Mission in Marseille

Goodbye!

2008-08-03T22:16:00.002+01:00

Well, my bags are packed, my stock of swiss chocolate is bought. All that's left to be done is to say goodbye!

Of course, goodbye isn't the end. I'll be back in Switzerland next May, Lord willing. Until then, this blog will continue (although I'm thinking of changing it's name...)

Let's end with this picture taken today of some of my friends and beautiful Switzerland.

Goodbye and God bless!

Philippians 4.13

2008-07-31T17:27:00.002+01:00

My last act as a CEMist this year was spending two weks as a counselor at the Colonie Harmonie Bible camp, where I had a room of six boys, ages 10 to 11. We had a great time together. Another fun thing was that my whole family was part of the camp staff this year. Jordan and Kathleen were counselors for the 7-12 year-olds with me, Dad a counselor for the teenagers and mom bravely worked as head cook for two weeks, feeding 170 people every day.

The theme of this year's camp was Philippians 4.13: "I can do everything through him who gives me strength", which really encouraged me during my time at camp.

Now camp and CEM are over. I'm leaving Europe in four days to go study at Harding University. I don't know what is in store for me. But I do know that God will be there to strengthen me and see me through.

almost camp

2008-07-11T15:10:00.002+01:00

I know, I know. I haven't written in forever. Since last time, you've missed:

1) exams
2) weddings
3) work week at the center
4) CEM: summer session
5) CEM graduation

Right now I'm packing my stuff, preparing for camp. I get back July 31st, I'll tell you how it went.

See you then,

Justin

A New Life

2008-06-01T21:45:00.003+01:00

Did you miss me?

Well, it's been a while since my last post, so I don't know where to start. I think I'll do a series of "flashbacks" these next few weeks...

In the meantime, I'll go ahead and congratulate Anne-Lise and Daniel, two friends from the young adults group, on their marriage Saturday! The Chorale Harmonie was honored to be able to sing at the ceremony. The wedding reception was great, and we celebrated until early this morning.

May the Lord bless you in your new life together!

rest

2008-04-21T20:04:00.002+01:00

I got home last night after three very busy weeks of exams, travel, concerts and BAFA (French camp counselor) training. I now have a week of vacation to spend time with my family and friends. And rest.

Antiquity

2008-04-04T16:19:00.002+01:00

Well, I just finished exams for the second trimester of CEM. It's been a pretty hectic week, but now that that's done, I can focus on our choir concert tour, which starts with a concert here in Marseilles... tomorrow!

On Tuesday, the CEMists went with Max and Prisca Dauner for an "educational outing" to some of the archaeological sites in the area. We went to see the Flavian Bridge, an Roman bridge over 2'000 years old that's still standing, with it's arches and everything! We also went to the ruins of the town of Glanum, where we saw vestiges from from the Celtic, Greek and Roman periods. We finished our outing with a visit to the archaeological museum, the Roman theater and amphitheater in Arles. All in all, a fantastic day!

Here are some pictures from the outing:

Visite archéologique

Trouble in Algeria

2008-03-30T20:07:00.002+01:00

We learned earlier this month that the Algerian government has started enforcing the anti-proselytism law that it passed in March 2006. Since then, many churches have been forced to close, foreign ministers are facing expulsion from the country and several Christians have been tried and condemned "proselytizing".

So Saturday afternoon a few young people from church and I went into town join a protest against the oppression of Algerian Christians by their government

We were met with much sympathy, but also with hate.

Please pray for Algeria.

Snow and Ardèche

2008-03-28T17:24:00.001+01:00

I got back last night from the Bonnefoi retreat center in Ardèche, France. I went up for two days with Craig, Garth and Lucas to get some work done in preparation for the French-speaking Churches' retreat we have at Ascension. We also picked up thirty beds at another center that was closing.

There was a lot of snow up there, so Lucas and I went ahead and built a big snowman. It was fun.

I took a few pictures, you can see them by clicking on the photo below.

