Friends and France

       I know it has been a long time since I blogged. My life here in France gets so loaded with studying that I don't have time for everything I want to do. But the last two weeks I have been on a break from school, and God has refreshed my spirit, mind and body with friends. The first week of my break, I did some studying, but was also able to meet my dear friend, Mathilde Mendez, in Chambery for a day. She was here visiting her family, and I took the bus over to meet her. What a fund day of shopping, visiting and catching up, and lots of eating! Her sister makes a mean Tartiflette! (potatoes, onions, ham and tons of Reblechon cheese) Oh my, the pants were tight after that meal. What a blessing Mathilde has been to me! She helped me get started on my French studies before I left in December. But mostly she shared herself with me! I so appreciate her!
      Then on Thursday, I picked up my rental car, and was able to go to Grenoble to visit with my friends that I met last summer at MTI (Missionary training international). They are here learning French also. Their baby was born with Hirshsprung's disease and they have been at the Ronald McDonald house since He was born, waiting for biopsies and surgery. I was also able to take a sweet young couple from my class that have a darling little boy who just celebrated his first birthday. We all had such a nice day together, fellowshipping, walking, and taking the cable cars in Grenoble to the top of the Bastille. By the way, little Samuel had his surgery on Friday, and they were able to remove the diseased part of his bowel. Please continue to pray for Danny and Mandy, and for Samuel's continued healing and health so that his parents can continue on to Africa to serve the Lord.
       Friday night I picked up my two best buddies from Riverside (Bev and Cris) from the Geneva airport. I just dropped this back off this morning at 5am (too early!). We had 8 full days of fun, sightseeing and fellowship. I can't believe how much we packed into those 8 days! We saw several sites close to Albertville (Annecy, Beaufortain, Miolans castle, Fort Tamie, The abbey of Tamie). We also saw Lyon, Paris, and went the last day to Turin, Italy. I have posted some of our pictures on Facebook, so hope you take a look. I really enjoyed sharing France with them. It is an amazing country with such wonders! The region I live in is unbelievably beautiful this time of year. There is still snow on the mountains, the hills are very lush and green, and flowers are blooming everywhere. I think that Bev and Cris fell in love with France as I have. It is definitely leaving a lasting impression on my heart, and I believe it did to theirs' also. Paris was unbelievable! There is so much to see, that we barely scratched the surface in three days, but we tried to see as much as possible; Notre Dame, Saint Chapelle, the Orsay Museum, the Louvre, the Eiffel tower, a river boat cruise on the Seine, and the L'Orangerie Museum. We also ate in a lot of great restaurants, walked through gardens and did a little shopping. Overall, a once in a lifetime experience.
     As I dropped them off this morning, I realized that I am not alone, even though I am far from friends and family. First, and most important, God is my faithful and loving companion. He never leaves me. Being alone here in France has deepened my relationship with Him, and my dependence on Him. As my friends shared their lives, and what is happening with my friends at church in Riverside, I felt so close to everyone. I loved the updates, and now know better how to pray for those people that I love so dearly. And thankful for all their prayers for me! Today is Mother's Day, and even though I am missing my kids and grandkids I will get to Skype with each of them later today. I am their mother and they are my kids, no matter how far apart we are. I am ever thankful for their love, support, and help! And God has blessed me with great friends here. Just this morning, my sweet friend, Christy, left flowers and a Mother's Day card at my door. And now, I am crying, just feeling blessed and loved, rested and refreshed by the Lord and my friends. Thanks, Bev and Cris for traveling a long way to visit me. Love you!
      And so tomorrow, it's back to language learning. I'm thankful that some parts are coming so much better, but the speaking part is still a challenge. Please continue to pray for this to start clicking better. Until next time, Love, Sandie

Examens

This post is all about giving God glory. I just finished a week of examens (the French word for exams). It was a stressful and difficult week. And then we had to wait until Monday to get the news of whether we passed or not. I spent a lot of my week on my knees before the throne of God, asking for aid! Yesterday, I received the news that I passed, and can go on to the next level. You might think I am exaggerating when I say, this was a miracle! But I'm not. God took this old brain, set in the English language, and helped me to understand enough French to pass their difficult examens. Granted, I didn't pass by much. But I think that is God's way of letting me know He was the one who accomplished this, and not to get too full of myself. I need to keep depending on Him everyday through the next 9 weeks to understand the material presented. This morning I was reading in II Corinthians 4 and was reminded again in verse 7 that all of this is for God's glory. If He can help a 59 year old woman retrain her brain to think and speak in French, then it's all His doing. Verse 7 says "But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us". Amen! I'm just a baked clay pot, and God has chosen me to serve Him in Africa. I don't know why, but I know it's to bring Him glory! Well, on to my first day of A2 and a new challenge!

