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!

An amazing day of worship with Alness Baptist.

After 4 hours of driving and a bathroom stop at a campground, we arrived in Alness and were welcomed by Reay and Margaret and Mike and many others. The church provided a fabulous lunch, we went to our homes to settle in, we watched the Scottish Cup football final, then went for dinner at a cafe in Alness (see pic). And now….we sleep. Good night!

We have arrived in Glasgow, found our rental cars and a Starbucks, and are on our way to Alness!

US Airways Flight 768

• Depart Philly on May 16 @ 6:55 PM, Arrive Glasgow on May 17 @ 6:55 AM

US Airways Flight 769

• Depart Glasgow on May 25 @ 10:20 AM—Arrive Philly on May 25 @ 1:00 PM

The team rolled into Lititz around 230 am. One last step to the finish line – graduation.  Its been a great ride!

Mr. Lewis

Team has touched down in Philly. We will call phone chain when leaving.

Our team landed safely in Miami at 6:57. They are working through Customs. They are scheduled to leave Miami for Philly around 10:00.