There is no place like home.  The truth of that statement hit home last Thursday night when I walked into MY room, hugged MY own very precious family and spoke in MY own language!  It is such a great experience to go to another country, see how other people live, share with them THE reason for living, and be able to worship with other Christians all over the world, however, there is also nothing like coming home- however short a stay it may be.  I wasn't faithful to write for the last week and a half that I was in France and the blog that I wrote last while I was there was meant to be continued.  However, I must admit that I have to be in a certain mood to write and I didn't happen to be in that kind of mood until now(about a 2-3 week gap... what can I say?  I'm a girl... girls are supposed to be moody right? :))  It had a lot to do with the fact that I was very unsure of what to do during that time and therefore not really sure what to write either.  Sometime within that last full week, right after returning from Annecy, Leonie offered to let me stay with them for the month of September completely free(food included).  The generosity and love of the Siedel's never ceases to amaze me!  However, I was struggling because I didn't have my work visa(therefore I could not work legally) and needed to make a certain amount of money to pay my school bills that I have every month.  Also, I wanted to be able to contact the missions board and try to figure out what to do about school, which was very hard to take care of in France.  So, as you can tell, I decided to come home and I left on the 4th- exactly a month from when I arrived.

The only thing that really sticks out to me much about that last week was getting to witness to a couple of the students in my class.  I was walking in the general direction of the bus station one day after class when I started talking to another student named Anna, who is from Spain.  We had been walking and talking for about 5 minutes when we crossed paths and were joined by another student, a guy named Bulent, who is from Turkey.  He asked if we had some time and wanted to go to Starbucks.  We actually ended up at some Irish restaurant in old Lyon where he bought me a diet coke and Anna a beer.  On the way there they asked me why I was in France, which then led in to explaining what I feel called to in my life, and of course, sharing the Gospel.  Bulent loves to talk about religion, so it made the whole conversation a bit easier.  The argument came up from one of the two about how different religions work for different people.  I took my Bible out of my bookbag and read John 14:6, after which, Bulent wanted to read it for himself.  When he finished, he said in amazement:  "I've never heard that before".  Anna remained silent.  I got to talk to Bulent about Jesus more the next day but it was apparent that he wasn't ready to become a Christian.  He merely told me that I was the only religious person he'd ever met and that he thought I should be approved as a minister!  ha!  Anyway, I hope and pray that the truth will really sink in and that he will soon come to know Christ personally.  I also shared the Gospel with an Italian guy from class but he was very shut off.

Oh yeah, sometime during that week I also received an email from the IMB basically letting me know that if I want to do anything full-time with them that I need a degree(which is why I said I needed to come back and try to figure out what to do about school).  Peter and Paul didn't need a degree!

That weekend I went to Montpelier with the Siedel's to take Joelle to her college.  Marc kept joking that he wasn't coming back to Brignais, but was going to stay there with his little girl!  I really enjoyed being with just the family and I learned a lot of French.  They took me out to eat twice, we camped, hiked to a gorgeous spot overlooking the mountains, and went to a cute little church in Montpelier on Sunday morning.  Joelle is living in a little studio apartment that is part of a house and the couple that lives there is very sweet.  After we got all of her stuff moved into the room they had us come into their living room for a short visit.  The woman is actually from Spain and was telling me(in French of course) about her experience learning the language when she first moved to France.  We also went to the beach just long enough to get our feet in the water.  It honestly didn't look much different to me than Florida, but I finally saw one of the things I had always wanted to see - the beach in southern France!  I still want to see Nice though - maybe next time.  Joelle and I became better friends on the trip.  We hadn't talked a whole lot up to that point because she doesn't speak any english and my french hadn't been good enough for a deep conversation.  However, with my improving French, and Ben's help, (and also sharing a tent) we became closer friends and she told me that I was welcome to stay with her any time in Montpelier.  I told her likewise about the US and she is excited about possibly coming to visit me here.  We didn't get home until about 10pm on Sunday night.

I didn't decide until Tuesday that I was coming home and I figured that Thursday would be best since Marc and Leonie were leaving for Alsace on Friday.  Leonie didn't like my decision and was joking around with me about coming back the very next week.  I had been helping her a lot in the kitchen and she asked me that night what she would do without her "co-cuisinier" and Ben, entering the kitchen about that time, jokingly said: "I'll have to start doing the dishes now."  The night before I left, Andy told me that they wanted to pray for me and he, Carrie, Leonie, and I gathered together and had a very sweet prayer time!  There is nothing like Christian fellowship and the body of Christ caring for each other!

