This year, Olivia is thrilled to have an English class tailor-made for her alone, thanks to Beckie – a British college student who is spending a year at our school to complete her French degree. In December, they read "A Christmas Carol" together while the rest of her class struggled to master the present continuous tense – Ha! I confess that I approached Christmas with a Scrooge-like attitude this year, based on past experience:

You may recall that last year we were sick and broke the week before Christmas. The year before I moaned about my husband’s inability to fill my stocking. Earlier years in Europe went unrecorded in my newsletters, but in general, they were a real adjustment for my kids, living in quarters too cramped for a nice tree, missing Rocky Mountain snow, and getting cabin fever with everything closed and no family to visit, which every other French person is obligated to do at this time of year. Going back even further, our pre-missionary holidays in Denver were still very hard on me since Christmas was couched between Noah, born on his aunt’s birthday in early Dec. and Olivia, born on my mother’s birthday in early January 2 years later.

So this year, the Ghost of Christmas Past took up residence in my soul and convinced me that this was another year to dread: Rachel would be at a rare gathering of my whole family at Christmas in the SW and I would not. Almost 14, Olivia was mourning the end of "Christmas Magic." I imagined Noah would come home bearing only dirty laundry and an attitude. I was sure we couldn’t escape some version of the flu due to miserable weather of the rainy kind, and was extremely skeptical about the timing of Christmas money with the supporting church transition. So I announced to everyone in October that it was high time that the family started thinking about how to meet Mom’s needs for once, and threatened to leave the country if necessary (at least an hour into Germany for a day at the thermal baths!)

Then on Dec.12th I walked into a Salvation Army store and saw the Christmas gift of my dreams – a comfortable leather sofa for $200. (Our furniture was shipped with us from Denver and is starting to show its age.) When David said we couldn’t afford it, the Ghost of CP said, "I told you so," and I came home instead with Christmas shirts for him and a funky coat for me. When I relayed the story to my parents that evening, they had the money waiting in our Paypal account the next day with a message saying, "Enjoy your couch!" And suddenly, I didn’t need to go to Germany anymore.

The next day I got to "pay it forward" by playing taxi for 2 friends. One is a very pregnant mother of 3 who lives up 4 flights of stairs with no elevator, whose husband is working Mon.-Sat. and whose car died during the coldest week of the year. She is pretty trapped because her youngest needs to be carried down the stairs and her hips are so loose that it would be easy to fall in the process. She called when her cupboards were bare to see if I could take her and the 2 youngest to the grocery store. Fortunately I was feeling energetic that day: up 4 flights of stairs, mittens and hats and coats, down 4 flights of stairs, install car seats, load carts with 2 weeks of food, load sacks into the car, entertain the kids in the car while she makes a 2nd stop, unload groceries and boys, 4 flights of stairs x 4, help put it all in the cupboards, down 4 flights of stairs, remove car seats, head home. Two weeks later she needed to do it again. This time, I paid Olivia and her friend to babysit the 3 kids while we did it, and fortunately her husband was at home when we returned to carry it all up for us!

Back at the Salvation Army the next day,I was told that my dream had already been sold the week before, (but hadn’t been marked,) and the GCP started snickering again. However, there were at least 20 other couches in the store and several were leather, so I tried them all. I loved a butter cream leather recliner the most, but it wasn’t marked either, and I was afraid to ask about it for fear of disappointment. But first I settled on my second sofa choice and the manager came down $20 since it was in slightly worse condition than my first choice. That gave me the courage to ask the price of the recliner. "$20." As my jaw dropped, I kicked the ghost in the head and headed to the cashier. They would deliver them 4 days before Christmas and take our old one with them.

The same week, I was doing my Christmas week grocery shopping and suddenly heard live accordion music while putting a bag of frozen frog legs in my cart. Looking around, I spotted a man wearing a Santa hat playing by the entrance. It was an epiphanal moment that broke through the daily grind. I suddenly realized that I’m living my dream – celebrating Christmas in France. I got a little emotional and couldn’t wait to thank the man on my exit. Alas, by the time I got there, he was gone. Live music in grocery stores is pretty rare – I think he was Gabriel in disguise giving the GCP one more kick.

A few days later, we picked up Noah, who thoughtfully brought back a library book for Olivia’s pleasure, and did not pack an attitude! And magical weather of the snowy kind kicked in for the first weekend of Christmas break packed with festive events, completely unhampered by the flu.

