Baptism!

This Saturday five members of our church family were baptized in the Mediterranean. It was truly an international event, as those baptized come from France, the USA, the Ukraine, and India. Each one gave a short profession of their faith before getting in the water. They were all very moving, though perhaps most moving of all was our own teammate, 9-year old Rebekah, who was baptized by her dad.

Marie Durant

While we were at the castle last month, we visited a museum dedicated to the Huguenots, the French Protestants of the early 18th century who were persecuted for their beliefs. I was especially touched by the story of a woman named Marie.

Below is an excerpt from an article called "The Ultimate Meaning of True Womanhood" by John Piper (full article here, who tells her story.

The opposite of a wimpy woman is a girl named Marie Durant. In the late Seventeenth Century in . . . southern France, she was brought before the authorities, charged with the Huguenot heresy. She was fourteen years old, bright, attractive, marriageable. She was asked to abjure the Huguenot faith. She was not asked to commit an immoral act, to become a criminal, or even change the day-to-day quality of her behavior. She was only asked to say, “J’abjure.” No more, no less. She did not comply. Together with thirty other Huguenot women she was put into a tower by the sea. . . . For thirty-eight years she continued. . . . And instead of the hated word J’abjure she, together with her fellow martyrs, scratched on the wall of the prison tower the single word Resistez, resist! The word is still seen and gaped at by tourists on the stone wall at Aigues-Mortes. . . . We do not understand the terrifying simplicity of a religious commitment which asks nothing of time and gets nothing from time. We can understand a religion that enhances time. . . . But we cannot understand a faith which is not nourished by the temporal hope that tomorrow things will be better. To sit in a prison room with thirty others and to see the day change into night and summer into autumn, to feel the slow systemic changes within one’s flesh; the drying and wrinkling of the skin, the loss of muscle tone, the stiffening of the joints, the slow stupefaction of the senses - to feel all this and still persevere seems almost idiotic to a generation which has no capacity to wait and to endure.

A painting of Marie Durant and her fellow inmates at the tower of Aiges-Mortes.

The stone from the tower wall where the women etched "Resistez".

A Week in a Castle!

Here are a few more pictures of our week in the Cevennes, near La Salle. We stayed in a Chateau on a hill, and the trees and flowers were really getting ready for spring! These are pictures of the grounds of the castle. Later on I'll post some photos of the surrounding area, including a story from the Musee du Desert, a museum we visited which commemorates the Huguenots of the early 1700s. The Huguenots were the French Protestants who were persecuted heavily for their faith and lived mainly in the hills of the Cevennes, where they could hide from the French troops. It was a really moving and inspirational museum - I'll tell you more about it soon!

The chapel on the chateau grounds.

There were many beautiful doors!

This was the view from our bedroom! The pot you see in the foreground is from the nearby village of Anduze. These pots are very famous and expensive, and can even be found decorating the palace in Versailles!

There were beautiful flowers everywhere!

House Guests

I've been out of touch for about a week as the entire team, along with our visiting guests Dr. and Mrs. Young, traveled to a International Church Conference at a castle in the Cevennes. It was such a beautiful region, the Cote d'Azur almost pales in comparison! (At least, for those like me who prefer mountains and rivers to the blue of the Med.) We had a great week of teaching and meeting together with church leaders from all over Europe, and I realized my childhood dream of sleeping in an actual castle for a week!

Now that we are back, we have a couple more house-guests to add to the party, as the volcano in Iceland has prevented Dr. Young and his wife from flying home for a few more days. Never a dull moment here!

I will write soon and post more pictures of our lovely week in the Cevennes!

A Great Birthday

I had a really fun birthday last week! I tried to take a few pictures to remember the day.

Donna and Amy woke up early and fixed fresh cinnamon rolls for all of us! Donna assures me that she loves waking up early, though to me it seems like the ultimate sacrifice!

After our French lesson, a few ladies from church took me to lunch in a nearby village in the mountains called Tourrette-sur-Loup. The weather was a little overcast, but the village was still very charming.


We ate at a place called Chez Grand-mere, a favorite of everyone who has been there! It only has about 10 tables in the whole place, but the food is amazing, and I'm sure they could fill a room many times larger!


The family who owns the restaurant is French, but they spent many years in North Africa, and I enjoyed the best couscous I've ever tasted!


After dinner I had some Moroccan Mint Tea, which may have been the best part of the meal! The owners also came out to sing for me, which I'm told is very rare here. I definitely felt special!


After our big lunch, Amy, Donna, and I took a stroll through the old city of Saint Paul. There is a cemetery in the city where the artist Chagall is buried.


The view of the city and the surrounding countryside from the cemetery is magnificent!


Here you can see the Medieval wall that still surrounds the old city of Saint Paul.


We decided to try and hike from Saint Paul across the valley to the Arnold's house, where we are staying until we find a place of our own. We had quite an adventure! At different times we were in danger of snakes, large dogs, briers and thorny vines, raging rivers (okay, it was just a small creek we had to cross)... but it felt really good to take a hike in the woods, and when we emerged on the other side of the valley, we were rewarded with this view of Saint Paul:


As we walked up to the road, we were thrilled to discover we had come up less than a city block from the Arnold's house! We couldn't believe our good fortune!