Au centre Bonnefoi

Easter

2008-03-23T18:50:00.003+01:00

When Perter and John arrived at the tomb that Sunday morning, they found it empty. Peter went in and saw the linen bandages lying there, and was perplexed. But John, seeing the cloths, believed.

"Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed". We were reminded of Jesus' words this morning as we celebrated the resurrection of our Lord. Jesus desires hearts that believe in him based on who he is and the promises he has made, not inescapable proof. He desires faith.

This morning we were over ninety assembled to share our faith and the joy of the resurrection together. We were able to witness one of our young members, Claire, act on this faith and be baptized into Christ. After service, we had a big meal together.

Worship, a new life in Christ, fellowship, good food, and the celebration of our risen King. What a wonderful day!

Foot

2008-03-19T23:00:00.004+01:00

I just got back from our monthly football (soccer in the US) match. The church has a team that plays in the Marseilles inter-church soccer league. It's lots of fun and a good way for friends to meet the Church in a fun, informal way. We're also excited about the European Church of Christ soccer tournament in Schaffausen, Switzerland, that we'll play in in April.

But back to the here and now. Tonight's match was a bit special because:

a) It was our first game played with our brand-new team uniforms, complete with numbers and FCCF (Fuveau Chapel Football Club) written on the back!

b) Today is also the eighteenth birthday of two of our star players, Constantin and Saïd!

c) The other team didn't show, so we split up into two teams and played each other instead. The blue team won, but just barely.

We then went to the nearby KFC to have ice cream and celebrate Constantin and Saïd's birthdays. Good times.

Happy Birthday!

2008-03-18T21:25:00.001+01:00

HAPPY BIRTHDAY
KATHLEEN!!!!!

18 already! Time flies!

Palm Sunday

2008-03-16T21:11:00.006+01:00

They lined the streets, crying "Hosanna! Blessed is he that comes in the name of the Lord!". They threw their cloaks and palm branches on the street to prepare his path. Children ran before him, filled with excitement. The crowds of Jerusalem joyfully worshiped God, thanking him for the promised Messiah who had finally arrived to free them.

And yet, five days later, these same crowds would scream "Crucify him! Crucify him!".

It makes you think, doesn't it?

Saturday

2008-03-09T22:25:00.005+01:00

Saturday, my day off. Felt good to sleep in.

I was forced to make a difficult decision, though. Do I spend my afternoon getting my homework done, so that I could have a calm, pleasant Sunday evening, or do I spend 4 hours of my life building a jousting helmet out of linoleum flooring?

Actually, the choice was easy.

Teen trip to Naples

2008-03-07T22:06:00.002+01:00

Well, I haven't been blogging for a while, but Dad says there is no such thing as "blog guilt". Good, it's nice not feeling guilty.

In the news here: during the second week of April the CEMists went to Naples, Italy, with teenagers from the churches in Lausanne, Geneva, Marseilles and Lille for a week of missions.

So, we sang for residents in a senior center, a foster home, a public elementary school, in the streets and for a concert organized by the Church in Naples. We also went downtown to give food to the homeless, we spent time visiting with members of the church, eating, singing and playing soccer with them. A great experience.

If you want to see some photos from the trip, click here and here for pictures we took.

Very mature

2008-02-08T13:06:00.000+01:00

What to do when you arrive early to the young adults group at church.

Of course, it doesn't always work...

Sleding in Ardèche

2008-02-07T21:50:00.000+01:00

Two weeks ago, we went up to the Bonnefoi retreat center for a bit of maintenance and cleanup. After a bit of trouble with the icy roads we made it too late to get any work done. However, we did have a bit of fun on the snow (snow! They have snow in Ardèche!).

The next day was very busy with moving beds around, cleaning storage rooms, finding a few dead mice, et cetera (no photos, that was boring).

One we were done, we had a bit of time to sled on the beautiful slopes on the grounds. The snow was frozen, which meant that the sleds went really fast, and that the only way to break was to jump off the sleds. Fun!

I'm back!

