The Stirling Bridgebuilder - June 17, 2008
posted in Missions, Europe |
39 Wishart Drive
Broomridge, Stirling FK7 7TR
Scotland, U.K.
Tel: 011-44-1786-816259
Email: mitchvick@btinternet.com
Hello from Scotland
Our spell of really great Scottish weather continues, with only a few days of rain over the past month. For the most part we have had brilliant sunny weather, with the temperature in the 60’s and 70’s. That’s about as good as it gets!
Visit from the Antwines
Last week we were thrilled to have Clyde and Gwen Antwine visiting from Oklahoma. This wonderful missionary couple stopped off enroute to Germany to see Tristan and Leslie Block, who work with us here in Stirling under the auspices of the H.I.M (Helpers in Missions) program. It was so good to be with them and to introduce them to the Stirling congregation. Clyde preached for us on Sunday (June 8th), and the congregation enjoyed a fellowship meal afterward to enable Clyde and Gwen to meet the group. It was an excellent day, and several non-Christian visitors were present.
Church News
The congregation has had a much better month and is focusing well on our work and on the future. A congregational meeting is planned for Sunday, July 6th, after our next fellowship meal so that the elders can both present some ideas for future outreach and take suggestions from the church. We look forward to this special time with the congregation. John Renwick continues to get good reports after his surgery and is making slow but steady progress back to health. He and Irene have just returned from Aberdeen this week following the birth of their third grandchild, a 10 lb. 7 oz. son for John Anthony and Kristen. Our sister Maggie Campbell is also enjoying a better spell of health. We continue to have studies with one of our newer members, Pauline McGachy, and we were very pleased to have her husband Stephen with us for worship last Sunday. Tristan and Leslie also continue to study regularly with Jie Luo and her husband Danny, and they have just begun some extra work with Carey Lee, another FriendSpeak reader.
FriendSpeak
Our FriendSpeak work has been a little slower because of exams and travel by many of the students, though we are still pleased with how it is going. Wendy, one of the readers, has now moved to England, but we still have, in addition to Jie and Danny, regular sessions with Ann, from China, Carey, from Taiwan, and Marcia, from Brazil. Since it has been a time of some “coming and going” among our regular workers, that is a comfortable number to work with through the summer.
Youth Work
The youth work is also going well, though we have been unable to restart the Tuesday youth club. This will probably have to wait for the autumn now, when we hope the construction on the school will be finished. However, Tristan, Leslie, David, and Emma continue to get together regularly with our own group of young people, and they are all working hard to get ready for our Youth Day this coming Saturday. A lot of planning and preparation has already been done, and we are hoping for a really good group of youth from the Scottish churches.
BBS Extension Classes
My own teaching work for the British Bible School extension program is now finished. The last session took place last night. We averaged 8-10 students per week, one of whom is taking the course for BBS credit, so it has certainly been a worthwhile effort. I expect to be teaching again in the future, but in the meantime I look forward to having that evening available for other things.
Family News
Isobel and I enjoyed attending the wedding of Paula Ferrie and Stephen MacDonald a couple of weeks ago (Paula is the daughter of Alastair and Linda Ferrie, who work with the church in Dundee). It was a very good day, even though attending the wedding meant that we had to miss the 50th anniversary celebration of the Hyvots Bank church in Edinburgh. (They also had a really great day of fellowship.) We are looking forward to the arrival on Robin and Chrissy on Friday (June 20th) and the opportunity to spend some time with them. They have finished their first year at Sunset and are in North Carolina as we write. Hannah is doing well, and her first clinical placement, in ER, has been successful so far, though the 12 hour days have taken some getting used to. Laura is also well, and she has just been accepted to do graduate work in Library Science at UNT (University of North Texas).
We love you and appreciate your interest in our work so very much. Please don’t hesitate to drop us a note when you can, and please keep us in your prayers.
Yours in the Lord’s service,
Mitch and Isobel Vick