| Stanley Kubrick's cinematic legacy notwithstanding, I'm having trouble "making contact" in 2010. Each prayer bulletin seems to come out later! ;-) Some feedback about last month: - Our contingent in Mexico (11 in total) arrive back this week from 3 intense weeks of encounter with the Lord. While I don't know the complete report, I've heard that one lady whose hip and back have caused her so much pain lately that she's had to reduce her mobility and walk with a cane has put away her cane in Mexico. We're praying for a complete healing. Also our pastor's youngest son, who has had a good deal of trouble finding his way scholastically and vocationally is loathe to leave Mexico as he's really experienced a huge blessing and touch from the Lord. He may be staying there for a while. In addition to him really finding his destiny, this will certainly help build important and personal relationships between this church and ours. Good preliminary reports!
- Our time of hosting guests this month has been very rich (though tiring for Angela), The only one left in the parade of visitors is Noah...(no, he's not really a visitor ;-) ) It's been wonderful to share our lives more with others and to have a hand in connecting different people with what God is doing here. We count that as a real part of our calling here.
- Angela's time of substitute teaching this month was a real blessing for her.
- Worship times have been rich this month and we've managed to survive the juggling of the schedule of responsibilities...including this morning when I realized that I didn't have a sound man or piano player or lyric projector...we found last-minute replacements for all and wonderfully celebrated the resurrection of our Lord.
- One of the hallmarks of this year has been the establishment of two youth worship teams thanks to the arrival of Alana Smith who is particularly gifted in coaching, and motivating and organizing young musicians. This month our school participated in a contest of schools to create a short film. For this Alana asked one of the young worship leaders if he could write a song for the film. He quickly wrote it and it needed to be recorded. This was a fun (if unexpected) opportunity for me to help in this process of raising up young musicians, as I did the recording, drumming and mixing of the song (Olivia sang backup)...a fulfilling project that has taken up a good part of this last week.
- I finally finished my US taxes this week (French ones next). I typically owe a bit every year as I have to pay my self-employment tax. I was surprised this year to have a sizable refund because of two rather "one-off" credits that I had never heard of and didn't expect. This will help us be able to send Noah and Olivia to the States this summer. There is still more to pay for those trips but the Lord surprised me with this and He's able to surprise us with more provision as well!
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| - Worship Week - This week is a "heavy" worship week. It started this morning with leading worship for our Easter service. Tomorrow will be my weekly "Monday-afternoon worship" and then the real activity starts. This week a church from Switzerland with which our church is connected will be in the area for their annual church camp. Several of us will be with them this week to help in leading their twice daily worship times. This is a wonderful opportunity not only to participate in their worship but to sow into the relationship between the two churches. Please pray simply for strength in giving service, but also for increased heart connection that crosses the important French-Swiss border.
- Receiving - We have the opportunity to receive some extra blessing this month. Angela, Olivia and I will be in Germany the 17th-20th for a conference with Bill Johnson and Kathryn Scott. We're very excited about that. This coming weekend, Olivia will be participating in a special youth week-end at church. Much has transpired in this last month with the youth and their thirst for God. This is already an answer to Olivia's prayers for her classmates. God is stirring their hearts in a new way. More Lord! At the end of the month Angela may attend a national gathering in Paris of France en Feu that seeks to make France a worshiping nation by encouraging and facilitating extended worship gatherings all over the nation...calling the Church back to her First Love and her priestly calling in the nation. In all these opportunities this month, please pray for our receptive hearts and also for safety in the different longer trips we'll be on.
- Home Improvement - We've discussed at times (here, here, here and here) the lamentable state of the back of our house and our inability to do something about it due to financial and time constraints. For awhile I've wanted to fix the problem in a way that would open new possibilities inside our house. Our neighbor at one time was ok with our plans, but he's become fed-up with our inaction and has rescinded his accord with our intentions and has gone ahead with modifications in his courtyard that essentially nullify the possibilities that we had envisioned. Additionally, he has concerns about the safety of the back our house with respect to his courtyard and has written a letter to the mayor's office stating his position that if anything should happen, he would hold us responsible. We have an acquaintance from Olivia's school that is in the construction business who is sympathetic to our situation and has helped me already with fixing our roof. He's come and offered his counsel based on the situation. He suggests that we do away with the part of our house that juts into the neighbor's courtyard (which houses our only toilet) and that we begin some significant changes on the inside of our house to accommodate this. I'm ready to act..mostly because this situation has been a MAJOR thorn in my side for about 5 years now and I'm just ready for it to go away. Our biggest constraints at this time are this man's exceedingly packed schedule and finances (oh, and we've already received our furnace man's 2nd warning that the end is near for our furnace too). These are exciting times to see how God will provide! Please pray for discernment to know how and when to act and for God to use this situation as a testimony of His goodness to those around us...especially our neighbor.
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