City Hall in Tours
It’s starting to look a lot like Christmas, minus the snow… mixed feelings about that:
- Glad for no shoveling or plowing yet.
- There’s still lettuce in the garden.
- Pansies add winter colour in the garden.
- BUT… it’s weird to see Christmas decorations alongside green grass & bare pavement.
Jury’s still out!
Latest Bi-Monthly Newsletter
We’ve just published our latest partner newsletter. If you are a regular reader of the blog then you will be pretty much up to date.
If you know someone who is interested in or has a burden for France… feel free to print it for them or forward them the link. It will give a good snapshot of the past couple of months.
Click here to read the newsletters:
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Outreach Efforts
For those who haven’t seen it yet, we launched this 2:48-min video on Monday. The 3-fold goal:
1. Offer 3 verses to encourage people in uncertain times.
2. Direct them toward our Facebook and web pages.
3. Offer them a Home Bible Study
In the next 2-3 weeks we’ll distribute 2,500 cards in an attempt to cast the net wide. Please join us in prayer for this undertaking… souls are in the balance.
(Note video is in French)
AIMKid bloggers…
(*unapologetic commercial alert*)
Soph and Dominic each have a blog and are “occasional bloggers” – they don’t blog often, but when they do, it’ll give you a window on the missions world from a kid’s perspective.
Click the images to check ’em out & SUBSCRIBE
(You’ll get an email each time they publish)
In General…
Aside from all that good stuff… it’s been a productive week, albeit fairly heavy on administrative tasks:
- December’s Pentecostal Messenger is off to print.
- Partner newsletter & monthly reports to our sending organization are done.
- Year-end church reports for the French Federation are mostly done
- Lawn mowed (hopefully for the last time), cleaned out the church garden & planted pansies for the winter (neat to have winter colour in the garden).
- We spent Monday evening as guests at our landlord’s home… what a treat, the fire was roaring in the fireplace when we arrived!
- Got to visit with a dear shut-in saint from our church.
…looks busy when you sit down & list it, but it’s just a mix of “life” and “ministry”… not unlike you. You balance work, family and involvement in between… God bless & strengthen you as you do! The only difference is, you allow us to do it in France and help grow the church while we’re here. Thank you.
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Get-Away!
As many of you read this, I’ll be at Bible School in Melun. I head home tonight for service tomorrow and then we’ll hit the highway for a few days of rest & relaxation.
Kids in French schools had a 2-week break in late October and will get another at Christmas. Our AIMkids haven’t had that luxury; along with Liz, they are really looking forward to a week off before return & hit the road running in the lead-up to Christmas.
Note: We’ll be hosting a special guest this Christmas… details to follow)
One more glimpse at Christmas preparations here…
Christmas Market in Tours
After a busy YC weekend, followed by a 3.5hr drive back home Sunday night, Monday was a low-key day at home for the most part. Only at around supper time did the whole family venture out together to watch the sunset from the old smoke-stacks at la Manufacture downtown, normally a great vantage point. With winter time now in effect and the sun moving quickly, we actually arrived just after it had set, but still enjoyed getting out in the fresh air together.
Sunday afternoon we attended a local chocolate festival.
My involvement in IBF, gives me a chance to get out of Châtellerault each month; to see other places and spend time with different people. Pastors can relate to this and particularly home-missions pastors… sometimes you need to connect with people outside of your local congregation.
Since we now had an abundance of 4′ logs, branches & brush, we thought it’d be fun to have our midweek service by the fire and make it a time of extended fellowship as well.
Thursday night we spent the evening counseling a young couple who were in need of a nudge in the right direction. It was a positive time and opens the door a little bit wider for the Lord to work in their life. Following our time with them, we stopped by a local restaurant to put into practice some of what we’d advised them to do… take time together.
Yep…. eighteen! They arrived with about 40lbs of other things. Let me explain:
We weren’t only glad to get the goodies that she brought, it was also nice to spend time with a familiar face from home. Milena was one of the first folks that Liz got to know when she began at Air Canada 18 years ago.
We recently got a couple of other things from North America as well:
A few years ago, Liz & I translated Bro. Timothy C. Mitchell’s 
Ahh… at last. The kids have been getting to know two kids who’ve been spending lots of summer-vacation time with their grandparents, who live across the street from us. Last night they went for an evening swim at the same lake where 
If you find yourself in open water and the wind kicks up you can easily get in trouble given the canoe’s shape and the way they ride low in the water. The canoe will rock & roll with the crests & troughs if you remain parallel with the waves and, if they are rough enough, you can easily capsize. Still, it’s not impossible to safely navigate such water… the secret is to drive the canoe into the waves… crossing them perpendicularly. In this way they slice the waves, rather than being victim to them. We would do well to face trial & difficulty head-on as well: Tackling and mastering it rather than hesitating and falling victim to the agitation that it can bring.
AIM Long 