2008-02-04T20:03:00.000+01:00

Well, much to Raphaël's joy (and mine), my computer is up and running! I can now blog again! It's a good thing, too. A lot of bloggable things have been happening, so I have a bit of catching up to do. But first, here's a picture of two long-lost friends finally reunited:

Tuesday nights

2008-01-16T13:11:00.000+01:00

Every Tuesday evening, raphaël and I invite some of the young adults from chruch over to our appartment to partake in a meal of "super-sandwitches" with us. We then play cards, watch a DVD on Raphaël's computer, or just stay un and talk and laugh till late. Tuesday happens also to be the day we have the most homework, which means we sometimes are a bit tired Wednesday mornings.

It's one of my favourite parts of the week, when we can relax, have a good time and laugh a lot. Here are a few photos of yesterday evening. You would be surprised how much Lynda can eat!

We Three Kings

2008-01-09T13:16:00.000+01:00

We three kings of Orient are,
Lost in Marseilles after travelling so far.
Cars and danger, but no manger,
I knew we were following the wrong star!

We met kids at a Bible school,
They told me that I was a fool.
"He's in Bethlehem, give me your wallet!"
At least they didn't take my mule.

So we three kings of Orient are,
Driving home in a stolen car.
Melchior driving, I'm navigating,
With a map. Stupid Star

Back to class

2008-01-07T21:04:00.000+01:00

To all those still on vacation: enjoy it while it lasts!

I was thankful to be able to spend the holidays with my family in Lausanne. I had a great time! Such a great time that I didn't find much of an urge to blog...

But all good things must end. I'm not saying what comes after isn't good (gotta be careful what I say here, you never know who might read this), just that sitting around for two weeks being lazy beats getting up in the morning!

So this morning we started bqck for our second trimester of CEM. It was great to be back, although some people hadn't gotten used to getting up in the morning yet...

Goodbye PowerBook?

2007-12-30T18:36:00.000+01:00

My beloved old PowerBook G3 seems to have fallen into a coma (no, I didn't drop it), and so far, there has been no sign of recovery.

We've tried unplugging and re-plugging the whole hing. No good. We've threatened it and taken its battery pack out and battered it. No good.

Right now Dad is messing with it, but it doesn't look like it's going to help much.

On the bright side, this means I have an excuse to use Jordan's brand new MacBook Pro, which is waaaay better than my old one.

And it looks like we'll get to take the PowerBook apart! Fun!

2007-12-25T12:04:00.001+01:00

Merry Christmas!

Run Santa, Run!

2007-12-23T17:08:00.000+01:00

I'm home!

After two very busy weeks at CEM (hence the lack of blogging), I'm back in Lausanne for two weeks of vacation! It's goig to be great to spend time with family, with the Church, to see friends and get some rest.

I've already been able to do the first three things on my list. However, I have yet to get some rest (I could have napped this afternoon, but then, no blog). I got back at 11:45 last night, and then Dad and I ran to the centre of town to join Mom in the Lausanne Midnight Run, which started, coincidence, at 12 pm.

There were about 750 runners, a few of them dressed as Santas. Thankfully, none of them passed me. I guess they had had a few too many cookies.

Booby Trapped Garage

2007-12-07T22:08:00.000+01:00

Tomorrow evening, the church is hosting its annual Christmas program. Our choirs will sing a few praise and Christmas songs, then the children and teenagers from the church and neighborhood will present a musical about the Nativity.

People from this area of France are known for their tendency to exaggerate. They exaggerate so much that they supposedly claim Jesus was born in southern France, not Judea. So there is a traditional Christmas story here about how Jesus was born in Bethlehem, France (no one knows where it is anymore, but it is known that you have to go through Marseilles to get there). Throughout the musical, two angels argure about where the Nativity is taking place. It's fun!
We will perform again in another neighborhood next week. I was there putting invitations in mailboxes, when I notices a strange sign on one house. Now, I'm used to "I have dogs who will kill you" signs and stuff like that. But this one said, I am not making this up, "booby trapped garage".

My question: How would you go about booby trapping a garage?

