“Paris, France!! God, you have got to be kidding me!! I never thought I would ever be here serving you on a mission. It seems like its a place people tend to go to on vacation or when they want to experience a different culture, but still have the luxury of home. Paris seems too good for me to be here, yet you brought the nations here! Out of all places you are bringing the nations to this city known as the ‘City of Love’.”
This was a conversation I had with God yesterday night as I was reflecting on the day. I believe God has shown me that as we follow Him and His heart for people and the nations, He brings us to places we never thought we would go. I never had a heart for Paris or even a desire to go, but as the Lord moves, He opened a door to be here.
Today marks one week of being here in Paris, France. We had the first two full days to explore and figure out the city. We got to experience some of the culture and how to get from her to there, but it wasn’t until the fourth day we realized we were placed in the perfect place at the perfect time.
We want to Porte de la Chapelle, which is the north part of Paris. When we got there we saw hundreds of refugees and all of them were men. They were all over the place form many different places such as Sudan, Somalia, Afghanistan, Iraq, and many other places.
Many of these people have been sleeping on the ground or in tents all over the place. They currently have different places they can go to to get showers and supplies, but it is so limited. Most of them only eat one meal a day.
Before going into Porte de la Chapelle for the first time we prayed together as a team and just asked the Lord for His guidance in what we should do with the people. The very first day we starting meeting people, being friendly, and hearing crazy stories of how these refugees got to Paris.
This happened on August 13, at around 3:30pm
Here is a couple of stories from this week of ministry. First, my teammates Tamara and Connie went and started talking to two guys named Abdoul and Alseer. Abdoul was very talkative and told them how he traveled over an hour to see friends he had at the refugee center. When the ladies asked him other questions he began to share about his arm and how he got in a fight and he couldn’t move it. Tamara and Connie asked if they could pray for him and for his arm and he said, “Yes of course.” They explained how there is power in laying hands on him and so they touched him and prayed for him. BOOM! Life changed as his arm was healed right then and there! I came running seconds after they prayed and I see Abdoul amazed. He told me, “my arm was hurt where I could not move it and they prayed and it is better. It makes me want to dance!” He was so happy and thankful that he was thanking them over and over. Tamara and Connie said, “it was Jesus not us.” And they Abdoul said, “Thank you Jesus!” After that he was convinced he wanted to sleep outside right there so he could see us tomorrow. He also said, “I just follow you everywhere.” It was amazing to see the power of God come to life inside that young man.
This happened August 13th and 14th
I met a man named Amid. He was a refugee from Sudan. He told me stories of the conflict and how the country was split up. He told me that muslims came together and said anyone who is not a muslim must die. Others didn’t agree, but others believed so strongly they started killing innocent people. He said he was forced to run. He spent one year traveling by foot (sometimes by train or bus) before he arrived Paris. I asked him what he believed and he said, “I don’t really believe anything. I have seen so much killing I just want the truth.” I was able to explain how “Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life.” Through Google translate. I asked him if he would be willing to learn more about Jesus the next day and he said, “Yes, if you have time.” I made a plan to meet him the next day.
The next day (August 14th) came around and we ended up walking a little farther away from our original meeting spot. I opened my Bible to John and all the “I AM” statements Jesus made. I got through four of them- I Am the Bread of Life; I Am the Good Shepard; I Am the Way, the Truth, and the Life; and I Am the Resurrection and the Life. He explained to me how there is a good way and a bad way and I got to explain to him that its actually Jesus way or not Jesus way. It was cool to see the wheels turning and the Lord working in his heart. He was so focused on me and the conversation. I looked up and BOOM there was 20 other people around me listening to our conversation all eager to know and learn what I was saying. Another guy named Sam was so engaged that he stayed for the full 3 hours too! We talked long and hard. At the end of our time I asked him, “Do you want to give your life to Jesus? Do you want to follow him?” He responded, “This is a tough choice for me. If anyone found out they would kill me. Even here there is people who would kill me. I am not safe. I need to be protected. Back home if we decided we didn’t believe in islam it was okay, but if you decided to change religions then you were to be hanged. Life is valuable to me.”
Personally I believe God had Amid and Sam in his arms. I believe we just need to keep praying and in the right time he will come to life in his faith. It was amazing to see the work the Lord is doing in his life and the openness to the Good News.
These are just two of the crazy stories the Lord has done here in Paris! I feel like over time as we go out and start sharing about Jesus, everyone is interested and joins in. After talking to the team there has definitely been spiritual warfare. For example, I guy came up to Nathan, one of the other guys on my team, and Nathan explained how he started poking him and saying things like, “why are you here? You can’t give these people anything! They hate you. You can’t help in any way go away and don’t come back. If you come back I and these other people will kill you.” Verbal threats to him and how Nathan responded was, “Do you know Jesus?” The guy stopped and was in shocked and just left him. Its crazy to see things like that happen. Yet its just fear tactic the devil is using us to devalue what God is doing at that refugee camp. Personally, I have seen muslims crowd around so fast, we get this sense of stop or go somewhere different. You never know what they are thinking or processing.
Another story that happened today (August 15th) is that we met this guy form Afghanistan named Muhammad. He came up to me and asked where we were from. When we responded, “America” he got this disgusting look on his face and he said, “I hate Americans!” When we asked him why he responded with, “They bombed my country and my family. I left my city to go work and came back and all I can remember is black. Everything I knew was gone.” He looked so hurt and had anger toward Americans for what happened. He said, “We just want Americans to stay out of our country.” I grasped another reality today of how unsafe it would be for me to go into Afghanistan. He kept venting to us and we just listened and tried to show him how we are different. However, he was convinced that through education system in the United States we were all the same. And thats when God a man from Sudan named Gabriel to step into the picture.
