Evendays

The College church will meet its mission budget this next Sunday. Almost $50,000.00 was given for evangelism work in Kenya, China and here in Europe. That’s very good news.

If you want to see my short message to the church in Fresno, and you have a very fast connection (a must) you can check out this high-quality video (the video, not the content—or the face!!!) that I’ll leave online for a week or so. You may have to pause at the beginning in order to allow some buffer in order to watch it without interruption.)

Last Friday morning, Wife and I accompanied 11 of the students from Pepperdine’s Lausanne program to the nearby retirement home (Bethanie) for a morning of singing and talk. The students, all women, did a remarkable job and the home can’t wait to have them back.

Tomorrow, December 2, the College Church in Fresno will be having their annual Harvest Day when they collect all their mission’s money for the entire year. Since College is our sponsoring church, what it given directly affects our ministry in Lausanne and throughout Europe.

Please keep this church and our work in your prayers.

 

The armistice began at 11 AM, Paris time, on 11.11.1918.

As of yesterday, there were but 2 French veterans of that war who were still alive. During the war itself there were around 8,500,000 military deaths. During the war, the French suffered a 75% casualty rate (1.3 million dead. 4.2 million wounded.)
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We had 6 youth from the Geneva church come and visit from Saturday evening and Sunday afternoon. Our Sunday singing was much improved. They were fun to have and an encouragement to our family and to the church.

In the afternoon, we tried to practice a Skype video conference call that will performed on December 2 with the College church in Fresno. The call worked but the video didn’t. Our capable technician in Fresno was up before 6 AM on Sunday morning to hook up with Beijing, Nairobi and Lausanne. It seems that video conferencing is possible for PC’s, but once you add participants, it doesn’t work for, ehem, us Macs.

Yesterday was a very affirming day although it was a day of meetings. Bryn and Blake were at College church to report on the Let’s Start Talking project. About 20 children sat around them, listening intently to the two college students tell about their work in Lausanne. None of the little guys, ages 5 to 10, were too interested in making the trip in the future… Steve did a good job on James 5, only stealing two of my verses from next week.

We met with Gene Sue’s shepherding group. They had  questions on stuff we don’t often think about: Is there a home-school movement in Switzerland? How do people from so many language groups get on with each other?

We attended an old-fashioned potluck and then met with the elders. They prayed for us and laid hands on us, telling us how much they loved us.

The 9 members of the mission committee had many questions as we looked at possibilities for the next few years.

Our furlough is winding down. I appreciate the time we’ve spent in California with dad, mom, brother and sisters. And church. Not all our foreign church workers have this kind of experience. Thanks, College church!

Today was the first chance we’ve had to share with our “home” church in Fresno about the work in Lausanne. Wife and I were welcomed by old friends that we hadn’t seen since last furlough. It is neat to be loved in such a way!

Although much of our financial support comes from the Lausanne and Geneva churches, Fresno has played an essential role in our service, being true partners in the work since 1989. But what we appreciate most is the confidence the church has shown in us. The members here really trust us. We are thankful for that.

There are others, families and individuals, who have partnered with us since the beginning, way back in January of 1985. Without their help, we could never have continued serving God in Lausanne.

We thank the Father for the church in Fresno and all that she means to his Kingdom.