What exactly is normal? I know it's a city in Illinois, and a setting on a washing machine as my friend likes to say, but what really fits in that catagory. After meeting with my new French friend who I met through couchsurfing we walked past the castle I go past every day to walk to the gardens that are overshadowed by buildings that are older than our American constitution.
I love this country. There's still a lot to get used to though, petit a petit! (little by little!)
Je puex faire de phrases cort, (I can make short sentences, but as you would know if you were fluent in French, perfection is lacking).
I'm excited to tell you I'm going to be going to a conference in the timeless city where "when in Rome" and "Roman Holiday" were filmed, would you like me to tell you where it is? You'll just have to find out later. Also, I'm going to be going on a missions trip within a missions trip when I go down and spend a month in the South of France. We're going to be doing anything, everything, and anything (we're not limited as I said) that the churches there want us to do.
Today after getting together with my friend and walking around the park I spent a moment just mulling over Psalm 139. God promised that if we moved to any distant ocean, whether is be Guam, Madagascar, or France he'd still be there. It doesn't matter what kind of new situation you're in, cuz to God it's already familiar. He's gone ahead of you and his plan is to bring you through to the other side while he get's all the glory:)
Love you guys!
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Friday, March 26, 2010
La Difference
Today on the tram as I watched people enter and exit I got to thinking about the huge difference between the lives that we all live as humans. Environment, world view, experience, background, it all comes together to make our lives so different from one another.
Today I got together with a girl who's sixteen, who loves Spanish films and to hang out with her friends. She also happens to be married, pregnant with her second child, and Romani, a people group we know as a Gypsy. She spends her days begging on the streets and taking care of her one year old daughter. There's a whole array of people that you'll run into on the street of France. Almost every night on the streets here I see some forlorn drunk stumbling around, and I wonder what are the million words, steps and memories that have turned them into the person they are today.
Even under our own noses, the people we pass each day have seen a different world, a different universe than the one we know ourselves. When you were celebrating your 13th birthday there was someone who was getting sold into slavery. When I was loosing my close friend to a DUI accident there was someone who just found out they were finally pregnant. The world is a strange place filled with over 7 billion people going two times as many directions.
I suppose that's why I'm little too enthralled with fiction and imagination. The world shifts gears, the colors change hues and the soundtrack switches rythym when we step into another person's shoes. The world can be seen through the eyes of a well-known movie star squinting in the glare of camera flashes or in the dimness seen through the eyes of a slave in America who almost no one knows exisits. Does anyone care?
How crazy is it to think that there's one who understands, who sees through and just plain gets every person who's out there in that big, little world. The words "God understands" has become so cliche, but let's take a moment to look for the truth behind the Hallmark card. We have a man who came down to earth, was covered in dirt, sweat and the rejection of this earth so that He could look into the eyes of every man, woman and child and let them know, "I get you".
There are a million things that we as humans will never be able to understand in this life, and that's okay. I'll never be able to understand the life and world of that gypsy girl, but heck, who knows if I'll ever be able to understand my own! But really, I don't care. Because right now there's someone who's eyes I'm looking into who's telling me, "I get you. I know who you are, I see where you're at and I care." Let's leave it at that.
Today I got together with a girl who's sixteen, who loves Spanish films and to hang out with her friends. She also happens to be married, pregnant with her second child, and Romani, a people group we know as a Gypsy. She spends her days begging on the streets and taking care of her one year old daughter. There's a whole array of people that you'll run into on the street of France. Almost every night on the streets here I see some forlorn drunk stumbling around, and I wonder what are the million words, steps and memories that have turned them into the person they are today.
Even under our own noses, the people we pass each day have seen a different world, a different universe than the one we know ourselves. When you were celebrating your 13th birthday there was someone who was getting sold into slavery. When I was loosing my close friend to a DUI accident there was someone who just found out they were finally pregnant. The world is a strange place filled with over 7 billion people going two times as many directions.