When the delivery men showed up on Monday, I’m sure they had never seen an American get so excited about used furniture. And when Olivia caught a news blurb that a Salvation Army Major was shot in front of his adopted children on Christmas eve, we were both adamant about writing a letter to his family and contributing to the memorial fund – what a sobering example of the body of Christ giving their very lives to provide for others…

While it’s true that our Dec. deposits were delayed until after New Year’s, our den became a PC emergency room that month, (with Noah working the night shift,) providing a steady stream of euros. More angelic activity was evident when all our Christmas packages and last-minute Internet orders arrived by Christmas eve!

I end with a new rendition of Psalm 23, which lends itself nicely to a eulogy for burial of the Ghost of Christmas Past:

The Lord was my Christmas Shepherd, and I did not want.
He made me lie down on leather furniture. He led me beside downtrodden mothers.
He restored our souls. He led me in the path of gratefulness for His name’s sake.
Yea, though we walked through the cold, snowy streets of Guebwiller,
We caught no flu for You were with us. Secondhand coats, they comforted us.
You prepared a Christmas table before us in the presence of many froggies.
You anointed our heads with patience, and now our provision runneth over.
Surely goodness and mercy has followed us all these 10 years in Europe,
but we can’t wait to dwell in the house of the Lord forever (with all of you.)

Happy New Year,
Angela

It’s obvious that God is still eager to see us mature in our trust in His provision to a greater degree – this month was almost as excruciating as the Channel crossing last month!

• The day after I sent the last newsletter, my dad was rushed to the hospital with chest pains. The bad news to go with this bad news was that they had just driven to their rental home for a couple of months where they have no land-line or Internet, so I was only able to talk to them once in the ICU during the whole 5-week episode.
• Black Forest Academy was closed down for 4 days with swine flu by the German government.
• I had spent a lot of money on fancy wall treatments for my long, dark, narrow hallway entrance (aka “the tunnel”) and the materials only covered 1/3 of the walls and I hated the result. Now what??
• A couple of years ago, a woman rented a room from the church and created some shadowbox frames with verses and paintings of Biblical scenes surrounded by dried flowers in a dated 70’s style. She was asking $25 – $100 and guess what? They didn’t sell and the rent didn’t get paid. She left town and her wares behind. We boxed them up and they sat in a corner gathering dust for a year.
• During Thanksgiving week our missions coordinator let us know that with the restructuring of the church under a new pastor, they would not be able to continue handling our support income, and as we mentioned last month, deposits have been pretty haphazard ever since. Our bank accounts were hitting new lows!
• At the same time, we got 2 parking tickets within days of each other. Then I drove to BFA to sell at their flea market to try to make a little grocery money. I actually lost more money than I made because I was caught speeding on radar. When we received that ticket in the mail along with the bank’s overdraft charges, we had to pray ourselves out of utter despair!
• Then it was time to celebrate Thanksgiving with 17 other English people. My British neighbor initiated it and it sounded fun… 3 weeks ago. She made it sound simple – she would deal with the turkey and hosting stress. I would make the pies and cranberry salad. The other families would bring simple side dishes and drinks. Then her husband got a job promotion, so she was really excited about it! Meanwhile, I was trying to figure out how to buy the ingredients I needed and get in a party mood as the hosting American.

  And now the happy endings that prove that my Redeemer lives and He loves to redeem everything!

