Perdu et Trouvé Dans Traduction, Part 1

Lost & Found In Translation…

When arriving in France almost a year ago, I was not able to speak French. Yes I took classes for 3 years in high school, and 3 semesters in college. But, all this time was not a continual progression towards communicating in French. Only the 3 years in high school were actually semi-consecutive years of studying, and the last course in college that I took finished 8 months before arriving in France. And suffice to say this 8 months was not spent having weekly conversations in French. In fact I had zero French conversations in that time.

I don't speak French.

Fall Update 09 4 of 4

New Staff Team Members!!!

Part of the reason this fall has been so productive is the growth of our staff team. Both the campus team and our art & media or “innovation” team have grown.

Fall 09 Update 3 of 4

Ads for New Years Conference

In addition to finishing the short film we started this spring (L’ordre Des Choses), our Agapé Innovation team was tasked with creating video advertisements for “CNA: Camp de Nouvel An” (or Agapé’s New Years Camp, which is a national student conference). It was a blessing to have a change of pace from trying to finish L’ordre Des Choses, to getting to write and film some short ads. No doubt the creative process helped stir our juices for finishing the short film project as well.

Fall 09 Update 2 of 4

L’ordre Des Choses – The Way of Things

L’ordre Des Choses (or The Way of Things) our short film we started working on in the spring of this year has finally been completed. Leaving for the summer we had finished all shooting, but not began the long editing and sound design process. Returning this fall the task of starting work on this project seemed daunting. This was really due to feeling disconnected and not very motivated after the very difficult filming process. However diving in our team began to find motivation more and more as the final product began to reveal itself. Each step towards realization got us more excited.

Fall 09 Update 1 of 4 (Internet & Ministry)

In September I was sent to a conference by Agapé France in Antalya, Turkey. The conference was called Ministry Net and dealt with the subject of how ministry can be effective through the internet. The conference was a really exciting opportunity to meat many other staff person’s from all parts of the world and to hear how they have been using and plan to use the internet in their ministries. I was charged with going to this conference because our campus team in Toulouse has been chosen to be a test group for implementing a French Christian resource website for students, and other internet strategies to see what can help our local ministry reach students with the Gospel. This will not only entail planning advertising strategies for the resource site, Atoi2voir.com (for you to see), but also rebuilding our current local website. The conference proved to be an amazing experience, and from it came a new vision for what we can do here in Toulouse and possibly all of France with internet for campus ministry.

Reaction to Mark 10:46-52

Blind Bartimaeus Receives His Sight

Then they came to Jericho. As Jesus and his disciples, together with a large crowd, were leaving the city, a blind man, Bartimaeus (that is, the Son of Timaeus), was sitting by the roadside begging. When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to shout, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!”Many rebuked him and told him to be quiet, but he shouted all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!” Jesus stopped and said, “Call him.” So they called to the blind man, “Cheer up! On your feet! He’s calling you.” Throwing his cloak aside, he jumped to his feet and came to Jesus. “What do you want me to do for you?” Jesus asked him. The blind man said, “Rabbi, I want to see.” “Go,” said Jesus, “your faith has healed you.” Immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus along the road.

Mark 10: 46-52

My heart persistently cries out to be loved. But rather seeking love where it is to be found my heart screams at others in pride attempting to persuade others to love me, fearing this to be the only way I might receive love. I present a false image to others, and it is because of this that if any love is received in this process, love doesn’t actually come to me, but the shadow of myself, rather, is loved. And in turn love then cannot be reciprocated, because, it is clear, this shadow cannot really love back.

Thinking about the Bread and the Wine

I’ve been thinking about bread and wine lately. The church I attend here in Toulouse takes communion every Sunday, so I’m not surprised that it has been on my mind. What has been striking me most each week is the remaining bread and the leftover wine. Why don’t we finish all the bread, and why don’t we drink all of the wine. Well aside from it being weird to see someone scarf down a whole loaf of bread, and that it would be not proper to be buzzed or drunk at church, I see these remaining elements of communion and I realize that there are so many others who have yet to partake in the bread and wine, so many others who need to have their thirst and hunger satisfied. So many others. But in light of this perhaps daunting thought, I am comforted as well, realizing that there is still more to eat and more to drink. That Christ on the cross is enough for all to be filled. Christ’s love is abundantly more than enough to satisfy each and every one of us. There are so many more who need to be filled but even more left for them to partake in.

Photos from France

A few photo albums from my time so far in France.
(Sorry I’m the worst blogger ever. I will try and do better now.)

