Bells in the Final Program

As part of our final program, the children rang their bells to the tune of "I've got a home in Gloryland."The parents loved this part of the program and we left a set of bells with the International Baptist church in St. Paul de Vence. We wish them many happy bell concerts.

La bataille d'eau

The kids loved the last day when we had a water fight for sports.

La Prière du Seigneur.

McNair and Christine lead the Zebras ( ages 9-12) in learning the Lord's Prayer in French and English.

Ping pong

At the International Baptist church, everyone could play games on the porch. Stephen is about to serve in ping pong.

A swim in the Mediterranean Sea.

Yesterday afternoon we went to Nice to visit the beach. Reagan, Daniel, Kaleb and Katelyn enjoyed the water. A jellyfish ( une meduse) swam by, creating panic. A water patrol boat came to scoop it up. The beach is rocky and stoney, rather than sandy. But we had fun anyway.

On mange bien ici.

Nancy Painter keeps a table of snacks and drinks out in the hall all day. In this hot, dry climate, the children need to drink constantly. Kaleb Reilly helps serve milk. All the students have been so willing to help wherever needed. Today is " all hands on deck" for our final program.

"ON NE SONNE PAS LES CLOCHES!!"

Helping with the youngest group, "les singes," during the first week of VBS in Marseille, Kyle's booming voice brought the rambunctious children to attention. This week, Kyle has been using his deep bass to impress the VBSers as he plays M. Bakari, the safari guide out to capture the Cracatou to get money for a new jeep. From his evil laugh to his baby-talking the Cracatou once he discovers the hurt bird, Kyle brings fun and masculinity to the skit :D

Outside the morning skit, though, Kyle also helps keep the energetic kids in line and translates directions and biblical applications into French for the francophone children.

-Christine

Arts & crafts

Daniel helps with art and crafts. We learned from last week that some crafts need more preparation. It is wonderful to have so many hands!

Claire Beer

Claire is holding Alexandra, one of our VBS girls. Each child has had a teen to hold their hand as we walk through the streets of St. Paul on our way to sports and in each activity. Thank you , Claire, for your cheery smile and song leading.

Katie in the kitchen

Katie is really an amazing worker. She always keeps us fed. However she doesn't just throw something together. No, she makes sure that the food is all decoratively arranged. And then if that’s not enough work she also cleans everything up and gives the kids their snacks. Thank you Katie!

Daniel Stephens (for MadameS)

More on the other blog!

Be sure to check out the other blog: http://mission2France.blogspot.com. The pictures and info are completely different.

Notre actrice magnifique

Christine Orsini is one of our actrices for the Sketch each morning. She is very gifted in drama and the kids love her expressions, comedy and energy. She and her sister, Kelly, make a hilarious team.

Christine has also helped me with translation and worked with the Francophone kids. We appreciate her !

The Monkeys

The lady featured in the picture here is Colleen Hawthorne, the leader for the monkeys, the 4-7 year old group. She is a missionary in Malaysia, and has been for quite some time. She is Mrs. Orsini's sister, and was visiting the states when she found out about the trip. She is great with all of the kids. She loves to connect with them one-on-one to let them know just how much Jesus loves them. It's pretty powerful, and especially important for the age group she works with, which has been the largest of the three age groups both weeks. Last week, I was privileged to work as the main translator for the monkeys. They are a lot of fun to work with, even though they don't always listen all the time. This week, there are fewer kids who speak French only, so the job of translating is not as large a task any more. Also, we lost some of the helpers we had for sports, so I was offered a job as the main translator for sports as the different age groups come in. In some ways, I've missed working with the monkeys, but it looks now as though I'll be working with translation for them in the afternoons. On a last note, there are a few more kids this week, especially in the monkeys, that have never heard the gospel before, so I would appreciate it if you all would pray for them. So far, they all seem to be taking it all well, but we can never have too much prayer for them. Thanks all!

-Kyle Reilly

Bastille Day Fireworks

Last night we drove to Nice and walked along La Promenade des Anglais with 100,000 other people. There was music, food and dancing. As it turned dark, we sat on the beach to watch the fireworks.
Daniel, Stephen, Jonathan and Reagan went into the Mediterranean Sea and had a great time jumping and rolling in the waves.
As the fireworks went off from boats in the middle of the bay, we could see the reflection in the waves. It was magical.

Bastille Day Fireworks

One of the great pleasures of eating at La Chappelle is that we get to eat outside under les platanes ( the plane trees). On the terrace are gorgeous flowers, colorful pots of geraniums , morning glories climbing the trellis and bouganvillea covering the walls. We have a wonderful view of St. Paul down in the valley.

Here is Ismini Lamb, our VBS directrice. She has done a fantastic job.

Pig's cheeks

Yes, that's right. This pork delicacy was prepared for us by the Sisters at La Chapelle du Rosaire. In 5 star restaurants this would be served in the pig's head.

Fish soup

The nuns at La Chappelle du Rosaire (the Catholic retreat center) prepare dinner for us each night. This is fish soup served over a piece of toasted baguette with garlic. It takes hours to simmer the various kinds of fish and the results are delicious.

Hurray for Kelly

Kelly is an amazing young woman. She graduated from Patrick Henry College and is planning to stay in France for a year before a graduate degree. She has worked tirelessly for our team. She has made arrangements for the group before hand, led tours and answered our questions. She is Franco-American and beautifully bilingual. Kelly leads the children in the songs during VBS. They love her enthusiasm and energy.

We've started out with a skit everyday these two weeks. The story is of twins named Terry and Julie, who want to see the "Cracatou," and evil Bacari, who wants to capture and sell the cracatou. I'm Docteur Enfaitrop(Doctor Doolots), who assists them. Last week, Katie played Enfaitrop, and I didn't actually find out I was doing it this week until yesterday morning. But I've fun so far and I think it's gone pretty well.

-Katelyn

VBS Take 2: Day 1

Our second VBS got off to a great start with 24 kids in attendance, quite a large number for the first time we run a camp in a particular location. The International Baptist Church is hosting us from its space in St Paul de Vence right outside of Nice, and has graciously volunteered many of its teens and summer workers to add to our reduced team. We now have as many workers as kids, and have run out of orange staff T-shirts!

There are nearly even numbers of French and English speakers among the children, plus one Portugese speaker and one German speaker. One little girl assured us in her lovely British accent that she "spoke all the languages," as we sang in both English and French.

Travel to and from our sports area is much simpler here than in Marseille since the field is only a three minute walk away. Since our expected sports area was set up for a concert today, we improvised on the "aire de petanque" (petanque field). Unfortunately our sack races, soccer and jump rope games stirred up too much dust, so we will have to find another location for tomorrow. Please pray that we find one within close distance with plenty of space for the kids to run around.

Post by Kelly