and the greatest of these is love

Hey yall, it’s Amaris!

At this point, we’re just about half way through with project and I think it’s safe to say I’m the only one on the team who still cannot successfully order a pastry in correct French. My “Merci” almost always comes out “Mercy,” let’s hope I can master it by the end of our time hereJ It is insane how quickly the time is going by as we are sharing on campus, making friends, and LIVING IN PARIS.

 A focus of our training times this week has been how to love others. This is something the Lord has been teaching me since my arrival in Paris. Tuesday morning we looked at scripture to dive deeper into this topic. 1 Corinthians 13: 9-12 sparked conversation in my small group, and something just finally clicked for me.

 So many people, including myself, often just focus on the beginning part of this chapter. But what is Paul saying in these verses? He is telling us that we are to love, as it is the most important thing, but that our love is imperfect. Only the love that God has for us is perfect. “Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.” How amazing are these words?! Today, we only know in part the love the Lord has for us and the resulting love we are able to give to others. When Jesus returns, we will fully know the extent of His love. The beauty, I think, is in that last little bit. Although we are unable to love perfectly and cannot even grasp the vastness of God’s love for us, we are fully known and fully loved by Him. What a good good God we serve!

This scripture is pure and straight forward, and yet I so easily miss it. All I can do for these students is love them well, but when relying on myself I am completely inadequate.  Daily, the team and I must rely on God and His Spirit to lead and guide us in conversations and friendships with the Parisians. He has been so faithful already to open doors, and I know He will continue to do so. The Lord keeps impressing on me that this is not over. Even for those students we meet once and never see again-the Lord is fighting for them.

Please pray for our remaining time here that we would love and serve well, both within our team and to the French people we encounter. Pray that we would see the Parisians the way God sees them and love them as He has loved us. Thank you to our family and friends who have sent us here-we love you, we miss you, and we are blessed to have you in our lives!

Love,

Amaris in Paris

God is moving

Bonjour! This is Andrew writing from the heart of Paris, France, on how the heart of God is moving in and through our group of students and Cru staff.

Since the moment our team walked off the plane and onto Parisian soil, it was evident that we were not sufficient to accomplish the mission God had set before us. Our general inability to read the directions on the signs all around us and understand the French words being spoken to us by airport security and staff was just a picture of our spiritual neediness. Just as we were in need of help to translate the words all around us, we have increasingly realized our need for the Holy Spirit in sharing the Gospel here in Paris.

As I have met with students from all over the world—France, Brazil, Tunisia, Portugal, and Switzerland to name a few—I have been struck with my dependency on the Holy Spirit. Even my most convincing argument for the sinfulness of Man and Jesus’ restoration of Man’s relationship with God or my most compelling evidence for the existence of God is essentially useless without Him. He, the Holy Spirit, is the only one who can change a man or woman’s heart, bringing them from spiritual death to life or opening their ears to truly hear the message of the Gospel.

This dependency on the Holy Spirit has been a major theme for our team this week and has brought a humble, excited attitude to our evangelism. We continue to see God divinely put us in contact with just the right students in the cafeteria at Sorbonne Nouvelle and at the campuses of Sorbonne Nouvelle and Jussieu. God is at work through our team, reaching atheists, Muslims, Jews, Hindus, those raised up in the Catholic church with no relationship with Christ, and everyone in-between with the love and good news of Jesus Christ.

As we head into this weekend, please pray that God would be at work in the hearts of the students we have met and that the time we spend with them would be Spirit-led toward the Gospel.

sola gratia.

Andrew Axsom

holy spirit move

Hey Friends and family!

This is Rhyan coming to you from Paris. So I really wanted to share with you how God has been working. The best way I know how to express that is through music. I wrote this song this past week. It is the best way I know to express what God has been teaching me, and us as a team. Most often I think of my relationship with God as a dance, swaying to the rhythm of our heart beats. When my sin gets in the way, however, that rhythm gets out of sync. This song is basically about what happens when I surrender all to God and allow Him to lead. Surrender is definitely something God has been teaching us thus far on Summer Project 2012. Without us daily dying to ourselves and living as sacrifices for Him and His gospel our efforts here are fruitless. He truly has to lead us in EVERYTHING. So….here it is. I know it’s 5 min long, but it’s a worship song so have grace. Haha  thanks you guys, and please continue praying for us, and the Parisians we’re able to share with. It’s already starting to get hard so please please please keep praying!! Love you all!!

Your fellow Tennessian sister in Christ,

-Rhyan K. Shirley-

a morning in the park

Bonjour! 

