School winding up.

The squash are blooming in the garden.

I think we have just about got everything back to "normal" after the team left.  Right after they left, I stopped by the doctor and had an x-ray for what I thought was a broken rib.  I was elbowed in one of the games the week prior and it suddenly was more painful.  Thankfully it was just bruised cartilage and nothing was broken.  It was irritated by the constant use and is feeling much better now.  Saturday we got a call from a friend in Paris, the wife of the man who translated for AC Green, she had passed out at work and was having tests to find out why, ended up being a heart problem and the doctors said it would be could if someone could stay with her the next week while they waited for the results of the test. Angie decided she should go and help out.  She left on the TGV Monday and spent the week in Paris.  Meanwhile it was me and the kids back home.  Look out!  Things went well.  It was busy but no problems.  Tuesday I ran errands, shopping and the bank.  I also finished gathering all the paperwork for Caleb's entrance into Junior High.  Lilia left Wednesday morning for her end of school trip.  They left the school by bike and rode 24 km to camp near a lake for a couple of days.  She had a great time. 

Andrew's birthday at McDonalds

Wednesday, Andrew had his birthday party at McDonalds.  It was during the team's visit, but since we didn't really have time to properly celebrate it, we decided to give him the McDonald's birthday experience.  I stayed for the party, which he really enjoyed with 7 of his friends.  Thursday I got all the paperwork turned in for Caleb. And after school we went to the store to let Andrew spend his birthday money.  Friday evening I picked up Lilia, and Saturday morning we picked up Angie at the airport, she took a flight back from Paris to Toulouse.

Angie getting hugs at the airport.

It was nice having her back. She brought some clothes back for everyone.  We enjoyed Sunday services in Carcassonne.  There were several visitors that we enjoyed getting to know.  We also listened to the service in Hillsboro, which was the first time in over a month.  This week is the last of the month.  Lilia is already out of school, and the boys just have two more weeks left. I have to get the van papers changed into our name this week.  Things will be hectic during the summer as people are traveling and business shut down.  Hopefully I will be able to attend the market and reach out to some tourists.  God bless, JASON 

Basketball Team and A.C. Green

The last few days of May were spent preparing for the basketball team that we had arriving on Sunday morning.  There were sleeping arrangements to consider, food to buy, errands to run, and on top of that all our regular activities.  Sunday morning I left early to get the team.

I left at 5 am Sunday morning to drive to Barcelona to pick up the team. Lilia went with me because I wanted some company and she really wanted to meet everyone.  We met them at the airport and had a good three hour ride back to Villasavary to attend the anniversary picnic of the church in Carcassonne.  Pictured above, I am translating the testimony of two of the team members.  After the picnic, we headed to our house for let everyone contact home, and then went to the gymn for a little practice.  We all had McDonalds together and then headed to Carcassonne to the house where they would be staying. 

 Monday, the team slowly arose and we toured the Walled City of Carcassonne.  We enjoyed walking around Carcassonne, tried out some local food for lunch, shopped a little, and headed to our game in Sigean.  Sigean was ranked #1 in our area, and so it would be a tough game.  We ended up loosing, but did well, considering jet lag, and it being our first time to play together.  It was what happened after the match that was great. There was a large crowd there, and they offered food and drinks afterwards.  It was great, we had the chance to talk with the other team, minglem play with the kids that were present.  I knew at that moment, that this whole idea was going to be worth the time and expense put into it.  We had some good conversations over the course of the evening.   

Our team and Sud-minervois (we had one extra player with us, Ayoola, a british rugby player)

Tuesday, we went to the beach, while the weather was good.  It had been cold before the team arrived, but temperatures were in the upper 70's for most of the time they were here.  Tuesday evening, we played Sud-minervois, pictured above.  We had a great time again.  And this time we won.  We actually played 5 quarters.  The great moment was when one of the refs bowed to Rachel as she hit her 7th three-pointer of the night.   Once again, we had a real good time afterwards visiting with everyone.  My family was there and so we had plenty of translators.  Wednesday was Andrews birthday so we took him along with us to hike through the green Labyrinthe.  It was a good time to spend with the team and Andrew enjoyed the special moment for his 7th birthday. 

That afternoon we had basketball practice with the team that I coach.  It was a great time, the team had no problems communication enough to get their ideas across, and all the kids present were really happy with the whole experience.  Wednesday night, we played at Villeneuve, a good game that we won, and one of the highlights of the trip.  We stayed for over an hour after the game visiting and enjoying the food.  One of the team members was a resaurant owner, and invited us to eat in his restaurant the next day for lunch.  It was a great time of getting the know them, and building relationships.  During the lunch meal, I sat nexted to one of the other team members who did not speak english, and had a good converstation with him about religion. 

