Blessed Rest

Time has really been flying by for me - already we have tulips pushing up in our window box and we're starting to think about spring! It's hard to believe that I have been here in Montpellier for almost 6 months! God has been so good to me - He always is - but I would like to share two huge examples of His goodness in my life from January.

The first is my parents coming to visit! I am so thankful and feel so blessed that their work schedules (and mine) could be arranged so that the three of us could spend a week together! It was really exciting (and also a bit strange) to have them here with me and to feel my "two lives" colliding. We spent a lot of our week together hanging out and visiting the city. I was able to take them to my favorite places and restaurants, and also spend some time being a tourist in my own city which I very much enjoyed. We also spent a good amount of time just relaxing and being together, which after this much time away is what I miss the most. There's just no way to get caught up on the daily life stuff over skype! They were also able to meet a lot of "my people." They came to our weekly English Club with me and got to meet some of my Christian and non-Christian friends. We also had a team raclette dinner (if you haven't had it, it's melted raclette cheese over baked potatoes with veggies and deli meats on the side - delish!) where they got to hang out with my stint teammates as well as our French interns, staff members, and their family. We also took two day trips together - one to Nimes, and one to Carcassonne.

Nimes is a very old nearby city that was founded by the Romans. There is a whole lot of history there, including an old Roman guard tower, arena (like the Colosseum in Rome), and temple. We had a ton of fun exploring the city and finding the different traces left behind on the architecture. We were also surprised with snow while we were there - real snow! It was the first time all winter that I had seen any. My favorite thing we saw was probably the arena - unlike the Colosseum, there were almost no other people there, and we had a lot more freedom to explore. We climbed all the way to the top and looked out over the city, then all the way to the bottom and walked out onto the arena floor. We even did some bullfight playacting! 

Carcassonne is another nearby city that is also very historic, just from a different era. The original walled city (complete with medieval fortress!) is situated up on a hill with a beautiful view of the newer low city. We all really enjoyed the castle, but Dad was definitely the most excited! We climbed up on the ramparts, explored the curving streets of the walled city, and looked out from high guard towers with arrow slits. Dad got more and more excited and kept shouting lines from the Lord of the Rings like "Fall back to the keep!" and "Orcs on the stairs!" We really enjoyed ourselves despite the cold weather. Here's a picture of us "guarding" the gate - we take our job very seriously (clearly).

The week really flew by, and before I knew it I was dropping them off at the airport I had picked them up from only 8 days previously! While I was sad to see them go, I was (and am!) so grateful to have had them here. I feel like they understand life and ministry here in such a deeper way because they have seen it in action. I am so thankful that I got to share it with them! 

Only a short week later, it was time for us, the stint team, to pack up and head to Nerja, Spain for our Mid-Year Conference. We spent a week in the south of Spain, a short hop away from the Mediterranean, in a beautiful resort. We had great teaching, lots of time to relax, lots of time with the Lord, and opportunities to reconnect with other stinters from Europe, Russia, Africa, the Middle East, and South America. It was amazingly encouraging to hear stories of ministry from all over the world. I also felt extremely loved, cared for, and supported by the Cru staff who were there and who helped organize and lead the conference. As a result of their hard work and encouraging words, I was able to come back to Montpellier refreshed, excited for a new semester of ministry, and really feeling like I had heard clearly from the Lord. I'll only include one picture of the view - I don't want you to be too jealous!

So, to sum up, January flew past in a shower of blessings from the Lord. I am so grateful to be here, to have this opportunity to be in the front row and see how God is moving, and to have another semester of life and ministry in France. Thank you all for your prayers, for your words of encouragement, and for your unwavering support of our ministry. Please keep praying that God would use us here in His campaign to make His name known and to bring people to Himself! A la prochaine - until next time!

C.N.A. in pictures

Bonjour tout le monde! (Hello everyone!) Sorry to be so late in getting to these - but I would love to add to my last post about our Christmas conference (C.N.A.) with some beautiful visuals! I hope you enjoy them!

