Merry Christmas!

Hello! This will likely be a short update, but we wanted to express how thankful we are to all of you and to update you on what has been happening with our family over the last month. It is hard to believe we have been in the UK for five months! Since our last update, God has continued to provide for our needs, and we have been encouraged more and more by all that He is doing.

We got several inches of snow! It stayed for a few days before the rain washed it away.

Lincoln and Oliver are almost done with school for 2023, and this continues to be a great answer to prayer. They both have good friendships with kids in their classes and really enjoy school. They have both expressed, on a few occasions, how they are the only ones in their whole class who go to church or believe in God. These have been great opportunities for conversations, and while it can be intimidating for them, they both understand that’s exactly why we are here!

Tim has finished his first semester at St. Andrews and that has also gone well. He is working towards a Master’s in Biblical Languages, and he has enjoyed digging deeper into Greek and Hebrew and has been able to use this to study more effectively. This has also been helpful as we meet people in the community, giving us some more to talk about when asked “Why are you here?”

We have been meeting every week at a local coffee shop for a “Walk-in Bible Group.” We spend 30-40 minutes studying through Acts and have a time of prayer at the end. We are hoping that this informal setting will be more attractive to those who are completely unfamiliar with church, or those who have been put off by the state churches in the past. ***

We would like you to pray for a couple of specific families. One is a young couple with children that we have had the chance to meet with a couple of times. They are very friendly and are interested in spiritual things, however, we are still trying to work out exactly where they are. We are meeting with them again soon. We would ask you to pray that we have a chance to start regular discipleship Bible studies with this family. Another is the family of one of Lincoln’s friends. God has really laid this particular family on our hearts, and we would ask you to pray that God opens doors to share the Gospel with them.

We are eager to see God’s leading in the next steps of our church plant. We have been praying for a core group of believers to form from the Bible studies we are doing, but we have also been exploring the possibility of some form of partnership with Scottish churches that are of like faith. Please pray for our family as we look into the possibilities and especially that God would make His will clear to us.

Thank you all, once again, for your faithfulness and sacrifice. Your prayers and your support mean a great deal to us, and we know God will bless the gift and the giver.