For the greater good...

The title of this entry is something I have had to remind myself constantly these past days. It seems that the past few weeks have been very different as far as what has consumed my time and efforts. We got a wee bit of a scare a couple of weeks ago to find out that someone had hacked into my "Facebook" account and circulated a very clever hoax about Fenella being rushed to hospital and needing immediate surgery. Of course, this was going to cost money which needed to be found immediately. I am thankful that some friends, who know us well, had picked up on some of the discrepancies within the hoax and raised the alarm. At the time we were in Aberdeen and couldn't do anything, other than get in touch with my brother George, who was able to let College Church (our Sponsoring Church) know for sure it was a hoax. It was not till we got home and saw the list of comments left by concerned people that we were aware how far reaching this hoax had gone. After contacting a bunch of friends to confirm the hoax I called the "Western Union" to see how we could shut down this scam. They were extremely helpful and withing 10 minutes we had checked to see if funds had been sent to this thief, to our relief there was not! They then shut down the account to ensure no further activity would be possible and passed the case on to their fraud squad for further investigation. So, let me apologise if you were preyed on by this scam and thank you all for the concern shown.

As many of you may be aware we have been making plans for JR and Daisha Sheets to be with us over the summer. They are due to arrive in just over a weeks time. Ministry can be challenging at times :) I have spent much of the past week on the phone to the UK Borders Agency or trying to comply with their MANY requirements for gaining the appropriate visa for Jr and Daisha to be with us. It is no longer easy to invite missionaries from the USA. I have to mention one positive throughout all this trying process. We have gained an insight into the character of JR and Daisha. We have been thrown many "Spanners in the Works" during these past weeks and there have been times I have been at the end of my tether, but seeing how JR and Daisha have dealt with and done what was required has been testament to their hearts and their desire for the kingdom. This journey has given us all reason to be encouraged. Even though there have been obstacles, God is faithful and we have seen His hand provide when things have been desperate. Prayers are still needed, in light of Jr and Daisha coming, as their applications are still going through the British Embassy for approval at this moment. We anticipate a great summer :)

Although much of our energy has been taken up by admin and talking to officials there has still been plenty of opportunity to minister. I have spent a fair bit of time and made a few visits to help council and encourage. I have also been able to spend some time with our young Christan's and in particular Donald. I am getting to know him well and enjoy any excuse to get together. We met up to clean the building yesterday after our Easter fun with the Monday night bunch and then nipped out to Crichie to book the park for our church Picnic. In all so glad he is part of the family now.

Speaking of Monday night, we did have a brilliant time. I love it when the kids faces are smiling from the time they enter the door till the time they are picked up. Fenella boiled a heap of eggs ready for the class. After our usual 20 minutes of chill out and games we got everyone together and set out tables ready for painting the eggs. There were some pretty good ones. Everyone enjoyed being creative for a while, as well as getting a bit messy (hence the reason for Donald and I coming the morning after to clean up). Next on the agenda was an egg hunt. We sent them in groups to find the eggs and timed them to see which group would return with one egg each in the shortest time. The youngest group went first and found the eggs in the quickest time :) I had filled a jar with as many mini eggs as I could and asked everyone to take a guess at how many there were. It was cute when the time came to reveal who had the nearest guess, as the winner was Abi, one of the younger kids who come. I must say I was quietly happy that Abi won. She is going to hide the jar under her pillow when she gets home so that no-one pinches them :) Ethian won the trophy for colouring in this week. Both he and Abi raised the bar this week when they not only coloured in their picture, but laminated it too! Maybe going a wee bit too far... Wendy told me he was taking the trophy up to school to show his class. We had two new kids tonight, Siobhan and Dylan. I must tell you about Ethian. I was in visiting and found out that he has a powerpoint presentation ready to share with his class at school about why they need to come to Monday Night Class. He went off to school with his memory stick ready to ask his teacher if he could share it with the class! Now if that is not evangelism, I don't know what is!!! Ethian has brought a bunch of his friends from school to class. It makes me so happy to know that he loves coming enough to invite his friends and in fact his whole class.

A couple of weeks ago I had the joy of heading down to Arbroath to the young adults retreat. We were to meet for the first time as a group and discuss our plan for the schools program during our campaign in June. The group are lovely and I am Hugely excited about working for the good of our community with them. Our focus for the group will be primary age kids and our theme will be, "Sons and Daughters of the King." We want to get the message out to the kids that they are all children of God. We got some of the ideas for what we wanted the program to include and how we wanted to interact with the kids during the assembly time. We will have opportunity to visit with every school in Peterhead including an additional 2 schools out-with the town. This means influencing every child between the age of 4 and 11 in Peterhead :))) Please pray for our ability to connect and leave an obvious and impacting message relating to God and His love for us all. It will be a big group this year, in excess of 20! With this in mind we will split the group and have a service element to our focus. It gives us a new challenge this year, but one that will give the chance to do much good. EXCITED!

