Update Letter #5

Hello,

I began writing this as I waited for a train that was delayed.  I constantly tell my dad that I spend half my time here waiting for trains or buses...  yet I know this is something I will greatly miss.  I have two days left in Paris, something I try hard not to think about.  Paris has become my home.  I love the people, the history, the lifestyle, and the culture.  This is the place where I feel like I most belong, despite not knowing the language.  I think this speaks the most to my time here.

I haven't had much time to be a tourist in Paris or to travel Europe, so I decided to use last weekend to visit London.  I was told the mental break from not knowing the language would be good for me.  However, as much as I loved my time there, I was happy to arrive back in Paris to my home and friends.  I also realized just how much of an extravert I am.  Sure, I walk around Paris alone most days, but I always come back home to my roommates where we stay up most nights talking, playing games, or watching movies.  In London, I was socially isolated.  But this also led me to meet a retiree from California, a student from China, and a girl from Charlotte.  I had so much in common with the North Carolina resident (who was originally from Atlanta) that we decided to have lunch together at the Kensington Palace café.  As small as this experience was, it showed me that I am a person who needs people and that God constantly provides me with a strong community to depend on because he knows this about me.  I love that God is personal and intimate with His children.  This is further demonstrated my last night in London.  I explained to my 60 year old Airbnb hosts what I was doing in Paris, and they told me they were charismatic Christians.  The wife stayed up my last night waiting for my return to pray over me.  Everything she prayed was extremely relevant to my life, even as of that day, and I had not told her any of my thoughts.  They actually would have seemed irrelevant to our past conversations.  She spoke in tongues during the prayer and when she finished, she asked if I needed her to pray for anything else.  Of course, I said no because she had covered it all.  God has continued to show me his love, peace, and provision.

My last month here has been very chaotic and busy, one reason I haven't sent an update out in a while.  Much has happened, so I will again divide up my thoughts with headers.

Worship

As I have already mentioned, worship seems to be my main role here in Paris.  Friday, we had our second worship night, and a few nonbelievers from Active English joined us.  This is an accomplishment seeing how most people who attended last month were already believers.  The night flowed much better this time than the last because it was left up to the Spirit rather than being overly rehearsed.  We opened the doors and windows of Genesis, and many people passed by and listened to our music, which was really fun to see. 

I was also able to help a church build their worship program for a new service.  My roommate and I found a Bible study offered by another church (Emmanuel) as a way to give us a break from ministry.  The pastor had never heard of Trinity International Church, and through our participation in Bible study, he met with our pastor and our churches decided to partner. The pastor of Emmanuel started an English speaking service in the middle of Paris, but they do not have musicians to lead worship on Sundays.  I was able to meet with him and give him some tips on how to build their program as well as lead worship for their service.  I also had the opportunity to give one of their church members a few basic piano lessons so she can hopefully practice and learn how to use the gift of piano for worship.

All of this means that I have been leading worship a lot, and through this I have gained confidence, competence, and have learned how to better lead by the Spirit.  I was also able to grow through adversity within the worship team, which often comes when people are put into leadership roles without adequate experience or mentoring.  As time went on, I was able to approach these situations with wisdom, but I pray there will be some sort of change in the upcoming months as other leaders discuss these issues.

Saturday Events

Over the past month, I led two more Saturday Night Events.  Because our ministry is mostly relational, my goal for the events I lead is to have an intimate setting for people to talk and get to know each other.  The first event was Lego Night.  We had boxes of Legos set up on tables so people could walk in and create whatever they wanted.  During this night, we had children come to an event for the first time!  We were able to connect with the parents and discuss the purpose of our center.  Additionally, we had a couple from Seattle wander in and a few other native French speakers come for the first time.  My second event was International Night, which drew in the most people I have ever seen at Genesis.  There were so many people for this event that we had to spread out to downstairs as well.  I knew that Genesis attracted many people from all over the world, many of whom love sharing their culture with us.  I decided that having a night for people to bring a traditional dish and/or fact about their country would draw a large crowd.  We had people come from Senegal, Romania, Ecuador, Russia, India, Indonesia, Algeria, Morocco, China, and Cameroon just to name a few.  Two of the interns had deep conversations with a few of the attendees where they were able to share the Gospel.

Catalyst

I gave my last message at Catalyst Bible study three weeks ago on Isaiah 53 and showed how all the prophecies in this passage were fulfilled using Scriptural cross-referencing.  This topic was not only new for most of the people there, but I learned a lot as well.  I looked deeper into the Abrahamic blood covenant, and how we know the Messiah is both a suffering and triumphant Savior, even though this is contradictory to traditional Jewish beliefs.  After talking with my Dad on the subject, I shared the historical symbolism and significance of a blood covenant in that the punishment for breaking the covenant is death.  I also described Abraham’s dream in Genesis where a smoking pot and flaming torch (both representations of God) made the covenant in Abraham’s place because God knew Abraham couldn’t uphold his end of the covenant.  Thus, Jesus had to come to fulfill the consequences for breaking the covenant in Abraham’s stead.  I ended by describing historical evidence of Jesus as a living person.  This message was eye opening not only for me, but for the group as well.

Running

I was able to meet a variety of people through my Let’s Run Paris running group, but sadly, I did not build many deep relationships until the end of my internship.  This was partly due to lack of consistency with runner attendance as well as only one or two scheduled runs a week.  I was only able to meet with one person outside of running (someone who happened to be a medical student as well).  I was still able to share about Genesis and give people our business cards during runs so hopefully they may decide to come to a Genesis event. 

God Is Faithful

I recently had my debriefing with Sarah (my boss) in Rueil-Malmaison among a bed of wildflowers.  We discussed my overall theme for this internship, and it always came back to God’s faithfulness.  I can’t help but think of the Bethel lyrics to Ever Be, which says, “Faithful You have been, and faithful You will be.”  This has become a theme not only for this internship, but for my life as well.  I love seeing how God is constantly providing for me and directing me on a path towards His will.  For example, during my internship, He gave me greater peace about medical school by working out small details.  Before coming on this trip, I was worried about finding housing and a roommate while I was away.  However, I found a roommate who is a Christian, loves coffee, is interested in medical missions, and will attend the same church as me in Greenville.  Additionally, she and our other roommate were waitlisted for a two-bedroom apartment for the best and cheapest student housing.  However, when they called the resident office after adding me as a roommate, a three-bedroom apartment opened up that day!  God’s will in that moment could not be clearer!  The Lord also gave me more confidence in how to share the Gospel, how to lead worship, and how to teach others to lead worship.  These are just a few of the many lessons the Lord has taught me.  I’m so thankful for all my supporters who have made this internship possible and who have prayed for me throughout these last three months.  It will be hard to leave all my friends behind, but I have no doubt I will be back soon.  Because I have lived here and seen the Spiritual darkness, I can now be an advocate for France and other European countries in the church as well as continue to pray for the city.  I look forward to seeing where the Lord will lead me in the future, but no matter where I go, Paris will always be my home.

Prayer Requests
-Continue to pray for the worship team.  We are in need of more musicians as well as experienced and compassionate leaders.
-Pray for the new English service Emmanuel Church is starting
-Pray for safe travels and a smooth transition for me back into U.S. culture Thursday
-Pray for a smooth transition as the Paris team will have one less member to help with events and worship
-Pray for Paris as a country because they need the Light of Jesus.  Also, their big elections are coming up.