As I write this, I am sitting in the living room of my airbnb in Paris. Looking out the window, I see bustling streets below and people walking on a mission. We are sitting in the heart of Paris—and the streets are filled with people from all different backgrounds and walks of life. They each have a story and that is why we are here; to hear their stories and to tell them about the love of Jesus.
Getting here was a trek, so I’ll just start from the very beginning. A few days ago we officially began this journey called the World Race. We spent several days at a hotel in Atlanta doing lots of training to prepare us for life on the field. As the logistics coordinator, I was busy each day learning about how to get my team from country to country and how to plan debriefs. It was a good few days, but we are so happy to finally be on the field!
On Sunday evening, Nathan and I’s first assignment as logistics coordinators was to get the squad from the hotel through the airport. We got to the airport around midnight and had an early morning flight to Orlando. Once we got to Orlando, we had a 15-hour layover. I discovered that you could rent day rooms at a hotel in the Orlando airport—so I got one and we crammed 14 girls in one room with a king-size bed. That hotel room was so good—we got to sleep, relax at the pool, take showers, and get rested up before our flight to Paris. We landed in Paris yesterday afternoon and took a metro and then walked with all our bags for about half an hour to our airbnb.
Paris is a unique place to begin a missions trip. Within the past year, there has been an influx of refugees that have descended upon Paris. This happened after a refugee camp in Calais, France was shut down. Refugees had gone to Calais in hopes of getting into the UK after the UK promised to accept 3,000 children. The UK backed down from the decision and took only 350 children, which left everyone else stranded. Out of desperation, they have come to Paris in hopes of finding a better life here. The French government is struggling to find a way to help the refugees. They built a camp to hold some refugees, but it can only hold 400 people and there are about 100-150 new people coming in each day.
Our goal here is to find the refugees and be a light in the darkness. We don’t have a set ministry host or assigned tasks each day—we are going to begin by prayer walking the streets, especially the neighborhoods where the refugees and migrants have landed and ask the Lord what He has for us. I am praying that the Lord would show us where He is already at work so that we can join Him in that.
Please be in prayer for our team as we seek the Lord and bring light to the darkness. Pray that those who have never heard the name of Jesus will come to know Him as we share Christ’s love with those we meet. Pray also that our team will be able to find cheap(er) housing for the rest of our time here in Paris. Thank you all for all your prayers and support!
Here are some pictures from the adventure thus far!
