Our Dear Friends,
We sincerely hope that wherever you are, you are well and feel the love and light of the presence of Jesus. Here the sun has been shining, flowers blooming, and there is a whisper of hope in the air that spring is upon us. We have been moving about quite a bit since you last heard from us and that will continue as we head into the summer and our big trip to the USA. In this newsletter, we would like to share a recap of what has been going on but also look ahead to where God is moving us in the next season, and ask humbly for your prayers.
RECAP
Ministry in Caen
We are feeling a lot of excitement about what God is doing here in Caen! In February, we launched a Sunday morning family service for Bless Church that runs once a month. Each gathering we have had a great turn out and have had a lot of fun worshipping the Lord together. We always start with something tasty and do something silly, and then we have a short time of bilingual worship and teaching. It is a joy to be in the church service together with the children participating.
Joanna is continuing to lead the young women’s bible study every other week, going through a She Reads Truth overview of the New Testament. Our times together are always fruitful and a refreshment for the women who come.
Tom continues to help with the refugee language learning courses with SOS Chai and really enjoys his connection with the lads. We had a visitor from Greater Europe Mission’s storytelling team to do a profile on SOS Chai and the work that Bless does with the refugee population here in Caen. Click here to read the story.
French Language and Visa
We have studied for, taken and passed, (with flying colors, I might add) a government required French Language test called the TCF in order to apply for a TEN year residency card so that we can stay, work and live in France. Our current visa needs to be renewed every year. This ten year card would be a blessing in many ways for us as we look to our future here in France. We are currently in the process of waiting for our application to go through and be approved. Please pray that this can happen soon before we begin our summer travels.
From Barcelona to London to Athens…
April was a month of travel, especially for Tom. At the beginning of the month, Tom took planes and trains to get to Genova in the pyrenees in Spain. There, he attended a week long leadership training with a cohort of other GEM-ers. He was really encouraged by this time.
As many of you know, we were in our old home town of Chorleywood in the UK for Holy Week. We had an absolute blast being with old friends at Christ Church in Chorleywood. We were able to participate in all the services on Palm Sunday and in several events throughout the week. One of which was the “Walk of Witness” where all the churches in the village walk from their church building to the crossroads in town and celebrate a Good Friday service together and afterwards, share fellowship with a hot cross bun and a cuppa. Elodie managed to get a ride across the common carried by some enthusiastic youth workers.
This trip was originally scheduled for April 2020 but unfortunately was derailed by the pandemic. After being away for four years, we were very happy to hop on the ferry, cross the channel and reintroduce our children to our special community in Chorleywood and to spend time with treasured friends. We also made it into London to visit some fellow GEM missionaries, see some museums and experience the musical ‘Hamilton’ on the stage! For Easter, we traveled to Canterbury and stayed with some friends and spent time as a family. Thank you to all who met with us, hosted us and lavished your generosity on us. We are so grateful for you!
After we returned from the UK, we had three days at home before Tom took off for Athens for GEM Leadership Meetings as part of his role as Frace Field Leader. It was the first time an in-person gathering like this has been able to happen since Covid hit. It was refreshing to be in the room face-to-face with other missionary leaders for connection and establishing vision together. Plus, Tom got to take a run around the Acropolis and stand in the place that Paul preached his sermon about the unknown God. Amazing!
LOOKING AHEAD
Blesstival 2022
We are so excited to be helping to lead another Blesstival this year at the end of May down at the campsite, L’Orangerie de Beauregard near Tours in the Loire Valley. Blesstival is a multilingual gathering of people associated with the Bless Network from the UK, the Netherlands and France where we worship, receive teaching and prayer, and fellowship together in one. beautiful. spot. Tom and I will help to run the event, lead the worship times and participate in prayer and ministry throughout the 5 day weekend. Please pray for God to move powerfully in the lives of all who attend!
Trip To USA
It’s coming! July 2, we fly to the USA to visit for almost two months! This will be our longest visit since we left for France in 2017. We are so looking forward to seeing family and friends all over the USA! We will be spending significant time in the Denver area in Colorado and the Nashville area in Tennessee.
We have been making strides to plan our trip and we have ascertained that purchasing a vehicle is less expensive than the cost of airfare and renting a car for our sized family in the different cities we will be visiting. So we have enlisted the help of our talented nephew to find and fix up a van for us that can drive across the USA, and he has done it!(see the pretty photo of the van below) We hope to sell this van at the end of August when we return to France.
TEN2
This summer, even in our absence, there is a special group of 5 students from the USA coming to live and work in Caen with the Bless Network from Greater Europe Mission’s TEN2 program that sends university students from the US on summer-long missions assignments in Europe. They will arrive in early June and stay until the end of July to help with our ongoing ministries like SOS Chai, church planting and bible studies. They will be living out at Bethanie for one month and at our house for one month while we are away. They will be well looked after by members of our church but especially one young woman who will be house sitting for us all summer. Please pray for them and us as they prepare to come and that God would do a great work in their hearts during their time here.
A Time of Debrief
It is standard that after about 5 years living on the field as a modern missionary for one to go through a time of reflection, realignment, and repose. We are in the process of planning several ways in which we will do this over the coming months. We confess to you that we are tired. Ministry life for us these past five years has been amazing, fruitful and exciting, as well as rigorous, exhausting and, at times, traumatic. We are eager for a rest and for space to hear the Lord speak. We sense that God is bringing us back to formative and foundational places from our past to establish our path for the future. Would you pray for us and with us in this important time.
We thank you, our partners, for being on our team these last five years and we praise God for his goodness and faithfulness to us while we have served here in France. We look forward to all that God will do in this next season. Please continue to join with us in praying for France, that God’s Kingdom would come and people would know his love, peace and healing.