Living a life of Faith

    I have been going through a rough patch again (the roller coaster ride of language school), missing my family, feeling a little depressed, fatigued from so much studying. I know we just had a break, but other than visiting a few towns around here, I mostly studied! And now we are back to school, learning more material and studying hard for our exams for this section (A1). If I don't pass, I will have to repeat this all over again, and the prospect of that is definitely discouraging. So, this morning, the Lord woke me up early, and again I found myself prostrate before Him, asking for help. The good news is that He is always there to hear and encourage. I started my devotional time as usual with "My utmost for His highest". In todays reading, he speaks of living a life of faith. He uses Abraham as an example, who is definitely one of my top examples of leading a life of faith! "He went out, not knowing where He was going..." Hebrews 11:8. Here are a couple of quotes from the reading... "Living a life of faith means never knowing where you are being led. But it does mean loving and knowing the One who is leading. It is literally a life of faith, not of understanding and reason- a life of knowing Him who calls us to go. Faith is rooted in the knowledge of a Person." This is so hard for me, because I want to understand, and I like reason. But God is calling me to be a person of faith! This is a difficult journey, as any of you know, who are also striving to be people of real faith!
   Later on in the reading, another gem; "A life of faith is not a life of one glorious mountaintop experience after another, like soaring on eagles' wings, but is a life of day-in and day-out consistency; a life of walking without fainting" (Isaiah 40:31). Lord, help me to walk without fainting!
   I am always in a state of reading through the Bible. This mornings' reading just happened to be (you guessed it) Isaiah 40! Isn't it cool how when God is really trying to show us something, He does it in multiple ways. I personally think it's because we are pretty thick-headed and He has to hit us over the head multiple times before we get it!!!  So my prayer this morning is to run and not be weary, and to walk and not faint.
    Thank you for your prayers, and please continue to pray for me during the next 3 weeks as I prepare for and take my exams. Whatever the outcome, I want to become a person of stronger faith, trusting in who God is, and that He is in control.

Le Fromage Usine (the cheese factory)

I've been able to do a little sightseeing while on a break from school. One of the most interesting places I have visited is the small village of Beaufort, high in the Alps. In this town, most of the people are animal farmers, cows (vaches) and goats (chevres). The use the milk to make a variety of products, but mostly cheese. We got to tour the factory where they make the cheese, and watch the men at work, mixing the cheese, pressing the cheese, wrapping the huge wheels of cheese in cheese cloth. Then we watched a video of their way of life. Again, super interesting, and I understood quite a bit of the French spoken in the video. Then the tour ended in the store, where we got to taste and buy cheese. Yummo! They say the 4 food groups in France are; bread, cheese, wine, and chocolate. Oh boy, my waistline is feeling it. I gotta go back to eating salads or I'll be in big trouble. I will try to post some pictures of this little adventure, but for some reason I am having trouble getting them to post. So, check out my pics on facebook.

Gratitude

"Lord, you have given me so much, but I ask for one more thing; a heart of thankfulness".
Things I am thankful for today:
1) Being a child and friend of God
2) His word
3) my wonderful family- and a shout out to my son, Chad, who's birthday is today!
4) wonderful friends, old and new
5) living in France for a year; what a journey to live in a new culture and learn a new language
6) the opportunity to serve God in missions
7) French Bolangeries (the bread here is amazing)
8) the French Alps (every day I get to look out my window at magnificent mountains)
9) Having a rental car for a couple of weeks (YES! Freedom)
10) Skype- so I can keep in contact with those I love (can't imagine how hard it was for missionaries in the past to leave their families, and never see them again!)
11) A break from language school- so great to give my mind and body a rest.
12) the ability to listen to my pastor's sermons (in Riverside) on a podcast. I love going to the French church, but still only understand about 1/4 of the message, so to hear a message in my heart language is super important.
13) Homemade peanut butter (since peanut butter is rare in France, and super expensive, a friend here taught me how to make peanut butter in a food processor with just peanuts, a little oil, and a little honey. Super yummy!)
14) Hopefully, a chance to visit some nearby French towns this week (if only the sun will come out, and it will stop raining and snowing).
15) Cards and packages from friends and family back home- they mean so much!
Well, I think that's about it for now. Love you all, Sandie

