Easter in Alsace with Evodia

Strasbourg is in the Alsace region of France.  On Easter Sunday after church we went to Philipe and Evodia’s house for a lunch with many of the people from Trinity International Church.  The guests were from Egypt, Korea, Greece, France, America, Peru, Bulgaria and other places.  Philipe is a retired pastor from the Alsace region.  He speaks Alsacian, French, German, and Greek.  His wife, Evodia, is from Greece.  Over the past few weeks she has shared with me about the customs in Alsace and Greece during Easter.  She dyed some eggs to be the center piece of the table during our Easter lunch.  During the lunch people can choose an egg, then turn to the person sitting next to them and crack their eggs together, to see which person’s egg cracks first.  Evodia also has an Easter egg tree set up in her living room.  Many families in Alsace follow this tradition in their homes and even out in their yards.  It was such a blessing to share this holiday with Evodia and her family.

 

 

Prayer Requests

 Please pray for our family as we prepare to head back to Texas for our OFA (formerly known as furlough.)

 

As we spend some time in the states, the work here in Europe will continue.  We are thankful that God has sent workers to the harvest field (Matthew 9:37-38.)  Please pray for Scott, Irene, Marion, Kurt, and Karyn in Strasbourg, France. 

Please pray for Ruben, Miriam, Isabel, Norma, Betty, Mihaela, and Ruben in Spain.

 

Please continue to pray for Sylvie Saint-Alby and part of her family that live in Ivory Coast, Africa.

 

A Day in the Life of the Whitleys

Today the kids had a break from school and we needed to go to the prefecture to pick up their French residence cards and apply for my French driver’s license.  So we hopped on our bikes and headed off to the tram station where we locked up our bikes and got on the tram to ride downtown to the prefecture.  We spent some time in the prefecture taking care of all of the legal matters that go with living in a foreign country; then we walked along the river and found a place for lunch.  Along the way we watched the baby ducklings playing in the water.  After lunch we walked over to Place Kleber to go to the huge bookstore so that I could buy another French book for my French class.  On the way we had delicious ice cream cones.  Next it was time to take the tram back to near our home; where we once again hopped on our bikes and headed for home.  On the way home we saw beautiful swans floating on the river.  The next plan for our day was to hop in the car and drive across the river into Germany to shop for a dog crate for our dog Toby.  When we returned home we decided to go to the Orangerie Park for a little more fun.  The kids played and Toby ran around, until he rolled in stork poop and we had to go home and give him a bath!  The stork is the symbolic bird for the Alsace region of France: a beautiful white bird with black tipped feathers.

Please continue to pray for all of our paperwork for living in France to work out smoothly. 

 

The largest mosque in France is located in Strasbourg.  Please pray that God will open the hearts of people to the possibility of having a personal relationship with Him through Christ.

We are meeting many people from many countries and faith backgrounds; from Russia, Poland, Italy, Guinea, Senegal, Congo, Cameroon, Belgium, Japan, and Morocco.  Please pray for us as we build relationships and as we discuss our personal relationships with the Lord.

Please pray for Sylvie St. Alby.  Sylvie is from Guinea.  She and her ten year old daughter recently moved to Strasbourg.  Sylvie was in the hospital for complications related to her diabetes.

 We appreciate your prayers.

 

More Prayer Requests

• Please pray for Isabel Maria in Albacete, Spain.  

• Please pray for Ruben and Miriam near Cadiz, Spain.  

• Please pray for Fatu and her new baby in Roquetas de Mar, Spain.

• Please pray for Trinity International Church of Strasbourg, France.  Their building is set to be demolished and they are in the process of seeking God’s will for a new meeting place.  Also please pray for the pastor, Karl, who has been ill since arriving in France.

• Please pray for our family as we are getting French residence cards for the children, French drivers licenses for the adults, and getting or renewing French residence cards for the adults.  Please pray that all of these legal issues will work out smoothly.

Prayer Update

Psalms 96:3a - "Declare his glory among the nations..."

-Please pray for Trinity International Church of Strasbourg; one of the churches we are working with here in France as we seek to work together to reach out to the nations.

-Please pray for our language acquisition as we seek to communicate with immigrants from many different nations and unreached people groups.

-Please pray for the immigrant friends that we are meeting from many different countries; such as, Cameroon, Guinea, Senegal, Mauritania, Algeria, Ghana, and Libya.

We also want to include our past Christmas smile box link.  It was our December Banana Boat Update and many were not able to view it when we sent it out via email.  To view our smile box photo book update just click on the link you see here:

http://smilebox.com/play/4d7a6b774d5445774d444e384e7a6b324f4467344e6a593d0d0a&sb=1

Thank you so much for praying for us.

Love,
the Whitleys