Happy Thanksgiving!
We are thinking of you all stateside, stuffing your turkeys and traveling many miles to be with family and loved ones. We love this time of year because it really is a wonderful season to look and see what God has done, and be SO thankful!
We recently put together this little video which we would love for you to see (maybe over a little pumpkin pie or while you are waiting in a Black Friday queue…). We are so grateful to be on this adventure together with you!
Since making this video, another french person has joined our church and started following Jesus! That is three people this autumn! Our God is amazing!
Thanksgiving Prayer Points:
One of the amazing opportunities we have as Americans in France is to invite people into our cultural celebrations. It offers us a chance to be better known by our community and also strengthen new relationships in a uniquely American way that can transcend normal cultural barriers. We have two things coming up this week that we would appreciate prayer for as they are amazing open doors to our new community!
Joanna in Silas’ Class
On Thursday (Thanksgiving Day) I am going to be giving a small presentation on Thanksgiving to Silas’ class! This is a really cool opportunity to share culturally but also make a positive impact on the kids and families in our community. Please pray for the french to flow, for the right words to say when presenting the Thanksgiving story, and to shine the light of Jesus brightly as I do it! We will also be making pumpkin cookies and doing a thanksgiving craft!
Thanksgiving Meal
On Sunday, November 25th, we will be hosting a massive Thanksgiving feast with possibly 35-40 people coming for dinner! This will be the first time for our extended church family to come to our home and some are bringing non-christian friends and family members! We have invited some new friends of ours from the village as well and we are very eager to build our friendship with them! Again, this is a massive opportunity to impact our community and build relationships with non-christians. Please pray that God would clear the way for these people to come and that they would encounter the love of God when they are with us! Pray for the logistics of cooking and hosting such a large number in our home!
Partnership - Updates and Needs
Giving Tuesday, November 27th
We again want to express how grateful we are for you, our partners. Without your financial and prayer support we would not be here joining in the work God is doing in France. AND we would like to stay! There has been some drop in our monthly support due to life circumstances for some of our partners, and so we are looking for people to join our monthly support team or to commit to giving an annual donation. Giving Tuesday is a great opportunity to think about organizations to support this holiday season and we would love for you to consider investing in the work we are doing here in France! If you would like to partner with us financially, please visit our giving page here: PARTNER WITH THE APPELS
Update to Giving Portal through GEM USA
GEM USA has recently changed its online giving processing portal to Paperless Transactions. If you are currently partnering with us and giving through GEM USA, we wanted to give you a heads-up that we will be asking you to enter your details into this new processor in the next couple weeks. ;)
I love the word for thankfulness in French, it is “reconnaissant” which means literally, to “re-know”. It is such a good reminder to look back at what our faithful God has done, and to know his goodness again and be filled with gratitude. We pray that the Lord would bless you richly and we are sending our love to you from France.
Avec reconnaissance,
The Appels
Tom, Joanna, Reuben, Eli, Silas, and Elodie
