Viva Paris!

Just a quick note from Paris.  We have had a wonderful time with our 3W teammates the Simpsons as well as with the Church of God in Paris.  Our time is coming to a close tomorrow with the Sunday Service in which David Simpson will be preaching.  We have all been very touched by the reception we have received here from our friends in Paris.  What a lovely group of people. This has got to be one of the most difficult mission-fields in the world.  As one of the brothers in the church shared with me, the French are very proud of their highly cultured society.  This is a place where they have long discussions on philosophy on TV as opposed to Jerry Springer.  And the spiritual means very, very little.  The realm of tribal, primitive people.  And as many prejudices as foreigners have of France, it is a very impressive society on many, many levels.  Culture, architecture, and geography.  It feels like Japan from a Christian perspective--a very difficult place to get traction.  So we hope the 3W Seminar is at least providing encouragement, if not a little more.

It's also been nice seeing the Simpson's utilized here in Paris and not just in Bulgaria as that is part of our strategy at Three Worlds.  They are both lovers of history so they have greatly enjoyed this phenomenal city that oozes history on every corner.  Jamie's been here a couple of times before, but I'm sure it's safe to say she loves it even more now after having made friends here.

And then there's Marco....who has always shown an interest in history and travel.  He greatly enjoyed the Eiffel Tower and went up the Arc de Triumph with Uncle David.  But the best for him was our visit to the Museum of the Army at Invalides which also houses Napoleon's burial place.  The museum is enormous, grandiose, fantastic, spectacular.  Where else can an 8 year old boy see hundreds of Knight suits lined up as if ready to be picked up for battle.  On so many levels, this city is astonishing.  I was glad that Marco had such a good time---although I am sure that much of his fondest memories will be with Dave and Kathy.

Tomorrow we'll head back to Berlin.  We have visitors in our home all week, and then back on the road the next week.