Monday Morning Comes Quickly

Hello all -

Well, after a slight delay leaving Memphis on Friday, we arrived in our final destination - the wonderful, beach-side town of Nairn, Scotland - on Saturday evening around 8:15 pm local time... which is 2:15 pm CST (for those of you not too good at math, Nairn is 6 hours ahead of Memphis). Our total travel time was approximately 18 hours from the time our flight departed the Memphis airport... Memphis to Amsterdam to Edinburgh to Nairn.

Upon arrival, we went straight on to the Havelock House for dinner where we met up with the one and only Ali MacDonald from Smithton-Culloden & our friends Susan & Katie Henderson from Nairn. Saturday evening dinner at the Havelock has become a tradition for us, and a quite enjoyable one at that. After dinner, we all went to our homes for the week... many of us "absolutely shattered," as our Scottish friends would say. (absolutely shattered = completely exhausted).

Sunday morning service was enjoyed by all at the Nairn Free Church, where Mudd preached a wonderful and encouraging sermon about how we are called to be fishers of men. I know it was a great encouragement for myself as we embark upon this week of Gospel ministry to this town and the wonderful people who live here. We are unworthy of this calling and may be terrified of the task that lies ahead, but the Lord has called us to it, and therefore, we will not labor in vain. As sure as the sun rises, He who is sovereign will be faithful, blessing the work done at the Holiday Club and the afternoon Sports/Crafts camp.

After service, we walked up to Rosebank Hall, where we will be having club this week. I have some pictures of the hall, fully decorated and will load them for all to see when I have some time. We had lunch at the hall with the members of the Nairn Free Church. It was a great time of fellowship with our dear friends. After we cleaned up the hall and got it set-up for evening service, we had a couple hours of downtime... I was hoping for a wee nap before evening service but that didn't quite work out for me.

Evening service started at 6 pm at Rosebank Hall. Mudd again delivered the message along with the announcement that the toilets were out of commission... small BIG problem. Thankfully, after much toil and sweat, which included the emptying and dismantling of a shed in order to get to the manhole cover (thank you Trey for being on the building team and knowing exactly where it was located), the men, including a local church member who is a plumber were able to get the problem solved. Not one back-up, but two...

After the men solved sewage problem, we headed over to Mudd & Maggie's for dinner where we enjoyed fellowship and a brief rundown on the final plans for Monday and some odds & ends for the week.

It's now late into the night and the necessity of not letting you down led me to go ahead and blog before Monday. Before I head to bed, I would be amiss not to as a favor of you... I would ask those of you reading this a few simple requests - Please, please be in prayer for this town. It has become a very beloved place for many of us and the relationships that have been built and are continuing to be built are so important and vital to the furthering of the Kingdom in this place. Pray for the holiday club - pray for those who have worked so hard to prepare for this week; pray for the hearts of these children - that they would be softened, that their eyes and ears would be open to hear and their hearts receptive to the Gospel; please pray for the relationships built and renewed in this week, both between us and the kids and especially between the local holiday club volunteers and the kids. Pray for the sports/crafts time which is a time that really provides the opportunity to get to know kids on a deeper level - pray that the Lord would bless these relationships and that these children would see Christ in us. Pray that we may be an encouragement to this community of believers who have come together to make this club possible. We do earnestly covet your prayers and thank you for having an interest in our ministry here. May the Lord and Him alone be given all of the Honor and Glory for this week and the things that are accomplished. Grace and peace to you -

Cheers! Emily