marching onward

Bonjour à tous! / Hello everyone!

I hope you are doing well, and that those of you living in the "polar vortex" aka the midwest are starting to see the hope of spring arriving! I am doing very well - as busy as ever! It seems like, despite my hopes to the contrary, I will be writing more like 1-2 posts a month rather than 3-4. Better something than nothing, and better late than never! Sorry if this post ends up being very long and chatty, it's just that so much has happened in the last month since I've written! I'll do my best to synthesize :)

There are so many exciting things happening in our movement and in my personal ministry right now - it has been such a blessed and encouraging month full of "God sightings" as we see the ways He is present and working here. One of these things was the City 360 - a type of reciprocal movement evaluation where staff and students from one city come to another city to interview people who are involved in that movement, and compile together a list of encouraging things that God is doing as well as a few points of advice to help them continue moving forward. It was a crazy, hectic, and very rewarding experience for all who were involved in the 3-way exchange between Toulouse, Montpellier, and Lyon (Agapé's southern cities) over the course of 6 days. For more information about the 360 and its impact on our students, check out my monthly newsletter.

In addition to the City 360, March has marked the beginning of our pioneering effort of "groupes découvertes" (discovery Bible studies designed to present the basics of the Gospel to non-Christian or newly Christian students). We are using an Agapé France resource recommended to us by the national director Francis and his wife Marie-Carmen when they came to visit us back in February, and we are really excited to put it into place and see the Lord use this tool to impact students. So far, my teammates are leading two discovery groups, and there are enough students showing interest that we may be forming a third one soon. It has already been a huge encouragement to us to see some of our long-time friends, and some newer friends, who are spiritually seeking really engaging and taking the Bible study seriously. Please pray for our friends Adam, Capucine, Ourada, and Justine who are currently part of a group, for Leila, Ural, and Aline who will hopefully be forming a new group soon, and for Amandine (one of our student leaders who is coming with her friend Capucine) and my teammates as they prepare and lead these studies. Pray that the Lord continues to reveal Himself to them through their study of the Gospel of John, and that they come to know Him personally through these small groups.

This past Friday we hosted a short-film outreach night, and were able to see God moving in incredible ways through the people that came. I was the "point person" for the evening, and was able to use the advice and input of my partner Hannah with Jesus Film Media (check out their work and their films at http://jesusfilmmedia.org/) as well as one of our students Daniel who is studying cinema to help plan out the films we would use, as well as in which order to show them. I also reached out to two of our involved students - Anne Elizabeth and Emmanuelle - to act as M.C.s for the event. It was exciting for me to be able to use my resources and partnership with JFM, but even more exciting to make the extra effort to involve our students. Daniel had really great insights to share, and the girls did a fantastic job of making people feel comfortable and directing the evening. I was so proud of them! In addition to the planning going well, it was really encouraging to see which friends the Lord moved to join us, and His sovereignty in organizing our groups and directing the conversation. Each of my teammates (and several of our Christian students who came) were able to share our own testimonies and the Gospel around our tables using the questions sparked by the films. God really provided for us, and it was amazing to feel His presence with us.

On a more personal note, March also meant a special visitor for me - my dear friend from Marquette, Brittany! She came for a week and we were able to do a great mixture of sight-seeing, catching up, and experiencing & sharing my life here in France together. She was able to meet students, come on campus with me, come to my church, and meet my teammates. It was a lot of fun and a huge blessing to have her here to see and better understand my world. It was also a great vacation for me to travel with her, and I was able to spend my birthday in Paris and have dinner with my dear teammate and roommate from last year, Kate.

Brittany and I on the Corum overlooking my lovely city of Montpellier

Outside of Carcassonne - a beautiful, medieval, walled city near Montpellier

The lovely back of Notre Dame Cathedral, Paris

My dear friend the Iron Lady - looking as beautiful as I remembered!

All in all, March has been very full, and I am eagerly anticipating all that God will continue to do the rest of this semester! Thank you so much for your continued prayers and support - I am so thankful for you!

A la prochaine! / Until next time!

Sharing with Students and National Conference

Coucou tout le monde! Hi everyone!

Here, as promised, is an update of some of the highlights from these past two weeks. I would like to start by sharing a few stories from my time on campus having spiritual conversations with students, and with students! What do I mean by that? No, it is not a redundant typo! These last few weeks, we have been challenging our Christian students to come with us on campus to talk with their peers about Jesus. We have truly seen God show up to bless their steps of faith in amazing ways, and I would love to share a few of their stories with you.

