Béthanie Christmas Luncheon

We had another successful event with Béthanie Elderly Home! We had a group of eight from Béthanie come and enjoy lunch with us. The room was decorated for Christmas and carols were sung in both French and English. Béthanie also brought for us a special dessert. It was a great opporutnity to continue building friendships with all the sweet people from the home, and to practice using conversational French.

Moudon Camp

This past weekend, our amazing Pepperdine team of almost 30 put on a camp in partnership with the non-profit group Neighbours Global Connections. NGC, under the leadership of Sydney Moyo, helped us to accomplish a great weekend for refugee children whose families are currently in Moudon, Switzerland, a small town about a half hour outside of Lausanne by train. These children are mostly from Kosovo and Albania. They all speak French, and most of them are of Muslim background.

The weekend was both challenging and rewarding. Despite the language barrier, we communicated love to the children. Through the theme for the weekend, "Unité", we tried to convey a message of unity to the children through games, music and conversation. Highlights of the weekend included face-painting, soccer, musical chairs, fort-building and foos-ball. We had so much fun, and we strived to further the mission of Neighbours Global Connections: to promote peace and cross cultural boundaries. We were able to reflect on something outside of ourselves for the weekend, practice our French, and to show love to other people.

To learn more about NGC, please visit http://www.neighboursglobalconnections.org

A New Semester of Volunteering with Béthanie Elderly Home

With a new batch of students coming into the Lausanne program, the fall semester of 2008 has proven itself a great opportunity for service at the Pepperdine campus in Switzerland. So many students have been willing to dedicate their time and talents, continuing to make Pepperdine a unique university to Lausanne in its community service efforts. One of the groups we spend time with are the people who reside at Béthanie Elderly Home.

We have been able to both go to their facility in Lausanne to share paella (a traditional Spanish dish) with the people there, as well as have some of them come to La Croisée and share tarts, coffee, music and experiences. Both events were lots of fun and well-received, and we are planning to continue to have Béthanie come to the house on a monthly basis. Relationships are being formed with the people there, and in our time with them, smiles are continuous and joy is in abundance! Special thanks to the team for being so flexible, outgoing, and willing to serve. Please feel free to post comments and observations from your time with Béthanie!

Bethanie Home, Revisited

A small group spent some time helping at Bethanie Home the Friday before finals. They served hors d'oeuvres, and spoke with the residents there after enjoying a concert and performance by dancers from Madagascar. Another wonderful opportunity to connect to the people of Lausanne!

Jura Mountains

What a nice time we had in the Jura Mountains helping prepare the facilities for summer camp! Our team worked with Grain de Ble (website: http://www.graindeble.org/) and HIKidz International (http://www.hikidzinternational.org/), we painted, floored, and cleaned several rooms in their chalets. It was a wonderful weekend to practice our French, hear about these camp programs, and also serve others. We were blessed to be a part of this ministry, and prepare rooms for kids who will be learning about Christ in the summer.

TEAM: Thanks for being so motivated, and being so productive this weekend; hopefully, this partnership can grow as the years pass, and Pepperdine students can work to fix up these chalets or help with camps in the future! If you have some input, or anything that you would like to contribute to this post, please insert your comments and reflections in the comment section below. Thanks!

Moudon Refugee Camp

What a successful camp we put on for the children at the Fareas Refugee Center in Moudon!

Our days, well-organized and planned, turned out to be very positive, and we were able to make some good connections with them there. The children's ages ranged from 4-14, and all were eager to hear our heavily English-accented French, and also participate in all we had for them. Our activities ranged from musical chairs, Easter art projects, card games, to the outdoor games and a final project to make sandwiches for lunch.

Comments and reflections will be posted soon referring to the reactions of each team member to this experience; God showed us how He can work through us when we trust in Him and step forward to allow Him to guide our footsteps, and not get too worked up about our plans, but allow His love to shine through our interactions with those children.

Neighbours Global Connections Youth Afternoon in Moudon, CH

We had a successful trip up to Moudon to visit the refugee kid program with Neighbours Global Connections (NGC) on Wednesday. What an eye-opening experience to see another side of Switzerland, and be a part of encouraging these kids, who are eager to interact and speak with us, despite our limited knowledge of French. The kids were aged 4-14, all were very gracious, and included us in their activities, ranging from games of fooseball, billiards, and coloring pictures of animals and each other.
We're looking forward to returning and participating with NGC to run a three-day camp for them at the end of this month. It will be a wonderful opportunity to become more comfortable with our French, allow us to connect with the kids, and encourage them to continue seeking peaceful interactions with each other and begin to learn what positive relationships look like.

NGC's website can be accessed at http://www.neighboursconnect.net/.