Missions Around the World
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Dear Dixie, Ludmilla is a high profile lawyer specialized in family law. When we first met her many years ago through mutual friends her life seemed pretty perfect, enviable really : fabulously successful career, two beautiful daughters, a luxurious home, exotic family vacations and close extended family. From my vantage point, Ludmilla had it made. But two years ago the bottom devastatingly fell out of Ludmilla's world when she shockingly discovered that her husband of more than 20 years had had not one, but numerous affairs over many years. As you can imagine, their marriage disintegrated overnight. Thanks to her career, Ludmilla was fortunate to be in a comfortable financial position, and wasted no time in getting out of her toxic marriage. She was so desperate to get away from her cheating husband that she even left behind the beautiful home that she had lovingly created for her family - her husband wanted to keep it, and not wanting to fight, they quickly agreed on a settlement and she bought an apartment near us, near town. She now shares custody of her two teenage daughters and last year she crossed the threshold of her fifties as a single Mom. It has been devastating, but also humbling and beautiful to see the transformation in Ludmilla despite this truly heartbreaking experience. Having always maintained a certain polite distance, the walls crumbled as she couldn't hold back her tears whenever we got together and she began sharing her story. Then about six months ago, she asked me for a Bible to read with her daughters, who were struggling with anger and lack of forgiveness towards their father. Ludmilla had never read scripture before, and didn't know where to begin, but she wondered if it would be helpful for her and for her daughters! I gave her a copy of The Jesus Storybook Bible by Sally Lloyd Jones in French as I thought that she and her girls would enjoy it together, and explained that it gives a fabulous overview of God's commitment to bringing salvation and healing to the world, and that Jesus has a lot to say about forgiveness and relationships! Part of Ludmilla's journey of healing has been making a commitment to serving the children of Parfums de Vie. After admiring the work of Parfums de Vie over the years and showing an interest from afar (we have many French friends in this category) Ludmilla decided to make some more changes in her life, and since September she has faithfully committed to helping one or two hours every week to serve the kids at our Parfums de Vie Homework Club. When difficult things happen in our lives we sometimes feel so emptied, with nothing left to give. Just keeping going and trying to continue with our responsibilities can feel overwhelming. The thought of doing more can seem impossible and maybe even sometimes, we feel so hurt that we can't even bear to be with other people. These are all parts of the stages of grief, but we don't want to get stuck there. I am truly encouraged to see Ludmilla learning to move through her devastating experiences and to discover the truth in Jesus' teaching - that serving others brings so much joy, it nourishes our soul, bringing a greater sense of purpose and even healing. Ludmilla tells me every week how much she looks forward to coming to Parfums de Vie, how she prepares for her time, sometimes even bringing cool treats and gifts for the kids, and that every week, making sure she finds space in her crazy schedule, has become a non-negotiable in her life! Over the past five months, it has been beautiful to watch Ludmilla get involved at Parfums de Vie, and especially to see a unique bond grow between her and 10 year old Fatma. Fatma, from a deprived Muslim family, is now in 5th grade, she is extremely intelligent, hard-working and has a LOT of potential. Fatma, like most of the kids at Parfums de Vie, doesn't encounter many women like Ludmilla, who is so different from the women in her family - who are veiled, uneducated and stay at home. Recently Ludmilla invited Fatma to visit her at her office, because she wanted to inspire Fatma! It was a delight to accompany Fatma, and to glimpse more of the impact that this unlikely friendship is having on BOTH of them. Ludmilla is drawn to Fatma's hunger to learn and feels compelled to help, encourage and contribute to her life. It's exciting to see this special connection blossom. Even Fatma's parents are truly thankful and amazed for this incredible opportunity that has unexpectedly fallen into their daughter's life! Fatma's Mom Kamar went out of her way to come and meet and thank Ludmilla, despite her shyness and struggles with the French language. We don't know what the future holds for Fatma, but we all regularly encourage her that if she continues to work hard at school, she has the potential to accomplish amazing things! So, what happens when a prestigious French lawyer and a disadvantaged Muslim kid become friends? I can see already, without a shadow of doubt, that BOTH of their lives are being impacted and transformed! I have a feeling in my heart that this is just the beginning of something special, and I am so encouraged that Parfums de Vie provides a safe place for healing for people from all walks of life. Will you pray with us for Ludmilla and Fatma? with love and profound gratitude, Nicole & Vincent parfumsdevie.com ***We continue to raise support for our General Ministry Fund which covers the operative costs of running our Education & Literacy Center, Kids Clubs, Youth Groups and Camps. We have camps planned for February, July and October 2023. We are also still raising support to cover Tuition and Living Expenses for our four College Students, hopefully five starting in September 2023. If you would like to support the ministry through regular or one-time giving, all the information is below. Please don't hesitate to contact me for more information! Thank you so much!***
*****Please remember to specify if your gift is for: Parfums de Vie Côte d'Azur Project #70350 OR the DERIEUX family #40415***** If you would SPECIFICALLY like to help our College Students - please designate the gift to Parfums de Vie with a note specifying "University Scholarship Fund" Phone: 888-242-5930You can make donations over the phone if you prefer. Lynette in the office is amazing and super helpful. Stock donations are also possible, ask Lynette for more details! Post: PLEASE NOTE NEW ADDRESS Communitas International PO Box 60543 City of Industry, CA 91716-0543 USA Email: [email protected] You can email the Communitas office for any enquiries about setting up donations. Vincent and I wish you much love and joy for the New Year! May God give us the capacity to SEE all of the ways that HE is at work in us, through us and around us, despite the many struggles we face...