A photo of all the students, staff, and staff kids from Montpellier who attended C.N.A. this year

Students doing various prayer stations at one of the nightly programs

John McNeil - a fantastic Irishman and the head of Agape Campus ministries in Europe. He came to spend some time with students and staff, and to share his larger vision of student-led ministries - empowering our students by giving them vision and ownership

Students (and STINT interns from Paris) enjoying the Reveillon (New Year's Eve) dinner together

Part of the group that went to Lourdes on our outreach day in the city - they spent time sharing hope and God's love through song!

The Kellums - this wonderful couple has been on staff with Agape in France for 19 years and was honored at C.N.A. for the years of service because this is their last before they head back to the States as their two oldest will be in college and they want to be nearby. Praise God for people like the Kellums who are so faithful to the call the Lord places on them to go and serve!

That's all for now! I'll update you soon on my parents' visit (which was such a blessing) and our Mid-Year conference with all of the STINT interns in the Western hemisphere taking place in Nerja, Spain this next week! Prayers for safe travel and guidance for many of us seeking God's will for the next year of our lives are much appreciated! 

C.N.A.

As promised, here is my C.N.A. update!

For those of you who don't know, C.N.A. (or Camp du Nouvel An - literally, Camp of the New Year) is the Agape Campus France Christmas conference. For the last few years, C.N.A. has been hosted in a retreat center in the small mountain town of Cantan, near Tarbes, in the Pyrenees. The center we stayed at was made up of two main lodge buildings - one housed the girls and included the dining room and a game room that had couches, fussball, a pool table, and a bar for tea and snacks. The other building housed the guys and also included the main meeting room.

It was a lot of fun (and also a bit scary at times) to be a part of the workers for this conference instead of a student. My teammates and I worked with the Agape stinters (American interns) from Paris to organize various aspects of the conference, including the "gouter" (before dinner snacks), the prayer room, the reveillon (New Year's party), and the decorations of the main meeting room. It was really rewarding to spend time planning beforehand (over skype from Montpellier to Paris) with our fellow stinters, and then to see it all come together that week to really bless the students who were there.

Altogether, we had all 5 of our partnership cities represented (Montpellier, Toulouse, Lyon, Rennes, Paris), with about 80 students and 20 staff members and their families. It was so encouraging and exciting to see a bigger, more national picture of ministry in France! One of my favorite parts of the weekend was getting to meet so many amazing people - students and staff - and hearing their stories. Each person had a story, and each story was evidence of God working in France in amazing ways. 

During the conference, we had great times together as a large group hearing from our speaker, Michel Petrossian (a pastor from Paris), and worshiping in French. We also had some really cool workshop sessions hosted by different staff members and nightly sessions with different themes. One night, we had different prayer stations where students could fold their prayers into origami, make things out of clay, and paint on a large banner. Another night, we talked about the need for missionaries worldwide and had different booths around the room representing various countries that students can go to as part of a short-term missions trip or a year-long internship with Agape.

In addition, we had a day of sharing where students - organized into two groups - took steps of faith to share the Gospel. One group stayed at the retreat center and did an internet outreach where they sent messages to specific friends asking them to meet up and talk about spiritual things. They also explored various internet resources that they can use to share the Gospel. The second group (I went with them) went to Lourdes - a nearby town known as a pilgrimage location. Back in the day, a young woman (Saint Bernadette) was going to a natural well in a grotto to draw water when she saw a vision of the Virgin Mary. Ever since then, the source was considered a holy site and there are many instances of miraculous healing that have been reported. Today, there is a large, very beautiful church built on the site and many people come to pray. We went into town to do street evangelism and to talk with the people we met about hope - what gives them hope in their lives. It was very interesting for me to see a town like Lourdes, that is so well known as a pilgrimage site and was also a disturbing example of religious tourism. It was distressing to see how people had twisted something beautiful and holy - where miracles occurred and people connected with God - into something so corrupted and commercialized. It was very exciting for me, however, to go sharing with Randy (my partner). Randy is an Indonesian student studying in Rennes (in the north of France) who is learning French to work on his master's degree. It was really encouraging for me to meet Randy, to see him share his faith for the first time, and to hear about his story and how God brought him to faith and to France.