(Me, Muhammad (Afganistan), and Gabriel (Sudan)- I asked them if I could write about what He talked about and they both said yes.)
He was just listening on the side and he heard the things that were being said to us and he told the Afghanistan guy, “These people were sent by God to help. Its not the government that sent them, they didn’t get any money to be here. They took their own time and money to come help us in our suffering.” It was crazy to hear him and after the Afghanistan man left we talked to Gabriel about his faith. He said that a man came through and gave him a Bible awhile ago. He said that he was a Christian, but I think his knowledge of the Lord was just the basic. Later that afternoon, we decided to walk to a park to have a Bible study. We walked a little ways away so that we wouldn’t draw a crowd. I now realize why Jesus retreated with his disciples. Gabriel and his friend John came and showed me some of his favorite verses and we went over Romans 3 and a couple other of my favorite verses. All together we had about5 Sudan man gathered around reading the Bible. Each one of them were sitting next to a World Racer who was able to explain verses and help with translation and understanding. Those who understood more would end up translating the verses and the meaning in Arabic to others round them.
Overall, God has been moving in crazy awesome ways. Relationship are being built so fast and so deep. My whole team has been using their gifts in ways to bing Kingdom to this place. I can tell you that the nations are here in Paris and it is a God thing that we are here.
We are also raising some money in order to give some supplies to them here as they wait for paperwork. If the Lord leads you to give, you can click this link and donate to help the crisis that is going on here: https://give.adventures.org/campaign.asp?campaignid=4130 Thank you for investing in this mission and what the Lord is doing here at Porte de la Chapelle.
The verse I have to share with you is this:
“I am not ashamed of the Good News about Christ for it is the power of God at work for everyone who believes- the Jew first and also the Gentile.”
-Roman 1:16
Don’t be ashamed of God, he brings power, love and salvation for all who believe. People from every tribe, tongue, and nation are coming to know Christ and don’t we all want to be a part of building His Kingdom?
Prayer Requests:
1. People to come to know Jesus here at Porte De La Chapelle. These people are open and we have been planting seeds constantly and we are waiting for the harvest. Pray that non of those who we touch would resist the truth but that they would understand that Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life.
2. Pray with me for Amid and Sam along with all the other unspoken names to know Jesus and that they would find a place where they can be safe to choose Jesus without fear of harm.
3. Pray for me. I need strength and emotional energy to keep up in every conversation. I need patients and ability to understand. I also have not been sleeping the best so prayer for that would be great too.
4. My team to continue to stand up for each other and be unified through all the decisions and circumstances that we face. That we would grow in love for Jesus, toward one another, and toward the people we come into contact with.
5. Supernatural things to happen through my team and squad. For example: Healing to take place physically, for people to have words of knowledge, for the power of God to be demonstrated in any way fit, etc.
Answers to Prayer Requests:
Prayer #1:
Goodbyes to my parents. Pray that my dad (Scott), mom (Becky), and I would have peace and be encourage going into this season of life.
Answer #1:
I felt leaving that I had lots of peace and excitement to go to the nations. It was really hard on my parents, which made it hard for me but through it I understand even more how thankful I am for them. Prayers were definitely answered here.
Prayer #2:
My squad. Pray my squad has peace and that we are inspired and motivated to go out and be bold in the midst of unsafe places. Also, pray for safety in the midst of launch.
Answer #2:
We have got the boldness. God has been moving incredibly through these fierce warriors. I am blessed to see them and thrive in this atmosphere and to see lives recked with love.
Prayer #3:
Health. My health along with a could other teammates haven’t been the best. Pray that we would be energized and feeling great going into the first month.
Answer #3:
I was feeling sick for a week before launch so much so that I ended up going into the urgent care clinic to get medication for my stomach. Right when we got to Paris my stomach felt better and my sickness was gone. My teams health is doing well too.
Prayer #4:
Pray for my ministry team. We just got placed on teams and this team I will be with for the next year. Pray specifically for Jacob Hart, Connie Kao, Lauren Nelson, and Tamara Vicovan, and Melanie Morgan. Pray that our team would be so moved by love and by God and that we would be a group of harvesters of the Gospel.
Answer #4;
My ministry team is killing it. There is so many amazing things happening and everyone is using their gifts for the Kingdom and its so cool to see! We are turning into a group who is moved my love and its amazing to see. The first day we went to Porte De La Chapelle, Tamara got to lead a muslim man to Christ and that was incredible to see and hear. Healing has taking place and people are coming to sit with us for hours to know who Jesus is. I would say the kingdom has come here and we are happy to be here to share about it.
Prayer #5:
Personally for me. I am dealing with a lot of emotions and really don’t know how I am supposed to feel. I have been sad from goodbyes and then these last couple of days it has been joyful to look forward. The emotions go up and down and just need prayer for the ability to focus on Jesus and the joy set before me.
Answer #5:
God has been moving in my heart to experience more and more of the reality of leaving for 11 months. After seeing what God has been doing here, today I have felt so much joy to be able to serve overseas for 11 months. Goodbyes are always hard, but the impact is eternal and worth the pain of leaving. My focus has been on Jesus and wanting to grow deeper and be sharper than I have ever been before.
Here is a quote to encourage you prayer warriors:
“Prayer does not equip us for greater works. Prayer is the greater work.”
-Oswald Chambers
Keep praying knowing that prayer is the ministry itself. Thank you for fighting with me to bring the kingdom here. I can’t tell you how amazing it is to know I have people fighting for me on a daily basis!
