An Update From France! (Guest post by Kyle "One of the Husbands" Martin)

Hello friends, family members and supporters!

I'm writing this post in place of Caitlin and April because their internet access at the camp is very limited. I was able to talk to Caitlin for a little bit today, though, and she and April wanted me to pass along a few things to you all:

To get the obvious thing out of the way, THEY MADE IT! The trip was a little rough, consisting of two plane rides, a train and a bus, but they both arrived safely and with all their bags intact. Nothing--including Caitlin's guitar--was damaged in the trip, which is a huge praise.

Their first full day there was spent in training with the camp staff, and then the campers arrived on the second day. From my understanding, there are about 50-60 campers ranging in age from 14-18 years old. Some already speak English very well, while others hardly know any English at all. Regardless of their level of language proficiency, everyone is extremely friendly and have been a joy to work with so far--students and staffers alike.

One big piece of news is that Caitlin and April were asked to lead a music-related workshop for the students! Going into this camp, they knew that staffers in the past had led workshops on things like photography, but they didn't know that they would be asked to lead one themselves. They accepted the invitation, but asked if the workshop could be focused on music in a church environment (i.e. how to lead worship) instead of just "music" in general. Being a camp run by Christians, their request was accepted. On the day of workshop sign-ups, the first girl came by and asked if their workshop was just for music in church, and when they said yes, her response was, "oh." At that point, they didn't know if they could really expect anyone to sign up for such a focused and obviously Christian workshop.

They got 10.

10.

The director even told them afterward that such a high number had not been expected. They are a little intimidated, but still very excited and ready to face the challenge.

So, with that, I move on to some prayer requests that they have:

• Please pray for the camp staffers (including April and Caitlin) and the campers, that everyone would remain healthy, safe and engaged.
• Pray for energy to make it through each day, as the daytime is packed with activities for the campers and the evenings are full of making preparations for the next day.
• Pray for the workshop, that the Spirit would move through April and Caitlin as they put their DCC knowledge to use, and that the campers would understand what they are being taught (both conceptually and on a simple language level).

I hope I didn't leave anything out! I will continue to post updates like this as I receive them, or if I remember something that I forgot here. Thank you all for your continued support and prayers! God is already moving, so who knows what will come of the next two weeks.

Until next time,

Kyle

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There is one more thing: Caitlin said that it is probably the most beautiful place she has ever been. She sent me a picture of the view from their bedroom window. Warning: it'll make you sick.

WE DID IT!!! We reached our GoFundMe goal!!!! All of your prayers and gifts will send us off to France ready to love on the French kids who do not know God. You have all chosen to partner with us in this mission, and it encourages us greatly to have you all on our side as we venture forth into the unknown!

If you were still wanting to give financially, don't worry!! You still can! Our train tickets cost us a little more than we thought, and we will have bus and travel expenses along the way. (We will have to take 2 trains from Paris, and then a bus to get to camp) Even though our GoFundMe site shows that our goal is reached, you can still give--it will just show us surpassing our goal!! Click here to get to our GoFundMe page.

God has blessed us immensely throughout our journey so far. Knowing that we've come so far only further confirms in our minds that this is where God is leading us. We ask for your continued prayers--we will be packing our giant, 70 liter backpacks and carry-on's tomorrow, and then we leave on Saturday!!

I will blog here and there if I can while we are in France, so keep watch on this site if you're interested in our journey! We love you all, and from the bottom of our hearts we thank you for your kindness, generosity, and sharing of this great burden. God bless every one of you!

Love, Cait & April

ONE WEEK LEFT!!!!

AHHH!! We can't even believe it... are we crazy?!? Yes. I think so. :-) I saw some pictures that one of our team members posted. She is already at the camp--helping out with another set of campers. When I saw the pictures, I felt my heart being pulled to France! I knew that I wanted and needed to be there! I love it when God stirs up your heart. It is so reassuring: this is what He wants us to do!!

April and I went shopping yesterday for all of the rest of the supplies that we need for our trip. Even though it always feels like we're forgetting something, I don't think we could be any more prepared. Now, we step out in faith. :-) Exciting and scary at the same time.

Organized chaos. Or maybe just chaos. The blue room is now the France room!

There will be a lot of things to finish up this coming week in preparation to leave for three weeks. I have a lot to get together at work--to make life easy for my awesome co-workers, packing for the trip needs to happen, laundry, cleaning, etc. Never in my life did I think I would be doing something like this. My life was going in one direction and then it totally changed. While I don't believe that God was playing puppet master and changed my life on a whim, I believe that He opened up incredible opportunities for me on this other path. He makes beautiful things out of us. :-)

Needs: continued prayer for safe travels, smooth prep, and continued good health for both April and me. We also still have a need for $900 more to reach our financial goal. It's a lot to think about raising in 6 days, but even if we don't reach it, we are thankful for the huge amount we've raised so far! It's so encouraging and exciting!

