This morning Amber and I led worship for the missionaries here at the Christian Associates conference.  We had a great time! The musicians here are very talented and we jammed with them.  Amber played drums, I played keys, a bass player joined name Marty, a guy played electric and another guy named Scott played acoustic.  We did everything from Waterdeep stuff, to Billy and Cindy Foote's 'Sing to the King'.  God was so good because the 5 of us had never played together and after about 45 minutes of practice, we gelled. 

There was a huge response during our time of worship.  We were all very moved. we really celebrated together and it was so evident that the Holy Spirit was at work in all of our hearts.  

So far this experience with Christian Associates has been far beyond my expectations.  As one guy said, 'this is my tribe.'  I must say that I feel the same way.  So does Amber.  It is so refreshing to be around a group of folks that really only care about you knowing Christ intimately.  They aren't hung up on the 'extras'.  It is really is all about Jesus.  I am very blessed.

Sorry for the delay in posting! We arrived in Hungary by the grace of God! Thank you for praying. We actually had to fly to get here. Our plan was to use our Eurail passes, which we did. But those passes couldn't get us to Hungary in time. Thank God for Ryan Air which got us to Vienna in time for our conference and at a reasonable price. If you ever travel Europe you must know that Ryan Air is awesome. Only 20€ to get from Milan to Vienna. Getting to Milan from Marseille by train was a lesson for Amber in culture. She didn't know you could fit so many people on a train!! Personal space was definitely invaded along the way, but nonetheless, we made it!

Now for some long awaited pics! The picture above is of a cool building in Milan,Italy. Amber took this picture and I liked the shot.

The Duomo (cathedral) in Milan, Italy. (left) We did not expect to travel through Italy, but we definitely made the most of it. We enjoyed a wonderful dinner that night and of course, some Italian wine from the Chianti region. Delicioso!

These pictures below are of Notre Dame in Marseille, France. (Notre Dame means 'Our lady', which refers to Mary, the mother of Jesus. It is common for there to be a Notre Dame in most cities of France. Most Americans think that Notre Dame is just in Paris. I thought this until I visited other cities in France.) Notre Dame Marseille sits on the top of the hill and this church is the 'protector' of the port of Marseille. People come to this cathedral and ask Mary to heal their city, heal their children, protect the port. So this church is the religious and spiritual marker for the entire city. There were hundreds of visitors that day. It felt more like a museum than a place of worship.

We Arrived!!!

After 29 hours of travel we finally reached our destination! We are tired, but we made it.
We are spending our first few days with some good friends here in Marseille. Marseille is a port city so it is very international. And being a port city, that means there is a beach! We plan to take a dip in the Mediterranean today. We will also check out the old city of Marseille and find out more about it's diverse culture. We learned last night while eating dinner that some of the Campbell's friends here just found out that their child has cancer of the blood. Please pray for this child and pray that as the Campbells try to encourage these friends that the love of Jesus would shine through and that they will be more ready to receive the gospel as a result.

Last night our friends cooked us an awesome French meal! I had to take pics of the food! I love pretty and tasty food. And believe me, this meal was more than tasty, it was heavenly!

Salad with goat cheese (the best goat cheese I have ever had. These French don't play when it comes to cheese!)

We also had a beautiful main course of pork medallions with fromage sauce (that would be another word for cheese). Yes, we are in the land of cheese and I love it!

If you are still reading, please pray for Amber and I and our travel plans to Vienna on Saturday. It seems that the Eurail system is pretty booked this time of year and we are having to really work hard to get from Marseille to our conference outside of Vienna. I know we will get there, but I am thinking its going to be tricky. So please pray that we can make connections. Thank you!

Amy

So in the morning I leave for Europe to take part in a conference called "CONNECT" with Christian Associates. Christian Associates is a church planting ministry that is reaching the continent of Europe. Every year they host this conference to bring together their church planters and those interested in the vision of reaching Europe.
Did you know that 600 million people live in Europe and less than 5% of them attend church regularly? And of the churches they might choose to attend, very few of them offer a relevant and Biblical view of life and the gospel. As a result, less then 2% of those 600 million profess faith in Jesus Christ for salvation. Most Europeans believe that God is a myth and that the Bible is irrelevant.
There is a great need in Europe for vibrant Christians to share their faith in Jesus and make disciples (Matthew 28:18-20). So, I am looking forward to meeting Christians who are doing just that! Connect Conference will be full of vibrant Christians who are burdened to share the gospel in Europe. I look forward to my time with these church planters. I am eager to ask them questions about their work and how they are reaching the post modern ,secular humanists of Europe. I am increasingly aware of secular humanism's handprint on our own society and I think spending time in Europe will teach me much about reaching my own culture.
I will do my best to share what I am learning along the way. Oh, I almost forgot! I am reading a book that all the church planters with Christian Associates have read. It's called the "Forgotten Ways" by Alan Hirsch. It's all about missions and church. So feel free to read along with me and post any comments you have about it.
Ok, I gotta get some shut eye before a big day of travel!
Blessings,
Amy

I established this blog two years ago and I only posted one time!!!  I know of only one person who found my blog, ( sorry that I kept you hanging Weems).  The moral of this story is that there is a good chance I won't be faithful to this.  But, right now I feel up to the challenge.  I leave for Europe in 4 days and what better way to share my journey? 

So here we go... Global Nobles is back!