I got up very early the next morning, and since I was running a little bit behind when it came time to leave I had to give everyone a very quick goodbye hug and was out the door with Leonie and Marc and off to the bus stop.  Leonie handed me an envelope just before leaving that said: "pour Katie" and I waited until I was on the bus before I opened it.  Marc stopped the van and Leonie helped me with my bags to the bus stop and when it was time for her to leave me I couldn't stop the tears.  Once on the bus and on my way, I opened the card, and along with a very sweet message there was all the money that I had given them for food and lodging for the previous month!!  God never ceases to amaze me in His love and provision.  I know that they will be and already are so incredibly blessed for all that they do.  Both of my flights went well and I got first class from Paris to Atlanta, the exact same seat(1A) as the way there.  So now I am back in good ole Georgia and continuing to seek God's direction.  At church on Sunday I made it public that I am willing to be a missionary.  I was, however, slightly discouraged after talking to a representative from the IMB Sunday night and finding out that not only do I need a degree to become a missionary with them but also that it doesn't have to be a Bible degree.  I guess maybe I'm just looking at things the wrong way but I am going to look into other missions agencies.  Other than that, I am loving being able to spend time with my family again and understand everything that's going on around me. :) 

Wow, so I missed quite a few days.  I haven't really been in the mood to write since last weekend so I'll try to sum up the important things that have happened. 

Sunday was a rather interesting day and I think I already talked about most of the day in my last blog but that evening I went for a long walk and when I returned there were several new faces.  Ben, Sam, Pops(not sure of the spelling, but that's exactly how it sounds in English), Pop's little sister and Sam and Pop's little boy were all at the kitchen table eating dinner when I walked in.  They had all been on vacation together traveling around Europe.  Ben is Joelle's twin and as it turned out, now I do remember meeting him last summer.  Sam is Marc and Leonie's 3rd child and Pops is his wife.  I was introduced to everyone and then I simply sat there and halfway listened to the conversations going on in French.  It's very hard to understand what's going on when there is a big group speaking French.  It's much easier when you are only talking to one or two people in French.  I find that I can talk to someone in French and have a somewhat good conversation and then when that same person is talking in a group the conversation goes over my head.  I guess Ben noticed that I was simply sitting there in silence and kind of in another world because he asked me if I understood what was being said and I told him no.  We ended up doing dishes together right after dinner and I found out that he speaks english very well, which is kind of bad for me because now I'm always tempted to talk to him in English instead of French.  He's very smart.  He knows French, English, German, Indonesian, and I think maybe another language, I'm not sure.  That's the way things are in Europe in general though.  At least in France, in order to pass their "bac" (sort of a high school type exit exam) they have to be proficient in two languages other than French.

I got to know Ben a little bit better on Tuesday because he didn't go into work with Marc that day and he is sooo funny!  He is a very goofy person and very personable with everyone.  It's amazing the gift for hospitality that this family has.  They use it very well and Leonie is constantly either working or investing time in someone else, such a great example.  Anyway, Ben started dating a girl that was living here as well, and left about two weeks before I arrived.  Beth told me that she is very goofy, just like Ben.  She will be going to Chad soon but not to the same city as Ken and Beth.

On Monday(I think) I called Dale Anderson, a music missionary in Annecy(about a 2 1/2 hour train ride from Lyon) and he has invited me to stay with him and his wife this Saturday night so that I can go to church with them on Sunday and we can talk about music ministry possibilities in France.  Music ministry has had very little success in France and he is one of two who have been successful at building any type of music ministry here(so I heard).  Annecy is said to be very beautiful and Dale has managed to start a choir in his church(very unusual for France).  He is also a professor at a Bible school in or near Annecy.

