Nantes
On the last Friday of June, Loic and I took a daytrip to Nantes. This is what we saw: A giant mechanical elephant that stomps around le Place de l'Ile and blows its trumpet year-round. Plastic heads bobbing up and down in the water by the local chateau. Several eggs plastered on top of buildings. Why?
"Parce que c'est Nantes." As strange as the city decor was, the daytrip itself was “sympa.” Within the first hour, I was walking into a cathedral, just like my friend Brenton had prophesied over me in South Africa. As Loic and I took a promenade around Le Passage Pommeraie, we ducked into a choclaterie,
where he asked me to pick out my favorite chocolates. After a quick stop at La Chaise Longue, he asked where I would like to go to lunch. We ended up at a quaint little restaurant where we cheered to Sangria and he treated me to a "fromage nantais." In those two hours, I truly felt like a daughter of the King!
I decided to go back to Nantes for five days later on in July. A friend from Bethel had been there in January and encouraged me to "meet Cecile, who knows everyone in France." Many contacts talkd about Nantes quite frequently as well.
Within a few minutes of arriving on Friday, a girl named Vickie texted me, saying she wanted to meet up. We spent the evening walking around downtown and praying for people. Afterwards, I went to a worship evening called "Nantes en Feu" which is linked to the organization "France en Feu." I had wanted to attend some of their meetings for a long time--everything fit together! Afterwards, I met up with Cecile and Jonathan. We stayed up until 3 am sharing our stories. As they talked about how they had quite accidentally met in South Africa, gone out onto the streets in Nantes and seen many heaings, spent three months at Harvest School in Mozambique, and prepared to spend the next month in a potentially dangerous country in Africa, everything felt so right. I was so inspired and felt the presence of God.
On Saturday, Nia and Yowell had prepared a "program" for me. We took the boat across the Loire where we enjoyed a picnic and prayed for one another. I saw Vickie at church the next day, where a guy named Philippe was leading a two-hour prophetic dance workshop. Apparently this is normal there. Before that, I was asked to help lead worship at the front of the church--in French! This was another prophecy that was coming true. Finally, Philippe and his wife Lydie drove me to the House of Prayer. I had never seen someone intercede for his own country as much as Philippe did. He had already described his vacation trip: a tour of all the prayer houses in France, with a quick stop in Geneva. Sounded like my kind of thing!
Finally, on Tuesday Cecile invited me to share my testimony at "Les Feux de Reveil," a meeting they held. "We are trying to teach people how to break the mold and live radically for Jesus. You are a great example, especially to young people," she explained. So, for an hour, I spoke in French and answered questions about my life. Vickie, who has felt God's call to go to Bethel, said it was so encouraging.
La Rochelle
So when I sat down to her and heard God whisper these words, I almost said nothing: "If she accepts me, her life will never be the same. I will not be like other people who have abused her. I will never leave her nor forsake her. So ask her, 'are you ready?'"
I repeated this anyway. And when she said yes, I think I simply stared at her for about 30 seconds. And all the time we were praying, I was crying.
Rendez-Vous
Because it was such an emotional week for her, I was surprised by how calm I was.