When was the last time that you had to say good-bye to a group of people with whom you’d experienced great things, over a short time and you knew that you came away from it all the better?
That was us this past Monday… but joy before tears!
Tag Archives: Volunteering
#AYCFrance is HERE!
Today started with a 6am wake-up call and a 1-hour bus ride to meet 41 of North America’s finest… but let me come back to that after telling you about the rest of our week first.
The original cook-out!
Not sure I’ve ever had a Barbecue like the one we had last Sunday. Hayko and Knyaz are two Armenian friends that we’ve been getting to know since arriving here. We went to Hayko’s appartment where they’d prepared enough meat to feed an army… cooked on a sword-like skewer set atop a halved metal barrel in which they’d begun a bonfire before our arrival. Supper cooked over these coals while Liz & the kids were upstairs with Hayko’s wife and their little boy. This is an open door through which we aspire to bring our relationship with the Lord.
Feelin’ the Love
Tuesday we got a wonderful surprise by mail: A thickly padded envelope stuffed with note cards from folks in our home church.
We know that folks at home are praying for us, but there’s something special about receiving “snail mail”. …feeling the texture of the paper, reading the handwriting, etc.
Some were from adults, some were from families and some were from our kids’ good friends!
Thank you!
Dominic’s Birthday
Wednesday was Dominic’s birthday… his first in France. On Sunday afternoon, Bro. Kabasele (our assistant Pastor and a trained baker) made a triple layer Genoise cake and decorated it in Dominic’s honour.
Timo got him a soccer ball… not a rubberized plastic one or a foam one… a real one. Sophie & Liz went out shopping and set him up with some “French style”… and he’s wearing it well.
He’s all excited to finally be a teenager and Timo is somewhat concerned by the fact that he’s now the only one NOT a teenager… convinced that he will be blatantly mistreated and manipulated by his conspiring older siblings. (gotta work on his trust factor).
Family time pre-AYC
We headed to the Paris region a day ahead of schedule. Dominic had learned a bit about the Palace of Versailles in his history class and was keen on seeing the Hall of Mirrors. So after a final pre-arrival meeting with Bro. & Sis. Nowacki and Sis. Despinoy, we took the afternoon and headed out.
It was a beautiful day and after purchasing our tickets online, we were told that children under 18 do not pay for museums in France. (Hmmm…. didn’t say THAT on the website. Now begins the attempt to get a refund… we’ll see how that goes.)
Not to have our spirits dampened… we thoroughly enjoyed discovering the palace, although Dominic couldn’t understand why we didn’t just go in the main door and hit the hall of mirrors… ummm… “HUGE palace”!!
We eventually got there, through the throngs of tourists, audio guides, go-pros, video cameras, digital camera & iPhones (it’s a wonder that we could even see the paintings on the wall with all of that other stuff going on!!) and managed to get a “GROUPIE” (is that the plural form of selfie???) IN the Hall of Mirrors.
(ps. it’s REALLY amusing to watch some people attempt to get the PERFECT selfie – strike a pose, flit the hair, tilt the head, brush away bangs, make sure the sleeve falls just so… O my word!! take the picture already!)
As many of you are reading this… we’ll be doing our first orientation session with the AYC team who arrived earlier this morning. Over the next 10 days they will be involved in 7 services in 6 churches and will be part of handing out nearly 5,ooo invitations to church in the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg (a virtual city-state on France’s eastern border) with AIMers Jeremy & Khrista Favors.
We’ll keep you in the loop and may have and extra post or two over the coming days. Keep your eyes open to our some of our other social media accounts where updates through the week will be more frequent:
Facebook + Instagram + Twitter
You’re making a difference
Thank you for staying aware of what our weeks look like. By staying current on what we are involved in, you are better able to ask God to go before us and prepare the way. We want to be found faithful!
Pray that he leads us and strengthens us this week to help lead this group of young people. Exposure breeds a burden… so who knows what God could do as a result of this week.
God bless you today!
Twisting, Turning & Conversations
“Can I have a trombone serenade with that length of rope
and cotton candy sir?”…said no AIMer ever, to neighbours they barely know.
