We had a whirlwind trip this week to London to get our passports renewed. Normally, we could drive 10 miles from our home to the consulate. But, they decided to renovate the building and it was not going to open again until April. Kay Lee and John's wedding is in May, so.... waiting wasn't an option.

We enjoyed the trip. On Monday we drove 6 hours to Boston, England. Amanda Baker, a good friend of our's, hosted us (and our dog) at her house. We left there yesterday morning at 4:00 AM (without the dog) to drive into the heart of London. The renewal process went well and we were finished there before 10:00 AM. So, on the way back to Amanda's, we had a walk about Caimbridge and enjoyed seeing the beautiful college properties.

While with Amanda, we also had fellowship time with her co-workers, Joshua and Melissa Booth and their cute son, Logan. That was an extra blessing.

We added 1.5 hours to our trip back home today and went to a chair manufacturer to consider chairs for our sanctuary. This manufacturer was on the top of my list (compiled last week) and I realised that their location was nearly on our way. We found 3 good possibilities and think we know the one we'd like to get if God green lights this for us. Please pray for wisdom and God's provision as needed.

We made it home today in good time for our service this evening. We're very thankful for God's protection on our travels. In 20 hours of travel, we had about 4-5 hours where the windscreen wipers were off. Today we also had very high winds and a wind warning in effect. God's good. Thank you for your prayers - even when you may not fully know our plans for our week.

(pictures - notice the tower bridge in the background of the pic. We drove into the heart of London to go to the US embassy.)

It was an interesting week. Scotland had two names storms hit it. That meant that the weather on Monday and Tuesday was not great.... at all. We had several trees down by us.  The extra time allowed some necessary research on some ideas for the completion of our sanctuary. We also did some minor works on the property. Katie painted some trim and I took care of a small demolition project for our sound room.

The research had to do with our carpet, chairs, pulpit, and a sanctuary front wall design which we believe will look great when completed. The pulpit is being purchased today down in New Castle. It is an antique. The man collecting it for us is going to refinish it and make some modifications. This will save us about half of the cost (or more) of a new wood pulpit.

We have a trip to England scheduled this week to renew passports. We were able to arrange to meet a chair distributor on the trip and consider God's best for long term capacity seating for our sanctuary.

Wednesday I was able to get out with Pastor Don Dillman to do evangelism in his location. God gave me an opportunity to share the Gospel with a man as we handed out tracts at a local mall. Yesterday, our youngest two boys went with Katie and I to Hatton, Scotland. Pastor Danny Olmstead hit the milestone of 70 years and his wife, Su, had a birthday party for him. It was a great day and we enjoyed the fellowship and fun.

This morning I continued our series, "Thou Art Worthy" with a message from Haggai 1 on, "Worthy of Our Investment." Our attendance was down considerably, but we are thankful for what God did in our hearts. Please pray for God to continue to build His church as He has promised.

Rejoice with the angels, another soul entered God's kingdom tonight - Praise the Lord!

God has shown His goodness to us in several ways this past week. He allowed significant progress to be made in the sanctuary. The stage is now built with the exception of the baptistry. On the family side, God allowed our family to get a new cooker (stove) and have it installed. It will be a great asset to my wife's ministry. (She often uses her cooking for the Lord with baked goods or meals.) We obtained a beautiful antique communion table for our church. And so, we give thanks to God for His many goodnessess.

To update you on the prayer request for my father: Dad continues in hospital having been transferred to a geriatric memory ward. Please pray for grace as this continues to be a very difficult situation. We need God to provide a long term care solution. Thank you for your prayers.

This morning I continued my series on our church theme for 2024, "Thou Art Worthy, O Lord." My message from Romans 12:1-2 was, "Worthy of Us." We're thankful for each one that was present.

Tonight we have a named storm (Storm Isha) rolling through with weather warnings starting at 6pm this evening. We could have winds up to 80mph in exposed areas and coastlines. So, that should make our service that much more interesting. :)

Thank you for your prayers. We're working hard at building God's church (people and property), but our efforts are in vain without God's rich blessings. Thank you for your part in obtaining His grace and mercy for our area and ministry. 