I wanted to give you a little update from our year-end Christmas Camp! A group of our College students and older High School students joined us in the mountains for an intentional time of discipleship and teaching. A perfect mix of outdoor adventure, joy, reflection, scripture, serious conversation and life together. If you haven't seen it yet, the TV series about Jesus' life "The Chosen" was my personal highlight of our camp! Everyone thoroughly enjoyed watching season 1 and it provided all of us with inspiration and a fresh view of the many new testament stories that we know so well. I highly recommend it! Mahdi, who studies Chemical Engineering at La Sapienza in Rome, one of Italy's most prestigious universities, turned 19 and we celebrated his birthday together at camp. Unlike the majority of the kids we work with, Mahdi did not grow up in Grasse, his family lives in Toulon, a town on the coast about 2 hours away. He and Laith became friends in the dorms in High School, and Laith started bringing Mahdi home to Grasse for the weekends, because it was too far and too expensive for Mahdi to visit his family regularly on the weekends, so when he didn't come home to our house, he was stuck alone in the dorms at school for the weekend. So four years ago, Mahdi began regularly spending time with our family and Parfums de Vie. Mahdi comes from a traditional Muslim family and has two older sisters. As a child and younger teen he was sent to a very strict Koranic school in Morocco, North Africa every summer, where he was forced to memorize the Koran and was beaten for any mistakes. By the time Mahdi and Laith met in High School, the years of religious oppression and abuse had caused Mahdi to lose all faith and interest in pursuing God. However his ideas were turned upside down by his friendship with Laith, who openly expressed his love of God, and yet was free from the religiosity of Islam. Mahdi was intrigued by Laith's faith which appeared to bring freedom rather than oppression! He began asking questions, reading scripture for himself and expressing a hunger for more, he has been pursuing Christ ever since! Mahdi's parents are now divorced but still live under the same roof (for economic reasons) in their tiny apartment in a tower block on a housing project in Toulon. Ever since Mahdi left home in 10th grade to begin his scholarship at the CIV, whenever he goes home to visit, there is never any family time together - no family meals, no games nights or family movie night. Food is scarce, the atmosphere is tense and everyone is isolated, there is no communion, no sense of belonging or community or purpose, each person in their own corners on their phones. Mahdi told me this week that being with our family and with Parfums de Vie has changed his life because he has tasted and seen a different way of doing life, a different way of being family and that this is what he wants for his life: to eventually create a home of his own where there is purpose, belonging, faith and healing. He told me that having something to look forward to for the Christmas holidays this year made all the difference for him during his term at university - compared to last year when he didn't come home and spent the holidays alone in his room, studying for his exams. I could barely hold back my tears when this smart, articulate, amazing young man told me that this year was the first time EVER that he had looked forward to a vacation - because of Parfums de Vie! And it was the first time ever that he had celebrated Christmas! Mahdi's story, one way or another, is the story of all of the children and teens we work with. A story of dysfunction, neglect, abuse and poverty, mixed up in the religiosity of Islam. Mahdi's words remind me of the importance of this work and the eternal impact. Kids and young people need to experience something different from their home lives so that they can begin to imagine something new. Mahdi knows that family life characterized by health, grace and faith is possible, because of his experiences over the years in our home. The simplicity of including him in our lives and welcoming him to Parfums de Vie began his journey of following Jesus. Now he has hopes and dreams that are filled with purpose, vision and faith. Will you pray for Mahdi as he prepares for his exams and returns to Rome on January 12th? Please also pray for Vincent and me - School is back today and we re-open our ministry center this afternoon and all the daily activities recommence! After our camp and the hard work of having all our College students home for the holidays (everyone is here for one or two more weeks) we honestly begin the New Year tired! Pray for us as we learn to find rest, solitude and renewal in the midst of the daily demands of Parfums de Vie and those we are called to serve. with love and profound gratitude, Nicole & Vincent parfumsdevie.com Dear Dixie,
I don't often ask for a specific prayer request for our son Etienne, but I wonder if you would commit with me and Vincent to praying for him? We have a sense that he is going through a very important transformation during this season. Since August we have been in a lot of deeper, important conversations with him and he has also been working with a professional therapist. It's nothing alarming, but we are conscious of the fact that he has spent his entire life immersed in Parfums de Vie and all that this life God has called us to entails. And it seems that he's ready (turning 15 in January) to go deeper into exploring who he is and what this means as he grows older. As you know, his life has been far from ordinary, and the beauty of his life is that he understands more about serving, sharing and sacrifice than many ever experience. He has told us that he definitely wants to follow Jesus with his life, and we see that he is so open to learning to know and listen to God. But of course, he's 15 and we also see that he is wrestling with how to handle the temptations and peer pressure he faces at school. He's trying to figure out what kind of young man he wants to become - and he's talking about it. We are thankful that this chord of communion between us remains open. We know that our decision to welcome other children