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Penny and Richard’s report

Penny and Richard report on their week at Emmaüs:

For us the major excitements of the week were taking the chap with the sprained ankle to Orthez to catch a bus to Bayonne; chatting to a range of pilgrims during the week over coffee; inaugurating the composting system which seems to be working well; and on our last day having a tent full of pilgrims at lunch time because it was so wet and lots of laughter with them. One couple who were a German man and his French wife took a photo ( see below)Penny and Egon 10 May and so did a couple of French ladies who wanted us to pose for the photo with them, they were so taken with the idea … of having their photos on the internet.

The promised photos haven’t yet arrived but in the meantime here is the composting bin being delivered:

Arrival of the composting bin
Arrival of the composting bin

8 mai – Fête de la Victoire

Today,  along with all the towns and communes in France, in Arthez we celebrated the Fête de la Victoire, commemorating the end of hostilities in the Second World War. Here are some pictures of the ceremony:

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A small earthquake

As the weather improves we begin to see a few more pilgrims stopping by, including on Tuesday five ladies who said they prayed and sang in every church they passed – and did so chez nous also.

More exciting was that on Monday 25 April at 6.44 we experienced a small earthquake, magnitude 4.1 on the Richter scale. No damage has been reported.

Volunteers’ Gathering

MargaretOn 25th January 2016 our volunteers gathered in London to reflect on the experiences of Emmaüs’ first year and to discuss plans for the future.

Father Stephen took some photos; here they are:

Mike ClareDavidCatherinecarol

End of Season

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A lovely dawn this morning with the sun rising over low lying mist; autumn is approaching.

 

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And today day we closed up for the year, taking down the tent and the shelter and bringing everything inside.

Two sittings for lunch

Today a party of four Belgians stopped for lunch at around midday – having been told by someone along the road that this was somewhere where they could shelter. They had hardly left before four more people arrived to take their lunch too.

Yesterday at Navarrenx, where the local parish offers a ‘get-together’ and a drink for the pilgrims every evening, I found myself talking to a German lady about our project;  she had noticed Emmaüs when she passed by earlier in the day but had not stopped. She offered the opinion that there were many opportunities for spiritual reflection along the way, but rather few for a rencontre spirituel. That made me think that, however important shelter, coffee and use of the WC may be, we should keep focussed on this aspect of the project.

Changeover Day

Clare, who has been here these last two weeks left today, flying from Biarritz airport early this morning.  She reports that, on average between 3 and 4 pilgrims have stopped by each day over these last two weeks, with as many as 15 on Saturday a week ago.  Many stop to take their lunch in the garden (and use the WC!) and indeed one couple had been encouraged to eat their lunch here by someone they met in the village. This is an encouraging development for it shows that our project is beginning to be known about in the village.

Ecoute tes desirsToday a group of fourladies – two French, one German, one Danish – lingered here over their lunch. One was sufficiently moved by one of our ‘reflection sheets’ that she photographed it. I think it may have been this one. (Click on it to see the full text.)