|
Alison
Gill
Prayer letter No. 9
4 November 08
Greetings from
Belfast. I left Paris 12 days ago, had my Masters’ Graduation, saw some
friends and visited my Church in London, collected my car and then drove
back to Belfast. Somewhere en route I picked up a really bad cold and
cough and I feel pretty run down and have lost my voice! Hopefully this
will clear soon. I am so thankful for the time I had studying
French in Paris and actually pray that I might be able to return there
some day. The College was superb and God blessed me with really lovely
friends. My reading and writing is much better and I am managing to
follow most conversations and say simple sentences. I still have a long
way to go in terms of learning much more vocab and more complex grammar
and being able to speak with much more ease. I want to improve so
please pray for God’s help with this. I’ve found a French tutor here
and I hope to continue working through the textbook I was using in
Paris.
My
French Class at
Les Cèdres
Matin, one of Monet’s Water Lilies at the Musée de L’Orangerie, Paris
What a blessing it
was to live in beautiful Paris for a while and be able to see Monet’s
Water Lilies, the Sacré Cœur, Notre Dame and relax in Montmatre. It
seemed quite a contrast from some of the other places I have lived in
recently! However even in my brief stay there I was able to understand
more just how secular France is and how difficult it is to witness to
Christ there. Laws prevent people in government organisations wearing
anything that shows religious affiliation (i.e. a Cross / hijab / dog
collar) and you are not even ‘allowed’ to invite a colleague at work to
something run by your Church. Most people have never seen a
Bible and there are more registered mediums than priests / pastors.
My
Masters’ Graduation in Greenwich
This was a really happy
day with my parents and it was great
we were able to
see each other for a day as I returned from
France and they headed
out to their house there for half-term.
Bible
College
I planned to do some
study at a Bible College here in Belfast. Unfortunately they are now
unable to provide the tuition they had originally offered. I have
applied to do an Islamics course at All Nations Christian College in
Herts. in Dec.
News from
Burundi
A Burundian friend
recently shared some of the challenges in Burundi. There are serious
food shortages and 48% of population suffer from malnutrition. Around
300 000 refugees remain in the camps in Tanzania living in inhumane
conditions to try to force them to leave. My friend said it’s just
another ‘hell’ when you return to Burundi and there’s nowhere to live
and grow crops. Young people born in the camps don’t have life skills
and don’t know how to cultivate the land but they’re just left to get on
with it.
Prayer
Requests
-
God to
transform Burundi (see above).
-
Continued learning of French.
-
God’s guidance in
my final preparations before I move to Burundi.
With love and every
blessing,
|
