(Picture - Arthur's Seat overlooking Edinburgh - taken yesterday.)

17 May,   
 
Dear Praying Friends,
 
We are excited about what the Lord is doing this week as we prepare for our Football (soccer) outreach on Saturday. Evangelist Jonathan Washer arrived with Lewis Ebert on Saturday to help promote this tournament.

Yesterday we went into 3 schools and an army base. Today we went to another school and 2 army bases. In each case we weren't allowed to hand out flyers ourselves. But, we were promised that they would be distributed. (Please pray that they follow through with their promises.) We've invited a lot of individuals to the tournaments as well.

So, what do we expect? I don't really know. We've been praying about this event for a while and are anticipating God's blessing. We will definitely let you know what takes place.

God gave us some encouragement today as we put out flyers in a village about 30 miles from here. I've often said to my wife, "Why is it that we never hear from believers that they appreciate us putting out Gospel literature?"  Today a man came hurrying out of his house and yelled to us, "Thank you, thank you...." I went back to him and found out that he is a believer and a minister in the church of Scotland. He actually apologized for that fact (being a part of the C of S) because of recent decisions by the Church of Scotland. 

We have had many wonderful divine appointments the last few days. Thank you for praying for those open doors.

God's good. We are seeing Him answer your prayers. Thank you for participating in our ministry,

Ben Shore

Evangelist Jonathan Washer and Lewis are with us. They arrived last night and they are doing pretty well despite the jet lag. We are already enjoying their fellowship and looking forward to ministering together. Tonight they will  be sharing their testimonies in our evening service.

The Lord has given several divine appointments lately. Nelson was my door to door partner yesterday. We spoke with a woman for over half an hour with an open Bible and she confidently prayed to accept the Lord Jesus as her Saviour. Please pray for her.

I preached this morning on, "We are His Workmanship" from Ephesian 2:8-10. We had good services this morning. Thank you for praying.

I did flyers yesterday morning and this morning with no apparent divine appointments. I did give a flyer to an 89 year old man today who concerned me by his lack of health. I tried speaking with him but his hearing was poor although he said his eye sight is good. I encouraged him to read the flyer. It made me think about the fact that eternity is coming SOON for many people and that we need to be giving out the Gospel. 

However, despite apparently not having a good divine appointment, I found out tonight that I had an unknown divine appointment. I handed a flyer to the mother of a man who has often attended our church. She asked her son what I looked like and let him know that she had briefly met me. I prayed for her as I was walking away. Now I know that it is a woman whom I have prayed for before. The other divine appointment was that I saw her son this evening and he let me know this story. He needs your prayers as well. Many  of you are still praying for G__________.

Please pray for all those who have received this flyer. This flyer has a very clear Gospel presentation for those who would read it.

Saturday, Evangelist Jonathan Washer arrives with a young man named Lewis. We will be promoting the football tournament all of next week. Thanks for your prayers.

I'm sorry that I haven't update you in a little while. We have had some things keeping us busy. And it's not all work. We enjoyed getting away for a day to celebrate my wife's birthday. She turned _______ (she says 21 or maybe 22) on 5 May. Thank you for the birthday cards and kind wishes. She had a very enjoyable birthday and our family was refreshed by a short time away.

The services were well attended today. Please continue to pray for God's power upon our ministry. I'm often confronted with the fact that we can't do what we do without the grace and enablement of God. I preached this morning a message entitled, "Search and Rescue" from Ephesians 2:11-22. Praise the Lord for our salvation from our lost condition.

We are less than a week away from special activities. Evangelist Jonathan Washer and a friend of his, Lewis, arrive to help us beginning next Saturday. Our football tournament with them is on 21 May. We will be getting the word out all of next week. Please continue to pray as we get ready for that new ministry. Thank you for remembering our family and ministry before the throne of grace. We very much appreciate your help in what God is doing here in Loanhead.

This morning I finished putting out our new flyer in the nearby village of Billston. I enjoyed listening to two message preached by Dr. Fred Moritz. One was on proving the will of God and the other was on the Davidic Covenant. Both were a blessing.

I forgot to give an update about our outreach last week over in Troon. Don and I enjoyed fellowshipping with the Merle and Barbara Ventrello. We were able to get a good bit done in the time that we were there. Despite a couple quick moving hail (snow hail) storms, the weather was pretty good for most of our outing. Thank you for praying for our outreach.