• Because my parents were in Phoenix instead of Las Cruces, they were close to my sister and a fine hospital. Dad was this close to a heart attack, and 4 stents later, he is a new man. Rachel will join my family for Christmas at their home this year. Wish I could be there to celebrate life with them!
• Noah escaped the swine flu and any other flu, for that matter, while the majority of his dorm-mates suffered to some degree. (Not having a roommate probably helped.) David just drove over to celebrate his 16th birthday with him. The gift he wanted the most was… an 8GB USB key. I miss going to the toy store and buying brightly colored things that move! His classes are a good fit this year and he is aiming high in his choices for college.
• A handyman friend showed up out of nowhere with a sudden interest to help me redeem the situation, even though he is completely renovating his own house. He re-plastered the entire “tunnel” in one day! Now I’m really taking my time to decide how to finish it, so as not to waste anymore money.
• I was going to offer to buy one of her frames from the church at half price in order to frame something of my own, and then I realized that I could recycle all of them. I have a dresser that is filled with nothing but artsy calendars, cards, and papers that I’ve collected over the years and done very little with. This was perfect – with no investment I could sell them for much less and split the profits with the church to redeem the situation. This has also provided some much needed balance in my life – doing something I love to do, rather than just what I should do. So I re-created 18 and sold 10 this weekend. Because our church here is aware of our tight transition, they graciously said that we could keep all the profits and buyers were complimentary and generous!
• For administering our support income, it looks like we may have found a new church connection, so for those of you who give regularly – please don’t send any further support to Denver after Dec. 15th. We’ll be sending new information as soon as possible.
• Thanksgiving was still tough going for me all the way around, but my salad was a big hit and our guests left happy! I even found “A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving” on DVD at the local grocery store a few weeks ago – nothing short of miraculous! By the way, we’ve just learned that our favorite grocery store is closing and this is hitting me harder than I thought it would. It’s the only place where I can always find foods that we really value: high quality (and some hard-to-find) fruit and veg, popcorn, natural peanut butter, and pecans. I’m not familiar with the store that will replace it, but I need some redemptive action here!
• And I’ve saved the best news for last: We are officially in the French healthcare system! Our expensive mandatory private healthcare only covered major medical, so now we have much lower premiums based on what David is earning, and we are enjoying regular reimbursements for my migraine meds and dr. visits. The timing couldn’t be better. Now we’re climbing the next administrative mountain. In France, families receive regular child benefits for school-aged children. Since the first hurdle took 5 yr. to accomplish, we just hope this one happens before Olivia moves out…

This month, I am learning that all the interior work that God did with me over the summer had a higher purpose. In September, I was bolstered even more. With David gone most of the month, I was dependent on my Jesus and we made great strides together. I was given $300 for keeping a 12 yr. old for 10 days. I made huge progress on the house. I didn’t have any migraines. I was able to keep up with Olivia’s new school and music lesson schedule and all the transportation involved (usually David’s job). I hosted weekly inner healing group meetings, prayer times with Olivia’s home room teacher, and invited a British student over every Sunday for internet/phone time. My Pilates class started back up and I signed up 2 more friends to attend with me. In other words, every day was busy, and I was able to keep up!
For those of you who do not know me personally, this is a big deal. I think it may have something to do with dropping all my roles at school. As much as I wanted to use my teaching degree and help lighten the endless janitorial load, it was sucking the life out of me. I see now that this is not the battlefield where I am going to advance. So for our spiritual, physical, and emotional sanity, David and I are narrowing our focus.
This month the focus for me was advancing in inner healing training in order to strengthen our church body, so that we can move into greater kingdom works. Because I had to cross the Channel to do it, I thought it could be recounted more efficiently if I wrote in the abbreviated style of a diary of a soldier heading to Normandy:

D -8: No deposit from our supporting church for 3 weeks while they change their accounting processes. My inner healing team gathers to encourage each other and pray for our 2 trips to attend seminars for further training. Everyone has a mountain in front of them to keep them from going, but we know it is God’s desire for us to go and it is key to continue moving forward in establishing this ministry introduced over the summer.

D -7: David catches a bad cold. Hosting our friend Alana for 5 days – Her presence helps us keep our chins up. (She is here 3 months to find her place before moving over for good next year.)

D -6: Two on our team overcome (severe physical pain and getting time off as a teacher) to leave for the seminar in Germany.
I book our rooms at a local B&B in England by faith, since no advanced deposits are necessary.

D -5: Still no money; David still weak. We cancel plans to attend a wedding over the weekend.

D -3: I catch David’s illness. (Thanks to Columbus Day Stateside) still no deposit.

D -2: I am in bed all day with a fever. 4 weeks without a deposit. David still recovering.The elders come to anoint me with oil.

D -1: Fever has broken, I pack my bag for the 4-day trip in the evening. Got the laundry done, but asked friends to help feed David and Olivia. Both still certain that I should go. Thanks to the support of the Body, we are learning to walk through closed doors.

D-Day: Got in my teammate’s car at 6am for the 8 hr drive to the coast. Called David before boarding the ferry, and the deposit has arrived, and other money owed him for his IT work came in. Friends in England even wiring money. While looking off the ferry at the white cliffs of Dover, I am amazed at my recovery. We are all light-hearted as we “walk across the water.”

