Tonight is our monthly ladies' meeting. I would tell you about it.... but I don't get to attend. I get to escape with five boys and Bernard to hopefully someplace warm (usually Ikea.)  Katie prepares a Bible study to share with the ladies and they also enjoy a hot drink with something nice to go with it. Katie carries a very full work load with homeschooling 5 children while mothering a 2 year old... plus everything she does with our church ministry. Please pray for extra grace and strength for her. She is great at what she does and I'm very thankful for the help meet God has given to me.

I put flyers out this morning in Bilston, a village just outside of Loanhead. Please pray for God to bless His Word to the hearts of those who read it. Thank you for your prayers.

The Lord gave us some good visits yesterday in our door to door ministry. Kay Lee and Nelson went with me. It is definitely getting more winterish outside and the kids were glad to get back inside.

One of the blessing of serving the Lord in Scotland is having other missionaries close by. Don and Chris Dillman are also with our board and have been in Scotland for 23 years. God used their ministry at our church in MI to bring us on a mission trip to Scotland which was the catalyst to our call here.

Don and I enjoyed putting out flyers in Pathead yesterday. This village is about ten miles away. We used the rest of the morning to prepare a flyer for the Dillman's new church plant in Newbridge on the western side of Edinburgh. Please pray for God to use this flyer to open hearts in their community.

The weather was gorgeous this morning as I put out flyers near Loanhead. I was able to put out close to two hundred in about an hour and a half. I enjoyed listening to Tom Farrell preach on the "Biggest Business in the World" (soul winning) as I  put out flyers. It's a great message preached with authority and it challenged my heart. I'm burdened about getting more divine appointments to share the Gospel. Please pray for God to open those doors.

I had one opportunity this morning with a man who is an unbeliever. He said that he has died three times (or so he has been told by doctors) and that medicine is keeping him alive. He wasn't going to keep the flyer at the beginning of our conversation but did keep it in the end. Please pray that he will read it and that God will awaken his heart.

The next ministry prayer request is for Sunday the 20th as Missionary Layton Kelly from Ireland will be preaching at our church. Our church has supported the Kelly's for 4 years. Layton grew up in Pastor O'Gorman's ministry (Lifegate Baptist Church) in Ireland. He was rescued from drug addiction and now rescues others. He has a men's home in Ireland that God has blessed and oversees the Reformer's Unanimous ministry at Lifegate. Thanks for upholding us and our ministry in prayer.

The Lord gave us a good morning although we didn't have record attendance. There was a good spirit in our services and we enjoyed our time together around God's Word. I preached this morning on "The Priceless Key" from Matthew 28:16-20. This is the great commission passage in Matthew. God has given us a sacred trust which we need to fulfill.

We enjoyed the citizenship ceremony and are now officially British citizens. I'll include a couple pictures below. The first is outside the place where the ceremony was held. The second is obviously inside. The third is with the county representative of the queen who gave us our certificates of citizenship.

We have an appointment this afternoon for a citizenship ceremony where we will receive our certificate of British Citizenship. Praise the Lord. We asked the Lord when we came to "plant us in this land with His whole heart and soul." (Jeremiah 32:41) God is definitely doing that.

I had some good news last night. Due to a cancelation on the part of another missionary there is room for me on a trip to Israel that Baptist World is organizing along with Shalom Ministries. That trip is in January and I look forward to sharing with you how the Lord uses that in my life. My wife is excited because she has been burdened about getting me on a trip like this and God has opened the door.

I was able to put out flyers yesterday morning. Due to illness and Katie's absence it had been 2 weeks since I was able to get out. Please pray that God blesses His Word to the hearts of those who received it.

Tomorrow night is a youth activity and we would appreciate your prayers for that meeting. I'm going to preach on the contrast between the Righteous and the Wicked from Proverbs 13.

Special Prayer Request: The Hikin's rental home is being put up for sale. They are going to need to find housing by January. There are some special circumstances that could make that difficult. I know that Mark would appreciate your prayers.

Wow, are we thankful to have mom back! (I'm thankful to have my wife back.) She had a wonderful time with her family and the funeral went very well. She also had great flights back, slept and felt well. Thank you for praying. 

We partly surprised her with new bunks in the boys room when she got back. She knew we were making them but she hadn't seen the finished product. Benson and I made a set of double bunks with hidden storage underneath. I had already made a triple set of bunk beds for their room last year. So, one wall in their room is bunk beds with about 6 feet between them. (This rental home has been perfect for our family. Praise the Lord!)

Our Sunday went very well. Pastor Nix and his family were a great blessing. He was flexible and did a very child friendly Sunday School hour. (We didn't have a nursery because Katie was away.) His preaching was just what we needed. I will put a link to his message once I have it uploaded. 

....just really busy. :) God has been very good to us this week with Katie back in the States. The kids have been a great help and some have helped with meals as well. So, praise the Lord, we are going to make it until she returns on Monday. She has had a great trip. The time with her family has been very special. Her grandparents attended a Dutch Reformed church. The pastor of their church had the funeral. All of our family was very thankful that he gave a very clear Gospel message. 

Please continue to pray for Katie as she travels back. Please pray that she will feel well. She struggled with some motion sickness on the way there. So, she isn't really looking forward to the flights back. She will be traveling for about 17 hours and 3 flights. I know she would appreciate your prayers.

One of the ways the Lord had us prepared for this week was our special speaker tomorrow, Pastor Stephen Nix. Brother Stephen is a youth pastor in North Carolina who is on vacation with his family. He kindly makes himself available to missionaries to fill pulpit for them and to give them a small break. We've had this scheduled for at least 6 months and it is perfect for us. Please pray for God's power in our services tomorrow. 

Thank you for keeping up with our family. I should be back to more regular updates next week.

We went into this morning knowing that Katie's grandfather was at the point of death. We found out near the end of our Sunday School hour that he had passed away. God has put on my heart to send my wife back for this funeral. So, please pray for her travels and for God to bless the family time at the funeral. Her grandpa was in his early nineties and was a saved man. So, there is much for which to thank the Lord.

The other wee trial was a bad cold that I have had since the middle of this past week. I didn't preach Thursday night or for Sunday School this morning. Instead we listened to some great messages preached by Evangelist John Goetch. I didn't know if I would be able to preach this morning because of a cough that takes my breath away. But, the Lord gave abundant grace and I preached the second part of my message from last week - When Righteous Men are Few (Part 2). The Lord kept me from having a coughing fit and challenged my heart, and I trust the hearts of our people on the subject of prayer.

This afternoon I get to skype with a supporting church. I'd appreciate your prayers that God would bless that time and help my voice to be strong for that as well. I'll probably show a film this evening.

Now, my 6 year old just asked me a good question, "Dad, how are we going to cook when mom is gone?" :) We'd appreciate your prayers for us as well as mom is away. Thanks for faithfully caring for our family and ministry. We appreciate your prayers.

The last two mornings I have been able to put flyers out in Loanhead. All of Loanhead has now received the new flyer. Today, Don and I enjoyed getting out of our area to the village of Biggar about 30 miles away. It was a good morning although we didn't have any notable divine appointments. Please pray for God to bless these flyers to the hearts of those who received them.