Back in Stourbridge

Here I am. Back from traveling europe... and I didn’t travel nearly as much as I had planned. I came back here early for two reasons: Wanting to figure out if it was possible to stay in France for a year, and coming to the realization that traveling just for the sake of traveling is rather empty. Relationship and community is what really makes the world go round, so when I looked at visiting all these different places, all I could see is being a tourist and taking pictures and spending money.
I am kind of missing traveling though... I’ve only been back here for a couple of days and I’m already longing for some new adventure.
After spending a day doing research, I have pretty much concluded that either I stay here and slightly bend the law a bit risking deportation, or I go back home and start from scratch doing it the legal way. Unlike the UK, France doesn’t have a volunteer visa, which really sucks. Wanting to reside in France for a year requires a long stay visa for a non professional. There is a laundry list of requirements and paperwork, and it has to be applied for in person, and in your country of residence. As much as I would love to just stay here and continue on with Bless, I think that doing it the right way is important. Besides, it’s probably not a bad idea to get Franke back to Spokane.
I definitely feel that spending a year with Bless will hold a lot of benefit for me, and I really think that it will open doors to other mission work and hopefully the ability to share my story with others. This trip over here is just the beginning I feel... and that makes me smile. I can’t wait to see what God has in store for the next chapter. I still need lots of prayer, as I still have to make it home (hopefully without breaking down) and I still have to go through the process of getting the visa... which will take a lot of patience, as well as having to fly to San Francisco to present my case to the French consulate. I’m up for it though, cause it really feels like God’s hand is behind it, and if this is where I need to go and what I need to do, then I know that things will fall into place.