The scenery on our bus ride from the airport in France
For those of you just tuning in- I'm in Europe! I'm on an internship through Youth Missions International (YMI) with their Mission Apprentice Program (MAP) and will be traveling throughout Europe for 10 weeks. The purpose of this trip is for me to meet missionaries, experience their different ministries, and build relationships with the locals. I have a desire to be a long-term missionary, I have seen God develop in me the skills and passions that fit with long-term ministry, and I have had an interest in Europe for a few years now. This internship just makes sense.
Part of my schedule is still undetermined. It will be finalized later this week. What I know right now is that I am in France until June 26 when I fly to Portugal. The undetermined part is whether I will go to England after Portugal or not. I do know that I will finish up my 10 weeks in Northern Ireland. To recap: France, Portugal, (maybe England), and Northern Ireland. All of this from May 30- August 9!
On Thursday afternoon, May 28th, I got to the airport and caught my first flight to London. I traveled by myself until I got to London for a three hour layover. It was there that I met up with Morgan, a fellow intern who is coming through Greater Europe Mission (GEM). We will be working and rooming together in France. I will be in France for one month and she is staying for her full 2-month internship. She and I flew on the same flight from London to France. (I was in the States, London, and France all in 24 hours! CRAZY!!!) Our plane landed in Lyon and then we took a bus to Grenoble where a couple of missionaries picked us up and drove us an hour the rest of the way to the camp we are working at!
So now I'm in France. In the southeast corner. I'm actually pretty close to Italy and Switzerland. And the scenery? Camp des Cimes is up in the French Alps. We are completely surrounded by mountains! And trees!
Here is a panorama view from the deck right now. The scene is mostly covered by trees, but you can kind of see the tops of the mountains in the background! Just think green... everywhere!
Here's a better view of the mountains. We can see these out of the dining room.
The Camp des Cimes campus used to be a whole village. I was told that most of the buildings were probably built in the mid-1700s... which makes the buildings older than my own country. The property has slowly been bought up by the camp and renovated to meet current standards. We live in dorms. Each bedroom has its own sink. The showers and toilets are each in separate rooms, except for a few bathrooms that have them together. The room that Morgan and I share has two beds, a sink, and a dresser on the main floor. We also have a staircase in our room that leads up to a small loft with an extra bed. I sleep in the loft and feel like Rapunzel! That way we also get our own space when one wants to go to sleep earlier than the other.
This camp is mostly run by Americans (and one Aussie!) who grew up in France as missionary kids and decided to come back as adults. The summer camps and English camps don't start until July, so the end of May through June is spent making repairs and cleaning up the campus.
Camp des Cimes also rents out the facilities to groups that want to come for retreats. Morgan and I got here late Friday night. Saturday afternoon a college group from the local university came for the weekend. An American couple runs an international Christian club at the university, so they brought about 20 students for an overnight retreat. Morgan and I immediately got to work helping to serve food and clean the kitchen. Sunday night the group switched out for an American work team that is finishing up a 3 week mission trip. This morning we joined the work team in splitting logs and stacking fire wood for the camp to have campfires. The work team is from a Christian university in the midwest. They will leave on Wednesday.
Next weekend I believe we have a family reunion coming here. After that we have a ten day camp called "Refresh" for missionaries from all over the world. I hope to have many conversations with those coming- to hear their stories, gain wisdom, and make friends from all corners of the world. All this time I will be on the service team. We clean the facilities, prepare and serve food, and make sure everything is running smoothly.
So that's a quick update on the beginning of my trip! The wifi is pretty slow and unreliable up here, which makes blogging a challenge. I hope to give updates at least every couple of weeks, but my schedule will constantly be changing and I don't know when I will have time to sit down and type.
Specific Prayer Requests:
- One of Morgan's checked bags got lost in travel. Please pray that it gets here quickly and undamaged!
- Pray for each person who will come through this camp throughout the summer
- Pray for the staff and volunteers- that we get all of the work done and keep our focus on Christ
- Pray that my schedule will be finalized quickly and that I am able to go to England
Also, as a congratulations to you for making it through this post, enjoy a picture of a praying cat.
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