All in all, it was a very eye-opening and encouraging time. God is doing some truly amazing things here! Thank you so much for your continued prayers!

December

December was a busy and exciting month full of many blessings! We worked really hard, and saw God come through in big ways. 

During the month of December, we had two big Christmas outreaches planned. The first one was a party hosted at our apartment where we invited Agape students and our non-Christian friends to come, hang out, and celebrate Christmas. Two of our involved Agape students, Jonas and Donerse, put together a program presenting the Christmas story through Scripture and songs. Jonas also shared a short message about the meaning of Christmas, and the different ways we can react to this good news. He challenged us to react like the shepherds - who go immediately to see Jesus, and return praising God and telling everyone they meet the good news of the Savior come to earth. We also had a scavenger hunt for the different "characters" of the Christmas story, who all slowly made their way to our manger scene. After the message, we did our white elephant gift exchange. We had asked students to bring something small and funny, but as the white elephant concept isn't huge in this culture, we had mixed results. For the most part, people just brought chocolate (not that anyone complained!). We did have some funny ones though - my favorite was a tie between the giant pumello and the Buzz Lightyear lotion!

Our second big outreach was a "Fete de Noel entre filles" - a Christmas party for girls - hosted by Jeanette and Kathryn. We (the team) spent many hours that morning baking many, many sugar cookies in preparation for the afternoon. It was well worth it! As I was talking with some of the girls, I realized that none of them had ever decorated cookies before. I had no idea this was an American tradition! As a result, they were all pretty excited, and everyone had a really good time expressing themselves in an artistic (and tasty!) way. After the cookies, we spent some time as a group (there were about 30 girls in total) sharing our family and cultural Christmas traditions. There was a lot of variety, and it was really fun learning about what other people did to celebrate. Next, Jeanette talked to us about a gift she had received as a child - a wedding Barbie. She had coveted and dreamed about the toy for weeks, and was so excited when she opened it Christmas morning and realized it was hers to keep! After a few weeks, however, the excitement wore off and she started playing with it less and less. She no longer valued it as much as she had before. Jeanette used this present as a way to talk about the best present she had ever received - the only one that is still as valuable to her today (and even more valuable) than when she first received it - Jesus! It was a beautiful message, and many of the girls were visibly touched by what she shared.

We also had a Soiree Film (a movie night) in December organized by Leo, one of the Agape students on the Outreach team. It was so exciting for us to see him taking ownership of this event! We watched a film called "Life in a Day" that was made by Ridley Scott - and many others! The movie is actually a compilation of movie clips shot and uploaded to YouTube by people all over the world. All of the clips date from a single day (July 24th, 2010) and were shot in many different countries. The film was very interesting and thought provoking - with many beautiful, touching, disturbing, and tragic moments. We had a really great discussion afterwards in small groups with questions that Leo had written. I was in a group with Floriane, a non-Christian friend of Kate and Amy that they met on campus. She is very sweet, and fun to talk with. I look forward to how God will use that night, and our interactions in the future, to continue to speak truth to her!

Right before Christmas, I also had the opportunity to make the most of my days off and do some traveling! Teammates Kate, Caroline, and I took the train up to Strasbourg in Alsace to spend a few days exploring the city, eating well, and doing some serious shopping at the Christmas markets. Strasbourg is such a beautiful city and we had so much fun together! It was a great vacation (even though it was brief) and we returned feeling rested. We also had the opportunity to see the Body of Christ in action in a really cool way while we were there (and before we left). Caro had been working on finding a place for us to stay, and contacted some friends from church who live in Strasbourg. One of them, Simon, had told us that his parents had just purchased a place in the downtown area that should be ready by the time we were there. Unfortunately, he emailed us the week of our trip to let us know that it wouldn't work, but that his friend Sophie could help us. We emailed Sophie, and she responded right away saying she would have to check with her roommates, but that she would love to host us. It was such a blessing to meet her, to have breakfast with her, and to have her trust us after she left halfway through our stay to take care of her apartment. Although the Christian community here in France may be small, it is very connected and people have a very strong sense of hospitality. It was really cool to see it in action!

