The Saldi family has been in France for almost one week. It was about a week ago at this time that we loaded up in a United airplane and found our way to Europe and soon after to France. This week has been incredibly long. My (Greg) head is still swimming somewhat and we are all adjusting to our new home. We’ve been to the grocery store next to our house (Carrefour) a few times, had a few glasses of wine and cake with our neighbors and ventured into downtown Albertville a few times but the work and learning has still really yet to begin. This week we had our placement exams, which we placed about where we thought we would and begin school in earnest beginning tomorrow morning. Ophelia has spent two days in the nursery and has done very well. School for her starts at 8:30 every day while we start at 8.45. The days will be long and fairly intense (5 hours of only language classes is something I’ve never done). There is also something very disarming about not really knowing how to say anything to anyone. Really, Nikki and I have to keep ourselves accountable by going out to places where we will need to use our language to really get things done. It will be a task but the ultimate priority is language learning (even in small bits and chunks) to clearly communicate what God would like us to in France. Rather than giving a long devotional thought or any deep theological writing (which I’m not sure I ever do) I thought it would be better just to answer some basic questions here and perhaps if you have any more questions just comment and we’ll do our best to answer! –We live about a 15 minute walk from the school. It is quite chilly in the mornings but so far we have managed just fine. While the mountains around us are mostly snow covered, all the snow on the ground here fell before we arrived. –We have a 3rd floor apartment that is shared with a few other people from the school. Maria, the schools bookkeeper lives on the second floor with her family and a Norwegian couple live on the first. –We have yet to go out to eat in town yet. Instead we buy food at the grocery and cook in the house. So far this has worked quite well but we are looking forward to eating in and around the town. –Albertville is quite a busy town. There are cars, busses and trains almost always moving around. By no means is it a metropolis but there is quite a bit of life in the streets. –Language learning will be taught by French faculty here at the school. For the most part none of the faculty speaks English so the learning curve is steep but necessary. –There are many different types of missionaries at the school. Their purpose ranges from medical missions to engineering missions to church planting or language teaching missions. The background of the group is far and wide. It is a blessing to be around people who come from different backgrounds. –We were able to attend church at the Evangelical church in Albertville this past Sunday. Nikki sat in the service while I took Ophelia to her class. The class was all in French (except for a language student who thoughtfully translated for the new children). We have great faith in the people and teaching at the church here.
If you have any questions feel free to leave a comment and we’ll try to answer them all! — Last year about this time we were blessed with some generous gifts that really set the tone for our year of fundraising. Perhaps some of you gave those special gifts that truly helped launch this ministry that is totally supported through donors like you. If you feel that this ministry is again worth those gifts or would like to give for the first time toward our ministry, any gift is tax deductible and an extreme blessing to us! You all mean so much to us! Thank you for your prayers and thoughts. To give click ‘financial partners’ at the top of the page and ‘donate’ at the bottom of that page.
Also, thank you for your prayers for France. The attack in Paris today is just another indication of our lost and broken world.