D +1: Fought a migraine and didn’t sleep well. Meds weren’t helping. Not permitted by the B&B owners to stay in my room to recover. Teammates praying over me day and night – a real training time to strengthen me in coming against physical attack without David to lean on/replace me. Refreshed by worshiping with new songs in English.

D +2: The fight continues. Tried different meds to no avail. Someone brought me a duvet to lay on during the day. Enjoying the freedom to talk to strangers in my own language without fear of reproach and be a translator for the team. Despite nausea, tried to enjoy the fish and chips we had for dinner.

D +3: Slept better, but woke up with my head still hurting. Cried out to God for mercy during the worship time. Yes, I’d been a good “soldier” and not backed down, but emotionally, needed to be His little girl, to enjoy my last evening and the last day before the long drive home through the night. The film “Up” was playing in a small theatre in town – been trying for months to find it playing in English somewhere in our region. Begged Him for a breakthrough so that I could see it before we left. Throbbing slowly stopped at end of day. Teammates could not endure anymore English, so dropped me off to see “Up” alone. So happy… shared my joy with cashier, and afterwards, my ride home showed up like an angel at the right place and the right time, even without a phone call.

D +4: Attended the last session with a smile on my face. Received a prayer of impartation from leadership to plant ministry in Alsace. Ferry ride very rough and nausea returned, this time for all 3 of us. Back on the road, the fatigue and muscle aches hit at about 3 am with a couple of hours to go. Back in my bed at last, the illness that I had left behind came back and spent the next 27 hours sleeping off and on.

D +5: Received a perky e-mail (from the teammate that did most of the driving and who is 13 years older) reporting that he was already back in the saddle! Still shuffling around in my pajamas feeling miserable while the neighbors a few feet away chose this day to jack-hammer all the plaster off of the front of their house. Gumdrop spends the day yowling in anxiety.

In 2 Sam. 24:24 David refused to make a sacrifice to the Lord that cost him nothing. That costly sacrifice stopped a plague on his people. I believe that my sacrifice is one of the beginnings of ending the plague of lies that prey on the minds of on French Christians. At the same time, we are being prepared to walk head-on into future challenges while covering our brothers, confident that the more intense the battle, the greater the glory!
So who’s with us?
Love, Angela

My anticipation voiced at the end of May’s newsletter came to fulfillment this summer. Looking back on the last 3 months, I have a lot of catching up to do, and “God’s summer school” is the best way to describe it! Here are the “courses” I took:

ADOLESCENT PSYCHOLOGY 101:
I have hosted my last foreign exchange student. Our 2 weeks with a 14 yr old Swiss-German girl were the longest of my life. Her school mandated that she attend a foreign school for cultural exchange and practical foreign language application. Her parents wanted a Christian school and we were asked to keep her. Initial e-mails were friendly, and we were excited. Then she arrived. She spoke as little as humanely possible. She lived on iced tea. After school she holed up with her friends on MSN all evening. I tried to be funny to get her to talk. I communicated my concerns to her parents. In the end, I gave up. David and Olivia communicated anything important to her in German. God bless her (and her parents too, for generously reimbursing us for our trouble!)

On the other hand, we will be hosting one of Olivia’s best friends this year 2 nights/week because as 8th graders, they will add Wednesday morning classes to their school schedule. Since “Pauline” lives quite a distance, and her younger siblings don’t come in on Wed., it is easier on the family for her to stay with us Tues. night -Thurs. morning. She has had visions of leading worship with Olivia, so we are planning for them to take voice lessons together as well.

SOCIOLOGY 201:
I have not shared here my struggles with our current neighbors, but I finally got some breakthrough, so it’s worth telling now. On the ground floor, my kitchen window looks directly onto a paved private courtyard to which we have no access. It is an entryway for the landlord’s apartment and one of his rentals. This means we basically felt like zoo animals when in the kitchen. On top of that, our bedroom window faces the renter’s large kitchen window and balcony on the 2nd floor. In the warmer months, we share the lives of the loud renters pretty intimately as open windows are a necessity without a/c and sounds resonate off the concrete walls. So when a broken couple moved in with their young children last summer, it was a full-fledged attack on my heart. The kids were treated no better than dogs – let loose in the courtyard without supervision and screamed at from the balcony if anything went wrong. Of course the kids were curious about me, being in such close proximity, and would come to the window for a smile. Once I even passed some popcorn through the window to them. But the parents remained cold and distant, so I didn’t feel comfortable pursuing friendship with the kids, and we eventually put up frosted contact paper to create a privacy barrier. It was even more painful for me when the kids would climb on the window ledge and try to peer in. I would crank up my worship CDs to keep the anger from entering my house and my soul and I thanked God when pre-school started. But when their baby sister was born, a new form of torture began. I like to have my devotional time in my bedroom, but soon I started spending most of my time crying for the crying baby. (The landlord has kicked out loud renters before, but unfortunately, their noise seemed to coincide with the hours when he was running his sandwich shop down the street.)

