Wow - it’s hard to believe that Ryan and I have been here
for almost one month! So much has happened since we arrived.
We had an eventful weekend that consisted of meeting some
really great people and had the joy of celebrating Marie Eve and Yan’s 12th
anniversary! Saturday evening we tagged along with our host family and went a
BBQ. We found ourselves inside a house FULL of French-speaking children and
adults. Talk about a good way to show us just how little French we know! ;)
Although the multiple conversations at once in French were quite overwhelming,
it was really great to meet a lot our host family’s Christian friends.
There was one conversation that evening that stuck out to me
the most while we were talking about evangelizing and missions. The couple that
was hosting the BBQ began talking about the mission field of Quebec. They said
that even though the province of Quebec has one of the lowest percentages of Christians in the world, no one comes to
evangelize here.
Thousands of people (like us) come to Quebec every year to
learn the French language and then go to other places in the world for
missions. The reality is that more people should be coming to Quebec not only
to learn the language, but to move here and proclaim the gospel. What a vast mission
field this beautiful place is! While I know that the entire world is sinful
(including the US), sadly it is very easy to see the corruption here. We all
need to pray for this country and pray that God might open our own hearts,
along with others, to bring the Good News to the people in the province of
Quebec.
(photo is from Tumblr)
Woah. That was a heavy load. On to a lighter topic: Sunday was a lot of fun, too! Marie spent the afternoon preparing a beautiful dinner to celebrate 12 years of marriage to her husband, Yan! She made an entire “fondue” meal, which I did not even know existed. I wish I had taken a photo of it! We had shrimp, salmon, and a beef-with-cheese-cubes-thingy, and we cooked them ourselves right there on the table. It was quite the experience! And along with the lovely meal, we had some great fellowship. Two other girls, Ashley and Jesse, joined us who were staying here for the week (one of which had previously stayed with them like we are).
After dinner, we finished the meal with some chocolate
fondue and fruit! Yum. Then I spent the evening with Marie and the two other girls, talking about life
and gawking over girly things like weddings! That led Marie to showing us her
wedding dress. Of course we bribed her into putting it on and giving Yan a view
of his bride in the same exact dress that she wore 12 years ago on the day they
married. Awww. What a beautiful lady and an amazing couple! We couldn’t be more
blessed to have been welcomed into such a loving home.
The earlier part of this week was filled with school and
study. I think I have watched the movie “Tangled” – or as they call it, Repunz
- with Marianne at least 4 or 5 times since
Sunday. She is such an adorable girl! Although we have a really hard time
understanding the kids, luckily the language barrier doesn’t stop us from spending
time with them – even if that does mean I have to watch the same movie in
French over and over again. J
Today was Marie’s birthday, so her parents flew in to take
her out to dinner. It was really great to see her parents again because the
last time they were here we could barely form a sentence in French! We spent a
good hour conversing with them and it was great to see how far we have come
since we arrived. The kids stayed here while they went out to eat, and you
guessed it: we watched Tangled 1.5 times tonight! We learned what the hardest
part about our language barrier with the kids is… Trying to put them to bed!
That is not such an easy thing to do.
This coming Sunday will mark 4 weeks since we arrived. I
feel like we’ve already learned a lot, but there is so, so, so much more to fit into our little brains! I hope that we can
make the most out of our short time here and I pray that we will learn much
more French while we are here. It is such a small amount of time to learn so
much!
One last note.. A beautiful little girl named Sage Fisher
from my hometown, Pawnee City, just turned four earlier this week. Last week,
the Fisher family found out that their little girl has a big tumor on her brain
that has been affecting her for a while now. A few days ago they found out that
there was a second, smaller tumor. They traveled to the Mayo clinic and – thank
the Lord - today she had an operation that removed up to 80% of the larger
tumor and they may have gotten all or at least most of the smaller one. They
will find out more within the next day or so after a follow-up MRI.
This is such a beloved family in the Pawnee City. Their
lives have literally been turned upside down within a week. However, the
community has not fallen short of their role in supporting Sage and her family
while they go through this difficult, terrifying time in their lives. Please
say some prayers for this sweet little girl and her family. If you want to keep
informed about Sage’s progress, you can join the Facebook group that was made
in support of her: https://www.facebook.com/groups/319877008143755/
Feel free to share this link with your friends and family,
because the Fisher family can use as many prayers as possible!
Much love!
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