In the midst of that time my team was able to spend a week on a local outreach in a near-by town called Alles. We were housed in an apartment above the church. Our team went right in to serving mode. We attended church service on our first day. The rest of the week pretty much came into focus as each day was lived out. On Monday we spent time in prayer with the church's food bank team and then helped to load the truck for delivery and prepare boxes for distribution to the local community that is in need. That afternoon we had our team time and then just a simple family dinner time. The next day we went to a local homeless ministry, Point Coeur. There we met some men and women who lived in the housing provided by the ministry but they all gathered in the small community kitchen area to meet us and drink coffee. We were invited back the next day to lead a Bible study and worship. Later on Tuesday evening we attended a Bible study with a local evangelical church. It was good to stretch out and commune with other believers sharing some of what we had planned for the remainder of the week in their city. On Wednesday we returned to Point Coeur and two students led out worship in French and then our French speaking student shared how God is not concerned with out outward appearance that He accepts us just as we are. It was really good and brought about great discussion with the men living there. We were then invited to stay for lunch but alas we had other plans for the afternoon but told our new friends that we would return on Friday. That evening we joined the church in their mid-week gathering for more of God. It was a great time of worship and prayer. We were super excited about spending time on Thursday afternoon with church members as we went out for a treasure hunt throughout the city. If you are not familiar with that terminology, a treasure hunt is where we pray and ask God where He would like us to go expecting that there would be someone there He wants us to meet. Sometimes He gives great details other times there are specifics but they might be few. I really felt that this was going to be a time of us taking the Kingdom of God with us and being ready for whatever happened to happen. As me and Jean left the church we spoke about how we share God or get the opening to pray for people. For me I have found that a smile breaks the ice anywhere in the world, with a quick greeting to follow. We pretty much did that throughout the center of the town, stopping to pray for those who expressed that they did not mind having prayer. The other two teams experienced meeting individuals praying for them and or creating conversation. While we did not see healing's or lead anyone to the Lord this time I feel was powerful and a good time of stepping out in faith ready to be used by God.
It is now three weeks past this time and things seem to be on fast forward motion but God is good and faithful and all He asks is that we take things one day at a time. My team leaves for outreach to Lyon, Monpellier, Nantes and then Paris starting the 2nd of December and returning to St Hippolyte around the 22nd of February. I will do my best to keep you up to date with the happenings of the outreach as often as possible. We are expecting God to move and to be a part of the work He is doing in each city. I am praying for team unity as we learn to live in a smaller community with love, honor and grace. We are excited to say the least.
