Thank you for praying for the building purchase. Lord willing, we will get to completion early this next week. God's timing is perfect and we are waiting upon Him. Meanwhile, next Sunday starts a week of special meetings with Evangelist Barry Webb. We enjoyed great visits yesterday with many friends whom we hope will attend these meeting. My family went out in the morning and after lunch to speak with specific people. 

We had a good day today. We still have some illness. Our treasurer has battled a chest cold for 8 weeks. Others of us have some health needs. Please pray for God to strengthen our church physically during these important days.

This morning I shared a topical message on 4 important growth charts for spiritual growth. (Salvation, Sanctification, Surrender and Service.) If you have a prayer list and pray for our church, please pray for God to grow our church in and through these areas.

Tonight is our Annual Meeting as we look back at 2022 financially, and make some decisions for our future. We vote tonight to add a regional name to our church. Everyone is excited about it. I'll let you know soon about that addition to our name.

God gave us refreshingly good attendance. It was a blessing to gather together this morning at perhaps our last Sunday meetings in our original church location. Thanks for your prayers.

The Lord gave us a good Sunday. We are anxious to get into our new property, but are content to wait on God's timing. We're getting close. Lord willing, we'll be in it before our evangelistic meetings which start in less than 2 weeks.

I preached yesterday on our privilige to speak for God as His ambassadors to a sinful world. It's amazing what God's grace has allowed in our lives that we could have such a privilige.

This morning I put out the open letter in a community near to us. I enjoyed a couple really good conversations. Interestingly, both people I spoke with have been protesting the transgender legislation that has come through the Scottish parliament. The one man was 80 years old and single his whole life. He was protesting to stand up for women's rights. These are indeed interesting days.

We are doing things in preparation for our new location. We had a graphic designer put together a logo and some graphics for church branding. I have a Christian builder who's crew is hopefully going to do the renovations on our building. We've printed 10k flyers identifying our new location. We're working on insurance, etc. Please pray for us to have wisdom as we make a lot of decision in the next few weeks. Thanks for your prayers.

PS. Scotland can be calm at times. I snapped these pics on a recent family walk near our home. Tomorrow we are supposed to get winds up to 60 mph. However, some areas are going to possible hit 80 mph winds.

It was a joy to get together with two other men for the day of prayer. Unfortunately three others were not able to be with us. One had car trouble (both cars in the garage). Another was ill and needing to recoup. A third had a meeting that had to take place on that day. 

Thankfully, our prayer meeting isn't dependent upon one another. It is ALWAYS  a blessing to those who are able to make it (and we trust it is a blessing to those who could not attend as we prayed for them.)

Yesterday, Don Dillman and I got back to our outreach together. The Dillmans returned a month ago from a 3 month furlough. It was good to catch up at the day of prayer as well as during our outreach on Wednesday. I got a very positive phone call last night from a man who received the open letter. He had some great questions. I was able to share the Gospel with Him (about half an hour on the phone) and he may visit our church. Please pray that He would do so. Regardless, I'm very thankful for the divine appointment.

This seems like a late date to start evangelism. However, I got the flu that is going around Scotland and I had the extra responsability of caring for my kids (turning the oven on and off) while Katie was away. I don't know that I'd call it cooking, but "heating" might be more appropriate. :)

Now that Katie is home and I am well, I am delighted to be back out in doing evangelism. God has given divine appointments before this. As we walked on Friday, God gave me a great divine appointment with two college age young men. I was able to share some Gospel truth with them.

Today as I put out the Open Letter flyer God gave me 4 short opportunities. I'm so thankful for the privilige of being involved in evangelism. Please pray for the power of God. Tommy and I hope to start up the street preaching ministry next week. Tommy has also been ill and has had a bad cough for about 8 weeks. Please pray that he will get well soon and that God will enable us to get out in His timing.

Tomorrow is the day of prayer and we appreciate your prayers for God to meet with us in power.

It was good to have our services back to normal today as Katie is back to handle our childern's ministries. We had a good morning, albeit some are still struggling with illness.

I preached this morning on, "Living Victoriously" from Deuteronomy 7. Praise the Lord that He had given us everything we need to live in victory instead of defeat.

This Tuesday is a day of prayer for myself and 4 minister friends. We appreciate your prayers for God's blessing upon that time. 

We still don't have a date for completion on the property. However, we are one week closer than last week. :) Lord willing, we will soon have that date set. We are eager to be in the property for our upcoming Evangelistic Meeting (February 12-18) with Evangelist Barry Webb. Thank you for your prayers.

Thank you for praying for Katie's travels. Her flights went well and she is now back home. We're thankful that God allowed her to take this trip. Benson obtained his US driver's license on Tuesday. Kay Lee was able to get her's in December. We praise God as well for His help in getting our kid's settled into their time in the USA. Thanks for praying.

I am loving our church family more and more and am very thankful that everyone was able to be back in church today and nobody was out with illness. The only regular missing this morning was my wife as she is still in the States. I'm thankful for the solide core group God has given us and we enjoyed our time together this morning.

This was our second SS watching the film, "Sheffey." Every time I watch this film it stirs me and I'm thankful for these three times we can be challenged by Sheffey's life.

I preached a message this morning on, "Unrealistic Obedience Expected" from Leveticus 25:17-22. I put this description statement on our sermon audio account, "Sometimes human reasoning argues against obeying God. But, if we give into human reasoning instead of obedience, we miss the blessing God has for those who take Him at His Word."

I'm caring for my boys and so I'm not doing my outreach ministries just now, but I'm still handing out tracts in normal life. I had a short witnessing opportunity with a young lady yesterday. I did make a new brochure advertising our new location in Loanhead. I look forward to putting this out once the property purchase is finalised. Thanks for all your prayers. They are much appreciated.

I visited Keith and Mariella at the hospital yesterday. She was able to get up yesterday but in doing so she got sick. They had also been unable to take a blood sample yesterday. I was there for an hour. She is in good spirits, but understandably just wanting to get home.

They were successful today in taking bloods and when I spoke with Keith this afternoon she had not been sick today. So, thank you for your prayers and please continue to pray for Mariella's rehab and return home. Thank you for praying for Keith as well as he carries the burden of ministry all on his own in her absence. (Those who are in ministry know how important your wife is to your ministry.)

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.