Thank you all! Bonjour until next time!
Caitlin

Happy Sunday!

I hope this lovely summer weekend has been refreshing and relaxing for all of you!

April and I have had busy schedules and have been meeting as much as possible to get everything ready--we leave in 13 days!!! We have been slowly gathering all of our needed supplies. Fortunately, we've been blessed with some friends who have allowed us to borrow hiking backpacks and sleeping bags. A HUGE amount of money saved there! Tomorrow April and I will meet and run through all 40-some songs that we've chosen for camp. Please be in prayer for us--that we allow the Spirit to guide our song choices. Only God knows what those campers need and we need to be in tune to where He is leading.

Busy planning! Obviously, the dogs are a huge help...

We continue to be overwhelmed by the love and support that we've had through all of our preparations. We are so close to our financial goal!! We fly into Paris, but it's another 3-4 hours to get to the camp so we still need to purchase train and bus tickets. We know that God will provide--He has taken care of us so far!

Hole-punching like a mad woman!

Needs: Prayer. We are starting to get a little bit nervous about this adventure. 2 inexperienced, international travelers will be venturing around major airports in a country where English is not the first language. We also would like continued prayer that we can connect with these kids. We just want to spend time with them, love on them, and hopefully gain their trust. We have heard that this is hard--so some extra prayer for this would be appreciated.

We also need prayer that all of our planning these last 2 weeks goes smoothly.

Our other need is, of course, finances. I know we will get there! We are so close! We still have our GoFundMe page up... it makes it easy to donate! Click here to be redirected to our giving page!
Thank you all for your continued support! We love and appreciate you!!

Caitlin & April

Bonjour!

As most of you know, I will be traveling with my dear friend and former classmate, April Welsh, to France. The camp is Camp des Cimes (Camp of the Peaks) in Bourg d'Oisans, France. It's an English youth camp run by Greater Europe Mission--their aim is to build relationships with the unbelieving (and believing) youth of France. The mission statement of Camp des Cimes is, "A haven in France for God to save the lost and strengthen the found."

Although April and I will be heavily involved as counselors in all areas of the camp, our main "job" will be to lead worship twice a day for the two weeks of camp. We are both extremely excited, anxious, and hopeful for what God has in store for these campers. We are ready to be instruments of the Lord!

Yesterday was the first meeting of the North American team going to the camp. 4 of the 6 of us got to finally meet each other face-to-face, learn more about camp, and bond as teammates! April and I are in the process of getting the rest of our needed documents together so that we're in the clear for heading over there. Plane tickets are purchased, hiking packs are ready to go, and we leave in t-minus 33 days!!

It was hard to focus in church today. Our team will be responsible for some of the morning and evening activities, so each of us will be brainstorming over the next few weeks, coming up with some different things we could do. As I sat in the chair at church today, my mind was deep in its creative crevices trying to think of activities that would engage the youth in something fun and interesting all the while communicating the Gospel of Christ. The Lord has been placing a heavier and heavier burden on my heart for the people of France and I pray that through that burden, God will make me more in tune to what the youth of this camp need.

We still have so much to do before we leave on the 12th of July! Although we are over half-way funded, we still have a good $2,300 to go. April and I have a lot of needed supplies that we need to purchase, and we have a lot of music prep work to do. Our specific needs are:

-Prayer for our hearts and minds, that we might be able to connect to the campers
-Prayer for safe travels
-Prayer that all of our organization beforehand goes smoothly (there is a lot of it)
-Donations--$2,300 more (If you or someone you know would like to contribute financially, you can do so at our GoFundMe site here.)

Also, as a side note, April and her husband Kyle are with their youth group on a mission trip. They will be doing work in Dallas for the week. Please keep them in your prayers!

We take for granted here in the US the fact that we are surrounded by so many other believers. In France, only 4% of the population claims to be Christian. About 90% of the campers at the youth camp are non-believers. France needs to know of the love of Jesus, and we are so blessed to be given the opportunity to be His hands and feet in July.

"In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord, high and exalted, seated on a throne; and the train of his robe filled the temple. 2 Above him were seraphim, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. 3 And they were calling to one another:

“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.” 4 At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke.
5 “Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty.”
6 Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. 7 With it he touched my mouth and said, “See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.”
8 Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?”
And I said, “Here am I. Send me!” Isaiah 6:1-8

Au Revoir for now! --Caitlin