The Bennett's Journey to Paris: Weekend getaway in Gisors

Ryan and I were on the receiving end of a great gift in that we stayed with our new teammates and friends, the Shorbs, for the weekend. They are such an inspiration and encouragement to us. They have been in France for almost three years and have done everything in their power to help us transition smoothly into life here. In fact, all of our teammates have been so welcoming that already they are beginning to feel like an extension of our family. This is one of the most beautiful pictures of what the body of Christ is meant to be, and we feel privileged to be beginning to experience this reality so soon after landing.

The Shorbs are living and working in Gisors, a small village about 1½ hrs north of Paris. They are part of a team of six who are sowing seeds of the love of Christ in this town by hosting Alpha courses, bible studies, and in general through their lives and relationships. They are prayerfully and diligently working to get a new church off the ground in the next few years.

During our visit with them, we got to hear many stories about how things have been going for them since arriving here. It was a transparent picture of the good times and the hard times. And they also helped us in some very practical ways including setting up our cell phone plans and searching for loufa’s at the store, since I ruined ours already! It is strange how good it feels when we accomplish the smallest objectives. When everything is foreign, the fact that we go to the post office and succeed at mailing something feels like a grand triumph. It sounds funny but it’s so true. So we are thankful for the little triumphs this weekend.

We also ate very well. Cooking has been a little mundane for us lately. Mostly because we are still slowly accumulating cooking supplies and because I’ve been too tired to both think about what to make and then actually make it. But this weekend we had American night (which included hamburgers, fries and Texas sheet cake for dessert), French night (duck breasts with a delicious plum sauce, vegetables, a cheese course, and an apple tart for dessert), and comfort food Sunday (Goat cheese lasagna, salad, and more Texas sheet cake). And we even squeezed in a campfire and had a s’more each. We were too stuffed to have more than one, but it felt so comforting to sit around the campfire and talk late into the night with new friends.

Here are a few pictures from the weekend in Gisors…