How Can You Help France?

After the attacks in Paris a little over a week ago, many people (including me) changed their profile picture using a French flag overlay in order to show support for France. #Prayforparis was seen all over social media...

Later, I read an article on Facebook entitled "Why I am not changing my profile picture..."  Basically the author was arguing that simply changing a picture and posting a "Pray For Paris" status is not enough.  I both agree and disagree with this.  I, for one, who am not French but live among the French and hope to share the Good News of the Gospel with them, was truly touched and encouraged by the amount of support that was shown by Americans on social media.  At the same time, is that enough??  What real impact is there to temporarily change a picture or post a hashtag?  Maybe you are one of the ones who is wanting to do more.  Well, you can.  Here are some ways you can be intimately involved in the work in France and help bring lasting change to a people in great spiritual need:

• PRAY- Never underestimate the power of prayer.  If you tweeted #prayforparis, did you actually pray for Paris? Do you know where to start? One great way would be to subscribe to our prayer team by entering your email in the box in the upper left margin. Each month we send out a prayer calendar with specific, timely needs about the work in France. 

• LEARN- Be involved by being informed.  If you thought that there was no real urgent need for the Gospel in France and Western Europe, think again!  France is not a Christian nation. We are praying that God will use this tragedy for His glory and to bring more believers to Himself.  There have already been several instances where teammates have had unusual opportunities to share their faith with strangers in light of last week's events. You can check out this clip and become a spokesperson for the work in France. 

• GIVE-  We are in France on a 2-year assignment because we did not yet have enough funding to come as career missionaries.  So we came,in faith, trusting that God would show us the next step in His perfect timing.  During our time here, we have felt completely affirmed in our calling to France.  We believe God is just getting started and wants to use our family here for a very long time. However, without sufficient funding we will have to come home.  If you have been wanting to do more, consider partnering with us in spreading the gospel in France by joining our monthly support team. There is no greater investment than giving to God's kingdom work. Explore the giving options here. 

• SHARE- Whether you are able to give financially or not, we would ask you to share our story with anyone who might be interested.  Obviously our reach is a little limited from this side of the ocean but you can help by championing the cause.  Maybe you know someone who is just itching to do more? Would you share our blog? Send us a note and we will get you any resources you might need. 

• GO- Maybe you want to see firsthand the work in France... which is to see the darkness here but also to see the light that God is bringing through our World Team France missionaries to reach the lost.  There is our annual prayer conference in June (check out the brochure here), but feel free to contact us any time if you want to visit.  We can almost always work something out and I would imagine that flights into Paris will be less expensive for a bit. ;) 

**Stay tuned for the next blog post where I will share more about this sweet face and how bringing home "Petit Chou" (a temporary nickname) fits into the rest of our timeline...

#nationaladoptionmonth

A Year in the Books!- Looking back and Looking ahead...

October 8th will mark one year since we set foot on French soil.  We are thankful!:

• We are thankful for health (not once have we been to the dr for illness since we arrived which I hear is pretty rare)
• We are thankful for friends.  We have all quickly made friends in our community, in the schools, in the church, through teaching English
• We are thankful for "family".  We have been able to spend time with other missionary families who are also missing their family and friends back home and we have been able to be family to each other.
• We are thankful for language acquisition.  Everyone has made great progress in French.  Brandon has already been able to preach his first sermon and the kids, well...they surpassed me a long time ago! 
• We are thankful for ministry.  God has already begun to work in the lives of several families near us and we are beginning to see potential for long term ministry here in La Neuville D'Aumont.

Eucharisteo! (Thankful!)  God is good!

We feel very affirmed in our calling here in France.  Life is far from easy, but not once have we even considered packing up and going home...not on our worst day.  Does that mean that if we had, our calling would be less affirmed?  Not necessarily.  But we feel this is where God has us, not for two years, but until ???...until He calls us elsewhere.

That being said,we came to France on a two year assignment because that's how much money we had and we are trusting that He will provide the rest of what we need to remain in France long term.  **By we, I mostly mean Brandon is trusting, but I am working on it.  We currently lack about 50% of our monthly support to remain in France and its a large number, a number that scares me to think about.  But if I can look back and see how God has taken care of our family, then I can look ahead and trust that His is taking care of us still, whatever that looks like.