But we could have!
Neighbourhood Flea-Market
Sunday afternoon, following church our neighbourhood hosted its annual flea-market. They call it a “vide-grenier” (“clean-out the attic”) here and it was even more than that.
There were the folks who were setting up tables or selling from the back of their cars…. but there were also antique tractors, a “big brass band” & drummers, antiques, demonstrations of rope-twisting and wood turning… not to mention the treats!
The treats came in both savory and sweet… there was cotton candy and something like beaver tails in strips… but there was also fresh bread being made in a portable wood-fired oven (on wheels) and pig thighs roasting over open coals (see photo). Although we’d already had lunch… we couldn’t resist the treats… can you blame us!?
My favorite was the hot bread straight out of the oven.
A New Net
The boys were thrilled to find a basketball hoop for only 3€. Although there’s a court a short walk from the house, they were keen on finding one to mount in the back hanger of the church for after service. It’s not installed there yet, but they couldn’t wait to use it… so they took turns climbing the apple tree in the yard and holding the net while the other tried shooting hoops…
(no slam dunk contests here!)
Mother’s Day
Per
haps I should back up a bit and tell you, too, that this past Sunday was also Mothers’ Day here in France. Bro. Christian preached and Liz brought an “exhortation” that was absolutely right on the mark. She’s not one that cherishes the limelight… but she’s definitely qualified to speak on motherhood… she takes the gold medal!
In addition, we gave to each mother in attendance, a small bouquet of 5 roses (you’ve got to love a country where, on Mothers’ Day weekend, you can get 20 miniature roses for 4.50€). Grandmothers in attendance also got a miniature sunflower… because, like the sun, they have the opportunity to “turn the heads” (provide guidance, direction & inspiration) not only of their children, but their grandchildren as well.
Conversations
When I asked Liz how she would sum up this past week… it was with the word “Conversations.” This week, the LORD has given us some good ones:
Monday we had coffee with a young couple who had visited church twice. He is quite interested in a Bible study but for now she’s working through questions and a family health crisis…
Tuesday we met & had a good conversation with a lady who, although she’d been attending for some time, has begun to express a desire to be baptized.
Tuesday evening we enjoyed great conversation with some neighbours. We had two sunflowers left from Sunday, so we gave one to our neighbour with a little note. They invited us in, showed us around their house & garden and asked us to use “tu” with them instead of “vous” … (a sign of closeness and informality).
Wednesday we did the same thing with the neighbour on the other side and on Thursday afternoon she called over to thank us and let us know how much it meant to her to receive a gift from such new neighbours.
Sometimes a small gesture can crack wide open a doorway that we can then use to bring the Lord closer people. Thank you LORD for open doors and conversations!
In 2 weeks Liz, the kids and I will accompany the General Youth Division’s Apostolic Youth Corps trip to France. 37 young people from across North America along with two chaperone couples will spend 10 days experiencing the churches, culture and history of France. It’ll be a Great Adventure for sure and since “Experience Breeds a Burden” some could find themselves back here on AIM someday. Cannot wait!
Prayer Focus
– Preparations for AYC in two weeks
– Preparations for Bible School next weekend
– The kids will finish up their homeschool year in the next weeks
– More & more fruitful conversations
God bless your day today… thanks for checking in!
Paris and back!
Hey there! Good day to you… got your coffee in hand? Want to hear about the past week?
Paris-Centre
Last Sunday was another opportunity to train up to the capital and help out with the church in Paris-Centre.
The congregation is primarily made up of Filipino and Sri Lankan Christians and they rent a local in the south eastern part of the city. It’s a bit away from the “touristy-center” but still very much the capital.
I preached from Joshua chapter 1 as they are a church in transition right now… in between Bro & Sis Brochu (who are on deputation) and Rev. & Mrs Dean & Loreen Byfield (AIMers who will stand in the gap until the Brochu’s return…. Incidentally, Sis. Byfield is also Bro & Sis Nowacki’s daughter). As it turns out, the guest minister who was there the previous Sunday also preached from the same chapter… I’d say that there was something that the Lord wanted the church to hear and be encouraged by. God is good!