Misgivings

     I have had several tough weeks here at language school; I am studying harder and harder, and the scores are getting lower and lower. Last week, I was just above passing, and this week I was below passing. I have been so disturbed by all of this that I am not sleeping well, I am crying more than normal (I have learned from myself and others that crying is normal in language study!), I cry out to God to help; please show me what I am doing wrong. Well, this morning, when I woke up at 4am and couldn't go back to sleep, I cried out again; what is the problem? He graciously and tenderly revealed to me what the problem is. So, in humility, I share my findings with you.  My problem is pride! Hebrews 12: 1 says that we should lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, so that we can run with endurance the race that is set before us. One of the sins that I have wrestled with most of my life is pride. I arrived in Albertville thinking, I know this will be hard, but I can do this, I'm a smart person. After 7 weeks, I have come to the realization; I can't do this, I am not smart! This has been a hard pill to swallow. As I read "My utmost for his highest" this morning, God showed me that my confidence was in myself and my abilities, not in Him. Today's reading is entitled "Our misgivings about Jesus". It laid out my problem before me.  We say we are trusting in the Lord, when really we are trusting in ourselves. We have misgivings about whether or not He can really accomplish what He says he can, and our pride is hurt at the thought that He can do what we can't. The reading for today ends with a prayer, that I confessed before the Lord..."Lord, I have had misgivings about you. I have not believed in Your abilities, but only my own. And I have not believed in Your almighty power apart from my finite understanding of it."
     I'm learning that I have other lessons to learn here in Albertville, besides learning to speak French. He has to get me at the end of myself, so that I can lean on His power, not mine. A missionary who is depending on their own power is not going to get very far. He is teaching me harder lessons that how to speak a new language, He is teaching me to totally rely on Him. Ephesians 1:18-21 is Paul's prayer for the church in Ephesians, but also for us. He prays that "the eyes of your understanding would be enlightened, that you would know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of HIS power toward us who believe, according to the working of HIS mighty power, which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come."
     I will continue to study! I know He expects me to do my part. But I hope that I will recognize more and more that it is HIS power in me, and not my own that is going to get me through this program. Please continue to pray for me in this regard. It's not an easy thing to leave our pride and our will at the foot of the cross.

Adventures in France

     It's been a while since I wrote a post. Mainly because I am trying to keep my head above water in this French learning adventure. It consumes most of my day; I wake up thinking about French verbs and articles, and I go to bed thinking about how to ask questions and form sentences. My teacher and I are meeting once a week for one-on-one tutoring, and that has really helped. I think it's starting to sink into my brain. Praise God!
     But other than just language learning I have had a few opportunities to experience France in other ways. The Saturday before last I went to the city of Grenoble with a friend here who has a car. She was going to IKEA, and also dropping someone off at the train station there. I have been wanting a more comfortable chair, since these hard straight-back chairs have raised havoc with my bad back. So I jumped at the opportunity. It was a beautiful day out and the scenery was amazing on the way there. Albertville is so beautiful, but it is completely surrounded by high mountains. It's a little hard to get a bearing of where you are in France, or even which way is north or south. This was the first time I had left Albertville in over a month of arriving here. Grenoble is about an hour away from Albertville. It is the "capital" of the region/county of Savoi. France is made up of 95 counties, or regions. Each one has it's city where all the administrative activities occur. I will have to go back to Grenoble in about a month to present my long term visitor visa and get it approved. On the trip there, the valley opened up and the mountains got further away. We could see abbeys, and forts, and castles up on the hills. The river that runs through Albertville, followed along side of us most of the way there. We saw a lot of farms and horses, and cattle. It was really beautiful and refreshed my spirit! Well, we got to IKEA, which is exactly the same as in the states, even down to the Swedish meatballs, which we had for lunch. The only difference was that the food line had a whole section of French pastries, of which we had to partake of with our Swedish meatballs! The trip was a success and I found a very comfortable chair for only 49 euros. My back is thanking me!!! After IKEA, we took Marissa to the train station. I loved driving through the city of Grenoble. The architecture is very French, and very old. It's a beautiful city with lots of museums and interesting buildings. There is a cable car that is made up of individual "bubble' looking compartments (called the Teleherique de Grenoble, if you want to look it up) that goes over the Isere river, and up the side of a mountain to the "Bastille". I hear the views from the top are amazing. I hope to go visit there this spring when we have a break.
     My other fun adventure was getting to watch the opening ceremonies of the Olympics here at the school on the "big screen". Well, compared to my laptop, anything is a big screen. One of the men here set up his computer to view on a projector style screen, and we had a party of food and watching the Olympics. Of course, it was on French TV, so all of the announcing was in French. I think that I might start watching a little French TV on my computer because it's good to hear the language in a natural setting.
     The school is planning a one day outing to ski. I was planning on going, and just sitting in the lodge and sipping hot chocolate all day, but then I found out that they don't have ski lodges here in France. Since I don't ski (and neither do some others here), and I don't feel like just standing out in the cold all day, a small group of us are planning a train ride to a close by city; either Anechy or Chambery. So, I'll have to fill you in on that adventure once it has happened. In the meantime, let me express my thanks for all the cards and letters I have received from you back home. You have no idea how happy I am to look in my mail cubicle and see something there. Your sweet words and bible verses, and thoughts help to lift me up during the trying times! God is so good, and meets my needs at every turn. I am thankful for this opportunity to learn to lean on Him and trust Him more each day. Love you, Sandie