Prayer Requests for Health

Hi Everyone,

We mentioned in our last newsletter that we needed prayer for health and we are writing again for you to intercede on our behalf!

Reuben

In the last newsletter we mentioned that Reuben has been having problems with his throat. We have since seen the specialist twice and done a rigorous course of antibiotics. We now have Reuben scheduled for a tonsillectomy on Monday morning December 9th. He is pretty fragile at the moment because he isn’t breathing or sleeping well. It is difficult at this time of year with four kids in public school and the cold, wet weather to keep everyone from having runny noses and sore throats. Please pray that he can be healthy enough to go ahead with surgery and that the procedure goes smoothly. Pray for his heart as he goes through this process.

Joanna

The day after we sent out the newsletter, Joanna had a crazy pain attack, likened to passing a kidney stone. We called an ambulance and she spent the day in the ER. The clinic was not great and we did not figure out exactly what happened since the blood tests and CT scan came back normal. Joanna has an appointment with a Gastro doctor tomorrow to assess further the problem. She still has pain daily that comes and goes. To add injury to mystery injury, Joanna feel down a few stairs the other day. Please pray for healing for Joanna, wisdom for the doctors, and protection from any further accidents.

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We know kids get sick and, as we age (God help us), we can develop health problems, but things seem to be relentless at the moment. We know and believe and trust in God’s goodness and He continues to open doors for us and bless us in ministry (Thanksgiving and the concerts were GREAT btw and we will tell you more in our next newsletter…) but the enemy continues to attack our health. Thank you for standing with us in prayer and for your continued support of us being a family on mission in France.

With love,

The Appels

4 Turkeys and a Concert

Hello Friends and Family,

It is getting into a lovely wet, cold, wintery season here in Normandy, but we are building fires, baking, and trying to recover from the illnesses that have been with us for a couple months now (see prayer points…;)). We have so much to tell you about what has been happening and what is coming up for us this next season.

Praise and Thanks!

Tomorrow is the anniversary of the day Eli broke his leg. He still has a special gait, injures himself more easily (and uses his crutches as in the photo), and he gets tired walking long distances. But Eli is a champion and IS recovering well. He sees a physical therapist once a week still. We know that the healing process will take more time.

We have been feeling very aware of God’s goodness and how much he has brought Eli and our family through in this last year. We want to start off by saying how very grateful we are for your prayer and support. We know this for certain: without you, we would not be here. We would not be able to be a part of what God is doing here in France and that would be heartbreaking. We simply can’t express just how much it means to us when you pray for us, when you give your hard-earned money to support us, when you send an encouraging word or card. We know we team together with you and that you are a part of our great big family. We love you and thank you from the bottom of our hearts for being with us and we praise our amazing God for his sustaining love and peace and his power, protection and goodness, AMEN!

Thanksgiving

The turkeys are ordered, the invites are out - we are ready to have an amazing thanksgiving celebration with our church and our neighbors! We are expecting upwards of 50 people for thanksgiving this year and we are so excited to be opening our home for this special community event. Despite Eli breaking his leg just days before our celebration last year, the thanksgiving meal was one of my annual highlights because it was an amazing opportunity to invite not yet believers into the loving family of God in a tangible way, and to be able to openly thank Jesus for his goodness. It had a lasting impact on so many who came and especially on me!

Prayer Point:

We are having the meal this coming Sunday, November 24th. Please pray for God to be moving in our community and for us as we prepare to host!

Music in the City

A few weeks ago, we had the opportunity to headline a local concert series called “Les Racines et Les Vagues” (The Roots and the Waves), which highlights folk, country, and blues music. We played about ten songs, of which my favorites were Amazing Grace and Pieces ( a worship song based on 1 Corinthians 13). There was a crowd of about 50 local french people and we even had our picture in the paper! We were able to invite some of our new friends to the concert too. The vice mayor was there and he is interested in having us play at some special events in the village, especially for some D-Day Celebrations. Our friend, J, who heads the association, has started coming along to church! We are also going to be supporting J in upcoming concerts over the next few months. Such an open door!

This Friday we will be playing some “American music” for an event in our city called “American Croq” which is a sort of food festival. We have been asked to “animate” (a fun French verb) the day with a bit of music. This is an official government festival asking us to play American gospel music! This does not happen in France! We are very excited about this opportunity!

Prayer Point:

Please pray that hearts would be open and stirred by the music that we play and that we have more opportunities in the city to share the love of Jesus through music.

Bless Church IN CAEN!

After months of searching and waiting and praying, God has opened up an opportunity for Bless Church to have a place to meet for prayer and worship IN CAEN! We got the keys in early October and we have been working out what it looks like to actually have a place to gather. The space has already been so useful as we have had church gatherings, prayer nights, weekly cooking for the refugees and a fundraising event for SOS Chai. Praise Jesus for getting us a place IN THE CITY!

Additional Prayer Points:

Health

We have been battling with different illnesses for a couple months now. Elodie had a febrile seizure when she had a virus in September, and then hand, foot, and mouth disease a few weeks later. Tom and Eli have had bad throat infections (including a swollen gland the size of a golf ball!), and Reuben has had a throat infection so bad and so long we had to go see a specialist. We are hoping he does not need to have surgery, but we are still waiting for medicine to improve his breathing and take down the swelling! We will be seeing the specialist again today o see what the next steps are. SO, we need your prayers for health and healing for our little family.