into our family has been hard for him. He has shared his room since he was 5 years old, and overnight two older children (and then more, but more temporarily) moved into his physical and emotional space - taking the love, attention and time of his parents. Etienne loves Narjes and Laith (and all the other kids in his life) and he doesn't express any resentment or ill feeling towards them, or towards our decision to adopt them into our family, in fact he is truly thankful to have siblings, and when he talks about some of the hard times, especially in his relationship with Laith, he has a wisdom far beyond his years and a capacity to see the pain that Laith is carrying, having been abandoned, neglected and abused. However despite all the positives, we also recognize that this decision, which has been a massive blessing for Narjes and Laith, has not come without a cost to Etienne, and we see that it needs to be processed, expressed, understood, worked out. So while we have of course done our best to be attentive, wise and loving parents to Etienne throughout his life, helping him to adjust and understand our unconventional lifestyle and choices, we also know that we haven't always got it all right. Vincent and I are praying for wisdom as we parent and disciple Etienne in this teenage season as we all deepen our understanding of who we are, what our family looks like, what God is calling us to and how we manage all of that. How we continue to welcome others and also take care of each other. Etienne truly has a beautiful and gentle heart and we are praying that as we continue to shepherd and guide him in this new season towards maturity and deeper understanding, that all of the unique experiences he has had through our ministry and our family will truly shape him as a young man of vision, compassion and faith. Will you pray for all of us? God has our family on a unique path and we trust Him as we all continue to grow, heal and become more like Him. May He continue to use all of us for His purposes. By the way, I read this to Etienne before sending it to ask for his permission to share his story and ask for your prayers. He said yes, of course! with love, Nicole & Vincent parfumsdevie.com Dear Dixie, Last week Vincent attended a meeting at the local school with 11 year old Maram. Due to the violent abuse Maram's mother endured when pregnant with Maram, the dear child was born with a brain injury and continues to struggle with ongoing medical and cognitive issues. Despite her beautiful spirit, her determination and hard work, she has reached a point where she can no longer keep up with her peers in a normal school, and so starting in September 2023, in 6th grade, she will go to a special school for kids with disabilities. The meeting was important, arranged by her teacher and the Principal of her Elementary School to introduce Maram to the Principal of the new special school and to talk about her transition. Maram's mom was of course unavailable to attend the meeting (and no-one knows if the father is even alive), and so at Maram's request, Vincent attended the meeting with her. At the meeting Vincent was shocked to discover that for several years, Maram has been telling her teachers at school absolutely EVERYTHING about me, Vincent, our personal lives, Parfums de Vie, our camps, everything - that she reads the Bible with us, that she prays to Jesus, how much she loves us, belonging to Parfums de Vie, coming to our home etc. So for the first half of the meeting the two principals and Maram's teacher were just so curious to talk to Vincent and questioned him intensely to learn more about who we are, what is Parfums de Vie and why we do this work! We have worked with Maram every day since 2015 when she was 4 years old. She's a dear sweet child, who has managed to master reading, writing and math (currently at 3rd grade level) despite her learning difficulties. However, she has been aware for some time that she can't keep up with her peers academically or physically (her head injury means that she even has to be careful when playing) and this is very hard for her, because although she is a little 'slow' to master skills compared to her peers, she is also intelligent and capable and very much aware of what's going on around her, and she is frustrated by her inability to keep up. In fact if French schools were a little less rigid and more flexible in learning styles, Maram would be more than capable to continue in a 'normal' school setting, she just needs more time to learn. I wanted to share this story because it really reminded me of the immense importance of the work of Parfums de Vie. While I know that Parfums de Vie is a safe haven, where every day we are bringing Christ's life, love, light, hope and healing to so many children, the reality is that it is also just a lot of hard work everyday - being present, being consistent, being patient, showing up, making sure there's food, that the bills get paid, that the government paperwork is correctly filed, that we remember to celebrate everyone's birthdays and that we show up to meetings at kids' schools because if we don't go, no-one else does. So sometimes in the daily struggle of the endless lists of everything that needs to be done, sometimes I forget that for all of the kids we work with, Parfums de Vie is literally their ENTIRE world, it's the most important thing in their lives and it's the reason why they keep showing up every day! God is truly at work! Will you pray for Maram? Her mother is very abusive and neglectful (the two principals were shocked that she didn't even show up to the meeting) and the home environment is very difficult, but we remind Maram every day that God is present, even in all of these struggles, and that she can trust Him today and for her future. When I write to tell you that your love, prayers and generosity is changing lives - this is what I am talking about. An abused, neglected child with a disability feels loved, cared for and important. She wasn't upset or surprised that her Mom didn't attend the meeting - she was proud, happy and confident that Vincent was there for her. Maram is important in God's eyes, and thanks to Parfums de Vie, she knows it. with love & profound gratitude for your partnership with us, Nicole & Vincent parfumsdevie.com How to Give? ***We continue to raise support for our General Ministry Fund which covers the operative costs of running our Education & Literacy Center, Kids Clubs, Youth Groups and Camps. We have camps planned for December 2022 and February 2023. We are also still raising support to cover Tuition and Living Expenses for our four College Students. If you would like to support the ministry through regular or one-time giving, all the information is below. Please don't hesitate to contact me for more information! Thank you so much!***