"Ados" night

2007-12-05T17:22:00.000+01:00

Once or twice a month, the church youth group has a Saturday evening activity. The teens ("Ados" in French) invite friends from school or their neighborhood to come play games, eat, sing and pray with them. It's always really fun, and we've had 20 to 30 kids almost each time. For some of them, this is the only contact they have with a church.

As CEMists, we help Philippe set things up, organize the activities and games, and clean up. Of course he usually does most of the work, but we'll get to take more responsibilities as time goes on. We also have a blast just spending time with the teens. So far I haven't found one who could eat more than me or beat me at arm wrestling (those wimps).

In Lausanne

2007-12-02T19:15:00.000+01:00

After the retreat in Germany, we CEMists came down to Lausanne for a seminar on 1 John and Thanksgiving (we came for Thanksgiving, we didn't study it. I don't even think turkeys are mentioned in 1 John).

The seminar was great, I learned a lot (gnosticism = bad, love your neighbor = good).

And, of course, the Thanksgiving feast was wonderful. Mom spent a long time in the kitchen preparing the meal, and it was really worth it! It was great to taste Mom's cooking after having to eat my cooking for two months!

Here's a picture of the three CEMists in Lausanne. We look tired, but we were more tired than that.

Nathan

2007-11-30T23:16:00.000+01:00

Here are a few photos of the newborn Nathan. I got to see him on Thursday, and he is as cute as a newborn can be. The fun thing was to watch Philippe, his Dad, act silly. It's not often you get to hear your introduction to the Old Testament teacher talk with a sqeaky voice and say Guzzi guzzi guzzi!"

By the way, Philipp took these photos and wanted me to tell you...

Rothenburg

2007-11-28T13:57:00.000+01:00

At the Euro-American retreat in Rothenburg, Germany, we CEMists got to listen to conferences on the book of Exodus and how to live relationships the way God wants us to. We also got to hear lessons on love, perseverance and the mission. All very encouraging.

Here are some pictures of the old city of Rothenburg (click on the photo to see them all)

Rothenburg

"Home" Again

2007-11-25T21:37:00.000+01:00

We just got back from our 8-day trip across Germany, Switzerland and France early this morning. The trip was great, I met lots of people, had a lot of fun, and learned a lot (is there a convenient synonym of "a lot" I could use?).

We came back a day early because Dolores, who works for CEM and is the wife of Philippe , one of the evangelists here, gave birth to her fist child yesterday! Philippe's father and brother were traveling with us, so we drove (they drove, I slept) through the night to get here today.

So more on the trip and photos are pending. Until then, I'm going to bed (yea, right).

Ach nein!

2007-11-16T18:06:00.000+01:00

In less than twelve hours, I'll be on my way to Rothenburg, Germany for the Euro-American family retreat. It'll my first time there, so I'm really looking forward to it!

It's going to be an interesting linguistic experience, being in a German-speaking country with French people trying to speak English. So, to get in the mood, I ran this text through the Google translator in French and German and than back to English.

Enjoy:

In less than twelve hours I will be on my way to Rothenburg, Germany Europe for the American family retired. Ll my first time, so I am very concerned that!

It will be an interesting experience linguistics, which is in a German-speaking country with German people who try to speak English. Then, for you in the mood, I met this text in the Google translator in English and French as well as English in return.

The Last Shall be First

2007-11-15T23:45:00.000+01:00

When I came to France, I discovered that part of my ministry was to learn how to play soccer (known as "football" here). This is a bigger effort than you may imagine, considering that I play with as much grace as a pregnant hippo.

So anyways, our church has a little team and we play against other churches... and our team has lost every game it has played since its creation. Our first match of the season, we lost 1-11, and we were playing as hard as we could. There's about as much chance of us winning a game as there is of it snowing in Marseilles.

We had a lot of snow today.

And our team won its first match ever 3 to 1 last night! I even got to play. It was great fun to see the curse finally come to an end!

But it was cold out there!

Foi en Folie!

2007-11-13T13:13:00.000+01:00

That's "faith gone crazy" in French, or something pretty close.