Refugees in Caen

Please pray for the refugees facing a the long, cold nights this winter. Pray for the SOS Chai team to know the best ways to help and support these lads as they find new life in a foreign place.

Lauren H

Lauren, whom we connected with through Missionnannys.org, is planning on coming to help us in 2020 as our nanny from February to June! Please pray as she applies for a visa and prepares to join our family on mission in France.

Addresses Needed!

As we mentioned in our last letter, we are working on sending out a card, in the actual mail this year!! Please let us know your address if you are interested in receiving a card and you think we may not have your most up-to-date information. ;)

We love you!

Love, The Appels

Autumn Update from the Appels

Dear Friends and Family,

After a rather full summer, it is nice to begin to find an autumn rhythm here in Normandy. This is the start of our second school year in Caen and it feels really good to be in the same house for more than a year! (We have been rather mobile for a while now…!) In August, for the first time in his 6 year-old life, Silas celebrated his birthday in the same place as the year before! We are thankful for each part of the journey as we’ve sought to follow God’s call, to join in the work He is already doing here in France. There is much to celebrate, to report, and for your prayers, so... thanks for reading!

Church Planting in Caen

It has been one year since we started meeting in our home once a month for church in Caen. On Sunday, we met for the first time this school year and we celebrate that there were seven new people with us that we didn’t even know last year! Praise God that our house church continues to welcome new people! 

We’ve seen God at work in our gatherings and in relationships over the summer. One young french man who is not yet a Christian but has started coming regularly to our meetings has been searching for something real about God for some time. He has tried out a number of other religious paths and he took Tom aside at our gathering last week for a chat. He said, “You don’t know what it is you have here. This is something completely different than I’ve ever found. The way you love each other is not normal, it can only be God’s love because people aren’t able to care for each other this way on their own” (paraphrasing). We love that he has seen God’s love in our community.  

PRAYER: That our church would continue to reach out to our community and that more people would encounter the love of God in transformative ways!

SOS Chai

What exactly do we do with SOS CHAI? We come in our retro-fitted ambulance/food truck and set out some brightly colored tables and stools along with Uno and Jenga and a few soccer balls. We serve tea and coffee and wraps with rice and some kind of meat. We hand out lots of hard boiled eggs. It is usually joyful and boisterous, though it can be tense and sometimes the boys are quite downhearted. We are convinced that the way God is building His church in Caen begins with these beautiful people on the edge of society. Here is a short video about SOS Chai posted on Facebook by one of our interns: CLICK HERE

In addition, to our home group gatherings, our work with SOS Chai continues to be central to the church planting work. Working with refugees can be difficult at times, but it is consistently humbling and rewarding. Along with our regular community of refugees, we’ve started to have a group of homeless people coming to our twice a week cafés. We’ve been praying for the trafficked women who work as prostitutes in the area where SOS Chai operates. This past week we had some of these women come to receive some help for the first time.

Equipping through the Seven Stories School 

Another aspect of our work here is the training we help to lead with Gerard and Chrissie Kelly at Béthanie, the spiritual retreat center which is also the hub of the Bless Network. Later this week, we are helping to lead the Seven Stories School. This ten day course is full of teaching, worship, retreat, mission, and spending time in church and community all pointing each participant towards deeper knowledge of their God-given identity and place in His story. It has always been such a privilege to worship with these groups, and this will be our fourth school!

PRAYER: Pray for fruitful experiences for the participants and for us to manage home-life and worshipping with these groups at Bethanie.

La Musique 

God continues to open doors for us in the city, especially through music. Tom helped to welcome a  delegation from Nashville this past month and we’ve been invited to submit an application for a grant from the US regional consulate to lead some cultural exchanges through music in the city. We have been invited to play a couple shows in November. There is also a musical association near us that is starting to host some live music nights at the town hall. We are meeting with their leadership next week. We are excited about playing music, but more excited about the relationship that we have the chance to build and the connections we are able to make in the city.

More People!

We are excited that God is answering our prayers for more teammates! There is so much possibility here in Caen, so many doors seem to be opening, and the need for Jesus is huge. We are thankful to have Troy Gebert working with us through GEM, our missions agency. Troy is courageous and hard working and we are already seeing fruit come through his efforts in his first couple of months here.

In the January, we are looking forward to welcoming Lauren, who will be with us for five months working as our nanny! She is coming through an organisation that sends people to nanny for missionary families all over the world called Mission Nannys. Please pray for her visa application process to go smoothly!

There are also some families praying about coming to serve with us on a longer term basis. Please join us in praying with them for discernment and that God would bring the right team together for the work He has prepared for us.

