Monday, July 28, 2014

Week 5, 6 and 7.

Oh man it has been a whirlwind the last three weeks! 
Things have been crazy around here, 
but in the best way! 
Let's see....where do I even begin?!

So the second week of July, 
was basically all prep for our kids camp the following week. 
We spent most of our time up at church transforming the building into the most epic fire house ever! 
It was awesome there was a giant firetruck, 
and a cat stuck in a tree and a helicopter! 
But the best was the science room that we decorated with molecules and the periodic table on the ceiling tiles! 

It's not the best picture, but you get the idea! 

I was pretty proud of those bad boys! 

This was my crowning glory...can anyone guess what it is??
That week we did still have Wednesdays off so Jill and I went with some Irishmen on the team to Saint Honorat, an island off the coast of Cannes. 
The island was beautiful and so calm and peaceful! 
St. Honorat has been home to a monastery for over 1600 years! 
St. Patrick even studied there! 


                                                                 



Regrettably my birthday happened to fall on a fairly inconvenient day...
it was on a Sunday which is always a busy day for us; 
it was the day before kids camp started, 
and it was the world cup finals.
So not the most convenient, 
but still a really fun day! 
I was greeted in the morning to decorations and balloons everywhere! 
One of the ladies from church remembered me mentioning that I like Angel Food cake, 
so she made me a cake! 
It was delicious! 
And we went out to lunch for some celebratory birthday crepes! 
They were delicious! 
It really was a fun day!
Thank you to everyone who made it special from near or afar! 

The next week was our kids camp.
It was an exhausting and exciting week! 
I worked at the story translator, 
so I mostly would tell kids to stop moving and pay attention, 
and translate into English is there were kids who needed it. 
It was really cool because at one point I had to translate the story from French to English, 
so that it could be translated from English into Serbian! 
Now if that's not the gift of tongues, I don't know what is! 

I really enjoyed working with the story because it allowed me to get to know all the kids, 
and it gave me flexibility to work or visit different groups or activities! 
Overall it was a great and exhausting week! 

This past week was outreach week! 
So we had basketball camp in the mornings with a team from News Release. 
Basketball camp was interesting...it became more enjoyable as the week progressed! 
It was quite an adjustment moving from kids camp, which was highly structured and scheduled, 
to basketball camp which was much more free flowing. 
Also, the first day I was called upon as lead translator....
and that was.....painful. 
It's one thing to translate the instructions to a game into French, 
but it's another thing entirely to translate someone's testimony. 
So that put a bit of a sour taste in my mouth, 
but I think most of that came from my own perfectionist attitudes,
and not the actual translation. 

But after basketball camp we had several different outreach activities. 
We passed out tracts, or did the soularium project (which is a survey that uses pictures...it's pretty cool), several people passed out sandwiches or played music on the street. 
There was a lot going on and it was neat to find the avenue that worked best for you! 

So it's been a busy few weeks! 
But the summer isn't over yet! 
Tonight starts our Exchange Conference at the St. Paul church. 
The interns have been in charge of the children's program, 
so all that BSF training is coming in handy! 

I'm excited for the weeks ahead!
It's crazy to think that I've only got two more weeks in Nice! 
Pray that I would stay focused on my purpose here, 
and not get distracted by things to come later. 
Pray that we would all be filled with energy and endurance to keep going this week!
Pray that the Lord would be known in Nice! 


Monday, July 7, 2014

Week 3 and 4

I apologize for the delayed post, 
things have started to get busy around here, 
and it's only going to get worse! 
But it's the good kind of busy! 

I'm excited for what we have planned the rest of July! 
This week is a lot of prep for our VBS next week! 
Mostly lots of tissue paper and hot glue going on around here!
The week after that we have a basketball camp and lots of different outreach opportunities! 
The last week of July is our Exchange Conference, 
it's going to be really exciting! 
The interns are in charge of designing the children's program, 
prayers are appreciated! :)  

So let me recap what's been going on over the last two weeks...
if I can remember! 

Mondays have been a day mostly of meetings and planning, 
so nothing too exciting there. 

Tuesdays have been days of preparations and odd jobs. 
Tuesday evenings we have a beach party in Nice which is always lots of fun, 
and a great way to meet new people. 
Tuesday, July 1st, we received our final intern, Amy!! 

Wednesdays have been our days off! 
Wednesday, June 25th, we went to La Turbie, 
which is a village up in the mountains above Monaco! 
We had a delicious lunch with a rather nice view of the sea! 

The view from our table!

After lunch we walked around the ancient village, 
and then went to see a super ancient Roman trophy, 
The Trophy of Augustus. 
It's a  a Roman monument built by the emperor Augustus
 to celebrate his victory over the Ligurian tribes which lived in the mountains of the area and attacked the merchants plying the Roman trade routes. 
It was quite a sight to see...and we just saw the ruins! 



The best part was we got to go up on the trophy and look out...
and if we thought the view at lunch was good...
this one was OUT OF CONTROL. 


So yeah...that was a fun day! 

This past Wednesday, July 2nd, wasn't quite as exciting. 
Mackenzie and I ran some errands in Nice and then hit the beach for a while. 
So not as epic, but still very pleasant! 

Thursdays have typically been another day for random tasks or preparing for other events. 
Thursday evenings there is a Bible Study at the Nice church which is always very enjoyable. 
Oh and Thursday, June 26th, we received another intern, Joanna! 
Our house is nice and full now...
which we like!

Fridays we have team meetings in the morning and usually other prep later in the afternoon. 
This past Friday was a busy day! 
Not only was it the 4th of July, 
it was also the day before the church's Day of Prayer for the Nations,
that the interns were in charge of! 
So Friday was A LOT of prep for that event! 

Joanna might have been taking her work a little too seriously.
Which I think went rather well!
We also had a team fellowship to celebrate Independence Day!

Now that is one patriotic pie!
Saturday...I honestly don't remember what happened on Saturday, June 28th...
obviously it wasn't that impactful so I don't feel bad about not sharing it. 
This past Saturday, July 5th, was our Day of Prayer. 
It was a lot of fun to organize, and everyone has said they really enjoyed it! 
We had them break up into four groups and travel to four different stations, 
at each station they were praying for a different style of church, 
the house church, 
the persecuted/secret church, 
the tribal church 
and the cultural church. 
Each station was also set up to resemble that style of church, 
so the secret church met in the garage and it was pitch black except for a single candle, 
or the tribal church met outside under a large tree....
you get the idea. 

We aged the scripture pages used in the persecuted church to give it a tattered and well-worn look.
Saturday was a busy day...
after the Day of Prayer, 
we had to film some music videos for VBS...
that was interesting...
 to say the least....
I also had the extreme privilege of going into Nice to have dinner with some friends from high school! 
They are both studying in Lyon, France for the summer and came to Nice for the weekend! 
It was extremely nice to get to see and spend time with them! 
It really was a blessing! 

Sundays are pretty cut and dry around here, 
church, nap, church...
and maybe a little FaceTime. 

 

I mean just look at those cuties!! 


It's been a great few weeks...
or month rather..
woah. 
But in the next few days/weeks things are really going to start picking up! 
So pray for endurance, rest, patience and grace, 
and pray for them to be PLENTIFUL! 
God is so good.