It's also the name of the activity we have with the 10 to 12 year-olds every month. Last time, we made pizzas for the church meal on Sunday. So what do you get when you cross 6 kids, 4 adults, and a lot of pizza dough?

Lots of fun and a whole bunch of pizzas (as in almost forty)! Enough for everyone on Sunday, and several days worth of leftovers for us CEMists (our motto: "if it's free and nothing's growing on it, we'll eat it").

Great fun. We'll have to do it again sometime.

The Fuveau Chapel

2007-11-11T20:06:00.001+01:00

The church celebrated ten years of existence here on avenue de Fuveau this weekend. Saturday was spent in prayer for the church here and its future, and in the evening we sang, ate and watched PowerPoint slideshows of the church over the last ten years.

Things certainly have changed! Ten years ago, the chapel was a garage, the preachers were younger, and the kids from the youth group were still in diapers (well, they were a bit older than that, but you get the idea).

For the past ten years, the church here has been reaching out to the local community. If you walk into the chapel Sunday morning, you will find ethnic French, North African, American, African and Arab brothers and sisters. People from every social group and class here in Marseilles, who wouldn't be together if it weren't for Christ's love.

Happy birthday, Fuveau Chapel!

Three Heads are Better than Two

2007-11-09T17:20:00.000+01:00

Or so I've heard.

Last night, the number of students here at CEM increased by no less than 50% (and, technically speaking, no more)! Linda, from Lyons, came to join Raphaël and me to do CEM this year.

Welcome to Marseille, Linda ! May the Lord bless you throughout this year !

The CEMist Classroom

2007-11-08T17:21:00.000+01:00

I'm going to do a short series of articles on the places in which I spend a lot of time, so you'll be able to recognise things when you come and visit me!

Mondays through Fridays, Raphaël and I spend most of our mornings in the CEMist classroom. It's a nice little classroom, with a small library with several interesting books I plan on reading soon. We even have heaters! We're thankful for this, because the first year of CEM, they had NO heaters. And even down here, I'm told it can get cold enough to kill electronic equippement (macs go to heaven, PCs reincarnate as those annoying stuffed animals that talk when you squeeze them).

Thankfully, it hasn't gotten that cold yet. Though that doesn't stop the prople here from turning the heaters on full blast. Old habits die hard, I guess.

Raphaël

2007-11-05T22:37:00.000+01:00

I first met Raphaël in 2005, when he had just met the church here in Marseille. Since then, the Lord has really changed his life. I was present at his baptism this summer at bible camp, and we were all filled with joy to finally see him give his life to Christ.

He is doing the CEM program with me this year, and we have been spending a lot of time together. Almost all of our time, since we live in the same appartment. But we get along well. I've learned not to mock the French while he's around (or any other French person, by that matter), and he has discovered I don't like being told I'm wrong (strangely enough, those two things often happen simultaniously...).

We haven't yet not determined who isn't the worst cook between us. But we're working on it.

Young people stuff

2007-11-03T13:03:00.000+01:00

Yesterday evening we had our young adults group at church. We had a good time eating, praying, talking and playing Bang!. The outlaws barely beat the sheriff and his deputies, to everyone's surprise.

For our bible study time, we read from Colossians 3.1-4. In the text, Paul encourages the christians to desire thing that are in Christ, and not the things of this world. It's a good reminder, especially in today's materialistic society.

And, just for fun, here is a video from the youth retreat. Our team was eliminated in the quarterfinals. Bummer.

All saints teen retreat

2007-11-02T13:17:00.000+01:00

I was rudely awoken by my alarm clock at 5 am last friday morning. So I got up, set it to 5:15, and went back to bed.

An hour later I was in the car on my way to the Bonnefoi retreat center in Ardèche, France, to help prepare for the All-Saints teen retreat.

About 40 teenagers, ages 13 to 18, were there from Lausanne, Geneva, Lille, Marseilles, Lyons and Paris to spend time together having fun and learning more about God.

They had Bible classes, discussion and prayer groups, sang together, played sports under a clear ble sky, ate lots of pizzas and burritos, played crazy games in the evenings and even slept a few hours!

They can't wait for next year.