 

One of our players, Russell, signs a shirt after the game.
 

We were able to meet some people several times.

Thursday afternoon, I went to pick up AC from the airport in Toulouse.  We stopped by his bed and breakfast and had a proper French meal all together.  We finished up a little late, but made it to Limoux in time to have a short scrimmage with the Limoux guys.  They were real surprised to see AC Green there because I had not told them he would be arriving then.  We had a good time, and they enjoyed getting some pictures and autographs one on one with AC. 

 Friday, we had our usual morning devotion time, with AC Green, as a guest speaker.  He gave each of the team members one of his books.  We then headed of to the market, where I set up the stand as usual, and the group paraded around the market meeting people and inviting them to hear AC Green speak.  THe morning went well. and we had lunch at our house, and greeted our translator Yvain, and his family, soon afterwards.  We had a good fellowship time. We headed out for our game in Coursan, and stopped by the annual basketball association meeting to turn in the paperwork for our Limoux team and present AC Green to everyone present.  We played a good game against Coursan, they brought their two teams together and had a good team.  Sadly one of their players dislocated his knee during the game (severly), and we had a long pause as we waited for the ambulance.  We finished the game, and once again had a long visit afterwards.  The team and AC learned to play Petanque, a French game a cross between bowling and horseshoes. 

Saturday was the big day. AC Green decided to spend the day resting and preparing for that evening.  The team and I helped one of our bible study ladies move into her new apartment.  I had helped her with the big stuff the last couple of Saturdays before and she just needed help with bags and boxes mostly.  We got finished up in no time with all the helping hands had lunch with friends. 

The evening started at 6 pm.  We went and got AC Green and were there by 5:30. About 250 people showed up, including the mayor.  AC Green (shown above with Yvain) did a great job communicating with the audience.  He took questions and shared some good stories and good moral lessons.  Everyone enjoyed it and was impressed with his approachability and humility.  We finished up his time at about 7:15, cleared the stage and had our official game against my Limoux team.  I played with the US team.  It was a good match, we won by just three points.  Afterwards, the game, there were signatures and pictures with AC, and we enjoyed some fingerfoods provided by the mayor.  Afterwards the two teams went to McDonalds.  AC actually rode with and Limoux player in a Twingo (small car).  We had a good time at McDonalds talking and snacking.   

AC Green gave me the jersey he was wearing, and I gave him mine, signed by the team.

 After dropping everyone off, I came home and visit more with Yvain and his wife, we hadn't seen eachother in a couple of years and so it was nice to catch up.  I grabbed a couple hours of sleep before leaving to take AC Green back to the airport.  I made it back in time to get the team and head to church.  After the services, we attended the year end kids basketball tournament.  We had a good time.  The boys loved having the team cheer them on and the team was able to see several of the people they had met previously.  I gave the team the night off, while I went home and caught up on soem sleep.  I slept a good 12 hours and picked the team up monday to see the Gorges of Galumus and the Castle of Queribus (picture below). Afterwards we had a friendly game with players from several different teams.   

Wednesday morning we headed back to Barcelona, via Andorra.  Which still had snow.

We had lunch in Barcelona with our pastor friend, Bro Morales and his family. We then did some site seeing before hitting McD's and then the hotel. 

I dropped the team off at the airport Wednesday morning and headed home.  What a great time.  Our family was encouraged.  We made many good contacts, built deeper contacts.  We have a better foot hold in the community, and we invested in the lives of fellow Christians, showing them our ministry in France.  To God be the Glory, JASON

 

Catching up

 I first must apologize.   It has been almost three weeks since my last blog.  I'll try to fill you in on a little of what has been going on.  First off the kids has almost three weeks off of school.  They had two weeks off from spring break.  Then they went for two days and had the rest of the week off.  We stayed around the house mostly.  The weather has continued to be cool and rainy.  This has been a record year for rains here in France.  Authorities are worried that when all the snow in the mountains starts to melt, we could have floods.  We did take them to the zoo in Montpellier, it is free and the boys had a good time just walking.  (Pictured above getting a good look at a cheetah.)

 We did end up to get the garden planted.  It was a lot of work clearing three plots and turning the soil by hand.  Someone offered to come with the machine to do it for us, but the ground never dried enough.  We planted coeur de beouf tomatos, classic tomatos, cherry tomatoes, black tomatos, squash, bell peppers, watermelons, cucumbers, squash, strawberries, melons, and pumpkin, cilanto, and salad.  I'll hopefully get to shares pictures as they grow.  I planted part of it in the rain.  The boys enjoyed helping out. 

