The Lord gave us a really great day with Missionary Layton Kelly and one of his staff, Aiden Curan. It was not the day we had planned. Katie had to miss the day as Mac was unwell. (We'd appreciate your prayers for him as he has had a 6 week cold and then got the vomit bug this weekend.) Another lady had the bug and was away as well.

We had a different schedule yesterday as our morning service was followed by lunch and an afternoon service. In the afternoon service we saw pictures of the men's home and Brother Aiden shared his testimony. Praise God for their ministry to addicts in Dublin. Both of these men know what it is to be chained to a drug addiction but praise God He has set them free. They have a saying, "Those who are hurting hurt others, but those who are helped, help others." It is certainly true of their ministry.

Brother Kelly preached a message in the AM service on letting the Gospel need get into your head, your heart, your hands. 

In the afternoon I put on my tour guide hat and showed the men some of the church history of Edinburgh. We had a good time. They flew in yesterday morning and out last night. Please pray for God's refreshment for them as they had a very full day with us.

This is a good week for me to catch up on things as Brother Layton Kelly is preaching for us this Sunday. I've needed some catch up time. The Lord gave me a good divine appointment as I had an interview for my British passport. Please pray that God will awaken Paul's heart. He is religious but lost. 

I had a good discussion with him about "different interpretation" vs. "misrepresentation." When the world says, "That's your interpretation" they are really misrepresenting the Bible. I'm thinking about writing something about that in the future. If I said, "Darwin really believed in a 6 literal day creation" the world would call me a fool. But, they readily accept someone who says, "The Bible really teaches millions and millions of years."

I put my passport application in first because the Lord has opened the door for me to go to Israel in January. I'm very thankful to have had my appointment as I should now receive my passport within the next couple weeks. It could have taken up to 6 weeks which would have been pretty close to my departure. 

Please pray for Craig Hartman and Dr. Bud Steadman as they lead our tour in January. I've wanted to go to Israel since I was in college and am very excited about connecting the Bible and geography, archeology, history, etc.

I've had time this week to work on the 7 other passport applications for my family. Praise the Lord I think I am nearly done with this type of paperwork! 

The Lord has given us a good but busy week. Don and I were unable to get out on Wednesday to do flyers as he threw out his back. But, I saw him on Thursday as he attended a Revival Prayer Meeeting that we host with some area Pastors. We had 4 pastors and a laymen in total at the prayer time. God gave us a good time of prayer.

Benson and I had a couple good visits yesterday morning as we did door to door. One man reminded me that I had spoken with him a couple years previously and I remembered our conversation. Please pray for God to meet the needs of those to whom we spake.

Our service this morning was refreshing. I enjoyed preaching a message entitled "Wholly Follow the Lord" from Joshua 14 where Caleb asks Joshua to let him go take that mountain for the Lord. He was 85 years old and raring to go do what God wanted him to do. He waited patiently for 45 years to be able to take this land of promise for the Lord. There was much in God's Word this morning to encourage our hearts.

Next Sunday, Missionary Layton Kelly, will be speaking. Please pray for God to give us a special day. We're going to have a church fellowship and afternoon service instead of an evening service.

This Afternoon is our trust service. So, if you read this in the next hour. Please pray that God will bless that ministry at the assisted living facility. I'm preaching a message on thankfulness. Thanks for your participation in our ministry!

Tonight is our monthly ladies' meeting. I would tell you about it.... but I don't get to attend. I get to escape with five boys and Bernard to hopefully someplace warm (usually Ikea.)  Katie prepares a Bible study to share with the ladies and they also enjoy a hot drink with something nice to go with it. Katie carries a very full work load with homeschooling 5 children while mothering a 2 year old... plus everything she does with our church ministry. Please pray for extra grace and strength for her. She is great at what she does and I'm very thankful for the help meet God has given to me.

I put flyers out this morning in Bilston, a village just outside of Loanhead. Please pray for God to bless His Word to the hearts of those who read it. Thank you for your prayers.

