Le Mois de

JANVIER
January 2008! ! No. Fifteen

The Situation:
A while back I was invited to be apart of a trip to Morocco. We were
asked by a Christian that lives there and that has started a handicap asso-
ciation in the city of Féz. We would be going to do some work there on
what was going to be the new facility for the disabled. A Swiss man in our
church was a colleague of the women living there in Morocco and so he
was recruiting a small team of workers to go along with him. The result
was three Swiss men two of which are missionaries here in the Nice area
(Paul and Josua) and the other a Christian carpenter chosen to join us
from Switzerland (Beat). Then there were three Germans, two of them
were plumbers that came down to specially focus on well the pluming
of course. The third German (Sebastian) was working with the Swiss
man in our church in the outreach to the Muslims in one of the
surrounding neighbourhoods of Nice. Then there was the ran-
dom American man… me. So the seven of us set out.

January 1st we departed for Morocco, we would spend ten

days there in Northern Africa and really I didn’t know what to
expect. I knew that we would be working on a facility but
really had no idea what that would entail.

Arriving in Fez we were given a driving tour of the city and

then taken to the work site to see our project. Man oh man
were we surprised at the buildings we came to. It was a run
down school facility from the 70’s with no electricity or plumb-
ing. All the windows had been broken and there was bums
living in and using a couple of the classrooms for
there bathroom. Needless to say it was
rather large work we were looking at.
 The Job:
The next four days we worked very
hard. My work started on the re-
moval of broken glass from the win-
dows and then I got to try to find and
match up about 120 windows to
there frames, and since they all were
different sizes this took almost an
entire day. After finishing that I
turned my attention to the four con-
crete stages and one wall that needed
to be broken up. The tools there
were dated or broken, so we resorted
to the more basic ways of doing
things which take longer and are
more tiresome. So I picked up the
heavy sledgehammer and began my
work out. I never realised how tire-
some that could be until after about a
dozen swings I had to stop and pass
the hammer to the others there.
They would do the same and my
turn would soon come back around.
We did this for about 3 days straight
and by the 3rd day we were in the
zone and had the system down. So
the wall came tumbling down and the
stages were levelled and all the debris
was taken out in wheel-barrel loads.
Meanwhile the German plumbers
were pluming away, and our Swiss
carpenter was sanding and preparing
all those miss-shaped windows to be
painted and put back into place. Day
five we began to install security bars
to cover the windows and concrete
ramps were being poured for the
handicap entrances. Josua was work-
ing on the electrical side of things
and the local Moroccans were finish-
ing building the bathroom facility.
Things were coming together…
slowly.
The Days Off:
Sunday we were taken to the church that our friend is a part of. In the
same facility there is an English speaking fellowship that meet in the
morning and then in the afternoon the French speaking Africans have
there service. We went to the French speaking service which for me
was such a blessing to see a group of people really loving and praising
God there. We in the Western world seem to get to caught up with all
the legalities of church and the working of one. These people seemed
to have broke free of that and were really there to build each other up
challenge and grow together. During the musical part of the worship I
found myself on the verge of dancing in the aisles. The church was
moving not only physically but spiritually. The pastor and his wife
,missionaries from Switzerland, lead the fellowship through scripture,
prayer, sharing, giving times, the teaching of the word, and commun-
ion. Afterwards they invited us to have lunch with them and then we
set out to explore the city a bit.
Our drivers picked us up and whisked us off to a near by pottery
place. It looked as it was on fire as we walked up but soon found out
that it was because they were in the middle of firing some tiles. We
were given the royal tour of the place and then shown the shop where
we could purchase these beautiful handmade, hand-painted works.
After that we headed to the old city of Féz “The Medina” and took in
all the sites, cultural life style, and barging habits. We bought a few
souvenirs but spent most of the time taking pictures.
Tuesday was our other day off and we headed out of town in to the
near by mountains. As we passed by the flocks of sheep and their
shepherd friends I was reminded of the story of Jesus’ birth and how
the Shepherds must have felt when they received that glorious news
from the angels. When we arrived in the little mountain city we vis-
ited the open air market that was famous for this town. It seemed to
stretch on forever and you could find what ever you were looking for.
Food, clothes, toys, kitchen supplies, fabric, farm animals, you could
even visit the dentist, or get a nice shave or haircut. We spent the
most the day wondering through the town but unfortunately had to get
going in order to get the German plumbers back to the airport on
time for there flight back home. It had been a wonderful day and we
even got to stop by a beautiful waterfall on the way home.
This was the work site. It use to
be an old grammar school… a
long time ago. Now its going to The Conclusion:
be a school for the disabled.
Our time in Morocco was quite the experience, it reminded me a lot
of the time I spent in Bali, but that is another story for another time.
As for the work, well we finished up most of the projects that we had
started but there still remains lots to do. However we knew going in
to this that it was not a work that we could finish. We were simply
helping them start with a good foundation. And funny that is what we
are called to do as Christians also, give people a good foundation.
And who is the chief cornerstone of that foundation?… JESUS. Go
and make disciples of all nations is what we were told to do. So
sometimes we are sowing the seeds, sometimes watering, and some-
times we get to be the one God uses to help lead someone to Jesus,
But lets not forget it is the work of the Spirit that leads people to Je-
sus, He is the one calling and softening there hearts we are merely
the vessels that God uses. So lets be ready vessels, vessels that are
marked by the seal of God and that are prepared to go when he
This was my favourite Mule says go and stop when he says stop. Oh
yes lets be vessels that are charged
“over flowing” some would say with
that very Spirit of Jesus himself. That’s
my prayer that we would be listening
ever so closely to that still small voice
and when we find ourselves in the
presence of the Lord that we would
be able to say “Here I am, send me”.

There is so much more I could say

about this trip and someday maybe
I will. But for now I will simple say
that our God is present in Mo-
rocco and he is working! Praise be
to the living God our GOOD
SHEPHERD!

of
ft e r th e d estruction
crew just a lities all wo
rking
The work n t n a tio n a
the wall. 5
differe
e r la n d , 3 from Ger-
from Swit z orocco,
together. 3 the Congo, 5 from M
m
many, 1 fro e U.S.
th
and 1 from
I

Prayer & Financial

Support:
• For the continued work in Morocco
that needs to be done. Physically
and Spiritually.
• For our monthly outreach events
Thank You: with the coffee bar ministry.
Thanks to all who are • My non believing friends and
supporting me and the classmates here.
work that the Lord has
• A focus on Jesus & unity amongst
asked me to do out the group serving in the church.
here in France. It is by
the grace of God that I • For my language skills.
am able to stay and • For my relationship with Kate.
serve here. I thank God That it would continue to mature
for the blessing that and for wisdom with our future.
you are to me and pray • That I would daily seek the Lord
that He richly blesses and His will for my life, for His joy,
you as well. to know Him better and that I
would live to please the Father and
! -N oa h Beu m er- Him alone.
I would like to ask each one of you
to earnestly pray for the work being
done out here in France and for the
hearts of the people in the country of
France. Second, I would ask that you
prayerfully consider supporting the
F ren c h C on t ac t I nfo: work done out here through a one
time or monthly gift/donation.
N oa h Be ume r
146 B Rue de France Please address & send check or money
N i ce , Fr a nce 06000 order to address below. You may also
TE LE PH O N E: send support via Pay Pal if that is more
0 1 1 3 3 6 9 8 9 4 5 5 99 convenient for you to my email address; !
! noahbeumer@gmail.com
noa hb e ume r @ gm a il.com
xweb1.calvarychapel.com/php/nice N oa h Be ume r
617 W . K nox
S poka ne , W A. 99205