Wrappin' it Up

The many experiences I’ve had for the first time while in Scotland have been phenomenal. One of the new things was going door-to-door, and it wasn’t until I had done a couple of doors that it hit home what I was doing – giving the gospel to people who direly need it, but have no clue! The fact is, though, that no matter what I do; only God can make a ministry effective.

Another thing I’ve really enjoyed was working in the schools. We created a drama about the Exile to show primary school kids that we all do sin, and we all need to ask God for forgiveness. In all of the schools that we went to, the kids participated in the songs and paid attention really well. They all seemed to get the main points of the drama, and will hopefully remember it.

We also went into the secondary school and discussed different issues with the students – anything from euthanasia to the birth of Jesus. I really liked getting to hear the students’ opinions and watching them really think critically and carefully about these issues. In another secondary school we got to share our testimonies with the kids – basically giving them the gospel straight out! That was a new and great experience for me. I hope and pray that our testimonies would relate to those kids, and that they would see the necessity of Christ in their lives because of that.

My favorite part of being on the mission trip to Airdrie, though, has to be the youth group. To get to know these kids only a few years younger than I, and to see how God has worked in their lives is great. To spend time with them makes me want to push them onward, to help them in their walk with Christ in any way I can. Getting to know them while wigwamming, or at the Church BBQ, or even just on Facebook has been a real blessing.

I would seriously recommend the mission trip to Airdrie to anyone who is considering it – not because of who or what is over here, but because the mission trip provides a very really chance to work for Christ’s Kingdom, and to see the impact that a ministry can have when the focus is not on our glory, but His, and His alone. The opportunity to grow spiritually on a mission trip like the Airdrie one isn’t one that should be passed up.

Lessons Learned in Airdrie

The past four weeks have been a growing experience in many ways. I have been given the opportunity to share my testimony with many different people and to work with the team to spread the gospel here in Airdrie. We have experienced many different reactions in the distribution of leaflets and presentations in the schools. Even though we have not seen alot of obvious fruit from our labors, I know we have made an impact in the Airdrie community. For example, Andrew Quigley has had a few encounters with people from the community who have read our flyers but not attended the meetings. I pray the testimonies they read will have a lasting impact on their lives.

During my time in Airdrie, I have enjoyed getting to know many new people. The team has had numerous interactions with the youth and many of the members in the congregation have blessed us with their hospitality. It is encouraging to get to know older and wiser Christians in the church. The Airdrie church has demonstrated a heart for ministry in the community as they labored together with the mission team.

I have also had the opportunity to work with a group of strong Christians who have been given many different gifts and talents. I am thankful God brought each of the people on the team together to use our abilities for His glory. God truly works all things together for His purpose. Some of the team are blessed with the ability to cook very well. I appreciate their efforts to serve the team in this area. Others on the team were blessed with talents in acting, painting, encouraging, leading, etc. The list could continue for a while, but each talent was given to the individual for a purpose. In the Bible, God commands us not to waste our talents but to use them for His glory. The mission in Airdrie gave many of us the opportunity to do that.

One of the things I have enjoyed most about this trip was the opportunity to admire God's creation. Because of the rain, the plants paint a vibrant landscape and seem to shout of God's amazing work. It is indescribable, so I hope you have the opportunity to see some of the pictures we have taken. Somehow, it seems easier to imagine just a hint of God's majesty when you are standing at the base of a large and beautiful mountain. Suddenly, you start to realize just how small you are. Yet, God knows the number of hairs on your head. Today, I was thinking about God's purpose for all things as we drove through the Highlands. Each mountain, tree, rock, and small hill were placed in just the right spot... God did not randomly decide to put several mountains and trees in the northern part of Scotland. Rather, each rock, tree, and mountain is unique and placed in a certain area for a purpose. Similarly, God created each person uniquely. I know God brought me to Airdrie as part of His plan for my life, and I'm thankful for the many lessons He has taught me during the past four weeks.

Joe Allyn Signing Off

Since I only had enough vacation days to stay for 3 weeks, Maggie and I are leaving early. During this mission trip, the team has been studying through “Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life” by Donald Whitney. In the last chapter we studied prior to Maggie and I's departure, we learned about silence, and the place that it holds in the Christian Life. As I think over the progress and events of the last three weeks, how God has worked in my life and many others, I worship God... and I do so in silence.

