The mission team from Tabernacle Baptist in Virginia Beach was a tremendous blessing to our church. God allowed us to reach all of the ministry goals for their time with us. They helped us with the Ladies' Afternoon Tea. They helped put the personalised covers on around 7k John and romans. We distributed over 5,000 of those copies through 3 villages by our church. The play park, picnic tables and fence are all beautifully refinished. We also put down 4 bulk bags of play bark in the playground  for the kiddoes. We also did street evangelism in Edinburgh. 

Just to prove that we didn't make them work the entired time they were here - we also; Took a day trip into the highlands, saw Stirling Castle, Edinburgh Castle, Tantallon Castle and Craigmillar Castle, toured Edinburgh, Climbed Arthur's Seat and had other assorted fun outings. The team also were a help in the preaching teaching times.

We will miss them - (especially our kids - John and Kay Lee Owenby) - but, we are grateful for the big push they gave to our ministry.

Yesterday was a good day. A young man (21) who visited Wednesday evening was back in church last night. (He came after receiving a John and Romans.) Also, two women visited our church for our Sunday PM. They are believers from our area and it was a blessing to get to know them. One of their daughters had visited our church several years ago. They came because she had also gotten our church flyer.

In other good news, we had a man respond to a leaflet who is from Singapore. He received one during the street evangelism. He hopes to visit our church the next time he returns to Scotland. We also had a man respond to door to door from 3 months ago. He reached out by text saying that God is working in His life. All of the above are things to say loudly - PRAISE THE LORD. 

Yesterday I finished my series on, "Revival" from 2 Chronicles 30. The final message was, "Products of Revival." I am more convinced than ever that we can have revival at any time, because revival is just getting back to VITAL Christianity. I have no doubt that God wants us to be living the vital Christian life and that He is willing to give us all the help we need - if we want it. Would you please continue to pray with us for revival at your church and our own. Thanks for your prayers.

God is blessing our time with the group from Virginia Beach. This morning we went down into Edinburgh and did street evangelism. The team passed out literature as I preached on the street.

After lunch, half of the group put out around 1600 John and Romans and the other half worked on painting and staining the play park and picnice area. When the distribution team got back, we put down new play park in the play area. We had a couple fun outings along the way today as well.

Thank you for praying. The weather has been very unsettled but God gave beautiful weather today. 

God has blessed our time with the group from Tabernacle Baptist in Virginia Beach. Our son-in-law, Pastor John Owenby, and our daughter, Kay Lee, are leading the group. There is a second married couple who are teachers in the school and 3 teens with them as well.

The trip down to London to get the group went very well. We were back in time for our Wednesday PM. The team have been diligent in their labours. We were given 10k John and Roman with 2,000 of our personalised covers already on them. We removed around 5,500 covers and replaced them with our own. We were lacking about 2500 covers to finish the work. So, we'll have to see if we can find out what happened to them.

The Ladies' afternoon tea was such a blessing. There were several sister churches present with nearly 40 ladies in total in attendance. Everyone thoroughly enjoyed their time together. It was a special blessing to have some visitors ourselves. 

The Lord also helped us to put out around 600 of the new bookletts yesterday morning. A special blessing was a divine appointment with a young mother. Please pray that we can help her as she is definitely thinking about God.

This morning the team shared testimonies in the SS hour. They did so welll at it, that we still have 2 to testify for the next Sunday School hour. We also enjoyed a fellowship meal after the morning service. In the morning service I preached the second message on a series on revival. This morning was, "Participating in Revival" from 2 Chronicles 30:10-20. Please pray for us not only to learn how God has worked, but experience His working ourselves. 

This week, we will seek to; do street evangelism in Edinburgh, put out the John and Romans, paint the play park and area fence. We are doing a lot of fun activities with them as well. The team will be with us all of the week and will depart the following Monday. Thank you for praying. God's hand has been evident.

Thank you for praying for our ministry. God's hand continues to be evident. God gave grace for good evangelism opportunities this week. He gave us several great Gospel conversations as we knocked on doors yesterday. Please pray for fruit that will remain.

Today, the family did not visit that we had hoped would come. However, another family did visit and it seems they plan to come again. We also had a father out, who has not been in attendance. What a blessing to have the whole family present. (3 in total) Please pray that his work would allow him time off to bring his family to church on Sundays.

I preached this morning on, "Preparing for Revival" from the revival in Hezekiahs day. (2 Chronicles 30) This was part one of a three part series which I am going to share on Sunday mornings. It's been a good study for me and I look forward to completing this series with our church. Please pray that God would revive His church in Scotland. We certainly need it.