https://my.simplegive.com/App/Form/73abf99d-e719-4531-ba78-d3535501f7c6
https://my.simplegive.com/App/Form/7e5ba47a-6cd7-425b-b34c-4f706049d71f *****Please remember to specify if your gift is for: Parfums de Vie Côte d'Azur Project #70350 OR the DERIEUX family #40415***** If you would SPECIFICALLY like to help our College Students - please designate the gift to Parfums de Vie with a note specifying "University Scholarship Fund" Phone: 888-242-5930You can make donations over the phone if you prefer. Lynette in the office is amazing and super helpful. Stock donations are also possible, ask Lynette for more details! Post: PLEASE NOTE NEW ADDRESS Communitas International PO Box 60543 City of Industry, CA 91716-0543 USA Email: [email protected] You can email the Communitas office for any enquiries about setting up donations. You may unsubscribe to stop receiving our emails. Dear Dixie, Every year Communitas, our mission organization, has a special Giving Day to help us in our year-end fundraising efforts. This year, Giving Day is on Thursday 20th October! For Giving Day, each year we ask you to pray with us to reach a specific goal. As you know, at Parfums de Vie there is a LOT happening and the NEEDS continue to grow as the number of children and families we are serving continues to grow. In addition, France, like the whole world, is being impacted by significant inflation. Our cleaning products here in France have increased by 40% in the past months, the same is true for many other essential items. We are doing our best to limit expenses, but as you know there are many costs required to keep all of our programs going. We currently have needs in three distinct areas:
Our Parfums de Vie General Fund covers the ongoing operational costs to help ensure the daily running of the ministry, specifically our Homework Club, Youth Group, Kids Club and Camps. This includes any equipment, activities, salaries for teachers & staff, vehicles, rents, ministry center maintenance, insurance, utilities etc. Monthly committed giving does not cover monthly expenses and we are therefore highly dependent on one-time giving which comes predominantly at year-end. Our specific prayer for Giving Day 2022 is to raise $20,000 towards our General Fund needs.
As you know, Parfums de Vie is sponsoring four of our students through University. We are so incredibly proud of Narjes, Laith, Simon and Mahdi and are so encouraged by their growing vision and maturity. We are committed to paying tuition, transport, food and lodgings for all four kids. Our specific prayer for Giving Day 2022 is to raise $20,000 towards the Scholarships Fund.
In addition, we need to replace our big white 7 seater equipment van (see photos). Parfums de Vie purchased this van, second hand, in 2012; it was our first vehicle and it's now almost 20 years old!!!!! We use it every day and it's truly essential for the ministry. Although we have maintained it very well, it has broken down on several occasions in the past couple of years and is no longer reliable. We hope to sell it for $10,000, and the price of a new one is $51,400. Our specific prayer for Giving Day 2022 is to raise $41,400 to secure the purchase of the new van. ANY gift of ANY amount on Giving Day will be such a huge help and blessing for Parfums de Vie! If you would like for your Giving Day gift to be used specifically towards College Scholarships or the New Van, then please put a note with your donation. If more than enough funds are raised for those needs we will use the excess for general Parfums de Vie operations. Alternatively, it is also extremely helpful if you simply make a donation on Giving Day to the Parfums de Vie General Fund - then the funds can be used for Scholarships, the van, camps, homework club etc. With the guidance of our board, we will ensure that the funds are appropriately stewarded towards the specific ministries as needed. If you would like to PLEDGE to give on Giving Day, you can do that TODAY by responding to this email! I will send an update and reminder before Giving Day. We are so thankful for your love, friendship, prayers and generosity! Thanks to your partnership with us, many lives are being changed forever through Parfums de Vie! with love, Nicole & Vincent parfumsdevie.com How to give on GIVING DAY? Online - just click the link https://my.simplegive.com/App/Form/73abf99d-e719-4531-ba78-d3535501f7c6 *****Please include a note saying "Giving Day", or if you would like to SPECIFICALLY designate your gift "College Scholarships" or "New Van"***** Phone: 888-242-5930You can make donations over the phone if you prefer. Lynette in the office is amazing and super helpful. Stock donations are also possible, ask Lynette for more details! Post: PLEASE NOTE NEW ADDRESS Communitas International PO Box 60543 City of Industry, CA 91716-0543 USA Email: [email protected] You can email the Communitas office for any enquiries about setting up donations. *****If you are donating by post or over the phone, please EMAIL us on Giving Day so we can count it toward the total and please remember to specify that your gift is for Parfums de Vie Côte d'Azur Project #70350***** Dear Dixie, As you know, we work with our Parfums de Vie kids everyday. On Wednesdays, the Elementary age kids come all day (from 9am until 4pm) and we have plenty of time, not just for homework, but for games, crafts, food, prayer and time in the Word. One of the games that the kids LOVE is "Just Dance". I'm sure you know this game, basically, they just dance! Anyway, the kids were playing and dancing and having a ball, but Norane (pronounced