Thank you for praying for us on our busiest Sunday of the month. The Lord's hand was evident this morning. I enjoyed preaching a message about cultivating a spiritual blessing from Hosea 10:12. Hosea preached to Israel in their rebellion and barren fields. He preached to them a message that could transform their fields - if they would listen. God gave us a good morning in His Word.

This afternoon we have the Trust service at 2:00. I'm preaching the message of an Old Man, King David. "Now also when I am old and greyheaded...." Please pray that the Word of God would touch the hearts of those that hear it.

We appreciate your prayers very much. God is good!

Amber is on her way back home. She departed this morning and should arrive home late this evening. Please pray for her as she travels by herself. She has a total of three flights. We were blessed to have her with us for this past month.

Don and I got a good weather day despite the bad forecast. We are on the alert for heavy rains today but it has been a very nice cloudy day. God gave a few small opportunities this morning to share the Gospel. Please pray for Ricky. He has had something happen in his life the past three years which has changed his circumstances in difficult ways. He wonders why God hasn't done anything (if God exists.) I said, "Well, God has a Baptist preacher talking to you about His love trying to help you understand how to have a relationship with Him." Please pray that God will awaken his heart. He took a John and Romans.

In other news, my family adopted (kind of) the park accross from our house. The hedge was overgrown and so Katie and the Kids tackled it today. It's not a little hedge. I would guess it is in total about 250 feet of hedge! They spent several hours this morning over there and I helped out for a couple hours this afternoon. It now looks lovely! (I'll put a before and after pic below.) We love our home area.

Today, Benson, Kay Lee, Amber and myself went into Edinburgh to hand out Gospel flyers. God gave a few divine appointments. One was with a man named Andy who was sitting at the base of the  monument to Sir Walter Scott in Princess St. Gardens. Andy was obviously homeless and has slept rough since he was 15. He is now 35. He's had an obviously rough life and vices to go with it. 

After sharing the Gospel with Andy for close to half an hour and sharing my testimony of salvaiton, I asked him if he would like to get saved. He said, "God won't accept me because of this" as he pointed to his can of Budweiser. I said, "There must be a bin around here somewhere." He said, "I can't get rid of it. I need it." I said, "Andy, you need God. Would you really trade booze and get hell?" He looked at me and took a can that must have been close to full and poured it out on the grass." I said, "Would you like to ask Jesus to save you?" He said he would and prayed to accept Jesus. Please pray for Andy. Alcohol is a powerful vice but the power of the Gospel of Jesus is greater. The Bible says after a list of horrible vices, "Such were some of you." I had told Andy that God could change him and give him a new life. He's at rock bottom just now. Please pray that He will follow God and rise up to be the new man God intends him to be.

I asked him if I could take a selfie with him and put it online. He was happy as you can see for me to do so. Thanks for praying for Andy!

We have enjoyed having Amber Lyndsey with us for the past several weeks. Today is her last ministry day with us as she departs on Wednesday. Please pray for God's blessing for her on these last few days and for her travels back to the USA.

God gave us a good morning. I preached on, "Hope for Our Generation" from 2 Kings 13:14-25. King Joash of Israel wept at the bed side of the dying prophet, Elisha. He was not just sorrowing at the loss of an older brother. He was sorrowing that they were losing the hope of Israel. Elisha encouraged the king and gave him hope for his generation.

Thank you for praying for Free Baptist Church. God's hand is at work in our ministry in answer to your prayers.

Don and I were in an expensive area of Edinburgh today. The houses and gardens were very beautiful and it was fun just to walk through the neighborhood. God gave one very good divine appointment with a gardener. He is just over 50 and wondering what's next after death. Please pray for Gary. I'd love to see him visit our church. God led in the conversation and I left him with a copy of John and Romans.

Thank you for the Birthday greetings. We took the day yesterday and headed up North of Perth to a beautiful picnic spot. God gave us a very fun family day. 

One of the blessings of living in Scotland is knowing that cool weather will return soon. For many of you, our hot weather would be your cool weather returning. I'm sorry if you are suffering from heat. We've got more seasonal weather today - mid 60's with a 20 mph breeze.

We had a refreshing morning in church despite lower than normal attendance. I enjoyed preaching a message entitled, "Obey the Vision" from Paul's testimony as recorded in Acts 26. Jesus told Paul to Preach, Go, Give and he did.

Thank you for praying for our church. Please pray that God will bless us with strong attendance in all services. As a church planting pastor you have to commit "what could be" to the Lord and accept "what is" until God see's fit to do "what you think can't be." Please pray that God will revive His churches in Scotland and that church planters and churches here can take ground for Jesus. We appreciate your prayers.

We have enjoyed some beautiful weather this week as well as some good Gospel opportunities. On Wednesday Benson and I helped Pastor Dillman put out around 500 flyers in Livingstone. Last night we enjoyed taking our teens on a hiking youth activity. This morning we enjoyed door to door. Benson and I had two good opportunities to speak with people for about 15 minutes each. The first conversation was focused on the authority of the Word of God. The second was sharing how salvation is God's gift not earned by our works. 

Today is the warmest day of the year so far and my thermometer says 72 degrees. Yep- for Scotland that is roasting. It is beautiful! 

Thank you for praying for our family and ministry in Scotland.

By the way - Logan broke his thumb just over a week ago. He fell while chasing a frisbee. The follow up appointment on Wednesday showed that it was healing within the parameters that are acceptable without surgery. We'd appreciate your prayers that it would heal correctly.

Both the last two days have been lovely days! Praise God. The weather for Gala Day was great! A highlight of my day was when an organizer of the Gala came out of his way to say to me, "Ben, I just want you to know God has answered your prayers for weather. Not just for today but for this whole week!" Praise God = God answered OUR prayers and showed His authority over His creation in such a way that it was kindly acknowledged by others. 

I appreciate our church people coming alongside and making the day yesterday an easy day. Everyone worked hard and God gave us a wonderful day. A highlight of yesterday was when a woman came to church today because of us reconnecting with her yesterday. Please pray that our church can be a blessing to this young mother.

I enjoyed preaching today a message on "Trust in Me" from Jeremiah 38-39. Please pray for the power of God in our church and in our community. We've seen His hand at work and praise Him for His goodness.

Summery weather has finally arrived and we've enjoyed getting out and about in it. We had 6 doing flyers today as Pastor Dillman joined with the group from yesterday. When you have this many people it goes much faster than doing it on your own. We probably put out 6-7 hundred flyers. Please pray that God will touch the hearts of those who received it. One man said, "Your wasting your time here, you'll never convert me." I told him, "God can." Please pray that God would awaken that man's heart.

God blessed us with a beautiful sunny morning to put flyers out in Edinburgh about 1.5 miles from our church location. Benson, Logan, Kay Lee and Amber helped me. We were able to do in an hour and a half what normally would take me about 4 hours. Please pray for God to work in the hearts of those who received the flyer.