HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Psalm 100

A Psalm of Thanksgiving

Make a joyful shout to the LORD, all you lands!

Serve the LORD with gladness;

Come before His presence with singing.

Know that the LORD, He is God;

It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves;

We are His people and the sheep of His pasture.

Enter into His gates with thanksgiving,

And into His courts with praise.

Be thankful to Him, and bless His name.

For the LORD is good;

His mercy is everlasting,

And His truth endures to all generations.

George and I want to wish each of you a peaceful and blessed time with family and friends this Thanksgiving.  We also want to express our THANKFULNESS for each of you who have continued to pray and support us in the mission field.  We recognize that you have so many choices regarding the use of your limited time, energy and resources.  It is humbling and encouraging knowing that you have chosen to think upon us, intercede for us and generously give toward the work that the Lord has called us to.

We have been blessed this year to celebrate Thanksgiving with our new church family here in the Western Cape.  Pastor Bob and his wife Suzanne started a tradition three years ago to invite the church family to join them for a traditional Thanksgiving dinner.  As the church family has grown so has the feast!  This year about forty people came to enjoy a cornucopia of traditional American Thanksgiving food each prepared by various members of the church.  Sue prepared receipts for those that wanted to try their hand at making a dish to bring to the dinner.  Clive, one of our brothers at the church, loves to braai and with great enthusiasm chose to grill the turkeys to a juicy perfection.

 

Some of the food was very unfamiliar and different from customary South African or Afrikaans food dishes.  Turkey is not commonly eaten here, so for some it was their first time eating it.  Stuffing, deviled eggs, and sweet potato with the glorious marsh mellow topping were just a few of the items that I was asked to explain as people were making their way down the food table.  Most had an eagerness to try everything at least once.  

Sue and I worked together to make pumpkin pies and pumpkin rolls for dessert.  For many the idea of eating pumpkin, especially in a pie as a dessert, is unusual.  We have learned that food is categorized as either Sweet or Savory (Salty).  They would not usually consider eating a Savory item (i.e. pumpkin) as a Sweet item.  I have never considered labeling food in this manner, but it is serious business here.  We also learned that everything that is considered a dessert is called “pudding”.  It was a bit confusing in the beginning trying to figure out why our friends kept saying that they were going to go get ‘pudding’ following their meal until we realized that were talking about the pumpkin desserts.

  

Celebrating Thanksgiving with our South African friends has given us an opportunity to share a bit of our traditions and culture with them.  It is through these kinds of exchanges and celebrations of our cultural and traditional differences that bridges are built and relationships are established upon which the “Good News” can be shared and opportunities for discipleship can occur.  This is just one of the cool things that we get to partake of as missionaries in the mission field.

As is tradition with many of you during this holiday to share what you are thankful for, George and I wanted to share some of the things of which we are so thankful:

• The support of our loving family and friends back home and our new church family here
• The privilege we have to continue to serve our Lord and Savior in a new mission field
• The Lord's perfect provision and continuous hedge of protection around us
• The changes that the Lord has wrought in our lives this past year that have stretched us, resulting in our growth and a greater nearness to our heavenly Father
• The precious freedoms that we have because of the sacrifice and convictions of our founding fathers and all those who in the past and to this day are fighting to maintain those freedoms
• The faithfulness of our Lord and Savior to keep His promises

Our only reasonable response to all that the Lord has done in, through, and for us this past year is nothing but thanksgiving and praise!

"Therefore by Him let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God, that is the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name."  (Heb 13:15)

In His Grip,

George and Luan