Amen!

The last two weeks our team has been working at a homeless shelter in Paris. It is a place for the men and women to eat, get clothes, claim as their address, and hear about the word of GOD! Everyday at five and six o'clock we serve them dinner. Before the meal begins we sing, share a testimony, or read from the scripture and pray for the meal. After we get done serving the food we walk around and talk with the men and women. God blessed us with many ENGLISH speakers that we could communicate with! Praise the Lord! I met a man from Africa who spoke very good English. As we began to speak he opened up and told me about his life. He got fired from his job, he lost his wife and kids, he has no house or money, and in order for him to try and get another job he has to have a certain type of paperwork. I did not fully understand the situation with the paperwork but I asked if I could pray that he would get the paperwork he needed if it was the Lord's will. He said "YES!"

The following Thursday he came to the shelter again. We were talking about his day and he told me had been reading the book of John. I was pleasantly surprised! I then remembered about the paperwork and asked him how that was going and I got the best answer! "I got my paperwork because of God!" How exciting it was to see that man understand it is our Lord and Savior who does EVERYTHING for us! Please continue to pray for France and the lives we met this week. They are searching and God is doing awesome things in France!

Paris is a million different things to a million different people

Paris is my mums favourite city in the world. And I would agree.

“Well informed, eloquent and oh-so-romantic, the ‘City of Light’ is a philosopher, a poet, a crooner. As it always has been, Paris is a million different things to a million different people.” - Lonely Planet

And it is beautiful and eloquent and magical but most of all it is lost. This city although amazing has broken each one of our hearts. Only 0.8% of the population are Christian. These people know that they live in the one of the most beautiful cities in the world, yet they feel empty and this is because they need God, they need the peace and saving grace of Jesus Christ.

Over the past 2 weeks we have been working in a homeless centre in Paris. Most nights of the week we go in and help serve food, give a bible study and sit and talk to those who come in. but most of all we show Gods love. Each night there are around 80 people who come. It has been amazing to get to know the regulars and speak to them or just laugh with them at our lack of French. It is exciting yet heart breaking when we can have a personal conversation with a man or woman who shares with us how they got this point, it is amazing to be able to pray for them, to share with them the love of God. that it doesn’t matter that they have no possessions because Gods wants us, not our possessions.

We have been so blessed to be able to be a part of their lives for a couple of weeks and the stories they have shared with us.

God, once again has been working in a amazing ways.

(stories to come)

italy!

krista's wonderful picture for our creation drama

book table and distribution

our new friends from the church

kwanga singing for us

preparing for international night - pumpkin pie (from scratch)

our countries "traditional" dishes

we love you guys and will miss you!



God is good - all the time

I went to Italy for a 2 week outreach with very little idea about what I would be doing. I had questions about how God would use me and how effective my time would be. I didn’t know the language or the culture, and I certainly knew nothing about the ministry of the church we were to work with. But I trusted God, because He knows I want to serve Him and He wants to use me to bring glory to Himself.

On Friday morning I went with 2 girls from the local church to the university where they are studying. We went armed with a small table, evangelistic literature and the desire to share the Good News. God gave me amazing opportunities. I met some students who spoke English. They were so warm and friendly and were genuinely interested in me and the message I had to share. As we were leaving they asked to see us again and we jumped at the chance.

The following Thursday the 2 girls and I met 3 of the students for coffee. We some spent time laughing and getting to know each other a little more before turning the conversation to the real reason we had come to meet them. I knew that I would probably never see them again and I had a burning desire for them to hear and understand the Gospel. As they were conversing in Italian I looked around me and had an idea to use the things on the table to help explain the Gospel to them. Starting with creation, I began to share with them God’s love for mankind and the coming judgement. I used the napkin holder to represent God (it was the biggest thing on the table) and various other items to help them understand.

It was such a privilege to have that opportunity. One of the girls translated for me and the 3 students listened intently and asked questions about things they disagreed with. I could see that they were really considering what they heard.

One of the students wants to know more. He has arranged to study the Bible with the girls! While this may be quite ‘normal’ in the country I come from, it is not in Italy. This is a miraculous answer to prayer, praise God! Another student we met also expressed the desire to study the Bible. Again, praise God! Please pray for these 2 young men, and also for the girls, that they would have sufficient courage and wisdom.

changed heart

We had the most amazing time in italy. This is one of many stories of how God blessed us and our conversations.

We were privilidged to be able to work with 4 of the girls from the church who took us into their universities to have book tables and just chat with the students.

The first time we went into the university there was a class of international students’ who didnt speak any Italian, which as you can imagine was perfect. At the end of the class I was able to talk to one of the guys in the class. This man at first wasn’t interested in taking a gospel tract as he was an atheist. However throughout the conversation God changed His heart as I told him the gospel. We spoke about why there was sin in the world and what God had done to fix it. The confidence the man once had in his belief was stripped from him as God broke down the barriers of what he once thought was true. At the end of the conversation I was able to give him a bible as he asked me which one he should read and which one was the truth. I told him to pray that God would reveal himself to him. It was amazing to see this man go from completely against the idea of there being God to wanting a bible to read and considering the idea of praying to Him, praise God.

Please continue to pray for this man.

Ooooh LA LA!

Finally in Paris! 

We arrived Friday night after an AMAZING 3 weeks in ITALY.  Our time there was definitely encouraging and each of us left with a renewed outlook.  The youth and local church were incredible.  They were with us each step of the way as we worked on outreach.  More stories to come!