from across the sea...

looking good, bro. happy 24th birthday, peter! hope it's a good one for you! love ya :)

it's raining in paris, france

well, it was a rainy day in paris today... and it looks like it might be that way for the rest of the week, unfortunately. after walking the streets a bit this morning and taking care of some business details (money & metro pass!) i was pretty wet. i picked up elizabeth from daycare and stayed at the apartment all afternoon for some "cultural acquisition." i watched some french television and did a lot of research about the city, the country, the culture, etc. all while drinking some french coffee and eating a pastry. in retrospect, i think i did pretty well with the gloomy day.

tomorrow i have my first language workshop. i signed up at the french alliance language school downtown. this is an oral french workshop, so i'm hoping it will help me be more confident with my speaking and get me more into the swing of things. i understand what people say on the television and on the streets and whatnot for the most part... but i tend to freeze up with the face-to-face interactions. i have a hard time comprehending that quickly and then i have to get a response out. it's not pretty. in general, french people are very proud of their language so there is a lot of pressure! i'm convinced the ladies at daycare think i'm a stupid american who can't speak french. hopefully that will change before my time here is done.

al is working on a lot of preparations for passion: paris which is a week from today. the final details and arrangements are keeping him busy so i'm trying to be available for nicole where i can. i have 2 events this weekend for la fonderie that i will be helping with as well. also, they are hoping to host a group of about 10 students who are in paris with YWAM (youth with a mission) for dinner this weekend, too - so i'm on deck for that!


thanks for thinking of me and checking in on my blog. your thoughts and prayers are appreciated as i work on this french thing i've got going. specifically, you can pray that i can be an intentional blessing to the family where they need me, that i can make some connections with some french people, that i will be intentional to listen for God's guidance while i'm here and that i can get a handle on this language!

grace & peace, jenn.





the first two pictures are from the two events i attended this past saturday at le pave d'orsay... with the wheaton group and the french trio, respectively. the third (this small version doesn't do it justice) is a picture of le louvre museum from my walk back to the apartment saturday night. the final picture is from my sunday afternoon walk around the town... street performers by l'arc de triumphe!

it's my fifth day here in france and i feel like i've done soo much already as an "intern" and a tourist! so far i've had meetings and worked at events and tackled a lot of the sites around the town. i think i've successfully grasped the bus and metro system - i was made for the city! i love public transportation :).

i'm still ironing out my "responsibilities" while i'm here. a big part of my time here will be to intentionally help around the apartment and herd kids. nicole, the mom, is pregnant and there are three little ones already. It can be a bit crazy at times, so i'm glad to do what i can! i learned the route to the school and daycare very quickly so i will be helping with at least one or two trips each day to drop off kids. this allows me to be out in their community and also interact (aka speak french!!) with their teachers. a big part of al and nicole's focus (and their heart) is to build intentional community and love others. often, this is done on a small scale... and that starts with building relationships with teachers, going to the same stand at the market every week, buying bread from the neighborhood bakery, getting their kids involved in community activities, etc. already, i've met a lot of the people that they connect with on a weekly basis. and this week, they are opening up their apartment again to a group of about 10 students who are doing some leadership training in Paris for a short term. it's been exciting to begin to grasp a bit about their ministry here and try to find my niche with them.

another responsibility i have is to be involved with the arts' ministry, la fonderie. as well as help coordinate events at the art center, le pave d'orsay - both of which al works with. friday, i attended a work team meeting for le pave d'orsay. following that, al and i headed over to the train station to intercept a group of about 30 wheaton college students and professors as they arrived from london. as a wheaton alum, al was pleased to help host them while they were in paris as well as network with students and the staff members for future parisian visits. the professors played a concert in a brunch-setting at le pave d'orsay saturday morning. the quartet was very talented and well recieved by all. saturday evening, i was back at le pave d'orsay to help setup and run another concert at the venue!

church this morning was pretty cool. it was all in french and while i didn't catch every word of the sermon, i think i got a pretty good gist. just don't quiz me later. :) i had some "jenn" time this afternoon wandering around paris. i spent a majority of the afternoon sitting by the eiffel tower, taking pictures and sitting and watching people. i enjoyed it.



what tomorrow will bring... i'm not quite sure, but i kinda like it that way. maybe tomorrow will bring pictures at least... maybe.

grace & peace.

just a glimpse...

today, i saw my first site of eiffel tower. granted, it is pretty tall and hard to miss... but i hadn't seen it yet. i didn't even know it was coming... and all of a sudden, there it was! a pleasant surprise. i squealed. tomorrow... the real deal. ohhh yea.

bonjour paris!

i just woke up... in france.

very cool. the last few days have been a bit of a whirlwind. monday, we spent the day walking around thessoloniki, greece. beautiful! i had an amazing greek pita from a little hole in the wall for lunch... and a greek salad for dinner (i had too!). tuesday (my birthday!), we were in three countries. we woke up in greece, had a layover in italy for a few hours (we left the airport and saw the colleseum and the trevi fountain and ate some gelato!) and finally made it 'home' to belgium before midnight. wednesday morning i repacked my things and got on the train to paris!

yesterday was a good day to get settled and acclimated with the kids and al and nicole. we had a young couple over for dinner. they work for YWAM out of Quebec and are currently traveling to visit some teams. it was cool to meet with them and hear a little of their heart and passion. (oh, and we had a french dinner... crepes!)


i'm excited to be here and see what is going to unfold for me! so far, it's been an 'easy' transition to this whole european thing. europe pleases me :). please continue to pray that the transition goes well and that i will be able to connect with some specific people while i'm here!

this morning i'm going to walk with the kids to school so i can get a better idea of the neighborhood, etc... we're leaving shortly!

grace & peace.

two days early...

