Bertrand is a purser on ferries operating from the seaports of Calais and Douvres on routes between France and England. Two decades ago, Bertrand had a life-changing encounter on 
one of those very ships. A regular passenger, a pastor from Ireland, was distributing the EHC booklet, Are You Happy?
At the time, Bertrand’s life was in total disarray. He wondered, Could the happiness so evident in this Christian’s life be mine also? “That very evening I decided to speak to this God I didn’t know. In one of the ship’s staff rooms, I began to cry out to God. Suddenly, the cabin was filled with an extraordinary, indescribable presence. I was filled with peace. The past things were erased and everything that could destroy me disappeared from my life.” Bertrand had found hope.
Starting that day, Bertrand began to share his newfound joy. “A fire burns in me with the desire to go to others and share with them the hope of real life in Jesus.” His cheerful welcome puts passengers at ease and often they open up to this man they’ve only known for the two-hour crossing. Those hours are usually sufficient for Bertrand to engage them in conversation and offer them a souvenir: A copy of Finding the Hope.
Bertrand is leading his own local church in Saint Omer, Pasde- Calais department, in systematic evangelism using EHC’s home-to-home strategy. This summer, church members did an outreach to six small villages where they presented Finding the Hope (Trouver l’espoir) booklets to over 800 people.
*“The need was great in all these small villages of Pas-de- Calais department, where there is no gospel witness,” says Bertrand. “We have gone and the Lord has blessed us.”
Bertrand’s life has an interesting rhythm: seven days on the ground, seven days at sea. But wherever he is, this joyful Frenchman continues to present life-transforming hope to everyone he can.