Le Rucher Mission Work

Hello everyone! I hope everyone is doing okay in the Missoula area. I heard about the fire in Frenchtown and I am praying that God will protect homes and families. I hear that it is really hot in Montana; I just want you to know that I feel your pain. It is so hot here everyday but it is much more humid than what I am used to. I have switched homes in France from the big city of Chambéry to the little village of Tutegny which is located near to the Swiss border by the Lake of Geneva (Lac Léman). I started this week with my missionary/volunteer work with Le Rucher Ministries. Le Rucher is a center for missionaries to come and debrief about their experiences that they had on the mission field. Le Rucher is also branched out all across the world being in Europe and Africa mostly to help other ministries in their community development. Once a month Le Rucher has a group of people who are going through the classes of debriefing and the other part of the month is consisted of traveling and focusing on the branches to other countries. The time that I am here for is set aside for the practical work around the “campus” which consists of a two buildings: one huge building that has 10+ bedrooms and a smaller house of which some of the staff lives in. There is also quite of bit of land that they have with lots of trees, grass, and bushes. Here are some pictures of Le Rucher and surrounding area.

The work that I have been doing for the last week contains of many different variety of jobs found inside and outside. I have pretty much deep cleaned the first floor and second floor of the main building which took a few days. I have been helping outside by tidying up the trees and bushes by sweeping the road, loading truck-fulls of branches, and some spring cleaning of the junk that gets collected after time. Now let me tell you about the people I am working with. Le Rucher has five staff members and this week there was only three out of the five here, a couple from Holland and a lady from Seattle. Then there is another couple from Holland who is volunteering also like me for two weeks. This couple, Hank and Janni, are just amazing! I love to joke around with them and play games at the end of the day with them. On Thursday, they took me out to dinner at a Pizzeria in a nearby town. We took our time with eating and greatly enjoyed our time with each other. Hank speaks English very well and Janni does not but this does not stop her mother like actions towards me. The love between this couple is great to see and I am honored to work beside them. Here is a few photos of them.

The other couple who is on staff are named Eric and Jeljte. They started Le Rucher 20 years ago and have been working as missionaries for 30+ years. On Friday night they cooked me a very beautiful and yummy dinner that lasted as long as a typical French dinner. We laughed and talked for 3 hours about anything and everything. They shared with me their advice towards my life, past, present and future. I have greatly learned from them and I enjoy seeing the missionary heart that God has given them. I don’t have a photo of them at the moment but next week I will. Renee, the other staff member, has been working at Le Rucher for 17 years now. On Saturday, she took me to a small medieval town called Yvoire that is along the other side of the lake. It is very funny because on the way there we crossed in and out of France and Switzerland many times. Renee treated me to a wonderful lunch and we walked around the town looking through the shops for a few hours. It was a great way to spend the day even though it was very hot. Here are a few photos from the town.

Today I got to go to church that has service in English. In this area there are many different nationalities so it was great to go to a church that had Americans, Africans, Europeans, and really from everywhere! I loved the sermon and I was once again amazed of how God is so Omnipresent! Its beautiful to see people of other nations worshipping the same Lord as I do. This week I have had a lot of reflection time and prayer time. The people around has shown me complete acceptance and full love in such a quick period of time. I get the chance to sit and read my Bible for a few hours! How lovely has that been. I am trying to learn what it means to be a true defender of myself and my brothers and sisters of Christ when it comes to Spiritual Attacks. I’ve never really been in war and continually fight so I have been doing so with situations in my own life and the sickness in one of the ladies here. Its quite amazing to learn more about the life of being a Christian. I have been blessed by my home church’s podcast of the sermons. It has given me the opportunity to keep on growing and to feel connected to my church and to a few friends who also go to church or listen to the podcasts also.

My brother’s birthday is on Tuesday so I am sad that I won’t get to be home and celebrate with him. But soon my mom will be flying to France to join me in adventure of traveling around Normandy and the Loire Valley. I can’t believe that I will be back in Montana in less than three weeks. Just thinking about it my heart leaps for joy but my stomach falls in sadness. I can not think about it at the moment and I don’t need to! Until next week! I love you all!!