Belgium waffles, Belgium Frites, Belgium Generation

40 We have a new team member that I would like to introduce: Anja Arnold. She is from Rachel's favorite place, Seattle, Washington! Anja joined us and a couple of days later we were off for Belgium!

We went as a team of 9 adults and 3 children expectant for God to move among us on behalf of Belgium. What a great weapon we are when we put ourselves in the hands of God and desire to be used for the advancement of the kingdom.

There were 2 main events for our trip to Belgium. Our first ministry opportunity was a worship gathering at Timo's shop in Mons. Though people only found out 3 days in advance, 40 people were hungry for Gods presence and came out to meet with Him. Marie and some of her family came out for the night and we saw Gods light transform Marie's brother. He came in broken and hungry and left with a huge grin on his face, shining with the light of Jesus!



Sunday we met up with a team from Shady Grove and enjoyed partnering with great friends with one heart and one calling for Europe. The Shady Grove team was holding a workshop titled “Heart of Worship” and had a great turn out (I didn’t have a seat!). It was a powerful time as Zach, Nathan and John all tag teamed the basics of worship, adoring God and pouring out what He has given us. Many of the young people responded and both teams ministered and prayed to those who sought the Lord.

Monday we went back out for the last day of the youth conference and during the 2 hour van ride, we stirred each other by reading the Psalms and praying for a greater heart for Belgium. The Gateways team ran the worship workshop and each took responsibility to hear from the Lord and pour out over the young people gathered.

Rachel had a revelation of God creating us for worship as He walked with Adam and Eve in the garden. Even after Adam sinned God was still calling his name. So many young people raised their hands who had not encountered Jesus, face to face and we prayed for these life moving encounters. This has been a powerful revelation for our team to share with young people. No matter where we've been or what we're doing, God is still calling us!

That night both Shady Grove and Gateways led worship, a mingling of anointings. Before the service we had a time of prayer over the Shady Grove team and blessed Gods call for them in this part of the world. This was the last night for the conference and we gave it our all. Adam McCain was the speaker for the conference and during worship he released the faith for healing in the room. He challenged the youth to pray for the sick and many miracles took place. Hanah and Anja saw a woman who had helped our group during meal times limping and prayed for her ankle. The Lord touched her and healed a 20 year old injury!


God used both teams to really challenge this generation to make a choice. I felt a special blessing from the Lord as He brought me all the way to Europe with both my family from church in Dallas and my family from the community in Cyprus! He's such a good God.

Play time


We had an afternoon of free time to enjoy the city of Mons, the cool weather, the good food and Belgium culture.

There were many stands with hot Belgium waffles to choose from! I got mine with chocolate on top. It reminds me of the crepe stands in France but both of these delicious and unique treats are full of carbs. Its a good thing we do a lot of walking in Europe.

The team also enjoyed shopping at H&M and taking many photo ops throughout the town square.

The next stop was Belgium Frites:


Yes, until I went to Belgium I thought calling french fries was because they were from France. Well, I was proved wrong! The group enjoyed 4 out of 12 dipping sauces and I think we ate like 6 baskets of Frites. Hehe. They are fluffy and delicious!

Now we are back in France and I am working off the extra pounds from Belgium. Next up: Valence team shares, Lieil's bday at MacDo and ministering at a youth camp in Geneva.


Love, Xaundelle

what does love taste like?

For our first meal cooked in our industrial kitchen (on loan), we made a classic Haute-Savoie (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haute_Savoie) meal called tartiflette. How appropriate since we are based in the Savoie region and have Remi (no, not the star of Ratatouille) on our team who was schooled in this region at one of the best culinary schools in France.

As his sous chefs, Xaundelle and I learned his ways, studying carefully so we could replicate this dish in the future. You never know when that perfect opportunity will come about when you have to pull a perfect tartiflette out of your sleeve! It is a delicious comfort food that does a heart good after a hard days work. The substance of the dish is potatoes and onions which are mixed in a white wine and cream sauce that are then covered with halved Reblochon rounds and baked until bubbly and crisp. We served it with a green salad and dijon mustard vinaigrette. We made ours sans bacon to keep it kosher.

Warning: Careful ladies, avoid seconds if you are watching your calories!

Recipe:
Peel and chop about 1 kilo potatoes into large chunks. Parboil them for 5-7 minutes. Drain the potatoes and put in a bowl. In the meantime, peel and thinly slice 2 large onions. Sauté onions in butter. When onions soften, pour white wine in until the onions are just covered. Drown this mixture in cream. Bring this just to a boil and remove from the heat. Stir the onion mixture into the potatoes. Add about 2 cups grated gruyere (or emmental) cheese. Add salt and pepper to taste. Put potato and onion mixture into the bottom of a casserole dish. Half a large Reblochon round in, width wise. Put the Reblochon face down on top of the potatoes. Bake in a hot oven (400 F, 200 C) for about 45 min or until Reblochon is melted and potatoes are golden brown. Serve lava hot. Feeds about 4-6 people.

