her birthday. This gave me an opportunity to visit with la mademoiselle, the owner, and artist of many fun, sweet, very creative things she's made. I gave her my business card so she can look at our art work. She was very interested. This provides a common ground. She had an older woman behind the sewing machine with her today. She listened to us talking as I tried to speak in a little French and she spoke in a little English. The older woman was responding to our weak conversation too!  I'm looking forward to my next opportunity to get to know them better.   -Carol

Postal Workers Strike and the cute artist jeweler

     Over forty strikers met yesterday morning at the departmental Post in Montigny-le-Bretonneux to mark the national day of mobilization. Strikers were in various places around the city wanting more hiring and better working conditions. The government laid off over 11,000 workers last year. Montigny is where I watched a couple of cute boys last week - Pavel and Jonas. Even though it's an hour away from downtown Paris where many of the striking workers are picketing and causing a disturbance - BESIDES NOT DELIVERING MAIL, they are also picketing within the whole of Ile de France. Needless to say, I have sent out some cards and letters but don't know if they've been mailed or not. Striking workers is a common occurrence in the Paris area.  The truckers will even help out and block traffic for them if you want them too. You won't see this in such a dramatic way in America except recently in Wisconsin with the teachers union. Maybe it will be a new thing in America. With all the other protests going on in the world. Hey, why should we be left out of the fun. Interesting times, isn't it?
     On my way today I'll buy my monthly Navigo pass to be able to get around for next month. I do have to talk to another live person instead of a machine. Hopefully the line won't be too long. It is the end of the month and yes, I should have done this before now. Franziska and I were coming from the Verrier station down the hill and around the corner and she had us stop in this cute atelier (workshop) and boutique. Mademoiselle makes all her jewelry and gifts. She looks like she is in her late 20s or early 30s. Everything is very well done and beautiful. Rebekah, our daughter-inlaw, had a birthday yesterday and so I'm going to see if I can find a necklace for her (the prices are very reasonable). This might be an opportunity to get to know this woman a little better. :0)
     Our little Charlotte will be 4 on April 3rd and we bought the book "The Cat Who Walked Across France" for her. I would highly recommend it for young children. It's wonderful.
     Bonne Journée (meaning, "Have a Good Day!")      -Carol

A recipe for the best Brownies - in French

La meilleure Recette de Brownie
I had to find a French recipe for brownies so I can figure out the temperature in their ovens. It also gave a recipe for Brownies using Nutella. mmm. I thought I should make this ahead of time to see how it ends up tasting. - Read down the recipe of what I'm having to think here.

Facile
Pour 4 personnes:  I have to make enough for 20 - to take to the conference.
250 g de chocolat noir - Dark chocolate. x 4 for 20 - that's a lot of chocolat.
150 g de sucre en poudre - powdered sugar instead of granulated sugar. x 4
150 g de beurre - Try saying this - it's butter. The letter "r" is very difficult for Americans.
1 sachet de sucre vanillé - Regular vanilla is very expensive and people buy vanilla sugar here.
60 g de farine tamisée - I think I have this.
3 oeufs - eggs - this can't be right - 12 oeufs for 20 personnes? Oh dear. Maybe I'll use a regular American recipe and look up the correct temperature setting. Sometimes these things are tough to translate.
1 pincée de sel - pinch of salt

Préparation:  20 mn Cuisson : 15 mn Repos : 0 mn Temps total (Time) : 35 mn

• 1  Faites fondre le beurre dans une petite casserole sur un feu très doux et cassez ensuite le chocolat noir dans un saladier. Laissez le fondre doucement au bain-marie.