Finally, Christmas arrived! Christmas Eve we got together as a team with a few friends who were still in town and not home with their parents to eat some delicious chili and watch The Nativity. Christmas day started with scrambled eggs and monkey bread with my roommates and opening presents from each other and our families by the tree. Afterwards, we swung into high gear to prepare the mashed potatoes, salmon, green bean casserole, and desserts that we were bringing to our team dinner at the Skur's house. Everything didn't go completely according to the original plan, but it all got done and we had a lot of delicious food and great fellowship together. After supper/dinner, we had our team talent show (Caro's idea) that was a mixture of the serious (Kathryn played piano, Ainsley sang) and the silly (Amy danced the Napoleon Dynamite routine and Caro walked on her hands). Next, we opened our secret santa presents for each other and the Skur kids opened their gifts from us. It was a lot of fun and a real blessing to all of us far from our own families to spend time with our Montpellier family on Christmas.

Right after Christmas, we left for C.N.A. (Camp du Nouvel An - Camp of the New Year) - our Christmas conference in the Pyrenees. More on that soon - I promise! In the meantime, thanks for your continued support and prayers! I hope you had a very Merry Christmas, and that your New Year would be blessed!

Thanksgiving and Praise!

Bonjour mes amis! I am sorry it has been so very long since I have posted anything at all! November has been a crazy month full of so many things to be thankful for - including Thanksgiving itself! For those of you who don't know, Agape in Montpellier hosted a huge Thanksgiving outreach dinner this year, as we have done for the last 7 or so years that we have been in this city. Much of our month was spent planning, preparing, and praying for this event - and it was amazing to see God at work in it! The planning for the food alone was a huge undertaking! Each household had a traditional dish they were responsible for, as well as 3 pumpkin pies for dessert. My roommates and I made 8 giant foil pans of stuffing and ended up with enough pumpkin mixture to make 5 pies instead of 3. At one point on Wednesday the day before, we had to start putting pans of food on chairs and coffee tables in our family room so we had enough table space to eat lunch!

We also had a lot of publicity work to do to help get the word out to students on campus that we might not know personally. On Monday of Thanksgiving week we went onto two of the biggest campuses in Montpellier to do a blanket invite and publicity campaign using...sugar cookies! Amanda and Caro headed up our publicity team, and planned the whole "cookie campaign." We spent the weekend making dough, rolling it out, sprinkling, baking, bagging, and tagging them with beautiful fliers made by an artistic French student friend Simon. We set up a table on campus, and stopped students as they passed to offer them cookies and invite them and their friends to the dinner Thursday night. It was a huge step of faith for many of us to walk up to French students we don't know and try to engage them in conversation, and there were many rejections and people who ignored us. In spite of this, God was so faithful! He gave us a lot of joy and enthusiasm, and we were able to bless a lot of students (we made about 450 cookies!) and also generate more publicity for Agape. We also were blessed by running into some students we knew and having great conversations with them!

After spending Tuesday and Wednesday cutting up baguettes (about 24 in total) into tiny cubes and baking our 5 pumpkin pies, we arrived at the big day! Kate, Joelle, and I (the decorating team) arrived to the church where we were hosting the event mid-morning, and started decorating and setting up the room.

Before we knew it, it was 2:30 and time to head home for a quick "lunch" and a few minutes of rest before heading back to the church loaded down with pies (our other roommates brought the stuffing closer to dinner time). God provided in amazing ways with the tables we needed, and the happy volunteers necessary to help pull it all together. It turned our really beautiful!

