After an early start this morning out of Lille, we arrived into Albertville early afternoon where we were greeted by Chris and Lori Gassler and their daughter Kristin (their two sons Noah and Benjamin were at home).  After we got settled into our hotel, we went to their apartment where we enjoyed some local wine, cheese, sausage and bread.  As we ate we talked with them about what their ministry plans were.  Chris explained that he hopes to use his ethnomusicology to produce songs based on Biblical texts but set to native African music that will touch the lives who hear it because it will be good music with a good message.  This is a needed ministry and only a couple of people have done this in the history of Wycliffe.  In some ways Chris will be trailblazing as he does this work.  Chris sees this also being helpful in developing hymns for their churches as well.  We also learned from them that Cameroon is the second largest Wycliffe branch in the world with between 150 and 200 workers.  We are encouraged by the number of workers there for support and encouragement for the Gasslers.  

Following that, we all went on a walking tour of the city of Albertville.  The first place they took us to was their language school where they have been learning French since last July.  We toured the building and met several American families who are there studying French to use on the field in other locales.  Lori and Chris think they will know enough French by the end of the summer to graduate and head off to Cameroon where they will begin their ministry.  Next we walked around downtown and made our way past the Olympic museum (Albertville hosted the Winter games in 1992).  After we got back to the house, Chris drove us to see a Medieval City that sits atop Albertville.  This city controlled the trade that was coming in from Italy, Switzerland back in the middle 1800’s.  It is still a functional village, but with more modern establishments in the buildings.

We sat down for a yummy Savoie (pronounced Sa-vwa) dinner consisting of a potato, onion, bacon, cheese casserole.  This is a staple in the Savoie region and tasted delicious.  We topped it off with some Swiss chocolate and Apple Crisp.  After clearing the dishes we talked some more about the ministry and then shared prayer requests followed by a time of prayer with them.

We are so glad to have the Gasslers as missionaries at REPC and can’t wait to see what God will do with them in Cameroon…

Tomorrow we leave to go back to Paris and then home the following day!!!