Bonjour, dear Ones,

Two weeks ago you heard about our forty-year milestone. (And yes, Paul was not exactly thrilled with the way I went on and on about meeting him, but he knows that he married a romantic…)

Finally it’s time for a way-overdue snapshot into our last eight months. If you’re on social media, some of this may be familiar, but it has indeed been quite some time since we sent out an update to this group of friends who care and pray for our ministries.

We are so thankful for your prayers and support, even when our communication is lacking.

The wide-angle view:

Our mission, One Collective, is all about bringing people together in communities all over the world to ensure that no one is invisible and that everyone has access to food, freedom, and forgiveness.

As we travel back and forth from France to the US and other places, we are immensely grateful for the flexibility our schedule allows us to connect with our workers wherever they and we may be. Zoom, Skype, WhatsApp, texts, Messenger, Facebook—so many different ways to connect. Sometimes those options make us feel crazy, but we thank the Lord that no matter where we are in the world, we can stay in touch with our workers. So you will often find us searching for an internet signal, using our phone as a hotspot, checking in late at night or early in the morning, depending on how many hours apart we are from the ones with whom we are talking.

Now for a zoom in:

Ten days after sending out our New Year’s letter, my sweet daddy passed away. Many of you know the great paradox of the sting of death for those of us left behind mixed with the real hope of eternity that my father now knows.

We as a family have wandered through the grief curve these past months, with Paul and me staying Stateside until the end of May.

In between the mind-numbing details of beginning to settle my father’s estate with my (much savvier) brothers, I was frequently reminded of the Lord’s presence with me, with us. One of the simplest ways was through a red cardinal who kept flying into the picture window in my father’s den for several months. You can read about that here.

During those months, we were thankful to help a little with the grandkids as Lacy slowly and courageously recovered from her pelvic misalignment.

At the end of May we were delighted to visit Chris and Ashlee in Boston and attend Chris’s graduation from the Harvard Kennedy School with a Master’s in Public Policy.

We then flew home to France and had a few days to settle in before welcoming my brother, Jere, and family for their first visit to see us in Lyon. What a treat!

Later in June we headed south to Greece, driving from Lyon to Ancona, Italy, and then riding the ferry across into Patras, Greece and on to Athens. There we had the immense pleasure of reconnecting in person with our ever-growing team who work among refugees, trafficked women, and the poor.

Then we drove to Eretria, Greece to attend our One Collective Conference for all of our workers who serve in closed countries. It was a special treat finally to be together in person after COVID required some changes in our timing.

Soon it was time to pack our bags again for the Iteams/One Collective Conference for workers in Europe, again having been postponed because of COVID. We drove to the Schoenblick Conference Center, near Stuttgart, Germany and joined 100 other workers from all over Europe.

During those two conferences Paul and I were able to spend focused, face-to-face time with all the workers to whom we give pastoral care, sharing a meal, a walk on the beach or through the forest, times of prayer, laughter, tears, and hugs. We’re thankful for the conversations, the listening and praying, and, most of all, for God’s presence among us. Here are a few examples of subjects we covered:

~sitting with a new worker to a field in Europe who just learned of a friend’s suicide

~hugs and prayers with a long-time worker who learned of her mother’s death while she was at the conference.

~hearing about the loneliness some of our leaders feel as they sacrificially lead their teams.

~discussing major life issues–children’s education in a foreign land, caring for aging parents when you live half a world away from them, making decisions about moving to a new location for ministry which involves changing countries and learning yet another new language.

~listening to some of our single women workers who feel their biological clocks ticking and mourn the future they had dreamed of and may never have.

~concerns for the young adult Third Culture Kids (TCKs) who were raised on the mission field and now are making their lives away from their parents.

~questions about faith and doubting the call to ministry.

Often on our Zoom calls, we discuss similar topics, but how good it was to do this in person this summer!

Besides spending time one-on-one, we also enjoyed sharing and fellowship at night after all the worship and teaching sessions, workshops and outings.

Conferences also allow us the special privilege of spending time with our president, Scott Olson, to hear his heart and learn more about the present and future vision for One Collective. We are grateful for his wise leadership and heart for Jesus.

And there were several impromptu times of debriefing and prayer with the member care team (there were six of us in Greece and four of us in Germany) for several crises that arose during the conferences (not necessarily concerning workers present at the conference.) Paul manages this team of ten who provide pastoral care for the 220+ One Collective workers around the world. We are so grateful for these dear colleagues who share this privilege and responsibility with us.

Our job all comes down to connection–making sure that our workers can share their stories and know that they are heard, that their concerns are kept confidential, and taken often to the Lord in prayer.

In the midst of the conference, my new novel, By Way of the Moonlight, was launched, an added privilege and stress! You can find out about that news here.

In between the two conferences, Chris and Ashlee joined us for a vacation in Greece and Italy. We often counsel our workers to take time away from work to truly rest. Sometimes we don’t follow our own advice very well, but this time we did, seeing beautiful scenery, taking long walks in God’s breath-taking countryside, and then coming home to our little village with the kids to enjoy summer in Rochetaillée, our little spot of paradise.

And now we’re heading back to the US for six months! We’ll be visiting our supporting churches, and I’ll be having some book signing events throughout the fall. This new season will doubtless be filled with joys and challenges: Time with friends and family and all those grandkids, yes, but also time at my father’s home in Atlanta, cleaning, making more decisions, going through a roller-coaster ride of emotions.

We often feel weak, but this past year has once again proven to us this beautiful truth: when we are weak, we are strong in Christ. Not because of our efforts, but because somehow in that wonderfully supernatural way, the Spirit blows through us and carries us and gives us the wherewithal to live one day at a time.

Thank you for continuing on this journey with us! Some of you have been a part of the ride for all forty years. Whether you just joined or have been with us for decades, we are humbled and grateful for the way the Lord provides for and encourages us through you!

We’ll leave you with a few prayer requests:

PRAYER

~ As we provide pastoral care to workers, please pray that we continue to improve in our listening skills, and that God’s heart and compassion would shine in every conversation.

~ Please pray that our strength and energy will be renewed this fall and that we will give ourselves grace as grieving and changes continue.

~ Join us in praying that God will guide the hearts and decisions of all our leaders: in the mission, in our churches, local and national leaders and beyond.

~ I’d appreciate prayer that By Way of the Moonlight would have all the impact God intends for it to have. We’ve been so encouraged by the positive response so far to this story of family, faith, love and loss, forgiveness and courage.

We send much love and hope to see many of you as we travel in the Southeast this fall!

Elizabeth and Paul