All of sudden, it was beginning! Students began arriving, picking seats, and settling in. Before dinner, Robyn got up in front of the group and shared the story of Thanksgiving - the faith of the Pilgrims, and their thankfulness to God and to the Native Americans that provided the food they needed to survive in this new land. It was really well done, and so exciting to share something so culturally American with our French friends. 

We also had two French Agape students get up and share their testimonies of what they were thankful for. Simeon, a first-year university student, shared his journey of how he came to faith in Christ, and how thankful he is to God for saving him and for giving him new direction in his life. Joelle, our fellow intern and dear friend, got up next, and shared how thankful she is to God for the challenges she has faced in the last year (including losing her mother this spring), and how she has felt Him in her life in such a closer and more intimate way as a result. You could hear a pin drop in the room while they were talking! It was so beautiful to see how genuine they were, and to have them both present the message of the Gospel so clearly to a room of 90 or so students (at least 60 of whom were non-Christians).

Next came the food! The students were genuinely excited to try these classic American Thanksgiving dishes (except the pumpkin pie...that got more of a mixed reception!) It was so great to be able to serve them and to share with them! After dinner, we did the "traditional" (it has appeared at all of our Thanksgivings here in Montpellier) turkey hand craft. Students really seemed to get into it! It was a ton of fun to watch them getting creative in designing and constructing their turkeys, but it was even more fun and meaningful to see them truly reflecting on what they were thankful for.

Tracing and cutting out our hand turkeys!

Adam with his beautiful turkey! (Adam came straight from work in order to help us out as a greeter - he is such a blessing and a dear friend! Keep praying that God's truth takes root in his heart!)



All in all, Thanksgiving was a wonderful night! All the preparations went smoothly, and God's hand was definitely on it. In addition, we were able to welcome and feed about 90 students, who were blessed by the food and the stories shared by Simeon, Joelle, and Robyn! Thanks to all you were praying with us - we have so much to be thankful for!

God at work

I am continually amazed and encouraged to see all the different ways God is at work here in Montpellier! To share a few, let me start with:

1. Saturday - Ikea trip #4 (and final...I hope)

Kate and I were going to go in the morning to get a few remaining things from  a bricolage (Home Depot-esque) store to finish up our apartment. On the list were nuts to attach the legs to a table we inherited, the right size screws to hang a shelf we had bought at the previous trip to Ikea, and a few other sundry items. As we were waiting at the tram stop to take the tram out to Brico Depot (what Amy thought was the name of the store) at an unknown stop on the line 3 headed towards Lattes Centre (Amy assured us we would know it when we saw it), Kate pulled out her phone to double check we were on the right tram in the right direction. God was definitely with us, even in this! When Kate looked it up on her phone, she found out it wasn't even open on Saturdays. As a result, we saved at least an hour and a lot of frustration. Since we couldn't go to Brico Depot, we went to Ikea instead to get a few other remaining things (some umbrellas and a shelf for our kitchen). On our way, I had a brain wave and wondered aloud to Kate if perhaps Geant (a giant Wal-Mart-like grocery store) might have a bricolage section. It did, AND we found what we needed AND we got to have Swedish meatballs with mashed potatoes for lunch at Ikea. Thanks Lord!

2. Saturday - Cake and Dessert party

Saturday night Megan invited a bunch of people over for desserts (she made banana bread and two kinds of cookies! Yum...) and games. What we failed to realize was that a conflicting girls event at Jeanette's meant that out of all the people we invited, only the guys could come. As a result, we ended up with us 4 American women, a ton of desserts, and 10 guys. We ate, talked, played some really crazy games (Jungle Speed? I'm still not sure...something about a rabbit figurine.....), and had a great time. It was such a blessing to get to know the Christian Agape guys that came a bit better, and such an encouragement to have another opportunity to build relationships with the non-Christian guys as well. At the end of the night, our dear friend Adam (a Muslim student involved with Agape) stayed for a great conversation about forgiveness and we were able to share the Gospel with him. He asked some great questions and seemed genuinely interested in what we had to say. I am so excited to see the ways God continues to work in his heart!

