SERGIO AND EVELIEN 4

Here are some up-dates on the work in Cuenca:

Olga is showing more and more interest in learning about the gospel. She attends services sometimes.

Sergio is keen to explore ways of using current problems and topics in order to relate the gospel to these and is looking for a "neutral" place to discuss such issues. Francisco Rivera is one who attended the conference on depression and has met with Sergio on different occasions.

Unemployment is a problem for some members in the Cuenca congregation. Pray that families may be provided for, and indeed that Sergio and Evelien may also see the Lord's provision for them as they seek the Lord's guidance on their lives.

The visits to the Old People's Home continues. One of the residents died recently, and Sergio is hopeful that she died in the Lord, trusting in Jesus as her Saviour.

Evelien continues teaching English (not her first language) to Spanish young people )Spanish not her first language either!). Please do pray for strength and wisdom for her, especially in dealing with difficult pupils.

Sergio is now preaching every Sunday. It is a difficult situation for him as he waits to see if the Lord is calling him to be the pastor of the congregation.

The couple are grateful to those who give and to those who pray. They would ask you to pray for God's continuing blessing on them, for the strengthening of their faith and that God would add to the Cuenca congregation such as should be saved.

Time to Post

I thought it was time to post something, so here are some photos that were taken a few weeks ago at our last psalm-singing recording session. Esther was trying out her new camera, and we are happy to have some pictures of our time together.

GRIDLOCK

Last night was the night that many people will never forget as Scotland's busiest motorways were at a standstill for many hours and people had to spend a night in their cars in sub-zero temperatures. Some spent the night in their office, in a bus station, and some children stayed overnight in their schools. Snow which kept falling for 71/2 hours began at the morning rush-hour. Now there is a severe problem of ice and the M8 is currently still closed as road-breaking machines try to break up the ice.

FEED THE BIRDS

Since moving to this house in December 2005, we have been trying to attract some birds to our garden in a housing area of new builds and low-maintainance gardens. These last 2 years we have been trying to help whatever birds come our way to survive. A robin, a dunnock and a blackbird pay us visits, and for 2 days we saw both a blue tit and a great tit, but we are sorry that we have not seen them for a couple of days.

"SNOW ON SNOW"

Scotland is in the grip of an early winter. We have been known to say when asked by friends abroad how the winters are in Scotland, "Oh well! Where WE live (in the Central Belt) the winters are not severe, WE don't usually get much snow....etc." After last year's winter, and now after what we have received so far this year, we are prepared to eat our words!

He sendeth forth his commandment upon earth: his word runneth very swiftly.
He giveth snow like wool:he scattereth the hoarfrost like ashes.
He casteth forth his ice like morsels:who can stand before his cold?
He sendeth out his word and melteth them: he causeth his wind to blow, and the waters flow...

Psalm 147: 16-18

SERGIO AND EVELEIN 3

Sergio and Evelien are encouraged by the Lord's blessing on their endeavors in Cuenca, Spain.

Olga sometimes comes to the bible-studies; so far, her husband has only come once. However, there was an opportunity to give a word of testimony when they had supper together recently.

The couple are really thankful to the Lord for the response to The Conference on "Depression, its Causes and and Cure" where 70 people attended. Pray that the literature handed out may be blessed to hearts and souls.

Meeting up with Uzo continues.

Weekly meetings with the priest also continues, but his heart seems to be hardening against the gospel.

The Old Peoples' Home also receives ongoing visits.

Costel still attends services. He needs stability in his life.

Evelien has begun her teaching job. The work is not easy for her. She also teaches in the Sunday School.

The couple are thankful that their daily expenses are being met. They ask for prayer in all the above, and also in their own lives and and ministry, that God will direct their paths. They also ask for prayer for the congregation in Cuenca, that God will encourage them and add to their number.

RIVERS

"Behold, I will extend peace to her like a river, and the glory of the Gentiles like a flowing stream"

Isaiah 66:12

"He who believes in me, as the scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water."

John 7:38

"And he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding from the throne of God and of the Lamb."

Revelation 22:1

PHOTOGRAPHER AT WORK IN THE ROCKIES

We had 2 very enjoyable days in the the Rockies just over the border in British Columbia

A MUSICAL AFTERNOON

Today we enjoyed a pleasant afternoon of chat and Scottish traditional music with our friends, Bill and Flora Stark

Come back soon! Bill and Flora!

VISIT FROM JONATHAN!

Jonathan has enjoyed a weekend away from home, staying with his friend Nathan in Linlithgow. On Saturday they met up with some friends from Edinburgh and Glasgow and walked along the nearby canal.

He has had some encouragements recently, such as receiving his Duke of Edinburgh Gold Award and being given a standing ovation for perseverance in his efforts to progress after his serious accident.

Please continue to pray for him as he continues his daily programme of exercising to improve the use of his limbs, and especially his left arm.

Alberta

It has been a great priviledge for us to have been invited to be with 2 congregations of the Free Reformed Church of North America - several times in Pompton Plains, New Jersey:

and, now, twice in Monarch, Alberta:

This latest trip to Alberta was for 6 weeks. We were provided with a lovely little house - a holiday home - belonging to one of the elders in Monarch. We enjoyed getting to know the family a little bit, especially the youngest little one who is one year old this month. We feel overwhelmed by the kindness shown to us by the warm-hearted people of the congregation.

After 4 weeks in Monarch we transferred to Calgary. Harold and Janey Slingerland very kindly showed us hospitality and Bill preached for the Calgary congregation one Lord's Day and in Lacombe, 2 hours' drive North from Calgary the following one.
On the journey north to Calgary, to the West, towards the Rocky Mountains there was a stunning sunset and to the East was the beauty of a full moon.

We are grateful for all the Christian love and kindness shown to us during our time in Alberta.

