Today has been full of good moments, but it has been one of those days I’ve had to continually declare that I have the mind of Christ, keep my mind on things above, find things to be thankful for, and consciously choose that it’s going to be a good day.
Thankfully I got 7 hours of great sleep last night! I woke up feeling completely refreshed. I enjoyed some strong coffee and Weetabix cereal for breakfast. Weetabix is pretty awesome. It is in a large wafer form which crumbles into what looks like crunchy oatmeal. It tastes similar to Kellogg’s All-Bran cereal, only crushed up into the size of oatmeal flakes. The Italian stove-p coffee maker only makes about half a mug of coffee, so I decided to venture out after breakfast to look for a coffee shop and buy a nice large café latte (espresso with steamed milk). I realized it was a good possibility that wherever I ended up, the people wouldn’t speak English, so I whipped out the Google Translate app and brushed up on my (non-existent) French. Armed with phrases such as “I don’t speak French, “I want a café latte,” and “I want espresso with milk” since you may get either coffee or espresso depending on their interpretation of latte in various places in Europe, I went out the door in search of a coffee shop. I never found a coffee shop, but an English-speaking man who was setting tables outside of a closed restaurant directed me to a place that served espresso. I got there, and of course they did not speak English. I busted out my newly-learned French, which was absolutely horrible but successful in communicating what I wanted to drink. However when I went to pay, she said, “No MasterCard! Not for 3 Francs! Go to bank!” Apparently she did speak a little English. Ha ha. So off I went, back to the flat to make more coffee on the stove…
This morning they asked me to lead worship tonight and play/sing for a lady leading worship with her flute tomorrow night. It was a challenge to pick out songs because most aren’t English speakers, and different people were unsure if they would know the song in French to sing along in their own language. I collaborated with several people and settled on a good worship set. Sébastien translated all of the lyrics to French so we would have both English and French subtitles for each slide.
The computer I had to use to input lyrics absolutely drove me crazy! The keyboard was in a French layout, so many of the letters and punctuation were in different places, as you can see from the picture below. (Seb had the same problem too because his computer has a Swiss keyboard layout. Glad to know I wasn’t the only one struggling to type!!!) I was also unfamiliar with the lyric projection program and all of the menus and icons were in French, so it was a challenge to navigate.
Fortunately, worship went really well tonight! I played keyboard and led, and Sébastien played guitar and also sang in French and translated as I sang spontaneously and prayed during worship. We had the flute player I am leading with tomorrow night and a cousin-in-law-in-law from Spain who played the drums. We did not practice at all. It went completely flawless and beautiful and was very anointed. Listen how crazy this is:
* a Swiss man playing guitar and singing
* a Spanish man playing the drums
* a Belgium woman playing flute
* an American man playing keyboard and singing
I also worshiped some in Portuguese and a tiny bit in Spanish because I knew there were some Portuguese and Spanish speaking people there that did not speak good English. That was fun, and one guy came and spoke to me afterwards and told me he appreciated it because he was way more familiar with that song in Portuguese and that was special for him.
Our speaker tonight was Alain Auderset, who is very a famous comic book creator. (I’m sure there’s a better term for that, but that’s what I’m going with at 3AM!) He was a very engaging speaker. They translated part of his message for me, but I enjoyed talking to him over dinner and getting to know him and praying with him beforehand as he spoke pretty good English as well. He has been to the U.S. and India and many other places. They gave me one of his hard back comic books that was translated to English, as a gift.
In other news, please pray for my luggage! It missed four flights to Geneva today, and they keep making excuses and providing no explanation as to why it’s not here. Last I heard, it’s supposedly here and they will bring it to me in the morning. However that’s what they said last night too. I’m praying this time it is the truth! Jesus bring my luggage! But regardless, I am going out to buy some new clothes in the morning. I will be on day 4 of these shorts — my only shorts. I can’t very well wash them without being indecent. Seb doesn’t have a dryer and his wife’s cousin has a dryer at work. There is just no good option for that! I found out from Air France tonight that they will reimburse me for 100 Euros of purchases. The guy at the airport told me they wouldn’t at all. The Air France lady was very apologetic and told me she would report that to her manager and showed me where the forms were online. That made me feel better!
I’m also hoping to get a SIM card tomorrow so I can have access to Internet, email, and free texting on my phone. It is very difficult to have access now — I have to carry Seb’s phone around in my pocket! I am looking forward to on more awesome worship tomorrow night, and to whatever else God has in store tomorrow and the rest of my time here. Our prayer times have been very refreshing and full of Holy Spirit! I am believing for even greater things.
Sébastien, Eléonore, and I came home and enjoyed many different kinds of cheeses and chocolate tonight. That was a real treat! We got a picture of all this with a Swatch and a Swiss Army knife, just so you all would know I was having the true Swiss experience.
Thanks for your prayers — and add jet lag to the list. I’ve had a hard time getting wound down tonight. It’s almost 3:00am here!
I am having an amazing trip, despite my luggage being lost. Seb and his family are the best. I was talking tonight how I have just walked into a home away from home. I have felt like family since the moment I got here. Everyone has gone out of their way to be so loving and genuinely kind, even his in-laws who don’t speak English at all! It has been an amazing blessing to come here..