(Me, Allison and Amy at the outdoor movie theater at Parc de la Villette in Paris)
I was blessed this past month to have some friends come to visit. We enjoyed being "tourists" together as well as doing "every day things." Some of the touristy things we did together were visiting St. Chapelle (a chapel known for stain glass windows that depict the entire Bible), visit Monet's Garden in Giverny, and take a boat ride on the Seine River (you gotta do that at least once!)
My favorite moments were doing every day things together. We made dinner one evening for 2 of my French friends and their German friend. As the 7 of us sat around the table in my living room/kitchen talking about France and America I couldn't help but think that this is what it's all about. Sharing life together and meeting God in the process. It's so refreshing to have friends from home come. Laughing, walking familiar streets (for me) together, picnicking on the Seine like "locals" filled me up. Thanks for coming Allison, Amy and Brian!
(Me with my friend Cyndi after an evening session in Hungary)
The week after, I traveled to Sopron, Hungary for Christian Associates annual staff conference. After a day sightseeing in Vienna, Austria on my way to Hungary, I arrived in Sopron with my friend Jeanie and her two boys (we took the boys to the zoo in Vienna over the weekend). The opening evening Darrin Jones talked about the parable of the grain of wheat that has to die so that it can bear more fruit in the end. He challenged us with the familiar words that those give up their lives will find their lives in the end. Europeans are hungry for life, true life.
The theme we talked about throughout the week was "revolting beauty." Greg Boyd did the teaching and his message was that God's calls us to put his beauty on display and "God's beauty confronts everything that goes again it." The teaching was really good. God's beauty on display is Jesus Christ and the call of our lives is to look like Jesus. I also attended sessions by Alan and Deb Hirsch (The Shaping of Things to Come) and heard from Hud, the resident personal development guy with CAI. It was a really good week of learning and being challenged! I was especially challenged by the practice of meditating on Scripture and using your imagination in the process of thinking about Scripture. I recommend this to you if Scripture has recently become boring, as it does for me from time to time.
Finally, what's next? I have made the decision to come back to the States on September 10th. My team leaders have recently needed to go on furlough and since I already had a plane ticket for this time (a free ticket) it made sense to use it now! Without a team structure in place and since I am not engaged in school (which would keep me in the country legally past my September 30th visa expiration date) it makes sense to come home now (about a month and a half earlier than planned). I will be coming into Chico, but then plan to head down to Santa Barbara to spend some time down there too. I'm not sure about my exact plans yet, but after some initial rest, I am looking forward to connecting with many of you and sharing in person all that God has done this past year! Thank you for praying for me as I pack-up, say my goodbyes and prepare to say many hellos. This year could not have happened without you! Thank you so much for your support and for caring for me so well. Love you all!
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