3. Monday - Sharing on campus

On Monday, Megan, Julien, and I went initiating on the science campus - seeking out students interested in spiritual things and asking them about their beliefs. After being rejected twice and being blown off by a student we were supposed to meet for coffee, we wanted to try to have at least one real conversation with a student before leaving. That was when we stumbled across Laila, Yoursah, and Sara - three girls sitting on the steps behind the Polytech building. We discovered through our conversation that the three girls were all Moroccan and Muslim. They were very willing to speak with us, and shared a lot about Islam as they understood it. I feel like I really learned a lot. In the course of the conversation, we asked them how they knew if they were going to Heaven or not. They responded that they didn't - they just did all they could to be good enough and hoped for the best. It was an amazing opportunity to share with them why we have complete certainty because of Jesus' sacrifice on the cross. We were able to have an amazing conversation that was respectful, full of grace, and we were also able to share the Gospel with them - that they could have a real assurance of Heaven! I truly believe this meeting, like all of our meetings on campus, were divinely appointed and directed by God - a God that truly loves these students and deeply desires for them to be saved.

4. Monday - English Club

Monday night, comme d'habitude (as per usual) we met at FitzPatrick's Irish Pub downtown to speak English and build relationships with students from all different kind of backgrounds. Two students that Megan and Julien met on campus last week (Fabeha and Thibauld) were both able to come - and they brought a ton of friends! As a result, we had the largest amount of people at English Club that I have seen so far this year - about 30-40 people! It was a wonderful evening with great conversations - and many people had the chance to speak with different students about spiritual things. What a blessing!

5. Wednesday - Lunch with Lucie

Wednesday afternoon after our morning prayer meeting, Amanda and I were able to have lunch with a third year student in the French equivalent of biomedical engineering at the science campus. Lucie is a summer project contact - someone who met up with students who were here with Cru this summer and had an interest in spiritual things. After many unsuccessful invites, we were finally able to find a time we were both available. I am so glad that God is still pursuing her, and that He keeps bringing her to my mind so I can persevere in contacting her. Amanda and I had a great time eating with her and getting to know her, her English was excellent and we talked a lot both in English and French. We got to hear about her time in the States, the different places she has visited, and about her family as well. It was a lot of fun, and she told us she plans to come to English Club on Monday. I am hopeful that God will keep giving us opportunities to continue our relationship.

These are only a few examples - if I shared every way that I was aware of God working here in this city (and that's just what I'm aware of!), this would become ridiculously long. Thank you for your prayers - keep it up! It makes such a difference for us in our personal lives - in our battles against apathy and spiritual warfare; and it makes such a difference in ministry!

Bisous from Montpellier! A bientot!

Your light will shine in the darkness

This week marked our first week of full-time ministry in France – since we finished our language school courses last week. With our new schedule, we spend an hour each workday morning (Monday, and Wednesday-Friday) together as a team praying. We pray for specific students we have met, for different outreach events coming up, and really for anything God has laid on our hearts. After prayer, we eat lunch (as a team, individually, or with students), and head to campus. There are 13 total campuses in Montpellier – but there are three main campuses that are part of the University of Montpellier where we focus much of our attention. These three are the science campus, the business and administration campus, and the liberal arts campus (also known as Paul Valery). Most of our afternoon is spent initiating spiritual conversations with students on campus, often through tools like the soularium picture survey or the perspective card survey.

Going on campus to talk with students can be extremely encouraging, incredibly heartbreaking, and often just frustrating. Every student and every conversation are different, but there are definitely common themes I would like to share to give you a better picture of ministry here. One very encouraging aspect is that many French students are willing – and some even eager – to discuss the deep, fundamental questions of life. Unlike many American students, controversial discussions and disagreements are not taboo; in fact, they are seen as very normal parts of life. Students are unafraid about sharing their own thoughts and convictions, and are often very interested to hear what we have to say. I have even been invited by many students to share my own convictions and beliefs – and often we have been able to share the Gospel in response to their questions.