So for that reason I don't think I'll be back to the church in Brignais because this weekend hopefully I will be in Annecy and the next weekend Leonie has invited me to go to Montpelier with the family to take Joelle to school.  She is just starting at a university this fall in Montpelier.  About the time that I get back from Montpelier it will be time for me to leave France, but maybe in those two days of traveling with just the family I can do a lot of refining of my French since that will be all that I will be speaking. :)  I cheat a lot at the house because the other missionaries here speak English a lot as well, especially Ken and Beth.  Andy is actually really good about speaking French all the time unless he is talking to his children and sometimes to Carrie.  I go to school with Andy everyday b/c we both have class in the afternoon and he only speaks to me in French, he's so disciplined!  I find that I will talk in French for a while and then get frustrated b/c what I want to say in the way that I want to say it doesn't exist in French and I end up switching back and forth... "franglish".  I've realized how important it is to me to be able to express my exact feelings... it's been a rather interesting learning experience.  Everyone tells me that I'm learning French really fast but I don't really feel like I am.  I haven't been diligently studying in the way that I should but it's hard to find extra time to study when I'm in class for 3 hours a day and meals take a looong time here, and also 3 hours going to and from school.  I get a lot of practice in though just by talking to the family during the day and to Andy in the afternoons, and of course in class where we aren't allowed to speak English.  I still have a whole lot left to learn though.  We'll see how much of it I get done in the one week that I have left. :)

I've had some random men approach me on my way to and from school because Andy and I aren't together the whole time(he rides his bike from the train station to the school and I walk).  One guy came right up to me while I was walking to school and said: "accompagnez moi a ma flat" (spelling?)  which means:  accompany me to my flat/apartment.... I was shocked of course and told him no, to which he replied: "Pourqoui?" (Why?)  Haha... ummm, b/c I don't know you!!! Anyway, I kept walking and he eventually stopped.  I've had other similar experiences and told the others at the house about it and they asked me if I feel safe.  I think everything is fine as long as I'm in public.  There are a lot of people around and I'm never there at night.  Twice now when guys have approached me, Andy has shown up soon after and they immediately leave me alone, so we kind of joke about it now.

I called Lanny the other day about missions and he was so helpful and encouraging.  He is trying to help me get everything set up for a meeting with the IMB and has given them a recommendation for me.  I might have a meeting with them on the 11th.  I'm not quite sure what to do between the 31st of August and the 11th of September b/c Becky wants me to come to South Africa and it seems ideal to go straight from here because I would waste international flights by going back home first and also a lot of time but I'm not sure that it will be possible.  I can stay in her room and she said that it is very cheap there.  We'll see..... I really want to go!

Wednesday night some missionaries came over for dinner and it turns out that it is the pastor and his wife from the same church in Annecy where Dale Anderson leads the music ministry.  The pastor's wife said that he is very very talented and if he were to go to the States and do something with music there that he could be rich.  She said that both he and his wife are very talented professionals.  I'm looking forward to meeting them and hearing what they have to say!  They have a very lovely home right on a lake I think...?  Hopefully I will I know for myself by tomorrow night.  

Then last night Carrie had 4 friends come to dinner from school... two Afghani's, one Korean, and one Japanese girl (haha, I'm having to think a little harder to spell things in English now, for example, in french, japanese is japonais, and at first I typed Japonese).  Of course, the main objective was to share the gospel.  Carrie asked me to sing while we were waiting on dinner and I asked Ben to play the piano for me.  We tried to pick songs that presented Jesus as God since Muslims believe that Jesus was merely a prophet.  After I sang one of the guys asked me where he could buy a cd... I thought that was funny merely because of the "prophecy" I got from the girl on Sunday.  I got to talking to one of the Afghani's and was starting to present the gospel when it was time for dinner.  It ended up being presented anyway, as Leonie had our normal Bible study after dinner and every one of us read the Bible in French... John 1!  Which of course provoked a long and heavy debate afterwards.  At almost 11pm Andy finally stood up and said that the Korean girl and the Japanese girl(they had sat in silence through the entire thing) needed to get home so we would have to save the rest for next time.  At which point they left and Ben and I did the dishes.  He explained to me in English what I missed from the conversation.  I decided since I couldn't speak well enough to chime in or to really know completely what was being said that it would just be better for me to be praying while the debate was going on.  It was interesting, to say the least!

Well, I think I've said enough to make up for almost a week of silence! :)  Until tomorrow..... (A demain!)