• 2  Plongez un pinceau dans le beurre fondu et badigeonnez votre moule à manqué. Préchauffez le four thermostat 6 (180°). - Aha! it's 180 degrees with this oven.
• 3  Mélangez le chocolat fondu avec le beurre. Hors du feu, ajoutez le sucre en poudre, le sucre vanillé puis les oeufs battus en omelette avec une petite pincée de sel. Ajoutez enfin la farine.
• 4  Versez dans le moule et enfournez pour 15 mn. Laissez reposer 5 mn dans le four éteint.
• 5  Laissez refroidir environ 1/2 heure, puis mettez au réfrigérateur au moins 2 heures. Démoulez le gâteau et découpez le en parts individuelles.

WWII bomb found in our town.

     I saw a small article from a newspaper on the train as I was riding to take care of two little ones for the afternoon. An American WWII bomb 500 kg was found in Massy where I'm staying. 800 people were evacuated to Versaille.  I guess everything turned out fine. No one at the school knew anything about it. Just another day. crazy.
     I went south of Versaille to watch Pavel and Jonas in one of the nouvelle cities where the government built newer cities within the last 30 years to push people out of the downtown area. (there are 18 million People in the region! - 8 million in downtown) Everything was built for these towns except churches. There are schools, commerce, government buildings, apartments, houses, bars, restaurants, etc. A church cannot be built near a school because of the separation of church and state law. But a bar can be placed next to a school. Go figure.
     Three year old Pavel goes to French public school. His parents are from America working with our team. The school will start children as early as 2 1/2 years old if the parents need that assistance. It is free. He goes 4 mornings a week until 11;30 His mommy is in Switzerland for a number of days taking a class on how to teach women to do Bible studies as well as how better to teach. His daddy is trying to work so Jean and I are taking turns a couple of times to help out. I brought drawing supplies today and we drew each other's feet and let them color them in. Lots of giggling and tickling.
     If you do not subscribe to our newsletter and want more news that you are not seeing on here then we would suggest you let us know. We send one out every month or two with information that we would not want to be so public. Email; parisbarr@gmail.com  ----Carol

Prayer for Lambert

     A couple of our teammates have been friends of an elderly couple for many years. They would invite the them over to their house to find out about their American ways and ask questions about what they were doing in France. They would share many times together and have very nice visits. The wife is now attending their church and her husband says he is not interested even though he has asked them many questions over the years. Now Lambert is about ready to die. Our friend is begging him to reconsider and just trust, open his heart and believe. Please pray for them both.

Cora! - Hypermarché

     Some of you may have heard of Cora. It's a hyper market that is so huge it takes 2 days to really go through it. Otherwise, one may become very exhausted. I have to walk my groceries back to my dorm so I have to be careful how much I put in my cart. I found out they do not have brownie mixes. I signed up to bring brownies for 20 people one of the days of the conference. I guess I'll make them from scratch They do have a few cake mixes. It's no wonder Suzy asked for me to bring those brownie mixes for her. There are 20 different kinds of milk. One milk I bought was so sweet. That's fine if you want it with your cereal but not with regular food. I finally found one that I think is 1 1/2% la cremé. mmm - just right.
     I did not see any corn tortillas. I want to make Mexican food for my dinner tonight. They do have flour tortillas. There were some smaller Dorito chips packages 200g and some Old El Paso sauce and some kits to make Mexican if one so desires. I bought the chips and will make some kind of Taco salad. For 2.65 euro I bought a spice bottle of Mexican spices. I did not find chili powder. There was cumin though.
     I looked for garbanzo beans to make hummus and couldn't find them.They had premade hummus for almost 3 euro. But it would have been so easy to make it. Shoot. The cookie aisle was a wonder! I did not buy any. It was hard. The madeline's are so beautiful, the chocolate covered waffle cookies, they all are a delight, Macaroons. Self-control, self-control. Now I know what I will bring back to give to people. I don't see these kinds of things lining our American shelves.
     I was sick a couple of nights ago from eating too rich of food later at night. So I ate very little yesterday and feeling fine today. Can you tell I was hungry?

More Pictures from Paris!

These pictures show some of our team members in the Paris area. For more information, email your questions to us.