Happy Christmas!

Happy Christmas from all of us!

This has been a busy month or two for sure! It's only a week until Christmas and while we are thinking where did the month go, we could say the same for the last 2 years!

Some of the best things have happened in this busy time! One of the biggest things is that the network has been given a 99-year lease on the huge building next to Harvest Centre in Banff....for £1 a year! That would be about $1.60 a year, in the states!!!! This building is almost like an amphitheater and can hold hundreds of people! Property is so hard to find here and this is nothing short of a miracle! Just like the other network locations, it will be used for community activities as well as our own purposes.

May we say it again? "This is huge"...everything God is doing here is preparing for a time to come and we can see people and things positioning for it all. This big facility is no accident!

This has been a fruitful season of change. We see people coming back to church and salvations happening every week. Discipleship is taking on a real form in all three locations and we know it is the Lord getting us ready for a time when many will come to Him. The excitement going on here is so real!

Well, David has taken on more commitment and is helping in Banff with the youth and the youth band. He goes there several days a week now. There is a special movement happening in the young people and the children there.

He joined the Port Soy Players for a Pantomime performance this month. You've probably seen the posts on FaceBook! Fun times and new friendships...

We have eaten so much lately! Really! Last week we had over 30 people in our home to celebrate Christmas and friendships we have made while here. Almost all of these friends are not Christians and it was the first time they had come to our home, instead of us meeting them in town or where they work. One man said "I did not know we could have this kind of fun outside the pub" and another was afraid to come here but did, and has since come back on their own for a couple of visits.

We continue to "plod". We know that we know this is what we are supposed to do and God continues to be faithful in every way. You know, living for Christ is fun. Even when things are hard, He is good, all the time. In this season and always we are also grateful for our faithful friends who help us be here. May this new year bring so many good things in the Lord for you all.

We look forward to having James Love and Jessica Heaton for Christmas. We are still so connected with all of our friends in Belton and Temple.

It is snowing as we write this and do hope for more! May the sounds and smells and joys of the Holidays be yours. May knowing Jesus be the warmest part....

love to all,

Bob, Susie and David Mings

Yes, it is September!

The summer is fading and we have not done so well in the communication category.

We know what lies ahead in the natural, with the shorter and colder days coming all too soon. Things will slow down in some ways and this is a good time to look back at the busy summer.

Not all of you will be able to understand the cycle here. It is a rhythm of life here that soaks up every moment of the warm and sunny days. Like storing up food for winter, we will draw on these memories, photos and new friendships through the months to come. It is a blessing to tell you and a blessing for us to reflect.

Each location in our network has a story and there is a sense of togetherness that links us to all in a fresh new way.

The Buckie location has their beautiful new building completed. Bob and David spent quite a few hours of their time helping there and it always lends to some great friendships when people work together. They are using the new location in creative ways to reach the community. They are right on the main street of town!

Elgin is blessed with our new pastors now officially living here. They came with intent of downsizing and the Lord miraculously provided a huge home with lots of room for fellowship and fun. It sits high on a hill overlooking the city.

Of course, we have moved also and have the same story. Our thoughts were to downsize as well. Had it not been for God moving and our letting agent's recommendation, we would not be in this big house either. In both situations, the prices were cut to allow us to have them!

It tells us all that the time spent during the week , in our homes and outside the church building is important in this season and until further notice!

We currently have a network team in South Africa, led by Pastor Norman's son Kenneth. In preparation for the trip we did an outreach this past month in Elgin and it was absolutely a breakthrough time! People on the street were receptive and interested. We made friendships and one lady called Lorraine , accepted Jesus that week following the outreach and is now coming to the church! Praise God! She actually told a work colleague about the outreach she had seen over the weekend and how she saw Jesus differently because of it. She did not know that her college was one of the team members and when they began to talk, she asked to accept Jesus!

In the big picture, it is like a newness is dominating the atmosphere here. We spent this morning with a friend from Aberdeen and he says the same.

There is favor in the schools to share Kingdom things, possibly more freedom than in the States! Kids are getting turned on to Jesus and going home and telling their parents! We see this in the Banff location as well as the stories from Aberdeen. Perhaps it will be the younger generation that will help the older ones!