I suppose that's why I'm little too enthralled with fiction and imagination. The world shifts gears, the colors change hues and the soundtrack switches rythym when we step into another person's shoes. The world can be seen through the eyes of a well-known movie star squinting in the glare of camera flashes or in the dimness seen through the eyes of a slave in America who almost no one knows exisits. Does anyone care?
How crazy is it to think that there's one who understands, who sees through and just plain gets every person who's out there in that big, little world. The words "God understands" has become so cliche, but let's take a moment to look for the truth behind the Hallmark card. We have a man who came down to earth, was covered in dirt, sweat and the rejection of this earth so that He could look into the eyes of every man, woman and child and let them know, "I get you".
There are a million things that we as humans will never be able to understand in this life, and that's okay. I'll never be able to understand the life and world of that gypsy girl, but heck, who knows if I'll ever be able to understand my own! But really, I don't care. Because right now there's someone who's eyes I'm looking into who's telling me, "I get you. I know who you are, I see where you're at and I care." Let's leave it at that.
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Un Miracle!
Today I got together with a girl that I met over Couchsurfing. Yes, I'm proud to state that I'm a couch surfer. And, no, that doesn't have anything to do with taking my sofa to the beach but it has everything to do with a website that enables you to contact people and ask to go over to their homes or just get together for coffee. I had a wonderful hot chocolate outside with a girl from the area. I had a good time, even though I had a hard time keeping up with what she was saying because she spoke so fast! I understood about half of what she was going at though, which made it possible to find out she's a nice girl who I'm excited to get to know more! She invited me to get together this weekend and I can't wait to see what God will do with our possible friendship. Please pray that God blesses this friendship.
Also, I was walking home alone from the tram (totally safe, just for you moms to know who are reading this) when I started a conversation with a woman walking next to me. It all happened so fast, after a moment I realized that I was asking her "vous etes francais?" and the conversation went on from there. It turns out she's a researcher with plants, and had just been in Paris for work, that why she was carrying bags that made her look like a tourist. (Hence why I asked a woman in the middle of France if she was French :) She's very friendly and it's apparent she's very sociable and has a great head on her shoulders. Anyway, here comes the miracle part---she invited me over! A stranger on the street, who didn't know my name, she gave me her address and phone number and invited me over after talking with me for less than five minutes. It just so happens that she lives ridiculously close to my house! This is truly a miracle because no other completely French person has invited me over! I'm very excited to see what God will do with this.
Thank you all for your prayers, they are felt. Please keep interceding for me!
Love ya'll :)
Also, I was walking home alone from the tram (totally safe, just for you moms to know who are reading this) when I started a conversation with a woman walking next to me. It all happened so fast, after a moment I realized that I was asking her "vous etes francais?" and the conversation went on from there. It turns out she's a researcher with plants, and had just been in Paris for work, that why she was carrying bags that made her look like a tourist. (Hence why I asked a woman in the middle of France if she was French :) She's very friendly and it's apparent she's very sociable and has a great head on her shoulders. Anyway, here comes the miracle part---she invited me over! A stranger on the street, who didn't know my name, she gave me her address and phone number and invited me over after talking with me for less than five minutes. It just so happens that she lives ridiculously close to my house! This is truly a miracle because no other completely French person has invited me over! I'm very excited to see what God will do with this.
Thank you all for your prayers, they are felt. Please keep interceding for me!
Love ya'll :)
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
updates! The only thing is when you go a little bit without updating, a million things pile up that you would have liked to have write about. Like I would love to tell you about the crazy night I had over at my new friend Zahra's house. She's from Algeria and she invited me over for cous cous. There I was in her house in the west of France and I felt like I was in the middle of northern africa! She had Algerian pictures up, and middle eastern music was blasting from her speakers. I tried several interesting food that I have no idea what they were--some of them tasted great, some just interesting. I'm excited because my team is planning on having her family and friends over for an American meal soon. We were thinking some fried chicken with sweet tea and biscuts, or maybe just some chicken and dumplings.