 We did have several warm days mixed in.  Lilia enjoyed getting out and taking some pictures of Arianna, and the boys.  Lilia was sick with a stomach virus this weeked but is better now.  We are still looking for a van.  I have visited four different ones the last couple of weeks.  We have two possibles, Thursday I have an appointment with the bank to get a loan.  I'm already praying that it goes smoothly. 

Also, I have been getting the plans settled for the basketball project that starts in a couple of weeks.  The team arrives June 2nd.  I have games scheduled for most of the open dates so far. We are looking forward to it. Things are all prepared of AC Green to some as well. I designed and had the posters below printed.  It is going to be a fun time. The only hiccup so far is that the team had one player that had to cancel so, it looks like I will be playing each night with the group.  I better go for a run.  God bless, JASON  

A tooth and a coin

Andrew (left side) waits for a rebound.

Micah, right, drives in, while I coach in the background.

Tuesday evening where we ready for the people to start showing up for the Bible study when Andrew walked with a scared look on his face.  While laying on his back, he had swallowed the one euro coin he had just gotten from the tooth fairy, just dropped right into his mouth.  What to do ?  A euro coin is about the size of a quarter.  We called the emergency number her to find out what they suggested.  They said we needed to go to the emergency room and  get an x-ray just to make sure it was not in his lungs and that it had made it through his stomach.  Some guests arrived just as they were leaving so one went with Angie and the other stayed with me where we had a good talk.  When Angie got back the news was good that the coin had made it's way through the stomach and was already in the intestines.  They did say we needed to "verify" that the coin came out.  Yeah.  Wednesday, we had basketball practice with the kids, our last one for a while because of the vacations coming up.  We also had a snack together afterwards, the leftovers from the tournament.  I coached the older group (junior high) because their coach was on vacation.  No coin.  Thursday I had my meeting with my language helper, we are working on getting an article written for the local newspapers about AC Green.  I had a good talk with him that evening, about 45 minutes.  No coin.  Friday, it was raining so no market. 

Arianna poses by the flowers.

 The weekend went well.  Angie had met a lady at a scrapbooking store who invited her to a scrapbooking get together.  It was in the same village as the lady we met after the basketball game, so Angie went to the scrapbooking party and then invited the lady out to lunch.  They had a good talk about the difference between christians and muslims.  No coin.

 Sunday, services went well.  Angie taught Sunday school.  I was given a few minutes to share about the explosion in Texas just 15 minutes from where my parents live.  Several spoke to me afterwards and said they would be praying for the situation.  With the bombings in Boston and the fertilizer plant explosion in Texas, the US has had a rough week.  After church, some friends walked by and we invited them to walk to the park with us.  The kids had a good time playing.  (pictured above)  No coin.

 Monday was the start of the kids two week spring vacation.  It started out with beautiful weather.  We kind of just let the kids veg out.  Watched a new movie with them and had pizza for supper.  Tuesday, everyone called saying they were busy or out of town and so the Bible study was cancelled, so we took it tot he back yard, started up a fire and had s'mores. (pictured above) The kids really enjoyed it.  No coin

 Wednesday we went to a local hiking trail called the labyrinth de Nebias.  We had a great time, had a picnic lunch and enjoyed the nature walk.  Arianna was a tropper, following her brothers all over without ever slowing down. Pictures above and below.  It was a great time as a family.  Coin finally arrived. 

Yesterday, Angie took the boys to a friends house to play.  While me and the girls stayed home and had a few guests over, one of which wants to be baptized.  Pray with me while we are teaching him and questioning him further to see if he understands and really desires to be a disciple of Jesus.  Currently Angie is going grocery shopping and I will be going to check out a local car dealership.  We are going to be buying a used 9 passenger van.  This will be used for the upcoming basketball group, for my parents visit, and will help when Lauren arrives to work with us for two years.  I don't plan on purchasing the one I see this afternoon, because it is more expensive than others I have found, but it is the closest and that will give me the chance to check it out up close.  Have a good weekend.  God bless, JASON.

What time is it ? GAMETIME

Arianna and Lilia in the back yard.

Micah drives for the basket.

Micah climbs our cherry tree.

Andrew helps with the yard work.

