Scotty pics

I know its a little late, but here are some pictures from our Scotland trip.  Enjoy!

6 hours of New Jersey

Well, we’re here and are currently serving a 6 hour sentence in Terminal A.  With no hope of jumping to an earlier flight, I thought I would say a quick hello and a very big THANKS!  Words cannot express how thankful we have been for your prayers and encouragment!  God used such a faithful bunch to give us strength through the week!  We’ll be sitting here in this rather uneventful terminal until around 6 pm.  Guess we’ll see you all soon.  This officially ends the Scotland posts from everybody else.  Feel free to browse the site from time to time, where as I will update about all sorts of things on a regular basis.  Don’t be a stranger!  Thanks again to you all!  God Bless!   

homeward bound

 

Well, sadly we are leaving Edinburgh in the morning.  We have become rather attached to this place, its culture, its history, its words that mean funny things in Americanese, its food (yeah fish n chips), and its people.  We have encountered some truly amazing Scotts this week and look forward to sharing all of our experiences with you.  Thank you all for your abundant prayers!

We head to the airport at 6:30 am in the morning and if all goes as planned, will be back in Charlotte around 8:30 pm.  That will probably turn into about 9:30 or so though.  Anyways, we will see you all very soon.

        Signing off from Scotland,

        Phil and Jenn, James, Abby, and Whit

Coming to an End….

This is the three ladies again. We just have to start out saying that God is TRULY AMAZING and it is so awesome to think that we came here expecting to help change Scotland through the Word of God and sharing His Love when actually, I think we could all testify that our FAITH has been strengthened beyond belief and that just leaves us in awe. We can never know too much about our Savior. Things have been going so well. We wrapped up the frisbee tournamnet today and it rained quite a bit up until we began but instead of all of us worrying about the rain keeping students away, we just stood out in the rain, prayed, and sand praises to the Lord asking for the field to been His ministry ground and before we knew it, the rain was gone and the sun came out. PRAISE GOD!!

We did learn something quite funny today through the rain. Scottish people will make fun of you if you wear a poncho!!:-) However, Whit and James wore one with pride. GO TEAM! We did have a special request to send out to all of those who are praying for us so faithfully. All week long Whit, Abb, and I have been ministring to a practice Muslim and she has managed to build an amazing friendship with all of us and has successfully attended all of the God Talk sessions. She didn’t really open up to talking with us about God too much but Abby did encourage her about how awesome it was that despite the differences in our belief, she still came to hear and spend time with us so I think she got our message and she actually even wrote us a card to tell us thank you for our kindness and friendship. God is definitely going to move in her life. So please continue with us in lifting her up in prayer. She had a very strange name to pronounce so we just nicknamed her “Z”. So just use that name when you call her name out in prayer.

We were able to share the gospel with several other girls and were able to exchanged information with all of them so that we can continue witnessing even in the states. We also recieved another card and candy from another groups of girls we ministered to so despite all the tough cases, God showed us with some cases who gave us love in return and gratefulness which kept us encourage through all the rough times. James and Phillp continued reaching out today across the field and we just all keep telling each other how this trip was so amazing beyond words and such a blessing. We are ready to come home to the comforts of NC but we somewhat dread coming home and leaving the people here who we feel still need us more than we realize. We love you all so much and we can’t wait to see you. Tomorrow is church and we hope to even meet some of the Scottish young people there and then we will end the day with shopping and saying goodbye to everyone. Thank you all for the comments and for praying. We felt it and we couldn’t have done all this without you!!!!

SCOTLAND MISSION TEAM!!!!!!!!!!

God is Moving

Hi everybody!  We love you all and miss you, and are greatly appreciative of all of your prayers and encouragment.  Just a little update about our day:

We flooded that field with prayer today, like never before, and God truly moved.  The spiritual atmosphere was completely different.  The hinderances, confusion, distractions were dramatically lessened.  The extremely hard kids that were just trying to cause trouble and get under our skin were suddenly very open, with a desire to hang out with us.  It is obvious that our enemies that desparately want us out of Scotland, only to leave it without the Message of Jesus, were restrained by God’s awesome power.

We continue to meet new people on the field.  Jennifer, Abby and Whitney met several new girls today.  Jennifer had a lot of tough questions coming her way like “Who created God?  Where did He come from?  What about the people on earth before Jesus came?  Why would God send people to Hell if He really loves them?  Why do people in remote places who have never heard of Jesus have to go to Hell?”  Starting to realize just how intense our mission here is?  These kids are certainly not shy to let us know what is on their minds.

I am extremely proud of everyone.  The team is doing such an incredible job, and is so focused on sharing the Truth that is in Jesus!  The “God Talks” meetings are going incredibly.  These kids continue to pour into a church which is based around things they dont even believe!  We are averaging 80 Scottish youth showing up to “God Talks!”  Even with all of their beliefs and views, they are being more attentive than American Christian kids!  God is surely moving in many hearts, and they are seeing a difference in not just Americans, but a difference in Christians and the Savior whom they serve!

Please keep praying hard!  The tournament is tomorrow, along with the biggest and most important night of “God Talks.”  We will update you as soon as possible.  Cheers to you all for your continued support! 