La Rentrée (back to school)

All four of our children are attending our local school now and their first couple of weeks have gone very well. Elodie is nothing short of heroic, marching into a foreign language environment for the first time on her third birthday! The boys are adjusting well to being in the same school now and are glad to be able to play together during recess. We’ve also started some associations this year which are a good way to connect to the community and get to know our neighbors. Sy is playing tennis, Reuben is going to try badminton, Eli is continuing his good work at the physical therapist, and Elodie is starting “baby gym”. Joanna will be continuing with her painting association and Tom has started at a badminton club.

The Most Contemplative of Seasons…

It is a huge blessing to begin to feel settled. Beginning the year in the same school, seeing some familiar faces and friends, deepening relationships with neighbors, and growing opportunities in the city…!!!!

Even in the transition and relative chaos, it has been amazing to see God moving, drawing people to Himself; into freedom and deep love. Now we are sensing the opportunity for even more fruitfulness here in France.

Thank you for being here with us, for your ongoing love, prayer and support. We could not do this important work without you and we are so grateful!

Love,

The Appels
Tom, Joanna, Reuben, Eli, Silas, and Elodie

P.S. - We are going to be sending out a card this year (!) and we would love to have your most recent address. Please drop us a line if you would like to receive a card or have moved in the past few years! Thank you for reading to the end!

Part 2: Summertime Update (Blesstival, Visiting Teams, Music in the City)

Hi Folks,

Welcome to part two of our Appel summer update! In yesterday’s update, we largely focused on family and local updates, and prayer needs. If you missed it, and would like to read, click here. This update will bring you news of all the things God has been up to through our ministry life in and around Caen with the Bless Network. Thanks for reading!

Women’s Retreat Day

At the end of May, we had a women’s retreat day at Bethanie. It was a lovely time of worship, prayer and teaching. A young woman who has been coming along to serve at SOS Chai (Bless’ refugee ministry) since November, became a Christian during one of the prayer times! We are so excited that she is a part of our church in Caen! She is already bringing other people along to our gatherings! Amazing!

Blesstival

Down at L’Orangerie de Beauregard, the campsite near Tour that is a part of our greater Bless Network, we hosted a four day festival, lovingly called ‘Blesstival’. This is a gathering of everyone in our network across Europe for worship, teaching, and fellowship. Tom and I were responsible for leading the worship (Bi-lingually!) for the festival, we helped host a 24-hour prayer room on the site and facilitated many of the events. Our kids were very involved in the program as well by dancing, drumming, and doing the words on the computer. Joanna also was able to paint as part of one of the worship sessions, (painting in pictures above)! In all, it was a fruitful time where relationships were strengthened, people received prayer and healing, we were envisioned for the future, and celebrated what God is already doing through our community in Bless. Plus, the bonus of a pool. ;)

Nashville Team

It was a huge blessing to welcome a team from our home church in Nashville, The Gate Community Church. This team came and led what they call a Freedom Immersion day in which they taught and modeled ways of actively standing in prayer for the freedom we have in Christ. This teaching was well received among the group of French believers who came, many of whom are new in their journey of faith. The Nashville team also helped us with SOS Chai and supported Joanna and I in our work with the twinning association. Most of all, the team was a source of refreshment for us and our church.

Blankets for SOS Chai

While the team from Nashville was here, we had a quick visit from some other friends in the UK who are part of our UK church - Christ Church Chorleywood - and who help to lead an organization dedicated to helping refugees. A team of three stopped by for one of our community group BBQs and brought a huge van load of quality blankets for us to distribute to the refugees! We have given out almost all of them in the past weeks and the lads are very grateful!

Music in Caen

After praying for years that God would open up opportunities for us to share about His love through the arts and music, we had the chance to play two ‘soirées musicales’ (nights of live music) in Caen in the space of a week! This was through the relationship that has been growing with the Caen-Nashville twinning association. Our friends Ryan and Karen Hall were in town with the Nashville team and along with our friends and teammates Dan and Kate Soar, we played one open air show in front of Keys & Co. and then a show in a bar in the center of town a week later. It was an amazing privilege to sings songs about freedom and God’s love over our city. We had a lot of fun with this and it seems that it might be the beginning of something for us here in Caen.

Upcoming Visits and Trips

We have already had a few short term teams come through this summer from Canada, Nashville and the UK, but next week we welcome a large group (above 40!) of Californians to Bethanie for a week of worship, service and teaching, along with a BBQ at our house, which is becoming a bit of a tradition ;) The next week we travel as a family to GEM’s Annual Conference in Frankfurt, Germany. There we will celebrate 70 years of God at work through GEM in Europe and have a chance to worship and fellowship with other missionaries in our organization. When we return, we (Tom and Joanna) will be going on a week of retreat and the kids will be at our home in the care of some very great friends who are fellow GEM missionaries. This sums up our big events for the summer, but we are hoping to have a family “Stay-cation” and explore Normandy as a family in August before school begins again in September.

Prayer Points

Caen Nashville Twinning

The nights of music in June were a success and we would like to develop further the musical connections with Nashville and Caen through the relationships we have made. Please pray for continued favor and God-inspired strategy for this partnership.

House of Songs Rental Location

In our update in May, we talked about a rental location for a prayer room in Caen. We have submitted the application but the owner is on the fence about renting or selling and we have seen no movement on this for two months now. Please pray for breakthrough on this location or for another location to open up in Caen.