We have had a good week, highlighted with beautiful spring weather and meeting  new people.  We had a good Bible study Tuesday.  Wednesday's basketball practice went well.  Thursday morning, I meet with my language helper and also with our coach to discuss our basketball projects.   We talked about AC Green and also about the kids tournament being held at Limoux on the following Sunday.  This was the first time Limoux hosted the tournament and so it was a learning experience.  Thursday evenings practice went well.  We planned our final game Friday night.  Friday morning market went good, there were many people out and about.  I left my stand a few times to check out local hotels for AC Green.  That evening, I went early with a teammate to the game to attend a training session on keeping the score and filling out the paperwork.  The game went real well. We won 88 to 46 and I scored a career high 16 points.  Attached video I am seen scoring at the end.  Caleb went along with me and took the video.  The game was an hour away and so I had a good talk with the guys on the way and back, and was even able to speak with one of them about God.  Saturday morning, Angie helped carry one of our friends to the hospital for a foot problem.  Meanwhile, I walked the boys to a birthday party that Caleb was invited to.  The mother ended up inviting all the boys to stay because they knew her other kids.  I went back later to pick them up, and had a good visit while the kids played a few more minutes before coming home to work on homework.  Angie and Lilia meanwhile went to the youth meeting.  I made some phone calls, reservations for AC Green, talked with the man organizing our basketball group, etc.  Sunday services went well.  There were several first time visitors.  That afternoon we had our tournament.  It went smoothly.  The kids played well.  We got everything set up in time, and besides Angie having to get some spoons and change for the concession stand (which was difficult because everything is closed on Sunday) everything went smoothly.  Micah scored once.  Angie was speaking with one of the other mothers there, and ended up that her husband knew one of our friends in Paris.  We invited them over after the tournament, they have five kids as well.  We had a good visit with them.  Today, we got the paperwork to register Arianna in school for next year.  I have worked on emails as well.  And now it is time to get the boys and Lilia for lunch.  With sunny blue skies, and 68 degrees currently, I think I will walk. 

Meeting with the Mayor

One of the heats starts running.

Caleb turns to wave, I'm following behind him.

Andrew looking for Easter eggs.

Our week went well.  We are still feeling Satan's attacks, but God is with us.  The kids had school on Wednesday this past week, unusual, but they were making up for a day they had off back in November.  I worked quite a bit this past week on posters for AC Green's event this summer.  I also went to see the hotel about the rooms, they had wrote down our reservation, but it didn't cover all the days I had asked for, so we won't have the rooms for the time we need.  We are now looking at renting a house for the group, which will actually be cheaper than the hotel. The weather told cold and rainy.  We had some record low temperature for this time of year.  One morning, it was 36.  With the threat of rain, I didn't make it to the market.  I did have a meeting with the mayor of Limoux, about our basketball opportunities this summer, mostly with AC Green coming to give a speech here.  It went real well.  I was able to introduce myself as a pastor, and explain my work in Limoux.  God was present, because, the Mayor introduced me to a man sitting outside his door, who ended up being the man who started the first Basketball Club in Limoux, some 35 years ago.  Saturday, the boys had their cross country race that they do with the school every year.  There are usually over 1000 kids present.  We had a great time, in spite of cold temperatures.  We were able to meet many parents for the kids old school.  Saturday afternoon we met with a some new friends who and had a great visit as well.  Services went well Sunday.  At Carcassonne, the pastor started a new series on the gospel of John, and that evening Dad started a new series on the book of Job.  This is the last week of school for the kids before they get two weeks off for spring break.  Hope to have all the basketball plans laid out by the end of this week.  God bless, JASON 

Easter week

This was our best Easter pic. 

The kids ready to hunt eggs.

And there off . . .

Phone calls, reports and visits filled up last Monday.  I wanted to get my report out early to request special offerings for AC Green's trip over here.  It will cost a large sum of money, but I think it will be worth it.  We are looking forward to it.  Tuesday, Angie had her AVF meeting (french course).  That afternoon she had several ladies over for the second cooking exchange.  They came to our house to learn to make cheesecake.  They had a good time.  I helped clean that morning and got a taste of cheesecake that evening as payment :)  We took the evening off from the Bible Study and Angie and I had a good talk, we evaluated our ministry and saw some areas were we are strong and some that need improvement.  It was a nice evening to talk and it helps me to see how inadequate we are for this calling of God.  Thankfully God equips us and that way He gets all the glory for it.  Basketball practice went good.  I had 12 kids this week.  Honestly it can be difficult at times to keep all their attention.  Wednesday went well, thankfully.  I have enjoyed getting to know all the parents.  I was having a high schooler help out, but he has been in physical therapy for the last month, getting over an old knee injury.  We had a good Easter weekend.  The weather became rainy and cold, but we enjoyed ourselves.  The kids did some indoors Easter egg hunting.  We had several good talks at lunch about Easter and the crucifixion.  I had started asking them Bible questions at lunch.  We have a good time and it seems to always end up in laughter.  God bless, JASON