ROUEN

Our first sunday in Rouen!!  So what do we think????  It's hard to say after one time.  But it is very encouraging.  We arrived in Rouen last night.  We really didn't feel like leaving again after just getting home and getting the suitcases unpacked, but that's why we came back!!  Right?  So we packed up the car.  Since we had just gotten back from furlough, packing for a weekend away wasn't all that difficult.  The biggest difficulty was getting everything that we normally packed into a Chevy Venture extended van into an Opel Astra.   Easier said than done.

  But Mike did it and soon we were zooming down the road on our 150 mile trek to Rouen.

 

It was a beautiful, hot day when we left Reims.  The scenery along the way was very pretty too.  BUT the road seemed very long.  It makes us wonder if we'll really go back to Reims each week like in our original plan.  We'll play it by ear.  

We arrived in ROUEN in plenty of time but got turned around and ended up "turning" for about 3/4 of an hour.  We finally got to the church and met up with Kim Fox.  He showed us around the church and talked a little about the schedule of the church.

Then he took us to the little apartment where we'll be staying for the next three months until Kristi Colas gets back from her furlough.  It is a one bedroom apartment with a nice size livingroom and kitchen/dining area.  There is also a nice entry way.  We don't feel too crowded.  We let Emily have the bedroom and we're sleeping on the clic-clac in the livingroom.  It works really well.  There is is washer so I won't get behind in the wash.  We are very comfortable.

Yesterday we had our first service in our "new" church:  the Eglise Biblique Baptiste de Rouen.  (Bible Baptist Church of Rouen)  We were well recieved.  The people are very friendly.  I played the piano for the first time in a year and a half.  They use a different hymnbook than what we used in Reims so some of the songs were in different keys.  That made my fingers work differently.  

Anne-Marie giving her testimony of salvation to become a member of the church.

Mike preached and did an excellent job.  We were kind of concerned because of having been out of the French for over a year that he might have some difficulty.  But everything came back to him.  It was so good to hear him preach in French again!!  The church was full for two reasons: the founding missionary's last Sunday and meeting the new missionary coming in. 

After church they had a fellowship meal.  Probably about 2/3 of the people stayed.  They had a time of introduction, everyone said their name, what they do, and a little bit of their testimony.  It was really good.  It helped us put husbands and wives together and even the kids with the parents.  Will we remember for next Sunday, probably not.  But it still helps.

Overall it was a good day.  We're looking forward to what the Lord has for us here in ROUEN!!

Good night from . . .guess where?