Year Abroad Plans - IFES InterAction

I'm in the mood for blogging today, thought it seemed appropriate though to update again on plans for next year. I can't remember what I've already written about so let me start from the beginning...

I'm studying French and Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) at the moment, I'm just heading towards the end of my second year (thank you God... there were moments, this year especially, when I was wondering if I would get this far..) but as you probably know, language degrees are four years long as you're expected to spend the third one in the country of your second language.. i.e. France pour moi!

Maybe it's me being a chicken about going to another country on my own and trying to actually learn stuff in another language, but I wanted to find something to do with my year abroad that would be worthwhile, as opposed to just enrolling in a french university or getting a work placement or language assistantship. After all, I'm pretty much being funded to go abroad for the year by the government, so why not use that to do a year of mission and serve God, and other Christians with the opportunity I've been given?

More recently too I've realised that, were I not hoping to be serve God "full time" as it were, I'd find it incredibly difficult to leave at all. The group of friends God has blessed me with here is so close, and I guess I've never really had that before... I know it's still going to be hard to leave and I'll miss them LOADS, but I'm still looking forward to going, because I'll be doing something worthwhile, that will hopefully last for eternity.

Having said all this... it;s not definite that I will be doing what I've applied for yet. In fact, I've only just about 10 minutes ago, ran down to the post box at the end of our road to post it. It's taken several months for me to get down to finishing it, and some of the questions were pretty intense...

I should probably explain what it is I'm even talking about really. So basically I've applied to work with IFES (the International Fellowship of Evangelical Students) which is the umbrella organisation of all the Christian Union movements around the world, like UCCF, to be on one of the InterAction teams in France, working with their national movement the GBU (Groupes Bibliques Universitaires).

What is an InterAction team?

"Our goal is to see a vibrant student ministry in every nation. A ministry that’s effective in making disciples who express their faith in every aspect of life.

Teams play a strategic role towards this goal by supporting existing student initiatives and helping pioneer new ones."

Whereabouts in France do you want to go?

Nice! It's on the south coast. :) Although there are also teams in Paris and Brussels (Belgium) that would also be possibilities. :)

I've loved being involved with the Christian Union here at UCLan, and I'm really excited about the possibility of working with other groups in France where the work is so different to here. When I went to Moldova last summer with UCCF I got a real taste of how the 'IFES family' and I guess the whole church, is really one united body of Christ, just seeking to proclaim his Gospel, the same one, all around the world.

Of course, I don't know whether or not I will be doing this yet, a lot of things seem to have come together for it to happen so far... but I guess I won't know for sure if that's what God wants for me really until I get there! In the meantime, I guess it's just a matter of waiting for a reply from IFES to see about maybe having an Interview if they still have spaces on the team, and if they think I'm suitable.

Please pray with me about this, that I guess if it's in God's will that everything will go ahead smoothly, and that then I will find the funding to go that I will need apart from my loan. And just that I will have the right motives for going and that God will be glorified in it all.

Thanks! If you want anymore information about:

IFES - www.ifesworld.org
InterAction - www.ifesinteraction.org