Summer in Alva

DEATH
On the 4th of July we received news that Linda Dickson had passed away. This 91-year-old woman born in the midst of the first world war was friends with the mothers of women who currently attend the church. She experienced a great deal of anxiety about her salvation, but was encouraged by her daughter-in-law years ago to make a firm decision. She spent her last days comfortably in a nursing home that she used to visit and sing at years ago when she was in the Alva Baptist Church choir .

This marks the third funeral this year. David had not served at a funeral before coming here. It is sad to be burrying the stalwart members of this church who refused to let the doors close.

LIFE:
At the same time, we are seeing people come and hear the gospel; and some stay! Two more couples have begun to join us regularly here in Alva. We just keep praying that the Father will find us faithful to lift up the Name of Jesus and welcome the Holy Spirit into the life of the church, so that the Father will be glorified in us.

COMMUNITY
This weekend marks the 151st Alva Games. After the highland games this weekend, we will have the RockStar Holiday Club 14-18 July. We expect as many as 50+ kids! (God willing)

FAMILY
Aaron Fraser is now 2 months old!
(9 weeks sounds younger doesn't it?)
Liz and Dave are exhausted and the boys are emotionally in flux as everything changes. Lots more needy whining, temper tantrums, scary dreams in the night, a little bed-wetting
(but dave should be ok in no time :)


Thank you to everyone who has called or sent email over the last few weeks it means alot. Rockin' Barbera Barnes sent some 4th of July T-shirts; that the boys sported proudly at uncle Alistair's birthday party on the very same day. How cool to be born on the 4th of July!

VACATION
Many of you will be happy to learn that we will slip away in August for a couple of weeks to the town where we were married up north. Thank you for the admonitions to seek rest and a bit of dedicated family time. Two retired ministers have stepped up to fill the pulpit while we are away.

ACCOUNTABILITY
Please keep praying for us to make friends and find some pals to confide in and share our lives with. Its a lonely place when everyone puffs up for the pastor and his lovely wife. We do have wonderful friends and enjoy the fellowship at the church. Its just that my accountability partners right now are two guys in their 60s & 70s. (They tell much better stories than I do ;)

Please pray for our marriage. We are without any young married couples around us and it wears thin when Liz need me to be her best 'girlfriend' (cause i stink at listening and keep trying to fix things!)

That; and the search for a house, and the care of a newborn, and our boys' first real summer holiday from school, and the pressures of ministry working out of a home office; all these things wear us out and encroach on the peace and safety of family time in the home.

We love our friends and family back in LA and pray for you guys as often as we think of you here in our new home in Scotland.

Congratulations on the Metro move.

And get involved. Dont let 15-20 people run the whole church machine. You're getting ripped off by the devil if you do! There is a richness and maturing force at work in the life poured out in service. You need to express the life of Christ in you; and 'Church', the body of Christ, is where it shines for all to see. Get in the game!

All Israel had a piece of the tabernacle to carry. Its time for more of you to step up! Dont get ripped off by what passes for busy-ness. Dont just do it for Steve, as inspiring and hard working as he is, know that God has allowed you to draw near and serve Him. AND there is tremendous blessing in service of the KING! Pray now about how you will serve this week. (free sermon right there)

PLEASE KEEP IN CONTACT!
We need to be prayed for and to hear that you are praying for us and how God is leading you to pray for us! So call and write and text and holla. Please. Please. Please.

Love, David, Elizabeth, Daniel, Josiah and Aaron

One year Exactly

This week marks one year since we moved from Edinburgh to Alva.

So much has changed:
We have a thriving fellowship that enjoys a deepening life in knowledge of God and growing relationships with each other.
Our home is bustling with life! 5, 3 and one months old boys!!!
(he types with eyes crossed)

The community is embracing us from the ground up.

• Kids know david by first name


• There is trust that he will regard them as worth his time


• there is the expectation that David will communicate the love of God to them
  (5 12-year-old girls stopped david in the street yesterday and asked him to tell them something from the Bible! Seriously!!!)


• Parents are growing to trust him as a member of the community


• David will lead the closing prayer at the annual community service awards this year


• We have a solid plan in place to welcome new and returning students to Alva Academy this August with a weekly Christian Club run by children with pastoral oversight and David will be a key part of this team


• David and two other ministers in the community will meet with the head teacher in August to propose a chaplaincy programme to minister to the hundreds of kids who attend the secondary school.


• We hosted two primary school classes this week as part of the religious education programme. David had written a letter asking that our church be considered for visits since the school was taking children on trips to visit a mosque. He has since offered to help teach the bible as history or in the context of geography or even science. We will see.

There is a mission trip planned for late August/early September this year. Life Connections international is accepting applications through the end of this month.

We are seeking the lord for choices about church visits, an after school kids club, college campus evangelism, daytime assemblies in High school and Primary school, prison ministry, prayer walks, also with time for visits to historic locations like the Wallace Monument, Stirling Castle, local hikes; with a possible 1-hour trip to Edinburgh Castle and a hike up to a scenic view called Arthur’s seat.

With some prayer and planning, we can really hope for a multi-denominational community worship event. I invited LoveWorks for the same time.

We just want to be open to anything that God may have;
(even if he has a plan to wait another year)

Ministry has its difficulties.
Please pray for pastors!
This is not for lightweights!!!

