Today's summary is provided by juniors
Ty Tarver and
Elisa Kendall
TY TARVER
"In the morning we were awoken to the breathtaking view of the branching French Alps. It was amazing that we had the opportunity to stay at Camp Des Cimes, which we learned meant Camp of the Peaks in English. The sheer size, color, and overall creation that could never be grasped in the photos we captured on our phones was the most spectacular natural view in my life. After our attention was turned onto the other tasks at hand, Lori Bramlett (Coach Bramlett's wife), made the entire group breakfast and then we embarked on our mission for the day, The Festival.
The festival was an hour drive away in the town of Grenoble. On our drive to the town we were again engulfed in the mountain range of the Alps, which included grand waterfalls, snow-capped mountains, and large white cliffs. Once we arrived at the park where the festival was begin held, the guys were ushered off into the business of helping unload and setting up the booths and activity centers for the games, face painting, etc. While we did the heavy lifting, the leaders and women traveling along side us went through another training to be able to help the children at the festival, the best they could. I say the best they could for one reason, the language barrier blocking us from communicating with the French children has made it extremely difficult to be able to fully engage in the activities with the children, but thankfully the activity brought out the universal language of fun and laughter.
The blessing that the festival brought to our group was being able to be immersed in the culture with the children and the ability to bring a smile and joy to the children. As tennis is an individual sport, we rely on ourselves to do our job, but we also rely on our teammates to pull out a team victory. Today was similar to a tennis match for us, spread out across the park, some of us all alone with a challenge in front, some of us paired up and just letting God shine through us and being able to pull out the victory as a whole through the lives of the children we impacted," Tarver said.
ELISA KENDALL
"Today marked the last day of our time in the Alps and Grenoble and this morning we left Camp des Cimes, a resort located in the beautiful French Alps. From there we went to a church service at Alpha Church. We participated in worship and then listened to a sermon, where we had the incredible opportunity to learn about how there is no sacred or preferred language in God's eyes.
The speaker talked about how God speaks to us and guides us no matter what our native tongue may be; with that said, she emphasized the importance of being willing to show the love of Jesus to everyone you meet regardless of whether you speak the same language or not. After the service, we had lunch and were able to get better acquainted with the people around us. Despite the fact that I could only say a few French phrases, I didn't let that stop me from answering questions about myself and talking with them.
Fortunately, we often do not need to say many words to effectively show the love of Christ through our actions. By intentionally listening to them and being patient with them, we reflected how Christ welcomes us into His family with open arms and a caring heart," Kendall added.
