The Wonderful Land of Paris

I have finally gotten back from Paris. Well I actually got back Tuesday so for both of you who were waiting anxiously to see this already, I'm sorry. For everyone else, welcome to the present. My 10 days in Paris were an incredible time to see God work and to listen for his direction in my life.

There was a group of 13 of us from Southeastern who went to Paris for the trip. The purpose of our trip was to aid the full-time workers there in the work they are doing with the IMB. The group that we were working with work with North Africans. This allows them to have opportunities to present the gospel to people from 21 unreached people groups that can be more openly conversed with in France, who then would be able to return to their homes and reach their own people more effectively.

Some of the things that we did during our trip was to do surveys, distribute Jesus films, and to put on a "carnival" for young children in a local park. The people groups we were working with are so friendly. And in general the French were so much nicer than they are categorized to be, but a possible reason for this stereotype is likely because they come from a culture were they don't talk to and make eye contact with strangers. In their mindset, and truthfully, it doesn't really serve much of a purpose in most cases to do otherwise anyhow.

We had an opportunity to interact with many great people. Sometimes we were told by Muslims that we should not be there and that we were stirring up trouble which often results from the tension created between devout muslims and those who have rejected what all their friends and family believe. Also since areas which claim to be "Christian" like America broadcast such immorality is it easy to see why devout Muslims who pride themselves in trying to live as pure as possible would have problems with what they believe is Christianity.

The main purpose of our trip was basically to gain contacts for the full-time workers which we did a great job of doing, but we also had one unexpected result. For many Muslims is takes a long time in order to convert to a different religion because for many it requires forsaking everything and everyone in their life. However, on Sunday one of the workers had the opportunity to see God draw a man to himself after only 2 hours! God is so good!

In the next posts will be pictures of France that hopefully can give you a good idea of what went on and some of the cool sights. Thanks again for everyone who prayed for and financially supported our team!