June 18, 2016

Bonjour friends and family,

Today is a rainy, stormy Saturday. Since May 1st, our area has had record rainfall, the highest since records began to be kept in the 1890s. With twice the normal amount of rain, there has been massive flooding in France and around us, but thankfully none here in Montigny le Bretonneux. We are starting to feel like Noah. The record low of sunshine was recorded as well! Also, there have been seasonably low temperatures; today's high is 63°, and we have yet to hit 70°. With the rain and mild temperatures, the grass is growing quickly and looks great. But then there is the thick layer of moss on the roof… We are hoping to dry out soon and have a few weeks of normal summer weather.

Tonight we will dine with a new couple in the church, Remiel and Noëlla and their baby girl Gabrielle. We are glad to have Remiel as he is a competent musician who can lead music with his guitar.

Tuesday night is the annual Fête de la Musique (Music Festival) all over France. Our church is partnering with our former church in Montigny le Bretonneux to provide music and food for neighbors and contacts in an outdoors outreach effort. I will take my trusted Weber barbecue grill to cook sausages (merguez and chipolatas) non-stop from 5:30 till 9h30. The forecast predicts rain all day, so we are praying for a break in the rain.

Wednesday night Bobbie is hosting her English class for her last class. I will cook ribs on the grill. We are expecting 13 for supper and hope to eat on the patio if it is warm and dry, but of course the weather forecast predicts rain all day… (Am I getting repetitious?)

Last Sunday I preached on Mark 13, the words of Jesus that he spoke on the Mount of Olives just before his crucifixion. He taught his disciples about the future, the coming time of trouble and the coming kingdom. The way this world is going, Jesus' return is our only hope for this planet. I keep praying, "Thy kingdom come." Maybe He will come back soon.

Back in March I recruited workers for TEAM France at Dallas Theological Seminary's missions week. This fall I have two DTS students coming through to see our work and to preach here in our church in Guyancourt. We would love to see God call these two couples to work in this needy country.

The Guyancourt church continues to struggle. We meet in a hotel conference room but the hotel can take away the use of the room at any time and sometimes we have received very short notice of it. The hotel scheduled 9 weddings from May to September, and has taken away our meeting room. We have had to find alternate meeting sites, worship with other churches, even cancel worship altogether. As you can imagine, there have been miscommunications and confusion resulting in several people going to the wrong meeting places. Tomorrow we are going to worship with another church and participate in their fellowship meal afterwards. I hope there are not too many who go to "Bedside Baptist"! It is hard to keep things going being shifted from pillar to post constantly.

Since we are thinking of leaving France in December 2017 and retiring in mid-2018, our church council met and defined the church's needs for the year to come. Since the church cannot pay a pastor, it will need a missionary as pastor or a lay pastor by the end of 2017. I will invite a number of outside speakers from the seminary at Vaux sur Seine or the

Nogent Bible School to perhaps attract one to work with us. We seriously need a stable place to meet. And we need a director for the Sunday School in September. Please continue to bring these requests before the Lord.

Our friends and former colleagues Jay and Nancy Matsinger left last year for a home assignment in Georgia. Nancy had a bone marrow transplant and seemed to be doing very well. But recently things have taken a turn for the worse and she is now not doing well at all. We are earnestly praying that God would heal her.

In a little over a week, Bobbie and I will fly to the USA to attend one of TEAM's mandatory conferences in Wheaton, IL and then meet with our mission's personnel for interviews at the mission office. This will probably be our last such conference, before our retirement in early summer 2018. We will take a week of vacation at Smith Lake in Alabama beforehand with family. Brian and Melina and Bradlee will come, but globe-trotter Benjamin will be in Nepal. After returning to France for a few weeks, we will direct TEAM France's annual conference in Burgundy. Then Bobbie will have foot surgery before it's back to a normal schedule.

Please pray for:

o Bobbie's friend Annick to see the truth of the gospel. She came to church for the first time a couple of Sundays ago!
o France to open up to God as terrorist activity continues with two policemen killed just this week, not far from us.
o Growth for the church in quality but also in numbers up to "critical mass" size.
o Results from the recruiting trip in Dallas. We need more missionaries in France and Europe.
o Spiritual growth for a former Muslim family of three in the church.
o Marc to move toward discipleship starting with a very clear confession of faith and then baptism.
o Wisdom concerning retirement coming up in less than two years.
o Health, strength and perseverance to work for the King.
o Salvation of our Moroccan family, Habiba, Farouk and Imane. Also, for them to receive immigration papers.
o A more suitable meeting place for our church (more stable, additional rooms for Sunday School, possibility to have meals, place to store the piano, etc.)
o A long-term solution for the leader of the church.

We are very thankful for you our partners in ministry who pray and give so we can bring the Good News to Guyancourt, France.

Yours for the King and His Kingdom,

Bill and Bobbie