Bonjour, dear Ones, from Flintstone, Georgia where fall is in the air! Yabadabadoo!

Sometimes America feels strange to us, especially recently with all the vitriol being thrown around during election season. I’ve been privileged to take part in an in-person women’s Bible study at our supporting church on Lookout Mountain. We studied The Sermon on the Mount and oh, my! Talk about conviction. I especially paid attention to that annoying part which says to take the log out of my eye before I get the speck out of someone else’s. Our teacher used an example that when you do need to remove a speck from someone’s eye, that action requires you to lean in and be extremely gentle. May we as believers keep letting others know we are Christians by our love, sharing the Gospel with gentleness and reverence. ( I Peter 3:15)

One Collective-The Home Office

While in the US we also have the opportunity to see some of our workers face to face. And this month, we had the extra joy of visiting the One Collective offices in Elgin, Illinois, just north of Chicago. We spent a little time with some of our home staff whose ministries are often behind the scenes and much appreciated. We were especially thankful to have lunch with the CEO of the mission, Scott Olson. Fourteen years ago, shortly after he came to this organization, he visited us at our home in Lyon and proposed this role of being pastors to our workers (PTWs). We are grateful for his trust and encouragement during these past many years.

In our last letter, I shared that there is now a page specifically dedicated to the Global Member Care Team (GMCT) on One Collective’s website. I jumped the gun because the page wasn’t officially launched and there were typos etc, but now the page is updated and live. We’d so appreciate if you’d check it out right here, and if you missed the 3-minute video about the GMCT, be sure to watch it on the new page. You’ve heard us describe what we do as member care providers for the past 14 years. Now you can hear personal testimonies from One Collective workers about the importance of this role.

Our Workers

Here are a few stories to give you an idea of challenges our workers are facing now:

One of our team leaders was accused of illegally employing youth because she had the Roma youth put on a car wash to raise money for needy families. Another shared that a local worker and valued partner with the ministry was attacked and almost killed by her family because of converting to Christianity from Islam.

We have other couples whose young adult children are disillusioned with faith, some of whom have come out on the LGBTQ+ spectrum. One couple recently shared about losing support from their home church because of this. Sometimes they feel like they have to choose between loving their child and having the funds available to do their ministries.

Many of our workers in closed countries and even in Europe are having problems renewing their visas. One colleague narrowly escaped being imprisoned in his host country for his faith. He and his family had to leave the country secretly.

Families are also facing the choice of how to care for their elderly parents from afar or deciding to leave the mission field to be more involved in elder care.

Obviously these issues are complex. It is a privilege for us to walk alongside our colleagues as they navigate the rough waters of ministry in their host countries as well as at home.

We are continually grateful for your prayers for us: that we offer wisdom, grace, encouragement, and hope to our colleagues.

Family

We’re thankful also for time with our families this fall. Once again we flew from Paris to DC in September and got to spend a weekend with Chris and Ashlee. I’ve also taken several trips to Atlanta to hang out with my brothers and sisters-in-law. And at the end of September, we spent a week on Tybee Island with Andrew and Lacy and the grands. We loved our time together, even when Hurricane Helene came knocking at the door. We lost sleep and electricity, but our hearts were (and continue to be) grieved for so much devastation and loss from Helene, especially in North Carolina.

One of my favorite memories is watching Paul play soccer with Andrew and Quinn at their church’s pick-up soccer games on Sunday afternoons. Lastly, if you haven’t gone to see “The Best Christmas Pageant Ever” (in the theater) we strongly encourage you to see this sweet family movie based on the classic book. We took all five grands, and it was indeed the best. (See last photo above. The two year old is in my lap so not pictured=).

We pray you have a blessed Thanksgiving and a very Merry Christmas with your hearts full of praise to our awesome God,

Elizabeth and Paul

Psalm 95

Come, let’s sing for joy to the Lord,
Let’s shout joyfully to the rock of our salvation.
² Let’s come before His presence with a song of thanksgiving,
Let’s shout joyfully to Him in songs with instruments.
³ For the Lord is a great God
And a great King above all gods,
⁴ In whose hand are the depths of the earth,
The peaks of the mountains are also His.
⁵ The sea is His, for it was He who made it,
And His hands formed the dry land.

⁶ Come, let’s worship and bow down,
Let’s kneel before the Lord our Maker.
⁷ For He is our God,
And we are the people of His pasture and the sheep of His hand.