Noor-anne) all of a sudden stopped dancing and asked Vincent for a Bible. He wondered why, as it wasn't time for the Bible story. She said that she wanted to read it, so he gave her the Sally Lloyd Jones Kids Story Book Bible which we read with them every week. She sat down in a corner all by herself and read for a while - she's in 3rd Grade. Then she came to Vincent and said, "Can I please read the Bible Story today? I have planned the story that I want us to read and talk about!" Of course she was given permission and did a wonderful job reading the story she had chosen, "When Heaven Breaks Through", about John the Baptist - and then this spirited 8 year old initiated a discussion about how John came to tell the people that God was sending Jesus to rescue them! She wanted to encourage everyone to turn to Jesus for help! I wanted to share this story with you because on so many levels it is a beautiful illustration of how God is at work through Parfums de Vie. Not only has Norane become a confident reader (and on track to becoming a great student) but reading the Bible, learning about Jesus and teaching her peers to do the same has become part of Norane's "normal". Norane has two older brothers and her parents are strict Muslims. Her family life and home circumstances aren't easy - that's why Norane loves the stories of Jesus, she is already far too familiar with being in scary places and loves knowing that she can find help from Jesus in the midst of it. She knows He is rescuing her too! Over the many years that we have known this family (since before Norane was born!) their Mother, Amena, has often literally cried in my arms, sharing the hardships of her life and the disappointments of her toxic marriage. Amena is an intelligent woman, but like so many of the Moms we know, she is uneducated and feels sad and frustrated that she didn't have an opportunity to get a High School education and now feels trapped in difficult circumstances. More than anything, she wants her beautiful, creative daughter to succeed! Of course we can't know what God has in store for Norane's life, but we hope and pray that her effervescent curiosity for life and learning will pave the way for her to grow into an influential leader who will in turn, like John the Baptist, impact many others for the Kingdom. Thank you so much for partnering with us and helping to provide a safe space for so many children and teens to grow and learn in the love and presence of Jesus. with love, Nicole and Vincent Dear Dixie,
First of all I want to say a huge thank you - for your prayers, words of encouragement, love and generosity! At the beginning of August I shared, in a bit of a panic, our unexpected discovery that the Communitas payroll taxes to the French government had been overlooked for over a year! The good news is that the outstanding bill has now been paid in full, without any penalties or fines (Praise God!) and everything is now properly set up so that the payments are being made each month. September 1st was "La Rentrée" (Back to School) in France and we have more children and youth than ever who have signed up for the school year to participate in our various programs and activities. All of the kids who have been coming for years are back of course, plus many new kids and families. In fact we have so many children and teens that each of our groups (pre-school, elementary, middle school and high school) are full to capacity and we now have the longest waiting list we have ever had! We still have new families showing up EVERY DAY wanting to sign up their kids! Just yesterday I got a phone call from the mayor's office asking if the city could recommend our organization to kids in need, and we also have local teachers and principals who ask us for help with struggling kids. Having to turn children away is a huge and painful dilemma for us. We are so thankful for this incredible opportunity to openly share the love of Christ with so many children and families - all of them muslim - and yet, the reality is that we are limited because of a lack of adult help! If we take too many children, we cannot properly provide them with the support and care that they need. Each "Rentrée" is heart-breaking, having to figure out how to manage so many children, who all have significant needs, with too small a team. We do have three new volunteers which is a timely answer to prayer, and we also have a new intern, Elena, who will arrive in a month, but despite these wonderful new additions to our team, we still don't have enough staff and volunteers to take all of the children who want to come! Vincent and I are truly in a season of figuring out the future growth of the organisation. Please pray for us as we seek to grow our team with the right people. We need more full-time paid staff, more interns and more volunteers! "When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.” Mathew 9 v 36-38 La Rentrée is also an important time of year for our University students! Please pray for Narjes, Laith, Simon and Mahdi. They have all been home, living with us, for the summer. This has been an important time of discipleship and mentoring for each of them. As you know, they all come from difficult backgrounds and carry some unresolved trauma. Narjes arrived home at the end of April, as she was so incredibly depressed she asked to finish the term at home. She was struggling so much that we realized she needed professional care. She began therapy at the beginning of May and has worked hard on unraveling some of her story and past trauma that has been hindering her from growing into the woman God intends her to be. Honestly, there were times this summer when Vincent and I were unsure if she would be able to return to Scotland, and in the depths of despair, she couldn't imagine herself going back. However, by God's grace, and thanks to her willingness to lean into the pain and the hard work of healing, we have seen an incredible transformation in her! I just got back from a quick trip to Scotland to help her get set up in her new room for this year, and the change in her is truly tangible. She is so excited about being back in Saint Andrews and she kept telling me how different she felt! All of the social