Here is where you can help:

• PRAY- Everyone, no matter how much money you have, can pray.  Pray that God will put France on the hearts of those who might be looking for a place to support financially in ministry, whether that be churches or individuals.
• SHARE- Share our story with those you know who might be interested in joining with us.  We are putting together information on our year of ministry here.  So, let us know if you would like to receive it.
• THINK- If you can think of anyone (church or individual) who might want to receive an email, a call or more from us to hear about our ministry, please let us know.
• GIVE- If you are already giving, we thank you!  If you aren't and would like to know hot to start, let us know OR simply go HERE.  We have people giving as little as $5/month.  There is no amount too small (or too big!).

" Eucharisteo Always Precedes the Miracle"  -Ann Voskamp

One More Loved

God is good.

He brought our family to France to do our part in reaching the nations.

He took care of our children in a time of much transition.

He gave us peace and rest as we adjusted to our life here.

He gave us courage to learn a new language and culture.

He was and continues to be our strength in times of weakness and our joy in times of sadness.

He has called us and He has taken care of us every step of the way.

And now...

He has called our family to take another step of faith.

In January of this year we began the adoption process to bring home a child from China.  We know that the path will not be easy and we don't pretend to have it all figured out, but when God calls, we trust Him.  When He calls us to go to France and it takes us 10 years to get there, we trust Him.  When He calls us to continue praying that our financial support will come in, we trust Him and when He calls us to love a child we have yet to meet, we trust Him.  We trust Him to provide the finances.  We trust Him to provide the paperwork.  We trust Him to show us how to love like maybe we never have before.

We want to reassure our prayer and financial supporters that we are not asking you to give towards this adoption.  We are planning to fund the adoption through grants and other avenues.  We are once again trusting that God who called us to this, will provide the means, just as we continue to trust that He will provide 100% of what we need to remain in France as career missionaries.

We do ask you to pray.  Pray for our family as we continue to serve in France.  We have felt so very blessed to have had about as smooth of a transition as we ever could have imagined.  This kids have started to speak French very well, better than their parents.  We are making many new friends and look for every opportunity to show the love of Christ.  Pray for the child who will join our family, Lord willing, in the near future.  We are just finishing up our home study, so we still have at least 6-8 months before we will likely bring home the newest Burch member.

We thank you for continuing this journey with us and look forward to sharing updates with you as we have them.

God Bless!
"Eucharisteo-thanksgiving-always precedes the miracle"  -Ann Voskamp

Lea's testimony

This is Léa.  She is a member of the church where we are currently serving in Meru.  She gave her testimony many times while she traveled in the states with our teammates, David and Kathryn Lohnes.  Now that we have been here six months, we want to share with you how you can be part of the ministry here in France so that we can see more people like Léa come to know Christ.  We are still in need of monthly support to remain in France beyond this first term.  We welcome you to share with family, friends and churches the work in France.  "France is in desperate need of  people and of the word of God."  Thank you as always for your support and encouragement.

**Please DO NOT share Léa's testimony publicly on facebook, but feel free to share it in person or in a private message with those who may be interested in partnering with us.

Six Months In...

Today marks six months exactly since we got on the plane to leave for France...Here is a recap in pictures of our time here so far.  Thank you for your prayers.  We wouldn't be here without you!

A Light in the Darkness...

So, if we are being completely honest here, I may have complained once or twice (or 12 times) about the lack of sun here in the fall/winter.  I greatly underestimated how that change would affect me.  This week, however, God gave me a new perspective through a good friend.  I was sharing my struggles in this place of physical darkness equally matched by spiritual darkness, something I have never experienced in this capacity before.  Here were her words of wisdom and encouragement to me: 

"Can you even imagine what the Garden of Eden must have been like?!...or furthermore, what Heaven will be like?!...To be constantly showered by the visible glory of God and His beauty and goodness.  That's what we miss when the sun doesn't shine.  Our souls know very well His works are marvelous (Psalm 139:14).  We were never meant NOT to bask  in His glory.  It is utterly dangerous."  

Revelation 21:22-23 says, "I saw no temple in it, for the Lord God, the Almighty and the Lamb are its temple.  And the city has no need of the sun or of the moon to shine on it, for the glory of the Lord has illumined it, and its lamp is the Lamb."  This passage is of course referring to the new heaven and the new earth in the end times, but it reminded me that in times of missing the sun, I can still bask in the SON.  His glory is enough to illumine in this darkness.  This week, Le Deluge got a beautiful showering of God's glory...

Most of the surrounding areas had zero accumulation, but our tiny town was covered in a blanket of white.  I believe God knew that our family needed to see His presence here with us. 

Romans 1:18-20: "For since the creation of the world, His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse."

And now, the rest of the wisdom shared with me:

"Michelle, there you are in a nation that seems bleak and dark.  Isn't that when even the smallest light shines brightest?!  YES!  He knows exactly where you are!  And He knows exactly why you are there...to bring light to their darkness!" 