After surprising the belgian team and the arizona team with a great dinner at one of the local restaurants, uncle doug had another surprise up his sleeve when he had the waiter bring me a birthday cake. He is too sweet :).

We're off to Greece tomorrow where I will probably have a better internet connection...

ciao!

The internet here at the hotel in Macedonia is spotty... but I can't complain because I have wireless internet for free (something I did not expect to have!). So sorry for the delay of posts (*ahem* Dave & Peter) because I thought I'd be internet-less until Tuesday!

Anyways... more important things! We had the Convoy today! It went well - we had between 700 - 1,000 in attendance. The numbers are what was expected - though we hoped for about 4,000.

What is a "convoy"? Well, my Uncle's organization, Convoy of Hope, teams up with local communities and churches to give a city a "Day of Hope" with the mission of, "when you feed the hungry, you feed the soul." A standard convoy (like the one today) sets up tent in the central part of a given city and invites the community for a day of games for the kids, face painting, hair cuts, medical care, lunch, grocery vouchers, a concert, etc - all for free! The day is intended to be very loving and fun - giving a glimmer of hope to those who can't often find it. Every attendant is given a copy of the New Testament in their language and presented the gospel in a non-threatening way. Later on in the week, each family will have food delivered to their door where a volunteer from the local church will sit down with them and share more openly why it is that Convoy does what it does and share more with them about the love of Jesus Christ. Pretty cool setup, I think.

My aunt & uncle just recently teamed up with Convoy of Hope Eastern Europe when they moved back here in September. Since they moved to Belgium in 1996, I've always wanted to come and see them - but I never thought I'd get to minister along side of them. It's been cool to see a bit of what they do and meet some of the faces they interact with daily. My job today was to be the photographer. My uncle knows me well! :) I got to see every little activity of the day and laugh and smile with all the beautiful Macedonian children that were there. While the language barrier did cause some trouble, overall it was a very exciting and refreshing day. It's a humbling thought to remember our God is big enough to care about each and every one of those smiling faces - whether they are in Macedonia or America. Please join me in praying that the work today will have lasting impact on the hearts and lives of the children and adults that attended!

I know, I know... you probably want to see some of those pictures. If I have time, I will post some later after dinner... but now, I gotta get ready to go... we're leaving in 10 minutes!

grace & peace.

day two (Thursday)

We're in Macedonia! It was a long day of travel for us today. It was cheaper to fly into Greece and drive to Macedonia, however... it cost us a lot of time! We definitely took the scenic route to get here, but I am not complaining because it was beautiful! we left the house at 4am Belgian time to catch a 6:30am flight to Greece. We had a 3.5 hour layover in Rome before arriving in Thesolonika (yea, like Paul). After the scenic drive, we finally made it to our destination in Macedonia around 5:45pm. A team from Arizona State University is here with the Macedonia team and they have already begun to setup the tents for the Convoy which will begin tomorrow at 6pm with the first session.

Our short time in Italy and Greece today as well as being here in Macedonia makes me want to know every language so I can communicate smoothly with people. When I hear a different language, I automatically think I can speak French to them and they will understand... but, they don't. shooot. I didn't realize it until we got in the van in Greece that I couldn't even say "hello!" to our driver because I didn't know how to say it! Fortunately we were given packets with a brief intro to Macedonia and the language with simple phrases. I'll have to look that over!

On my quick tour of Brussels yesterday evening with Aunt Joan and Uncle Doug... they showed me downtown including the King's Palace and the Grand Place. They also bought me a genuine Belgian waffle. It was delicious! :) It's late here and I'm quite tired... as much as I've tried to fight it, the jetlag is finally catching up to me! I'll leave you with a couple pictures... Ciao!

welcome to brussels

I've arrived in Belgium and I'm hanging out with my cousin and aunt and uncle :). We're gonna see Brussels a bit this afternoon since I only have like 6 hours here! I didn't have any trouble on the flight or getting through the airport by myself so that was good. It's weird to think that I'm in Europe right now! But I'm excited to be here for sure. My dad said I sounded happier when I called him compared to how I sounded when I said goodbye to them in Detroit and when I called them on my layover... So that's good. I guess I'm just content to actually be here now... all the anticipation was getting to me! I'm most nervous for using my french, but that won't happen much until next week in France.

The people here that Uncle Doug works with are pretty great. Michael, the head honcho is Irish and has an amazing irish accent. Joan and Mindy also work here and will be joining us in Macedonia. Poor Uncle Doug will be working with a lot of women this weekend!

We will be driving to Macedonia from Greece. Our flight to Greece leaves at 6:30am tomorrow morning so it is just a quick stop in Belgium.



Have a great wednesday, friends!
grace & peace.

bonjour mes amis et ma famille!

As many of you know... I'm heading to Europe for 5 weeks! My trek begins on Tuesday evening with my flight to Brussels, Belgium. I will spend Wednesday in Belgium preparing for our trip to Macedonia on Thursday! After Macedonia (4 days) we will spend 2 days in Greece, fly back to Belgium and I will hop a train to PARIS where the remainder of my time in Europe will be spent (4 weeks). How's that for a brief overview??

While I am super excited, I am probably even more nervous as I head over the pond - but I rest in the fact that God knows exactly what's going to happen while I'm there and who I'm going to meet and who I'm going to offend with my improper use of the french language.

With that said, I've started this blog in hopes to update those who care since communication will be limited! Don't worry, I plan on posting lots of photos, too.



I love you all and I appreciate the prayers and support that has been given even before I make my journey. Feel free to contact me via the great internet in a variety of ways while I'm there...

E-mail: jennwebber@gmail.com
Skype: jenn.webber
Facebook: Jennifer Webber


grace and peace,
jenn