The Stirling Bridgebuilder - February, 2009
posted in Missions |
39 Wishart Drive
Broomridge, Stirling FK7 7TR
Scotland, U.K.
Tel: 011-44-1786-816259
Email: mitchvick@btinternet.com
February in Stirling
Over recent weeks the British Isles have been battered by cold, snowy weather, with many areas experiencing the coldest winter for 20 years. Thankfully, Stirling has missed the worst of it, and spring seems to be in sight for us at last.
Stirling Church News
The Stirling congregation is surviving the usual bout of winter illnesses that hit us each year. John Renwick is doing okay and has returned to the preaching schedule, for which we are very thankful. In our Sunday morning Bible class series on the Minor Prophets, Dick Carter has been presenting the lessons for the past several weeks. Tristan Block will now take a turn, and I will move into the Searchers Clas while he does this. Our mid-week class series on great women of the Bible is also going very well, with some lively discussion at every class. The congregation enjoyed a “Burns Supper” fellowship evening on January 25th (Robert Burns’ birthday) with opportunities to recite a Burns poem or sing a song. It was a fun evening together.
FriendSpeak Resumes
After a break since before Christmas, Stirling university resumed classes last week, and we have also resumed our regular Friendspeak outreach with five readers (so far), though we hope others will begin in the weeks ahead. Two readers, Fina and Ring, are new to us, though they are classmates of Judy and Mia who have been attending church services regularly throughout most of the break (when not travelling). Tristan and Leslie Block have begun working with them (as they did last year with Jie and Danny) at least once a week in a Bible study, and the girls also continue to attend Searchers class each Sunday. After visiting a friend in London during the holidays, Judy remarked to me that she felt she was especially fortunate, since she had opportunities (through Friendspeak) to meet other people and do things which her friend in London did not have. Please join us in praying for their continued growth in faith, and for others from the university to begin attending Friendspeak sessions. One other happy event during January was the wedding in Edinburgh of a former FriendSpeak reader, Sylvia Yin, to Chris Ma. Isobel and I, along with Stirling members John and Rhona Fairgrieve, were thrilled to attend.
Youth Club
Our youth club at Braehead Primary School resumed in mid-January with about 15 children in the 10-12 year old age range. This number has held steady every week. Each week a short lesson from the Bible is presented, followed by some games. Last week, as an experiment, we held a “parents night” to encourage the children’s parents to come in, enjoy some of the games, and meet us. We were amazed when more than 15 parents showed up, many of them expressing real appreciaztion for the work we do with their children. We believe yet another beidge to the community was built! Now youth club will need to take a break for three weeks because the school will be unavailable, but hopefully there will be other opportunities to reach out to local families.
Marriage Seminar
On Friday and Saturday, Feb. 27th and 28th, the church here is looking forward to a series of lessons/lectures on the marriage relationship brough by Dr. Steve Allison of ACU. We have publicized the series among the British churches, and we have distributed leaflets around the neighbourhood as well in the hope of attracting some who might come along from the town. We ask you to please keep this outreach in your prayers.
Family News
Isobel and I remain in reasonably good health and are doing well. She is finding her work at the hospital especially stressful at the moment through staff shortages and extra shifts. Our kids are well, and we are looking forward to seeing Robin and Chrissy, along with a number of others, in March as they come over to survey possible locations for a new evangelistic team to Scotland or northern England. Hannah is looking for temporary places to stay in Ft. Smith and Dallas in the not too distant future as she is sent to various rotations as part of her training. Laura is especially busy now that she has started her library classes, and Clay is taking an evening extension class from Sunset.
We are so blessed by all of you and your interest in our work. We ask fervently to be remembered as you pray for the growth of God’s Kingdom. May God bless you richly.
Yours in the Lord’s service,
Mitch and Isobel Vick