Bits and Pieces

It's been a very full past three weeks (somehow I don't think this will surprise my readers...). :) Here are a few highlights:

*Vacances de Toussaint, or All Saints' vacation, is the equivalent of fall break in France and gave me a chance to get some administrative paperwork started. I say started, not done, because after three trips to the social security office I still don't have all the documents I need. *sigh* At least I don't live very far from their office!

*Kid's Club at my French church meets every other week for an hour and a half of music, crafts and Bible stories. It's been fun remembering all the songs I grew up with and learning some new ones too. :)

Some songs we sing in both English and French (like the one we're singing in the picture--My God is so great, so strong and so mighty, there's nothing my God cannot do! Mon Dieu est si grand, si fort et si puissant, rien n'est impossible

à mon Dieu!)

*Spending time with ICCM friends has been great fun. During break, we met up twice for restaurant outings (my first times eating out since moving to Marseille!). Finding out good but inexpensive spots to eat in a city is a great part of getting to know a place. If anyone is looking to try Algerian or Afghan food, let me know... :)

*Garbage strikes stink (literally). For nearly a week the waste processing plants were blocked by strikers and no bins could be cleared from the street. Thankfully the weather was cool enough that the stench was not as bad as a summer strike would have been, but the sidewalks were often covered by the overflowing mess. (View from my window at the end of the week on the right--some neighborhoods had it far worse.) The plus side of this event is that I am now grateful for all the basic services which have not gone on strike since my arrival...

*Veteran's Day (Armistice Day). France-USA, an association ICCM has worked with here in

Marseille, hosted a Veteran's day celebration at

Park Borély in honor of American soldiers who died in France. Dan gave the invocation and several city officials spoke or (in the case of the mayor) had representatives speak in their place. Each also presented a wreath at the memorial.

They were beautiful, but after the ceremony I accidentally backed into one such wreath and nearly knocked it over--glad this didn't cause a diplomatic incident . ;)

*Armistice Day hike. Through an English meet-up group in Marseille I learned about a hiking expedition through the Calanques, something I'd been wanting to do since my arrival. So instead of sleeping in on my day off last week, I joined six other hikers bright and early to trek through the mountains between Marseille and Cassis--the trip was definitely worth it.

*Thanksgiving. Pictures from the celebration itself are posted over on ICCM's website so I won't repeat the show here, but suffice to say that it was a wonderful celebration and we were very warmly welcomed by the Lacordaire school, which hosted us. At the end of the meal Dan brought a plate of dessert to the director's office and saw a framed collage of pictures marked "Thanksgiving November 2009" hanging on his wall--sure enough, the prints were from the beginning of our dinner! Next year we will probably need to move to one of their larger cafeterias, but everything else suited the celebration perfectly, so we hope to return. Thank you to all who were praying for us!

Preparing a meal to feed nearly 80 people naturally included quite a lot of work, but it all came together beautifully under Nancy's expert direction. Another student and I had a blast rolling pie dough and making cookies on Thursday before our celebration, all while listening to Christmas music that seemed to defy the warming temperatures. Nancy also kindly saved a can of pumpkin for me so I could make my traditional pumpkin bread the next day. One other ingredient--ground cloves--was missing, however, and I couldn't find any in stores. Finally, the open air market saved me and I was able to buy some from the spice stall. Definitely a new experience for me! In addition to pumpkin bread, the list of baked goods included pumpkin, apple, blueberry and pecan pies, oatmeal and chocolate chip cookies, brownies, muffins, and spice cake (apple tarte exhibited at left). One of the apple pies actually got left behind on the day of, but we made short work of it at dinner after Sunday's service. :)

*Marhaban. As I've mentioned in my letters, the court date is this coming Friday, the 20th, so please be praying for favor and provision for classes should we need to move in the coming weeks (there are back-up locations already planned, but getting everyone moved will be a logistical challenge). Otherwise, the classes are going well and I'm really enjoying getting to know my students. Tutoring has been especially fun as I try to help two lively 6-year old boys. It's immensly gratifying to see them understand a concept that escaped them until that moment!

Seeking a homeland

From Bible study this evening:

These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. ¹⁴For people who speak thus make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. ¹⁵If they had been thinking of that land from which they had gone out, they would have had opportunity to return. ¹⁶But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city.

--Hebrews 11:13-16

And a few pictures of the city my pilgrimage is passing through at the moment:

Doesn't the sky make you want to wander? Autumn seems to reinforce the feeling of only passing through...of longing for a home that I've never actually seen before, but I know is my destination.