Another Funeral
On Tuesday I participated in the funeral of M. Henri Leday (brother of Cecile Leday, the first member of the church here). For a number of years, M. Leday resisted the gospel and was tolerant, at best, of his sister’s faith. With time however, the Lord softened his heart. In 2007, Sis. Cecile was admitted to hospital and ended up never coming back out prior to her death, however, the Sunday before she entered the hospital, her brother did join her for service… he never stopped for 3-4 years until his own health would no longer permit him.
He was buried from the church that his daughter attends, in a neighbouring city, but we were asked to participate in the funeral service and then to look after the graveside service as well, which did take place in Châtellerault. What an honour.
I met M. Leday back in 2009 when I was here to teach in the Bible School so he was not unfamiliar to me. I had a chance to visit him again a few weeks ago with Bro. Brochu… but his health had already declined greatly.
*thankful the Lord still softens hearts hardened by any number of things or circumstances.*
Heavy Lifting
Thursday was a very productive day in terms of just plain ol’ hard work.
I started by attempting to mow the church yard (about 1.5 acres). The ride-on mower was out of commission so I figured I could use Bro. Brochu’s electric “yard mower” to just get a 20′ perimeter around the building and at least “take the edge off” … so it would look less like a pasture!
It was a task, to be sure, but here’s the silver lining… at one point, I saw an older gentleman across the street. I waved at him and kept on mowing, but he was back near our fence a few minutes later.
Thinking he might need directions, I stopped the mower, went to greet him and asked if I could help him with something. It turns out that he was wanting to help me. This was the first time I met M. Poirier, the church’s neighbor. He has a large John Deer, dual-blade lawn tractor and he offered to finish up the rest of the lawn.
Incredible! Though not hostile toward the church, he’s not had all that much contact in the past so this was quite something. It’s opened up the possibility of inviting them for a meal at some point as a means of saying thank you… *Lord, let our contact with the Poiriers bring you glory*
After the church yard, I returned home and trimmed the hedge at the Brochus. This is about a 4-hour deal (with Liz and/or the kids coming along behind to load up the trimmings). We’ll likely have to repeat the trim once or twice more during the summer growing season, but it’s sure easier than scraping & painting a fence! Here are the kids helping me transport the trimmings to the church yard where I’ll use them for mulch / compost.
A Few More Highlights:
- We visited with an older couple who are related to someone in church. It was a very warm visit and I’m confident we’ll see them visit church one day.
- Wednesday night was the 3rd night of a series I’m doing on the basics of salvation. We’d already discussed repentance & baptism and this was the first of two lessons on the Holy Ghost. There is a gal there that needs it and is also not quite ready to be baptized… *a matter to keep in prayer*
- Today I am teaching at the Bible School on the books of 1st and 2nd Corinthians then driving 3.5 hours back home.
In a Nutshell
That’s pretty much been our week in a nutshell… Thanks for taking the time to stay on top of our goings-on here… let it inform your prayers for us and for the church in Châtellerault. God DOES have greater things in store for this city… and you’re part of it!
God bless you today!
A Week in the Life…
Roasting Chamallows!
Never heard of Chamallows you say?
Oh yes you have… you just gave them another name…. Marshmallows.
Yard work
Earlier this week I read an instagram post by AIMer to Brazil, Jonathan DeVall, that pretty much nailed it! In summing up what AIMers do, he said:
“What do AIMers do exactly? Well, we help career missionaries in any way they need it. Today, for instance, our old fuel truck needed its carburetor rebuilt. so, I got some parts and got ‘er running again. It’s not all preaching. Sometimes you get your hands dirty!”
This week held a bit of dirty hands work for us as well.
Last fall, the electrical utility trimmed a treeline on the back of our church property to protect overhead power lines. They did it at their cost but the church was left with the cleanup responsibility. They rented a large bin last fall for just over $700, filled it with trimmings and sent it off, but the larger branches & pieces of wood could not be included.