anxiety she was struggling with was gone, and I even witnessed her openly sharing with her friends about the healing work that she has done this summer and how much it has helped and changed her! We are so proud of Narjes! Please continue to pray for her as she is now in "Junior Honors Neuroscience" - her 3rd year. This healing journey with Narjes has helped Vincent and me to understand how much ongoing support all of our University students need, if they are going to succeed academically and continue to grow into the healthy leadership that we believe God is calling them to. As Laith, Simon and Mahdi have watched the process with Narjes, they too see their own need to heal some of the burdens they are carrying and have also asked for more intentional help! One of the things we have realized is that our Parfums de Vie kids are truly dealing with so much more than just the normal things that young people from more stable families deal with when they go off to university. I suppose this is why it's so difficult for kids from disadvantaged backgrounds to actually graduate from University, not because they don't have the academic ability, but because they have so much to overcome. We have seen this past year that being in new and challenging circumstances has brought to the surface their unresolved issues. So for this school year, as well as staying connected with them, we are also figuring out how we can provide more intentional discipleship and even professional help when necessary. The encouraging part is that they are all truly so very open to the need to keep growing and learning and healing! Finally, I wanted to share some news about our amazing young Etienne, who is now in 9th Grade - he turns 15 in January!!! He loves school and as well as working hard academically he is also on the school orienteering team and continues with theater, which he loves. He also really loves being involved with all of the Parfums de Vie children and teens and as he grows older, the natural generosity and openness he demonstrated as a young child remains very apparent. I may have previously shared that he wants to board at school, starting next September, just as Laith, Narjes and many of our Parfums de Vie kids have/do. He's watched them all do it and so of course he dreams to do the same thing! He will stay in the same school where he is currently, but will just not come home Monday - Friday. This will actually save him the long commutes and early early mornings and will give him more time to focus on studies. So this school year is his last year at home with us full-time and our prayer is to continue to help him grow in faith, maturity, vision and responsibility - so that he will be ready next year to handle it all without us! with profound gratitude, Nicole & Vincent parfumsdevie.com How to Give? ***We continue to raise support towards Tuition and Living Expenses for our four College Students. We also need additional support for our General Ministry Fund which covers the operative costs of running our Education & Literacy Center, Kids Clubs, Youth Groups and Camps. If you would like to support the ministry through regular or one-time giving, all the information is below. Please don't hesitate to contact me for more information! Thank you so much!***
*****Please remember to specify if your gift is for: Parfums de Vie Côte d'Azur Project #70350 OR the DERIEUX family #40415***** If you would SPECIFICALLY like to help our College Students - please designate the gift to Parfums de Vie with a note specifying "University Scholarship Fund" Phone: 888-242-5930You can make donations over the phone if you prefer. Lynette in the office is amazing and super helpful. Stock donations are also possible, ask Lynette for more details! Post: PLEASE NOTE NEW ADDRESS Communitas International PO Box 60543 City of Industry, CA 91716-0543 USA Email: [email protected] You can email the Communitas office for any enquiries about setting up donations. Dear Dixie,
As you may remember, despite the wealth of incredible church buildings and majestic cathedrals, there are very few church communities here in France. In our town of 100,000 inhabitants, there is one catholic church, a beautiful cathedral in the town centre which dates to the 11th century. On Sunday morning there are usually about 20 - 30 people at mass. There is also a reformed protestant church, a Pentecostal church and a non-denominational evangelical church, each has about 80 - 100 members and approximately 40 - 50 people who worship on a Sunday. There are not many believers in our town!! The protestant pastors occasionally meet together to pray (2 or 3 times each year) and Vincent and I join them when we can. Last month, Christian, the pastor of the reformed protestant church, invited us for a meal to meet the new priest, who is in charge of the greater Grasse parish and recently arrived to his post. Christian encouraged us to bring one or two people from our Parfums de Vie community, so we invited our friends Harry and Marjorie who serve as elders and ministry partners with us. We were invited to the chaplaincy of the Catholic Church where we were warmly welcomed by Father Francis-Regis and also Jean-Claude, one of his lay leaders (whom we all already knew well as he is a retired hairdresser and good friend of Harry, also a hairdresser). It turned out that Father FR is exactly the same age as Vincent (48!) and they went to the same middle school in Orange and High School in Avignon! All of Vincent's schooling was in catholic schools in France. Although they didn't remember each other, they talked about the teachers (all nuns and monks) whom they loved and were deeply impacted by! It was just the 7 of us and a lovely and intimate evening of sharing our stories of faith (Father FR wanted to know all about Parfums de Vie) and he also shared about his childhood, family and his calling to the ministry. He expressed a deeply personal faith in Christ and both he and Christian share a vision for unity and a heart for reaching the youth. The four of us were warmly embraced and deeply encouraged by both Pastor Christian and Father FR. The following day, Christian called me to invite us and our Parfums de Vie youth group to