simply homemaker

I looked up from my book to the majestic French alps, covered in snow, dotted with lights from the village down in the valley. Twilight had begun to twinkle. The cool air in the chalet made it constantly feel like Christmas. Somewhere in the corner Colman was halfway through his book and Sarah was jotting down some notes from her reading. Stephen was packing up to go for a late afternoon walk, and I thought to myself that it was a good time to get a second tea.

How do you come to love a place so much in just 6 days?

This past summer, when I was living with the Millers in Fort Worth, I heard about a place where young people come to ask questions about Christianity and religion. Having been a follower of Jesus for the past 6 years, I wanted to grow deeper in my faith while learning how to better discern God’s voice in my life in regard to His calling to make disciples of all nations. So, before I set foot to Switzerland for the semester at the University of St. Gallen, I had already reserved a bed at L’abri for the last 6 days of being in the country.

I woke up at 4:30 on a snowy November morning, 6 days before Thanksgiving, to catch the 6AM train to Lausanne. From there I would switch to another train that would lead me to Aigle, and take the bus to Huemoz, where the L’abri Fellowship is.

I was tired. We just graduated from the program the night before, and I finished packing my little carryon to go to L’abri the same night, knowing that I would wake up at 4:30 for my departure. I had trekked through the snow to get to the train station. The first two hours of the train I slept, and the rest of the trip felt long as the trains were being delayed due to the heavy snow. I got to Aigle an hour after my intended time to the horror of realizing I had left my carryon suitcase on the train coming from Lausanne.

Do I keep going on my trip, or do I turn back? I’m only a bus ride away from what has truly been the motivation of going to Switzerland.

I bought a pair of pajamas, clean underwear, and as many toiletry items I could possibly find at the local grocery store and got on the bus. Because I couldn’t find towels, I got some microfiber cloths at the house cleaning section, just in case.

The Lord did not let me lack a single thing in the next 6 days.

I arrived to L’abri at the same time as Luke, a jazz musician from New York City, and to our surprise the house was empty. It was a little chalet that gave the hints of being a hotel in its former life, with built in breakfast nooks in the dining room and a little but very nice reading room near the entrance. It was a homely place. People began to arrive to the chalet from their formal lecture in Farel House, which is where all the studying and lectures happen during the day, and where I spent the last 6 days in sweet quietness with the Lord and other people who came to ask various questions about Him at L’abri.

When the Workers arrived back at the house, I was shown to my room upstairs, and that’s when I met one of my roommates, Claire, an American from Michigan. We just started chatting when “little Miriam” came in, like the sweetest storm you could find, and joined us on the floor. That first afternoon at the chalet I had a heart to heart conversation with Miriam about the Lord’s heart for us as His little women, and we became very fast and good friends. Miriam showed me to Farel House, and there I started my reading of Francis Schaeffer’s “How Should We Then Live?” covering the rise and fall of Western thought from the Middle Ages to the Scientific Revolution, in light of the reformation and search for life’s meaning and purpose across cultures. This morning, as I was leaving Chalet Bellevue, where we lived, she wore my backpack and carried my bag all the way down to the bus stop, and to the bus door. What a special little girl, overflowing with love and sweetness!

Then came time for dinner, where 30+ people gathered in Chalet Bellevue and thanked the Lord for His blessings before sharing a meal together. My first dinner was an absolutely delicious meal of noodles, ham, and sourcrout, ending with the “king’s dessert,” my favorite sweet treat I had in Vienna when I was there. The meals at L’abri were diverse, from pad thai salad, to pizza, to potato soup and bread, we always had amazing meals made from scratch, many times from produce grown on the mountains (home grown brussel sprouts, at yesterday’s lunch, for example, was delicious).