"You are the light of the world.  A city set on a hill cannot be hidden; nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house.  Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in Heaven."

Finally, I want to share an exciting opportunity that I have been given.  Just before coming, a member of our soon to be church here in France sent me an email and asked if I would be interested in taking over some English classes that she had been teaching on the weekends.  I started teaching our second week here.  I started with two small classes of 5 and 6 year olds.  Just before Christmas, I was asked to expand that by two more classes, one of sixth graders and one of two adult women.  I have already begun to see how God can use me through these classes.  Last week, I walked into the house and there sitting on the table was a book about how to talk to your kids about Jesus.  I began to talk with the mom asking questions about what they believe and she shared that they are trying to learn...WHAT?!  I was able to talk about my husband being a "pasteur protestant", and how we would love to talk with them sometime about what Christians believe.  Also, one of my adult students has already begun to open up to me about some family conflict which is pretty much unheard of here where people are very slow to share about personal issues with someone that they do not know very well.  I have been able to tell her just a little bit about what Brandon and I are doing here.  I truly believe that God has a bigger purpose for these classes than just teaching English and I am excited to let His light shine through us.

Reminded of His goodness...

Sometimes you can't miss His goodness, even if you tried!

"So will My word be, which goes forth from my mouth; It will not return to Me empty, Without accomplishing what I desire, And without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it." Isaiah 55:11

This is the scripture that we heard in the sermon on Sunday. I, Michelle, took great comfort in it knowing that God has us here, for as long as He desires, for His purposes, which WILL be accomplished.

As thankful as I am to finally be serving here in France, we are still living a life in transition. I knew that would not change as we are still seeking the support that we need to remain here beyond this first term. Still, it stresses this type A planner out just a little to think that I have no idea what lies ahead for us. I'm sure God leaves me in this state partly to teach me to trust Him, always. Though I have heard this scripture referred to many times, I have never really read it, "...and without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it." God is using us, maybe for many years here in France (I hope so), maybe for a short time. Either way, He will accomplish, not what Michelle thinks should be accomplished, but that which He desires.

Thank you for being our rock and praying diligently for us. Here are a couple of things:

•             PRAISE: A friend from church is moving London and sold us much of her furniture at a great price, so we were able to save on buying everything new.

•             Now, we just need a place to put that furniture. We are waiting to hear about one potential house in our area for rent and are seeking other possibilities. We do think that it may be possible for the kids to remain in their same schools even if we move to a different district close by.

•             Continue to pray that God would put France on the hearts of others. We would love to see some people from BHBC at the Paris Prayer Conference in June. Also, we are looking to expand our contacts, so pray that God would go before us as we approach some new churches with the idea of supporting the work in France.

BEYOND THE HIGHLIGHT REEL...

It was said to me once that social media, facebook, instagram, twitter are like highlight reels of our life.  We rarely show the good, the bad and the ugly...and honestly, I think that's ok.  I would rather show more of the happy moments in my family's life, the ones that I want to remember and less of the drama that everyone knows is present, but no one needs to see.  It doesn't mean that I want people to think that our lives are perfect and that every moment is a happy one, its just that I choose to leave those less happy moments between us and the Lord, and of course the close friends and family who get the privilege of hearing it all.  With that being said, I want to give you, our faithful prayer and financial partners a look beyond the highlight reel.  We wouldn't be here without you and you deserve a closer look at what the reality of life and ministry in France is like so far:

THE REALITY:

Tomorrow marks three months since we moved our family to France.  We came here excited, thankful to finally be here, feeling like we could conquer the wold-and we knew that feeling would not last, but we held onto it as long as we could.  And honestly, things started off very well.  The kids really liked school.  They were starting to make friends, We had David here for a full month to help us get settled.  We had a place to live, temporary, but still it took some of the stress off of us.  Brandon was able to start some classes that were free no less.  So many things to be thankful for...

The longer we were here, the more a little bit of reality set in: It apparently rains every day here in the fall/winter.  So along with the constant cold rain and fog, I started counting how many days it had been since I had seen the sun.  We all started to get sick and miss home a bit.  Though the kids have made friends, which we have praised God for many times, they go every day to a school where they don't speak the language of anyone there.  They sit in a worship service every week where they understand very little.  They are getting grades while trying to figure out what is required of them.  This is especially hard for Karis, who, like her father, is a perfectionist-afraid to speak if she is not sure how to say it correctly.  Micah and Asher are a little less inhibited, but they come home tired, tired from thinking in another language all day, tired from walking to school and back three different times, tired from waking up in the night because they are still unsure of this new place where you live.  We live in a town, not only with zero restaurants, but zero grocery stores, gas stations, pharmacies, only one little bread machine.  Coordinating meals and shopping and what to do if you get sick on the weekend and you aren't sure where the nearest open pharmacy is, (they only have one open within a certain radius for emergencies) it all makes life just a little more complicated.  We know that we are exactly where God wants us to be, but that doesn't mean that it's easy- I mean, is ministry ever really easy??  I know of a lot of people in ministry and I know that for those families life is not easy, even when you are living in the same town where you grew up.  Life is messy, no matter who you are or where you live.