a joint youth event two weeks later! The catholic youth group meets once a month on a Friday evening, and the protestant group meets twice a month. The catholic group are currently working through the youth version of "The Alpha Course" and so we were all invited to participate in their next meeting, which was focused on the topic of "prayer". With our three groups together, there must have been 60 kids! We sat around tables and shared a pot-luck meal together and then had wonderful conversations about prayer. Vincent, Harry, Marjorie and I each sat at different tables and our Parfums kids mixed in with all the other kids. Afterwards we compared notes, and it was very interesting to observe that the kids from both church groups had shared that they didn't have much experience of prayer in a personal sense and that their experience was more in a formal liturgical setting. So they didn't feel sure about prayer, how to do it, if God was listening and very few had personal stories of answered prayer. On the contrary, our Parfums de Vie kids shared that they prayed together regularly as a group and individually every day, that they had a sense of God's presence in their hearts and faith that He was hearing and answering their prayers. The teens from both church groups were from privileged backgrounds with comfortable home lives, and all their parents were regular church goers. Many shared that they only went to youth group or church to keep their parents happy. Again, these stories were in stark contrast to our Parfums de Vie youth, who are from muslim backgrounds, live in very cramped and precarious circumstances, and yet all shared their deep convictions and personal faith in Christ. Vincent, Harry, Marjorie and myself all found this so encouraging to witness! Our Parfums de Vie kids also found this interesting! All of the kids we spoke to were so interested in learning about Parfums de Vie and amazed that we spent time together every day! It was so encouraging for everyone. The pastor and the priest, who had been planning the event for some time, facilitated the table discussions together. The focus of both of them was unity, emphasizing the fact that we all share so much more than what separates us, and that our common faith in Christ was the most important thing, even if we all have different expressions of worship. They asked Vincent to do the closing address, he did an absolutely amazing job, and although we may be slightly biased, Harry, Marjorie and myself all felt that Vincent's words were the true highlight of the evening, because he was able to bring together his own experience of being raised in catholicism, how he found personal faith in Christ, and how God is at work trying to get our attention, in so many ways. He encouraged all of the kids not to ignore the flame of faith in their hearts, and instead to welcome it, cultivate it, pursue it and let it burn all the more brightly. It was perfect for a group of teens who despite their church background were lost and without a personal connection to Jesus. Who knows how God might use those words?! At the end of January, the protestant youth group has invited Parfums de Vie and the Catholic Youth Group to a youth worship service that they are planning at the reformed church! We will be attending with the Parfums teens! I'll let you know how it goes. God is clearly at work in Grasse and we are encouraged to see this beautiful spirit of collaboration and unity from Father FR and Pastor Christian. I've attached a few photos of the joint event - I hope they will inspire you to pray with us for the youth of Grasse, Father FR, Pastor Christian and the work of Parfums de Vie. with love and thankfulness Nicole & Vincent parfumsdevie.com Dear Dixie,
We have just returned from a truly magical and miraculous 9 days of camp with our younger Parfums de Vie kids! As you will see from the photos I've attached, their joy is so tangible - it's amazing and encouraging to see the seeds of faith that are taking root and flourishing in their hearts! Vincent and I are so thankful for your partnership with us: many lives are literally being impacted for eternity thanks to your love and generosity! There were many encouraging highlights for me personally. In particular it was truly wonderful to see our young leaders Walé and Aya (11th Grade) and Mara (10th grade) serving throughout the camp. They did an outstanding job: helping plan activities and teaching content, leading games, Bible studies and discussions and providing such a wonderful example through their love and patience for each of the children. Seeing their growth, motivation, commitment and joy as they serve in a leadership role gives me so much hope and faith for all of the younger kids of Parfums de Vie, and helps me to trust that soon, they too will become leaders for the next generation! At camp, my favorite thing is always the conversations and prayer times that happen spontaneously in the "in between" - the discussions or tears or fears or stories that naturally come up for one reason or another. These precious moments cannot be planned or programmed, they occur while walking, playing or making s'mores around the fire, or washing dishes or at mealtimes or bed-time, but these meaningful moments are the fruit of the year-round work of Parfums de Vie in these kids' lives: the trust that has been built, the understanding that has been gleaned, and camp just provides the perfect soil for these conversations and prayer times to take place, and for the resulting growth in their lives. I am so thankful that our camps help to facilitate these opportunities for transformation and it's truly a privilege to see Christ at work in such miraculous ways within the sacred space that camp can so uniquely create! There are many meaningful stories about every child who was at camp. To mention just a handful: Ryan (9) who shared his fears and questions about his Mum (Fatiha's) breast cancer with our wonderful intern Luke! Momo (11) who cried and talked more than ever before about his traumatic past and asked for help and prayer. Zaineb (11) who prayed that the seed God has planted in her heart will grow to maturity! Abdel (15) who sat down and cried, literally