Se coucher and Coucher and Accoucher, oh my!

Okay, I know I said I would be better about updating, and here I am missing another day. Oops. This just isn't one of those 9-5 internships at all. I mean, yesterday began at 6 a.m. and tonight I'm just getting home around 11 p.m. We really have such full, wonderful days.

Yesterday, I went with Florian and Benjamin (they're early birds) to a mountain around Marseille. They picked me up at 6 in the morning, and just a few minutes later, we were standing on top of one of the highest points in Marseille. We hiked up the mountain and watched the sunrise from up there. A little physical activity, talking with friends, and drinking good French espresso is a great way to start a morning. And this was where I made one of my biggest language faux pas to date. I tried to tell Benjamin what time I went to bed the night before, but I accidentally mistranslated the verb, and I ended up telling him what time I had sex. In my defense, the words look nearly the exact same, but when he started laughing at me, I knew that I had done something wrong. Haha oh well. Learning a language is all about putting yourself out there, making those embarrassing mistakes, and doing better the next time. And I'm really blessed to have good friends over here who can laugh at me in the nicest way possible and help me keep improving.

Mountainside view

After we climbed back down the mountain, we headed to the devo at church. Every day (Monday to Friday), we all get together to sing, read the Bible, and pray together at 8:30 before class starts. Again, such a nice, relaxing, thoughtful way to start the mornings. I had French class after that, and then in the afternoons we do homework help for kids in the neighborhood.

And one of the coolest, most culturally aware programs that the church has is its soccer ministry. Basically, churches from all around town sponsor teams in a league that plays in various tournaments around town. Since soccer is such a huge deal around here, lots of people want to be on these teams, and it's a good way to do outreach with people in a "Hey, we're not all crazy, religious fanatics; we're normal people who like soccer too. And we also happen to like Jesus" kind of way. All kinds of organized religion are really looked down upon here in France (especially Marseille), so this is a really effective way for the church to be involved in the community and remain approachable for people. I'm significantly worse than most players on these teams because they've been playing since they were about 3, so I didn't play much, but it was still fun to watch some serious soccer being played. Man, there is some solid talent out there.

The soccer (called foot here) match

And then today. Today began with the devo, and then since I didn't have French class today, I stayed at the church for CEM class. I still have a hard time following at points because the whole class is in French, but I'm already catching more of the lesson now than I was a week ago. One of the hardest parts is learning all of the obscure church vocabulary. I know it's probably hard to believe, but they never taught us how to say resurrection, apostles, or sacraments in French classes in high school, so I'm having to to quickly learn a lot of biblical jargon. The classes are good, and it's really great for me to be exposed to a lot of language because it forces me to keep training my ears.

This afternoon, a group of us went to this cute little old lady's house for a Bible study. She doesn't get out much, so she really enjoys having people over (and we got spoiled with homemade goodies, coffee, and chocolates). Mmm! Another older woman came with us, and we all sang together for a little while and then talked about Acts 6. They were a little harder to understand when they spoke, but I could tell that they really loved having us there with them.

Then tonight was the LST party where we invite all the people they read with to come visit and hang out. I did a lot of the cooking and preparation for this party because they were pretty busy all day, and we had a great turn out. There was lots of food and good conversation, and after we ate, we had a big dance party where we taught all our French friends how to line dance and do a couple other American dances. Such a fun time, and we're really becoming close with a few of the people who have started coming regularly to everything. And now, with a full belly and full heart, I bid you all goodnight.

These people bring me so much joy