Family latest...

Well, it has been a good summer for us in light of the fact that everyone's home :)   Both Amy and Beth have been home for a wee while and we are all the better for that! We have been home for most of the holiday's save one long weekend in Edinburgh when we went down to se Amy performing with the National Youth Choir of Scotland. We enjoyed some down time as well as visiting with our good friends John and Mary Mooney. Fenella was working through most of the summer, but took two weeks off at the start of August. 

Not sure if everyone has been introduced to our latest member of the family - Gus! He is our year old Yorkshire Terrier and has very quickly nestled into our families heart! We are always met with an enthusiastic welcome any time we come through the front door. The girls look forward to his welcomes whenever they have been away any length of time and they have created a 'Gus group chat' for when they are away to get their fix of him. 

Fenella and I went to Rome earlier this year in March. This was a little treat for us in light of our Silver Wedding anniversary on 1st December 2014. We stayed right opposite the Pantheon - it was beautiful!  We loved every minute of it, well apart from the sore feet after a day's exploration. Our favourite site to see was the 'Colosseum' which was greatly helped by our tour guide. She was an archaeologist and had some great insight into the history and events surrounding the site. I was rather taken by the Triumphal Arches and the significance of their purpose. We had a guided tour around the Vatican City, which was pretty overwhelming. We found it a rather bitter/sweet experience - yes, it was stunningly beautiful and outrageously opulent and that is why it left us feeling rather sick to our stomach. We had an afternoon amongst the Catacombs along the Via Apia. Again, it was quite overwhelming to be walking around in underground passages where communities of 'The Way' desired to be burried. Anyway, we loved walking together soaking up the history and beauty that we were surrounded by.

This year has proved to be a hard year in light of health concerns for Alexa, Beth and Amy. We found out that Alexa's health is very poorly. In light of this we are bearing a burden that is only made easier by the beauty and peace that Alexa continues to display in spite of trials. We are still struggling with Beth's health. She is due to start Back at Glasgow in September and is handling things in a very mature way. Amy is still living with the constant shadow of her illness. For the most part she deals well with it, but every now and again it catches her out. In everything we continue to rely on the reality that, although we are powerless to change anything, we rest in the knowledge that with only with God all things are possible.

Holly and Hannah have just began their 4th year at High School! They are both doing very well in their studies. It is quite crazy to think that they will be 15 in December! They are following in their bigger sisters footsteps and growing into lovely young ladies. It is a blessing to have all the girls at home, not only for Fenella and my good, but because the are close and bring out the best in each other :)

New term - new post...

The new school term is beginning today so I thought I would start off with an update :)  As usual I am having to think pretty hard to bring to my rememberance all that we have been witness too these past months. These updates are pretty therapeutic in causing me to recognise and acknowledge the joy and challenge of ministry, but more importantly the awareness of the creators hand being evident everywhere. I pray this post gives some encouragement and substance to those of you who cannot see first hand what God is doing here in Peterhead.

Where to begin...?  Schools seems to be as good a place as any. If I am honest during 2014 I thought my ministry within the schools was beginning to phase out and I was looking to other areas to be focusing on community outreach, but alas, 2015 has proved me wrong!  These past months there has been an overwhelming flood of opportunity within the local primary schools and the Academy, making it obvious that God is continuing to make this an avenue for ministry. I have continued to serve the schools by way of teaching assemblies and on a couple of occasions have had the joy of James Cantly's involvement. I may have mentioned James in a previous post, but want to express again the pleasure it is to see James desire to give back to the younger kids by way of this service. We have really good times planning our talks and working on how to bless the various groups of children. We have our first assembly talk nest Wednesday and James is already hugely enthusiastic at the opportunity! Another of the new opportunities I have thrived on this past term was the area of mentoring. Previously I was invited to work alongside a couple of young boys who were struggling to enjoy their school experience. I was given the challenge to help turn that around to giving them something possitive to focus on during their school week. God uses us in beautiful ways! With one of the boys we worked the whole term on a Toolbox that he wanted to give his brother for his birthday. We hoped to get it done in 4 weeks, but turned out to last 3 months. It was my joy to talk to the older brother a couple of weeks ago and listen to the impact our working together had on his sibling and also at his delight in receiving, in my opinion, the coolest toolbox ever made! The second of my boys turned out to be bigger than I had foreseen. We began talking about his interests and quickly decided on our project - we were going to dismantle an old PC and create some kind of art work with all the various components. Like the first we thought 4 weeks was a good timeframe, but again like the first we worked together the whole term. The amazing difference though was that during our journey he was transferred to a different school and I was requested to continue our sessions because of the impact for good they had. This has resulted in this new term, having an entirely new school group to be involved with! Not only do I have the opportunity to mentor in the primary schools, but this has now overlapped into the high school. Looks like I will have some involvement with the kids who are struggling there too - God is good!  Speaking of the high school, this past term has been pretty special up there. I have been part of the Chaplincy team for a couple of years now and we are really working well as a group to raise up Christ within the academy. This past term I was invited to join a group of the staff for 5-a-side football. I know on the surface that sounds a little tame, but on another level it is huge! One of the teachers who I help out on Friday lunch times at the academy asked if I would come to their Friday football sessions to further the Christian influence among the academy staff! How can you turn down that kind of invitation? I have to admit, by the time we are done with the session I am physically exhausted, but what a blessing! The good thing is that Jr is now coming too - both of us love playing football, but knowing it is motivated by one staff members desire for Christ to be seen, makes it all the sweeter.

