Swedes
Yup, 2000 miles, thats what the trip counter on the Swedish car(a Saab, naturally) said as they entered Aberdeen! Well ok it said 3000km, but makes more sense to me to say miles. Thanks to wonderful islands like Iceland and their natural wonders the plane originally planned for the Swedes was grounded, so the ferry awaited to get here, and the tunnel on the way home.They were a team of 5 from a Bible school program and were inspired to come to Scotland by Rick Hayes from Clan Gathering and North Atlantic Dreams when he taught the Streams course, the Art of Hearing God. They helped out at a few conferences with Rick, two in Edinburgh and one in Inverness, which they all pointed to as a big highlight for them.
With us they worked primarily with Westhill Episcopal Church, and Rev Ian Ferguson and Dave Webster. There is a lot of great things happening there, like Street Cafe on a friday night, prayer ministry and prayer visitation cards delivered throughout Westhill. There is also their youth gatherings which are ministering to a very broken but much loved generation.
The Swedish lot got stuck in very well and were a blessing wherever they went. They did all they were asked of and more! From delivering flyers to handing out leaflets for Healing Rooms, taking youth groups, leading Bible studies and taking part in the church service, sharing, leading worship and doing a drama! They even went above and beyond and jumped in the North Sea!
TexansIt always horrified the non-Texans when they were called "the Texan team", so on the record they weren't all Texan... there were a few Canadians, few from around the States and a couple of South Koreans!
This team was from a YWAM Tyler DTS, and were in Scotland for 5 weeks. They partnered mainly with two churches in the town centre, Mission Action that meets in the BB hall beside the YMCA and New Life International, Leadside Road. Both these congregations were a HUGE blessing to the team, and I hope and trust the team were to them too. They also partnered with a few local ministries including: Bethany Christian Trust(The Haven), the Lighthouse drop in project, Choices, Souled Out, Somebody Cares and Siloam to name a few. They also came with a very powerful drama depicting what Jesus has done for us which they did a few times including on George Street behind John Lewis!
Crystal did a fantastic job at managing most of their time, inputting into their daily rhythm and various prayer projects that they set out on. It was a very trying time for us all physically but also a reminder to us why we love DTS, with its focus on whole life discipleship, leaving nothing out and believing that God has a way for us to live holistically and in complete reverence and submission to Him as our loving Father and Friend. Everything is included in that, from how to pray for someone, to daily disciplines right down to how to scrub a pot and how much time to spend on Facebook! God is good and cares about big picture and minute details!
Our Team
We are now in post team mode, which is recovery! However we are not passive in it and are looking to do things that build in strength and bring refreshment, not just turn off our brains and check out. More and more God is highlighting to me what it means to give up my rights, in all areas and live from a place of obedience and in a love relationship with Him.
We are also travelling! Crystal is off to Dublin for a bit, we are off to Belfast for a week! Really looking forward to catching up with everyone I can and enjoying my mums cooking!
It has been a very intense few months, well year in fact, or could you say 3 years?? All in all we are pretty exhausted physically and spiritually so we are seeking God as to how He says we should live and what we should do to build in life and energy again. IT is a strange but good process, more about giving up of my rights again!
More soon.
Ian