This is Becky here. We’re getting close to the end of our first week in Paris and to say that this has been crazy would be an understatement. Going into this trip I thought I was somewhat ready. Ready to go sharing on campus, ready for the cultural change, ready for what God had in store. But that was just the problem; I thought “I” was ready. 

Mission trips are interesting things. They put you in a state of total dependence like none other. They humble you and overwhelm you, at least this trip has done that for me. I have spent this week in turmoil with myself. Fighting my pride, fighting my fear, and fighting my anxiety about going on campus. 

Today (Thursday) is a French holiday so no one will be on campus which means we have the day to get situated and focus on spending time with the Lord as well as shopping for groceries and life group time. Honestly, this could not have come at a better time. We’ve only been to campus two times so far, but I could already tell that I needed to escape and get with the Lord and get focused because I have been trying to do this all on my own. This morning our roommates went to a nearby park and sat in an absolutely perfect and picturesque day in Paris with open Bibles, journals, and hearts. It was there that God began to make it very clear that this is not about me. This trip, going to campus, even my testimony is not about me. We are not here for ourselves, we are not here for Crusade or even for our families, we are here to proclaim Christ and because He called us here and to bring glory to His holy name. But even more than this trip, this life isn’t about us. It’s not about what I want to do, or where I want to go, or who I want to be. It’s all about, as a child of God, what God wants me to do, where God wants me to go, and who God wants me to be. 

I can honestly say that this week, in the two days we’ve been on campus, we have seen God move. We have had the privilege of speaking to students of all types and all nationalities from a sundry of backgrounds and God is moving here already. People are willing to talk to us, even though talking about God or religion, in the words of one young woman named Claire, is taboo. I know I speak for the team when I say that we cannot wait to go back to campus tomorrow and see God continue to work and open the hearts of these students. We know that nothing is impossible for God, and because of that we know that there are no hearts that are too cold or souls too hard or sins too great to keep someone from knowing Christ. 

Please join us as we pray over this trip. Pray that we would be humble and broken before God, that we would remember our place, but that God would move mightily through us. We’re asking God to save at least 8 people this project. Pray for big things. Pray that God would revive the land. Pray that God would use us, just broken earthen vessels, to bring glory to His name and to point people to salvation through faith in Christ alone. 

“But I do not consider my life of any account as dear to myself, so that I may finish my course and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify solemnly of the Gospel of the grace of God.” Acts 20:24

“Such confidence we have through Christ towards God, not that we are adequate in ourselves to consider anything as coming from ourselves, but our adequacy is from God.” II Corinthians 3:4-5

Bienvenue á Paris!

Hey guys! This is Kayla speaking...We're finally in Paris! I know I speak for the rest of the team when I say it has been an overwhelming couple of days. I am so excited to be here, but kinda nervous at the same time as we prepare our hearts to share the gospel with the students of Paris. It's definitely been a culture shock for a lot of us. Aside from the language barrier, Parisians just have a certain way of doing things, keeping quiet, not taking up too much space, and walking EVERYWHERE (including up and down several flights of stairs to get to our elevator-less apartments). So it's been an interesting adjustment.


Just a little background for y'all, I came into this trip having studied French from 8th grade through high school, plus a semester in college, so it's been really cool getting to apply that for real here in France. I've enjoyed helping the team so far too, ordering food, asking for directions and what-not. I feel really blessed that God led me to study French when I did, because now I get to use it on project!

In the midst of all that, we've already breezed by and seen the outside of the Louvre, Notre Dame, various iconic landmarks on our 3-hour bike tour, and of course, the Eiffle Tower. I know I was amazed at the magnitude and beauty of all these places. For the French, art and human intellect have enormous meaning, and it's becoming my heart's desire to see these things reflect on them the magnitude and beauty of our Creator, the supreme creator of beauty itself, and for that to hold meaning and purpose in the lives of the Parisians.

As overwhelming as the culture has been, the prospect of taking the next step, going to a French college campus, and initiating coversations and friendships with Parisian students is also a little nerve-wracking. At this point a lot of us agree that we don't really know what to expect or even how to approach these students. The norms are so different from when some of us go sharing in the United States, and some of us hardly have experience with this kind of evangelism. With that in mind, we are reminded that we are completely inadequate without the Lord. One of the challenges our team leader Chris set before us is to place ourselves in situations where we have to be completely dependent on the Spirit to guide us...so this is it! I'm looking forward to getting briefed by the STINT (Short Term International) team about the campus and how to approach students there.

We may be tired and maybe even a little scared, but our small group of 12 is mighty and on fire for the Lord. Jesus commanded that we "make disciples of -all- nations" (Matt. 28:19). We've answered the call, we're here in France. I'm excited to see what God does in and through us now!

Peace and Love,
Kayla