Scotland is stirring...there is breakthrough in the air. People who were once a part of the church are returning and getting involved in life groups. New people are coming every week in all locations of the network.

Alastair and Eileen Rennie have a miracle house story as well! They are an Elgin family on the mission trip to South Africa. They prayed that their house would sell before they left on the trip. The last day before they were to leave for South Africa, a couple came to view their house and the couple turned out to be the owners of a house in Lossiemouth that the Rennies had wanted to purchase. These people liked the Rennies house as well, so they were able to work together and agree and both had their new house agreement that day! How fun! Praise God for answering so specifically!

We see this as part of the newness. We will have another great family out in Lossiemouth, which is just about 5 miles from Elgin. We have hopes of a life group out there as well as a few other places as we see things shifting around.

Our new house is right in the heart of Elgin, by the way. We can walk to the center of town as it is about 2 blocks away. We can go sit on our front step and talk to just about anyone who walks by. {The steps are right at the sidewalk}. This is a 150-year-old traditional Scotland home...just what I hoped for!

Well, we had a whirlwind summer of visitors too! Our wonderful Pastors Tad and Sherry and kids came from Belton. There are no words for the love and respect we have for this man and how he blesses us as he comes every year to encourage us.

We had Courtney Richter for her R&R return from Ethiopia. We had Matt Kelly for a break from his mission work and Thomas Umstattd who worked way to hard here! Kristine Endsley spent a little time with us as well as Jessica Heaton in Aberdeen and we are looking forward to James Love spending Christmas! We love those children the Lord has given to us from our Belton family!

Our son Michael and wife Jenn and the girls wee able to spend a week with us this past month. We are so grateful. We long to see all of our kids here someday. It warms our heart and is a great source of encouragement and a bit of fun as well, to be able to show them around. {Have I said lately that it is beautiful here!} Ha.

There is a fresh new thrust for life groups here. You will hear more in the coming months I am sure. In this new season of building and growth, life groups are key. If we are to "honeycomb" life groups throughout this area, we need to not only work but we need to be sure to reproduce while there is time. We believe growth happens in this and we believe it is an excellent place to build relationships and help each other.

David is doing very well. There are days we are sure we could not do this without him. He helps us in so many ways. He sticks with his dad like glue and they do everything together. We know it is a precious heritage for David and so does he. He will whole-heartedly say he loves his life here. He is always out helping someone. We are thankful.

We are so grateful to those who support us prayerfully and financially and with encouragement. We feel like we have turned a corner and you will hear of greatness coming from this place as our hearts have longed for. God is moving in Scotland and we see the evidences of that everyday now!

We love you all and want to hear from you.

In His Love, Bob, Suz and David

May's Flowers

It is a "new season", with the full meaning! The dark time of the year leaves you no choice but to marvel at the colorful, clean feel of springtime where every scene takes your breath.

More importantly, we seemed to have entered a new season in the spirit. If you would read Graham Cooke's books on "transition"in the church world, you would know we seem to be pretty classic, and right on target for good things.

Since we wrote here last,we have particularly been enjoying the DVD series called "Love and Respect" in life group. Our friends seem to be responding well and we are all learning things, even the two of us, after all of these years!

Things have been busy as the days become longer with about 20 hours of light. People are more active and "bright" this time of the year. As newcomers to life here, we surely see the dramatic change the seasons bring to emotions as well as activities.

In the weight room the guys have befriended about 8 men. We are planning a BBQ for them so we can meet them on a different level and maybe meet some of their families. They know who we are but we hope they will see us as friends and non-threatening, contrasting the general opinion of the church world. But the friendships must come first or there is nothing after that.

David is getting ready to help a soccer team with some of their workout routines.{By the way, he is so strong, he has long passed dear ole dad}.

We mow grass, take people to the appointments they might have,share a latte here and there,clean, repair, trim and just help where we can. We bake,color hair, feed, read and spend time, any creative way that works to get to be with people. We are trying to model community as well as create it. It is a blessing to be retired and be able to have the time to help people do things they can't always do alone.

Randomly, and speaking of retirement, there have been a few public comments referring to our retirement monies and our lifestyle. We just want you all to know you can contact our pastor and also email us with any thoughts or concerns, at any time.

