First of all, you’ll have to indulge us a little back-tracking. We burned the midnight oil last night and got another job done after we sent you a summary of our day – we stamped 1,000 French John/Romans with the names of Mr. Dodeler’s two churches. Mr. Dodeler thought we were crazy to try to finish them all in one night, but we got quite a system going and had them all done and repacked in their boxes (sorted by church) by 11 p.m. or so. We thought you’d like to know it’s been confirmed (since we did indeed finish) that we are NOT crazy!

Today, the 14 of us went to Paris with Mr. Dodeler. One of the two main sites we were able to visit was Notre Dame Cathedral. I wish I could properly convey to you the mix of awe and sadness we felt there. Awe because of the vast beauty of the building and sadness because it represents confusion about salvation for millions of people. Mr. Dodeler talked to us more today about Catholicism and the influence it has had on France for hundreds of years. Inside, people paid to burn countless candles, vainly praying to change the fate of their dead loved ones. Others waited in line to say confession to priests who still work at the cathedral (Look for the priest behind the frosted glass in the picture). Praise the Lord He can bring people like Mr. Dodeler (not to mention many members of our church!) out of that confusion and into the clarity of the Gospel: Christ died for us. If we confess our sin and accept His forgiveness, salvation and eternal life are ours. No candles. No penance. No works. Outside the cathedral, we saw several people practicing Falun Gong, a sect that originated in China and emphasizes meditation. We were able to give them a tract and we saw at least two of them reading it.

Also, some of us were able to give out about 50 tracts in the park area beneath the Eiffel Tower. Many of the people at both Notre Dame and the Eiffel tower were tourists and not French, but we gave out our French-language tracts as we could.

The Eiffel Tower gave us an amazing view, to say the least. We went to the third floor but don't let the sound of that deceive you: the third floor is that little box you see at the top. Mr. Dodeler said the city and its suburbs have about 11 million people. From about 1,000 feet in the air, it seems you can see the home or workplace for every one of them. The elevator ride up was unsettling, but once on top, most of us relaxed and were able to take a look at Paris.

Tomorrow, we’ll have a work day around the Institute. And tomorrow night we’ll be part of the mid-week service at the church in Vernon. We’ll sing again and Pastor Dave will preach.