The Lord gave us some good visits yesterday in our door to door ministry. Kay Lee and Nelson went with me. It is definitely getting more winterish outside and the kids were glad to get back inside.

One of the blessing of serving the Lord in Scotland is having other missionaries close by. Don and Chris Dillman are also with our board and have been in Scotland for 23 years. God used their ministry at our church in MI to bring us on a mission trip to Scotland which was the catalyst to our call here.

Don and I enjoyed putting out flyers in Pathead yesterday. This village is about ten miles away. We used the rest of the morning to prepare a flyer for the Dillman's new church plant in Newbridge on the western side of Edinburgh. Please pray for God to use this flyer to open hearts in their community.

The weather was gorgeous this morning as I put out flyers near Loanhead. I was able to put out close to two hundred in about an hour and a half. I enjoyed listening to Tom Farrell preach on the "Biggest Business in the World" (soul winning) as I  put out flyers. It's a great message preached with authority and it challenged my heart. I'm burdened about getting more divine appointments to share the Gospel. Please pray for God to open those doors.

I had one opportunity this morning with a man who is an unbeliever. He said that he has died three times (or so he has been told by doctors) and that medicine is keeping him alive. He wasn't going to keep the flyer at the beginning of our conversation but did keep it in the end. Please pray that he will read it and that God will awaken his heart.

The next ministry prayer request is for Sunday the 20th as Missionary Layton Kelly from Ireland will be preaching at our church. Our church has supported the Kelly's for 4 years. Layton grew up in Pastor O'Gorman's ministry (Lifegate Baptist Church) in Ireland. He was rescued from drug addiction and now rescues others. He has a men's home in Ireland that God has blessed and oversees the Reformer's Unanimous ministry at Lifegate. Thanks for upholding us and our ministry in prayer.

The Lord gave us a good morning although we didn't have record attendance. There was a good spirit in our services and we enjoyed our time together around God's Word. I preached this morning on "The Priceless Key" from Matthew 28:16-20. This is the great commission passage in Matthew. God has given us a sacred trust which we need to fulfill.

We enjoyed the citizenship ceremony and are now officially British citizens. I'll include a couple pictures below. The first is outside the place where the ceremony was held. The second is obviously inside. The third is with the county representative of the queen who gave us our certificates of citizenship.

We have an appointment this afternoon for a citizenship ceremony where we will receive our certificate of British Citizenship. Praise the Lord. We asked the Lord when we came to "plant us in this land with His whole heart and soul." (Jeremiah 32:41) God is definitely doing that.

I had some good news last night. Due to a cancelation on the part of another missionary there is room for me on a trip to Israel that Baptist World is organizing along with Shalom Ministries. That trip is in January and I look forward to sharing with you how the Lord uses that in my life. My wife is excited because she has been burdened about getting me on a trip like this and God has opened the door.

I was able to put out flyers yesterday morning. Due to illness and Katie's absence it had been 2 weeks since I was able to get out. Please pray that God blesses His Word to the hearts of those who received it.

Tomorrow night is a youth activity and we would appreciate your prayers for that meeting. I'm going to preach on the contrast between the Righteous and the Wicked from Proverbs 13.

Special Prayer Request: The Hikin's rental home is being put up for sale. They are going to need to find housing by January. There are some special circumstances that could make that difficult. I know that Mark would appreciate your prayers.

Wow, are we thankful to have mom back! (I'm thankful to have my wife back.) She had a wonderful time with her family and the funeral went very well. She also had great flights back, slept and felt well. Thank you for praying. 

We partly surprised her with new bunks in the boys room when she got back. She knew we were making them but she hadn't seen the finished product. Benson and I made a set of double bunks with hidden storage underneath. I had already made a triple set of bunk beds for their room last year. So, one wall in their room is bunk beds with about 6 feet between them. (This rental home has been perfect for our family. Praise the Lord!)

Our Sunday went very well. Pastor Nix and his family were a great blessing. He was flexible and did a very child friendly Sunday School hour. (We didn't have a nursery because Katie was away.) His preaching was just what we needed. I will put a link to his message once I have it uploaded.