We do want you to know that if we did not have our own money, we would not be here. We provide well over half of our own support and use our own money first every month. There are no savings accounts or investments. The things we have felt are important here and that we enjoy, have come from the sale of the things in Texas. We are debt-free and live a pretty simple life with nothing to fall back on except the One who owns cattle on a thousand hills. We are fine with that! God has blessed us with very faithful partners who help us and invest in our efforts here. We are very grateful.

We have a lot of visitors. We have probably told you that people here, pop in often, unlike is common America. It is a wonderful tradition! The kettle and the coffee pot are an important part of everyday life.We have life group, prayer meetings and ladies meetings here, as well as meeting with individuals and then the spending time over a meal or a good old game of Hand and Foot as we get to know people.

One other thing that has become a part of our time here, is helping some of these quality young people to have a place to come and stay in our home as they seek God or R&R from some other work in some part of the world. For example, Courtney Richter, from Belton has just spent a hard year in Africa, in the bush, basically. She is here for a few weeks transitioning and seeking God for what is next. She surely deserves a rest. She was in the back yard, helping me hang out laundry on the line the other day and she was smiling and I asked her what was going on. She said, "I am so thankful for green grass." {She came to the right place for that!}

Bob is part of a team preparing to go to South Africa in September to work with some of the students at the school where Floyd McClung is near Cape Town.We will be sharing the discipleship lessons here so that they can teach them when they go out on their trip. There will be some street ministry here to help prepare.

We are all ready planning Church on the Beach for July. Pray for sunshine! This sure is a fun event, having gone last year for the first time.

It seems to have been a slow winter but things are really starting to move along as the weather gets warmer.

We move into the new house on July 10th. Many of you know the story about this current house being former air force housing and we are in the 'wing commanders" house. One of the 4 confirmations from the Lord for the new house is that it does belong to a wing commander who was transferred away for a few years. It was a reminder to me that the assignment is still the same as we move on into the heart of town and what God has next. It brings comfort when He is so specific!

Pastor Norman is looking at homes here now. Jane has a job here that she has all ready started. There is serious interest for his home in Banff by a couple of families and one is

having the place surveyed. A great sign...

It is rewarding to see things moving along and the anticipation is growing daily. Praise God for his faithfulness.

Blessings and love to all, Bob, Suz and David

On a More Serious Note...

"End of Christian America?" was the headline on the homepage this morning. Surely writers struggle to come up with a fresh story to read over morning coffee each day. Anyone can twist and turn quotations and statistics to support perspective on just about any subject.

Here we sit, in one of the most beautiful places on the planet, almost 5,000 miles away from home and we can tell you this is post-Christian Europe. It is not a perspective or an opinion.

Darkness feels different here from what we thought it should feel like in the beginning.

We are still just "us". We are still "Mom and Dad" and Bob still says "well glory and be encouraged" like he has for the last 20 years. I still dream about almost everything.

We sit here as Americans and our everyday lives are surrounded with a reminder that the picturesque scene that nature still displays here, is not the rosy reality of everyday life.

It is not the fight for "just causes" that represents the sum of Christianity in America or in Europe. It is certainly not what the media says either. It still is one person at a time where we win or loose the battle. What did I do and what did you do today to further the Kingdom?

Today our hearts cry is "Come Lord Jesus". We feel transported into a picture of what America could look like after the influences of the Kingdom have been discarded, whether by apathy or ignorance.

Didn't we all see Scotland as a beautiful product of it's regal heritage? Don't we all see William Wallace as the ultimate hero? Some here think John Wayne is equivalent! {honest!}

There is much to love here and we do. Our compassion for the lost is beyond what we ever though it could look like! Until you set your foot and life on a different soil, you can't get the full impact of what will move you or change you or how God will use it all!

It is heartbreaking to see the way that society moves and flows here, unknowing of the basics we have grown up with, especially in the Bible Belt. They don't know. It is not a choice they have made in every case. A largest percentage of the population of Europe are 3 and 4 generations removed from the teachings of Christ. Germany for example is about 1% Christian!

Friends, it is hard here. I am writing this, mainly to our American friends today to say, don't think that it is all a corporate responsibility to further or even maintain the influence of Christ in America. We loose and win, one person at a time. You can't afford to assume that someone with more time and with less children will do the job of nurturing a person along to Christ.

