Thanksgiving

We’re writing Thanksgiving week—our first Thanksgiving without children—from our new work with the Evangelical Reformed Church in Lodz, Poland.

We have much to be thankful for this year as we walk with the church in Lodz and in ten other cities in Poland. We are thrilled to have two Iowa volunteers coming to work with youth at winter camp in February, and we are beginning to receive bells for kids to play in the churches. Other music is developing too, we hope.

In December, the organist and soprano from the new Wroclaw church plant will come to Lodz for a concert in the sanctuary—a first. And the bell choir from the Zelow church will have concerts here in Lodz, too.

Mick and Mackenzie will arrive December 15 for Christmas. We’ll have two weeks off from language study to enjoy them, and then we’ll return to intensive study until March.

This Christmas, we are giving thanks for all of you. It is you who have gifted us with Kingdom work that we feel uniquely called to do. Individual U.S. churches are beginning to gift us with bells, choir music, Sunday School materials, “karaoke” CDs of back-up for gospel and other Christian music, and more. For all off this we thank you, and the Evangelical Reformed Church in Poland thanks you.

Your greatest gifts, of course, are your prayers. We continue to ask for them. Please pray:

1) for continued tenacity and energy for language study—challenging for both of us;

2) for doors to open as we walk with the church, seeking to serve their desire to become a more missional and inviting denomination in a very challenging environment;

3) for positive and nurturing mutual connections to develop with our partners in ministry in the U.S. and in Poland, and worldwide.

4) for our children in the U.S., Mackenzie (20) and McCleary (16) and for the challenges our work in Poland brings to our relations as a family.

Your faithfulness has been a great gift to Global Ministries and to us. You have helped spread the news of the Greatest Gift, come to an earth in deepest need. This Christmas, we hope we can all remember that the best gifts are of time, of prayer, and of faithful commitment.

Blessings on you and yours this Christmas, and on all your ministries!!

And may God’s Peace and Joy be yours this Christmas, no matter what your circumstances may be!!

Liz & Doug Searles in Lodz, Poland
and Mackenzie and Mick (in Oregon and Michigan)

Doug and Elizabeth Searles serve with the Evangelical Reformed Church in Poland.  They serve as mission workers for church growth and outreach.