Renewal of Mind, Body, and Soul

Well everyone, it has been a while. I feel like a lot has happened this last week but when I reflect on it, I realize everything that happened was mostly personal change in the ways that I think and view life. I am not even sure where I should start but like always, I will start from the beginning of this week. Monday morning the rest of the staff came back so Cathy and Kristine made Le Rucher complete. Also Kristine’s nephew, Vince, showed up so I now have someone my age around the complex. My week of work mainly consisted of painting jobs which were done outside in the heat so it was a very hard week when it came to work. With all this said, I had many opportunities to hang out with the people here and laugh really hard about everything! My afternoons were filled eating dinner with friends and having moments of quiet reading a book. A few times, I found myself staying up late playing games with Henk and Jannie. One afternoon I took a long bike ride to a town that is close by to Le Rucher called Divonne-les-Bains. In this town, there is a beautiful lake so I sat around the lake for a while and enjoyed people watching. This week there were a few dinners that were with everyone. At these, there was tons of laughter and joy. Thursday night, we celebrated Renee’s birthday and on Friday we had a goodbye dinner for Henk and Jannie. Here are a few photos from this week.

This weekend I got to hang out with Vince and Kristine a lot. Saturday we went on a hike up in the Jura mountains and got a beautiful view of the valley where Le Rucher and Geneva are with the Alps in the background. It was a very simple hour in and out hike. We ate our lunch French style at the top with the scenery in front of us. When I mean French style, we brought a baguette, cheeses, and fruit. Then we took a huge drive around the Jura mountains and went in and out of Switzerland all day while driving. We finished the day off with a BBQ of sausages, leftovers, and wine. On Sunday, we went to church again at the same English speaking church. Then I did something I had never done before, I went sailing. Kristine and Vince took me out on Le Rucher’s sailboat on the Geneva Lake. Man, it was absolutely gorgeous and I even got to drive the boat for about half the time! Here are a few photos of the weekend.

Now for the part of my week that meant so much but is hard to put into words. God has been speaking to me this week in ways that are old and new. He has done through the people that around me and I would like to share with you parts of what I have learned. The whole time that I have been at Le Rucher volunteering my time, I have felt like that I am not doing enough. With this said, everyone has been thanking me for all that I have done and telling me how much I am a blessing to them. It had quite thrown me off. Everyone here is treating me so well and has been loving on me in a huge way. I felt like I didn’t really deserve all of this because I felt like I hadn’t been doing much around the complex. Then I realized that this is how I felt with God some time. Then I started to understand the idea behind works-based faith a little bit more and how much God loves us no matter what we do. I am a hard worker in all aspects of life (which is a gift that God has given me) but how many times have a tried to earn God’s love and approval through what I do for Him? He just wants to tell me and everyone that we don’t have to earn anything from Him, it is all a present. Man, I have heard this so many times but these week the idea has become more solid and has entered my heart. This is one of the many things that God has revealed to me this week.

Well, I have been in France for 11 weeks and I will be back in Montana in ten days. I leave Le Rucher on Thursday afternoon and head to Paris to meet my mom at the airport Friday morning. Then my mom and I will be having some more adventures together! I am super excited for this as I have said before! I plan to write one more time before I meet up with my mom and then at the very end of my trip, right before I head back for MT. I can’t wait to share more stories about my trip when I get home and anyone is welcome to contact me to hear them if you would like. Love you all! Till the next time.