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Apt.
Renovation Team Report
By Pam Ryerson
I am a high
school teacher who received an invitation
last summer to come to France for a month to
stay with friends, Debbi and Kevin
Eggleston. As short-term missionaries with
BLF, Debbi and Kevin hosted missionaries in
Marpent, France. My husband and I had been
there two years earlier on a BLF Impression
Team, and had worked with a local church. I
loved getting to know the French people,
helping them spread the gospel and seeing
how they lived.
I enjoyed every
minute of our time there and loved being
able to use the 10 years of French I had
studied in school. During our IT experience,
I was led by the Lord to go over to help
with the renovation of the apartment the
following (last) summer. I had seen the need
in the BLF newsletter and I felt I could be
of some help. Debbi, Kevin and I worked all
day - almost every day - painting, stripping
paint and working in the yard. We
accomplished quite a bit, but looking at the
big picture, 3 people couldn’t do very much.
On the weekends we took our tired bodies out
of the city to explore the area. Debbi and I
even made it to Paris one weekend.
When I left
Debbi and Kevin last summer, I told them
that I was going to get a team together and
bring them back to finish the apartment. I
had never felt so committed to a cause and I
know God was working in my heart on behalf
of the French people.
Even though I
knew God wanted people in France working on
the apartment, He waited until only 3 weeks
before we left to complete our team of 8. He
wanted us to depend on Him. While we were
all willing to do whatever needed to be
done, we were not all skilled construction
people by trade. Nonetheless, we learned a
lot—some via the Internet. We taped • dry
walled • textured walls • painted almost all
the walls including primer and 2 coats of
color • laid laminate flooring • tiled the
bathroom walls and floor • stained all the
new woodwork around the windows • and
cleaned the huge yard of weeds, tall grass
and 25 years of junk which filled a 20-yard
dumpster. We walked up and down the 3
flights of treacherously narrow stairs
countless times. As time went on, it got
more and more exciting to see the place be
finished. We could also see our team grow
closer together.
While in France
we were treated like family. Our
accommodations were very comfortable and the
food was excellent. We got to try many
uniquely French foods, plus cheese and
chocolates “to die for”. The people of
France were so friendly and kind to us.
Speaking French was not a problem since
there was always someone to help with
translating even in the French church
service. Debbi and Kevin not only worked
with us during the week, but also made sure
we got to see some of the area around
northern France. We spent part of the
weekend in Amsterdam, Netherlands and Brugge,
Belgium, eating in the quaint restaurants
and shopping. Our photos are beautiful.
I know our trip
to France was life-changing for me as a team
leader, as well as for our group. I would do
it again in a heartbeat. BLF does an
excellent job of preparing the leaders for
the trip. You just need to be flexible
regarding your expectations and let God make
the plans, because He can do it better than
we ever could.
If you are
thinking that God might be able to use you
in some way to minister to the French people
I would encourage you to pray about it and
let Him show you where He wants you. God can
use a single person or couple to fill an
existing team. They need so much help. There
are very few Christian pastors and lots of
work to be done. If you can’t go right now,
there is always need for your resources and
prayer.
I can’t wait to
go back!
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