For shabbat, we gathered at Timo and Marian’s house in Mons. We made roasted chickens and vegetables, mashed potatoes and a salad with beets, chevre and caramelized pecans tossed in a garlicky honey balsamic vinaigrette. For dessert, Rebekah made her famous berry pavlova. In the words of Timo, “If love had a taste, it would be pavlova.” I couldn’t think of a better way to put it myself. It was a fabulous meal made perfect with good friends and delicious wine.

Pavlova recipe:

Preheat oven to 250 F/130 C. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Beat 4 large egg whites with a mixer until they hold soft peaks. Start adding 1 cup sugar very gradually (about 1 TB at a time) until egg whites hold stiff peaks. Add 1 tsp white vinegar and 2 tsp corn starch and mix in by hand gently.

Spread the meringue into the middle of the baking sheet, making a 7 inch circle. Make sure the edges of the meringue are slightly higher than the middle of it. Bake the meringue for about 1 hour 15 min or until crisp on the outside. Meringue should be like marshmallow inside. Turn oven off and leave the meringue inside the oven to cool down. Pull meringue out after about 20 min and let cool completely. Once meringue is room temperature, add unsweetened whipped cream and fresh berries on top. Shave some dark chocolate onto the top, cut up and serve! Feeds about 6-8 people depending on portions.

Tip: If you're like me, you try and decrease the sugar in almost every recipe but this won't work for pavlova! You have to add as much sugar as the recipe calls for to obtain the perfect crispy on the outside, marshmallowy on the inside meringue.

Until next time, Serah

Prayer on the Saleve (pictures!)

We live on the "petite saleve" and went up to the "grand saleve" to pray over Geneva and the area we are living in. The Lord gave us a vision, word and direction to declare over the land.



There is always time for those photo ops for our newsletters. Especially for the kiddos.

In the background is Mont Blanc. Its the highest peak in Europe. Its that snowy top below.

Hanah gave me a ballet lesson in the fields of the Grand Saleve.

A little trivia...which sunglasses are mine? HAHA

I hope you enjoyed this photo blog. Don't forget to give us love (aka comments).

<3>

Ecole de Louange

by Xaundelle

On Saturday, the team gathered with Ecole de Louange (School of Worship) in Geneva. It was a powerful time of worship, prayer and teaching. Matt taught from the beginning of man and women walking in the garden with God to the end promise of all nations around the throne of God. Matt shared about the importance of understanding the priestly order of worship from the old covenant to becoming priests under our High Priest, Yeshua.

1Peter 2:9
But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.

Matt shared 4 principles of worship (noted in bold). These were establishing an altar (Psalm 51) that will then hold the costly, pure sacrifice which we are instructed to offer at morning and twilight (Exodus 29:38-45. The fire of God falls on the sacrifice as a sign of acceptance of the offering which ultimately releases the sweet fragrance of the Lord. The fragrance pours out the favor of God like the royal favor upon Esther.

Today we enter the presence of the Lord through Jesus, who is our perfect lamb that was slain so all may enter into the Holy of Holies. Practically we give up an offering, first through a contrite heart that we may offer up pure worship (Hebrews 13:15-16) and our bodies as a living sacrifice (Romans 12:1).

Psalms 51:17
The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.

Fromage, fromage, fromage!!

span style="font-size:100%;">For an amateur foodie like myself, the thought of grocery shopping for 20 people is thrilling. And going shopping in a French grocery store is just pure bliss. I have done a fair amount of food shopping in about 30 different countries and nothing can compare to what you find in France.

We all know that the French take their food seriously so imagine all the finest ingredients needed for gourmet food all found under the same roof. It’s truly a must for any epicurean. There are 5 aisles of fine wine, 2 whole aisles of yogurt and mousse, 2 aisles of fromage (not including the gourmet cheese deli!) and baguettes as far as the eye can see.


(we'll have eaten approximately this much bread by the end of the 40 days)

Dare I mention the perfect Whole Foods-esque produce department or the rare spices or the aisle with about 100 different choices of fresh already made for you pie crusts? For my shopping partner, Xaundelle, there is even an aisle with fresh vegetarian & soy choices. Sure, we are shopping on a shoe-string budget, but we make the most of it and have a blast a couple times a week.

I was so embarrassed to take these pictures (as we got a lot of weird looks-can anyone say tres americain?) but we just had to share with you!


For erev shabbat, we went as a team to a Cambodian-Thai-Vietnamese-Chinese restaurant. My in laws befriended the Camobidian owner and he agreed to give us a great meal for a reasonable price. We all started with a delicious Vietnamese soup (“pho”) and then had three choices of chicken, fish and lamb for our main meal.



It was a special treat for all of us and we are praying for the salvation of the owner. Here is a picture of the soup we ate. Imagine spicy broth laced with a sweet asian sauce, basil and rice noodles topped with medium rare beef. Nothing like a big bowl of pho to warm up any winter day.