From Mulhouse Sending Base, WEC France

It's been a while! We're safely arrived here in Mulhouse (Moo-lose). No...this isn't where we're staying...you'll hear about it later. Here's a cliff notes version of our time in France so far:

1. Lisieux (midway between Caen and LaHavre): All 9 of us sharing three rooms and one bathroom (!), a barn dance with the people from the projects, a church service, and opening for a gospel choir, who presented an excellent message. Also got to see the Basilica there. That's the picture above. :)

2. Bethune (in the Pas-de-Calais): A concert with the locals, including the mayor's wife, packed out a church that hasn't been full in 100+ years and God's spirit filled those people with joy, and played in a "collegial" - a slightly small cathedral. Had an amazing host family, who took us swimming and visited her family who includes a professional photographer, so we got a photoshoot.

And now it's time for lunch! TTFN!

From Bulstrode Sending Base - WEC UK

Welcome to my new temporary home at Gerrard's Cross (pronounced more like "Jared's Cross"), about 20 minutes from Heathrow. The flight over was good - had a great time with Chris discussing just...lots of stuff. Jet lag is kinda rough; one clock says 9:13 and the other says 2:13 - my brain is somewhere between. Going to church tonight at St. James I believe, and tomorrow starting ethnodoxology training with Ian Collinge and WecTrek training.

So now to fill that out. Yesterday we "slept in" til 8 (or got up at 6:30 to talk to the most amazing girl in the world and get ready to travel). Worked on a new song, "As for Me and My House" by John Waller. IMHO, we sound pretty amazing! Anyway, here's Waller's original music video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jjRiNL1HKns. (video may make short people ask questions). Got cheesesteaks for lunch and hit the road. We left Philly around 6 PM, fell asleep around 10:30 EST, woke up at 5:30 GMT as we were flying over Ireland (that's 2 hours of sleep). Got through customs (not something I particularly enjoy) and to Bulstrode around 8:30 GMT (3:30 EST).

Got a quick tour and then crashed for another two hours. The food is English - Stroganoff (maybe there's a brit name for it), parsnips, steamed veggies, and custard for lunch. But there's plenty of it and it's pretty tasty. :)

I started to read Madame Guyon's book "Experiencing God Through Prayer." It's quite good, so you'll probably see some quotes from it over the next few weeks depending on how tired I am after classes. She discusses techniques for prayer. I'm used to things like praying to request or to worship, but she discusses praying as meditation and using scripture in prayer. I've not really done that except the passages which are specifically prayers. More about that as I learn more, hopefully.

The next two weeks are crazy. The schedule divides each day into nine sessions with a 15-minute break and two meals. We go from 8:30 (3:30 EST) to 20:30 or later (3:30 PM EST) starting tomorrow, so if you want to chat, probably 4-5 PM your time would be best.

The sessions include 18 ethnomusicology classes, 13 Trek (mid-term missions prep) courses, a few instrumental classes, daily worship/testimony/devos and practice sessions, research sessions, a song workshop prep, sessions on French and Islam, and more. It should be AMAZING! But prayers for stamina and quick minds would be especially appreciated.

Anyway, that's an quick update. Gonna spend some time in Job now - have a nice morning and a great parade all my F&D friends! Miss you guys!

From WEC USA - Camp Hill Sending Base

Tomorrow we are crossing the pond. Now how I got here:

So this whole trip started with my random roving of the back hall of Demoss talking to missionaries during MEW. Mary Somerville told me about a trip to England and France to work with immigrants helping them write worship songs in their heart language and music.

So I prayed about it and decided this was a trip for me. So now, we are here with WEC, an absolutely amazing organization heading to England for two weeks of intense ethnodoxology training before the next four weeks in France working in many capacities.

And that's it for tonight. Cause curfew's at 11. Talk to you tomorrow!

http://www.springfieldhistory.org/CampHillHall.jpg