Now dear readers, add to this scenario the onset of menopause, despairing thoughts of being left alone for 3 weeks when David visits Indiana in September and the conviction that we would never find the money for improving the ugly, worn areas of our home that I stare at everyday. So…we started praying over a house for sale in the quietest corner of Soultz, and I kept praying for that family – my heavy heart slowly turning from hatred to compassion.

And then suddenly one day, “Bam!” The landlord decreed that the children couldn’t play in the courtyard anymore and a great part of the noise was pushed back into their apt. Two weeks later a humble and anointed man landed in my living room for dinner and after listening to my heart, helped me see that the knee deep spiritual oppression that we live in was pulling me under after so many years here, and he strongly recommended a vacation outside the country – France isn’t called the “missionary graveyard” for nothing! He reminded me that “the devil is a bastard,” and he will kick that baby in the head if that will make me depressed and ineffective. Now that I see the situation with new eyes, I am no longer overcome by the victim spirit that reigns here (self-pity and powerlessness,) but will have victory by walking in the opposite spirit until I have the right to speak into my neighbor’s life (or one of us moves!)

This week I had my chance to love. I called out to my neighbor from my bedroom as she entered the courtyard. I smiled at her hard, ashen face and asked if she liked mirabelles and would she like some, since a friend gave us more than I could handle. She said ‘yes’ and I ran down to the kitchen window to pass them through. Don’t they look like the burning coals in Proverbs 25:21-22?

HOME DECORATING 101:
I am currently celebrating several generous deposits received throughout the summer! After our revelations about my state of mind, there was no question that the influx would be spent to beautify the bathroom and traffic areas at last. (And please don’t ask me why everyday paint is $20/pint in this country.) Though renovation is still out of the question, at least it will be appealing enough to sell, when we decide to move. Then when the money ran out and I unexpectedly needed to replace the frames of my glasses, I dumped all the cash in my wallet into the offering box the next Sunday to break the lie that I had hit my withdrawal limit with God. And lo and behold, another large deposit showed up a couple of days later that covers my glasses, plus back-to-school shopping for the kids and birthday gifts for David!

WEDDING PLANNING 102:
We received a record-breaking 4 wedding invitations this summer and felt like Charlie when he found the golden ticket in his Wonka bar. You see, when you receive a French wedding invitation, you are automatically invited to the ceremony and the social reception time. But only a select few, depending on the budget, find the additional meal ticket enclosed to participate in the late night banquet and entertainment. We got 2 golden tickets this year, which is a good sign that we are now considered part of the family! The first wedding took place in mid-July and it was so unique that I have to share some details:

#1: The bride fell in love just a few days after her mother renounced the negative words she had spoken over her growing up: “You are so strong-tempered that no one will want to marry you!” #2: We got the invitation 6 months in advance since the French make their reservations for summer holiday rentals in Jan-Feb. #3: The wedding took place at an ancient church with no foyer or convenient bathrooms. #4: The 2:30 ceremony was delayed at least 1 hr. – the irony being that the groom’s family was stuck in traffic, and they are Swiss, i.e. punctual! I spent the time roaming the village looking for a bathroom, and everything was closed on a Sat. afternoon! (And without the aforementioned church accoutrements, the bride waited patiently in a car nearby and stayed abreast of developments by cell phone.) #5: There were many small children in attendance whose parents weren’t prepared for the delay. As predicted, tired cries ensued from the balcony in the middle of the ceremony. When I asked someone if he always brought his young children, he replied, “Yes, because weddings are such casual events.”(!!) #6: Almost all the special music was performed in English – at least we enjoyed it! #7: The reception location was 30 min. away – too far for a tired and thirsty bunch of guests. Fortunately, I had brownies in the car, made for the reception, and handed out a few to some esp. desperate women who hadn’t eaten that day due to all the pre-wedding prep. #8: The banquet was held in a third location, right in our village. This enabled David to save the evening by walking home to loan our corkscrew and bread knife. (How could a French person forget the tools needed to enjoy bread and wine??) We left for good at 11:30 p.m. (missing the cheese and dessert courses) because we had to lead worship the next morning. When we learned that it went until 4 am, we warned Olivia that we were physically incapable of giving her a French wedding. Adjustments will have to be made!