-Phil

Battle lines being drawn

Whatever you are doing, please pray for us RIGHT NOW.

A spiritual warfare that you could never imagine is going on. Lives are being changed and Satan is battling to stave it off.

We have learned from today’s events and know the answer for tomorrow: fervent prayer. God wants us to call on his name and so we shall. So please lift us up every chance you get. It’s late here and tomorrow’s day is busy so we will more fully update you tomorrow. We love you and appreciate you.

: James

A story forever told, but never old

Hi this is James. I’m honored to be the one to update you of the team’s past day of events. First and foremost, thank you so much for your many views and prayers and comments of support. We had almost 400 views on our post Monday and are approaching that many for today. Please continue to pray for us, it has done amazing things so far. So thank you all!

Our Wednesday began with worship as it was raining outside. We worshipped and prayed for our day ahead, including praying for the weather to clear up which is so influential in our activities that are planned for outreach. Amazing as God is, the rain cleared up and the weather was amazingly sunny for the rest of the day. What a blessing it is to lift our prayers up to God and know that he hears and answers them. So we took full advantage of the beautiful weather and went out during lunch and did servant evangelism by giving out chocolate with church cards on them to the people in the business district as they passed. What an amazing thing just to put a smile on someone’s face by giving them something freely and encouraging them.

In the afternoon, we returned to the links and met again with the students to play frisbee with them and to just talk to them and learn about them personally. The ladies took a walk with a group of Scottish girls and went and had ice cream and took the time to talk with them. They learned a little of their stories and found a little about their views on Christianity. They’re hoping tomorrow to elevate the conversation. Phil spent the entire afternoon with a boy who has been involved with Buddhism, Christianity, and studied a little more in philosophy, but is now a proclaimed atheist. The two talk about everything from creation to evolution to global warming to war. Phil said they just talked and related their views to one another. This talk went on for almost an hour and a half just sitting on the field at the links. I spent the afternoon drifting from group to group, playing frisbee, talking, and playing guitar just trying to encourage whoever I could. All the while, the field was covered with several hundred people between our large team and MANY students. It was amazing to see the people that God drew to himself through us.

In the evening, following the day’s activities at the links, we invited all the students to join us for a free dinner and God Talks. During dinner, we just continued conversations and times of getting to know each other and our respective cultures. They have as much to teach us as we have to teach them. Their thirst for knowledge about all aspects of us is pretty humbling. Following dinner, we moved to God Talks, a time for us to share with these students briefly about our God and our faith so they know what we have come all this way for. We had over 60 Scottish students present with backgrounds in Christian, Buddhist, Muslim, and Atheistic beliefs. Some with a mixture of several. Most of these students had never even stepped into a church, yet they we’re intrigued and comfortable enough to listen to us and hear what we had to say. Most students relayed to us that they would return tomorrow and so we’ll continue tomorrow trying to love on these students with all that we have in us, doing it all for the sake of God and his glory.

Phil and I finished the night alone in the hostel dining area praying for our group and our ministry, lifting up to God our concerns, praises, and encounters for the coming days. Once you step back and look, it’s amazing to see all the many ways that God has worked already. We are eagerly looking forward to what is still in store for all of us.

Thank you so much for your support of us. We look forward to giving you more amazing details of God’s love here. Continue to lift up us and these students as you pray. Pray that God would use us in powerful ways. We love you all.

Still in Edinburgh

Sorry about no post yesterday, but the wireless connection at the Hotel we are staying at was down.  Our apologies, but THANK YOU for all of the encouraging posts.  We truly appreciate your support!  Our trip is going wonderfully so far!  We began our day worshipping together and praying in small teams for the people we would come in contact during the day.

Next, we went to the business district of the city and gave out chocolates with the church’s card taped to them, just to tell the folks here God cares about them.  This is a side mission we are doing in the mornings, but is really awesome.  You can’t imagine the sadness on the people’s faces around here.  They look down at their feet, don’t smile, and just walk from place to place.  There is no one telling them hello, or that someone cares about them.  I was told that about 50% of people 20-45 live alone.  It is so different here.  The smile this put on some faces was wonderful.  People were amazed and taken back that someone was giving them a gift, no strings attached, and that someone was showing them they are cared for. 

I got the chance to sit and talk with a homeless man named Mark.  He told me his story, and it was heartbreaking.  I gave him my lunch, and the first thing he tried to do was share it with me.  Here he is, homeless, with every posession in a trash bag, and he was trying to share it with me.  Then his friend, a heroin addict, came up and offered me some of his grapes that he had obviously gotten as a handout.  We could learn a lot from these guys, but that is a different post for a different day.  I prayed with him and we talked a wee bit (a little Scottish there).

Afterwards, we went to the “Links,” this huge field/park area where the tournament is taking place.  Yesterday was our first day of this.  We advertised at the high schools as they came out, and began to talk with the students there.  It was amazing to see all of the students we brought interacting with the Scottish students.  They were talking, playing ultimate frisbee, building relationships, and earning the trust of these kids (someone most Christians overlook).  Tons of people here have no clue who Jesus is, so building trust with these kids is so very important.  We are earning the right to share our faith and story.