Here's Hayley on Paul Valery (the liberal arts university and also the campus where she is studying). I met up with her for lunch on campus before we went out sharing, and was able to get to know her a little better while also explaining to her our strategy, vision, and goals. She had never done anything like this before, and was a little nervous and concerned about approaching people in a sensitive and caring way. I was able to assuage some of her fears, and reassure her that we don't need to worry about our incompetency, because the Spirit is the one that makes us competent for the ministry He gives us. (2 Corinthians 3:5) She had shared with me during lunch that she spent a year in Istanbul, Turkey as a high school student and we talked a bit about her experiences there. Imagine how surprised we both were when the first girl we approached was Turkish - and not just Turkish, but from Istanbul! They even have mutual friends on facebook! We had a great conversation with her and I was able to share the Gospel. She reached out to Hayley and asked for her number, and we're hoping to see her again soon. It's so beautiful to see the ways God, as a good Father, blesses our steps of obedience and faith and gives us good gifts!

Chelsea, left, is an American study abroad student here for the year. She has been involved with Agape since the beginning of last semester, and has been growing by leaps and bounds. This semester, she has felt really challenged to share her faith, and has been enthusiastically seeking opportunities to go with us. I went with her for her second time sharing on her campus, and was amazed by her heart and her courage doing something that she told me she would never have imagined herself doing only a few short months ago. The Lord continues to do an amazing work in her life!

Here is a photo of Girish, and Indian doctoral student in biology involved with Agape, during our weekend retreat last semester. Girish has been a Christian for a long time, but shared with us last semester that he has a really hard time talking about his faith. He is nervous and said that he doesn't feel comfortable or confident since he doesn't know all the answers. Since we had talked about this before, I was surprised and excited to see that he had signed up to go on campus and volunteered to go with him. We went on the science campus together, and was encouraged to see in talking with him that he was choosing to take this step of faith despite his fears - his feelings hadn't changed, but he had decided to act courageously despite his fears. He was especially nervous about having a spiritual conversation in French, since he is still less than confident in French despite having made enormous progress since arriving last fall. Once again, God blessed and surprised us by leading us to a Canadian student and we were able to talk to her in English! It was a great conversation, and at the end, she asked me for my phone number! I'm hopeful about being able to hang out with her again. While she doesn't have any faith beliefs herself (she operates more under a moral system of the Golden Rule than a particular religious system), she is very open and enjoys hearing about what other people believe. I'm really looking forward to new steps of faith Girish is able to take, and I hope that this experience has encouraged him to keep sharing his faith.



This past week was the Agape France National Conference - where the whole group of anyone on staff with Agape in France (campus, music, sport, and art ministries, human resources, accounting, staff services, etc.) got together near La Rochelle (in the north west of France) for a week of learning, connection, and planning for the future. It was really fun for me to be there, and a lot less intimidating than last year to connect with the staff - especially since I know some of them much better! One of my favorite moments from the conference was the group prayer time, where the national director called up to the front everyone on staff or interning who was under 35. Altogether, we were a little over half of the whole group! When we were all up front, they took some time to pray over us and to thank God for us. It was so beautiful and so touching to see and hear such tangible proof of their support and love for us. Next, they asked everyone who had been on staff for 25 years or longer to come up and stand with us as a model of perseverance and faithfulness for us to look to, and we were able to pray for them. It was so sweet to see that living record of how God has been at work here in France.

Another of my favorite moments happened at the end of an evening planned by the art team in Paris. They had us each write our anxieties, fears, and weaknesses on pieces of red paper, and then with a series of several clever folds and cuts, we opened it up to see a cross. After we laid these things at the foot of the cross in a tangible way, we all brought our crosses up and laid them out around the map of France they had created on the floor out of tealights. Then, we read and meditated on several verses they had chosen and used art supplies they gave us to write or draw a one-word prayer for France, what we hope for God to do here in this country, and put them in the middle. Then they lit the candles around the outside, turned down the lights, and we spent some time praying over the country of France and singing praise to God. It was a poignant, beautiful moment.

Also during the week, I was blessed by the natural beauty around us - like this sunset! - and by some really sweet and intimate times with the Lord. I am learning a lot about grace - how to accept His grace for me, and how to extend grace to myself and others. All in all, it has been a very busy and very blessed two weeks. I'm glad to be home, and energized & excited for what God has in store for the rest of the semester! Thanks for your continued prayers for me, my team, and our movement here in Montpellier. I am so grateful for you all!

A la prochaine! Until next time!

Playing catch-up

Bonjour tout le monde!

It has officially been almost 9 weeks since my last post...yikes. My sincere apologies to anyone who has been waiting on the edge of their proverbial seat for an update from this side of the pond. It has not been my intention to keep you in the dark! Instead, it has been a combination of factors including, but not limited to, lots of events, lots of details to organize, lots of traveling, limited energy, and limited free time. As my dear mother said in our last email exchange, "UPDATE BLOG.  Last entry Dec. 8th (2 months)" Happily, as Paul told the Romans in his letter, "Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus." Phew! Thanks for extending me grace on this one!

In thinking about the best way to fill you in on all that has happened in the meantime, I decided the most effective plan would be to create a photo overview of the last 2ish months - so here goes!

