It's been too long...

October 20, 2011

It’s been a while since I’ve posted hasn’t it? I apologize for such a large gap of not writing… Well there’s a lot of information to spill on my part so you’ll be absorbing lots of what’s going on right now.

 Well, to start, I still love being here. My French has been coming along…slowly. Understanding the language has been difficult but I am now at a point where I can understand about 85-90% of what people are saying and I might miss a few details. But I’d say I’m making lots of progress on that. J Right now I am writing to you from the comfort of my little flat (which I just reorganized a few days ago, LOVE the fact I can say I about 4 days now… not going to lie, it gets boring really fast without internet.

 Facebook where art thou!?

No, but seriously, this has been an amazing week just focusing on God; I’ve got lots of opportunities to minister coming up.

1. Right now the Coffee Shop, “Café Connect”, is coming along just swimmingly! If this my first time mentioning the Coffee Shop for some of you, let me rewind a bit: So this shop is in the middle of what French people call “the projects”. Let’s just say it’s not the nicest part of town, but there is a HUGE community there and already we have passer-bys looking through the windows and constantly inquiring when the shop will be finished. Anyways, so what the heart is behind the café connect is to create a safe place for families and people of all ages to enjoy a nice place to drink coffee, connect, and become more educated. We will be hosting many classes for all ages, such as teaching them how to speak English, tutoring classes, art classes, and ALFA class (for those who want to come to the Lord). I’m very excited to see how many are blessed by this and I know we’ll be seeing lots of people changed. So that’s that, and what part I play in this is I will be one of the main baristas and also be helping with the English conversation (I’m pretty avid at speaking English I think.J). The inauguration date for the grand opening is November 16^th…or 19^th? Either way it’s very close to my 18^th birthday!

2. Next on the list of events, I have been praying about how I can play a larger part in what God wants to do with the Youth. And right now I am organizing a Study Night with just the older jeunes. It will be EPIC! I’m so excited to see these guys get deeper in Jesus and experience him from a new perspective than just hearing about Him in church and following the mundane order of things. I want to see them prophesy and have dreams and encourage them in the passions they have in their hearts that they just can’t figure out. Joe 2:28—“…I will pour out my spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, you young men will see visions.” This is the verse that I was first shown when I was talking to God about what I should base these nights on… Dreams, he said. I’m so stoked, all this is coming together and all this time without internet has given me time to just dive into my bible and talk to God about what more He wants me to do.  This night won’t take place until the first week in November, but I definitely need this time to prepare and seek the Kingdom.

3. Finally, October 30, Will be my first time leading worship at the church and be my first time singing at the church. It will just be me singing and my friend, Joel, he will be playing guitar. So I’m preparing for that as well, making sure that I have all the pronunciations down so I don’t totally butcher their songs. Although, you’d be pleasantly surprised to know that most of the songs they sing are songs we sing at church in America… I mean it doesn’t sound as good as English but it’s familiar and that’s very nice for me so then I have a head start in getting the songs down since I already have a knowledge of how they go.

So there’s that for you. A little update on what’s coming up for me.

On another random note, it’s been getting REALLY cold here… thankfully I’ll be leaving for California before the intensely cold part of the year, which is in December/January. I have now decided to come home the beginning of December than the middle of November; this is great because if I had left at that time I would miss out on the opening of the coffee shop and getting established in that. Now I get to come home for the Holidays and that will be nice. I’m excited to see everyone again; I can’t believe it’s already been a month! Time flies by WAY TO FAST!

I’ve been receiving some very lovely letters from friends and family and I appreciate all the love J I am sending you all letters back soon!!

Thanks for your patience on the updates; hopefully I will get better at making these updates a weekly basis. I have posted a bunch of pictures from Paris and Caen and some church events that are happening in Lisieux (such as bowling) on Facebook when you have a chance check them out. J

P.S.--If you're looking for a good read or maybe you're bored, i encourage you to look up Rob Bell's books: "Love Wins" the questions about heaven and hell that will literally BLOW your mind... i've never read anything like it before, and i've heard the heaven and hell story too many times and THIS, this is what God means by living. I promise you won't be disappointed. And also "Velvet Elvis", just amazing depth into the words of the Bible and a true revelation :)

Love you all, have a blessed week!

Eden