Energy In Town

There are so many stories that can be told from the wonderful week we had in Nairn. I thought I would share one that happened Thursday afternoon on the street...

Megan and I were wandering through town on Thursday afternoon and I ducked into a little shop that a few of us Americans have a tendency to frequent. It's a little second-hand shop that often times has some of the best, old Scottish brooches, among other things.

When I was talking with Jim, the fellow who runs the shop, he made an interesting comment that caught my attention, a comment that makes me realize that our impact in Scotland reaches beyond those whom we immediately encounter as we are there day in and day out. Jim told me that although he had not yet seen any of us, he just knew we were in town. He said that there was a different energy in town during the week, that people were a little more uplifting and optimistic... a little more energetic about life. He told me that it's like this every year when we Americans come into town.

It's different hearing a story like this. Jim has nothing to do with Holiday Club or the Free Church. The only reason we encounter him is because we drop into his shop each year. It really is a blessing to have conversations like these with others in Nairn, especially when it's someone that we do not regularly encounter when we're in town. It's a blessing to hear that your ministry is having an impact beyond that which you could ever imagine, especially when you consider that you're there to support the church and minister directly to the children in town through Holiday Club and afternoon sports & crafts camps... and then comes the story of how you impact the entire town. What a blessing and huge encouragement it is to know that we as believers, the walking Gospel, the hands and feet of Christ, can have such an impact beyond that which we "came" to do.

Please be in prayer for this town, it's people, and especially for the churches there. The Gospel is beginning to pierce the darkness and the Light of Christ is shining through. Pray that hearts and lives would be changed and that there would be a revival that would sweep through Nairn, Inverness, and the rest of the Highlands and beyond through Scotland and the rest of the UK, Europe, and the world. And praise God for the great work that He is doing.

Cheers!

Day 4 - Holiday Club & Sports/Crafts Camp

We've been home for a little more than two weeks now... And I know it's been a LONG time coming, but here we go... the details of day 4... (and yes, I remember them very well!)

The morning started as usual, with kids arriving and gathering in their groups to color on their large pictures of pirates.  Since this holiday club began, the kids have worked on large pictures in their groups each morning, and each year, the pictures are different, going with the theme for the week.  Those at IPC may have seen them around before, particularly in the Romper Room where we've displayed them in the past.  Here's a picture of some of my kids in my sea shanty group working on our picture.

Counter clockwise from the bottom left:  Syzmon, Tanya, Tarren, Lauren, Mirren, Lauren, & Iain (we were missing Jodie & Eden this morning).  We were the Shaky Ship Wrecks.

As we came together in a large group in the mornings, each day started with the Portsmouth Dance.  The kids really got into it, getting to flail their arms and swing their sashes around in the air.

The Portsmouth Dance ended each day with the kids' favorite part... throwing their sashes into the air as high as they could!

Our friend Jonathan brought the Bible story of Paul & Silas in prison and the conversion of the centurion on guard.  I'm pretty sure I got most all of it on video after snapping this quick picture.  He really did a phenomenal job.  He had the kids attention from the very beginning because he had such a unique way of telling the story.  The kids were a part of telling the story because they were the sound effects.  There were key words that the kids had different sound effects for and Jonathan made it a point to keep the kids involved in telling the story.  It seemed to be a very effective way to tell the story because the kids were able to talk about it in detail in our small groups as we went over the story and the great things that God can do.

The game for the day involved a little bit of thievery... the goal was to be the first group to have twenty gold coins in it's treasure chest.  They could pluck coins from the treasure stash in the middle of the room or they could plunder them from another group... Needless to say, there was a lot of plundering going on.  Yes, it was organized chaos.

Here's a picture of our dear friend Susan who was the mastermind behind all of the games for the week!  She did a great job.  (And the only reason I can get away with posting this photo is because she's 3,500 miles away in bonnie Scotland and I'm at home in Memphis... I'll probably get it for this one!)

This was the final afternoon of sports & crafts camp.  This was a little different schedule for us this year since it was the first year we had a fourth day, but it was a great one!  The turnout for the afternoon camps has been huge this year and it's been such a blessing to be able to spend some more one-on-one time with so many of these kids.

Here are Clare & Eve showing off their final craft for the week.

This is a table of older kids working on their final craft for the week... coloring by numbers.  Many of them didn't exactly follow directions.  Rather, they put their own touch on things, creating their own color schemes and using it.

The sport for the day was cricket, brought to us by the one and only Ethan Snitch who, along with the other Scots, taught us Americans a little bit about one of their sports.

Ethan, like his brothers & sisters, is very photogenic.

Here's a picture of Bryan with the one and only Donald Angus.

As we were wrapping up, some of the guys got their futbol (soccer ball) out and started playing around.  Here's a picture of Jack going straight at Mud who jumped right in to play.

Our fellowship dinners continued as we went to the David & Jean Sutherland's house for dinner and enjoyed a great meal and fellowship with our friends from Smithton.  We wrapped up a little early on Thursday which was nice because we were all able to get some much needed rest.

Cheers!

Coming Soon...

It's official... Holiday Club is over and half of the team arrived safely in Memphis today, shortly before 5 pm CST.  It was a long journey home, even restful at times.  Elaine, Trey, Brian, and I had a good time talking about the things that went on throughout the week, telling different stories of the kids and other Nairnites we encountered and discussing things we learned from this week.  Please continue to pray for safety in travel for the remaining team members who will be drifting home as the week continues.

Day 4 & Day 5 updates will be coming soon.  It takes a bit of time to blog all of the stuff we did and get pictures on too.  Time was limited at the end of the week and then we returned to Edinburgh to fly out where we did not have free internet and then we spent a whole day traveling.  All that being said, I promise that you will get pictures and stories from the last two days of club.  There are also some miscellaneous stories/thoughts that are well worth posting... so those will be coming in the days ahead.  I was also able to video some of the things we did each day and will be downloading and editing the footage to get some short clips to post here on the blog... It's great to hear the kids singing their praise & worship songs or to see the testimony times (and even a few good ole pirate jokes...)!

ALSO, I WOULD LOVE TO FIELD QUESTIONS FOR ANYONE WHO HAS QUESTIONS ABOUT WHAT WE DID OR THE THINGS THAT WENT ON... RANDOM QUESTIONS, QUESTIONS THAT ARISE FROM STORIES TOLD, WHATEVER.  Just post your question in the comments and I'll come back through and answer them all.

We had a spectacular week with our friends and owe all honor, glory and majesty to Him alone who makes all things and sustains all things.  To Him and Him alone be the Honor and Glory for the work done this past week in Nairn... He is at work here and now, more than ever, we need to be in prayer for this town and it's people - children & adults alike!

Cheers!