The next couple days were a rhythmic routine of work, study, and community. L’abri students work half a day and study for the other half. My favorite study time is in the afternoon because I love to sit in the reading room in Farel House as it gets darker. Also, working first thing in the morning makes me feel productive, energized, and connected with both my body and spirit before spending quieter time in Farel House for the rest of the workday. We eat all our meals together, and twice a week, we go to Farel House for a lecture and attend one of the Workers’ houses (a Worker is a staff member who live, care for, and teach full time at L’abri) for a formal lunch with discussion. Every Sunday afternoon and Thursday is also an off day. After a really fancy Mexican breakfast and Bible study on Sunday morning, I came down to Villars with a couple girls, and we enjoyed a nice hot chocolate together, where I got to share a bit of my journey and received so much encouragement from the girls who happened to be there. Afterwards, Sarah and I went to the village of Gryon, explored around, and arrived home at 5PM before a later dinner at 7. After traveling Europe for the past three months, I was eager to return to the dear chalet and have dinner with everyone, having only been away for a couple hours.

In the 6 days I was at L’abri, I made delicious pasta and baked 4 dozen chocolate chunk cookies for lunch, baked another 4 dozen rolls with friends for Thanksgiving (thanks to Katrina for the great lesson in making rolls), raked and stuffed 6 bags of fall leaves, and even fed and read to a baby. I also was able to touch 4 books and finished 2, drank an endless amount of black tea, and learned how to use an egg cooker. On my last night at L’abri, to my surprise delight, we watched Little Women, one of my favorite movies, and had a really good discussion afterwards.

During my time at L’abri, there was one night where me and 3 others spent three hours at the dining table after dinner, because there was so much we wanted to share about our own stories and how we in different ways view ourselves as sinners saved by grace and called to a new life. We also talked a lot about the tension between living as a saint while knowing that we have not yet arrived home and need to continue our work of ministry and healing in a dark world. Lunch discussions were rich and challenging at times, but we felt more connected to each other in our disagreements and different viewpoints, especially over food that we labored over together. I finished reading the book L’abri by Edith Schaeffer, telling the story of how L’abri started, and just marveled at the way God has led countless people to build, grow, and come to this place. L’abri is an act of God, a place to seek and find Him. Many people have.

This morning, I woke up at 7:30, my heart a little heavy to leave. I packed everything I used in the past 6 days into a single grocery store bag and thanked God for providing. I also prayed that just in case someone took my suitcase (I had not heard anything from the rail company by that time), that the things in my suitcase would be a blessing to that person.

I came downstairs to assemble my last fruit trays with Stefan, a single worker living at L’abri, and one by one, friends I have made came into the kitchen to spend the last half hour with me before I left. They walked me down to the bus stop and waited with me there until my bus arrived. Saying bye was hard but so sweet, as I learned how much I had been loved just in the couple days I was there, coming by myself and making all new friends, including many brothers and sisters in the Lord.

My friends at L’abri have been praying for my trip home and my family. This morning Stephen gave me a goodbye hug and said he has been praying for their salvation. Somehow, spending time in this remote mountain in the French Alps has become more real to me than my “real life” down the mountain, and I know I would be thinking of eating dinner with 30 more other people or studying in the bottom level of Farel House every afternoon for a long time.

This morning, as I stood at the Aigle train station, where I learned that I had lost my suitcase, I got a notification that they had found my suitcase and would return it to the St. Gallen station.

Isn’t it amazing? That amid my finding God and His will for my life, God provided for my every need and gave me spiritual and physical blessings that would not have been a part of my life without this sacred search?

“Seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” Matthew 6:33

Lord willing, tomorrow, at this time I would be at the Zurich airport to go home to Vietnam. While I will be sad for the next day from having to leave L’abri, I feel my heart opening to the chance to love my family in a new and fresh way this season.

Thank you, for following along. Whatever comes next, as Christians, we go from glory to glory.

Love,

Tram

P/s: When this blog is posted, my suitcase has been found 🙂 I had the sweetest candlelit dinner with my friends Michaela and Savannah, they gave me an Advent calendar for Christmas, and my young adults Bible study prayed for me before I left Switzerland. I’m currently sitting in the Dubai airport waiting for the flight to Hanoi. All is good in the world.