Update from: Nicole & Vincent - 11/21

Dear Dixie,

We have just returned from a truly magical and miraculous 9 days of camp with our younger Parfums de Vie kids!  As you will see from the photos I've attached, their joy is so tangible - it's amazing and encouraging to see the seeds of faith that are taking root and flourishing in their hearts!  Vincent and I are so thankful for your partnership with us: many lives are literally being impacted for eternity thanks to your love and generosity!

There were many encouraging highlights for me personally.  In particular it was truly wonderful to see our young leaders Walé and Aya (11th Grade) and Mara (10th grade) serving throughout the camp.  They did an outstanding job: helping plan activities and teaching content, leading games, Bible studies and discussions and providing such a wonderful example through their love and patience for each of the children.  Seeing their growth, motivation, commitment and joy as they serve in a leadership role gives me so much hope and faith for all of the younger kids of Parfums de Vie, and helps me to trust that soon, they too will become leaders for the next generation!

At camp, my favorite thing is always the conversations and prayer times that happen spontaneously in the "in between" - the discussions or tears or fears or stories that naturally come up for one reason or another.  These precious moments cannot be planned or programmed, they occur while walking, playing or making s'mores around the fire, or washing dishes or at mealtimes or bed-time, but these meaningful moments are the fruit of the year-round work of Parfums de Vie in these kids' lives: the trust that has been built, the understanding that has been gleaned, and camp just provides the perfect soil for these conversations and prayer times to take place, and for the resulting growth in their lives.  I am so thankful that our camps help to facilitate these opportunities for transformation and it's truly a privilege to see Christ at work in such miraculous ways within the sacred space that camp can so uniquely create!

There are many meaningful stories about every child who was at camp.  To mention just a handful: Ryan (9) who shared his fears and questions about his Mum (Fatiha's) breast cancer with our wonderful intern Luke!  Momo (11) who cried and talked more than ever before about his traumatic past and asked for help and prayer.  Zaineb (11) who prayed that the seed God has planted in her heart will grow to maturity!  Abdel (15) who sat down and cried, literally at the foot of the cross on one of our hikes, because he's so concerned about his future and then poured out his heart to Vincent.  Fatma (9) who despite her very strict Muslim family openly expresses her faith and easily prays out loud for her friends and Idir (12) who is questioning the Islamic values taught by his parents and sincerely engaging with scripture.

We are so thankful!  Please continue to pray with us for all the children and youth of Parfums de Vie.

Each year our Mission Organization Communitas International holds a special Giving Day Event.  This year's Giving Day is Tuesday November 16th (just one week away!) and Vincent and I would like to invite you to consider a special one-time donation on this day to help support the ministry of Parfums de Vie.

We have three very specific needs that we hope to raise support for on this year's Giving Day.

1. For our personal support. 

As you can imagine, raising personal support for our family is an ongoing necessity, and not something that we focus on very much.  However, our personal support account is flagging and so we are praying to raise $15,000 on Giving Day towards our personal support account.

2. For our general Parfums de Vie ministry fund

Our monthly committed giving doesn't cover the ongoing operational costs.  We are therefore very dependent on year-end one-time gifts to help ensure the running our camps, homework club, youth group, kids club and all of the necessary equipment and resources to facilitate our various programs (teachers & staff, vehicles, ministry center maintenance and utilities etc.)  We hope to raise $20,000 towards our general ministry fund on Giving Day, which would really help tremendously towards next year's budget.

3. For our College/University Fund

Parfums de Vie is now sponsoring four College students (Narjes - 2nd year of neuroscience at St Andrews University in Scotland - now the #1 Uni in the UK!  Laith - 1st year International Business at Rotterdam, Mahdi - 1st year Chemical Engineering in Rome and Simon - 1st year Design in Nice).  All four of our College students are doing very well in their studies, enjoying getting settled in their new cities and also committed in student Bible study groups.  Narjes found a job the first week of term, but the boys are all still finding their feet and have not yet managed to start part time jobs.  They are all in regular contact with us - in fact pray for me as this actually adds several hours per week of extra time on the phone with each of them!  The four of them regularly need to talk to either me or Vincent regarding the various issues they are facing as they navigate their new lives!  We hope to raise $20,000 towards our University Fund on Giving Day.
 
Any gift of any amount on Giving Day will be such a huge help and blessing for our ministry!  If you would like to pledge to give on Giving Day, you can do that TODAY by responding to this email!  I will send an update and reminder before Giving Day with our pledge total.....and let you know where we're at towards reaching our goal!  Thank you so much for your prayers, friendship and support!

Please don't hesitate to reach out if you have any questions!  All the giving info and links are below!

with love and thankfulness,

Nicole & Vincent