It took six years to get my life together and spend a couple bucks on pots, potting soil and seeds, but hey, I'm on my way. And I'm very proud of myself. Outside my kitchen window I have radishes, cherry tomatoes, basil, cilantro, and mint.
Garden
Ever since I've been in the city I have dreamed of having a little garden outside my window. Perhaps it has to do with the cost of living and the price of basic groceries. Perhaps it has more to do with an inherent desire to commune with nature, even in a big city. 
It took six years to get my life together and spend a couple bucks on pots, potting soil and seeds, but hey, I'm on my way. And I'm very proud of myself. Outside my kitchen window I have radishes, cherry tomatoes, basil, cilantro, and mint.
It took six years to get my life together and spend a couple bucks on pots, potting soil and seeds, but hey, I'm on my way. And I'm very proud of myself. Outside my kitchen window I have radishes, cherry tomatoes, basil, cilantro, and mint.
home repairs
yes, that's right, even in dreamy Paris we have to keep house like everyone else. Sometimes it can be quite draining to have to worry about repairs in the middle of a busy week. Sometimes it takes months before action is taken. In this case, a friend volunteered to come fix our book shelves. They're all falling off the walls one shelf at a time!
Sunday Night Worship Night
Reconnecting with the Christian community in Paris. 
We were able to touch base with a wide range of students at the Sunday Night Service. Sara is on the right wearing blue. She says "Hi" to Diana in America! :)
The pastor of this church is advising us on our church planting project. He is French and he is one of the most well-respected pastors in the city. Just this week we were talking out some details and his suggestions ended up changing our mind. He's a great pastor to have behind us, cheering for us, and he is always praying for the need for more churches in Paris.
Barbeque & Prayer
We spent Saturday in the suburbs chilling with some of our ministry partners. Discipleship advice was shared and put into practice. Our evangelistic prayer time highlights praying for the soul-health of each encounter on the agenda this week, and praying for boldness and timely words in each harvest worker. May God's Glory Shine!
Looking to Improve Your Guitar Skills?
Why not be an American who comes to Paris with your guitar to learn new techniques and practice with the artists on the bridge all night long?
Bryce leads us in a song on the largest pique-nique terrace in Paris that stretches from one side of the river to the other. Notice the other guitarists in the background behind him.
Mitch follows along learning a new song.
We gather a crowd.
Someone we don't know leads off in a lively Russian ditty.
A Mitch original!
Strangers come up and ask if we're taking requests.
And a film crew finds our jam session interesting and decides to film us for a while. They even left their business card for Céline and as it turns out their neighbors!
The Hassles of Paperwork
Being an American in our neighborhood is great. We love the neighborhood, and the people here seem to accept us as one of them. It's great.
But being a Foreigner in France is not easy. There is a lot of paperwork to do. (maybe not as much as my sister has, but still pretty annoying. Essentially, we have to renew our residency card every year. That sounds simple right?
This year it has been anything, but simple. They tell you to file for a new card two months before your card expires. One would assume that this convention would assure that your new card would arrive before your old one expired, thus you would always have a valid card. We filed in January.
This year we filed twice by mail, visited the main office twice, and visited this branch office three times, and we still don't have a proper residency card. All we have is a document that is stapled to our expired residency card that says we are in the process of renewing the card. And since the main office is backed up with requests, the branch office where we went to get the temporary document was really overloaded because everybody else has the same problem. We showed up at 10:30 in the morning and waited in line 5 hours.
People were falling asleep waiting in line.
Unfortunately, the line is outside in a courtyard, and it wasn't very clean.
Plus we were starving, having stood in line straight through lunch.
French Church Starts Fair Trade Café
We visited our colleagues recently and had the pleasure of seeing their progress on a project that has been dear to their hearts for a long time. Our church in Dijon, France (the mustard city) has rented this location and is in the process of remodeling it into a Fair Trade Café! 
Humanism & The Holy Spirit
No other route to seeking truth works from the inside out!“All of my life I heard people spouting truth. Their version of the truth. ‘Peace is found by emptying your spirit of bad thoughts.’ ‘Love is when someone holds you in their arms.’ ‘Joy is treating your neighbor as you want to be treated.’ (these are humanism) Good Luck With That ! I tried it. HA, what a bunch of baloney. No amount of self discipline can counter balance the deliciously evil schemes we relish in our minds; love hasn’t worked for anyone I know except fairy tale princesses, and even they suffer; and my neighbors don’t deserve more than a kick in the pants!” (this is post-modernism)Are you ready for some revolutionary new news?
Repentance from sin is GOOD NEWS!
That's right, good news! Are there sacrifices involved, sure. We trade a BAD way to get happy, for a GREAT plan that promises joy.
Do you see why repentance sets apart our quest for truth? All of the paths to truth that the world invents require super-human effort to achieve freedom. God’s plan involves one super-human who achieved freedom for us and then sent us a spirit to live in us and give us extra strength. It’s almost as if the Holy Spirit gives us special super powers.
That would be a cool thought wouldn’t it? The Holy Spirit is the key to fulfilling the world's high and lofty humanistic goals. When we recognise that some things only God can do and that sometimes He likes to work through us.
Do you see why repentance sets apart our quest for truth? All of the paths to truth that the world invents require super-human effort to achieve freedom. God’s plan involves one super-human who achieved freedom for us and then sent us a spirit to live in us and give us extra strength. It’s almost as if the Holy Spirit gives us special super powers.
That would be a cool thought wouldn’t it? The Holy Spirit is the key to fulfilling the world's high and lofty humanistic goals. When we recognise that some things only God can do and that sometimes He likes to work through us.
LOVE AS A CASE STUDY:
So the quest for love is revolutionized. I examine some of the tools my friends promote - they don't seem to be working for my friends either. But now with God, I have new tools I can afford to destroy some of the old advice and follow new guidelines: wait till marriage, choose a timeline that fosters deeper commitment, give wholeheartedly.
Simultaneously I let go of old methods and implement new ways of demonstrating love. It works. And guess what? I learn what it means to love better and better. And as I learn, I leave more things behind. And you know what we call those rotten things we leave behind that promised joy, but just don't work? We call them SIN. Yeah, because they're not from God.
And when I feel too weak, and when I face trails, I lay on my face and I tell God I don't know what to do. He works it out. Because that's His job. To teach me how to love.
HOME
Have you guys seen this film? It's the first French film to be released simultaneously on the big screen in a 100 countries, on DVD, and on the internet for free! It's a pretty incredible format for propaganda.
Tonight our neighborhood young adults club invited us to a private showing in a cinema down the street from us. They even lined up a DJ and served free drinks and snacks afterward to promote discussion.
I love the artistic photography, and the music was compelling. I really appreciated their constant reference to evolutionary miracles. "And so a miracle took place, life."
And I'm pretty interested in helping the planet - especially if I'm proposed simple ways to do so. Don't buy palm oil, eucalyptus, or soy products. Cut your beef consumption in half. Boycot shrimp farms, only eat wild seafood.
The thing is, we all hear these ultimatums and consumer advice everyday. But no one has ever explained to me the BEAUTY of making a good consumer choice. Until now.
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