Anna's FirstServe Prayer Letter - April 15th-29th

Hello once again!

Our time in France is flying in already, with three weeks already done and dusted! It has been a very busy time, but God has been faithful in providing the strength needed for each day.

Devotion

To be honest, the last two weeks have been the hardest and most exhausting part of my gap year so far. I went through a few days recently where I had no motivation to wake up each morning, had become frustrated with the language barrier, felt mentally and physically exhausted and reached a point where I was ready to pack up and come home. I came into our house in the evenings and had no desire to sit and read my Bible. I sat down one evening after coming in from work last week and prayed in frustration and tears and asked God where He was in all this. About an hour later, Anna and Tirza asked us if we wanted to go and watch the sunset. Despite it being the last thing I felt like doing, the four of us ended up heading to one of the nearby beaches to watch the sunset, which turned out to be absolutely beautiful. I honestly felt like it was God answering my prayer and saying ‘Just hang in there, I’ve got this!’.

The poem ‘Footprints’ has come up repeatedly in the last few weeks, which has served as an important reminder to me of how faithful God has been to me throughout this year and answered the question I asked that evening: Where is God in all this? The answer is, He’s not just walking by my side, or holding my hand, but He’s carrying me through.

Day to day tasks

I’d say by the end of our time here, I stand a good chance at being nominated Ireland’s quickest and most efficient human dishwasher. I can confidently say we have already cleaned thousands of dishes while we’ve been here, which isn’t too bad when you have some banter, a groovy Spotify playlist and a cool chef that cheers you on from the kitchen.

Tirza and I have also helped Jean-Marc, the chef, in the kitchen for a few days which has been a lot of fun, and is definitely a nice change to cleaning the endless stacks of plates after dinner. Working in the kitchen has by far been the best opportunity for me to improve my French, as Jean-Marc doesn’t speak English, so all communication in the kitchen is done in French! We mainly prep the salads and entrées and sometimes make and decorate the desserts. Apart from slicing my finger open and accidently spraying Jean-Marc with the hose while cleaning up the kitchen (I promise it really was accidental this time), I’d say we did a pretty good job!

The rest of our jobs are similar to our first week here - laundry, cleaning cabins, mopping and sweeping. We have also almost finished sanding and painting the apartment we started a few weeks ago.

An unofficial job Rachel and I took on over the last few weeks was to babysit little Rose, Sofie and Antoine’s daughter once a week to let Sofie and Antoine have some time to themselves. Sofie and Antoine were here serving for three weeks and just left the centre on Saturday. They have been such a blessing, between helping us with learning French, cleaning around the centre and making us amazing food!

Church

Because we have a lot of weekend groups at the moment, Rachel and I haven’t been able to get to church as often as we take it in turns with the others to stay behind and serve the groups at the centre. However, the church has been very welcoming and although I only understand roughly what the message is about as the service is in French, it is nice to come away from the centre for a few hours and focus on the Lord. I have also been added to the worship team for the few months that I’m here which I’m looking forward to, especially the challenge of learning the songs in French!

Bible Study

We have a Bible study every Tuesday morning for the ladies who work at the centre which is run in English. We are currently studying through the book of Matthew, and I have been leading the Bible study for the past two weeks looking at chapter 9. I can definitely see how God was working when I was asked to lead the Bible study. Throughout the challenges I have faced over the last few weeks, reading through Matthew 9 has reminded me of the power that true faith in God holds. If we just have faith in Him, like those in Matthew 9: the paralytic’s friends, Matthew the tax collector, Jarius the ruler, the woman with the issue of blood and the blind men, God will meet us where we are, and will give us what we need.

Free time

We have become very close with Tirza and Anna over the last few weeks, and a lot of our free time is spent going to the beach together, watching movie and having game nights, though we have also been known to have the odd washing up team dance party and smuggle chocolate cake into our staff kitchen…

Playing piano and running have been ways that I have also had a chance to take a break from work, and even spend time with God, whether it’s been running while listening to a Christian podcast, or playing worship songs on the piano. It has been an important reminder for me to spend time with the Lord through every aspect of my day, not just my morning Bible reading or going to church on Sunday!

Rachel and I have also started our own Bible study once a week looking through the Lord’s Prayer, and again I have really valued the time that we have taken away from work to study God’s Word, pray together and hear what He has to say to us.

On another note before I finish, I will be heading home for a week on Saturday to sit two exams which I need for university applications, so please pray for safe travels and that God would guide me through those.

Prayer Points

• Thanks for the great friends God has blessed us with here and the strength He has given us each day.

• Prayer that God will continue to provide the motivation and energy needed to serve Him in all that we do.

• Prayer for safe travels and my exams in the coming weeks.

Genuinely thank you for your thoughts and prayers, they have been so needed in the last couple of weeks. I really appreciate your interest and for so many of you keeping in touch with news from home. May we continue to do all for His glory.

God Bless,

Anna x

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And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to His purpose. Romans 8 v 28