January 2014

Our new "caravan." Leslie actually rides a child seat on the streets.

Dear Friends,

Happy New Year!

In our last letter, we asked you to pray for us as you served and ate your Thanksgiving meal. Thank you for your prayers, we both passed! If you are inclined to think "I told you so" or "yeah, we knew you would." Just know that you cannot assume we would pass just because we are "smart" or something like that. Language school is very difficult and people much smarter than us fail. It is only by God's grace and your prayers that we are able to learn French. Please don't stop praying for us. The next level of French is harder.

On a similar note, Ryan and I have a couple who have been assigned to us as language partners. They are very kind, but we have only been able to meet with them three times so far. We really need to meet on a weekly basis for better practice. Also, our partners do not know the Lord, so please pray for more opportunities to meet with them and for opportunities to share the grace of Jesus with them.

If you follow us on Facebook, you know that one adventurous evening when Ryan was in Lyon, about an hour and a half away from us, the transmission on our car went out. The cost of fixing the car was more than twice what the car was worth, so we ended up giving our car to a scrap yard to be minced into pieces. As terrible as this all may sound, we are praising the Lord that even though we lost the amount we paid for the car, we will not be paying for future car repairs which we now know are much more costly than in the states (for instance, a simple oil change costs 100 euros and you have to have a dealer key to do it yourself). Also, this happened when Ryan was out with some friends. Between the three of them, they were able to say what they needed to say in French and do what they needed to do. I, Stephanie, was scheduled to drive the car by myself just two days later for an appointment to another distant city. As you can imagine, I might have been a complete basket case by myself in the same situation.

So, our new method of transportation is bicycles. We have found that everything we need is within about 5 miles from where we live, the weather is almost always pleasant enough to get where we need to go, Albertville is very bicycle friendly with lanes for bikes, we never have to put fuel in a bike, and we are getting some good exercise without having to wake up at 5:30am to go for a run or something. Thank you to those of you who sent extra for Christmas, you bought us our bikes and all of the necessary accessories for carrying groceries, etc. Please do pray for safety, though. Without trying to scare you, one of our friends was hit just yesterday on her bike by a car. She is banged up, but we are glad to hear that she is still in one piece.

As we look toward our eventual move to Togo, we have been putting together a list of items that we need to stock up on and prepare before our container is shipped in either early summer or fall. We have some low cost items such as toiletries, etc, as well as some more costly items such as a gas dryer, water filter, etc. We have placed a "Wish List" on Amazon.com which can be found by following this link: http://amzn.com/w/KLRXXZLQKVSU. These are things that maybe a Sunday School class or small group might be interested in helping with. Please note that this is just a list and items can be purchased in other places than Amazon. I put notes next to items there indicating importance and other information. If you you do grab some of these things from other places, please let me know so that I can remove them from the Amazon list.

I tried escargot at a Christmas party. Yummy!

Also, we are needing to raise more funds for the purchase of our vehicle in Togo. Basically, we have $12,000 and need $27,000 to $36,000 for a feasible vehicle. For more details and a better explanation on this matter, see the previous blog post.

In summary praise the Lord that:

1. We both passed French A1.

2. God orchestrated safety and timing when our car broke down, and provided an alternative mode of transportation.

Please pray:

1. That we will learn French well.

2. For consistent meetings with our language partners.

3. For our safety as we ride bikes for regular transportation.

4. For our additional outfit and vehicle needs.

Thank you for your prayers, letters, and support since we've been here in France. May our Lord be honored through you as you serve Him in the United States of America.