Zepheniah 1:7a Be silent before the Lord GOD...

I'm sitting in the London Heathrow Airport. Terminal 1 has countless overpriced shops and a seating court for the numerous travellers waiting for their next flight, just as I am. Maggie and I sat in this same place 3 weeks ago. At that time we were tired from our flight across the Atlantic, exhausted from our attempt to stay awake even after 20+ hours without sleep. Now, I think about that same flight and the sleeplessness that awaits until we arrive home in Lenexa, KS, but the thought is overshadowed by the thoughts of the events that have transpired from our first arrival until now.

I say I'm silent because I can't quite express what I feel. I can tell you what I and the team have done both individually and corporately, but I don't think I can write quite what it now means to me. I'll try to start with what I can tell you: We studied. We shared. We worked.

We studied:

• Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life by Donald Whitney (We were able to study 10 of the 11 disciplines: Reading, Studying, and Meditating on Scripture, Prayer, Worship, Fasting, Silence and Solitude, Stewardship, Evangelism. Maggie and I read through the Journaling and Learning chapters during our flight from Edinburgh to London Heathrow.)
• Paul's Epistle to the Ephesians (We were able to study 5 of the 6 chapters of this epistle).
• The Psalms (several evenings we met as a team and one of us gave an exposition of a psalm and we would sing it together)
• We heard Pastor Quigley preach. If you haven't gotten to hear Andrew preach yet in person or via sermonaudio.com, you need to. He preaches powerfully, applying the written word of God to the situations of everyday Christian life. While in Airdrie, we had the blessing of hearing Andrew twice every Sabbath (6 sermons). The church was also working to meet people in the community, so Andrew preached a message a night three nights in a row two of the weeks we were there (another 6 sermons). These sermons were preached in the community centers for some of the smaller suburbs of Airdrie. I recall the communities: Caldercruix, Clarkston, Gartlea, Rochsoles, Calderbank, and Jerviston. The basic theme of these messages were “Feeling Trapped?”: how everyone at one time or another is trapped by problems in life. These problems find their origin in sin and the only remedy is a relationship with Jesus.

We shared:

• We wrote and practiced a short drama based on the Exile of Israel into Babylon. We made costumes and props and learned psalms which fit the theme, which is that we must seek God and repent of our sin. We presented the drama and songs to several primary schools (like elementary schools in the US).
• We sat in on Mrs. Byrne's Religious Education classes at Caldervale secondary school. The class discussed euthanasia, abortion, suffering, and the virgin birth. We were able to provide a Christian perspective to the discussion. This was challenging as often only 1 or 2 of the students had opinions which matched Biblical Christianity. It was eye-opening to see how anti-religious Scotland youth have become.
• We prepared 5 minute testimonies. A testimony is a way a person tells what God has done in their life. For me, I shared how even though I grew up knowing what God's law was I still fought with sin (and still do). Because of my sinfulness, I need someone to save me and that person is Jesus. Jesus isn't sinful, but instead is righteous and through belief and trust in Him, God sees me as if I was as righteous as Jesus and forgives me of my sins. We shared these testimonies in St. Margaret's secondary school (the British equivalent of High School).
• We spent time with the Covenant Youth (basically just the high school aged kids in the congregation). Most of the girls thought I looked like Chandler from the TV show, Friends. It was a good time to hang out with them, though I wish I'd asked more questions, like what their testimonies are and how their Christian walk is.

We worked:

• We were asked to do some painting while we were there. We started with an assignment to paint a small halway, some toilets (which means bathrooms in Britain), and the kitchen. When Pastor Quigley learned that I had owned my own painting company he assigned me as foreman for the team. We did such a great job with the kitchen, the list of areas to paint soon expanded. Before I left, we had finished the following:
• The kitchen (walls)
• The men's toilet (ceiling, walls, and skirting boards)
• The women's toilet (ceiling, walls doors, and skirting boards)
• The rear hallway (ceiling, walls, doors, and skirting boards)
• The rear entryway (walls)
• The front entryway and staircase (walls and trim)
• The downstairs of the sanctuary (walls)
• The fellowship hall (ceiling, walls, doors, and trim)
• The secretary's office (ceiling, walls, doors, and trim)
• The connecting hallway (ceiling, walls, doors, and trim)

As the list above attests, we worked very hard and accomplished much. Had a paid crew come to do the work, it would likely have cost thousands of pounds (1 pound is approximately 1.6 dollars).