THE MINISTRY:

Now, a look into our ministry:  I fear there may still be some misunderstanding about the culture of France and how Gospel sharing looks so very different here than what many people are used to seeing on short term mission trips.  Ministry in France is slow.  You do not go door to door handing our tracks and sharing the salvation cube.  There is nothing wrong with this method in some areas of the world, in fact, in some places, it is the perfect way to share the gospel.  Here, however, its all about building relationships.  French people are VERY private.  I was already scolded for pulling out my phone and snapping a few pics of my kids in public places where there were other kids around, in particular the pool where Karis swims with her class on Tuesdays.  They don't talk about private things with people that they don't know very well.  When people ask, we tell them that Brandon is a protestant pastor and their response is either "Ah, Bon?"  which means, say no more...or they ask a few other questions because they are confused about what that means.  Fortunately for us, because we live in a very small town, people are very friendly and quick to invite us to spend time with them which means that our chance to share may come sooner rather than later.  As far as what we have done so far, I would like to share a few things:

We had the privilege of inviting 12 little girls (9 who were able to come) to our house for Karis's birthday party.  Even though there was no presentation of the Gospel while they were there, for two hours, parents felt comfortable enough to leave their children with us.  We were able to strengthen relationships with those families in hopes of sharing more about Christ with them in the future.  These are all people that David and Kathryn have not met, even after living here for several years because our connections are different with young children.  

Our church in Meru presented a presentation of the birth of Christ through the kids.  It might seem like this is just another program for the kids in the church, but I assure you, it was much more than that.  The church reserved a theater in the downtown area and the kids and youth performed with music and drama.  The church passed out invitations to the town and anyone was invited to this free performance.  There were gifts given to all of the children who came.  It was a great event and we had a large crowd in attendance.  Some were, of course, family and friends of those performing, but still, they were able to hear a blatant presentation of Christ's birth and the meaning of Christmas.

On the last day before Christmas break, we sent little bags of sugar cookies that the kids helped make to each of the teachers, assistant teachers, the bus driver, the crossing guard (who also does just about everything around town), and the Mayor's office.  On these cookies, we included a short message of  Merry Christmas along with the scripture Luke 2:10-11.  Although we were a little nervous of whether or not this was too bold of a step so soon, we prayed that it would be received well.  God is using our little family slowly but surely to make a difference here in Le Deluge.  I told Brandon, it has been a weird feeling for me to be so burdened for so many.  After many years of being surrounded by Christians most of the time, I forgot what it was like to really feel sad to see so many people who don't know Christ.  We look forward to the next steps in our ministry here.

HOW YOU CAN PRAY:

That being said, here are some things you can be praying about:

• We are currently looking for a house to rent.  We are hoping to stay in this general area to keep the kids in their same schools.  There are 4 towns in the district, all quite small and not a lot of houses up for rent.  We do have a couple of leads on some possibilities, but nothing set in stone yet.  
• The kids are still adjusting to the language...starting to speak some, but still hesitant at times.
• As I said, the work in France takes time, so one of our biggest needs as it always has been is for more people to have a passion to see the French hear the Gospel and to be willing to support the ministry financially.  It is not ideal for our time here to end after two years, and so we are praying to be fully supported by then, so that we can quickly return to the harvest here.

SOMETHING DIFFERENT (**DON'T MISS THIS!):

Finally, I want to give you some new information on how to stay informed about our ministry.  We have, in the past used our fb profile for ministry updates.  As we are now making new friends here who will often friend us on fb as well, it is no longer ideal to make those requests known publicly.  So, we of course will update the blog and continue to send out newsletters, but I am also starting a closed fb group where you can find ministry updates as we have them.  I will post prayer requests and praises for you to join us in prayer and celebration of what God is doing.  Its called Make Known-France.  Just send us a message if you want to be added to the group.  Our personal fb page will be just that, a place for us to share fun experiences with family and friends of our life here in general.  Thank you as always for your love and encouragement.  We wouldn't be here without you!