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.)

The Lord encouraged us this morning with visiting friends (the Dillmans) and a returning visitor (the mother and young daughter.) There was a good spirit this morning and we are looking forward what God is going to do at the Trust (assisted living facility) this afternoon.

We also have a father and 10 year old son arriving right now from the USA. They would have made it to church this morning but there flight was delayed by three hours. Please pray for the Rowleys as help us with some house projects before returning to the States on Wednesday.

I enjoyed preaching this morning from I Chronicles 29:1-14 on Supporting the King's Work. God challenged my heart to give with all my might, all my heart, all my soul (will) and all my spirit (joy.) Please pray for God to bless His Word to our hearts and that we could give to God's church as David and his men gave to God's temple.

It was another cold and frosty morning (sounds like poetry) this morning. It was fun to get back out with Missionary Don Dillman this morning over in his area on the South West Side of Edinburgh. We didn't have any good conversations with people but enjoyed fellowhsip while we put out Gospel flyers. Please pray for God to water the seed that was sown in Don's area this morning. Don did get a phone call from a believer regarding the flyer. It's encouraging just to know that the flyers aren't going unnoticed.

We are getting more settled. Yesterday afternoon I put together a bathroom cabinet, hung a heavy mirror and assembled a wooden blind for the master bedroom. Katie was able to get much put away yesterday as well. Thanks for your prayers as we continue to get settled. A friend of mine with his young son is coming this Sunday - Wednesday on a short trip to help with some projects. Please pray for them to have grace for jet lag and to be able to accomplish all that God wants us to while they are here. Thank you for your prayers!

We have a somewhat normal week ahead of us and it feels good to be getting back into the routine. The kids are in school and mom is back. I was able to get out and do some evangelism this morning in the frosty cold weather. I didn't speak with anyone but enjoyed getting the Gospel out into our local community. 

It was a special blessing and answer to prayer to have a mother and her young daughter visit today. We were having our prayer time and Katie was praying for visitors for other churches in Scotland when God gave us one. She hopes to come back tonight but definitely indicated that she will be coming. So, we shall see. Please pray for God to help us to be a blessing to this mother and daughter.

The ladies made it safely back from Ireland and had a wonderful time. Thank you for praying for their travels and for the ladies' retreat. We are thankful to have Katie back but are glad she was able to get away.

I preached this morning on being "More Like the Master" from 2 Kings 2:1-15. Elisha yearned to be like his master Elijah. God gave him the blessing He desired. It was a refreshing time around the Word of God.

Thanks for praying for our morning. God encouraged our hearts in Him.

Please pray for Katie and two other ladies as they attend a ladies meeting in Ireland. They went to this two years ago and had a wonderful time away. Please pray expecially for Missionary Sharon Pero who organizes this event each year. They begin this evening and go through Saturday morning.

We had faithful attendance this morning and God gave us a good service. I enjoyed preaching on the Feeding of the 5,000 from John 6:1-14. Jesus revealed in that passage two hinderances to our faith; reasoning and sight.

Tonight I'm going to do a Bible study I prepared to share at a Christian colllege. It is a lesson on what impacts our strength as a believer.  Reviewing my notes for this has been a blessing and I'm looking forward to reviewing this with our church. Thanks for praying.

Below are pictures from the pastor's fellowship and the youth activity this week.