• We distributed leaflets for the sermons Andrew preached at the various community centers.
• We served one another among the team members, doing laundry and dishes. We took turns cooking dinner.
  

I mention all the above not to elevate anyone's opinion of myself or the mission team. We did study, we did share, and we did work, but as I look back on it, I see very clearly that all of it was God working in us, through us, and with us. I can't fully describe it all but I do fully ascribe it all to God. Even now, I pray that where He led us to water, plant, and nurture that He will give the growth. To HIM be all the praise!

The Exile Drama Presentation

Below is a video of the drama we presented at the primary schools. We had to film it while not in a school, because of the child protection laws. Along with this drama, we sang four songs with the kids, and Stephen, our team leader, asked questions and drew out a simple gospel message at the end. Every school that we went to enjoyed it, and the kids got a clear picture of the gospel message each time, even if they didn't fully understand the meaning. Anyways, enjoy the video!

The Final Addition

If you've been following our blog, you know that we've been busy more than not. I just want to throw in a good word for all the team members - they've been willing to go the extra mile to post on the blog for all of you to read, so you didn't have to put up with me all the time!

Anyways, just a bit of quick news - Staci Templeton is finally here! She arrived in Airdrie last evening, and will jump right into the routine today. Hopefully I can convince her to post on here so you all can get an idea of what she thinks about Airdrie.

Keep checking on the prayer requests and praises (right hand side) as well as the memory verses the team is doing (also right hand side). Both the top and bottom picture albums have been updated, so take a break and look through those, too! We all appreciate those of you who are praying for us - we know that God hears your prayers, even if we don't!

-Joel

Leaving on a Jet Plane...

It feels like we just arrived in Airdrie, and yet Saturday morning Joe and I fly out already. It feels like we've done so much, and yet there's so much that we want to do still. God allowed us this short time in Airdrie to truly grow Joe and I in our walks with Christ. For me personally, it has burdened my heart greatly on many things:

Missions
I've always had a desire for missions, ever since I became a Christian. I took Christ's commission in Matthew 28 to literally go. I've come to realize that He meant the commission to be fulfilled no matter where we are (more of a "as you go about your day"). Yet, I've wanted to go. Andrew's preaching, our bible studies, our readings in "Spiritual Disciplines", and Joe and I's conversations are all leading to this feeling of getting out of our comfort zone and going. So as we pray, I hope you will pray to that God will give us wisdom on matters for the future.

Reading His Word
I had recently began working my way through the book of Isaiah (beginning in February). Our readings from "Spiritual Disciplines" has really helped me in my walk with God as I study Isaiah. From paraphrasing to praying through the passage and meditating on the word to really pulling out applications, I feel like I was sprinting through Isaiah before, but now I am taking time to meander through the roses and seeing colors and patterns.
God truly works through His word to reveal Himself and His will. The encouragement of the team and from reading this book has greatly helped my scripture reading, and really lays upon my heart its importance in my daily life.

Applying the Sermon to Life
Often I jot down what my pastor is saying, and delight in the truth that comes from God's word. Yet, I never applied it to my relationship with Christ, and to how my life should conform to God's word. I mainly went about thinking "O, that was nice!" and then let it die in my notebook. Here there is no way of being able to do that. God burdens my heart with convictions and truly lays the path before me that I must take. Often I think of the moment in the beginning of "Pilgrim's Progress", when Christian (fearing being lead astray again) literally RUNS towards the gate, in essence towards God. That is often what I feel my heart is now doing after a sermon. Correcting itself and in essence sprinting towards God that He may shepherd me.

The Airdrie Congregation
Along with all these things, God has placed an incredible desire in my heart to know this congregation more. They are doing so much to bring people in, and so many have such amazing testimonies that I can't help but be amazed that by God's sovereignty and planning in their lives. And yet, because Joe and I were only here for 2 Sabbaths and really only got to know a few really well, I can't help but wish we got to spend more time with them. But my heart is comforted in knowing that my brothers and sisters in Christ here in Scotland will be united with me one day, and until then, despite not knowing each other's struggles, we can still pray for one another and trust that God is taking care of His sheep.