Hmmm, just realised how blessed we are over again as this post is flowing and we haven't got to the good bits yet! 

Ok, I want to encourage you by sharing the conversions of two beautiful babes in Christ. Firstly we have Becca, who is in her mid 20's. It has been a joy to watch Becca's journey. I must confess that my part has been minuscule and primarily supporting and encouraging Jr as he studied and served in revealing Christ to Becca. However, the story begins with the witness of CJ Cowie. Becca had been watching CJ from a distance and was curious at how she was so happy and her Facebook was always filled with photos of an active community life outside of work. Becca and CJ work in the same office. Becca was burdened by what life and some painful times had caused. She approached CJ and asked if she could come to church with her to see for herself if CJ's reality could be hers too. Becca, over time, came to the conclusion that she needed Christ and to be part of the community of believers! 

Secondly, there's Eden who is in his late teens. Eden has just fitted right into the family and it's like he has always been here. Eden's journey to Christ can best be summed up by his confession just before his baptism. When asked about his belief in Christ as the Son of God, in a very confident and matter of fact kind of way, responded, "Of course!" That response has definitely been the hallmark of Eden's early steps in his walk by faith.

After a couple of years absence from Camp Tayside, it was my privilege to re-engage this summer. I was delighted to be teaching alongside Patrick Boyns. We tag-teamed the first sessions before the kids split into their group classes. The theme for this year's camp was "Masterpiece" and certainly proved to be a potent one! The days were focused around the concepts of: image, mould, colour, building and living art. One of the added positives that was evident during camp was the development within our Young adults who were staff this year. Our Amy and Beth along with CJ and Jess made huge contributions to the success of camp. My sister Dianne was, again helping in the engine room (kitchen) making sure all were well fed. 

I want to quickly mention another of my endeavours with Alec Watson. We go out to Willowbank on Thursday lunchtimes to visit with a lovely group - people of all ages. We stay for an hour and make sure to support and encourage everyone there. Always a blessing!

Along with all the above we continue to maintain our consistent classes throughout the week. Monday nights I have the pleasure of working alongside CJ, Eden and our Hannah with the primary age kids. This class is so much fun and is aided greatly because of my helpers! Wednesday nights we meet with all ages from school age through to adult. We have 5 classes covering the various age ranges and needs. Friday nights we meet with the older kids, ages range from 12 to young adults. Then there are our usual Sunday gatherings. 

Some end of year stuff...

The last couple of weeks in 2014 were pretty cool and lots of activity.  We took our Monday night into Aberdeen to see the "Penguins of Madagascar" movie and then to Pizza Hut for something to eat.  It was a good night with pretty much everything going smoothly. On the way through we were delayed for a while because of a bad car crash, (fortunately there were no serious injuries) but we still made it on time and we're thankful for answered prayers along the way. There were 17 of us on the trip. I had help from Jr and Daisha, CJ and my Holly and Hannah. It was nice to be able to spend some time with the kids and the time in Pizza Hut was great for being able to sit and listen to their stories and hear the jokes that were printed on the napkins a thousand times :)  

The following Monday we had our final class and presented the trophies for their efforts during the period from August. This was a lot of fun! Since the summer we have been working a points table where the children accumulate points that go towards attendance, tasks, pick of the bunch and Bible. The attendance points are self explanatory, but every week CJ gives out "Task Forms" to the kids who then have to do them at home each day. The task may be to eat fruit and veg, to keep your room tidy, to help clear the dishes from the table etc.  The parent them circles the days they successfully completed their task and signs it ready to hand in the following week. The Bible points are awarded for their Quiz every other week. This past term we are going through the life of Jesus and the kids hear the lesson one week and the following week they are quizzed on what they were taught. The pick of the bunch are points awarded to the most outstanding child of the class. The helpers will all choose who, in their observation, showed exemplary character and who added something special to the class and we will award them additional points in recognition of this. So, with all that in mind we had our presentation! The overall points winners were Naomi Sheets and Robert Deans. The overall bible points winner was also Naomi Sheets. The one with perfect attendance was Calum Rose, who never missed a class! Calum also topped the Task points! Gideon Sheets deserves a mention having been runner up in both Bible and overall. 

Just fresh from our first couple of classes back this year and the early signs are promising for another good year with this group! We had 15 there last night and we are excited to be spending this terms Monday nights together and watching how things develop. 

Our Wednesday nights are in full flow again and we still get a snapshot of the future when we look at this group. Wednesday nights continue to be healthy and focused. There are a brilliant mix of ages on Wednesdays and with that comes life and a real sense of community. 

Towards the end of last year we took our Friday class crowd for a Christmas night out. We began the evening at the bowling alley and then off to Pizza Hut for food, next it was into the dogems and rounded off at Strikers for some late night football. It was a great way to wind up the year with this crowd. Our Friday night class is continuing to be a source of church community for a mix off young Christians, settled seekers and the fresh youth looking for the first time at a Christ focused community.

This past Friday we had a group of 28 meet together. We continue to work at the balance between outreach and integrating to the wider church family. We are seeing a number of teens and young adults looking more closely at Christ and making the church community a consistent part of their weekly focus. Jr and I are pretty aware of the potential within this developing group and it is becoming obvious that the seed is being obsorbed and roots are deepening :)  We are continuing to meet up regularly with those showing more of an appetite for Christ and helping to feed their faith.