There are a lot of hard cases.  Some groups would curse you up and down the wall.  Some would laugh at us.  Some would just ignore.  It was difficult to persevere through this, even for us adults, but the students have done an absolutely amazing job.  Each one is constantly interacting with Scottish youth, and the awesome thing is, they are coming back daily, looking for the same Americans!  They are intrigued and want to know more!

Tomorrow we add one more element:  “God Talk’s.”  This is basically a huge youth meeting each night running through Saturday.  We will have dinner beforehand (which all of our kids are inviting the Scotts to), and then afterwards we will be teaching the Gospel in these God Talks.  Some students will be sharing testimonies, and the youth pastors here are going to be explaining our faith very clearly.  This is perhaps the most important part.  Please be praying for these meetings each night, that the seeds we are sowing are grown! 

We are all very excited and are seeing God move in amazing ways.  There are too many stories to share on here.  It is already long enough I know!  God is continuing to be so faithful!  Thank you for your constant prayers and support!

We love you all and can’t wait to see you and share what we have experienced, and what God has done!  He is so great!

God Bless!  -Phil

*On a quick side note, if you have a concern with this ministry and its validity and/or necessity, please contact me personally, rather than through this site.  Thank you. 

The Three Ladies

Hello to all. This is Jennifer, Abby, and Whitney. We just wanted to post a little something personal from the three of us. Things are going AWESOME!!! We can’t even begin to describe how well things are going. We have spent most of the day in training, preparing to share the gospel with the youth of Edinbugh. A statistic that was given today totally rocked our world. Only 2% of youth in Edinburgh know the name of God and God has sent us here to change that statistic. If that doesn’t excite us to get out there I don’t know what will! Tomorrow we start a big day, all day, building relationships with students and sharing the gospel with them so please, continue praying hard. These students will most likely come from rough pasts and will need plenty of hope that only comes from the Lord. Thanks(Cheers is what they say in Scotland) to all those who posted to us. It is such an encouragement and we definitely need that at this time. We are finally returing to normal and recovering from Jet Lag. Abby has definitely taken pictures of EVERYTHING here and we will have plenty to share with everyone back home. We are even learning about the Scottish culture. We are actually working side by side with a few young Scottish youth who were saved last year in the evangelism program and Whit and Abby have even been exposing them to a little of our American culture by introducing American money. We met today in Perry’s church which currently meets in a movie theater. People were actually coming in to attend a movie in the next door theater and were curiously asking us what we were all doing standing out there so already God has given us opportunities to share why we are here. We have not had a chance yet to exchange money because we are unable to do that on the weekends so we apologize for the delay in contacts. The interenet blog seems to be the best and cheapest way to post so keep checking on here.

Jenn and Phillip: Mom, Dad, Renda, David, Samantha, Cindy, Steve, Erica, David, and Olivia and all our Grandparents and Friends-We love and miss you all. Keep praying for us. We hope to rock Scotland for Christ. Thanks for the comments. It’s so much fun to read them. Happy Father’s Day Daddys.  We love you all!!! Thanks to all at Pleasant Grove for checking on us and praying for us. Can’t wait to come back and share all! Keep the comments coming!

Abby: Mom, Dad, Jessica, Mallory, Grandmommy, Granddaddy, Jera, Chris, Laven-Happy Father’s Day and thanks dad for getting our passports. Hope Mallory has a safe travel back home. Thanks to the church for praying for us. I look forward to seeing you all when we get back!!

Whitney: Mom, Dad, Maw Maw, Pop, and Josh and the lovely Meredith, Grandma, and Grandpa-I miss you but I’m having a great time. Its beautiful here and I’m sure our ten days will be filled with wonderful opportunities. Happy Father’s Day Dad and Pop. I love you both. You’ll get your prize when I get home. Meredith, I miss you and our laughs. Be planning laser tag for when I get home. Mom you would love it here. Maw Maw-you would hate it-there are lots of round abouts. I miss you all. I love you. Please send comments. I won’t be making many phone calls. Thanks to all at Pleasant Grove!

James: Hey to all my family. Love you all and miss you! Things are going good!

sleepy. very sleepy…

Here goes, rather quickly:  we are in Scotland.  Got here nice and safely.  It is currently 8:30 pm.  We are all about to head to bed for the first time since Thursday.  Everyone says hello, and Happy Father’s Day to all of our dads!  We are currently using a timed internet that the staff paid for.  When we exchange currency, we will be able to spend more time blogging AND CALLING.  There are phone calls but we have had no money thus far.

You will be hearing from us soon via pay phones, and this website will get more consistent.  The first day was super busy as the staff was trying to get us past the jet lag.  We worked largely on team-work today, as we have been split into small groups for our daily work.  Aside from that, we flew a lot, carried a lot of luggage, and ate pizza when we are normally eating Lucky Charms back home, amidst other things.  Tomorrow will be a normal schedule, and we will update as soon as possible. 

We love you all and appreciate your continued prayers.  We will post (and call) soon! 

-Phil