Well the weather has been amazing.  It is impossible to update without mentioning that our lovely HOT weather continues. (My wife just said, "You know it's hot when your washed clothes dry (including sweat shirts) in four hours." They also are hot like they just came out of the dryer! AMAZING. Point of interest: most people air dry their clothes here.)

Kay Lee was my door to door partner this morning.  The Lord gave us two good opportunities.  Hugh (82) talked with us for about 15 minutes as we showed him some verses in the Bible.  Marjorie also let us show her many verses from God's Word.  It seems possible that she could visit our church.  Please pray that she would.

It was our family and the Hikins on Thursday night.  Michael was home sick.  Please pray for his recovery. 

Last night the kids had a water fight on our deck.  I'll include some pics below.  Thanks for your prayers!

If you think I'm kidding with the title of this update, you need to remember that we only get a few days in the 70's here. My kids were telling me how "hot!" they were yesterday as we touched the low 60's.  Nelson wouldn't even go outside without his coat and hood on because he's not used to being outside without it.  (Scout's honor.) We are loving the weather this week.  It is sunny with a light breeze and as I mentioned very warm for Scotland.

I put out flyers for a couple hours this morning. I've enjoyed listening to messages while doing that and they were a particular blessing today.  I had one really good witnessing opportunity with Peter (62). We chatted for about 20 minutes and I was able to share with him why Christ died. Please pray for Peter.  He was thoughtful.  

I also saw Janet, a Christian, who I met in Loanhead several months ago. She was working in her front garden (flower bed.)  It was good to see her.  Thanks for your prayers.  Please pray for "spiritual rain" to water the seed that was sown today.

Kirk (Katie's brother) and Carrie are in the air on the way back to Scotland just now.  Later today I get to pick them up at the airport.  Pray especially for Carrie as she is expecting their first child this fall!  They have had a very busy trip back to the US for a couple of weddings and family visits.  

This morning, I put out flyers for a few hours. The Lord gave me several good opportunities.  The first and best was with George.  He was turned away from "religion" after hearing of a mass murderer who was "reborn" in prison. I asked him, "If she had been mocked, beaten, spit upon, and crucified, would that have been enough of a punishment for her crime."  He agreed that it would and I said, "That is the punishment Jesus took for her sin and ours."  The Lord put that idea in my mind and it answered a question that had troubled him.  Please pray that God will continue to work in his heart and in the hearts of those that received a flyer this morning. 

The Lord gave us a good morning. Sky, Adelle, and Mark and 5 kids, were with us in Sunday School.  Timothy and Alec joined us for the morning service.

We have a lovely sunny day which is in stark contrast to this past week.  That is an extra blessing today.

We looked at Jude 17-25 in the morning service as I preached on Walking after the Spirit.  My points were 1. Build up (your faith), 2. Pray up (in the Spirit) 3. Keep up (your love) 4. Look up (to Jesus) and 5. Pull up (the lost).

Thank you for praying for our services!

We are enjoying the sunshine tonight after nearly a week of clouds and many days of rain!  It looks like we are going to get a good week.

We enjoyed meeting the Vogelpohl's today at Blackness Castle.  The Covenanters held this castle in 1651 until Cromwell and his troops took it away from them. There were people in costume today with muskets and cannon fire.  It was fun but cold!

The Lord gave us some good visits this evening.  Please continue to pray for Jordan and his family. Please also pray for Dione.  We haven't seen these two at church recently. We took our kids to Ikea for ice cream afterwards and met a lady from Kazakhstan. She is Muslim.  She said two Methodist ladies have been coming by her home.  Please pray that she'll look at our website and start reading a Bible. I gave her our newest flyer.

I didn't update for Thursday night but the Lord gave us a good service.  We had Michael, Skye and the Hikins present.  Michael makes sweeties *candies at work and he brought a grocery bag full for the kids.  The kind they make are similar to a really big jolly rancher. So, we gave some of those away this evening as we visited homes.  Thanks for your prayers.  I trust the Lord will give you a great Lord's day tomorrow.

Michael and I were able to go to Peebles this evening.  We had a good time and put 2 flyers into around 300 homes. We didn't have any witnessing opportunities.  But, we enjoyed getting out and Michael offered to return with me to do another section in the future. Please pray that the Lord will work in the hearts of those who may be reading those flyers this evening.

I put flyers out this morning.  I didn't have any divine appointments but around 300 homes got a flyer. I talked to one lady who was a spiritualist. She got pretty upset as I talked about Jesus and our conversation concluded quickly. I went to one new area. It was there that the rodent frenzy started.  First I saw a half eaten mouse on a door stop.  Then a few homes later a large rat ran across my path and under the home I was approaching.  About ten minutes later a cat crossed the road near me with a mouse in its mouth. (I was beginning to feel like the pied piper.) I saw more cats than normal and they all looked fat and healthy.  I've always considered dogs to be my great adversary when doing flyers.  But after this experience I'm looking out for smaller dangers.

The weather has been kind of crazy lately. We have had sunshine, clouds, rain, rainbows, sleet, snow, etc today.  It is changing about every fifteen minutes right now.  Tomorrow is supposed to be a clear day and Michael and I are heading to Peebles to put out flyers. Please pray for divine appointments.  Thanks for praying.

As I began the day with a walk, I had a great God given opportunity to speak to Bill.  As I was approaching him I prayed for wisdom if the Lord would open the door to chat.  He commented on the weather and began the conversation with me. Please pray for Bill.  His father-in-law passed away after a 4 and half year battle with cancer and the funeral is this week.  Bill has done well in life but does not find satisfaction in things.  I shared with him that Jesus meets that need in our life which nothing else can meet.  I believe Bill will read some on our church website.  Please pray that God will do a good work in this man's heart. It was an open door as we talked for half an hour.  I prayed with him as we parted.

After that Mark Hikin and I drove to Livingstone for a men's prayer breakfast.  We had a really good time and Mark commented on how refreshing it was to get together with these men.  God has given us a great start to the week.

The Lord gave us a good day despite inclimate weather. Yesterday was sunny and warm. Today it is a very windy and very wet day. We enjoyed Missionaries Danny and Sue Almstead visiting with us today.  They are moving here from Australia.  They will be starting a work up near Aberdeen.  Please pray that God will open the doors for them as they move forward to do his will.  They were a blessing and were with us all day.

Mark and five kids, Michael, Adelle, Timothy and Alec were also in the service this morning.  We looked at I Kings 2:1-4 and David's charge to Solomon.  My title was, "Ready to Reign." Danny and Sue also shared their salvation testimonies with us.  

Tonight, Michael and Adelle braved the weather.  We are in a metal building and so you are aware of the rain and hail. :)  We looked at two topics in God's Word - Courage and Death.  Death sounds like a sad theme but it is a joy to see what death is to a believer.  We really had a fun time together tonight.

Thanks for your prayers.

Benson and I just got back from doing door to door.  The Lord gave us two good opportunities to speak to people about the Lord.  

The young mother attends the church of Scotland about once a month.  She believes that good people go to Heaven. Unfortunately, I've never met a person who attends the parish church here who says anything about Jesus when asked about salvation. We had a good brief chat.  

Please pray for Clint (35).  We spoke to him for 20 minutes. He believes in God but has never read the Bible or gone to church.  Please pray that our conversation would be the encouragement that he needs to begin that pursuit.  Thanks for your prayers.