Please also pray for the mission team from Tabernacle Baptist led by our son-in-law and daughter. They depart this evening for London. On Tuesday, Nelson and I will go down to collect them. We'll arrive back up here on Wednesday. Also, this Saturday is our Ladies' Afternoon Tea. So, there is much to do and we need God's help. Thank you for praying with us for God's blessings upon this mission team opportunity.

God is helping us to get back into the rythm of ministry. I was able to get out street preaching on Monday morning. I always pray for a place to preach and that God would prepare that place. Edinburgh was very busy yesterday morning as it was an English Bank Holiday weekend. Sunday had also been the Edinburgh Marathon. So, there were many bagpipers in locations where I could have preached. 

Thankfully, the Lord had a place for me further down the road where I have preached before. It's usually open. It doesn't look like a great place, but it has a crosswalk near it. It also has storefronts on the other side that allow those passing by on that side of the road to hear. And, it has a tram stop not far away where people congregate. It was obvious yesterday that some who were standing nearby were also listening. I also had some encouragement from passer's by yesterday and very little opposition to God's Word. Please pray for God's continued enablement and blessing as I get back into street evangelism. 

Yesterday, Nelson helped me put out several hundred church flyers in a nearby village. A family that is very close friends with us live there. It is the intent of the father to attend with his children this coming Sunday. Would you please pray for God's special help for him as he brings them?

We loved every church that we visited while we traveled in the States. But, as the saying goes "There's no place like home." What a blessing to be back with our people in our church building in Loanhead. God blessed us with two visitors who honoured God on their travels and spent the morning with us. It was a joy to meet them.

Our SS attendance was not high, but we had some back who had been absent since our departure. The morning service was better attended. God blessed us with some  attendance who had been gone for quite some time. It was a sweet reunion Sunday for sure.

This Sunday is a bit of a vision Sunday for our church. There are a couple of texts that God encouraged my heart with during our furlough. I shared one of those this morning, "Christ, Our Fountain" from Psalm 107. Tonight I will share the second from Deuteronomy. God gave us a good time around His Word.

This week is our first "normal week" since our return. That is a good thing. The week following I will drive to London to pick up a mission team from Tabernacle Baptist in Virginia Beach. The team is led by our son-in-law and daughter. (John and Kay Lee Owenby) We'd appreciate your prayers for this team as they get ready to participate in our ministry. 

God's good. His hand of blessing is evident today. Thank you for your prayers.

Thank you for all your prayers for our travels, health, safety, ministry, family time, provision, etc. Thank you as well for tangible help along the way as we visited your churches. God was VERY GOOD to us. We experienced wonderful ministry time, family time, and had extra special blessings along the way.

Just to illustrate the extra which God gives... Parker was able to get his driver's license while we were traveling through WI by taking his tests at two different locations. Our kids were able to tell us in person about their pregnancies. We were able to be at our niece's adoption party and our nephew's graduation party. We saw Washington D.C. NYC, Niagara Falls, and the Gulf of America. And... yesterday on our first flight Katie said, "We have a 7 hour layover in Philidelphia. Why don't we go to see the Liberty Bell." It was SOOOO MUCH MORE FUN to do that outing that sit in the airport for 7 hours."

God has been SO GOOD to us in answer to your prayers.

God has given us safety on all of our travels. We have seen many interesting close calls and are thankful for the Lord's protection. The last trip was the most hours in the car as we went to Southern Florida. Thankfully, we were able to have some fun family experiences while enjoying time with two supporting churches.

We are now back in Lattimore, NC and depart from Greenville, SC on Monday. Our 20 year old son, Logan, is also getting ready to leave as he departs tomorrow to Chicago for Neighborhood Bible Time training. Our nephew, Charlie, will also be traveling with NBT this summer. Please pray for these young men as they serve the Lord this summer.

Another exciting event tomorrow is the adoption of a niece by Katie's brother's family. Mahala has been in the family for a few years, but the adoption process is finally coming to completion.

God has blessed us with great family time. We get to enjoy a littlle bit more of that before we leave. Benson and Christina are in Lattimore. Most of Katie's family is also nearby. God is good!

The past 3 months have been very interesting. I don't know that another period of life has ever gone so quickly. It has been great to connect with many of you at your church home. We've enjoyed beeing with those who have laboured with us in prayer for our church and our country. Thank you for holding the ropes.

Here is the update I sent to our church this morning. There are some fun happenings in the very near future.

Thanks for praying!

Good afternoon church family,

The past 3 months have been very interesting. I don't know that another period of life has ever gone so quickly. It has been great to connect with many of you at your church home. We've enjoyed being with those who have laboured with us in prayer for our church and our country. Thank you for holding the ropes.

Here is the update which I sent to our church this morning. There are some fun happenings at Southside Free Baptist Church in the very near future.

Thanks for praying!

Good afternoon church family,