McLeans to Wales

In lieu of a blog update, here is our latest prayer letter.

Our co-workers Joe and Abbie Nicholson had another child come into the world yesterday.  John Elias Nicholson was born around 6:30 yesterday morning (31 May).  He was 9 lbs., 8 oz, and 20.5 inches long, and he is doing fine.  As you can imagine, Abbie is a bit worn out after the birth, but she is okay too.  Baby John was named after the Welsh preacher John Elias, who was one of the best-known preachers in Wales – particularly North Wales – until his death in 1841.

Maggie’s birthday was last Friday – 28 May.  She is now four, a fact of which she reminds us frequently.   She often points out ways in which she is different now that she is four – things she eats now that she is four, things she used to say when she was three, etc.  On Saturday I took her with me to visit an elderly couple who keep a few toys in their living room for their grandson.  She played with them last time we visited, but this time, when I told her she could play with the toys, she informed me that now that she is four she doesn’t need to play with toys – she only played with them when she was three.  Apparently, she believes she has undergone a radical transformation.  And, of course, she is now almost five.  For all of that, we thank God for giving us a healthy four-year-old who really is growing and learning fast.  Most importantly, she is learning the gospel – we pray that she will believe it soon!

Actually, we’ve been back since Saturday afternoon, and it’s been somewhat busy ever since.  We hurried home on Saturday in order to attend a birthday party for the little boy of some friends of ours.  We were sure that we would be able to meet several families from our community, and it turned out to be a great opportunity to make (or re-make) acquaintance with several.

The holiday was great, and we would have stayed a couple more days if not for the party.  We enjoyed good weather, some fun activities, and also spent time doing nothing on purpose, which is an important part of any vacation – but it has to be on purpose.

The big outing for the week was our trip to the famous city of Bath, named for the thermal baths first made famous by the Romans.  Unfortunately, we were not able to take a dip in any of the baths, but Marcia did visit a spa for her birthday and enjoyed a facial.  The rest of the time was spent finding the only thermal bath that one can see for free, visiting the Imperial Crescent, and walking.

Aside from a trip to a nearby outlet mall, we did a few picnics in the Cheddar Gorge and hung out.  Marcia and I each managed to do some reading and napping.  The kids enjoyed the new parks they visited, and it was just generally a good week.  Maybe not quite as restful as we would have chosen, but are vacations with little kids every that restful?  Overall, it was a very worthwhile week.  We arrived home thankful to God for our time away.

We are relaxing on holiday right now – but we found a nice little church-run cafe that has wifi, so we’re enjoying a smoothie and checking e-mail.  And I neglected to mention yesterday that today is Marcia’s birthday.  So, Happy Birthday to the best woman in the world!

Our Creation Science weekend has passed, and in many ways it was quite successful.  We had a meeting Friday night in our home, then the two Saturday meetings along with a lunch, and then our normally scheduled Sunday meetings.  One of the biggest blessings was just seeing how the people in our church got behind the meetings.  With Abbie Nicholson being a couple weeks away from having a baby and Marcia nearly half-way through her pregnancy, there was definitely a need for other ladies to pitch in and help with the food, etc, and several of our ladies did this admirably.

We were also glad that there was at least one non-Christian visitor, along with some possibly-unsaved regulars in the meetings.  Obviously, talking about creation vs. evolution can be a real challenge to the secular mindset.  Our speaker and his wife seemed to hit it off really well with everyone as well, which was encouraging.

So, today we are leaving on holiday in the south of England, not far from Bath.  I don’t plan to post anything while we are gone.  We are planning to be back on Saturday.  Please pray that our time away will be refreshing and enjoyable.  We don’t have anything too grand on the schedule – just some relaxation, a little sightseeing, and time together as a family.

The Steeles arrived yesterday, safe and sound, and we have been enjoying their fellowship.  Although we have quite a few folks away this weekend, those that are here are excited about the meetings.

