McLeans to Wales

It’s been about 5 weeks since we began to lead the ministry without our co-workers, who are on furlough, and it has been a busy five weeks.  However, we have been very pleased to see quite a number of folks begin to help out in different ways.

I think one thing we are learning is the importance of letting other people serve.  It often takes more planning and maybe even more work on the front end, but we should not try to be “do it all” missionaries when there other believers around for whom the Lord has good works planned as well.  Inviting other Christians to serve should never be assumed to be a turn-off for them or a sign of laziness for us.

Here is the latest update.  Please keep us in prayer.

Yesterday was Gwyneth’s birthday.  She is really and truly a big girl now.  She ended up having three different mini-celebrations, since her birthday party was cancelled because we were sick.  She certainly adds quite a lot of variety to our lives, constantly doing and/or saying the funniest things.  It is our constant prayer that she would come to the Lord early in her life.

Would it be depressing to report that we are still not healthy? Sorry. We are getting better, and some of us are almost 100%. The thought that keeps coming to me is that God knows what we need, and He knows what this year holds for us, and He knows that we need to experience a little bit of affliction here at the front end, so we will be ready for the rest of the year. And I would say that this little period of frustration and sickness has had a sanctifying effect on us, in some respects. Oh how we need it!

Well, we thought that everyone was recovering, but we were wrong.  Marcia is perhaps worse than ever, and so is Gwyneth.  This is not meant to be a complaining blog, but some perhaps would want to know how to pray for us.  God is so good to us, and we can never have any reason to grumble when He has blessed us so abundantly!

In another week, we will be filling in for our co-workers for about 2 1/2 months.  We are excited for the opportunity, and yet we know that it will be a challenge.  We view this time as a good opportunity for growth in ourselves as well as in our church and are looking forward to seeing what the Lord might accomplish.

Well, one week of 2011 finished, 51 more to go.  Our year has gotten off to a rather inauspicious start, since we all have been ill since just after Christmas.  Rather, we have been ill in succession – thankfully – so that we haven’t all been ill the entire time.  At this point, Marcia, Amelia, and I are starting to get better and Maggie and Gwyneth are mostly better.  God knows what we need, however, and we have been able to rest secure in this.  Even though our heating went out for 2 days this week.  It has been fixed, thankfully.

Christmas Eve – can’t believe it’s here.  We are mainly taken up today with various fun Christmas activities as well as preparations for tomorrow.  I hope you have a great Christmas as well.  We are thankful to be in Wales (with renewed visas!), but, especially at Christmas, we miss everyone at home.  May God bless you!

Our carol service went pretty well, considering it was probably the coldest night of the year in Abergele.  I think it was -6 (21 F), so anyone who wanted an excuse to not come would have had one.  We did have a few visitors, including some non-Christians, so we were glad about that.  The leaflets we distributed, inviting people in town to the service, contained the gospel, so it was a worthwhile effort despite the low turnout.

Tomorrow we have our Christmas Day service, and I will be preaching.  I imagine we will have a few folks bringing visitors, so it could be a good gospel opportunity.

Well, that’s all.  Enjoy your Christmas for the glory of God!

well, really cold.  Not Alaska cold, but cold for the North Wales coast.  It’s in the low 20s right now, and we actually had about 4 inches of snow yesterday.  If you follow UK news at all, you’ll know that this is nothing compared to what Scotland has been experiencing, as well as other parts of the UK, but it’s cold enough here.

Despite the cold weather, we have managed to distribute a few thousand leaflets over the past week.  We gave everyone a church invitation as well as an invitation to our carol service and our Christmas Day service.  I think we covered about 80-85% of the town, and we were especially encouraged by how a number of folks in the church pitched in to help.

So, the carol service is this Monday night.  Then we will have a 10 AM service on Christmas Day.  A Christmas Day service is pretty customary for churches in the UK.  In fact, American Christians might be interested to know that British Christians find it very surprising that most American churches do not hold a service on Christmas Day, unless Christmas falls on a Sunday.  With all of the religiosity in the States, it’s strange that more churches don’t have a service on Christmas Day.  It’s a good day to have one!

Busy times right now!  Click here to see our letter.  Thank you for visiting our (somewhat inactive) site.  I haven’t deserted this site yet.  I promise!

Our latest prayer update is here.  We’ve had a lot going on lately!  Thanks for checking our site.