Herbert on prayer

PRAYER. (I)
PRAYER the Churches banquet, Angels age, Gods breath in man returning to his birth,
The soul in paraphrase, heart in pilgrimage,
The Christian plummet sounding heav’n and earth ;

Engine against th’ Almightie, sinner's towre,
Reversed thunder, Christ-side-piercing spear,
The six daies world-transposing in an houre,
A kinde of tune, which all things heare and fear ;

Softnesse, and peace, and joy, and love, and blisse,
Exalted Manna, gladnesse of the best,
Heaven in ordinarie, man well drest,
The milkie way, the bird of Paradise,

Church-bels beyond the stars heard, the souls bloud,
The land of spices, something understood.

--George Herbert

HT: KFG

A Less Busy Heart

"The quest for a contemplative life can actually be self-absorbed, focused on my quiet and me. If we love people and have the power to help, then we are going to be busy. Learning to pray doesn't offer us a less busy life; it offers us a less busy heart. In the midst of outer busyness we can develop an inner quiet. Because we are less hectic on the inside, we have a greater capacity to love...and thus to be busy, which in turn drives us even more into a life of prayer. By spending time with our Father in prayer, we integrate our lives with his, with what he is doing in us. Our lives become more coherent. They feel calmer, more ordered, even in the midst of confusion and pressure." - Paul E. Miller, A Praying Life

A few pictures from this week

Cooking Day 5: ratatouille, gratin dauphinois and roast chicken

Outreach day at the Salvation Army:
Praise songs in French (and one in Farsi!)

An Algerian woman shared part of her testimony and beautiful praise songs in Arabic

During the longer part of the afternoon (a testimony by the son of an imam), I watched the kids in a room nearby. Most of them knew me already, either from Marhaban or Saturday kids' club. We had a great time singing, drawing and playing games, all while trying to keep our noise level to a dull roar since the walls were far from sound proof...

Don't you love their smiles? :-)

On hospitality

Practice hospitality.

--Romans 12:13

Thank you to those praying for the conference this week! Today I had a lot more energy to work, plus another set of hands during part of my prep time, which made the day a lot less stressful than yesterday.

With all my meal-making this week, I've been thinking of Mary and Martha again--especially since my tendency is to focus more on tasks, like Martha, rather than people. In contrast to Martha, though, I don't like asking for help. :P Particularly this week, when it meant taking someone away from conference meetings. Part of the problem is also my reluctance to acknowledge my limits, in this case where I'm attempting complicated meals for a large group of people. :) Thankfully, my wonderful office manager saw past my attempts to handle everything on my own and volunteered to help this morning. The companionship while cooking was wonderful--she gave me all sorts of tips on cooking for groups and estimating how much to buy for large quantities of food. She also properly chided me for attempting complicated dishes for the first time at a conference like this... I couldn't help it--all the recipes in Nancy Painter's famous Gourmet cookbook looked so good! :-) The best result of the time was the ability to sit down and have lunch with everyone else and enjoy conversation with our guests. (I had even been able to make myself soup on the side as I'm still recovering from my cold.)

As important as making guests comfortable and seeing that they are well fed may be, conversation and plain old building-of-relationships are also vital parts of hospitality. I'm reminded of this thanks to the family I tutor for--the dad is Italian and a chef at a restaurant here and the mom makes wonderful desserts from her native Dominican Republic. Both of them talk with me all during their preparations and give advice and suggestions as they go: where to find the best coconut in Marseille (the African market), how to properly cook risotto (add the bouillon a little at at time, stir in waves), the best way to eat mozzarella (warm, not cold--you get more of the flavor). Each time I come to help Sarah with her homework, Ana has some new sweet or savory for me to try, and every other week or so Matteo makes it back from the restaurant before I leave and invites me to stay for dinner. In between attempting to read Italian children's books to Beatrice, their youngest, I hear the details of preparation for each dish, along with where to get the best ingredients. This family has a sort of reckless hospitality that I want to emulate--without reckoning, a generous giving without expecting anything in return. Isn't that the example Christ set for us?

A few prayer requests

• --For strength: The past week was incredibly busy, and this current week is just as much so, if not more. Please pray for strength to make it through the rest of this week, which includes a big conference in which I am cooking for 15+ people each day.
• --For health: It may be allergies or just a cold, but I've been fighting something since last Friday that makes life especially difficult when there is a lot to do. Pray that I get enough rest to heal in the midst of this busyness.

And a praise:

• --I have a ticket home for Christmas! :-D Lord willing, I'll be back December 21st to January 3rd.