SMOi

December is here with cold weather and Christmas cheer. We truly have had a wonderful time over the past few weeks. We returned to class after the fall break and I have to say that we found the class to be tougher and more demanding then our first two months in school. Maridith was moved into my class as we charged ahead into the final chapters of our textbook. We completed our first textbook last week and now we are in the B1 book. This means that we have finished basic grammar and pronunciation. There is still much to learn and I have already looked into taking classes with the French Alliance in Dallas. But there is more to France then French. Maridith and I have taken advantage of these last few weeks that the Lord has given us in spending time with the wonderful people that we have around us. Two weeks ago we went to a flute concert. Yes, that iss right a community flute concert. It was fun. Also, I have been going to visit a shantytown of Gypsies that live in the back of the town park. This last time I took Christian Sarazen and Matt Vinson with me. We took boards to them for their houses. We arrived to an odd welcome of polite hand gestures and angry yelling. I was able to talk to some of the young guys that were standing there watching the scene. It was a good conversation and not a hostile as I had encountered earlier. All at once a man walked up and in broken French said to me “you believe in God, don’t you?” Then a woman came out of her house and asked if anyone spoke Italian. Fortunately, Matt was there and he responded in Italian, “I speak a little.” That was all that she was wanted to know and with sweet smile she went back into her house. (All the Gypsies here all speak Gitane, which is their common Gypsy language, in addition to Gitane, individually, they speak a mix of languages from the various countries and regions that they have lived and worked in.) The man that came up and referenced God said that he had lived in Spain. This was great news and I then began to talk with him in a Spanish/French mix and I was able to explain that yes I do believe in God and his son. He talked for a bit about the difficulties of life and then I shared with him about the help that comes from God. This was the first time I have been able to talk to a Gypsy about Christ. This is a tough situation and I ask for your prayers as I make my visits to this community.

Some of you might be asking what Matt and Christian were doing here with me. Well, through a crazy chain of events, we had the pleasure of hosting the SWO Europeanée vacation. We hosted Matt Vinson, Christian Sarazen, Rebecca Steele, and Betsy Helms. We had a truly amazing time (make sure to check out the photos on Facebook). We spent some great time in Paris. We explored the city center and some of the outlying areas. Then on Saturday we have the SWOThanksgiving diner. It was a wonderful experience and truly a great memory. It was sad to see everybody go but it was truly amazing to see all that the Lord has done in our lives. He is the common factor that brings the Church together.

Maridith and I have been practicing singing some French Christmas hymns with some other students and teachers here at school. We will be going to sing and minister to some older French people in a nursing home just before we leave to go back to the States. It seems a bit odd that these people look so forward to having students from Les Cedres come each year. With the 2% Christian population that exists here in France, it seems doubtful that these people are Christians -- rather it seems like they would just appreciate the company of our visit. Either way, please be in prayer that we would be able to accurately display the love of Christ during our time with them. Also, Maridith has had the opportunity to sing in chapel the past couple of weeks. It took some time for her to build enough confidence to sing in French (singing French is completely different than speaking it), but as it turns out she's done an awesome job -- and finds singing easier than speaking! It's cool to see God give us opportunities to use our gifts.

Well... our time in France is wrapping up! We fly out 2 weeks from tomorrow and we are so excited to be home for Christmas. The Showtimes have indeed arrived to their destination and we are trying to get together with them before we leave. It would be such a time of encouragement on both ends, so please be praying that we would financially be able to work it out.

merci pour votre amour et vos prières!