The Team
I'll miss a lot about Airdrie, especially the team. There are no words to describe the wonderful sense of unity God has given us over the past 3 weeks, and the love that we have for one another. I will truly miss my brothers and sisters, but again, I am confident in knowing that God will take care of His sheep, no matter how spread apart they are. I loved getting to know all the new faces (Jackie, Heather, Joel, Brett, Stephen, and Ben) and getting to truly commune with them, getting to know Amelia better (such a blessing!), and continuing to learn the heart of my husband, Joe. I pray, as I hope you will to, that when we go home the conversations and fellowship won't abruptly stop but instead be an ongoing encouragement to all of us, no matter where we are.

As I said, I can't believe its been 3 weeks already. It truly pains me to leave- I was just realizing I was in Scotland! And while I feel like there's so much work yet to do, I know that God is laying it on my heart to continue this work for His kingdom at home. It's been an amazing 3 weeks, and I wish I had a better adjective than amazing to truly describe its incredible impact on my life. But I pray that God will lead me back here some day (either to visit or to work), and if not, that He would place a desire in my heart to work as hard as I have here for His kingdom. Praise be to God!

-Maggie

Amazing Opportunities

This week has been packed, but so full of amazing opportunities! Yesterday we went to Caldervale Highschool to Mrs. Byrne's Religious Education class. Mrs. Byrne is actually a Christian and as we sat in her classes it was exciting to see how she was able to direct discussions of issues like euthanasia, abortion, suffering, and Jesus' birth in a way that would make the kids identify the issues and respond to each other ("I agree/disagree with ____ because...") She was good at summarizing points in a sensible way and pointing out some of her thoughts about those things. Our time there was spent sitting in class and then participating in discussions with the kids. It was a great opportunity to explain what we believe about the value of human life and why we believe it's valuable, and express our faith in the Bible and God. There were not many ways to talk about the gospel, which was a disappointment to us, but we were still delighted to try to impact the kids with our love and friendliness! It was a weird experience to be able to walk into a school and speak freely about our beliefs--that was partly okay because we're a novelty, being from America and N. Ireland.

Anyway, pray for Mrs. Byrne's witness in the Caldervale Highschool and that the kids would look for more answers and find Christ. Pray also for a little boy who will be entering the high school next year--he out of the blue asked me, "So what happens if you don't believe in God?" I gave him a short answer, but mainly encouraged him to read part of the Bible if he can find one.

Well, I'm leaving for Boston on Friday, and while I'm looking forward so much to going to Violet and Kyle's wedding, it's still going to be awfully hard to leave the team early! We've become sort of a family. :-) It's been the greatest encouragement to see how much grace everyone gives each other when we make mistakes, and it's a picture of how Christ gives grace to us. I think my favorite part of the trip has been talking with each other and with non-Christians about what Jesus has done in our lives. That's something I can do at home, too, and I want to be more faithful in that when I get home. Praying together has been another huge blessing. We've gotten to see lots of little answers to prayer, and also recent big answers that have come from long years of prayer. It'll be neat to get back home and pray more faithfully for and with my church.

Some of you I'll see soon! Thanks for all your prayers and financial help. I'm sure I can come up with more things to tell you about in person. :-D

Lost Sheep

A few months ago, I taught my preschool Sunday school class about the lost coin and lost sheep. Even though there were many other sheep, the shepherd still worked hard to find the one that was lost. Lately, I have thought of these parables in relation to our team's work in the community. We have handed out hundreds of flyers in various areas and waited patiently for the fruit of our labors. Wednesday and Thursday night's meetings were well attended by fellow Christians from the Airdrie Reformed Presbyterian Church, but no one from the community came. While this could have been a disappointment, the team was undaunted. We continued to pray for people to attend the meetings. Last night, a mother and son from the community came to the meeting in Gartlea. We are very grateful for the encouragement gained from just two visitors attending the meeting! This has proved our efforts have not been in vain... like the shepherd in the parable, we sometimes have to work hard to find that one little lost sheep. Of course, it was not the mission team who brought the two people to the meeting last night, but it was God Who worked through us.

