Sunday, July 12

RETURN TRIP AND RANDOM PICTURES

Today, Sunday, we flew out of Brussels into Chicago. Then from Chicago to Des Moines. We had a great trip, but it's great to be home.

Here are some random pictures from our trip.

Farewell! Au revoir!!

Saturday, July 11

Our last day in France saw us spending time with Gary & Kate DeGraaf and Bruno & Aurelie Rizza. We had a great picnic at a local park.

Greg definitely enjoyed being with the DeGraaf children as these pictures show!

In the afternoon, Bruno and Aurelie took us to meet their pastor, Alain, at his home.

Good night from France! Tomorrow we get up early to drive to Brussels to catch our plane. We love you!

Friday, July 10

Today, Friday, was a day of sight-seeing with Bruno. He took us to the sea coast in France along la Manche (or as the Brits call it, the English Channel). We first stopped at La Coupole, a Second World War bunker complex. It was built by the forces of Nazi Germany between 1943 and 1944 to serve as a launch base for the V2 rockets directed at London and southern England.

In the museum we got to see a 3-D presentation of D-Day. It was very well done. Bruno got a kick out of seeing Greg and I in the glasses with the headphones. He thinks we are Stevie Wonder look-a-likes.

After the museum we went into nearby St. Omer, a beautiful city.

There we visited an old Catholic church.

We then drove up the coastline.

The countryside was beautiful here.

When we got back we were treated to a fine meal at the home of Bruno and Carine, Bruno and Aurelie's friends.

One more day (Saturday) left to go here in France before we go back home.

Thursday, July 9

Thursday in France - the Grace Guys went to a big plaza near the downtown Lille train stations for a barbecue. But Bruno let us do a little sight-seeing along the way. This is a large plaza where a lot of postcards of Lille get their pictures from.

We also were privileged to stop in to Aurelie's workplace for a few minutes. She met us in her company's courtyard,

We finally made it to the place for the barbecue near the railway stations and a large mall (called Centre Euralille).

People lined up to enjoy a barbecue meal at no cost to them. Many from the team of Christians interacted with them, sharing the gospel and about their churches.

After the barbecue was all over, we went with Gary to do a little more sight-seeing.

Afterward the three of us went to a restaurant where we all ordered crepes.

Good night from France!

Wednesday, July 8

Today was the kids fun fair in Hem. After breakfast at the hotel, Greg and Mark rode with Gary to the center of town where we helped set up the games. It rained off and on, but we kept on through the day.

Here, Mark is with Christophe, the pastor of the church where Gary also serves. He and his wife, Kathryn, graciously had us over for lunch at their home.

A big hit with the kids was a human Foosball game.

And, of course, this year's kids fair had the African Storyteller, a big hit with all.

Before supper we got the chance to meet a member of Gary's church. He is Moroccan and owns and runs a store with groceries and other goods.

Tuesday, July 7

While waiting for Gary to pick us up this morning, we took the time to snap a picture of our hotel for these five nights (Sunday thru Friday morning).

This morning we finished up our painting job at the FEU. Bruno easily gets the award today for the hardest worker (or was it the award for the best acting job?).

In the afternoon we again met up with some of the Bouge ta Metropole youngsters. This time we gathered in Lille and removed weeds from several streets near the city hall. We met at this 150+ year old building, where they passed out hoes and garbage bags and brooms. 

After getting our instructions, we hit the streets.

The big excitement of the afternoon was when a local TV station came to report on what we were doing. They interviewed several of our group.

Of course, Greg charmed the reporter with his humor.

When the project was over, the leader of the city hall invited us upstairs for refreshments.

Tomorrow we head to Hem for a kids fair.