New Believers and New Connections

Praise Jesus we are seeing new believers join our community! We are also meeting more people interested in coming along to our house group and church meetings. Please pray for these relationships to flourish and strengthen in the coming months.

Recruitment

One thing that is a constant prayer of ours is for more workers for the harvest. We have so much opportunity to serve here but only a few of us able to take part. We are grateful and excited to be welcoming two new interns to work with us this fall, but Dan and Kate Soar, who have hosted at Bethanie the past year, are moving on and returning to the UK. Their departure in September leaves a massive hole on our team. Please pray for the right people to come and join our team in God’s timing and for patience and wisdom for us while we wait for them.

Travel Safety and Stamina

We are excited to have this full summer in our home for the first time, without a lot of travel, but we still have some! Please pray for safety, health and protection as we travel to Germany and as we are away from the kids for a week in August. PLUS rest for the whole family as we all recover from a difficult winter season.

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Sword Beach, Ouistreham France

You’ve made it to the end of this two part update. Something we reflected on in our time with our friends from Nashville is the difficulty of expressing difficulty in our update emails. What I mean is that while we feel so very well supported and able to be transparent with you, sometimes our hope or trust that God is winning the battles can make it seem like we are walking on sunshine, that everything is going amazingly well here. The reality is that there is rarely a week that goes by when we aren’t struggling. We are seeing God at work and we are so thankful to be joining in this work. But, we are also wounded. This is why Joanna and I are getting away next month - we need some time for God to work deeply in the places we are injured. We write this, not to be a downer at the end of our update, but because we’re understanding more deeply our need for life together with you. Thank you for praying with us and please do let us know how we can pray with you too.

Every Blessing,

Tom and Joanna, Reuben, Eli, Silas, and Elodie

Summertime Update: Part 1 (D-Day, Art Show, New Friendships)

Hello Friends and Family,

Summer is here! I can’t believe that we are already into July! Time flies when it is the busy season! Starting at the end of May, we entered into a full season at Bless. We have groups coming and going, Blesstival, church gatherings, concerts plus all kinds of family, end-of-the-school-year activities that we are involved with in our community. God is certainly up to something amazing!

We decided to break this update into two parts, this one with more personal family updates and the second about God’s work over the past month or so with us here in Normandy.

D-Day 75th Anniversary

Many of you WW2 buffs may recall that this year marked the 75th anniversary of D-Day landings. Our little village was the site of an instrumental Allied military maneuver that happened the night before the D-Day landings. It involved some brave men flying and landing three gliders and taking the Pont du Bénouville, which is now known as “Pegasus Bridge”, making our little village the first to be liberated in all of France from Nazi occupation.

Needless to say for the celebrations, our little village was heaving with tourists, bag pipers, and visitors dressed in full military uniform. The kids spent weeks preparing banners that hung on the bridge. Then on June 6th, all the school children and parents who could accompany the classes (including Joanna) walked in a parade from the school to the center of the bridge where there was a ceremony, fly-overs of war-time military planes and bands marching and bagpipers piping ‘Amazing Grace’. It was a deeply moving event to be a part of and we are keenly aware of the spiritual significance as well. We are praying for the liberation of the people of France, that they would find their freedom in the love and amazing grace of Jesus.

Art Show

At the end of May, Joanna’s painting association were a part of an art exposition in the village. Joanna was able to display her art for the first time in public which was a big step for her. The art association has been a great place for Joanna to meet people in our community and learn more about the French culture through art. We visited the opening as a family and then our house church went all together to see the expo that weekend. This is the living out of some of the vision God has given us for France, reaching people through the arts!

Hosting in our Home

Summertime is great time to have people over for a BBQ and we are definitely doing this in France! In the past month, we have hosted 8 events with cumulative numbers over 100 people. We love to be able to open our home to friends and neighbors! As a result, we are seeing more people engage with our church and we are making friends in our community. Please pray for continued favor, as we have a few more BBQs planned this summer with new families!

Language and Visas

We are so excited to tell you that Tom has achieved B2 level French language ability! This is the language level required by GEM before fully transitioning from the language and cultural acquisition phase on our mission. We are tremendously proud of Tom for going from zero french to a B2 level, YAY! We will always be learners when it comes to language and culture in France, but it is wonderful to have achieved this goal! Also, we have managed to renew our visas for another year! Thanks for your prayers.

Prayer Points

Wellness for our Family

We are seeing progress in Eli’s walking praise the Lord, but I think all the kids (and us) are tired at the end of the school year. Eli was sick for a week and a half right after school let out. We think his body is needing some good rest and recovery. Please pray for all of us to be well this summer and find time to recuperate after a busy and difficult year.

French Language

We speak English in the home, and when the kids are home for the summer, that means that there is a lot more English in our lives. Please pray that we can continue to grow in our French language even over the summer months. Elodie is set to start school in the autumn, where she will be in a full immersion French environment. We are doing what we can to prepare her!

Social System in France

In March, we submitted an application to enter the social system in France. They lost our application for a while and it has not come through yet. This is important for us as there may be a large sum that needs to be payed once it is processed and we are waiting to see what that sum is! Please pray that the application is processed quickly and that the sum is not exorbitant.