Most French students we encounter on campus consider themselves “non-croyants” (non-believers), and put themselves either in the atheist or agnostic category. The majority have grown up in families who are non-religious or at least non-practicing. The most common responses I hear from students when we ask how they arrived at their beliefs are: they were raised that way, they don’t feel like they have ever experienced God in their lives, or they don’t think there is any way to have certainty about God because no one can prove He exists. For many students, evolution and scientific explanations for life make the most sense – they are very naturalistic in their view of the world. As a result, even talking about spiritual things can be somewhat of a foreign concept (no pun intended!). For some students I have talked with, imagining God exists is so far outside their realm of possibility; they have literally never considered a spiritual or Christian worldview or explanation as an option.

This week, I had the opportunity to talk with several students on different campuses, but none as interesting and (for me) as tragic as Jimmy. Darrin (one of our International Campus Staff – or ICS – working in Montpellier) and I went together to the science campus to initiate spiritual conversations with students. We were walking across a green space where different groups of students were assembled, when we saw two students sitting together a short distance away from the others. We approached them, explained who we were, and asked if they had 15 minutes to take a quick survey. Jimmy introduced himself to us and said he could take the time to talk; the girl who was with him introduced herself but quickly excused herself because she had a class starting soon after. Jimmy explained that he is a third-year university student in fundamental mathematics (something like theoretical math in the U.S.). Through posing the questions of the perspective cards, (What do you believe about the nature of God? What do you think is the purpose of life? and What do you believe about human nature?), we discovered that Jimmy has very logical, well thought-our convictions about each. He considers himself an atheist, and when Darrin asked him how he arrived at that belief, he agreed right away that atheism, like any belief, is based on faith. Unlike many French students I have talked with, he recognized the scientific logic that any answer to the question of the nature or existence of God (monotheist, polytheist, deist, atheist, agnostic, etc.) is really a belief because none of them can be proven. When we asked him what he was living for, he responded that as a result of his belief that there is no God, and that we are all here by chance, he could not see that any of us (as individuals) have any real purpose. He thinks it is possible that the universe has a goal or purpose, but that ultimately each human being has nothing to live for. Each of us is here by chance during our short lifetime, and after we’re gone there is no real change – we have no lasting impact. As he shared these things with us, I wasn’t sure how to react. I was completely dumbfounded and taken aback by his answer. Finally I asked him if that didn’t make him sad. He thought about it for a moment, and then shrugged and responded that it sometimes did.

Once again, I was speechless. It was difficult me to process, and I wondered internally how Jimmy was able to get up every morning. Why do anything at all if we are really here for no reason, and can have no lasting impact or purpose? I listened, my heart aching within me for the hopelessness of his worldview and the impact it must have on his daily life. During the course of our conversation (which lasted about 3 hours in total!), we were able to ask many questions that pushed him to go deeper and share with us, and also had the opportunity to share the Gospel with him. While he was not very receptive, he listened very intently and seemed very interested in understanding what we had to say. At the end of the three hours, Darrin realized he had to be somewhere. Before we left, we shared with him about the different events that we host (including English Club) and Darrin asked if he could have his phone number to contact him. Jimmy was happy to share it, and then we left.

Even after praying for Jimmy with Darrin, and praying and reflecting on my tram ride home, I just couldn’t get Jimmy out of my head. He is living a hopeless life because he doesn’t know God…and yet, he is completely unaware of his need for a Savoir. God’s promise in Jeremiah 29:11, “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope,” is as much for Jimmy – and all French students – as it is for me. The only difference is that I have accepted God’s gift of restored relationship, and thus I am able to live in hope that God will take care of me.

Thank you for your faithfulness in praying! Please continue to pray that Jimmy (and students like him) would have their eyes and hearts opened to their need for Jesus. Pray that God would bring us to the students He has been preparing in advance to receive the Gospel. Pray that I would continue to learn more about God’s heart for the lost, and to be willing to ache and grieve for students who do not yet know Him. Finally, pray that God will continually use us to shine His light into the darkness.