Food here is definetly amazing. I'll admit it, we went out to eat as a team last Friday and had a wonderful time here. Food is a HUGE part of French culture. It's not just nourishment to the body to them, it's nourishment to the soul! I'll tell you one thing, I was definetly singing the hallelujah (I just realized that after growing up in the church, I have no idea how to spell hallelujah:). And honestly, let me say that the french have a right to brag about their food.
It's been hard trying to find good places to plug into. The whole big beautiful city of Nantes is out there, with over 700,000 people who don't know the beauty of knowing Christ. Good thing God is big and has big plans for this city and each individual who is inside of it.
Please pray that God will show me what direction to go to start doing his work in this beautiful city!
Love ya'll's:)
Food here is definetly amazing. I'll admit it, we went out to eat as a team last Friday and had a wonderful time here. Food is a HUGE part of French culture. It's not just nourishment to the body to them, it's nourishment to the soul! I'll tell you one thing, I was definetly singing the hallelujah (I just realized that after growing up in the church, I have no idea how to spell hallelujah:). And honestly, let me say that the french have a right to brag about their food.
It's been hard trying to find good places to plug into. The whole big beautiful city of Nantes is out there, with over 700,000 people who don't know the beauty of knowing Christ. Good thing God is big and has big plans for this city and each individual who is inside of it.
Please pray that God will show me what direction to go to start doing his work in this beautiful city!
Love ya'll's:)
Monday, March 8, 2010
So I asked God to send me to the dirt roads and malaria infected villages of the wilds of Africa, then He twirled around and pointed his finger to Nantes, France. So here I be.
I spent the weekend at a conference center set on the grounds of a castle-it was beautiful! I swear you're not allowed to become a township here in France unless you have at least one "chatau" (castle) and drop dead-gorgeous church that is echoingly empty.
Anywhos, the retreat I was on went amazing for me not speaking a word of French! (That's a lie, I'll get more specific later). It was a youth retreat for the teens of the churches in Nantes with a group called Linkup. I got to know a ton of French teens and it was wonderful to meet them! Most of them spoke more English than I do French (they're required to learn the language and I feel like they've spent more time studying english then I spent on all my subjects combined in my homeschool career:). Usually it was a mess between French, Spanish and English!
I met a girl named Esther from Martinique (a French isle don't feel bad if you don't know where it is--I had no clue!!). She was very friendly and spoke more spanish than english, so we would talk and our sentences would be a whirlwind of spanish pronouns and fillers, French verbs and English "yeahs". Puedes put la sabana en ma liu? (Messy, I know, but it worked! And we spent most of the time laughing over the jumble of words and hand motions we would use to fill in the gaps!)
These teens are beautiful. The majority of them seemed to be more intent on the good lookin' fella or lady on the other side of the room than anything else. Yet there were several of them that it was beautiful to see their intense hunger and longning for God shining through them.
Please pray that God penetrates their heart to the deepest part and they're filled with a hunger for God like never before!
Love you guys:)
Oh, and you should check out my pictures on facebook!
I spent the weekend at a conference center set on the grounds of a castle-it was beautiful! I swear you're not allowed to become a township here in France unless you have at least one "chatau" (castle) and drop dead-gorgeous church that is echoingly empty.
Anywhos, the retreat I was on went amazing for me not speaking a word of French! (That's a lie, I'll get more specific later). It was a youth retreat for the teens of the churches in Nantes with a group called Linkup. I got to know a ton of French teens and it was wonderful to meet them! Most of them spoke more English than I do French (they're required to learn the language and I feel like they've spent more time studying english then I spent on all my subjects combined in my homeschool career:). Usually it was a mess between French, Spanish and English!
I met a girl named Esther from Martinique (a French isle don't feel bad if you don't know where it is--I had no clue!!). She was very friendly and spoke more spanish than english, so we would talk and our sentences would be a whirlwind of spanish pronouns and fillers, French verbs and English "yeahs". Puedes put la sabana en ma liu? (Messy, I know, but it worked! And we spent most of the time laughing over the jumble of words and hand motions we would use to fill in the gaps!)