SERGIO AND EVELEIN 2

Here are some items from Sergio and Evelein's 3rd prayer-letter.

Following some visits to the residence of some Roman Catholic priests, the couple were happy to welcome 2 of them to one of the services. One of them, especially, is open to reading the bible and to prayer. Please pray for the light of the gospel to shine into their hearts.

Olga is the lady to whom Evelein has been teaching English. She came to visit and brought her husband! She shows interest and has many questions. Please pray that the book, "All of Grace" by C.H. Spurgeon, which Evelein has given her, may be blessed to her soul.

They are encouraged that a lapsed member has started attending again.

On 5th September, after the evening service, they held an open-air service in a park. They reckon that arround 60 were listening and afterwards 30 received copies of "Heraldos".

Please pray for good preparation for Sergio, as they get ready for a conference on Depression- its causes and and cure. That is scheduled for 15th October.

The couple are encouraged by an increase in their support. Evelein begins her teaching job in the school this month. Sergio also looks for a job but unemployment is high.

We are asked to pray that God will strengthen and encourage them for the work and that God will add to the church daily such as should be saved, (Acts 2:47).

Update on Serge and Evelein

Some of you may remember about Serge and his Dutch wife, Evelein. They have just sent out Newsletter No. 2.

They are settling in to life in Cuenca and finding the congregation supportive. Serge requests prayer for 22nd and 29th August when he is preaching.

Evelein is doing a TEFL course and hopes to be able to teach English in one of the local schools. She teaches a girl called Olga 2 hours a week. Remember her as English is not her first language.

Serge has a weekly visit to some R.C. priests. One in particular is very interested. He is hoping for an opportunity to give his testimony sometime soon.

The weekly visit to the Old People's Home continues with some good conversations.

The couple are planning a bi-monthly conference in the "Cultural Centre" (part of the local library) It holds 180 so it is an ambitious venture.

That ask for their daily needs to be supplied. They wonder about a cheap secondhand car to help them get out to the surrounding villages with the gospel.

EURO-TRIP 17 England!

Our ferry took us in to Plymouth and we planned to worship in Barnstaple on the Lord's Day. The congregation were having a lunch together and we were invited to join them. It was good to meet visitors from other congregations as well.

We enjoyed being with Pastor David Kay and his wife, too.

The journey home to Scotland was smooth and uneventful. We were so thankful to God that we were safely home after travelling 5,090 miles. We continue to pray for the people we met and trust that they will know the Lord's grace and mercy in their hearts and lives.

EURO-TRIP 16 Picos

The Picos of Europe are an amazing range of mountains rising to 2,648m at the highest peak. They are about 13 miles inland from the beautiful coast-line and are part of the Autonomous Communities of Asturias, Cantabria, and Castile and Leon. Some of the passes into them are extremely narrow and dramatic. We were only able to make a day trip to get an impression of what they are like.

Enjoying a last coffee before boarding the ferry at Santander!

EURO-TRIP 15: People

On our trip we struck up a conversation with different folk. At one of the lighthouses in Portugal we passed the time of day with a young man, who later, came by our van, looking for, it seemed to us, some conversation. He is French and his name is Alec. He is wandering arround Europe and confessed to be "lost". He asked questions about Jesus and what it meant to be a pastor. Bill had described himself as a pastor and Jesus as "the Good Shepherd" His English was fairly good and Bill gave him a copy of Rev. Douglas MacMillan's book on Psalm 23. May the Lord bless it to him.

You can see Bill making himself at home among some of the locals in a very poor village in Portugal. The allocated parking place was in the centre of the village, and nearby were families of, we think, gypsies. We felt for this village where there seemed no gospel presence or influence.

In Galicia, at one of our stops, a man parked next to us then passed at the back of our van carrying a case. A few minutes later we heard the sounds of the bag-pipes! You can see he and Bill got on like old friends. Indeed the people from Galicia, along with Asturias and Brittany in France are Celtic like we Scots and welcome any contact with people with the same roots as themselves.

We were very interested, some days later to visit a bag-pipe museum, and see exhibits of old instruments from many different parts of the world.

Inland from the coast there are old villages built of beautiful local stone, clinging to steep slopes. In a gift shop we were told about a Scottish lady, who lived in the area. We tracked her down and she turned out to be, not Scottish, but Peruvian. Her husband is from Newcastle. They lived near Carlisle for some years. Her brother attended the Free Church of Scotland school in Lima and she remembered one of the teachers - a John MacPherson who hails from Isobel's home village! They have now moved to this beautiful area and are building their own house in a village that has been unoccupied for some years. The local people were very sceptical about the project, but have warmed to the idea now they see the loving care that he is taking to use the traditional building material and methods of the area. What he is doing has encouraged other people who have had family living here in the past to think about doing the same. The roads linking these small villages are incredibly narrow and twisty.

EURO-TRIP 14: Mountains or Sea?

Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? Declare, if thou hast understanding.
Who hath laid the measures thereof, if thou knowest?
Or who hath stretched the line upon it?
Whereupon are the foundations thereof fastened?
Or who laid the corner stone thereof?
When the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for Joy?....
Job 38:4-7

We loved being in the mountains - these were in the north of Portugal.

But the call of the sea is also strong! We looked at the map for a headland with a lighthouse (there is always a road to a lighthouse) and headed there. Look! That's us down there!!

There we are again! This is where Bill fell into a gorse bush while taking a photo of a small vivid blue flower. He got the picture but extricated himself from the bush with difficulty, and returned to the 'van with prickles all over him! What a good job he has a sense of humour! (The photo of the flower is lovely!)

This is a proper campsite in the north of Spain, near to the sea, where we enjoyed the friendliness of the staff.

The sea right across the road from our pleasant campsite.