We spent one day last week as well as another 7+ hours this past Thursday, cutting, hauling, picking up and burning much of the remaining wood & trimmings… and we’re not quite done yet. Perhaps one more good day might do it.
It made for some stiffness and a good night’s sleep after the fact, but in the meantime… we found the silver lining in all that work. Bonfire time!
The kids joined us after their school day was done and we roasted hot dogs and marshmallows. Get this… hot dogs here are called “Saucisses de Strasbourg” (or Strasbourg Sausages) Man! The French can make even hot dogs sound fancy!
In addition to that, the boys got to learn how to manoeuvre the tractor with help from Andy (one of our local Bible School students) and Sophie had some “tree time” (who said that skirts can’t climb trees! …girl power!)
AIMer Jonathan DeVall
Jonathan DeVall – whom I quoted above – isn’t just any AIMer: he’s a float plane pilot and works with the DeMerchants in Brazil. You need to check out his incredible Instagram Feed: Using a GoPro camera attached to the fuselage of PT-Lee, he has some truly awesome pics! You can also check out his website Mission-Brazil.com… all AIMers need support and if you are able to help him in any way, you would be advancing the work of the Kingdom in Brazil.
Question of the day…
Do you remember the last time you used a public telephone booth?
Any memorable phone-booth story you’d like to share?
I remember one time arriving in Brussels central train station after a standby flight via London. Liz was already in Belgium with Dominic and I was arriving with Sophie (we had to go through Toronto Pearson in the height of the SARS crisis). I had change, but no chip-enabled phone card… Balancing a tired 4 year-old Sophie on one hand and our luggage on the other, I had to put a $5.00 phone card purchase on my visa before I could use the phone… ahhhh memories!
Thanks for visiting today… and thank you for your prayers. They are essential!
“Team France” Presents…
For the first time in a couple of weeks, we were home for the weekend and it felt good, not only because we didn’t have to do and subsequently undo suitcases & garment bags, but also because we got to be in our home church with our 10+ kids!
Whoa! Wait a minute… did you say 10+ kids???
Yep… lemme explain.
Team France
If you have been following our blog or following our life… you’ll know that we spent the first 10 days of July in France with a team of young people. Twelve of us were from MissionPoint in Saint John and one was from Capital Community Church in Fredericton, NB. We spent time primarily in the cities of Châtellerault, Bordeaux and Melun, ministering in services, handing out invitations to church and prayer walking city streets.
Here you see the team standing on the bank of the Vienne River, in front of the Henri IV bridge.
Presenting…
This past Sunday night, members of the team addressed the local church, sharing their experiences in a service that was entirely dedicated to the involvement of young people in missions during the summer of 2014.
Not only did this team head to France, but we also had one young lady, from Mission Point, spend the month of July in Ghana, West Africa with missionaries Nick & Pam Sisco.
Here are a few highlights of that evening…
“God opened the door and you (the local church) made it possible for us to go. Thank you! It was truly life Changing.”
Trisha Shephard
“My time in France began 9 years ago when Bro. Long took me on my first trip there. One service, then, impacted me incredibly, so going back just felt like home.”
Ryan Shephard
“On other mission trips I’d taken, it was always with people that I mostly didn’t know. It was so great to go with a group from my own home church. I will be forever changed from my time there.”
Jayne Taylor
“It was during one of our FX (France Extravaganza) nights that, as I began to talk about my expectations for the trip, that I could barely speak and God placed an incredible burden on me for France and our time there. It was so heavy, all I could do was weep. Just talking about it makes me miss France all over again.”
Erin Taylor
“There were people from our church that I got to know in a totally new way during this trip. I thought I knew them – or, at least, I had my impression of them – but I got to know them much better and we had a blast together.”
Nick Cannon
AIMKid Sophie speaks
One speaker in particular holds an extra-special place in our hearts… our daughter Sophie, the only one of our three #AIMKids to make this trip. She highlighted the fact that she enjoyed getting to see the church and meet the church family there, but when she talked about the other kids in the church, it touched us greatly:
“One thing I noticed was that, with the 12 or so kids that are in the church over there… they’re all boys. I’ve got some work to do.”