The girls, the Arnolds, and the church all made my birthday a really special and memorable one. We ended the evening with a rousing game of Phase 10 (which Donna did not let me win). There's always next year.

Quick Update

I have a French bank account! I think we've finally broken through! Now we have what we need to get a cell phone plan. Then we'll get bills with our names on them, and we'll have proof that we reside here. With that, we can do all kinds of things!

Looking forward to seeing how God gets it all done...

The Bermuda Triangle

I've been in France for about two and a half weeks now, and I'm enjoying it here. Southern France is known for its beauty, and the blue Mediterranean, picturesque mountains, and spring flowers do not disappoint. We've experienced cold and warm temps, sun, rain, and fog, and I believe the Cote d'Azur is nice in any weather.

If all we needed to do was look at the foliage, we probably wouldn't have a care in the world here. However, we have a lot more to do. We are still living with our team leaders and their five young children. We don't have bank accounts, cell phone contracts, a house or apartment. We have not registered for language school. We are not officially registered with the government yet. 'So,' you might be wondering, 'What have you been doing all this time?' Well... let me explain.

France has many rules, laws, forms, procedures, policies, etc. that can make it challenging to get things done, or even to know where to start! When we went to the bank to open an account, they told us we would need proof of our address in France. One form of 'proof' could be a cell phone bill in our name. So, off to the cell phone company to set up an account. And they will be glad to set us up with a plan... they just need to see our bank card.

And so the circle goes. To rent a house, you need a bank account. To open a bank account, you need an address. It feels a little like the Bermuda Triangle - lost in an impenetrable fog of regulations. Our lighthouse, however, has been the Church. Members of our two churches, the International Baptist Church in Saint Paul and in Nice, have been helpful and generous beyond imagining. Several members have offered to act as a guarantor when we are ready to sign a lease. One couple offered to put up their house as a guarantee for us. They have donated furnishings for our future home. Although they hardly know us, many church members have advised us, translated for us, made calls for us, and interceded on our behalf in ways that can only point to one thing: We are one body, with one Lord and Father of all. Praise God for his provision.

So, although it feels as though my two teammates and I are stuck in a strange holding pattern, we are encouraged by the Body of Christ, and we hope that we'll soon be in our own home, furnished, with bank accounts and cell phones, studying French and getting to know our church family that has already loved us so well. The Church in Cote d'Azur is small, but it is true.

Everyone wants your $20...

What will you purchase with yours?

I love humor, so when I was deciding how to appeal to people to give toward the ministry we're doing in France, no matter how much or how little they were able to contribute, I came up with a little ad campaign. Here's the basic idea...

It's so easy to blow $20 on an impulse! There are a million products out there that claim to improve the quality of your life... A gun that blows chicken-scented bubbles for your dog to chase around; a baby carrier with hooks so you can hang your baby on a bathroom stall door while you use the facilities; and here are two more examples I found. Enjoy!





These are just people trying to make a living, and my intention is not to tear them down. But if we're buying stuff like this and NOT investing in the Great Commission, we may need to adjust our priorities, and examine who we're living for.

More to come!

The New Plan

I'm on my way to France, sooner or later, though I hope it's sooner! I have about $1500 in monthly support to raise before I am ready to go. I love meeting with people to talk about what I do, but calling them to sacrifice is not easy. I have to constantly ask myself, "Do I believe the work I'm doing is important enough to ask people to invest in it?" Yes. I do.

I'll be writing more frequently now. I've been lax while I've been in the US this year, and I apologize for that. I look forward to sharing the new adventures to come!

Catching Up...

I've been a bad blogger! It's been a long while since I sat down to update my page, partly due to computer problems, partly due to busyness, and partly due to a general sense of apathy that I'm going to blame on the climbing temperatures here in Mombasa. In any case, I'm back, and here's a taste of what's been happening lately...

The sunsets off my verandah are still the best show in town. I try to take advantage of my front-row seat as often as my schedule allows!

Anjela is getting bigger all the time! She is walking like a champ now, she has four and a half teeth, and she says a lot of words. She can name all her best friends, though my name comes out sounding a little like "Diyahhhh".

She's also got a great Stevie Wonder impersonation! haha...

Last week I let Jacinta braid my hair. I'll be taking it out soon - it's too hot to carry around so much hair right now - but it's been fun! People say I look African now. I'm not so sure...

This spider moved in this week. He spun a huge web on my bedroom verandah. I know it's hard to tell in this picture, but he's roughly the size of my hand (open palm). I took my broom to his web today and moved him back out. Sorry, big guy.

Mostly, I've been spending lots of time with the worship team at church. We're getting ready for Christmas now, and I'll be helping with the Christmas play as well as the music. It's pretty fun. After years of singing in holiday concerts and acting in plays, getting involved in this production makes the Christmas season feel a little more real to me, even despite the heat.