Le Papillon

One month later... hmm, these updates have gotten away from me. Please forgive the lack of communication. I will give one more update before Christmas break which begins the 20th and then recommence the first week of January.

What have I been up to? School is the short answer as that is nearly all I do. In addition to that I have found a program that allows one to practice French in a round table discussion lead by a native speaker, every Wednesday I have a Bible study where we are studying the book of acts and I occasionally go into Paris during the weekend to hang out with friends. For Thanksgiving I ate with an American and some French friends one night and another celebrated with the other missionaries. I made Pumpkin Pie (I had to buy the canned pumpkin from an American shop in Paris which is ironically called “Thanksgiving.” They also have Dr. Pepper).

Honestly it has been a particularly hard month with many spiritual attacks and tough subject matter- pronoms (ie. it, their, them, him, her etc.). I was incredibly discouraged which lead to becoming depressed. However God has been my steady Rock and when things seemed so turbulent and difficult it never moved. In fact, it is much like when Peter was walking on the water. He took his eyes off of Christ and began to sink at which point Jesus took hold of his hand and kept him atop the water. What a great Savior we have, faithful and all powerful! The passage He gave to me during this time was Psalm 46.

After about two months here I finally just forced myself to speak more often (thanks to God) regardless of the beastly phrases and sounds that came out. The result is that I now have improved in all areas of the language! I continue to make many mistakes but I learn from them and gain further ground. God willing, I will be able to speak with fluidity, relatively few mistakes, no massacring of phonetiques and a more vibrant vocabulary. It has snowed here twice now! Living away from it and in a state of perpetual fall has made me realize that I do indeed miss the snow... although I will enjoy seeing a real spring and summer come at the proper time.

For Christmas I have been invited by a friend from church to go to his family’s place in Alsace- which I hear is the place to be in France during Christmas. On the 27th I will depart Colmar, France for Zug, Switzerland to spend a week with Corey and Tanya Best- friends from Colorado who now live, work and do ministry in Switzerland. When I return from vacation I have two weeks of school left before my final. So I am going to try and study where I can during the vacation.

One final note: I am now at 101% of my support!!! God loves us so much! Thank you so much first, foremost and above all for your prayers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I can’t tell you how much that means to me and how much it keeps me up and going! Thank you as well for the financial support!

Prayer Requests: 1. Wise management of time 2. Ability to drop all English language standards and merely accept French rules 3. Understanding of French grammaire 4. Energy 5. Preparation for my final the 27th-30th of January. Praises: 1. God’s love and faithfulness 2. God’s power 3. My new niece Mya Lemme 4. Improvement in all areas of language 5. 101% support level 6. Friends 7. The opportunity to go to friends places during Christmas