We were excited as a church family to meet together in person for prayer meeting after not having Wednesday nights for a little while. Over the holidays, we switched our midweek service to our special services on Saturday (Christmas and New Year's Eve services.) We had to cancel some services due to illness. 

So, it had been a while since we had a normal midweek service together. Praise the Lord, Tommy, who has been out of church for 6 weeks with illness was able to be back with us. God gave us good attedance and a good time together. I picked up our study of 1 Peter and we looked at how to live godly in an ungodly world.

Thank you for your continued prayers for our church health. We are getting there and are thankful for God's grace.

Some friends of our who have been missionaries in Scotland for 30 years, are going through a health trial. I'd like to ask you to pray with us for God to turn the corner on this illness for them. On 26 December, Mariella fell and broke her femur. She had surgery two days later. Surgery was delayed because she has had an extended illness.

She has been very sick to her stomache and has some fluid in her lungs. The surgery was succesful and they have started some rehab, but the stomach problem has been ongoing. She is remaining in the hospital for now.

 Would you please pray with us for God to raise her up. Please also pray for Keith to have wisdom about their church needs during this time. Thanks for taking this request to the Lord.

It was so good to be back together as a church family. It's been two weeks since we had seen everyone. Our attendance was good. One man in our church has been out six weeks with a bad cough. Please pray for his healing. Otherwise, we were all present this morning.

I enjoyed preaching a message from Genesis 32 on Prayer Warriors Needed. It is the text where Jacob wrestles with God. Our generation needs men and women of prayer. Thank you for your prayer support of our ministry as it is vital.

The pic below was taken before church got started.

Thank you for praying for Kay Lee and Benson as they traveled to the States yesterday with Katie. This will be our first time having two of our children at Bible College. They are both students at Ambassador Baptist College in Lattimore, North Carolina.

God allowed Katie to go with them to help them get settled. All of Katie's family live within an hour of the college and some of my family are there as well. So, it will be good family time. Please pray for Katie to be refreshed and that God will bless our children as they settle into the school year.

Those of us who were ill are getting better. We appreciate your continued prayers for a full recovery. Lord willing, this Sunday we will have all thee services. Thank you for your prayers.

Well, in less than three hours Scotland will enter into another calendar year. Praise God for new beginnings! Our church is excited about what God has for us this year. We're also very thankful for what God has done for us this past year. It's been a great year to grow in our faith as a church family.

This weekend is different than we anticipated. Due to illness, our church canceled our film night tonight and will be going online tomorrow (New Years Day). I don't know what kind of a bug we have, but it has impacted most of our families. Your prayers for God's healing would be appreciated. Please also pray for those in my family who will be traveling to the States on Thursday. Right now, all of them are healthy.

Meanwhile, we're going to catch up on the film (Sheffey) by showing it in our 10 AM hour starting next Sunday. So, we'll still get to benefit from that great story of a godly man. 

May God bless you and your families with an awesome 2023!

God blessed our Carol Sing service and our Christmas day service. It was fun to see numbers of guests present for both services.

On Christmas day, we enjoyed a baby dedication at the end of the morning service. That seemed appropriate as the message that morning was on Jesus being dedicated unto the Lord at the temple.

This coming Saturday (New Year's Eve) we are showing the film, Sheffey. Thank you for praying for these special events.

It is so good to have our daughter back from the States. Kay Lee arrived here on Sunday morning. Her flight was delayed and so she missed SS but got here in time for the AM service. We are enjoying some very good family time.

Sunday was a good day. We had a few people away because of illness and treachorous ice. However, our attendance was good. I enjoyed preaching on the Gospel in Bethlehem from Luke 2.

Today is a special ministry day as well. We took a group of 10 down to Princess St. and handed out Christmas flyers and candy canes. I street preached focusing on the Christ of Christmas. Tonight Katie is hosting a ladies' Christmas tea at our home. There are going to be a lot of fun activies, Christmas goodies and focus on the nativity. We have two more Christmas ministry dates. On Christmas Eve we are having our annual Christmas Carol Sing service. On Christmas day we are having a morning service. Thank you for praying for these special events.

Because of the jet stream and the gulf stream, Scotland has a moderate climate. Our temperatures fluctuate between 33 and 65 degrees. Anything outside of those parameters is unusual. When I ran this morning it was 19 degrees. We've also have some beautiful snow on the ground and the boys have enjoyed "sledging" (British english) on our golf course hills. 

God blessed us with a good services yesterday despite heavy snow early on and temperatures plummeting. The new temporary location works really well. I enjoyed starting the Christmas story yesterday. We looked at the three main characters, Mary, Joseph and Jesus from Matthew 1, "The Story Above All Stories." We had good attendance with just a few of our regulars unable to make it out. Thank you for praying for our services.

I snapped a picture last night as Benson was leading the singing. We're going to miss him when he departs. We'll also be losing a song leader. I'm happy to lead singing, but it's been nice having him take that responsability off me. Thanks for praying for our family as the kids grow up and leave home.

Yes, we are rejoicing in the Lord tonight. God has done great things for us whereof we are glad. There is still much to pray about, but the question regarding a permanent location has been answered.

We increased our offer and within a couple hours had confirmation back from the seller that the offer had been accepted. We want to thank all of you for your faithful prayers about this prayer request. Some of you have been praying with us about this for 6 or 7 years. THANK YOU!

I spoke for quite some time with the representative for the seller yesterday. It was a profitable discussion and one which I hope will allow us to negotiate a fair price on that property. We will likely increase our offer tomorrow. Lord willing, we will hear a formal response after their business meeting next Wednesday. 

We are very interested in obtaining this property and trust that God will bless our efforts in that regard. 

It's been a good week. We enjoyed meeting in our new temporary location last night. It's going to work well for us until we either obtain this property or find a more suitable let. God's been very good to us and we can see His hand guiding us. Thank you for praying.