Franco Fridays: Walking, Crepes, Polyglot, + More Walking

Back to France this Friday with a few pictures from Thursday night.  We hurried back from Versailles to make it to our last Polyglot. We arrived just at sunset, which may have been after 9 p.m. at that point.  There was a pretty glow in the sky up above the rising buildings.

We hadn't had dinner yet, so we grabbed a quick bite to eat.  KJ and I had our first Biscoff Crepes, and thus he sealed his fate, because KJ makes his way through a jar of Biscoff pretty regularly these days.

I really enjoyed our times at Polyglot that week; I was surprised at how easy and fun it was to engage with others who wanted to practice their English.  How often do I get the opportunity to talk with someone from Tunisia?  To hear about their life there and their thoughts on politics and religion?  How often do I get to share what being a Christian means and looks like for me?  It was challenging and good.  

As the night wore on I got tired and sat down, feeling bad about disengaging but not sure if I could keep speaking coherently.  A man we had talked to earlier came and sat down beside me, and we continued our conversation, which ended up feeling like one of the more meaningful moments for me on the trip.  He was from Afghanistan and his English was so poor I was pulling out my meager store of French trying to talk to him.  I was able to understand that he was a refugee and could not return home. When Parker came over and was able to speak to him in French we learned that he had fled for his life, and he was cut off from his family.  KJ "happened" to still be carrying a copy of the Jesus film in his pocket in about 8 or so languages, and when he pulled it out, this guy was so happy because he spoke nearly all of them.  This copy even had his native language on it.  Watching the joy on his face, and thinking about the events in his life leading up to this moment brought tears to my eyes.  I hope he watched that DVD.

We were late leaving Polyglot that night and missed our last bus so we walked the last leg of the journey back to the church.  It gave us a chance to see Rueill-Malmaison at night.

It's a really lovely little place.

And only one more day of our mission trip left.