Normandy Vision News Update August 21st 2009

Expo-Bible 2009 at Houlgate

A Busy Time

The Expo-Bible has been cleared away, and the church returned to its normal state! We are trying to recover from what has been an exhausting period of preparing for the Expo and then running it for its twenty days of being open to the public. At the same time we had Sunday services to organise and prepare for, sometimes two on a Sunday separated by 50 miles. There were several pastoral visits to make during the period too.

Many Helpers

We couldn't have managed it without all the help we received from many people, some having travelled over from the UK to help, others who lived more locally. We would like to thank: Pamela Green (UK); Christina McMahon (UK) - who came over with her family; Tom Fohner, the pastor of the church at Houlgate, in particular for his help with the installation and the clearing up of the Expo; David Buhot; Christophe and Viviane Theiller; Françoise Dumont.

We also want to thank Stephen McIlwaine who let us use his flat in Houlgate during the period of the Expo-Bible. We couldn't have managed without that. We also want to thank one of our Trustees, Vivien Bounds, for organising a coffee morning to raise funds for the exhibition and to the many others who have contributed so generously to support us during this time.

We also appreciated the visit in their boat of Colin and Jan Stracey who sailed all the way to Dives-sur-Mer from Essex in the UK.

Summary of Key Points

The Statistics for the Expo - which don't tell the whole story of course, but give some good clues to how the Expo went - are as follows, with numbers rounded off:

Number of Visitors: 600
Bibles sold or given away: 40
Other Christian books sold: 50
Gospels and Christian tracts given away: Hundreds

Positive Feedback

The feedback that we had from visitors was universally favourable. All thought that the presentation was very clear and interesting. The number of Bibles, Christian books, Gospels and Christian tracts sold or given away gives a very good picture of the impact that we had. Most of the Bibles were sold to people who had never owned or read a Bible for themselves before.

Lectures on the Bible

We would also like to thank Pastor Pierre Wheeler for coming all the way from Arras in northern France to present two evening lectures on subjects to do with the Bible. While the numbers attending were lower than we hoped, the concensus was that the lectures were very much appreciated and very helpful in understanding better how the Bible has come down to us today and the archaeolgical evidence that there is to demonstrate the reliability of the Biblical texts.

An Example Highlight

One of the highlights for us of the exhibition was the visits made by several Gypsies. First there was a visit of a Gypsy pastor and his wife, who talked about the great spiritual revival taking place among the Gypsy communities in France. Christianity is growing faster among them than in any other section of the community in France, despite the fact that they are so often a despised group, even among other Christians. The Gypsy pastor brought many of his friends to visit the Expo, taking many of them round personally and explaining to them what the meaning was of the information on the panels. A Gypsy lady came in several times to ask for literature or to buy one of the cheap Bibles (1.50 euros) to give to her friends and contacts. It was a great joy to see their enthusiasm and desire to witness to those around them.

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informationIf you would like more information, visit Normandy Vision's web site at www.normandyvision.org or you can contact us at info@normandyvision.org.

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Normandy Vision UK Trust is a charity registered with the Charity Commission of England and Wales, number 1116858. Normandy Vision UK Trust can be contacted in the UK at: 13 Danbury Vale, Danbury, Essex CM3 4LA, United Kingdom, or in France at: La Coulombrie, 61100 Notre Dame du Rocher, France.