So, today Mr. Steele will be speaking in the high school Inclusion Centre on the subject of the solar system.  We didn’t think a broadside attack on evolution followed by a gospel invitation would be the best approach, so we decided to do some foundation-laying instead.  Basically, he will be discussing (and showing with pictures) the vastness and splendour of the solar system and explaining how the heavens declare the glory of God.  Praise the Lord for this opportunity!

Then tonight we will be having a meeting at our house, preceded by a dinner.  As you can imagine, this will involve a good deal of work for the ladies, so please pray for Marcia and the rest in this regard.  On Saturday, we will be having a 11 AM session followed by lunch and then a 1 PM session.

We’ve been praying for the Lord’s blessing on these sessions.  Please pray with us about this.

Well, we survived the road trip to Birmingham, returning home at about 11:45 PM.  I think we’re mostly recovered at this point.  We had a good day with the Cunninghams and enjoyed seeing their church.  There are so few Christians in this part of the world that it really is a sweet pleasure to meet a new group.

I went and worked in Inclusion at the high school on Tuesday morning.  Instead of playing football this time, we actually held the Land Studies class.  Things tend to be a little disorganised over there, and I don’t think most of the boys even really have a clue what I’m doing in their class – no one has actually introduced me or announced what my role is.  So, I’m just trying to fit in and help out where I can.

The big thing this week is the arrival of our creation-science guy, Dewitt Steele, along with his wife.  As it turns out, the door has closed with the high school science department due to scheduling problems – they are taking a lot of exams right now.  There may be a possibility over at their inclusion centre, which I need to check on.  Please pray for the Lord’s blessing on our meetings with Dr. Steele.  There are several people whom we had hoped would be able to come that are leaving town that weekend, so our numbers may be a little thin.  We’re trusting that the Lord will use these meetings as He sees fit, however.

We will be going to Birmingham and back tomorrow, visiting our fellow missionaries Art and Debbie Cunningham, along with their boys Robert and David.  I will be preaching in the morning and evening services, and then we will drive home tomorrow night.  It is always an encouragement to see what God is doing in other places.  It’s at least a two-hour drive down there, so it will be a full day.  We may even be able to swing by a Papa John’s Pizza while we are in Birmingham.  We had almost forgotten about Papa John’s – until we saw one last time we were down there.

Just a hodge-podge of things to mention today.

First, spring has disappeared.  I actually had to pull out a sweater jumper yesterday.  I good bit of April was pretty nice, but May so far has reverted back to normal North Wales weather – rain, low 50s, etc.  Of course, people who live in places like Seattle, or even Maine, know exactly what we’re going through.  The hill in front of our house was almost completely enveloped in cloud yesterday evening, and it’s only a couple hundred feet above sea level.

Also, did you know that today is election day in the UK?  I have not officially endorsed any particular party, but I’ve heard a number of Christians saying they favor the Tories, also called the Conservatives.  But they are not like those who would be called conservatives in the States.  I would guess that American conservatives would probably be viewed as right-wing extremists in the UK.  The polls are suggesting that there may be a hung Parliament, in which no party has a majority of seats.  No one seems to know exactly what will happen in the event of a hung Parliament, but I think it might involve some deal-making among the parties.  It would be worth praying that God puts in place some leaders who desire to preserve the freedom to exercise (and talk publicly about) one’s religion.  From what I understand, both Labour (Gordon Brown’s party) and the Lib-Dems are in favor of curtailing religious speech in way or another.

And we’re having a special speaker next weekend.  A retired science professor from the States is in the UK visiting a number of missionaries and speaking on the subject(s) of Creation and Science.  In addition to speaking for us in a couple sessions on Saturday, 15 May, we are also trying to get him into our high school.  It seems that it may happen.  But please pray that the Lord would open this door.  The head of the science dept. has suggested a debate between Dr. Steele (our guy) and some of the 6th form biology students.