You can do what you love, use your talents and serve God at the same time. Really. Most students' experience with Cru is the campus ministry, so why would we expect them to know they could serve the mission computer programming or doing accounting or creating content?! Campus ministry requires a specific skill set and personality, but there is space here for everyone. The digital creations team has the pleasure of welcoming their second intern. His name is Varick, a student in Rennes studying graphics design. While he is motivated for student ministry, when he heard he could use his design skills in Christian work he was thrilled. Varick is very talented, and has already created digital and print posters for our events as well as creating animations for videos. Varick is from the country of Vanuatu. Do you know where that is? If you give your globe a spin and search east of Australia you'll see a group of islands between New Caledonia and Fiji, that's Vanuatu, a country with an estimated 300k inhabitants. Being in France has been a new experience for Varick, discovering new culture, food, and weather. We're happy to add using his God given talents and working for a Christian association to the list. It is also fascinating to hear about Ni-Vanuatu culture, especially how hospitality is so integral. For example, they regularly prepare extra food in case someone might show up, which people often do! Think about that, being open to and even prepared for an unannounced guest who might need a meal or a bed. Isn't that beautiful?

This month both of our boys participated in a music camp in Italy. We had the chance to do a home exchange with a colleague in Florence, who in turn stayed in our apartment in Paris. Our family had a week of vacation together, including May's mom, Bea, who is visiting us. It was fun to discover the Tuscan region, taste pizza with a super thin crust, and see a myriad of replicas of Michelangelo's sculptural masterpiece, David. Of course, May had to enjoy a daily gelato moment, not that anyone complained. We also visited Pisa which was relatively near, shamelessly joining the zillions of people who have posed pushing on the leaning tower. Interestingly, it was already leaning when only the third story was up, and subsequent floors were built higher on one side to try to compensate. The big bonus was seeing the two concerts for the music camp, where Silas and Efrem played along with other violinists, flutists and pianists of an outstanding level. Now we're back in Paris and earnestly preparing to move at the end of June, which is approaching with surprising speed.