Well, I want to update you on our health because we mentioned it in our prayer letter.  The Hikins were unable to come on Sunday evening because their baby was sick to her stomach.  Matthew the next oldest is now sick as well.  Last night, our youngest, Nelson, got sick during the night and has been sick today.  

Would you please pray that God would intervene and heal our families? Sickness also kept Michael from church this past Thursday. (I'm not sure if he is still ill.)

God is in control.  We know that.  Please pray for His grace and continued help. Please pray that He will use this to strengthen our walk with Him. Thank you for taking this need to the Lord.

This morning, I took a bus into Edinburgh and handed out flyers.  (For the kids out there reading this - it is fun to serve the Lord!  Today I got to walk around the most beautiful city I've ever seen and talk to people about God and His Word. I can't think of anything I would rather have done this morning.) The Lord gave me 4 really good witnessing opportunities.

I was talking to some men who were definitely on something.  They had just left with some disagreeable words when Gavin came by.  He was very kind and we walked together for quite a ways as we talked about God.  He doesn't know what to believe and said that he "wants" to believe.  I encouraged Him to get into God's Word.  

Adrian does not believe in God.  But, he was kind to converse with me.  He is living for the "here and now" and has no time to pursue faith in God. I hope he'll take the time to start seeking after God. We talked for about 15 minutes.

James was my best opportunity.  He is 18 and has been thinking about God since the recent death of his grandfather. He was very attentive as I shared with Him some proofs God has given in His Word which show the Bible to be His Divine revelation. James was very thankful for our conversation.  He lives near a good Baptist church in Clermiston which I encouraged him to visit.  Please pray that God will continue to work in this young man's heart.

I also had a good chat with a couple who ran in the Edinburgh Marathon yesterday. They both finished despite the heat.  They were from Cornwall, England.

God's good. He opened some doors this morning.  The Gospel was sown and God has promised that if we sow we will reap.  People were very receptive today.

Well, this must be the longest stretch of gorgeous weather we have ever experienced here. We anticipated a hot evening in church but didn't anticipate one this morning.  However the heat was on this morning when we arrived and it was roasting.  Thankfully it cooled down considerably before our morning service.

The Hikins were with us in Sunday School.  Alec and Connie joined us for the morning service.  It's been good to see Connie back in church.  Thank you for taking that need to the Lord.

My message from Acts 16 was, "From Beating to Blessing."  If you'd like to read it, I've already put it on our church website - www.freebaptistchurch.org

Tonight we are going to take ice cream for after the service.  Hopefully it won't be too hot or we will be moving outside for the service. 

If you are reading this and it is 90 degrees, I don't anticipate much compassion for our suffering. But I would say that Connie is from Zimbabwe and she is struggling with the heat. :) Thanks for following along with what the Lord is doing in our ministry!

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.