Weekend in Paris

Well, this weekend has been extremely full. After my luggage arrived on Friday, we drove to Paris and met a number of Kristi's friends from the church at various places throughout the city. We were able to see the Arc de Triomphe and meet Alice, a young lady that Stephanie would be staying with. Later that night Kristi and I went to the prayer meeting at the church. It was very special. They prayed all together on their knees for about an hour or so. That was a great first introduction to the church. Later I got settled in with the family I was staying with from church. They live about 20 minutes from Poissy, which is the part of Paris where the church is located.

Saturday was our main touring day. Among many things, we visited the Jardin de Luxembourg, Notre Dame, and the Eiffel Tower. We also met more of Kristi's Christian friends. It was a wonderful day. At 8 pm, we got to the church for the first session of the music conference. There were about 30-40 people there at any given session. This church is unique in that, since it is so close to Paris, many of the members are extremely well-educated. It was overwhelming to hear of the many jobs that the men and women have--engineers, scientists, professors, etc. One of the church members taught the first sessions on the importance and purpose of congregational singing in the church. From what I could tell, it was very good. :)

Sunday was a full day of ministry. We got there at 10 and left at 10. :) The morning worship service was great... started with a long time of spontaneous requests for different hymns interspersed with spontaneous prayer and readings. We then took the Lord's Supper. After that, I left to go help with children's church by playing my violin. We only had one child that day, but he was very attentive. :) After the message was given in the worship service, we took a break for lunch. The rest of the day was filled with four other sessions concerning music in the church and with learning new music for use in worship. Kristi taught one and Stephanie and I helped here and there with playing/singing examples. We also did some special music. Before dinner, a few of the young people went on a walk to the Seine River, so Stephanie and I joined them. Learned much that day. We also really got to talk with the church people and get to know them. 

On  Monday we ended the conference with one last teaching session that Kristi did as well as another session of learning new songs. Ended with a wonderful lunch. It was sad to say goodbye to those dear people, but I'm hoping to see at least some of them again before leaving.

We stopped by Poissy Cathedral on our way out of Paris. It was massive and gorgeous. We are now home and catching up on everything. 

This weekend was so, so good. Most of our time was invested in getting to know the church people, and it was such a privilege.