Sometimes I am amazed at the vast differences in one country to the next.  Each place and person are made by the same God and yet they are so different, the circumstances are so different, as well as the beliefs and the customs.  In my opinion, France is one of the prettiest countries in the world, and yet, with all of its beauty, it has rejected the author of beauty, The Almighty God!  Marc, Leonie, and I were discussing the state of the people in France.  Less than one percent are Protestant because of the persecution of the Huguenot's that happened here in the 17th century and made worse by the French Revolution.  In France, they teach children evolution in elementary school and God is by no means real to them.  They don't have the habit of going to church like Americans do.  If you see a French person in church, you can be nearly certain that they are truly a believer.  Most French people have never heard the Gospel and (according to Leonie and Marc) if you tried to share it with them, they would tell you that they don't need it.  In church this past Sunday there was maybe a total of 30 people there(and probably at least half of them are not French).  This is the general size of churches everywhere in France, however, you don't see a church on every corner like in America.  Some people near here have to drive 30 minutes to get to the nearest church.  Also, there were virtually no young people in the church, there is no choir, no orchestra.  There are simply not enough believers here to form churches in the way that America is used to.  The churches that France does have don't have enough interest to be very active.  They don't have church on Sunday nights and during the summer nothing is going on during the week.  Marc and Leonie know that I am interested in having a music ministry here and Marc told me this morning that that is something that is very hard to do.  He said there are only two people in France that have succeeded at having a music ministry, one of which I heard about for the first time last night.  Jerome called me so that we could work out buying his buddy pass for his flight to Colorado and while we were talking I was telling him about what's been on my heart lately and what I've been praying about.  He told me that I should contact Dale Anderson, who is in music missions and lives in Annecy - about a 2 hour train ride from here.  Jerome told me that he took Josh to meet him last summer and Josh was very encouraged after talking to him.  Jerome wrote him an email for me last night and asked him to call the Siedel's house and told him that I was willing to take the train to Annecy.  I have heard that Annecy is a very pretty place!  I don't have class this Friday, so maybe it will be possible for me to meet to with him this weekend.

As far as Proclaim goes, I am still praying about that.  Carrie gave me the website address for the 2 couples that she knows from her church back home who are now both missionaries in Proclaim in Germany.  I am now finding out that Proclaim does travel to other countries but each missionary in Proclaim also has a home ministry.  They all have some type of ministry going on with their local church and then throughout the year they will take trips to other countries to evangelize through music and art.  It sounds very exciting but I'm still not positive exactly what God has for me.  I might contact one of the couples today and see if I can ask them some questions.  I saw on the Proclaim website that they had a project going in Strasbourg, France from Sept. 2007-2008.  So it is possible for me to be in Proclaim and still ministering in France if that is where God wants me. 

I need lots of prayer for my decision this week  - whether or not to attempt to stay in France for one more month.  I have to fax the request to have the month off by noon this Friday.  I know that God can provide the money if He wants me to stay but that is the question - does He or doesn't He?  I don't want to ask off and it not have been His will and I end up without the means to stay.  Also, on the same note, I have been under the impression that I had to be completely debt free before I tried to serve God in ministry, however, I am hearing more and more that it is possible to go on to the mission field with some debt because it is nearly impossible for some people to be completely debt free straight out of college.  So I've been wondering if ministry will come a lot sooner for me than I had previously thought - another thing I am asking for prayer about.

After church on Sunday we had some guests over for lunch and after lunch Leonie was telling one of them in French that I am going to sing next Sunday and maybe for the next three Sundays.  Surprised, I said: "what?"  She laughed and asked if I could get something ready in a week.  So I have a new project in front of me.  I have already learned "Lord I Lift Your Name On High" in French and can accompany myself on guitar but I'm not sure that that would be the best song for Sunday morning church.  I am thinking about singing "Great is Thy Faithfulness" because I feel like it's a song that's close to my heart right now but I haven't succeeded in finding it in French.  Leonie and Marc both said that it exists in French but they don't know what it's called.  Laughingly, Marc suggested that I play through the entire hymnal to find it. :)

On the way to school last Friday I met a French girl who talked to me the whole bus ride and then offered to show me around Lyon sometime soon.  She gave me her number and I am thinking about seeing if she wants to hang out this Friday and then maybe on Friday I will tell her that I am singing in church on Sunday and see if she wants to come.  I might also invite the guy who helped me find the school last week.  It just seems like a good way to invite people to church.  I have his email address but haven't contacted him yet.  Please pray that God will work in their hearts and that I will have the boldness, desire, and the right words(in French of course :)) to witness to people while I am here.  I wrote on my exam something about God directing me and the teacher asked me if I am a Christian, so hopefully my behavior will represent Christ to her in a way that she will seek Him.

Well, I feel like there was more that I wanted to say but it's not coming to me right now, so perhaps I will write more later today, or just save it for my next entry!  I appreciate all the prayers and I am praying for you as well! :)  Love you all!