We had left off with Mike on the verge of going off to the vendanges (the grape harvest). Luke had just started Lycée in the nearby town of Ugine and Jonathan went into 4e at Collège. The music/worship input at the language school started immediately we returned from England and we had to arrange to restart the discipleship classes that we had been running.

Just before Mike left for the vendanges we became the guardians of not one but two more kittens. The people who had looked after our cats over summer had taken it upon themselves to find ‘a replacement’ for Lucie and hence two ginger Toms came to join the family. In fact Mike was fortunate to leave the household for a few days because these kittens were the offspring of a wild cat who had taken up residence in a garage simply to have her litter. They were not accustomed to human contact, let us say, in fact they were decidedly against any contact with humans!!!  After some anguish we gave them the names Cain and Abel almost convinced someone was going to get killed along the way!! At the time we wondered what we had done, would we be able to keep them? But since that time they have settled down and become part of the family…. An answer to prayer. And we love them to bits.

The vendanges passed very well this year and Mike got to renew some old acquaintances, some Christian, some not. Again seeds of the Gospel and the Christian life were sown. We pray that one day a harvest will result. As some of you are aware we have been facing some difficult times during the past several months and this particularly affected Donna to the extent that she passed through a time of what would seem to have been chronic clinical depression. Having lived through this for several months we can understand much better the suffering of others who are experiencing similar things; It is not something we would wish on anyone. And more, to be a Christian (even a missionary) and have all the “answers” but not be able to see a way out of a situation can be totally devastating. We thank the Lord that we are moving out of this situation now….But please do keep up the prayers.

On returning from the vendanges Mike got offered a job at the language school doing small building works. Their maintenance man had been off sick for some while and they were becoming desperate for someone to do some of the little jobs that were starting to pile up. An initial month of full-time work got increased to two months and eventually lasted to Christmas Eve. We had, In our previous newsletter, mentioned as a prayer point the need for extra finance. We have also said on a number of occasions that we have no objections to earning a salary if that is the way the Lord wants to support us…. So the Lord said “here you go then, go earn some money!!!”  And if that wasn’t sufficient the part time English teaching post that Mike applied for ages ago came to pass. He started teaching in local primary schools in mid-November… two jobs (thankfully for the first job, the hours that I worked, after the first month, were at my discretion).

So, finally, all the studying to teach English now appears not to have been in vain and we are making contacts with the communities here which a few years ago we wouldn’t have thought possible. Whilst the schools are strictly off limits for preaching, as an English teacher I have to sensitise the children to not only the English language but also the English culture and its feasts and festivals. Hence for Christmas and Easter for example one can’t help but mention some of the gospel story…? even if it is from the direction “this is what they believe…” Please pray that Mike will have continued opportunities to talk about his faith in this situation. The worship at the language school continued…and the bilingual services, which we initiated a few years ago, have gone from strength to strength. We now have a regular attendance of over 40 people plus children, the majority are students but there are also a good number of French people who also attend. The worship leading at church every Sunday continued and still continues… and then there were the discipleship classes which we had to restart. Certain personal situations of people in the groups at Grignon and Faverges meant that we put off an immediate start to these groups until certain things had been resolved. It’s never easy dealing with relationships and we struggle with how much to tell our supporters.  After all many of you come over and meet the people that we work with and see our situation for yourselves.  So all we can say is please do pray for us as we try to teach a Biblical understanding in our relationships one with another and try to give a good example through our own. But there is a lack of understanding here and a real need for the truth of his word to shine in their relationships.

The group (the couple) at Lyon started straight away; they were really eager to get back into the course and make more progress. So every Wednesday we drive 150km to Lyon to do a Bible study. And then return home  Mike preached a couple of Sundays before Christmas and our Pastor, Thierry, asks every now and again when they might expect another message…. But our other commitments seem to be taking up all of our time..   Donna has just started to pick up again on guitar lessons that she is giving to the Pastor’s wife, Isabelle. And spends time chatting, praying and encouraging her. She also manages a chalet in a local ski station for a Christian couple who live in England and at this time of year this involves us in a trip two, three or four times a month to the chalet to clean, check it over and meet people coming in for their skiing holidays. Another point of praise and thanksgiving was a joint prayer meeting in the town, the first of its kind to our knowledge, to include all the main protestant churches in the town.  We remember back to about three years ago when we tried to get the leaders of the protestant churches together but the differences were, at the time, insurmountable. Maybe we have just seen a little of the fruit of that initiative of so long ago. The meeting was well attended with all assemblies having a good presence. We prayed together, worshipped together and fellowshipped. It was good to be part of it, we pray that this will not be an isolated event but will be the start of greater unity between the protestant denominations here.

Well, here we are. This is just a little bit of our life over the past few months. I haven’t mentioned the car which “lost” it’s gearbox… autumn visitors, Christmas visitors…. And another job, managing an online Christian bookshop – so if you want a French Christian book, CD, or holy hardware give us a visit www.lechretien.com

So we find ourselves here in the snowy Alps doing things we never thought we would be able to do but God is faithful and as always he has chosen the foolish things of this world to confound the wise. As our ministry deepens here and we are trusted more and more by those around us we are more and more convinced that it is not out abilities that God seeks in this busy world but only our availability and so we would ask you to pray that we can remain as ever open and available to Him.  Finally we would like to sign off with a repeat of a prayer request that we raised last time. Our flat, whilst nice and centrally located is becoming too small for the life we find we are moving in to. More and more we are seeing people wanting to come and stay with us, the boys are growing really fast and the more our areas of ministry grow we find we need more room at home to “accommodate” them. At the very minimum we need another garage as we are unable to store our trailer at the language school any more and that would only be a short term solution. Our minds turn to the dream, the vision that God put on our hearts several years ago now, to establish houses of refuge to be able to accommodate people needing rest and recuperation in an atmosphere of calm and worship…. Maybe this time is approaching, it’s a dream that will not go away and we believe it to be of the Lord. Please pray with us about this situation…..

This is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance  (and for this we labour and strive), that we have put our hope in the living God, who is the Saviour of all men, and especially of those who believe. Command and teach these things. Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity. Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to preaching and to teaching. Do not neglect your gift, which was given you through a prophetic message when the body of elders laid their hands on you. Be diligent in these matters; give yourself wholly to them, so that everyone may see your progress. Watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers. 1 Timothy 4: 9-16

Points for praise:

• Financial provision through various jobs
• A very good vendange(grape picking)
• That Donna has moved on out of the depression and she is now “still standing”
• New feline additions to the family to be companions to Mollie

Points for prayer

• That our contacts in the community would lead to more and more conversations about Jesus
• A new house – we have a nice flat but it is becoming too small for us. We would like room to put people up and to practice more hospitality, both are difficult where we are. 
• And as always for wisdom to encourage our boys as they grow to become the men God wants them to be.