Travel

At the end of July we are driving to Frankfurt, Germany for GEM’s Annual Conference, which is the gathering of all of GEM’s missionaries across Europe for us to be together to worship, add to vision, and be equipped. In early August, we (Tom and Joanna) are having a week away for retreat, especially to help us process this last year. We have some amazing friends who are coming to stay with our kids in our home so we can do this. Please pray for safety as we travel and for the week we have apart to be fruitful, safe and healthy for our family.

If you’ve read to this point, thank you and congratulations! We appreciate all your support and prayers for our family. Watch your inboxes for a ministry update tomorrow!

Love,

The Appels

Pancakes, Festivals and First Steps!

Dear Friends,

We returned to France a month ago and we find ourselves already ramping up for an abundant season here in Caen! To be honest though...

Jet lag hit us like a pie in the face. Only it was not funny or delicious.

For the first week or so after we landed back in Nashville none of us slept well. Elodie in particular took to waking up and playing in the hall during the night. Relatedly, we learned that it is difficult explaining time zones to a two year old. In French, jet lag is called 'décalage horaire' which sounds an awful lot like 'décollage horaire' which could be literally rendered: “the ungluing of time”. Yes…it feels like that.

We had an amazing time in the States and we have lots to tell you about/ask you to pray with us about here in France. So, what follows should be something like a scrapbook/update/prayer request!

Hold on to your hats folks, here we go!

America, the Beautiful

A beautiful thing indeed to be with so many of you lovely people. We had the chance to see lots of family and friends and this was sooooo good! Thank you to all of you who squeezed us in for breakfasts, late night teas, and conversations before and after church. We also took the time to have some American experiences - including some bonfires with s’mores, pancakes and a baseball game.

We loved our time at our home church, The Gate Community Church in Nashville, thanks so much for your warm welcome and care. It was great to make new friends too. Something rather humbling and moving happened more than once at the Gate. People who we didn’t yet know came up to meet us and let us know they have been praying for us - amazing!

We were encouraged as we shared stories of all that God is working here in France and saw our joy and excitement reflected in your eyes. We’ve said again and again that this work is not something we can do alone and we were reminded afresh of how much support we have. Thank you.

Eli is walking!

You can’t trust everything you see on facebook these days, but yes, it is true - Eli has started walking without assistance! This is huge answered prayer. While there is still a long road ahead to complete healing, we are thrilled with his progress. Along with Reuben and Silas, Eli is back at school pretty much full days with a couple of physical therapy sessions each week. (At school, at least for now, Eli is still in a wheelchair) Thank you for continuing to pray with us for healing.

We’ve been parents for 7 years

In some professions it would be about time for a sabbatical… We celebrated the twins 7th birthday in style the weekend after arriving back home in France with 14 french kids and many of their parents. Along with cake, presents and “Happy Birthday” in two languages, we also played a game involving cheese balls that our French neighbors found amusing. The party was great and we are so thankful that we are becoming better friends with many of our neighbors. Please pray for these wonderful people with us.

Blesstival

At the end of this month we’re heading down to the L’Orangerie de Beauregard, à campsite owned by our friends the Rockes for ‘Blesstival’ the annual gathering of the Bless Network. This is à time to share and celebrate all that God is working across France and more widely in Europe, to pray for each other and to seek vision for the year to come. We are thrilled to be directing the worship for this event and perhaps even more thrilled that our good friends and long time sojourners, the Irwins, will be joining us to help with the sung worship. Please pray for deep moments with God and good times of community.

Prayer Room in Caen

For some time now we’ve been praying about a venue in Caen in which to gather as church. While the long term vision is a big warehouse on the Presqu’ile where we can serve refugees and host church gatherings, we have been feeling more and more like we need a space to gather and a prayer/worship rooms seems right. To that end we have been prayer walking the city and have found a property for rent that would suit us well. We are in the application stage now so please do pray for favor from the owner and a smooth administrative process.

Additional ;) Upcoming Prayer Needs:

• Art Exposition this weekend! - Joanna is going to be a part of an art exposition in our village. It is a great way to get further connected in our community and share some of Jo’s artwork!

• House Church Gathering at our home in Bénouville this Sunday

• Nashville Team to Visit!! - A team from The Gate Church in Nashville is coming in June for a week to pray and minister to our church community and in the city of Caen. More on this to come!

• Fête de la Musique - on June 21st we have an amazing opportunity to play a little concert at Keys & Co as a part of the national festival of music. This is our first opportunity to minister through music, publicly in the city!

• Family Rest - We are still feeling rather exhausted from our trip to the USA and jumping right back in to things here in France. Please pray that we can find times to rest even moving into this busy time!

Grateful for You!

Thank you friends for everything! Your prayers and support carry us through and encourage us along the way.

Appels to USA & Nashville to France

Bonjour tout le monde,

We hope that you all are feeling the spring in the air and the hope of a new season coming! Eli is learning to walk again and we are starting to take steps back into active ministry in Normandy. God is weaving together an amazing work here in Caen and we are so excited to be a part of it! But first we want to talk about our…

Upcoming Trip to America!

