Welcome to the Violleau's

We spent last week in the Pyrenees with students, volunteers and Agapé Campus staff members from all over France for our New Year Conference. The theme this year was : "Only one truth : Good news ?". The four talks, which were great, helped us go deeper, in the light of God's Word, as to why  Jesus Christ is the Truth, and how to share the Good News around us today. Times of sharing, prayer and workshops enabled us to go further in small groups. We began each day with a time of worship, joyfully giving glory to God in song. We spent one afternoon in an old-people's home where we sang Christmas carols and chatted with the residents. It was lovely to see how much they enjoyed our presence. Some residents cried; others , who usually never speak, sang with us. Thank you Lord for enabling us to share Your love with these people. We also made the most of the mountain air on an afternoon outing of ski, sledge or hiking. And we finished 2010 and started 2011 all together with

On Tuesday 24th, we arrived in Chalfont St Peter (near Gerrards Cross and about a one-hour drive from London) to stay with Brian, Shirley and Stephen (Carolyn's uncle, aunt and cousin) for a few days. They told us that Gold Hill baptist church, a major baptist church in the country, was across the road and that they were organising a big holiday club, called Timebreaker, that week. We decided to go on Thursday morning. Julie had fun in the Play Zone (for the 3 to 4 year-olds). And we enjoyed a couple of teas and cakes while we were able to meet a few people of the congregation. We were encouraged to see the big heart for mission in this church and chat with Ruth and Hilary from the Missions Commitee. We were also inspired to talk with Katrina, who is involved in Family work. And Julia, a missionary in Peru, told us encouraging stories about mission and support raising. Thank you Lord for these unexpected encouragements!

As we were only 45 minutes drive from Birmingham City centre, we decided to go to the Agapé UK Head Office on Monday and meet some of our English colleagues, working as Communications and Operations Staff. We had a cup of tea with Daniel, Danielle, Mary and John. It was nice to put faces to names and get to know them a bit. Let's pray for them as the Agapé UK Summer Staff Conference starts this evening. The theme this year is "Your Kingdom Come!".

On Friday 13th, we left Leicester for a 50-minute drive to Leek Wootton , near Warwick, to stay with Jim and Nicola Perryman. Jim was the vicar in the Lyon Anglican Church when Carolyn was between 15 and 21 years old. Jim is now the vicar for the Ashow, Leek Wootton & Stoneleigh parishes. On Saturday, we were invited to meet some people from the Stoneleigh congregation at the annual Duck Race in Stoneleigh . We each bought a plastic duck which was numbered, before hundreds of these ducks were thrown into the river Sowe. We all waited for the ducks to pass the finishing line. Our ducks didn't win but at least we weren't the ones with water up to our waists having to fish the ducks out with fishing nets! On Sunday, we had a long and busy day sharing about our ministry with Agapé. Carolyn talked at the 8:00am service in Leek Wootton. The rest of the family joined her for the 9:30am service where we both talked. We then drove to Stoneleigh to speak at the 11:00am service. We s