Much of this past week was spent in the northern part of France, 10 minutes from the Belgium border as Glenn and I attended Le Congrès de la FEEBF, or the Federation of Evangelical Baptist Churches of France as we would say in English. Basically, the French Baptist Convention.
There were some other folks with our organization at the meeting, along with the pastor from our local church and a woman from the congregation.
It was a GREAT experience because we were able to get a good picture of the evangelical work among our 120 or so (I forgot the exact number ...) Baptist churches here in France and it was 3 days of hearing and speaking French all day long! Glenn and I both were surprised at how much we could understand; not everything, but certainly more than we expected!!! My vocabulary is still pretty rusty so talking to people I met was very difficult. (I'll only speak for myself here) Once I heard the words, I recognized them and could then use them myself, but to pull words from my memory bank was quite difficult! I need to immerse myself in watching French news and reading books in French to increase my usable vocabulary. :-)
Each morning we were led in worship by a music group from Africa! Oh, how I enjoyed that!!
All day long we heard reports from various churches, departments and ministries. We even had a short presentation by two Sisters from a PROTESTANT Evangelical ORDER! One of the Sisters was Baptist and the other from a Reformed church. I never knew there was such a thing as a Protestant Order!
For me, the highlight was at the end (no, not because it was over!) when they introduced three young families that have been sent from Brazil and Togo (via the U.S.) to work in France alongside the French Federation churches. A secondary highlight was from a man in the church growth department when he said that each Baptist church should be working toward planting a church! Oh! May we be a part of seeing a revival in France as God's Spirit moves in the hearts of His people!
Okay, since my blog update was short this week and it's been a while since I've shown you pictures of my kids and grandkids, I thought I would add them today.
We just finished talking with Chris and Kate's family in Tennessee. I also read 3 books to Jazmine over Skype, which I really enjoy. However, I've got to start reading the books to myself before I read them to her to make sure the story is good and ends well!
Kari and Jonathan's family in Senegal is doing well. They will be spending a couple of months in Tennessee this summer (around the corner from Chris's family) and Glenn and I will be there for part of the time. We'll get to see both our kids and all the grandchildren together and although I don't want to "wish my life away" (as my mother once said), I am looking forward to us all being together once again, even if for a very short time!
See you next week with pictures of either our apartment or our little city. (It depends on whether I get the bedroom painted or not.)
Bonne semaine! (Have a good week!)
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