Please continue to pray for my father who has been in the hospital for the past two weeks. Dad has been diagnosed with alzheimers for the past 5 years. His decline has been gradual, but two weeks ago he had rapid decline. Our family needs to make some tough decisions regarding dad's care. Would you please pray for wisdom or healing according to God's will? Please especially pray for my mom to have strength as her sleep has been very limited due to his condition. My brother spent a week with them and currently my sister is there. Thank you for taking this need to the Lord.

We enjoyed getting back to knocking on doors yesterday. We had some good conversations as we continue to meet some people in the neighbourhood of our church property.

This morning was well attended. It was good to have a visiting family from Canada with us. Our theme for the year is, "Thou art worthy, O Lord." I'm preaching a series of messages on that theme. This week, I preached from Daniel 6 on, "Worthy of Worship." Daniel's faithfulness to meet with the Lord is a great example of the kind of worship of which God is worthy. One of the famous Bible stories is a result of his obedience, (Daniel and the Lion's Den.) 

Lord willing, work is going to continue moving forward on the property this week. The plan is to have the platform built towards the end of this week. Please pray with us for wisdom as we continue to make decisions about building works and completion. Please pray specifically that God will give us wisdom about sanctuary chairs, a pulpit, and a piano. We went to a piano shop yesterday and have gotten some ideas of what we believe God would have us do.

It's fun showing our guests the property when they visit. We have heard many different people say, "God hasn't given the church this great building without a plan to fill it (with people.)" We wholeheartedly agree! We appreciate your prayers for God's work in building that aspect of our church. We love our church family and are thankful for each person God adds to our assembly. 

The Lord has given us a good week of ministry. Yesterday, I and another minister (Don Dillman) headed to Blair Atholl to meet 3 other ministers for a day of prayer. I would guess that we have been meeting now for about 5 years with greater frequency (bi-monthly now) and these are very special days. Everyone of us would testify that they are not only good but necessary. We are seeking God work in answer to our prayers.

Today I met up with Don again to do ministry by his church. A man contacted him yesterday who has many needs in his life. We had a great chat with him and this man would like to come visit Don's church. Please pray that God will help meet his physical and spiritual needs.

Tonight a lady visited our church who recieved a flyer last week. I believe she will come again. Please pray for her as well that God would help us be a blessing to her. Our study on the Life of David this evening was on David consulting with his heart and departing into enemy territory. (1 Samuel 27)

My dad is not doing well. He is really out of it. Thankfully he started sleeping on and off yesterday morning at 5:00 AM. He had been awake for almost 3 days. It is still very difficult and much wisdom is needed. He remains in hospital. Thank you for your continued prayers.

Some of you may remember that my father has alzheimers. It has been getting progressively worse. Last Wednesday dad came down with pneumonia. He had severe confusion, fell and my mom could not get him up. He was taken to hospital by ambulance. They put him on a couple of antibiotics and tried sedation drugs. The first night in the hospital he slept. The last two nights he has not slept at all and has had to be kept in bed every few minutes. My brother and mom are both at the hospital, but they need rest as well. Would you please pray for wisdom, strength and grace for them all? Thanks for praying.

God blessed us with a great first week of ministry in 2024. We're thankful to be off the starting block in what God wants to do. Yesterday our church had a work day and we got some cleaning done in the sanctuary. The contractor did some work in the creche (nursery) this past week. So, the building progress continues.

We had a good morning. I enjoyed preaching on, "Worthy of Obedience" from James 1:20-24. Our church theme this year is going to be, "Thou Art Worthy, O Lord." This message was the first in a series I plan on bringing on Sunday mornings.

Yesterday was a good, but very busy day. My family did some clean up at the church. I went into Edinburgh and preached on Princess St. The Lord gave tremendous liberty. I had some people encourage me and didn't really face any definite oppositon. Two unusual things happened: A sidewalk street sweeper stopped right in front of me about 12 inches away as he waited for pedestrian traffic to clear. A young girl came up and gave me a 5 pence coin. :) I'm praying for her, will you pray for her just now as well?

Last night we had a good Bible study. I have picked up our, "Life of David" study from SS and brought it back on Wednesday nights. We took about a year break from that study. Interestingly there are more stories of David, I would guess, than almost anyone else in the Word of God. I'm enjoying being back at it in this study. Here is the link from last nights story of David and Abishai in Saul's camp. This is part two, the previous lesson is part 1 of that story.