February - March 2016 in pictures

As you will see, God continues to lead us into exciting adventures! We are grateful for all that we can experience, and for His Presence and Protection in our daily lives.

In February, the whole family enjoyed meeting up with our Agapé France colleagues at our national staff conference in the Ardèche. It was refreshing to be all together, away from the usual challenges, to delve deeper into the theme of joy and thanksgiving. 

We were also delighted to have some family time to admire the Ardèche scenery.

We were made to feel very welcome and Claire seems to have appreciated the food ;

the green salad...

... as well as the meat!

We would sometimes like to add a few days of rest in the diary, but in this instance, David did not have time to go home before his next trip. He flew directly from Lyon to Bangkok in Thailand -  a 10 000 km flight!

David met up with around 50 colleagues from all over the World, who work with Agapé in the area of technologies. It was a time of great fellowship, strategic and tehcnical discussions, and time to get to know each other better as we discovered a bit of Bangkok. It was very encouraging and full of great opportunities for collaboration in the future. 

A few thoughts on Bangkok itself...

The city is obviously fully wired!

Like the wires which are all over the place, so it is with the many cars and bikes (with or without helmets, alone or with family, with or without load...). 

Another strong feeling: the city is dense and the air is hot and not very pleasant to breathe.

Bangkok is a city of contrasts.

Dark and run down areas,...

... and modern and better-off neighbourhoods.

Traditional buildings, along with more high-tech constructions.

All kinds of food can be found on the street markets. 

Fish...

... fruit...

... and various kebabs.

The retaurant kitchens are often outside, next to the pavement - and the car fumes. We enjoyed the food anyway, and came back to this restaurant a second time (despite the rats running away as we left the first time!). And you can't find better prices elsewhere!

Last words on Thailand: they take pride in their famous silk-worm rearing and hand-weaving.

No sooner back from Thailand, (just a few days to recover from jetlag and an over 30-hour journey), than it was time for the last preparations for our "Seeds of hope" evening in Rennes. The whole family helped to set up the venue and Julie and Anna did a great job with the decorating team. 

The photo-exhibition was beautiful!

You can find some of the photos with the photographer's comments on Valter's website and some photos of the evening on the event's Facebook page.

The beautiful venue was full. Very encouraging!

In March, the Music School organized a masked ball, in which Julie sang with her choir.

And we parents played along with interesting masks :-) .

In the middle of all these trips and other events, we enjoyed a peaceful family walk along the canal which runs through our town.

And finally, the experts will have noticed that our three girls, after a visit to the hairdresser's (thank you Melissa!), are sporting a lovely fringe to savour their seasonal chocolate eggs :-) 

Thank you for your faithful reading. To be continued...