TRENCH WARFARE 101:
You may recall that I was looking forward to a couple of seminars over the summer. They proved to be more like boot camp! The first was a banner seminar led by David Stanfield, (who ministered to me during my low point described in my sociology class above.) He brought our weapons: the huge, hand-painted silk banners that I saw at the France en Feu conference in May, and he gave us what we needed: good teaching and permission to enter in fully! When everyone grabbed a banner and headed to the parking lot, there were no spectators – we became a joyous, united, powerful army. What a prophetic picture of the week to come!

Rusty and Janet Richards followed his visit with their seminar based on the revival culture they have been living in the ministry school at Bethel Church in Redding, CA. Nearing retirement age, they have sold everything to pay to attend this school, will return in Sept. for a second year, and then believe God will make a way for them to settle here. We can’t wait! (My not having an American sister in Christ around for encouragement and support has taken its toll on David!) Their 6 weeks here broke the curse over France that “nothing can advance in the summer” because of the sacred July-Aug “grandes vacances.” They also offered great teaching, quality materials (I’ve read 10 books by the various Bethel pastors that they brought along!) and permission to enter into the Kingdom of God more fully!

Rusty headed the charge by manning a worship altar in the basement of our church with his guitar, keyboard and watercolors in 3 hour slots 5 days/week. David padded it with 2 two hour slots in the evenings. You might call it our “secret weapon.” We were trained in resisting the enemy’s propaganda until we started believing in the power Jesus promised us through the Holy Spirit before He left. We also learned how the “Generals” of the Trinity secretly communicate intimately to us through all 5 of our senses. Then we put on our armor, left the walls of the church and made advances into enemy territory. We shared God’s love to strangers in the street with a game called a Treasure Hunt, and the French were amazed to see strangers open up for prayer! Bethel also takes healing very seriously – to the point of resuscitating the dead – and we saw the first fruits of healing here as we learned the keys of perseverance, boldness, and believing that it is always God’s will despite the outcome!

Janet also commandeered video training of the Bethel inner healing ministry for those of us who could follow spoken English. This was to form a MASH unit, as our church is very weak in pastoral care. If you recruit “soldiers” who are already wounded, they won’t last very long in the fight (and they believe this is what accounts for the high attrition rate of converts.) We expect our church to grow as we touch the neighborhood through our healing room and clothing bank, so we must be ready to do quick and effective surgery (without years of training) to get them on their feet. Our “commando unit” has already experienced healing by “operating” on each other and we look forward to further reinforcement and training from England after the Americans return home! (We also have Alana, mentioned in my last newsletter, returning in October to do some more spying out of the land!)

Obviously, we have exposed our position and the enemy is not happy about losing ground, “What is that miserable French church doing in the streets praying for people?? Who do they think they are?” So we take some losses and counterattacks, but refuse to give up ground. We rest and strengthen ourselves with prayer and fellowship in a trench that looks like this picnic lunch by a mountain lake until the next advance. And finally, I find a quiet moment to type this newsletter.

Thank you to those who read this far and are standing with us! Love, Angela

P.S. Since these battles are really just drills for, in C.S. Lewis’ words, “The Last Battle,” I thought it would be timely to give the link to a very unique End Times website that Rachel created for her web-coding class last quarter.

We should have fastened our seatbelts to get through this month because it was such an adventure! In fact, you could say that God tried to warn us when we were pulled over for not wearing a seatbelt a couple of weeks ago! In the end, the police fined us for our worn front tires, and actually kept our registration until we replaced them (and we were given just 7 days to do it!) Even though we were $500 poorer, I actually felt a surprising gratefulness to them and to God for looking out for our well-being. This reaction is a welcome change from guilt for getting caught and anger over the unexpected expense. At least in this area, it’s good to see some fruit of the Spirit ripening in us.