We leave for the United States this Wednesday (eeek!) for a three-week visit. It will be almost two years to the day since we moved to France to make it our home. We will be in the States from April 3-23, first in Nashville for two weeks to see friends and Tom’s family, then in Arkansas for a week to see Joanna’s family.

Throwback to two years ago!

Silas, prepping for church lunch in our home

When we are in the USA, we would love to see as many of you as possible! If you are in the area, we have several opportunities for you to attend and find out more about what God is doing in France, plus we get to see you in person and give you a good ol’ fashioned American HUG! Please take a look at the events below and let us know (by responding to this email) if you can attend or if we can find another time to connect during our trip!

Appels in USA - Events

Sunday April 7 - Appels at the Gate Sunday morning (10:30am)

Friday April 12th - Coffee and Dessert reception at the Gate at 7pm
(Childcare provided)

Sunday April 14 - Appels at the Gate Sunday morning (10:30am)

Sunday April 14 - Open House at the Hayners’ Home
(8205 Morningview Ct., Brentwood, TN 37027)
3-6 pm with an informal presentation at 4pm

Sunday April 21 - Appels at Pee Dee Baptist Church, Clinton AR (11:00am)

These times would also be a great opportunity for us to meet new people who are interested in what God is doing in France. Please feel free to connect us!

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What a difference two years makes!

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Jumelage de Caen et Nashville

A significant door of opportunity has opened up for us in Caen due to the fact that Caen is jumelée (twinned) with Nashville. (www.caennashville.com)

SHORT HISTORY LESSON:

The twinning of cities, “jumelage” in French, is an important relationship in Europe as it encourages cultural exchange and economic advantages for both cities. This practice started in 836 between two cities (Le Mans, France and Paderborn, Germany), but has grown in importance following the end of WWII. Most cities in France are twinned with at least one city or village in another country.

In Caen, there is an office of jumelage at city hall and there is funding available for twinning activities. We had no idea that Caen was twinned with our home city in the US until we arrived here and saw the signs that proudly declare this connection along most roads leading into the city.

Tom and Sebastian from the Caen Nashville Twinning Committee

After some time trying to connect with folks on this jumelage committee, Tom was invited to lunch with Sebastian, who directs the Caen/Nashville twining for the city of Caen. Over a typical French business lunch (2 hour/three course meal) it became clear that Sebastian and the committee are so excited to have Nashvillians who love France, living in Caen! They have invited Tom to join the committee and to consider taking on the role of Secretary of Music for the twinning committee. These are early days but there are some exciting possibilities for bringing teams from Nashville including musicians to visit Caen and share some of our culture. Tom was able to be very open with Sebastian about being a Christian pastor and that many of our friends are Christian musicians. He responded: "Bien Sûr - vous êtes de Nashville!" (of course you are from Nashville!)

All this to say, it seems like there is a very real possibility of putting on a concert of worship or Christian music with the approval and funding of the French state - all because they see Christianity as part of Nashville culture - amazing!! God is opening doors to the city of Caen!

Messenger Fellowship

‘One Voice’ Summit

I (Tom) have just returned from a wonderful time at the Messenger Fellowship Summit in Nashville. It was great to connect with friends and family in the Nashville area (only briefly this time, but the whole family is coming soon!). The Messenger Summit was a time for Tom to be with other pastors and leaders from around the world who are connected with Messenger Fellowship, the network of churches and leaders with whom Tom is ordained.

It was encouraging not only to swap stories of what God is doing in different settings and hear some excellent teaching, but also to be part of a growing French contingent who are part of Messenger Fellowship. Tom was able to do some French-English translating, leading worship in French and hosting of French pastors visiting the conference! Tom also spoke at the conference and was able to introduce Gerard Kelly (Bless Network in Caen, our supervisor!) to our networks in Messenger Fellowship. It was a very encouraging time for Tom to build relationships and see old friends and family in the USA.

Prayer Points:

• Our Trip to USA - safe travels, good flights, good attitudes, and protection! Pray for our times connecting with family and friends that we have not seen in a long time! Pray for good opportunities to share about what God is doing in France with our current partners and new ones too!

• Healing for Eli - Eli is in physical therapy and is slowly getting back on his feet. We will be traveling with a wheel chair and hoping to continue making progress towards walking while we are away in the states

• Caen Church - we are seeing some momentum around music events and our church meetings and imagining the ways these might fit together in the city. The Bless team is praying about renting a space in Caen to have as a prayer and worship space. Please join us in prayer for the right location and the funds to rent it!

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Nous sommes reconnaissants…

We always like to end with thanks because when we get to the end of writing these updates, we are always so grateful for what God has done and is doing. We are aware of your big part in this work here, that your prayer and support makes it possible! Thank you for partnering with us!

Praying God’s amazing love, peace and blessing upon you,

The Appels

Tom, Joanna, Reuben, Eli, Silas, and Elodie

New Season Ahead and Trip to USA

Dear Friends,

Greetings from sunny Normandie! Yes, this part of the world is known for an abundance of wet and gray, but we’ve been enjoying some extraordinary early Spring weather which has called the earth to bloom. While we are feeling hopeful and encouraged at the beginning of this new season, there is no sugar-coating the fact that we are still coming out of a long and very difficult winter.