If Scotland is a product of any of this....people who did not take time to disciple and nurture or share the Truth with neighbors and love well or who left it all to a person who they thought had more time and passion or charisma, then hear us today! Be alarmed! Come see what it looks like in a place where they have let so much go.

It's hard to write a blog, not having the dramatic news stories that we all like to hear to validate the work we do, or the things we support. We don't have lines of people who have walked through the elements {all though there can be elements here!} to hear one page of the Bible read out loud. We don't have starving children and things that touch emotion in just a photograph. {And you KNOW I have photographs!}

When it all gets to this point, it is much harder. Passionately and strongly we say that discipleship is the thing that will change or infuse America. It is the hope for post-Christian nations. Pray for disciplers! Be one! Everyone can take one person under their wing and teach them to pray and share their faith. We must not depend on others to do it. There is not enough time.

This is meant, not to be a reflection on the Church. Wake up to any church in the world who is not discipling, but we love our church and friends here. May we all find people who are hungry. May we all tap into the places where there are people who can be pulled out! Come on Church!

Passions are running high today!

Well, there are a few changes to speak of. We do have to move soon as the owner of our house is moving back. We have found a really great home that we think we will get. Papers are not signed yet, but if it all goes as we have verbally agreed, there will be plenty of room, privacy {and bathrooms} for company. It is a perfect set up, located right in the heart of town. Please pray God's perfect will here. It would take place sometime between June and July. It requires more of a commitment and a bit more finances but we think it is right that we be there. We are not holding it tightly, so just pray please.

The building in Buckie is making great progress. The project in Banff is still a matter of prayer. Things are hopeful, but not final. Pastor Norman is coming on a more regular basis now and his wife, Jane has gotten a job here that she really wanted, so there is progress towards the move. Pray that their house in Banff sells quickly now so they can make a timely transition!

We loved having Matt Kelly and Thomas Umstattd from Belton with us this month and look forward to Courtney Richter returning next week. We love the fine young people the Lord has given to us!

Bob and I took a couple of days and went west last week to Ft. William, Oban and to Glencoe. I learned that there is one other area that causes Bob to sparkle, besides good ice cream. It is "'boats".

We were going to ride the ferry from Oban to the Isle of Mull and back one evening at sunset. It had rained all day and the evening cleared and it seemed perfect. We bought tickets and were about to depart when the captain said it would be the last run of the day! The lady at the ticket counter told us incorrectly and we had to frantically dash off to avoid being stranded on Mull all night. Bob was so disappointed, he decided to stay longer so we could ride the next day. His smiles said it all!

I will tell the rest with pictures...

Love to All, in Christ, Bob and Suz and Dave

A Little Bit of Winter...

Hello friends! We have been a little slow at this blog but feel like we have been able to fudge a little because of the newly-discovered FaceBook! What fun that is to be able to connect with people we have not talked to in so long! It will also make it easier to announce this new post! Yea!

Well, we have endured the winter season and the short days. To be honest, it is hard during the winter when it is dark by 3:30 in the afternoon and the morning sun does not show itself until 9AM. The days are getting longer now and the glorious spring will be welcomed! Please hurry!

We have had a good bit of snow as you can tell on FaceBook. It has been really stunning but sledging in not our forte so there is not much you can do but bundle up for a brisk walk and drink lots of hot chocolate or tea!

Work is a buzz in the new building for our church in Buckie! They finalized the deal on the former Solid Rock Cafe  and have begun reconstruction to make it a fitting sanctuary for our group. They have been blessed with several grants to help the remodel project along and God has been so faithful!

Property is not that easy to find here in the towns, as things are often built close together and often without parking. Therefore you can't make just any property into what you might need for congregation. 

Bob and David help out on a weekly basis and enjoy the fellowship of building something together with our brothers and sisters there.

Things look hopeful to also obtain a new location in Banff. Please pray! It has been a desire for years. It is a large facility owned by the local council; a former church building. It would allow both locations to be useful for the community. Much of that all ready happens in Harvest Centre, but the potential with the new one is too fun to imagine!

Maybe this will be the year we find our own location in Elgin as well! 

