Dear Friends,
We are so grateful for your prayers and messages to us over the past week following our email asking for prayer for our son Silas, who broke his arm, and for our family as we enter the school year. What a difference prayer makes! Silas is doing well, he has little to no pain and is managing his cast and entering middle school with a great deal of ease! Praise the Lord! God is at work, hearing your prayers and this is making a difference for Silas and for our family. I was able to do a little art project and brighten up his cast before the rentrée and we got all the kids through their first day which we celebrate! Reuben and Eli started 7th grade, Silas, 6th grade and Elodie started 3rd grade.
Paris Art Exhibit
At the end of July, I (Joanna) traveled to Paris to participate in an art exhibit during the Olympic Games where I shared five original pieces, alongside seven other international artists. Again, thank you for your prayers! The time in Paris was a success! The exhibition was designed to spark conversations about faith and during my time there I met several people and artists. I had some great conversations and was able to share and discuss the deeper meaning behind my paintings. I was pleased that my work seemed to resonate deeply with many who came to the gallery.
One woman who came into the gallery on her lunch break, was enamored with my painting « the Word Became Flesh » particularly by its composition of pages of scripture. She began to ask questions about the artist and whether I was a Christian. It turns out she also is a believer and works in a director role at one of the big fashion houses in Paris. She was encouraged that there are young artists creating and sharing art that has the positive message of the Gospel. Moved by the whole exhibit, she asked me if I would come and speak to young artists at her church. We connected her in with the Christian artists network in Paris that put on the exhibition, Agapé Hub, and we will see what God does with this relationship! Thank you for your prayers which I’m convinced helped to bring the right people at the right time to the gallery. I’m feeling encouraged and looking forward to getting into my studio this autumn with an aim to work towards another exhibition soon.
Summer Music
As ‘Hometown Tennessee’, we played two shows in August at L’Orangerie de Beauregard, a campsite run by some believing friends in the Loire Valley. These shows were well attended – some campers even came to camp to see us play this year! (We had also performed last year). Both of these shows went very well. We feel that our comfort in sharing our faith authentically, through story and song, has grown this year and it was encouraging to speak with several folks who were moved by the concerts. A young girl at the site liked our show so much she drew a picture of us- our first ‘fan’ art! We were also able to lead worship for the Sunday church gathering at the site which had a record number of people that day! So amazing to see how God is growing His church in France.
The shows we have done in the past few months has emphasized the need for music that we can share easily with people who come and hear is play. To that end, we are working on the release of an album this fall called « Les Racines » which means « The Roots ». More on this to come in our next update!
Points for Continued Prayer:
Pray for continued healing for Silas, for his bones and his skin irritation.
Please pray for our family as we continue the rentrée. It has been a challenging week for all of us, with tears, sickness and paperwork.
Please pray for our working and family rhythms as we enter into the school year. There are several new people the Lord seems to be putting in our path right now, please pray with us for opportunities to proclaim the gospel in word and deed and to love our neighbors well.
Please pray for us as we work on the album release, that God would give us kingdom strategy in how we share the music with people here.
Thanks for being with us! Sending our love,
The Appels
