We have really enjoyed our time back in the States. We had our first meeting on Sunday night and realized what a blessing furlough will be to our family. This coming Sunday we have two meetings.

I forgot to mention that on our trip back the Lord gave a great witnessing opportunity on our flight to Dublin. I was sitting beside a business man from Germany. He was Catholic. I was able to show him several passages of Scripture on my phone. He asked after a while what book we were looking at. I guess I hadn't explained that it was the Bible. Thanks for praying for opportunities for us to share the Gospel.

Yesterday my brother in law, cousin, and son, went with me to my brother's house up in Wisconsin. He is building a home. We were able to help him put in a wood ceiling and hang some doors.

Katie has started school with the kids. Today was their first day. It went well. I know she would appreciate your prayers as we school on the road.

Thank you for following along and praying for us on furlough.

Praise the Lord, we are safely in the States. God gave us a very good trip. Everyone was extremely helpful. We didn't have any difficulties with security etc. We are all well and very excited to catch up with family. Thank you for praying for our trip. God has answered your prayers. (I'm not going to type much more because my brain is kind of fuzzy - I've either been up since midnight here or it is after midnight my time in Scotland.)

We had a great morning on our last Sunday in our church before our first furlough. The Lord gave us a good morning. Pastor Crowder taught Sunday school. They are beginning a study of the book of Proverbs.

I preached this morning on Successful Service from I Corinthians 15:58. Thank you for praying for our service. This evening we have communion and we are going to show our furlough presentation.

God's good. We're excited about what he is doing in our church.

We made it. Praise the Lord for a great week. Our workers were faithful every day to help any way necessary to make a great week. The kids had a great spirit and participated well. We had right at 30 different children this week. 

I want to say a special thank you to my wife who worked really hard to make this week happen. She also carried the responsibility of the Bible lessons this week and did a wonderful job.

Last night went well. We didn't have visitors - BUT, we had a lot of fun with our church people. The Lord really gave liberty in sharing the message about His blueprints for eternal life from John 3:16.

Pastor Crowder came home from the hospital yesterday afternoon and is doing much better today. He's now been fever free for over 24 hours. Please pray for God to build his strength back up quickly.

We are now 4 days away from returning to the States. Please pray that God will help us with all  the little details that go into this transition. Please also pray for our church and the Crowders as they transition as well. 

THANKS FOR YOUR PRAYERS!!!!!!

The Lord blessed us with another good day. We had 20 or 21 children with three visitors. The visitors were a God send. Katie met them at a shop yesterday and invited them. Praise the Lord, they came.

The team competition is going well. We were really creative with team names. We have the blue team and the red team. We'll see who wins tomorrow.

Tonight is our pizza party/ parent night. The kids are going to sing a couple songs and I'm going to preach on John 3:16. Please pray for God's blessing on our evening.

We are waiting to find out if Brother Crowder is going to be discharged from the hospital today. The Dr. has not yet been by to see him. He's ready to be back at the house. Please continue to pray for his recovery.

We had several children who could not come today. But, those who could be there were present, and we still had 21 kids. God gave us another good day. Danny and Sue were a blessing. They are back up to Aberdeen tonight.

Yesterday afternoon I took brother Crowder to the Hospital. They kept him in last night and he is staying in again tonight. He has a kidney infection. Please pray for God's healing hand and that we'll see him back to full strength soon. 

Thanks for praying for this special week of ministry and for the extra needs. 

We had another great day despite the weather. We've had gales and rain the last several days. But, the kids have really enjoyed the indoor games. We had 23 children out today with some new faces. We also enjoyed having Danny and Sue Olmstead helping us out today. They will soon be starting a church north of Aberdeen. Danny filled in for Pastor Crowder who has taken ill. Please pray that Brother Roger will soon be feeling well.

Katie's Bible stories are being listened to with great attention. Todays lesson was on the 10 plagues in Egypt and the blood on the door post. She had 9 children come up. Each one represented a plague and had an action associate with that plague. There was no shortage of volunteers. 

We're excited about our week. God's good. Thanks for praying.

The Lord gave us a great start to our HBT. We had a sweet prayer time this morning and a good work crew today. Everyone pitched in and helped make a great day. We had 22 children plus 2 infants. :) The kids really enjoyed it.  

Thank you for praying for our day.

The Lord gave us a good day despite the bad weather. The remnants of Hurricane Bertha (just a storm) are raining down on us today. 

Pastor Crowder preached this morning on the attitude of those who were at the cross. It's great to be in the transition stages after months of planning. Tonight we had a special prayer service and then set up for HBT. God gave us a great group of helpers and the decorating made the room look very nice.

Please pray as we get into the program aspects tomorrow. Katie is doing the Bible lesson every day. Brother Crowder and I are doing some skits. Several others are helping. Please pray for the Crowders strength as they continue to adjust to our time zone. Please pray for God to bless our prayer time each day. We begin at 9:45 with prayer and start with the kids at 10:30.  Thank you for taking these needs to the Lord.

Thanks for praying for our furlough replacements, Roger and Sharon Crowder. They arrived today and are excited to be in Scotland. They had good flights which were on time and all of their luggage arrived with them.

We're thankful that God has given us this couple to watch over our ministry in our absence. It's hard to believe that in just 13 days we'll be back in the US. We appreciate your prayers as we go through this transition.