This small coffee may not look like much, but it represents a quick & quiet moment of celebration after an administrative marathon for Liz…
I’ll tell you more about it further along, but let’s start at the beginning (a very good place to start – Shout out to all the “Sound of Music” fans).
Sunday Drivin’
So apparently the Lord hadn’t yet taught me all I needed to know from our car experience last week.
We got it back Friday and Saturday, when Liz went to clean the church, a light came on indicating low tire pressure in one wheel. Sunday morning, before picking people up for church, I went to put air in the tire and the whole valve came apart in my hand. The tire was flat in 5 seconds and I got a quick refresher course on changing a tire (something I hadn’t done in 23 years.)
Our neighbour gave me some coaching and to thank him, we took over a cake that afternoon. We had one of our nicest visits in a long while with both families. We expressed to them what a blessing they have been and continue to be to us.
Again… the Lord protected us! Had that come apart while we were on the highway it would’ve been a much bigger deal.
Party Time!
If you are EVER tempted to complain about government bureaucracy, give me a call and I’ll remind you how easy you have it!
Liz applied for her French driver’s license on January 24th……. 2016! It was finally ready to be picked up this week, roughly 55 weeks later. I guess a simple exchange of driver’s license wasn’t so… simple.
It is, however, one more door the Lord opened when it seemed the process had reached a dead end. So, we celebrated with a café crême & pain au chocolat, and 20 years after exchanging her Belgian driver’s license for a Canadian one, she is once again has a European driver.
Another Open Door
The Lord opened another door this week at the Université de Poitiers where I’ve been teaching English for 4hrs/week since January.
They had an urgent need for someone to pick up another 3hrs/week beginning this Monday, February 13th. It’s only 3 more hours weekly, but it will be a financial blessing and will allow more opportunities to makes connections on campus.
Ironically, the back-fill was precipitated by President Trump’s travel ban. The US resident who had been teaching had to return home now to avoid the risk of not being able to re-enter at the end of the school year.
It’s different to see a direct consequence locally of those events taking place half way around the world.
STM Monday…
This Monday is Short-Term Missions Monday and with it, another STM-related post.
Response to the last STMM post, 7 Short-Term Missions Mistakes, was overwhelming, Thanks! and I’m glad it resonated with many of you.
For this next post, I’ve brought it back down to a more normal length and will delve into the “How to’s” of expressing thanks to those that have committed to supporting your STM endeavour. Click here to read it.
Mailing List
I made an update to our mailing list this week given the extra writing I’m doing. If you’re new to the eMail list, you will have the choice of three types of communication:
Regular supporter updates on our activities- Travel-Writing News (If you want to know when my Paris travel guide launches. When it DOES launch, I’ll be giving it away for the first five days on Amazon Kindle.)
- Short-Term Missions Writing News (Related to a STM handbook I’m also writing & which will launch this summer.)
Existing members will default to Option 1 communication (regular support updates). If you’re new and would like to find out about either of the other two launches, sign up here and check the appropriate box according to the communication you’d like to see.
Th-Th-th-theu… That’s all Folks!
Thank you for being back with us again today. Rejoice with us for all the things the Lord has done this week to show us his faithful hand, guiding and protecting us. Lord we praise you!
God bless you this week!
AIM Long 