The above photo (Leila on the left and my teammate Amy on the right) is from our girls-only Christmas party that we hosted mid-December. We decorated cookies together, talked about our Christmas traditions, and then Joelle shared about the greatest gift she has ever received - Jesus! Leila is one of our more spiritually interested friends, and we were able to have a really deep and honest conversation about where she is at in taking steps towards God. It was so encouraging! If you want to hear the next part of Leila's story, check out my January update letter.

Above is Amandine, a new friend that my teammate Megan met on campus the previous week. As part of the Gospel presentation, we offered one of the girls a free gift (the cute little box she is holding in her hand). She volunteered to accept it, and when talking to me afterward shared that she was especially touched by the gift because of what Joelle had shared - she said that hearing her story made the gift so much more meaningful. Then she asked me if I had ever had a moment in my life where I opened the door of my heart to Jesus, like Joelle had explained. I was flabbergasted - how often does someone so clearly give you an opportunity to share your faith? All in all, it was a very encouraging time sharing with the girls who came.

The end of December meant the approach of our national Christmas conference - called CNA (Camp du Nouvel An, or New Year's Camp). It was a wonderful, encouraging, rich week where we were able to come together as different individual movements to learn, grow, and experience God in the beautiful Alps! Above is a group of students who went hiking up a nearby trail during one of our free afternoons.

Stéphanie (French intern in Rennes) and two students enjoying the free day excursion to the beautiful city of Annecy. Other students spent the day at Les 7 Laux, a nearby ski resort, and came back tired but happy.

On New Year's Eve, it is a French tradition to have a special dinner and a big party late into the night - and this CNA did not disappoint! It was so fun to see everyone dressed up, and to play games, dance, and worship into the new year together.

We had two fantastic speakers - a young husband and wife team who came to share with us what it means to live missionally, to be "100% sent" wherever God is calling us.

One of my favorite parts of the week was the amount of time we were able to spend praying together - for each other, for our campuses, and for God to move supernaturally in France.

For one of our nightly programs, we did a "cardboard testimonies" evening - we asked students and staff to reflect on the different ways God has transformed each of us as we put our faith in Him and seek to follow His leading, and then synthesize those transformations down to a "before & after" to write on their pieces of cardboard. It was amazing to see and hear each student's story as they shared with their small groups, and then to spend time together praising and thanking God for His work in our lives. Above is Martin, a student, and Louis, a French intern. Their "befores" are fear, and nothing.

After - peace and confidence in God, relationship!

Throughout the camp, in the midst of all the details to organize and things to think about (I served as part of the planning committee), God really met with me in very individual ways. I learned a lot and was incredibly encouraged by my quiet times with Him. I also got to enjoy beautiful gifts like this stunning sunset over the Alps. Our biggest prayer as the planning team was that everyone who came would experience God in a unique and personal way, and He far exceeded our expectations!

A short two weeks after returning from CNA, we were on the road again traveling to southern Spain for our Stint Mid-Year conference. The conference is for all Americans serving on short-term internships with Cru in Europe, Russia, Africa, and the Middle East - about 200 of us in all. We were met in Spain by about 50-100 American staff members who made the trip over to pray for us, counsel us, teach us, coach us, and encourage us. 

Another fun perk of the week was our free day adventure - my roomies and I chose to go to the Rock of Gibraltar. As Megan said, "Calling it a big rock is so deceptive! It's so much bigger than I imagined!" Bigger, and rockier! It was an absolutely gorgeous, sunny day and we really enjoyed the lovely mixture of man-made history and natural beauty.

After Mid-Year, my teammate Kimberly and I decided to take advantage of our compensation days and extra weekend days to travel to Scotland. While there, we got to visit the University of Glasgow (above). I still can't believe people go to school here! We were walking around, exclaiming to each other, "It's like Hogwarts!" Then we heard someone whistling the main theme from the Harry Potter movies and we had to laugh together!

We were also able to take a day trip from Glasgow and visit the beautiful village of Stirling (castle pictured in the above picture). I've never seen so many gorgeous rainbows!

After Stirling, we traveled to Doune and were able to tour Doune Castle - the site used by Monty Python for the filming of the movie Monty Python and the Holy Grail. We loved the castle, and really enjoyed the audioguide (done by one of the members of the Python crew).

The next stop on our tour was the lovely seaside town of St. Andrews, featuring some of the most beautiful ruins I have ever seen - including the cathedral pictured above.

Our last stop was the scenic and historic city of Edinburgh - truly a beautiful and incredible city. All in all, I came back from Scotland with many great memories of adventures, a much richer understanding of Scottish history, and a great desire to watch Chariots of Fire (which I finally watched this evening!)


Phew! That's a lot of traveling and a great many things to catch up on! I hope you enjoyed the pictures, and I look forward to sharing some very encouraging stories from the last two weeks - but I'll save that for the next update! Thanks once again for your prayers and for all your support and encouragement - God is richly blessing us here in Montpellier, France!