In case you think I've found out something original, I haven't. But, I did find the answer and preached on it from Proverbs 3. The answer to long life according to an illustration I used this morning which came from the mouth of an 108 year old woman is to stay away from men and eat a bag of Jelly Babies (sweets) every day. (This was her method.) She was wrong Biblically, but it worked for her apparently. The article did not say whether she had a peaceful life associated with that. The women out there may assume that there was a certain amount of peace in her life without men around. If you want to find the real secret it is found in Proverbs 3:1-12.

Anyway, the Lord gave us a good morning. We appreciate your prayers.

This is just a fun update to share my hobby with the kid's out there - or with those who still are a bit of a kid. I've enjoyed keeping Cichlids (fish) and have gotten into raising them. I'll put some pictures below.

To explain the pictures - 

Picture 1.) The top picture is of my fry tank. There are 9 Red Zebra Cichlids (yellow) which are about 6 weeks old. The Red Top Zebra Female (brown) was holding. Cichlids are mouth brooders. They take the eggs into their mouth. The eggs then hatch about a week after fertilization. The female holds them for about 3 more weeks after they hatch. During this time she may let them out and take them back in.

Picture 2.) I took the babies out of her mouth last night by holding her and pushing down on her lower jaw. (This is a kind way of helping her since she does not eat while she is holding.) I then put her back into the main tank. She had only been holding for two weeks and the fry were very small. About the size of a small grain of rice. If you look on the bottom right of this picture you will see some of them. She had about 40 in there. (No, I'm not exaggerating and she is not even close to being fully grown. This was her first time holding.)

Picture 3.) This is my main tank. I'll have to put some close up pictures of my fish some time. They are very beautiful and all come from Lake Malawi in Africa. It is a fresh water tropical tank. I've got about 150 pounds of rock in it from a beach near our home. 

I'm getting ready to leave this morning for Troon Scotland by way of Glasgow. Don Dillman will be riding with me. Another missionary and his son (Richard and Caleb Weaver) will be joining us in Troon. We are all going to be helping the Merle and Barbara Ventrello put literature out through their area. I shouldn't have been suprised to see snow on the hills this morning. But, I was. :) I'll put a pic of that below as well. 

I had to make myself go out into the cooler weather today. We enjoyed some brilliant warmer weather this past week. So, it makes it a bit harder to get motivated. I enjoyed listening to Dr. Fred Moritz this morning. He was preaching a message on unity in Christ from John 17. It was a blessing. I had one good brief opportunity with someone who hopefully has some born again relatives. He has visited their church with them a couple times.

We have a special outreach opportunity scheduled for this Wednesday. Several missionaries are going to help another older missionary couple get some literature out in their area. This couple has served the Lord here since the 1960's. Praise God for their faithfulness in their life's calling.

I am having some literature printed this week. Both of these cards will be about the size of a baseball card. One is just to hand to people and invite them to our church. We are going to give out a little sunshine. The other is for our football outreach on 21 May. I'll put some copies below so that you can see what we are putting out. We'd appreciate your prayers that God would bless these tools.

I enjoyed preaching this morning on the story of Naaman. We looked at that story in 2 Kings 5:1-15 as if it was a play and asked the question, "What Part Are You Playing?" 

God gave us a good morning. We have started praying each morning as a church from 9:40-9:55. God gave us a sweet time together this morning. 3 of my kids sang with their cousin before the message this morning. They sang and the girls also played their violins. It was a blessing to see them growing up and using their abilities for the Lord. God's good. Thanks for praying!

I'll try not to be a weatherman. But, we are having stunning weather. We haven't had weather like this in about 7 months. And we didn't get weather this nice for most of our summer. How hot is it? It is in the mid 50's but sunny and calm. It is perfect!

Yesterday Nelson turned 6 years old. Thank you for the many cards remembering his birthday. We enjoyed a fun family day and took him to Edinburgh Castle. We had a wonderful time. Someday my kids will realize that not every child in the world gets to go to a castle on their birthday.

We are having some good ministry opportunities. I had divine appointments yesterday and today. I put flyers out today in a village just a half mile from our church meeting hall. I'm reminded that "We wrestle not against flesh and blood...." I think often times we are naive as believers and don't understand that our adversary is very real and very much in control in this world. I could share stories with you from the past few days that would make you think we ministered in the jungles of Africa where the Enemy is more overt. But, without sharing the particulars, please pray for the power of God to defeat the Wicked One in our community. "Greater is He that is in us than he that is in the world!" Amen and Amen. Thanks for praying.