While the school's were out for the Easter break we went down to Edinburgh for the weekend. We had planned to go in order that we could hear Beth perform with the Edinburgh Youth Orchestra at the Usher Hall. Beth had been rehearsing with the orchestra for 10 days before the concert and the results were amazing! In the opening piece Beth had a big solo on the Cor Anglais. She was outstanding! All the family were there to watch and cheer. Amy almost deafened us with her outburst of screaming and praise! We are very proud of our little first oboe :)

God bless!

Welcome to the family Donald!

I finished up my last post commenting that God may not be quite finished yet and today's events have backed this up! This afternoon I went round to talk with Donald as we had arranged earlier. I knew he was close to the kingdom, but didn't know how our time together would work out. It was not long into our talk when his honesty about exactly where he was, in relation to taking the next step, was made clear. Donald, like the rest of us, has a healthy respect for the "sinful nature" that is constantly waging war against us. He was worried that in his own mind he was not perfect enough to commit to Christ. In response I commented about God knowing our innermost being and that His desire is to transform us. Would Donald ever be perfect enough? The sooner Christ is accepted and the Spirit begins to convict and challenge, the sooner his life would begin to be free from the fear of sin and the guilt of falling short. I asked if he was watching one of his sons go through a tough time if he could just stand back and watch, or if he would get right in there to protect and provide. We talked about God's desire to give us, as His children, what we need to bring about the best in us. We talked about living with hope and forgiveness rather that fear and sin. I simply asked which of the two paths he would rather choose. From that point on there was clarity in Donald's voice and his thinking. I asked if he were to commit his life to Christ, when would that be. His response was immediate and deadly serious, "NOW!" His mind was made up and all the wrestling over the past weeks was at an end! We prayed together and then began the joy of sharing the news. I had to smile when he phoned Wendy to tell her. I could hear her scream from the other side of the room :) It was then a bit of a blur as we worked on getting things organised. A little side point here, I think Donald and I share a similar trait of forgetfulness! As I had no car I needed to get to Fenella's work to get the car, but on the way we were so busy talking that we were driving in the totally wrong area of the town. We both looked at each other and asked the same question, "Where are we supposed to be going?" Anyway, at 7.00pm we all got to the building and shared another heavenly moment witnessing Donald become a child of the King! I talked for a wee bit before taking his confession. I wanted to read Romans 6, but my eyes were blurry and I asked someone to read for me. Jordan (Donald's son) stood up and read - it was amazing! I loved being able to listen and to the words as he read. It was a special moment! It was my honour to then take Donald's confession. Donald could hardly make the "Yes" audible, but his expression and tears spoke louder than his voice ever could. We prayed and took the few steps down into the water and said goodbye to old Donald Sutherland, but then said hello to the new and Spirit filled child of the most high God! I have to comment on what Shaun said after we got changed and were mingling with everyone. Shaun who is 18 welcomed Donald who is, well a bit older, with these words, "I now have a baby brother!" It was priceless! Jordon caught on to the concept and pointed out that his dad was now his baby brother too!

It is a joy to know that we now have a family committed to God and a home where God is now honoured. I am excited to see how God will use them in the plans for His kingdom here in Peterhead.

Our God He is ALIVE!

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Another New Creation :)

Exciting or what? Rachel committed her life to Christ last night. The Friday night previous Rachel and Thomas came and told me they thought she was ready. We decided to meet up on the Thursday night to talk and find out exactly what they meant and in deed to explore Rachel's expression of faith. At the outset I was a little unsure whether Rachel was where she needed to be as far as understanding what her commitment involved. However, on the Thursday it became clear that she was convicted and was totally ready. We spent the night talking about how important Christ is and making sure Rachel started out her journey knowing it is about getting Jesus in the right place first and all the other stuff will be added over time. There was much tears and honesty about where sin and bad choices can lead us, but there was much more talk about hope and what we have to anticipate knowing that forgiveness is ours and that the Spirit will be active in keeping our path close to pattern of Christ. It was obvious from that time that Rachel was ready and passionate about her choice to become a Christian. On the Friday night we talked again toward the end of class and it became clear when I asked if she thought Sunday was too early to consider baptism. Rachel's face instantly lit up and and said, "Yes! Yes!" So, we met to study on the Saturday afternoon and made plans for the Sunday night to be when she would make her obedience to the gospel complete. On the Sunday night there was a great atmosphere following on from the joy of last Sunday and Jordan's baptism. We sang some of Rachel's favorite songs beginning with "Refiners Fire." When I took Rachel's confession, her response was beautiful! It was as though she couldn't express it quick enough and once her affirmation was out, she shed a few tears. We shared a prayer together and went down into the water to witness Rachel becoming a new creation! I have to mention something a wee bit funny. As Rachel went down the first couple of steps she slipped and almost went all the way under without my help!!! We had a laugh about it after and Thomas commented that he was expecting something like that to happen! I am so delighted for Rachel. Thomas and Rachel will now be walking in the same direction, with Christ as their life and the church as their support - they have a firm foundation :)

The amazing news is that I don't think God is quite done yet! This morning someone stated that they are seriously close to the kingdom and I pray that tomorrow afternoon we will have more good news to share! It has been a joy to watch this individual get drawn into the presence of God through the influence and involvement of predominantly young people. It is exceptional to think that our young are having this kind of impact!

As you may be aware God is doing marvelous things!