It's another beautiful, sunny Sunday afternoon in Montpellier, and I feel so blessed by the Lord and reassured by His presence here guiding us. After this second week on campus, I have many more encouraging stories (and updates!) that I want to share with you.
This past week, we had our first English Club of the year. (English Club is basically what it sounds like - a time to get together and speak English with our friends at a cozy Irish pub called FitzPatrick's) We invited all of our new contacts from our first week initiating spiritual conversations on campus, and we had about 25 students show up! It was incredible, and incredibly fun - a great mix of old friends and new ones. One of my favorite parts of the night was seeing Isabelle again - our new Christian friend Kimberly and I had met the previous Friday (for her story, see my previous post). I introduced her to Jeanette (on staff with Agape/Cru here in Montpellier), only to find out they had already met several years ago when Jeanette was here on Stint! She had a lovely evening, and Jeanette invited her to our Agape Bible Study on Wednesday. She accepted, and was able to come, meet other Christian students, and get connected. I hope to see a lot more of her! :)
On Tuesday, Megan and I were on campus together, looking for a new person to talk with and feeling slightly frustrated by the group of giggly first year girls we had just talked to who couldn't seem to take anything seriously. Then we saw a girl sitting on her own, so we went up to introduce ourselves. Sophie told us that she is from London and spent the last few years studying in Edinburgh, then asked what church we go to. Megan asked her about her story, and she shared with us that as recently as four months ago she considered herself an atheist, completely against the idea of God, faith, and religion. Now, she finds herself as a new Christian in a new city (she's studying here for the whole year), looking for a church and Christian community. We were able to tell her about our churches, and share that Agape might be exactly the community she is looking for! Sophie also was able to come to Bible Study on Wednesday, and begin making new friends and connections. I'm so excited to see what God has planned for her in bringing her here to Montpellier this year!
Wednesday through Friday of this week I was in Toulouse (a neighboring city) working with some fellow staff members to begin planning for CNA (le Camp du Nouvel An) our Agape France Christmas conference. It was a lot of fun to see the city a bit and enjoy the different flavor of architecture. Toulouse is known as "La Ville rose" (the pink city) because of the particular shade of bricks used for most of the city's buildings. It was really exciting for me to cast vision for the conference this year, to discuss practical details, and to begin praying already for all that God will do in and through Agape students. It was also fun for me to reconnect with Sharla (on staff in Toulouse) and Vivek (stint in Paris) my co-planners and friends, as well as other friends in Toulouse. I was able to catch up for a bit with Julien, who was an intern in Montpellier last year and is interning this year in Toulouse. It was encouraging for both of us to hear about the movements in our cities and to share some stories about what God is doing. I also got to see our friend Ben Guibal (resident philosopher and deep-thinker) who left Montpellier this year for a teaching job near Toulouse. It was great to hear about what he's been up to this summer, including his visit to the U.S. to see his new girlfriend - my dear friend and former teammate Amy! For two and a half days of meetings, my time in Toulouse was really fun - and very rewarding when I think about all the work we put into CNA already (and the work left to do) so that students can experience God in authentic, personal ways through the conference. Throughout our times of planning, even in our disagreements, it was clear that God was guiding us towards what He wants for CNA. Every time we sat down to make decisions, we prayed and invited God into the midst of it. His presence was clearly felt!
Friday night I arrived home to Montpellier to a hug from my former roommate and teammate (and current friend!) Kate visiting from Paris. She came for the weekend to figure out the details of her residence card, to pick up winter clothes and assorted sundries left in our apartment, and (of course!) to hang out with us. It's been wonderful (albeit a bit strange) to have her around our apartment - that used to also be her apartment! I have loved the chance to share together about our lives since we no longer get to "debrief" each day before bed.
(from left to right: teammates Joelle, myself, Kate, Jeanette, and Megan)
While sharing about sharing, we also got the chance to video chat with former teammates Amy and Kathryn while Kate was here and we were all together. It was so fun and so encouraging to share with them some stories of how God is moving here. Both of them have invested so much of themselves and their time here, so it is even more meaningful for them to hear about what the Lord is doing here - they can picture the places and they understand completely the context we are working in!
I am so grateful for God's presence with us and the clear ways He is guiding our personal ministries as well as our Agape movement! Thanks to all of you as well for your faithful prayers. As James says, your prayers are powerful and effective! (James 5:16)
Que Dieu vous benisse! (God bless you all!)
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