Most of you know David is preparing to return to Texas in April and start college at TC in the fall. It will be especially hard on us parents but we support his decision and know he is energetic and wants to get these things taken care of. 

We will be facing married life without children for the first time! Wow!

This season has been pretty much a routine. It has only been about 2 months since we returned from Texas and it seems like the longest 2 months of the year!!! Once again, we attribute that feeling to the weather and the season of darker days. THis has been the coldest winter in 13 years here although we do not have any drama on the U.S. There have been days here that were warmer than Texas! 

But, we continue to meet with friends, make new friends, and serve where we can. We have just gotten in the "Love and Respect" DVD series we are going to start showing in Life Group. There has been a really nice response to it and we are excited to get started.

The guys have had a great to at the weight room, making friends and spending precious time together. {Dave is looking good too!} There is not a day goes by that we are not just out doing something to connect with others.

The calendar is filling quickly with teams and individuals who want to come serve the churches here and pray for Scotland. I think these two months will be soon forgotten in the busy days of spring and summer!

Please pray for a strong desire for the churches of Scotland to disciple others and to be courageous in sharing their faith. Christians seem to be targets for persecution more and more these days. People get fired for just offering to pray for someone in need! I wonder how many cases there are that we don't even hear about! 

We believe more than ever that it is discipleship that will change the world and are doing all we know to make that an everyday part of life. We surely need your prayers!!!! 

Pray for hungry people to cross our paths.  Pray! How can we say it enough? We need the manifest presence of God to show up to change hearts and open people to the reality of Jesus. 

We have had several people come to know Jesus in the last few months and they are a delight to our hearts to see the joy and the changes in them as they grow. it is the best part of all of this! Please pray for more!

As always please pray for our health and finances.

Pray for our children and grandchildren. They "give" in all of this too.

Love,

Bob,Suz and Dave

          

Home again...Happy New Year!

Well, it is almost time for the Hogmanay Ceilidh! 

Where has the time gone? We remember last year how astonished we were at the fact that they "peeled back" the chairs in the sanctuary in Banff and had a dance! HA.Well, after that experience we can say these wonderful people just know how to have fun! It was like something in between square dancing and the Hokie Pokie!

We also see that many shut down businesses during the Christmas season and they actually GO visit family and friends and take real vacations for a week or two at a time.

We have returned from Texas after a 3-week stay with friends and family. We have the task of visas behind us now and have been granted a 3-year visa to stay in Scotland! We are grateful and excited as to what the next season here will hold.

We tried to see as many as we could when we were home in Texas and we feel like despite efforts, we just were not as successful as we would have liked. We shifted residence about 7 times, suitcases in hand and we are sure we will attempt to handle it differently next visit!

We saw our new grandchild, Linley, born November 17th and Matt and little Lilly flew in from Hawaii to be with us as well. A great deal of the time we spent with family and we had some good times with friends and our home church in Belton.

May we say, if we were not able to see someone, it was because there were just not enough hours in the day! We were able to see many at the Appreciation Banquet at Bethel and we had some serious Mexican food with everyone we could, especially in Temple/Belton. Thanks to everyone who was so gracious to us. Thanks to Bob and Marie Worley for having us in their home and all the many friends who love us and support us. 

We especially want to thank our wonderful pastor, Tad Smith and support team at Antioch. They are so great to envision and push us forward, to provide us with resources and a safe place to bounce life back and forth as we strive to do more. We wish we could have had more time...We love you all so much.

We must say, Scotland is a dream of a place to be in so many ways. We can tell you about things we do here and family things like updates and make it all look like nothing of the reality of the time we spend here. This blog is a connection tool for us and the span of people who read it varies greatly.

All to say, this past year has been a beginning and a time to learn the culture and develop relationships and to find our fit. We want you to know about our lives but we also want you to know what we feel is the direction and the things God is speaking for this place. We want to communicate in more depth how you can pray for us and for Scotland this coming year.

This year will hold changes such as Norman Hill  coming to be our pastor. We are excited for Joe because this will free him to walk more in his gifting and serve the Kingdom in a broader way. He will still be the overseer of this network, and a wonderful friend but his heart is for "the nations" and he is very needed there. All of this shifting we feel will knit  the three churches together, greater than they have seen. It is great to know Norman and love he and his family all ready. We look forward to all of this!

