I write this from the beautiful Normandy countryside. We are nearly at the end of our second Pursuit School trip to France, working alongside our friends Gerard and Chrissie and the ministry of Bless. We’re visiting with a new group of students who have just finished their Pursuit School year. Our days are filled with time in the Bethanie prayer room, working on Bethanie land, celebrating d’day on Pegasus Bridge and worshipping in a tiny chapel on the Compostela pilgrimage on the grounds of our friends’ campsite.

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Our main focus has been the work of Bethanie and SOS Chai who have been working in the Presqu’ile in Caen for 2 years. Twice a week they serve hot meals and drinks, clothes and toiletries to a group of migrant boys while playing games and forming friendships – and we were able to join in! Many new boys have joined the Presqu’ile from Sudan, Senegal, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Somalia….We converse through our limited French, their limited English, but understand the universal language of smiles and soccer.

We heard these words yesterday,

‘I wake in the morning and hope it’s Wednesday or Sunday’

‘It’s good to serve people, and it’s even better to sit with people’

‘We are a family now.’

And as we enjoyed our family time, we watched this familiar story unfold.

The story of a menacing sky. Overshadowed by a rainbow. Laden with promise.

Over the warehouses. Over the white vans, housing trafficked daughters – candles burning. Over purpose-filled lives created in the image of God. Our new brothers, with their wide smiles and long eyelashes. Their laughter. Their new love for spike ball.  The ones who have walked across the land, the desert and the Alps.

We are blessed.

SOS Chai needs our help to keep going – you can find more information here  

Thank you!

Love, Michelle xo

‘For I was hungry, and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty, and you gave me something to drink…whatever you did for the least of these you did for me.’