Her implication wasn’t so much that she’d need to straighten out all those boys, but rather that she’d have to do her best to make friends with and see some young girls come to the Lord.
*Thank you Lord for speaking to and through our kids… putting a desire in them to be missionaries… soul-winning Christians*
Thank you!
This trip would not have been possible without:
- The whole-hearted support of Pastor Brent Carter of MissionPoint in Saint John, our home church.
- The financial and prayer support of the church family at MissionPoint.
- The collaborative planning by the Brochu & Nowacki missionary families in France, Pastor & Sis. Majdling of Bordeaux and the youth leadership in both Bordeaux & Melun.
- A great group of young people who formed the team!
As we criss-crossed the country – planning meals, drives, rest-stops, sightseeing, etc., we gained the nicknames “mom” and “dad” (hence the comment about our 10+ kids at the outset of this post).
Mom & Dad were proud of you kids Sunday night!
Take a Missions Trip
I highly recommend planning a missions trip of some kind in and for your local church… whether for youth or for a wider age-bracket. There will be some cost involved, both in terms of time, finances and energy, but the payoff will be well worth it.
- You will see a greater sense of cohesion amongst team members
- New talents and abilities will be uncovered that will bless your church
- Team members will gain confidence about stepping out in faith and letting themselves be used of God in either familiar or new ways
Missions involvement… there’s nothing like it!
5 Parties Decisionmakers look out for…
What happens when decision-makers consider your application? By what criteria are they evaluating your readiness for service overseas? Who are they really looking out for?
Decision-makers look out for…
- the candidate – An AIM term gone bad (or at least, one that doesn’t meet your expectations) can endanger a legitimate call of God on your life. How could it go bad? Check out my Short Term Nightmare post for 8 possible ways.
- the missionary – A missionary wears many hats at the best of times. They’re responsible to their church(es) on the field, to the national church as well as to their support base in North America. They must grow a church, often without the well developed leadership team that would be common back home. They must remain constantly focused on what’s happening now while also planning the next step. An improperly vetted short-term candidate can require a great deal of support from the missionary since they know the country, the people, the resources, etc. given their longer tenure onsite. They are also “the closest thing to home”, so if a volunteer is having a difficult time with any part of their experience, the missionary becomes the first gatekeeper of support (translator if language skills are insufficient, first responder in a medical situation, go-between with government agencies (hospitals, drivers’ licenses, visa officers, etc.) or just plain emotional support). They always expects to deal with some such issues, but too much can become a major drain on the missionary’s time, energy and mental focus.
- the national church – Although doctrinal issues are typically the same across the organization, the treatment of some questions of doctrine, or the practice thereof, can subtly differ from one country / continent / national church to another. By the very nature of the short term during which a volunteer may come, any lack of care on any of these questions can cause controversy among local believers. In Missions settings, many believers are younger in the faith and/or churches smaller in size, therefore, any controversy will have a greater impact that one would expect or anticipate. When decision-makers closely scrutinize applications on questions of belief, they are trying to protect national churches on the Mission Field.
- the sending organization – If a short-term experience goes bad, in any way, for an individual… the ramifications are felt by the sending organization.
- If the budget falls far shorter than expected and unforeseen economic reasons are not to blame, it’s organization can be seen as not properly creating an opportunity in which the candidate could “succeed” and lacking due diligence.
- If the candidate is not truly a good fit for either the missionary or the field – whether in terms of personality, skill or responsibility – the organization will be seen to have not properly screened either the individual or the opportunity.
- And the list could go on…. What’s important is that everyone involved (missionary, candidate, support base, etc.) looks to the organization to ensure, as much as possible, a good fit and a positive experience. If that does not happen… everyone still looks to them (to some degree) as having responsibility. If they are seen or perceived to not sufficiently prepare or protect all involved, they will lose the confidence of those looking to them and the organization ceases to be a viable choice for those looking for a short-term experience.
