Here are some other riveting pics from the last 24 hours!

A Highland Cow (sometimes pronounced “Heeland Coo”)

Haggis.  Yep.  We all LOVED it!  Seriously.  We ate four of these… 20 pounds of haggis with neeps, tatties and trifle.  A meal fit for Scottish royalty.  We also read some Robert Burns poetry and listened to some pipe music.

Leaders strolling through the streets of Inverness

Waterfront at Inverness

Urquhart Castle

‘Ello! Hola! An nyung!

Let’s start off by saying that the food here is amazingly fantastically yummy and delicioso. Wow. Even the haggis, neeps and tatties last night were pretty great! We had a great Burns Dinner last night, complete with the procession and ode to the haggis, performed with only the finest of Scottish accents from the lads. We enjoyed an extremely fun evening…maybe we’ll leave it there because what happens at a Burns dinner STAYS at a Burns dinner..

Honorary Lads of Macleod

This morning began with a short time of prayer and debriefing at the church with Jan, Drew, and Dirk–some of the leaders we’ve been working with. We then went to the Alness Heritage Center, where we enjoyed a very long and detailed tour about rather exciting things such as turnip cutters and horse shoes. In all reality, it was interesting and they hosted a delicious lunch for us. Not anything new here, we greatly enjoyed the food, tea, and sweeties.

Next stop was Urquhart Castle, our dear teacher’s ancient home. Despite the persistent rain, we had a fun time exploring the ancient ruins of the castle, and the beautiful Loch Ness. Hok spotted Nessie, so we can check that off the bucket list! Some of us were daring enough to put our bare piggy toes in the water, while others drank the pristine water.

After hours of exploring, taking pictures, and being tourists, we headed off to Inverness for some more shopping. We split into groups and enjoyed some free time to eat the characteristically fantastic food. We all headed home with some kind of souvenir, and some even headed home with the memory of being led down a back alley by a lovely stranger to find a local cafe. We met up, stopped by a kilt shop, and after buying some shortbread, hobnobs, and dairy milk, headed back to Margaret’s, where we’ve been hanging out, drinking tea, eating scones, and making lots of amazingly fantastically, and even yummy and deliciosos, memories.

See you on the flipside,

The lassies

Team Pic at our castle – Urquhart Castle!

Do you see Nessie? We did. nbd.

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