This morning, we finished "chapping" on doors with leaflets. God gave us the energy to complete the last few communities while many of us were feeling exhausted from this past week. We have done alot of painting the past several days, so it was good to get a bit of fresh air! A few people we spoke with seemed interested in the meetings... we are praying they will decide to attend. Even if no one else from the community comes to the meetings, I believe our efforts will not be in vain. We have had the opportunity to speak to many people who do not usually think about God or any kind of religion. They claim to have nothing to do with any kind of religion and do not realize their great need for a Savior. In distributing flyers with two new Christians' testimonies inside, we pray the Holy Spirit will use us to work in many lives. Who knows? Maybe one of the "lost sheep" is sitting inside their house reading the flyer right now. Perhaps, they decided not to come to the meeting, but God is using the testimonies they read to touch their hearts. God is the only One Who can read hearts and plant a desire for a Savior in a person's life.

So, even if we do not see the amount of fruit that could be expected from the labor we have put into the community, it is all worth while. God will produce fruit in His own good and perfect timing... even if we do not get to see the fruit while the team is here in Scotland. Please pray for continued energy in our efforts to reach out to the "lost sheep".

Painting and Prayer

Well, it's been a great time so far over here in Airdrie! The past week we worked mostly on organizing and painting in the church building, which I really enjoyed. It's so fun to do all this as a team, working side-by-side and getting stuff done that will free up the church members' time and money. Yesterday was our biggest painting day so far. We did the calking and painted the ceilings in both bathrooms, painted the entry and hallway, the walls in the bathrooms, and did lots of prepwork in the big main room. Jackie and I had a great time working together on the bathrooms. :-) The guys had quite a set-up with a very tall ladder on TOP of two tables! It was actually pretty sturdy, but just looked scary. :-D Joe has been a fantastic painting foreman--he's good at keeping people busy and organized, and he definitely knows what he's doing.

Brett already wrote about flyer distribution, but I just have to ask you all to pray for some specific people. Last night I met a girl named Rebecca, about my age, and she was very friendly. She read the front of the flyer, "Feeling Trapped?", and said, "All the time..." and she said she had company, but that she really would think about coming. Anyway, please pray for her that she would go to the mission meeting next Tuesday. There is another girl named Amy that I met who seemed interested, so pray for her, too, to come to the meeting tomorrow night in her area. Also, pray for Paul who had a 15 minute conversation with one of the guys, and he's really searching and reading Christian books, and promised he would come to the meeting!

It's so encouraging to be on this team! Everybody loves to talk about what Jesus has done in their lives and they're open about their weaknesses, and that helps so much to learn how gracious God is toward us. I'm learning a lot about God's grace and patience and work in our lives. Studying the book of Ephesians has been a big part of learning that. Along with that we're studying the book Spiritual Disciplines by Donald Whitney, so we're learning about "disciplining ourselves for the purpose of godliness."

One of the coolest things on the trip has been all the praying we've gotten to do together! We're looking forward to seeing how God will answer, especially in regard to the missions we're having at community centers in various areas. We've been praying every day for individuals and generally for everyone we've been in contact with going door-to-door, and it helps us think about what God is like and what He's capable of. Thanks for praying with us!

"Chappin'" on Doors

One of the new words I have learned here is the word “chapping”. The word is Scottish and means “knocking”. For the past two nights, the team has been “chapping” on doors and handing out flyers inviting the different communities to meetings at the community centres. Some of us have had some interesting experiences while going door-to-door. One such experience occurred tonight. One lady I talked to invited me inside her house. Although she was in a bad mood, I was able to talk to her sister who seemed to appreciate the short visit. The experiences here will hopefully be helpful when I get back home. They were a little odd, but I think the experience was good. I was practicing patience the whole time.

Today, the team did a lot of practical work around the church - painting, cleaning, and organizing. It was nice to be able to do some manual labor. We have been helping the Quigleys with their yard work the past couple nights. This included weeding and moving large stones to reinforce the wall that had fallen down. While we have been working, we have had the opportunity to get to know some of the Quigley children.

The weather has been very nice the past several days. It has made it more enjoyable to work outside in the yard and “chap” on doors.