at the foot of the cross on one of our hikes, because he's so concerned about his future and then poured out his heart to Vincent. Fatma (9) who despite her very strict Muslim family openly expresses her faith and easily prays out loud for her friends and Idir (12) who is questioning the Islamic values taught by his parents and sincerely engaging with scripture. We are so thankful! Please continue to pray with us for all the children and youth of Parfums de Vie. Each year our Mission Organization Communitas International holds a special Giving Day Event. This year's Giving Day is Tuesday November 16th (just one week away!) and Vincent and I would like to invite you to consider a special one-time donation on this day to help support the ministry of Parfums de Vie. We have three very specific needs that we hope to raise support for on this year's Giving Day. 1. For our personal support. As you can imagine, raising personal support for our family is an ongoing necessity, and not something that we focus on very much. However, our personal support account is flagging and so we are praying to raise $15,000 on Giving Day towards our personal support account. 2. For our general Parfums de Vie ministry fund Our monthly committed giving doesn't cover the ongoing operational costs. We are therefore very dependent on year-end one-time gifts to help ensure the running our camps, homework club, youth group, kids club and all of the necessary equipment and resources to facilitate our various programs (teachers & staff, vehicles, ministry center maintenance and utilities etc.) We hope to raise $20,000 towards our general ministry fund on Giving Day, which would really help tremendously towards next year's budget. 3. For our College/University Fund Parfums de Vie is now sponsoring four College students (Narjes - 2nd year of neuroscience at St Andrews University in Scotland - now the #1 Uni in the UK! Laith - 1st year International Business at Rotterdam, Mahdi - 1st year Chemical Engineering in Rome and Simon - 1st year Design in Nice). All four of our College students are doing very well in their studies, enjoying getting settled in their new cities and also committed in student Bible study groups. Narjes found a job the first week of term, but the boys are all still finding their feet and have not yet managed to start part time jobs. They are all in regular contact with us - in fact pray for me as this actually adds several hours per week of extra time on the phone with each of them! The four of them regularly need to talk to either me or Vincent regarding the various issues they are facing as they navigate their new lives! We hope to raise $20,000 towards our University Fund on Giving Day. Any gift of any amount on Giving Day will be such a huge help and blessing for our ministry! If you would like to pledge to give on Giving Day, you can do that TODAY by responding to this email! I will send an update and reminder before Giving Day with our pledge total.....and let you know where we're at towards reaching our goal! Thank you so much for your prayers, friendship and support! Please don't hesitate to reach out if you have any questions! All the giving info and links are below! with love and thankfulness, Nicole & Vincent Dearest Dixie,
At the end of this month, Vincent and I will take a group of 20 kids to the Cevennes mountains for a week-long camp. We are very excited, because with the Covid restrictions now much reduced here, it means that we can FINALLY take the younger kids to camp again! This has been impossible since March 2020 (camp was only possible for the older teens!) It will be a huge blessing for the younger kids of Parfums de Vie, who will benefit so much from getting away from their cramped and difficult home circumstances and being in the fresh air and the great outdoors. As I have mentioned in the past, violence and abuse is sadly far too common among many of the families that we work with here, and so every opportunity for children to experience God's love and grace, especially for extended periods, is so life-giving and life-changing. For many of the kids, it will be their first ever camp with Parfums de Vie, and also their first time away from home without their parents. Vincent and I are always so humbled by the fact that so many muslim families entrust their children to us, knowing that they will spend a week at camp with a Christian organisation! We have always felt that one week of camp produces more fruit in kids' lives than a whole year of kids clubs and homework clubs. Both are truly essential, but so much happens in that short but beautifully intense and special space away from the normal stresses of their home lives. Having extended time in a safe place for life together and to engage more deeply with the stories of Jesus changes lives for eternity. As well as lots of adventures, hikes, camp-fires, games and cooking, we will also look after two donkeys for the week! Caring for animals is very therapeutic for children, and we are thrilled about this opportunity! Will you pray for our camp? Will you also pray for the provision we need to cover the costs? One week of camp for one child costs $500. Should you be in a position to sponsor one child (or partially sponsor or even sponsor several children) all of the giving information is below. There's so much more news to share with you, here's just a few updates:
Finally, as I write, we have a team here from one of our supporting churches in Dallas, Texas who have come to bless, encourage and serve alongside us this week. It is always very encouraging for Vincent and me to have visitors and it's also a blessing for our Parfums de Vie community. Will you pray for them over the next few days as they pour into us, our team, the children, youth and families of Parfums de Vie. God is always at work here, but sometimes special breakthroughs happen in people's hearts and circumstances when we have people from the "outside" who come and speak God's love, life and presence into our community! Vincent and I pray for you often, Dixie, and we are so thankful for your love, prayers, generosity and friendship. with love, Nicole & Vincent |
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