Update on Eli

After four weeks in the hospital in traction and eight weeks in a cast, Eli is cast-free but still using a wheelchair to get around while awaiting the green light to put his feet on the ground and learn to walk again. He is in pretty good spirits, but from time to time he gets frustrated that he can’t move like his brothers. He misses his friends at school too. We are praying he can return to school sometime this month, but it depends on his progress with standing up. We are so thankful for the encouragement and care we’ve received during Eli’s extended time of healing. Thank you for continuing to pray for our family as we are sensing the need for some healing for all of us as we come out of this experience.

Trip to the USA!

That’s right - in April we are taking our first family trip back to the states since we moved to France two years ago! We will be spending a couple weeks in Nashville seeing Tom’s family, and catching up with friends. We are excited to visit our home church The Gate Community Church in Franklin and will be participating in the services on Sunday April 7 and 14. We will also be sharing some of the stories of God at work here in France at special event host by the Gate on Friday evening, April 12th. In addition, our friends the Hayners are kindly hosting an open house gathering on Sunday afternoon April 14th from 3-6; we will share some stories from France around 4pm. We are so excited to see our friends in Nashville! If you are in the area, please do come and see us at one of these events and do let us know you are coming. Also please be in touch if those times don’t work for you and we can try to find a different way to connect. After Nashville, we will be spending a week in Arkansas with Joanna’s family then we return to France after Easter. A small itinerary for our trip is listed here.

Sunday April 7 - Appels at the Gate Sunday morning (10:30am)

Friday April 12th - Coffee and Dessert reception at the Gate at 7pm
(Childcare provided)

Sunday April 14 - Appels at the Gate Sunday morning (10:30am)

Sunday April 14 - Open House at the Hayners (Brentwood, TN)
3-6 pm with an informal presentation at 4pm

Church Planting with the Bless Network

God is certainly on the move here in France! Our team is praying about the best ways to disciple the four new believers and other young leaders in our group - amazing! There is a lot of trial and error in our efforts at church, and what is emerging looks unconventional:

• We are small gatherings spread across a relatively large area.

• We are a fairly chaotic house church in our home that worships with a bunch of kids in multiple languages.

• We are early morning prayers at a cafe before they open as this is about the only time the busy staff team has.

• We are a food truck that serves hot meals to refugees twice a week - the meals are often cooked by an amazing team of not yet believing French women.

Prayer Points

Church Planting in Caen - Please pray for clarity about where to put our energy and for wisdom to follow God’s leading.

The Seven Stories School - This next week, we will be helping lead at the Seven Stories School for the Bless Network. Please pray for the ministry times and for the family at home. Joanna recently helped build a website that speaks about this aspect of our the work at Bless - check it out! www.sevenstories.org

Nanny – We are coming into a busy season of ministry and we are praying and looking for someone to come and help us with the kids this summer. Please pray that we find the right person to accompany our family.

Messenger Fellowship Conference – Tom is taking his first trip to the USA at the end of March to participate in the Messenger Fellowship’s annual conference in Nashville. Please pray for safety on his travels and for Joanna and the kids at home while he is away.

Visa Application - It is that time of year again - we’ll be applying for à renewal of our visa this month, please pray for a smooth process.

Thank you for praying for us, supporting us and sticking with us during this trying season for our family. We are hopeful for the next season that there is healing, rest and restoration. We are praying for our neighborhood and the greater community in Caen, that God’s light would shine and that new life would come!

We are grateful for each of you and we are sending our love from France!

Love,

The Appels

Thank You And Merry Christmas!

Hello Friends,

Happy Christmas Eve! We hope that your stockings are hung, your cookies and/or mince pies prepared, and that you are near friends and family this Christmas. Tomorrow we celebrate the birth of Jesus; God loves us so much that He would draw near and dwell with us. Tomorrow we also end this year’s Advent season, our intentional time of waiting, of longing, of resting in the hope of our God who keeps His promises. Advent has been poignant for us this year as we’ve spent the month waiting for our son Eli to be ready to come home from a hospital bed. It has been a difficult month for our family, but in the waiting we have known miraculous provision and peace. Now that waiting is over - our son is home! It is still a tough road ahead, but we are so incredibly thankful to have Eli home for Christmas.

Eli Update

Eli fell from high in a tree on November 21 and broke his femur badly up near his hip. He was in traction, laying flat on his back with his leg held up by weights at a 90 degree angle for 28 days. Early on in the hospital, he contracted an infection and near the end of his stay he had the flu. Thanks to Jesus and to our mighty prayer warriors all over the world, he miraculously recovered in time to get his cast on December 18, and came home the next day by ambulance. PRAISE THE LORD!