May started with a drive to Lyon (4hrs) to attend an event (with some of our most eager worshipers in our church) for all the churches who are committed to building “altars of worship” associated with “France en Feu” (France on fire.) The goal is to have worship happening in France 24/7, and our church contributes one Friday night a month from 7-11pm. The Sat. was reserved for 12 hr. of solid worship, with breaks every 2 hours for the bands to change, and fasting was encouraged. I was so impressed with the music and the gorgeous silk banners being raised – French worship is coming into its glory at last! Here’s an excerpt from a new song we sang that weekend. During that time, I felt a strong impulse to pray over my thyroid, thinking it may be the source of some of my health issues. What was different was that I started talking to it tearfully like to an intimate friend, blessing it, etc. It sounds crazy, but since then my insomnia has left and my energy is definitely returning! And here’s another view of the event from an American friend, Alana, that attended with us.

A week later, a French prophet came to teach at our church for 4 days and David is the default daytime worship leader for events like this. With my newfound energy, I was able to get up and out early every morning to project the lyrics for him. This meant we could attend the seminar for free and receive a personal prophecy that resonated with us both and gave us a shot in the arm concerning how to pray into our future roles here.

The ride continued when we had to spend a day in Strasbourg to renew our passports. David and I usually avoid tourism and big outings because lots of walking results in pain and exhaustion. Well, we walked at least 5 hr. that day, and though David’s knee started aching towards the end, it was the first time in ages that I didn’t have to spend the following day in bed to recover. As an added bonus, the whole consulate visit felt like a big hug, and it was also the beginning of a fabulous, headache-free, activity-filled weekend with my French friend from Paris (whom I hadn’t seen in 18 months.) What a gift that was.

I’m still waiting for a breakthrough for my headaches and my hormone-related migraines are bad enough that I wanted to give birth control pills a try. So I paid my first visit to a French gynecologist this month, whom I have avoided because they are notorious for their awful bedside manner. Unfortunately, Dr. Hassenforder lived up to the stereotype and offered me one option. I assumed it was what I had asked for, not being familiar with French drug names, and started taking it. Very quickly I felt neutered, suicidal, and my migraines doubled. David finally became concerned enough to take authority over my depression, and as he prayed, I felt pain in my ear. At the “amen” the pain was gone and so was the darkness! Whew! When I finally googled it, I found out it was a testosterone inhibitor, (unavailable in the U.S.,) used to ‘hormonally neuter” certain male criminals, to put it gently. I could not believe my eyes and stopped the treatment immediately.

Although I am eager to continue walking in more miraculous healing for myself and the lost around me, I also know that God can work through suffering, if we will embrace it as Jesus embraced the cross. I could respond to a sleepless night due to a migraine with growing resentment and disillusionment towards God, or I can meditate on the crown of thorns (migraine parallel) that Jesus endured on my behalf and weep with love and gratitude, privileged to “share in his suffering, in order to share in His glory.” (Rom 8:17) What does that glory look like for us earth dwellers? The Message version of Gal. 5:22 gives us a good picture with a great twist on this familiar passage.

There are no guarantees that life will get easier, and many are hinting that this is the beginning of the end! Though other missionaries are being “laid off” from their church-supported organizations, we are pleased to report that we have not lost any support and David’s skills have provided plenty of ways to make some pocket money: giving some beginner instrument lessons, diagnosing sick PCs, and IT support. Now he is even having to say “no.” I am not advertising my English teaching until my headaches are more under control (and I’m starting a natural treatment soon, thanks to an angel named Rosie.) Well, actually I’m tutoring an 8th and 9th grader in English for free right now, but in the meantime, I’m asking my Father to show me his strategy for finding the right paying students for the future. I am eager to bring the kingdom of God to my village in concrete ways and this may be one of them! Anyway, my plate is also so full of hospitality in June, that I cannot imagine doing anything more: Noah returns home for the summer, a Swiss-German exchange student stays with us the first 2 weeks of June, American construction teams arrive for 4 weeks at the school, and our friends, the Richards, are arriving to connect and minister for the summer. They have been living in the healing revival environment at Bethel Church in Redding, CA for the past year and we are eager to receive from them!

I’d like to end this letter with a video by Sigur Ros – an Icelandic band that all 3 of my kids are crazy about. Though I don’t think the band members are believers, their music and videos have a prophetic quality that touches my spirit and makes me weep. This video illustrates my thoughts above in a very artistic way – Through these children, I see Jesus and his followers overcoming obstacles on the rocky journey of life, but the glory is waiting in the end! Click on the album cover, fasten your seatbelts and tell me what you think…

Love, Angela