A Full Schedule

Each day has been following a pretty predictable schedule. We wake and have about a half hour of quiet time to read from God's Word privately. Following this, we have breakfast, then a short team worship time, where we'll sing a psalm and the team leader, Stephen, is guiding a discussion through Ephesians. It's been very exciting to hear of the spiritual blessing we have received through Christ, the adoption as sons we have, and the eternal love of God which causes it all. After this, we've had time to practice the skit we'll be putting on at some of the primary schools. It's a short display of the Exodus of Israel. Pastor Quigley has been giving constructive criticism and it's really helped to make the message clear throughout. Please pray that the children (ages 5-13) who watch it Friday will see their need to believe, trust, and repent in Jesus. We then have lunch. Afterward, we've been reading and discussing a book called "Spiritual Disciplines" which thus far has instructed us in the importance of reading, studying, and applying God's Word continually and consistently. The rest of the afternoon we've been spending preparing our personal testimonies (our story of how God worked in each of our lives personally), which we'll be sharing in a few weeks with students from the secondary schools (ages 14-18?). Today we shared our testimonies with one another. I think it's really challenged me to trust this team as I've shared with them some details which are very personal. I think everyone has shared in this, and we've grown closer together for it. I'm awed at how powerful God is and how He's worked in other's lives. Praise God. Please pray that the hearers of these testimonies would be challenged to think for their own lives, how God is working in them and to consider if He is calling them to put their trust in Him. We then have dinner. One of the last things we do each evening is another time of worship, where we sing from a psalm, read it, and someone will bring out what it means to them. Tonight I'm leading this and we'll read and sing Psalm 32.
http://www.gnpcb.org/esv/search/?q=ps+32&page=
I feel blessed to be spending so much time which is focused on God.

~Joe

Lord's Day

Yesterday was our first Lord’s Day we have spent at Airdrie RP. It was really good to meet the members of the church, after being here since Tuesday. Andrew Quigley, the pastor, had the mission team stand before the congregation to introduce ourselves. Andrew did an introduction to his series on “The Church,” introducing the topic with Ephesians 1. After worship, the Alexander family made lunch for the mission team plus some others. It was very good! I took a nap in the afternoon and it was soon time for evening worship. Most of the morning worshippers returned back to church for the evening worship, which is so encouraging. Most of the youth sit together for church, and I was happy to see a lot of them there in the evening. In evening church, Andrew preached about Gideon in chapter seven of the book of Judges. It was focused upon that God will use us in whatever way He wills, just as Gideon raised up an army and fought with 300 men against 135,000. This is seemingly impossible, yet God can do anything! We should not doubt or worry that God’s plan won’t work out because it is God who leads us!CY—the Covenanter Youth, met after church with us to socialize and snack together. We ended with a Psalm singing.

Going into Battle with Hope...

Sunday we heard an amazing sermon by Pastor Andrew Quigley. Found in the book of Judges, God's eternal providence for His people was revealed through the story of Gideon and the army of 300. God continually cut down the army until only 300 stood ready for battle against 135,000 Midianites. Andrew challenged us with a term that I find myself saying quite often. "What if?" "What if" can be a very dangerous and damaging phrase. Often, we find ourselves making the excuse not to share the gospel because "what if he takes offense to it?" "what if they don't listen?" "what if" "what if" "what if"... Did the 300 question Gideon's authority and God's sovereignty with "what if"s? Did Gideon question God as he went into the camp of Midian with only his servant because God told him to? No! "What if" is a dangerous phrase.

Andrew pointed out that Gideon did three specific actions- he HEARD God and His plan, he ACCEPTED God and His plan, and he ACTED on God and His plan. As he lead the attack on Midian, he trusted wholey in God and his plan. The army of 300 went up against the army of 135,000 with nothing but trumpets (because when God comes there will be trumpets), clay jars to shatter (because we are broken vessels), torches (because we come bearing the light of truth- God's word), and shouting (spreading God's word with shouts of joy!). It was an amazing sermon, and of course I butcher it by attempting to paraphrase it. The main message that he was getting across is if we hindered ourselves with "what ifs" and ignore the fact that we have GOD on our side, we are in fact handicapping others from receiving God's word and hurting the mission of the church.

Praise God for hearing His word so passionately preached!

-Maggie