- the sending church – The sending church (be it a local church, a local district or the collective North American church) places a great deal of confidence and invests a great deal of money into short-term missions candidates. If the sending church invests $30,000 into a volunteer on a 6-month assignment and that individual has to return home early, having neither completed the term, significantly advanced the work on the field or having inadvertently caused an issue in the national church, then the sending church can feel as though, through no fault of their own, they have not be a faithful steward of the financial resources that God has entrusted to them. They can then become hesitant to give in the future or may give with reservation.Both long and short-term missions are greatly dependent on the giving of the North American church. The quality of decisions made by organizational decision-makers, as proven out over time, greatly impacts the confidence level of this church. It is therefore essential to protect the confidence of the sending church.
Decision-makers are important: all parties involved depend on them to create, as much as possible, a win-win situation. So when they seem to over-emphasize this or that aspect of the application or the application process, they are really doing it for your benefit as much as everyone else’s … though it might not seem so at the time.
A negative decision might not mean that what you feel to be the will of God is not that. It might be an indication that it’s not the will of God for that particular moment. If it truly is the will of God, then it will happen.
Decisionmakers have been entrusted by men and by the Lord with judgement and responsibility to ensure that you experience the dream that God put in your heart without it ending up as a nightmare. If you haven’t yet read my Short Term Nightmare post… now might be a good time. Thank God for decision-makers!
God said “Missions”… now what?
Your friends figured it would happen. Your parents feared it would happen. Even you are not surprised… God spoke, and now it’s your move. What do you do now? This post is kicking off a series on the “Process” of embracing God’s call to missions and moving forward in that calling.
Depending on your age, you may or may not be surprised that God is inviting you to take part in this aspect of ministry, it all depends on when the call comes. The very first time I knew that short term missions would be part of my future came when I was sixteen and on a summer youth mission tour in Monterrey, Mexico. That wasn’t my first time on such a tour, but it was the furthest away (Prior to that we’d been in Corner Brook, Newfoundland, Burlington, Ontario and Narragansett, Rhode Island) and it was my first time on an airplane. We more or less knew the drill, as the process was similar each year: prepare vacation bible school material, practice puppet skits, get together a musical that would be interspersed with various testimonies and be prepared to have your comfort zone stretched. I don’t remember what it was about that trip in particular, perhaps just the fact that it was outside of North America, but coming back I knew that short-term missions would be part of my future.
Fast-forward a couple of year to 1988 when I began attending a Christian liberal arts college in Moncton, New Brunswick. I heard about an opportunity to spend two months the following summer volunteering in either Belgium or Bolivia. Since I spoke French well and spoke no Spanish at all, the choice was clear: Belgium.
In 1989 I was one of six or seven young people from across Canada who would spend two months working with two missionary families and three 2-year volunteers. Our goal was to help establish a new daughter work as well as lend a hand with youth meetings, camps and services organized by the two mother-churches and the national work. The setting was new, but the task list was not. During that summer, as had been the case in Mexico, I came home knowing that God was calling me to an even greater involvement. I knew that I would come back to be one of those 2-year volunteers and in 1990 that’s just what happened. I spent from 1990-1992 living in the southern Belgian city of Liège, working with career missionaries in the establishment and growth of a new church.
Active participation in my youth group, led to summer mission trips, which led to 2-month and 2-year mission projects, which led, 14 years later, to a full-time staff position at Mission Point, in my home town of Saint John, NB, Canada. Then, once again, God said “Missions”, which has led to what appears to be another 15-24 month assignment, this time in France.
This is so typical of God. He does not ask us to jump in the deep end head-first, with no experience or preparation, rather, he takes each area of involvement and builds on it, ever working toward his ultimate plan for our lives. Doesn’t it remind you of Matthew 25.21
“Well done, thou good and faithful servant:
thou hast been faithful over a few things,
I will make thee ruler over many things.”
If you’re reading this as a young person, don’t think that your faithfulness is of little value right now. God sees it and is taking note. You are in training for something bigger.
How about you… what has God spoken and how have you answered?
AIM Long 