As with Antioch, we feel the small group setting is key to what we do here and so we are planning a more in depth focus for that. We want it to be a safe place for us to learn to connect better and help each other be more confident and active in sharing the love of Christ. We all have a story or a journey to tell!

As we all do at the beginning of each new year, we can evaluate the last one and set goals for the new one. Our aim is simply to be more obedient to the promptings of the Holy Spirit and to disciple others. That might look like many things...bringing along a new believer; befriending someone who is lonely or older women imparting some of their wisdom and skills to those younger. We can all do something and that is what we hope to see more of: The church being the church and showing the Love of Jesus Christ to others in practical ways, while we point them to Jesus.

Pray for Scotland that those who know Jesus will understand to a greater degree, the Treasure they have living inside. It is from that understanding we can move forward.

 Pray that Unity becomes the strength of the church, as a whole. We long to see denominations laying down there identities for the sake of prayer and to allow the world to see us loving each other more and coming together because of His love and His  greatness. Out of this we believe great things will then come.

We love our lives here. There is not a morning we get up that we are not grateful. Pray we have His heart in everything we do here. We want it all to count for the Kingdom and truly make a difference.

As we start this new time, thanks to our friends and family. We love you and we are excited about the future because we know you are with us too. 

Happy New Year 

Love, Bob, Suz and David Mings

Reflection Time!

Can you believe it? The day is almost here. Where did the year go?


We just celebrated our 20th wedding anniversary last week and David's 19th birthday this week. We have made some real memories and been loved on really well by friends.


Yesterday we became grandparents again for the 8th time as Linley Mings was born to Mike and Jenn. We can't wait for a "bozie"{A mis-spelled NE Scotland cuddle}


We looked at more vision this week as Larry Kreider spoke at Churches Together in Buckie this past Sunday. If we don't get it by now we need help! Over and over we are hearing that discipleship is the answer for the things of the Kingdom....spending time, taking time to walk out life with those who need to hear.


We were honored to hear the testimony of a friend this week. This friend has been a Christian for only 5 months now and just led two people to Jesus this past week! I am honored to have been given a "yes" to discipleship and help in the process of equipping the new believers. May there be more of their zeal everywhere!



There is a real excitement brewing up here. Change is upon us! We believe we will see many more find the reality of Jesus and know His love, many for the first time! We all get to help if we will!


We will be home in Texas soon and with the kids in the Dallas area until after Thanksgiving. We then head to Houston for a couple of days to see Dad and the family down there. Next, we'll be in Belton December 4th until about the 10th or so. We hope to see as many of you as we can. Check in with us by email! After the 10th we will head North again for a few more grandbaby hugs.


Matt and Lilly are flying in from Hawaii for the first part of our trip. I am sure you will be able to find him at any local Olive Garden! We could use a few stops there also! There are no words for the way we have missed Tex-Mex! We have adapted well to many things here but come on,what can there be after fajitas were invented?



Continue to pray for favor concerning our visas. We hope for a longer time to be granted this application. Pray for finances and health always...

Pray things go well here. Justin is here of course and we have dog walkers and house sitters and people who do both. Some are just coming to pray during the daytime.




Most of all:Pray for laborers who are willing to disciple others and invest time into people. We still believe this is big! We believe that more than ever! Our "reflection" right now is just super-charging everything. It is all so clear.

This feels like such a "general" blog... but we just wanted to not let too much time pass without an update. We work hard everyday in that we are involved with people, but honestly we find most of it so joyful and just "life" We aren't sure it is fair to call it work.

We are fully aware that God gives grace so often when we don't even recognize that it is Him. One conversation might make you cry and the next make you laugh.There is not much that falls into the "routine" catagory.

Yes, generally, people resist"religion" as they know it. Yes,there are plenty of stories that are not so fun here.There are days we solely rely on the reality of knowing this is where we are supposed to be. We remind ourselves that we serve a God who can well handle anything.

There are hurting people everywhere. Alcohol has taken it's toll on this country and the futility...oh my. Some of this can't be written here and is best shared across the table...both good things and harder things.

We look forward to seeing everyone and sharing the journey better with you all...

Love to all, Bob and Suz