Youth Club

We had this amazing night with two sports stars who visited from America.

Mike McCoy of the Green Bay Packers/Oakland Raiders/NY Giants and
Keith Davis of the NY Giants came out as representatives of
the Christian ministry Champions For Today.

They showed up played with kids and told them about God.

Picture a small child trying to stop 6 feet and 275 pounds of Footballer from getting to the goal across the room and then he said:

'Nothing will be able to separate us from the love of God"

They put a HUGE RoseBowl jersey on another child
and told a bit of the story of the prodigal son.
This child disappeared in the shirt of this giant man!
They heard about being clothed in righteousness of Christ.

The invitation was: Who wants to be on God's team?
The response across the room was unanimous.

The gospel was preached: The love of God, sin & forgiveness, Life to the full.

Kids get this stuff!

It sounds simple, but I was walking home from dropping off Josiah at school today and the parents of one of Daniel's friends told me that their son came home saying "I'm on God's team!"

We need to get this stuff like kids do.

Be different today.
You're on God's team.

A Note from Elizabeth

Hi. It's Elizabeth here. A very happy New Year to all.
Certainly a roller-coaster of 8 and a half months that we've had on British soil! So grateful to be living near family, yet definitely experiencing the strangeness of a different place, and finding it hard that we don't know anyone well- yet - lots of culture shock to be had all round. The boys are adjusting keenly, finding friends and getting into life. We're praying for a house, preferably before the new baby arrives, but we trust in God's timing.... as much as we can! When we're not trusting, we're worrying! But I know to keep fast to the mission ahead, even if that's just taking it a day at a time and learning about what God wants for this town - or even for this nation.

The calendar is filling up - I have this incredible sense of the speed of life. Little chance to pause for breath. I am trying to clear and tidy after a busy (and fun-filled) Christmas, but this year is not giving me much of a run up, it is flooding in from all sides. Please pray that I can prioritize and not do meaningless tasks that God would rather I left by ......the .........wayside.....

Goodness, I'm having difficulty writing this.....Are you bored of reading this?

I really feel that I've been writing for the sake of an entry, rather than for the sake of those I know and love and for the sake of staying in touch with people I care deeply about. I've been so busy with house and children and family and a weary, sick pregnancy and numerous ministry opportunities, that I'm glad to have left the blog updates up to David. But I had wanted my first entry to be dynamic and encouraging about all that God is doing with the Fraser family's mission to Scotland.

The truth is, I need your prayers as we enter 2008. I am low in this cold wet town. The people we know are warm and welcoming but I am tired of not having a proper place to call home - a nest to feather, as it were.

I'm also tired of leaning on my family for support and advice because, let's face it, it's all new to me too and friends do not abound - solid, trusting relationships take time.

Mostly, I'm tired of misunderstanding my role in this life, and wanting to do it all, but only having the energy (at 5months pregnant) to manage the basics. One minute I am elated and joyful and throwing myself into a new season with the enthusiasm that only God gives. The next I am exhausted, fearful and withdrawing into a tight ball of self preservation, wishing for an easier way, and forcefully making time to call my own.

Please, please pray for balance and peace for me. In ministry, I have heard that one needs boundaries while still being available to people who may show up on your doorstep. Well, when the town is literally on our doorstep, I find it difficult to aptly judge what to say Yes and No to, and it's wearing me out!!! We have some kind of meeting or ministry event going on every night this week. Crazy.

So now I've written that, I'm not in denial any more!! :) Thanks for listening. Please bring it before the Lord if you think of us and have the time.

We miss everyone a lot. We miss California. We still know that we took the path God had for us. Please remember us, and please keep us posted on what is happening with you. We're blessed to have you as friends - thank you for your support.
Lots of love, In Christ. xxxx

(DF) PS we would love comments on these blogs and check all the time.

Just over a month

David, Elizabeth, Daniel & Josiah Fraser
Scotland Mission:

a response to the call of God on our lives.

May 28, 2007

Just over a month since we left Metro in Los Angeles for Edinburgh, Scotland. We are beginning to look like people who will live here and not merely visitors on vacation.

We are making incremental progress as we get used to life in a new country. We purchased a car, auto insurance, have a bank, and a post office, and found a local grocery store, etc.

We have spent over $10,000 to get here and get settled. Shipping, airfare, auto purchase and miscellaneous expenses all add up. The exchange rate $2=1 pound) cuts our dollars in half. Gas costs $8 a gallon! We don't drive too much.

The missionary facilitator service receives 10% for processing the banking and taxation and keeping track of our expenses and Uncle Sam also gets 15% of your tax deductible contributions (since I receive it as taxable salary, we pay 100% of SSDI). Good grief!

Since leaving, we have received $600/month support from Metro and some more from those of you who are helping this work to continue. That money has really helped us over this time.

I have been asking, seeking and knocking all around the area to find work. We have sought ministry employment prior to secular work, but it gets difficult to determine whether we can be missionaries with eyes toward church planting and be in fellowship with ministries that approach discipleship and worship very differently (organizationally and sometimes theologically).

I almost can't believe I turned turn down a position as a Youth Worker for a Youth Trust which oversees 4 churches' youth ministries. It is primarily to serve as an evangelist and coordinator with campus youth ministries. You will see why below.

We are enjoying fellowship with our friends at CC Edinburgh.
I preached my first sermon in Scotland on Sunday June 3.

I also have been invited to teach on June 10 at a tiny Baptist church in Alva, Clackmannanshire (Near Stirling) . The current pastor at Alva Baptist has asked me to consider pastoring the church, because he has family matters that are calling him home to the US.

It's a challenge; 12 people, many over 70 (set in their ways), congregational leadership, one voting member that may be a freemason. I know this would need to change, but am not sure how to manage that kind of change. God's problems, not mine, but there I am in the crosshairs, desperate to be sure of His will for us in the situation.

The neat thing is that this small church has history and is attempting to stand on its own, independent from other more liberal churches in the area. Lots of divine appointments led to this opportunity and we are seriously considering it.

Alva Baptist Church, is this tiny church in the heart of Scotland. It sits in in view of the William Wallace Monument, in Stirling, the former capital of Scotland. Geographically it is the heart of Scotland. Stirlingshire is a strategic location and overlooks the sites of defining battles for the freedom of the people of Scotland. Perhaps it will also have a prophetic significance.
I came out with the notion of a ministry called 'first love ministries' and this is all so poetically fit to the theme.

We are committed to living out the gospel here among the people we meet. And God has confirmed in so many ways that his hand is upon us.

Thanks to everyone who is praying for us and please don't stop!

David, Elizabeth, Daniel & Josiah Fraser


If you would like to help support us with a tax-deductible contribution toward the Lord's work here in Scotland, please send it to:

Shepherd's Staff Mission Facilitators
PO Box 27220
Albuquerque, NM 87125-7220
"account:#1015 Fraser" in the memo

Or to do so online, click below:

Shepherd's Staff
Chose donation type: “missionary’s name” and type in Frasers # 1015