Salut!

It’s been a very long and difficult week. Things have been difficult at the church, there has been the usual run-up-to Christmas chaos and amidst all that I got a tummy bug.  Not the best week I’ve ever had!  There has been a glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel today - finally! 

However, one thing that did make me giggle was at my dance class christmas party…  Attached to the school there is a Gospel Choir.  Who are seriously rubbish!!  But they sang for us at the party.  I presume they were trying to say ‘I’ve got joy in my heart’.  Instead they sang for about 5mins about the joy in their hat!  I want one of those hats!!

I commented to my friends that it’s funny how Gospel music is so popular in France when it clearly proclaims truths about Jesus and his love for us.  I said that if my friends from church offered to sing you a song like that it French, you would claim that we are prostlytising and stop us in our tracks.  The girl’s response was, ‘When the words are in English we don’t relise that they are influencing our spirit.’  Make of that what you will!

I’m off home tomorrow.  I’m not looking forward to getting the metro in the middle of the morning commute with my suitcase.  I am looking forward to spending time with my family.  Speaking English.  Eating Roses and mince pies.  Celebrating the complete mirical of God becoming one of us.

(Can I add:  I know my spelling is rubbish.  I see that words are spelt wrong, but I don’t know how to put them right.  There is no spell check on this blog.  To be honest I can’t be bothered to copy and paste into Word.  You understand what I’m saying right?)

Here’s a link to a great song for Christmas.  If you can’t understand the French there is a English subtitled version, click link on the left.

http://clip.nohell.fr/

On another note:  Please pray for our little community.  Tensions are running high and I find myself, yet again, stuck in the middle. 

It’s almost this weekend, and I haven’t told you about last weekend!  How slack of me.  After the service here is Paris I drove little Fifi with her new exhaust - she was very proud and wanted to show it off - down to Orleans.  It was the Christmas Carol concert in English adn I really wanted to be there and enjoy it.  It was even more exciting becauase Annette came with me.  Everything is better when it’s shared…except chocolate cake. 

We arrived early and spent an hour visiting the Christmas market in the city centre.  It was lovely and crisp, music was playing, and a mug of mulled wine topped it all off!  Then I saw the roasted chesnut stand and got all excited.  I queued up and bought a packet like a little kid.  Annette had never eaten them and I was looking forward to showing how yummy they can be.  The first one was rather bitter and I dissapointedly reached for a second.  As I peeled it, it split in 2 and a spotted a MAGGOT!!!!  Arghhhh!  I promptly gave the entire bag to a man with a rat on his sholder.  Ewwww. 

Wow!!  I am very proud of myself!  We needed to drop books back at the Christian bookshop right in the heart of the city, so Henri gave the directions and I drove!  By the time we arrived I was a nervous wreck and he drove back!  By which time it was the lunch rush hour and snowing heavily, so I’m very glad he took the steering wheel!

Paris drivers are SERIOUSLY kami-kazi nutters!

It has not stopped raining!!!  Wednesday we got cold, wet and miserable in the rain.  Yesterday we cancelled becuase it was raining too hard.  Today we went out to the market in Arcueil and the rain held of, mostly, for about an hour and a half.  We gave out calendars with a different Bible verse for each day and invites for our Christmas celebration.  We had a few conversations and a few people who were interested in our events.  We’ll see if that amounts to anything. 

We are praying for 10 new people to come to our ‘Fete de Noel’ on the 21st December.  You may not think that’s a lot, but when you consider we are only about 20 on a Sunday morning 10 extra people would be a 50% increase!

My car has broken down and needs the exhaust changing for 200€.  It really is one thing after another this week.  I’ve got to walk back out in the rain thiw evening to collect her.  They had mis-written my phone number so had been trying to call me all morning to let me know the damage, but of course they couldn’t get me.  I walked the half hour to the garage in the rain around 3pm wondering what was going on and find out nothing because they couldn’t get hold of me!  I tell you, it’s all complicated at the moment!  But thanks for the prayers.  I feel better in myself! 

This week we are having a concentrated effort of out-reach.  Our main aim is to let people know that the church exists and to publicise our Christmas celebration.  We did our first stand outside the metro stop this morning.  It was FREEZING!!

We were selling books and Jesus videos and giving away calendars and invitations.  I was surprized that we sold so much in 2 hours.  2 books and 5 Jesus videos!  (It’s not a lot for a shop, I know…but our aim wasn’t really to sell things, that was just a way of being in the public place.)  We didn’t have that many interesting conversations with people, mostly becuase it was so cold!  What we did notice though was that almost everybody who stopped to look was black.  It was plainly obvious that the black community was interested in things of a spiritual nature and the white people showed an arrogant distane or at best a complete ignorance of God.

Pray for us as we continue our stands and events this week.  Pray for the softening of the white people’s hearts.  Please pray for me too.  Attacks, things going wrong…call it what you will…but I’ve been feeling pretty grumpy and easily annoyed these past few days.

Thank you!