I know what you are thinking, FINALLY! But y’all it’s only been a week!
So, let me start by saying that yes, ONLY a week but holy cannoli what a week it has been so far. I will most certainly not be able to tell every story there is but I will tell you some of them and then fill you in on the rest maybe through a VLOG! GOD IS MOVING!
We arrived in Paris last Monday. When we stepped off the plane, went through security and then hit the train, I believe that’s when I THOUGHT it hit me. “I am finally here. On the way to something life changing and humbling.” We traveled about 45 mins on a metro. First time on the metro for me and I loved it. People watching is my thing and I did it VERY well there. It was so neat going to the different stops and seeing the different people. Something that caught my eye were all the Muslim women. I had no idea it would be that way. They were beautiful wearing their hijab. Finally made it to the air BNB we have and its perfect!
We split into 4 small teams that consist of 6 people on a team. When my team was selected, i’ll be honest, I was a little scared that I would be overbearing for them because I’m a little outgoing, But they all seemed to be handling it well. Praise him haha. I feel secure, heathy and really loved. Maybe that will change over the next 11 months. Maybe we are just in the “honey moon” phase but I don’t think ill except that. We work as one body and we most certainly have various gifts to be able to bring kingdom, in fact I want to share with you one of the MANY stories that have happened.
“The human body has many parts, but the many parts make up one whole body. So it is with the body of Christ.” 1 Corinthians 12:12
It’s been 7 days in Paris well really 8 for me… and maybe 10 by the time you will actually be able to read this. Wifi is limited where we are. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t. You gotta hold you antenna in the right place and make sure there’s not but maybe one other person connected. However, we found this perfect bistro that serves us coffee and bread in the mornings that has wifi. Apollo takes good good care of us. Oh, and some of you might be wondering about my addiction to coffee and how well Paris provides. I will tell you it is the finest coffee or cafe in the world but it always comes in a little shot cup. I am like “ummm… Bigger please?!” so, to say the least Allonge (bigger) is one of the first words I learned.
Many of you know the biggest reason why coming to Paris for our group is the helplessness of the THOUSANDS upon THOUSANDS of lost and hopeless refugees. Here are a few countries that the refugees have been from Syria, Algeria, Sudan (The most), Somalia, Afghanistan, Ethiopia, Eritrea and Iraq. Honestly, a little hard to write about and for me to put into the right words for all of you to try and comprehend does not seem possible. I will be making a VLOG soon about my experiences. I promise. These people are helpless yet the most selfless. These HUMANS are like you and me but running away from torment and fear. The scars on there skin are fresh and some wombs are still open. You ask one of these beautiful humans what happened and you learn from that question and don’t ask again. The stories they tell are tragic and heartbreaking. Many will not talk about it and simply put their hand over their heart “Its too much, I am sorry.” God is working through our teams, personally I have seen 2 people come to Christ that is are refugees and several that we showed God’s love to. They ask “Their is something different about all of you?” Simply put “Its Jesus” we say.
1 John 4:7 Dear friends, let us continue to love one another, for love comes from God. Anyone who loves is a child of God and knows God.
What I CAN tell you now is that the Spirit of God is moving and I can’t keep up. Everyday here is like another miracle from God because of the work he is doing through us. The things He’s stirring and the relationships we are building are like putting a movie on and hitting the fast forward button and then putting another movie on an hour later and doing the same thing. My journaling process should be writing twice a day instead of once because I feel like there’s so much happening. Each thing more intense then the last.
However, my story for you all today comes from our team doing ATL (asking the Lord). This can look many ways. Sitting together and meditating on God’s word. Splitting up individually and coming back after 30 mins. Worshiping. But the most important thing is LISTENING and that is what we have been doing. Its a lovely thing, the body of Christ is and I truly believe our team represents that well with the many parts. Visions, prophecy, encouragement, leadership, teaching and evangelism. We split up in the house one morning and just listened to God. I personally wrote down words God was speaking to me. Two of them being blindman and staying out till the sun goes down. We came back together after low and behold someone had sunset and a man that looks beat up. We felt as though God was calling us to go downtown to work with the refugees that day specifically so we headed out. (This is one of the stories I am going to VLOG about). So, later on that night we decided to go to this park that’s right beside our house. It’s MAGICAL y’all. The first night we went up there, I about fainted. We climbed the stairs, by the way they are lined by a water fall and there is 190 of these suckers, and took off to the left. Headed further up the hill/ mountain depends on where you’re from saw a big green grassy area and took off to the edge of the hill. The most beautiful few of Paris, France including the Eiffel tower. I literally had a tear trickle down my face. As we sat and waited on the sun to go down, we prayed and sought the Lord on what more he wants. We knew we were suppose to go to the park, we knew were suppose to stay out till the sun went down. Out of the corner of our eye we saw this bubbly Vietnamese lady. Beautiful on the outside and further learned the beauty of what she had to offer on the inside.
I’ve never met someone quite like Rose. She has her story to tell so I won’t tell it for her but I will try to describe her. She walks like she is floating on a cloud, its on another level of walking with a pep in your step. I never once saw her without her smile unless she was intensely listening to us read the word or talking to her about the love of Christ. Rose wants peace, comfort and most of all love for every human being on this planet and also for the other planets she believes is out there. She was real. Authentic. Appreciative. And most certainly there will never be another Rose. She learned who Jesus is. She learned that the love she saw in us is “Different” because it’s the love of Christ. She is now discipling and given the love of Jesus to people, instead of the love of the “source”.
As a team, we continued to meet with Rose every night for 3 nights, Rain or sunshine. Seriously. She bought a Bible and couldn’t wait to show us. We read scripture with her and broke them down, answered questions and prayed over her. Yesterday, she wanted us all to come to the park because she wanted to make a movie about us. So, we all headed up the hill and put on some Christian music and started dancing. We danced and we danced and then we danced some more. I was having the time of my life dancing for the Lord and while doing it we picked up three men who had NO IDEA what we were doing but started coping the motions and by the end of the night Rose had shared the love of Christ with them.
These are a few short summary of Stories. Please be praying to them.
Mohammad, he is an Afghan and has had a very rough life. He hates America because “They kill my family”. He started with no peace and by the end of the day he was actually smiling a little.
Hannah & Micky. Hannah is a wife to a husband who left for the UK and they closed it right after he got in. She is stuck her and misses him dearly. I got to share the love of Jesus with her.
Joseph, a man who saw me in a dream and God told him to ask me about Jesus.
There are MORE and MORE stories happening of God’s love. My days here in Paris have taught me humility and harmony. Love like Christ. Most importantly listen and be used by Him. His gifts that He has for me are bottomless and if I am open I will be used. I pray that our shadows cast out bitterness, hatred and brokenness.
These are just a few. Please be encouraged by my stories. I look forward to sharing a VLOG with you all soon. Hopefully within the next 2 days. It will probably come across a lot better in a video than me writing. I am a TERRIBLE writer. However, I know that I have to share these with you. You NEED to hear them.
With all my love from Paris, Brittani
PS: Tried uploading photos but its not working. Maybe soon!