These teens are beautiful. The majority of them seemed to be more intent on the good lookin' fella or lady on the other side of the room than anything else. Yet there were several of them that it was beautiful to see their intense hunger and longning for God shining through them.
Please pray that God penetrates their heart to the deepest part and they're filled with a hunger for God like never before!
Love you guys:)
Oh, and you should check out my pictures on facebook!
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
Hey ya'll! Sorry it's been so long since I've posted. I couldn't get onto my blog at home without going through a few loop holes (i.e.--hacking my own computer, an activity I'm not overly fond of) and I thought that was a decent excuse.
Now there's so much I want to tell you about, now that I'm deep in the heart of le republique Francais and "livin' the dream". Yet, I don't not want to flood your poor inboxs with every little croissant I eat and new word I learn.
Today was my 2nd full day here in Nantes-and I'm already getting a feel for the city. I have yet to be 100% which way is north (a strange sensation for me) but I can find my way to the center and back from here!
Today I had my first "real" conversation with a random french person! I was riding the bus for the first time when a girl about my age came and sat next to me all innocent like. Little did she know that she was going to be the first victim of my first attempt at french conversation (besides asking directions!). If a pessimistic person were reviewing the dialouge they might have deemed it a train wreck or "the Titanic of 2010" however, because I'm Tamsen, I believe it was a great success! We were able to smile at each other and ask a few questions and communicate a few things about ourselves. I keep on reverting to Spanish! If I'm supposed to be speaking a foreign language my mind jumps in and says "have no fear, I know what to do--just insert Espanol here!" Not so much. My typical sentence consists of a couple words from all three languages. All I care is that it worked, and I was able to interact with a french girl my age!
Please comment if you're reading this at all! Love you guys!
Now there's so much I want to tell you about, now that I'm deep in the heart of le republique Francais and "livin' the dream". Yet, I don't not want to flood your poor inboxs with every little croissant I eat and new word I learn.
Today was my 2nd full day here in Nantes-and I'm already getting a feel for the city. I have yet to be 100% which way is north (a strange sensation for me) but I can find my way to the center and back from here!
Today I had my first "real" conversation with a random french person! I was riding the bus for the first time when a girl about my age came and sat next to me all innocent like. Little did she know that she was going to be the first victim of my first attempt at french conversation (besides asking directions!). If a pessimistic person were reviewing the dialouge they might have deemed it a train wreck or "the Titanic of 2010" however, because I'm Tamsen, I believe it was a great success! We were able to smile at each other and ask a few questions and communicate a few things about ourselves. I keep on reverting to Spanish! If I'm supposed to be speaking a foreign language my mind jumps in and says "have no fear, I know what to do--just insert Espanol here!" Not so much. My typical sentence consists of a couple words from all three languages. All I care is that it worked, and I was able to interact with a french girl my age!
Please comment if you're reading this at all! Love you guys!
Sunday, November 22, 2009
Praise God! I got an article in my church bulletin today! Right in the center of my church program was a story about me and how I grew up in the church and it lead me on to missions. This program was passed out to 6,000-8,000 people this weekend. I hope it helped encourage people to realize that missions is a "here and now" thing, not a "then and there" project.
Missions is being intentional with every person you run into to in some way, whether subtly or openly share the love of God with them.
As St. Francis of Assis said:
"Preach the Gospel, and if necessary, use words"
I'm getting ready to send out a newsletter soon. So if you'd like a copy you can send me your address at: tamseng@gmail.com
Shalom!
Missions is being intentional with every person you run into to in some way, whether subtly or openly share the love of God with them.
As St. Francis of Assis said:
"Preach the Gospel, and if necessary, use words"
I'm getting ready to send out a newsletter soon. So if you'd like a copy you can send me your address at: tamseng@gmail.com
Shalom!
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