I'm sorry for neglecting to update you on the Christmas party which went very well. Katie had 8 or 9 ladies in attendance and it was a lovely night. I'll put a picture below of the set up. It is a panoramic picture which distorts the room. However, you can see all the goodies prepared for the ladies. We had three ladies from the Trust as well as one lady from our new neighborhood. Thank you for praying for this special ministry night.

Also, thank you for the many birthday cards for Logan's birthday. After the business of life, we took Logan's birthday off to go on a field trip to the museum of transport in Glasgow. I'll put a picture from there as well.

Don Dillman and I got out in his area with flyers this morning. I had two short Gospel conversations along the way. Please pray for the Gospel flyers that went out. The rest of the week is to be very unsettled. Storm Caroline arrives tomorrow with 60-90 mph winds and possibly some snow later this week. In comparison, we had great weather this morning.

The man I was supposed to meet this week didn't come. Lord willing, that opportunity will come again. Thanks for praying.

I got out in a nearby village this morning and put flyers out for a couple of hours. I was challenged by the preaching of Pastor Doug Jackson. God's blessed him with the ability to put you in stitches and put you in tears. I fumbled with a couple mailslots because I had tears in my eyes as he preached on soul winning. I'm sure at other times people (if looking from inside their homes) wondered why I had such a big smile on my face. Please pray for God to keep our hearts hot for evangelism.

I had to take my ear buds out to speak with a lady about the Lord. She missed her bus which allowed us to have an extended conversation. She is a member at a local church that is liberal. She has a belief in God but it is empty because it has no foundation upon the Word of God. (ie. She believes some things the Bible says but not everything.) She is envious of my firm faith in God's Word. Please pray that she will see that she can have it for herself. I told her of some Christian neighbors that I know who live near her. Perhaps they will have a future opportunity with the cat lady. (She's taken up rescuing all the stray cats in her village.)

The ladies' are excited about the Christmas meeting tonight. Thanks for praying.

We had a good morning despite lower than normal attendance. Benson and I enjoyed reading Psalm 119 together in SS. I also enjoyed preaching this morning on Jeremiah 6, "Take Mercy and Not Judgment." Just as I finished the service I realized I had not recorded it. One of these days God will give me a person to run the "sound equipment" and make sure I don't do that. Until then....

The house is all decorated and ready for the ladies' meeting tomorrow night. A couple of ladies in our new area may be in attendance. Please pray for good attendance and for God to work in the hearts of those who attend.

I'm also meeting with a man this week to speak more fully about God. We had a good conversation last night and he wanted to speak again. So, please pray as I meet with him on Tuesday morning. Thank you for your prayers.

In secular news today - the Shore family is getting a puppy on 16 December. :) Obviously there is a bit of excitement in our home. We've been talking about getting a dog for over a year as we sought to purchase a home. The kids didn't really believe we would until three days ago when I bought some puppy supplies. Then they said, "Oh, we really are getting a dog because dad is buying a dog toy!" (The dog toy is going to be my "earnest of our inheritance" illustration for preaching I think.)

The other even more important news (sacred) is that God gave me a great divine appointment this morning despite the freezing temperatures outside. Please pray for this man's eyes to be opened and for a future chance to continue our conversation. I'm very thankful that God gave me a witnessing opportunity. Thank you for praying for divine appointments!

It was good to get out with Don Dillman today and do flyers in our area. We were able to get the flyer out to several hundred houses. It's a difficult time of year to have conversations with people outside as it is very cold. Please pray for divine appointments.

Now we are getting ready to head out to visit some missionary friends (Arvin and Marcia Devers) on the other side of the country (sounds a long ways away but it isn't too far - just about 2 hours). Marcia had a knee replacement surgery and it has been a difficult recovery. Please pray for God's great grace for them and for her new knee to heel up. It will be fun to catch up with them.

We're also going to see a possible new member of our family. We've been praying about getting a dog and are going to see a goldendoodle puppy. I'm sure we'll let you know if we end up getting her. She won't be ready to leave her mum for another few weeks. If you are wondering what breed is a golden doodle - the mother is a golden retriever and the dad is a standard poodle. We need extra wisdom in chosing a dog as we often have guests in our home and will need a dog who is managable for our furlough replacement. These seem to fit the bill. 

We got some of our Christmas decorations up yesterday. Please continue to pray for the ladies Christmas meeting on Monday. Thank you for your prayers.

The Lord gave us a good day yesterday. We had a first time adult visitor who attended with the lady who has been coming. It was great to have them there. Please pray for her health as it has been poor the last couple of weeks. I preached a message which I had preached before on being a doorkeeper in the house of God. 

Katie would appreciate your prayers for her Christmas ladies' meeting next Monday. It is always a fun event but there is much to do. Thanks for praying.

I am full and enjoying left over bbq turkey. We've had a fun Thanksgiving time. Amanda Baker and Beth Farrell arrived on Thanksgiving Day from England and are staying with us through the beginning of next week. So, we had our Thanksgiving dinner on Friday and it is still benefitting us. We also enjoyed having a special Thanksgiving service during our normal Thursday night midweek service.

I appreciate your prayers for the funeral this morning. The Lord gave me the opportunity to minister to the family of a lady who attended our assisted living facility services. Her family are from Loanhead and I enjoyed getting to know them. The service was very sweet and God blessed.

Last night we celebrated Amanda's Birthday and went into Edinburgh and toured the ice scultpure tent at the Edinburgh Winter Carnival. It was a really beautiful cold night and the sculptures were amazing. I'll put some pics below. Thank you for your prayers.

It was a joy to be in church this morning. God gave us good attendance of our faithful folks. Our visitor and her daughter were not there. However, the mother let us know by text that the daughter was ill. The mum has expressed great delight in attending and we anticipate that they will keep coming.

I preached this morning a continuation of my message from last Sunday morning on Supporting the King's Work from I Chronicles 29:1-14. Last week we had looked at supporting His work with all our might, heart, soul and spirit. Today we answered the "why?" question as I preached on supporting the King's work with all your mind. Supporting the king's work is very reasonable and David shared those truths towards the end of this passage.

God was gracious after a busy week to give me good study time. Thank you for praying for us. Please pray expecially for a funeral this coming Saturday for a lady from the Trust. I've met with the family and will be preaching her funeral. We appreciate your prayers.

(Below are more photo's of the progress on the house. We painted the hall way and downstairs water closet. We also put in the floor trim.)

The last few days all run together. Josh and his son were a tremendous blessing. I'll try to list the projects that Josh and I (helping him - mostly handing him tools) did while he was here. Installed lights in boys room, school room, bathroom, outdoor motion scensor, 2 in living room, repaired two toilets which meant removing them completely, put down a vinyl laminate flooring, assembled one bathroom vanity and installed it, installed another vanity, Installed a couple electrical outlets,.... 

God was very good to us and Josh was very kind to take his time, effort, etc. We were also able to get in a couple small outings in Edinburgh making it a great short trip for he and his son. Thank you for your prayers. God's hand was evident every day as He helped us with some things that could have really slowed down the work that was accomplished.

(Below is a picture of the new flooring in our entry hallway (not trimmed in yet) and proof from outside our house that we were working.)