He has to be on his back for the next 6-8 weeks in the cast (which we have made into a zebra leg!), we can’t transport him in the car and he can’t walk or sit up. We have a wheel chair, but we aren’t sure if he will be able to use it because of the positioning of his cast. Over the past few days, we have developed a routine of bringing him down to the sofa in the morning where he spends the day, and then carrying him upstairs to sleep in his bed at night. We did move him outside on his bed for a few minutes yesterday just so he could get some fresh air. He is strong and has had an incredible attitude for a 6-year-old boy going through all of this! Please pray for his complete recovery, his bone to be miraculously healed and straight, and for his spirit to be encouraged over these next few months.

THANK YOU

I really don’t think there are words to express how very blessed we were by you during this very difficult time for our family. We have had such amazing support from our local and worldwide community, it is astounding. People traveled from all over France, England, and the USA to offer us support at home with the kids, help keeping up with chores, and relief for Tom and I from our constant time in the hospital. We had multiple care packages arrive every day for a month(!) full of things that really helped Eli escape the four walls of his hospital room and travel the world. We received cards, notes, pictures, maps, from so many people. One of the nurses in the hospital said she had never seen a room so colorful and well decorated with cards and pictures! Your prayers have been appreciated and tangibly felt. We shouldn’t be doing as well as we are right now after this past month. Two nights before Eli was scheduled to get his cast and head home he was running a 104 degree fever and the doctors said, “he has the flu he is going to need to stay longer”. So many of you were praying and Eli’s fever broke the next morning and he was able to come home on schedule. If you ever doubted that your prayers are effective, DON’T! The proof is in Eli being home right now, and that he is not more badly hurt. So we want to express to you our deep gratitude from the bottom of our hearts. THANK YOU. TRULY.

God is on the move

Despite this difficult season, God is doing amazing things here in Caen. Even though Eli broke his leg the day before Thanksgiving, we decided to continue with our plan of hosting Thanksgiving dinner at our home on the following Sunday. It was truly amazing how our Bless community came together and made this Thanksgiving a wonderful celebration. We hosted 30 people at our home, from France, England, Scotland, Latvia, Italy, and Romania, many of whom are not yet Christians or new Christians. Tom and Eli were at the hospital, and Joanna was the only American there (the others were Reuben, Silas and Elodie) who could actually remember a Thanksgiving in the USA! There was a real feeling of love, warmth, community, and family. Our relationships grew deeper and stronger, and a few people have started to come along to church as a result! We couldn’t have asked for a better event given the circumstances. Praise Jesus!

One of our core beliefs about our work here is that God’s power is made perfect in our weakness. We don’t have to have it all together to bear witness to the transformative power of God’s love. In fact, as we’ve seen this month, in vulnerability we can connect more deeply with our neighbors and God’s love is so clearly evident. As we celebrate our God who made Himself small to be with us, please know our gratitude for you. Thank you for being with us even from a distance.

Sending you love, joy, peace, hope, and blessing!

Merry Christmas!

Love the Appels

Care for Eli

Hello Friends,

On Wednesday, Eli fell from high in a tree and broke his leg. We are so grateful for all the prayers and outpouring of love from all over the world that has come for our brave son and little family. Thank you for every prayer and offer of help - it is very kind of you!

Cards and Care Packages

We have had several kind offers to send something to help Eli’s stay in hospital and two-month in cast recovery process and I thought I would send out a few ideas on the blog and then I can direct people here.

Things to Send

Eli loves maps and learning about the world. If you would like to send a post card from where you live or information about a state you live in, a map, or book that has something to do with you location - he would love that.

He likes goldfish crackers (which are only available in the states!) mint chocolate, raspberries and blueberries, milk duds, and because he is missing thanksgiving, we will be making pumpkin pie when he gets out, so if you wanted to send a can of pumpkin, I can make him a thanksgiving pie! I bet he would like reeces peanut butter cups because he likes peanut butter.

He also loves the greatest showman, the color green, and zebras. Also, he is going to be missing some of the Christmas season by being stuck in bed in this one room. You could send some fun christmassy things to put up on the wall or decorate his room somehow. That’s all I can think of now!

Our Address:

The Appels or Eleazar Appel
7ter Rue du Bac du Port
14970 Bénouville
France

UPDATE:

I know it has only been two days and we still have a long road ahead. There isn’t much change as he can’t really move. He is managing to sleep and eat so that is really good. Either Tom or I are with him at the hospital at all times. He still has a lot of pain with any movement or nudge of his bed. We have had some amazing provision from our community here in Caen and friends in France and England offering to come and help us. We are very grateful and are still trying to figure out what all that looks like.

Prayer points:

• Pray for quick healing of Eli’s bone so we can be sure to be home by Christmas!

• Pray for strength for Tom and I while we navigate this thing!

• Pray for our French to come quickly and for us to be able to understand what is happening and effectively advocate for Eli.

• Pray fro Reuben, Silas, and Elodie for peace and understanding as they also feel the effects of Eli being away from home, and Tom and I not being in the same place.

• Pray for thanksgiving! - We have decided to keep our thanksgiving celebration at our house this Sunday. We have chosen to lean into community, vulnerability, and celebrating God’s faithfulness with our new friends. Our church is helping tremendously to pull it off and we are just going to be those people who invite you over and then make you do things to help- hahaha.

Thank you again for being with us, holding Eli and our family up in prayer. We are grateful for you!

Much love,

Tom and Joanna