France & Scotland

If you get my newsletter, you saw teasers about our trip. Now here’s the full story!

Back in March, we were talking with our friends the DeMuths about the possibility of going to visit a ministry in southern France. They know the couple who have been working there for the past 20 years. We met them several years ago and have been supporting them ever since. I’ve never been on a mission trip—first, because I’ve never felt the nudge of the Holy Spirit to go, and second, because my anxiety would be through the roof for so many reasons, and I haven’t wanted to be that person who can’t do what they came to do. But France? And a ministry run by people I feel I know a little bit? Still anxiety, but much more manageable.

As we began to plan the trip, we had a wild idea to go to Scotland together afterwards for vacation! They had never been. We wanted to go back. We would already be over there. It seemed like a great idea!

So tickets were bought and excursions planned.

Then the surprises started.

First, we asked a third couple from our church to go with us to France. We wanted to evaluate the possibility of sending short-term teams to help the mission in France. They said yes, so we added them to the France portion.

from back to front: Jeff, me, Tara and Brad Kirk, Mary and Patrick DeMuth, Nicole Derieux on Saint-Honorat Island, where the Lerins Abbey is located.

Then we discovered that another couple, friends with both the DeMuths and us, would be in Scotland at the same time we would. They booked onto our one-day excursion out of Edinburgh.

Phyllis Yount, me, and Mary DeMuth somewhere in the Scottish countryside!

Then my sister and brother-in-law realized they had a work trip that would put them in the UK around the same time, so they jumped into a spot on our one-day excursion out of Glasgow and planned to stay the following day, too.

Billy and Dawn Ray, Jeff and me, Mary and Patrick at Glencoe.

Finally, departure day arrived. After a ridiculous delay in Dallas, a missed flight in Nice, and being told we wouldn’t get to France until almost midnight (on the day we had meant to get there at noon), the four of us traveling together made the mid-afternoon flight even though we were on the standby list!

We made it! Our Airbnb looked out over the countryside, all the way to the Mediterranean Sea!

One view from Villa Parfums, our Airbnb.

What we didn’t know when we planned the trip was that a renovation ten years in the making would have just begun on their ministry building. It was lovely in that we got to see the progress and pray over the new space with them. It was sad that we didn’t get to see their work in action. But all in all, it was great to spend so much time with Nicole and Vincent—loving on them, encouraging them, getting to know them better, and hearing all that the Lord has put on their hearts. We had three wonderful days with them. They introduced us to their city and region. The history. The food. And the spiritual darkness.

I would definitely like to go back at some point and help out. We’ll see what the Lord has ahead!

After our days in France, we said goodbye to the other couple from church and jetted off to Edinburgh. We loved introducing our friends to one of our favorite cities in the world. We also got to do a tour of Perthshire, including Blair Castle. Edinburgh Castle, Holyrood Palace, and St. Giles’ Cathedral were a must. Then we caught the train to Glasgow.

From Glasgow, we did a Loch Lomand/Oban/Glencoe tour. The next day, we had tea, then we visited the Glasgow Cathedral and the Necropolis before a lovely dinner with a young friend who is in graduate school at the University of Glasgow. She showed us around her campus, which was stunning.