Thanksgiving

The group picture - borrow from Connie.

Moving to another country and culture inevitably means you start to celebrate a couple of new holidays. One of the fun, new ones for me is Thanksgiving. Not that Thanksgiving is a Czech holiday, of course, but I serve with a wonderful American missions organisation who celebrate it.

So this year on Thursday 27th was my second time celebrating Thanksgiving! Missionaries from Czech, Slovakia, Poland, Ukraine, and Hungary gathered at our hotel and conference centre in Czech to celebrate.

We start with dinner on Wednesday and go until lunch on Friday and it’s just relational time. On Thursday it starts with a “Turkey Trot” (a 5 kilometre run around a nearby reservoir) and then some flag American football (I kind of ran, I did not play flag football).

The dessert table.. but not even all the desserts!

After that we have Thanksgiving dinner! We get the turkey from a man from our church who raises them. And then everyone brings a few dishes – sides, desserts, stuffing.

After dinner there is a talent show with the kids performing. Being so far from family means they don’t get to have their extended family, aunts, uncles, grandparents at school plays, so for one night we, their extended family, get to watch them perform.

This year I didn’t get to watch the talent show because I was taking the wonderful Yormans to the airport to head off on home assignment. Thankfully driving their seven seater on what I still consider to be the wrong side of the road was very uneventful.

Dave, in the grey shirt, our president, leading us in grace and singing.

I’m so thankful for my Josiah Venture family - for this group of people who understand what it is to leave home and call a new place home. I’m thankful for the relational time we got to spend together.

Just before we said grace before the meal we sang “Great is Thy Faithfulness” – it was a beautiful reminder of God’s incredible faithfulness. Even in new countries, new cultures, and new traditions there is one thing I know, deep deep down know, He is faithful.

And I am thankful.