Trip to Barcelona with students:
Album 1
Album 2

This was an awesome trip in which our staff team got to bond with students involved in our ministry. The 13 students who came on the trip were made up of student leaders, christian students who occasionally came to events, and also some non christian students who we had never met before. It was definitely a trip to enjoy visiting the city, but it also served as a retreat of sorts having awesome bible studies and prayer & worship each morning. In general the fellowship on a trip like this can be powerful to encourage christian students in their faith, and as well for the non-christian students, it can present a unique window into relationships based upon the love of Christ. We also were able to spend some time with the Agape team in Barcelona. Some of our group were even able to help with a homeless outreach one night. One man who received a meal that night prayed to receive Christ. A really cool side note: Maëlle, who accepted Christ as her Lord & Savior in February, was there to pray with this man as the Lord moved in his heart. Overall it was a really awesome trip and Lord blessed us with great weather the entire time we were there.

March:
March Album (mostly a house warming party for our new apartment)

In March I took a French course to help speed up my process of assimilation. Taking 4 hours of class each day during the week, this became my campus of ministry. I began to build relationships with my classmates who were from all over the world. This experience so far culminated with a night to “Pendre La Cremaillère” or “hang the pot” or “have a housewarming party.” We invited students who come to Agape events as well as students from my French course, and overall around 40 people over the course of the party. Jean Christophe made homemade Crepes (really thin French pancake things). Again it was a great opportunity for fellowship and specifically cemented some friendships with many of the international students in the French program. It is a big deal to be invited somewhere for many of them. To know them outside of class is exciting, and already it led to another small event in which Aaron our team leader shared the Gospel with two Chinese students, LeHeng and Chris. First of all the Lord has really blessed Aaron with the gift of Evangelism. Both students were excited as Aaron shared with them and expressed interest in hearing more, maybe with some help from a bible or text in Mandarin, since French is their third language.

Also here is a photo album on the Agapé Toulouse website
for the Short Film Discussion event we had on March 17th:
Short Film Thé O Show

The First Week ~ La Première Semaine

A few quick notes on my first week :
(it started out quick, but it is kind of long, sorry)
WITH PICTURES at the bottom!!!

Saturday – First I think it is hilarious the tradition of the “bise” or double cheek to cheek kiss. After my first week I have more or less gotten used to it, but it is still funny to see when a female arrives to a group of many close friends and has to kiss 12 people in a row. This happened on our way to lunch with many students of the day after my arrival. We were going to a Chinese restaurant. I will start by saying that Chinese food in France is good, but many staples that we enjoy in America, like Sesame Chicken and General Tso’s Chicken, are not present. However, the experience was very unique being my first time for consuming delicious duck. The duck dish was blessed by both being in France, where the ingredients themselves are of high quality, and because apparently the Chinese know how to prepare le canard.  After Chinese food we went to a crépèrie. I only got a small coffee, feeling guilty that others were footing the bill b/c I had no Euros yet to pay for the much more expensive crépe. It was a good bonding time. But an even better time came later this night when a large group went to see Aaron (our staff team leader) play basketball with his neighborhood’s club team, Lardenne. They won in large part to Aaron’s many three pointers, even with his sprained ankle. Also fun were the crazy supporters, who cheered and danced at each timeout. I won’t go in to the extremes of their crazy but I will tell you they had a severed pig’s head as a mascot of sorts. Yes weird, but a fun end to a fun day. (Pictures at the bottom)

Sunday – I attended the Church of my roommate Jean Christophe. Two words… “Wow!” This church was very unique and interesting, both in good ways.

First Day in France (Le Premier Jour en France)

Random Musings on my first day in country, and with pictures!

Flying to France, I couldn’t help but have bouts of deep thought with my brain only focusing on my departure, and not fully grasping the full weight of my new destination. I started seeing spiritual lessons or metaphors in the events of the day. As my flight from Charlotte to Munich took its final descent are pilot informed us “The weather is not as nice here and it is a bit cloudy,” adding “but we have hope that it will clear up later.” I’ll let that try and speak to you on its own without any commentary. Related to this though when we were approaching the airport it was so cloudy you couldn’t see the end of the wing hardly. We began descending, still among the clouds, when there was a loud thud shaking the whole plane. I looked out the windows, and it appeared we were still in the clouds. But I was wrong. We had actually just landed, but the fog was so thick no one new we were even near the runway. Everyone laughed as we slowly took off the oxygen masks. Just kidding about the last part.