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Josh picking rhubarb this morning with Aunt Margaret

The welcome slide at the Church of Scotland in Invergordon at the café – Monday.

Train station at Invergordon – Monday.

On the way up Fyrish – Sunday

View from atop Fyrish – Sunday

Panoramic from Fyrish – Sunday

Lincoln and Cody at Blythswood

We are learning quickly that the Scottish Highlands’ weather can be very unpredictable.  Yesterday was beautiful with sunshine and 75 degree temps… today… not so much.  We were greeted with a steady rain this morning which has been off and on all day and has literally put a damper on our painting and mulching plans for the day.  Jan and Captain Drew, our church contacts today were able to set up some indoor projects for our team.  Mr. Hokenbrough has a large group working with a local charity called Blythswood Care.

Anna and Jenna at Blythswood

Blythswood is known in the U.K. for it’s support for many charities globally.  They take donations from people ranging from books, clothing, shoes, metal, etc. and re-sell these items for profit.  They re-use/re-sell up to 94% of all donations.  They have over 45 stores throughout the U.K. (kind’ve like Goodwill or Salvation Army) and the profits are then distributed to charities throughout the world based on need, the longstanding quality of that particular charity, etc.  Sam, Maria and Jenna spent some time working in the Blythswood Store in Allness today, while Ryan, Keith, Matt, Josh, Cody and Micah worked with Mr. Hokenbrough at Blythswood’s large sorting warehouse.

Keith sorting

Mrs. Urquhart, Samuel, Jake, Alissa (Frog, Toad and Snail) and Rachelle (also called Rachel by the locals) were doing some indoor painting at the Community Centre.  Captain Drew and I ran some errands by getting additional painting supplies, shuttling students to different locations and, now, blogging.

Tonight, we will have a lovely Burns Dinner with haggis, neeps and tatties and, of course for dessert, trifle!

The hospitality and graciousness of our fellow brethren at Allness Baptist Church has been overwhelming.  Their sense of unity and genuine love has made a permanent impression on us.  We have been doubly blessed with the incredible hospitality of Reay (Mrs. Urquhart’s mother in law) and her aunt Margaret and uncle Murdo.  I have met very few who can match their level of welcome and warmth that they have shown to our students and leaders.  Their houses have become a home for us, so all of the parents of our team need to send up prayers of blessing for them and their houses.  Pray that much favour and peace is given to them from our Lord (read Luke 10:5-6).

I hope you have enjoyed our photos!  Of course, we have plenty more that we hope to upload in the next couple of days.  Feel free to comment and I will gladly send your message along to the team.

Blessings to each of you and thanks for your prayers!  Keep them up!  They ARE working!

Micah and Josh sorting videos

Pick up basketball at Inverness

The day started in the wee hours of the mornin’ when we got out of bed and had a warm pot o’ porridge and some toast and jam.  We headed to the church to meet the girls around 9 and headed out to do some: painting, hedge trimming, gutter cleaning, mulching (laying bark), and other odd jobs. During all of which, we had a chance to invite a few people to the BBQ later that night.  The mulching crew was with Hok, while the painting crew went with Mrs. Urquhart. Mr. Lew had a ruckus of a morning; after coming out of toilet, he noticed he was left behind by all groups (“accidental act”). He then wandered around the area surrounding the church until he found Mrs. Urquhart’s group. The mulching group helped the community by laying bark at a local park, while some of the girls repainted the trains in the playground for the kids. Meanwhile, Micah got friendly with some town locals (Scottish women). The painting group painted some old play ground equipment giving it a fresh new luster, while some other painters tackled the front of the the West End Community Centre. Jake climbed a sketchy ladder then proceeded to clean tires, Superman belts, and loose change out of the gutters…and boy it smelled delightfully raunchy. At lunchtime, all groups met at the Community Centre for some good Scottish lasagna, garlic bread, and potatoes. Ryan Bert had a succesful lunch time, spilling first the water pitcher, then Sanders’ cup. Later he also poured water on his lap followed by some ice cream. The BBQ was a great time of socializing and meeting people. Dirk, a visiting member of the church, presented the gospel in a simple yet powerful way to our group and some local children. Yet, our night was not over. We then proceeded to Inverness to play some pickup with the Scottish national youth team. We definitely had more spirit…well maybe not even that… It was a good game nonetheless. Right now, we are writing this, sitting around the kitchen table, drinking tea, eating biscuits, and whatever other food is set in front of us.

