The community centre, where we meet for church, has graciously allowed us to get a metal cupboard for storage. We were praying for the Lord to provide just the right used cabinet and we found one yesterday. Mark Hikin and I collected it and put it at the centre (correct British spelling) yesterday. After nearly nine years (including deputation) of transporting things to and from church, we are going to get a brief break! I can't tell you how excited I am. This is perfect timing. We have a guest speaker in two weeks and he won't have to collect anything from our home to take to church. It also allows our furlough replacement the luxury of having everything at the church location. Thanks for your prayers. God is good.

We had the joy of having a couple visitors today. Kay Lee and I met one man about a month ago. It was good to have him visit our church today. The other young lady used to attend our church the first year we were here. It was great to have her back with us.

I preached this morning on John 5, Wilt Thou Be Made Whole.

The Lord is helping our schedule come together. We have scheduled 6 meetings in the last few days. Thanks for praying for God's guidance as we organize our furlough schedule. Thanks for praying for our family and Free Baptist Church in Loanhead.

(I sent the following update by email this morning.)

Dear Praying Friends,
 
We are almost as surprised as you to find out that we are going on furlough THIS YEAR instead of next. Our furlough replacement couple, Roger and Sharon Crowder, contacted us this past week to let us know of this possibility. After praying about it and talking with our church here, we decided that this was the best plan for our church and family.
 
We have a number of prayer requests as we plan on leaving here mid-August, 2014 and returning mid-February, 2015.  Please pray for ...
 
1.) A vehicle for our furlough.
2.) Wisdom to schedule meetings and family time.
3.) New supporting churches to bring us up to full support.
4.) Grace for our church plant during this transition.
 
Please inform your church of this change in our plans. We look forward to seeing as many of you as possible in the near future as God allows. Please contact us if you believe the Lord would have us come to your church.
 
Thank you for helping us through our first furlough experience,
 
Benjamin, Katie, Kay Lee, Benson, Logan, Parker, Nelson and (yet to be determined) Shore

We are enjoying Spring like weather. I froze this morning when I walked. But, this afternoon it is almost hot out. (I'm sorry for mentioning that if you aren't having the same joy today.) It is pretty warm for Scotland anyway. The kids are loving it and are in the back garden (yard) just now.

I enjoyed putting flyers out for a couple hours this afternoon. I had two good conversations. The area that I was doing is on a hillside looking across at the Pentland hills. It was beautiful. Our flowers are also popping up and I enjoyed seeing the different gardens.

I'm waiting on one piece of information before I update you on our furlough plans. Lord willing, I will have that soon.

The Lord gave us a sweet morning. Attendance was good and there was a sweet spirit. I enjoyed preaching on, "Soul Refreshment for the Thirsting Soul" from Isaiah 41:17-20. It was a blessing to refer back to days of awakening in Scotland on the Isle of Lewis. 

We are seeing God change our furlough plans. It's an exciting change which I will relate to you in the very near future.

God's good. Thanks for praying for our ministry.

I prayed specifically for a divine appointment this morning but didn't have any good opportunities while I was out. (I put out flyers for a couple of hours.) I did meet a couple of elderly ladies who sweetly told me that they were Christians. It's pretty rare to meet believers. That was a blessing of itself.

But as I parked my car upon arriving home the Lord provided a great opportunity to speak to a friend in the community about the Lord. I was really pleased to hear him say, "My sister is a born again Christian." I had not mentioned that term to him. I told him that our conversation was no accident. I've often witnessed to people who have born again relatives. Please pray for this young man. 

We had a good Sunday yesterday. The kids sang in the morning service and did a fantastic job. I'm glad that they enjoy getting involved in our ministry. I preached on Revelation 5, He is Worthy.

This morning I headed into Edinburgh. Our weather situation has improved the last few days. Scotland has now had it's wettest winter on record. Our family in the States are in the Midwest and I don't envy what many of you have faced this winter. It was good to get out in the city. The Lord gave me three great opportunities to share the Gospel.

The first was with a young man named who was sitting on a park bench. He doesn't believe in God and believes evolution but he was kind and asked a number of thoughtful questions.

The second opportunity was with a Greenpeace activist. He was glad to have someone to  talk to as it was his first day trying to engage people in conversation about their cause. We had a great chat and I gave him a Gospel of John and Romans.

The third opportunity was the best. This 23 year old young man stood up to better talk with me (so he wasn't looking into the sun) and we talked for at least 45 minutes. He said that I wouldn't change his mind but that he appreciated the conversation. He also asked me at one point, "Why do you do this?" I told him that I had just preached on Scripture that speaks about Heaven and I want as many people as possible there to bring glory to the Lord. I also said that I don't want people to go to @#!*% . Please pray for these young men.

While I was down there, I visited a Baptist church, Charlotte St. Chapel which experienced revival just over 100 years ago. Praise God it is still Gospel preaching. Some great men of God have pastored this ministry.Joseph Kemp was pastor during the revival and they went from around 30 to 600 in a few years. The care taker kindly gave me a bicentenary book which relates what God has done in their church. It is a beautiful large hardback illustrated book. I look forward to paging through their history. God has given us a great start to the week. Thanks for praying.

Yesterday afternoon Benson and I got out doing something we enjoy doing, looking for agates. It was an amazing day. But,it didn't start out that way. After a couple fields without agates, I said to Benson, "I guess we aren't going to fill our buckets today." But, God did fill our buckets. We got into some amazing rock and found some of God's wonderful treasures. As we walked back to our car to empty our buckets to go get more agates, I said, "I guess God can fill our buckets when he wants to." Benson said, "I prayed this morning during school that I could find a big one and boy did God answer my prayer." (He found a very large agate geode which we hope to cut in half.)

The Lord also brought along a divine appointment. This older man pointed across the field and said, "One of John Knox' good friends live there. He would often visit him and stay here." I was able to go into the Gospel as he turned the question back to me and asked about himself, "Am I saved?" I told him that if he stood before God and said, "I ought to go into heaven because I'm a good person," he would be showing that he is trusting in himself rather than in Jesus. 

Logan and I also had a good opportunity this morning as we knocked on doors. Thank you for praying for divine appointments.

(No this isnt the bathroom. It is our agate processing station.)

The weather has been very unsettled this week. I was able to get out yesterday morning for about an hour and a half. It was very windy but I was able to do a large area. I'm prayerfully focusing on areas I have never done this year. I'm not too far away from Loanhead (about 3 miles) on the Edinburgh city side of our area. I didn't have any opportunities to speak to people as I was out yesterday. I think it would have been difficult to carry on a conversation - it was that windy. I was able to enjoy listening to some good preaching as I was walking. I listened to Pastor Ron Allen preaching on self examination and also on not putting a stumbling block in front of a brother.

Thanks for praying for our evangelism.

We needed rocks in our pockets to get to church this morning. It was very windy. We heard the wind blowing throughout the services. (It was so windy last night that a large piece of trim was blown off of our vehicle as we crossed a large bridge. Thankfully one screw held on and we were able to salvage it.)

Our faithful group was in church. We thank God for giving us a good morning. The kids enjoyed being back in divided Sunday School classes today.

I preached this morning on "The 'Undude' John" from Matthew 3. You are welcome to click on the link and hear the introduction if you wonder where that title came from. 

The Lord gave a great witnessing opportunity on Friday. Please pray for this young lady to find Christ. My daughter, Kay Lee, said to me afterwards, "That is the best conversation I have ever heard you have with anyone." This woman is searching and asked some wonderful questions. Thanks for praying for divine appointments. There is no doubt in my mind that God wanted us to speak to her about Jesus.