Cheers for meow (Mrs. Printzenhoff will understand the meow reference)

The lads

The day began early… WAY TOO EARLY for some of us who didn’t realize that the sun rises at 4:30 a.m. local time and the birds are loud!  Scotland is further north in latitude, so their spring and summer hours of daylight are from very early until about 9:30 – 10:00 p.m., which is fantastic, if you remember to close the blinds in your bedroom.

Anyway, all of us gathered at Allness Baptist Church at 9:00 a.m. and separated into several work groups.  As mentioned yesterday, we had a work team with Mr. Hokenbrough spreading 30 ton of mulch at a playground.  Mrs. Urquhart took our music team to Cuilhill Primary School for a 20-minute assembly and I took a group of four to Invergordon to work at the cafe.  I will allow Mrs. Urquhart and Mr. Hokenbrough share their stories of the day and I will do my best to be brief about my team’s part.

The church we worked with in Invergordon was of the Church of Scotland.  They were a wonderful group of believers who have a heart for the crew members and tourists who’s ships stop in the port and come ashore.  The crew, especially, are a hard-working lot from all over the world.  They are not allowed access to the internet while working on the ship for their 11-month contract, so this church in Invergordon is their first real opportunity to connect with their families back home via the free WiFi service offered.  They also simply befriend these crew members by offering tea and cakes and having a chat.  One of the people I spoke with was Cesar.  He was a chef on the new cruiseliner, the Ruby Princess, which had just docked in Invergordon today. To give you some numbers, the Ruby Princess has over 3,200 passengers and over 1,000 crew members; a virtual town.   He literally had a one-hour break to go ashore before having to go back to work to prepare for the meals.  He was heartbroken sitting there.  He had been on the ship for 8 months and had just received news that his girlfriend back in Mexico had broken up with him.  He was devastated.  We spoke for awhile, but then he said he had to go, so I asked if I could pray for him.  He looked at me stunned.  He asked if I was serious and I said yes, so we prayed.  He was so thankful.  Matt, Josh, Jenna and Rachelle did an excellent job of doing dishes, cleaning and talking to the people.  They met a wonderful young man named Lorne, who is bound to a wheelchair.  Lorne is a local who volunteers regularly at the church and is a solid brother in Christ.  He even gave us a short tour of the downtown area and it’s many beautiful murals.

After our day was done, we cleaned up and then went back down to Invergordon to hear a local high school’s pipe and drum band play as the send off for the Ruby Princess.  After the band was done, they came to us and gave us a special concert.  It was a wonderful experience. Evidently, word is spreading of a group of American students who are serving in the community.  We may have two newspaper interviews within the next few days asking us about our school, why we are here, etc.  So, pray for God’s leading and guiding as we share our purpose – to show the love of Christ through our actions and words and to serve the beautiful Scottish people around Allness.

So, even though we had a number of different teams today separated by proximity, our work was completely aligned with the  one purpose of bringing God the glory through our attitude and actions.  Thank you for your prayers!  They are working!

Team #3 W/ Mrs Urquhart:
Samuel, Jake, Alissa, Ryan, and I went to Coulhill Primary School where we stood before 200+ elementary students and sang songs about the fruit of the spirit, spoke about American culture and about Lititz Christian School, and explained that we love Jesus and we love the people of Scotland and we’ve come to serve them. The students then taught us a great praise song they had learned. What an enthusiastic bunch! It was a beautiful moment to see our students interacting and singing and doing all sorts of silliness with the kids.

From there we went to the community center to paint and mulch. And once school was finished, many of the wee students that had been in the assembly found us working and wanted to continue talking and asking about America. Such a warm and welcoming community!