The new baby is fine. Aaron Joseph Fraser is 5 weeks old.
We are tired and blessed as God shows what He is doing;
things for which He will not share His glory .

The News is Out!

Ministry Update

Vision: Acts 2:42 if we look like this, we are on the right track!

Mission: Matthew 28:18-20 Getting people into relationship with God; with God's help.

There is great need in Scotland!

I have said before, this is a POST-Christian nation.
The majority of people do not attend any church except for christenings, weddings and funerals.

The strength of the largest church in Scotland is the breadth of its theology! Church of Scotland (Presbyterian) varies from parish to parish (from evangelical to heretical).

Brittish Parliament last night voted to approve cloning that would yield an embryo that could be brought to term to provide tissue and other parts in order to help a previously born child. they are calling them 'savior syblings'. Who will save the syblings, I wonder.

Parliament has also approved research into animal/human hybrid cloning.

They have also voted to remove the requirement for a father in consideration of candidates for invitro fertilization.

Scottish Parliament may soon vote to lower the age of consent to 14.
Don't ask why.
OK, why? So kids who experiment are not also criminalized.

Alchoholism, teenage pregnancy, venerial disease, murderous violence are all on the rise and threaten the society at its core.

And now we get to raise three boys here!!! :)
Praise God for His love and that He is able to keep us from stumbling, and to make us stand in the presence of His glory blameless, with great joy! Seriously!

Kids love to be engaged and related to, and even corrected in love.
We are teaching a generation that Jesus is real and loves them.
Their parents are watching and see fruit in their kids.

We have had some great connections with the Scripture Union of Scotland.
David has been teaching in High Schools and Primary Schools around the county.We even set up a website shamelessly called "Bible Answer Guy" for kids to ask questions and hear answers.

David took his first funeral for a dear departed saint in the Lord who knew EVERY person in this town! The church was packed and everyone heard the gospel (as she would have had it)!

We are taking two teams totaling 13 kids to Sports Day at Stirling University on Saturday 31 May to compete against church groups accross Scotland. Some of these kids are pretty good. Some are pretty bad. Some are pretty unchurched.

It reminds me of that pitcher in the 'Bad News Bears', or those three brothers from 'Slapshot' But we are not recruiting ringers, just getting kids interested in the church community who happen to be REALLY good at footbal (soccer).

The gospel is preached.
People gather and pray.
The church shows up for occasional pot lucks and other events.
People show up regularly, checking out the church.
Some stay.
We love each other.

But this is still pretty hard ground and we are grateful to God for His grace and mercy as He draws people to His Son.

~~~

Thats the good stuff.
Difficulties:

• We don't really have any pals here.
  (what a friend I have in Jesus...)
• We rent a house and it sometimes smells funny.
• We have a newborn baby.
  (nearby family are really helping out)
• The new pastor honeymoon period is over.
  We are begining to teach people how to address their concerns out in the open
  They don't always communicate like loving Christians.
  :)
  :¬
  ;p
  :~/
• Some folks have left the church without a word or reason,
  one person even changed their phone number.
• the Baptist Union of Scotland is not eager to accept David as a certified Minister. David is still accepted as the pastor, just not 'certified' as union label quality. (which may actually be a badge of honor, but it doesn't feel too good)
  They are just a conservative group watching to see if I am going to make it at this point.
• I need to be much more diciplined if I am going to manage the priorities of God/Family/Ministry without blowing a gasket
• Marriage sometimes feels on the verge of blowing a gasket.
  Standing strong and stressed by the past year of change.
  we are not going anywhere, but we feel the strain of ministry and ask for your prayer in this area.
• We are growing, but tired lately.

More Good News in the midst:
God is faithful and we receive encouragement regularly.
A local pastor who just retired has reached out with his wife to Liz and I
We hope to ask them about mentoring us during these difficult days.

• It is really hard folks, to be so far from you and making home over here.
• We dont feel like apostles, but that is what we are.
• sent perhaps? Definitely released from where we were; to pursue God's leading.
• (this bullet recently edited because I failed to give God glory for perfectly providing for our family. He is so faithful. Thank you to our faithful supporters whom He uses.)
• We trust that you have sought His guidance as you decide whether or not to support us.
• We know that LA is a very busy place and expect that many will not have been able to read this update through to the last word.
• Some days I wonder who actually bows their knees to pray for us.

Just a momentary lapse into a pity party there for you to see its not all rosey. We trusted God and got here and we will continue to trust God for the completion of the work.

But we all have to scroll up again and read the good news: that the Good News preached and write off the grief as the price of a righteous stand for Christ in this world.

The only reason we live is to know God more deeply and to make Christ known to more people, otherwise God could just take us to Heaven now.

Our sincere hope is that this adventure shared will inspire you to step out into adventure wherever God will lead you. Sell everything to invest in what God has planned for those who love Him and are called accordng to His purpose.

Happy Birthday

Aaron Joseph Fraser was born at 11:11 am on Monday 12 May
Labor was straightforward and without complication.
Thankyou for all your prayers!

Houston, We Have Baby

Aaron Joseph Fraser was born
12 May at 12:11am
6 lbs 9 oz

Labor was totally straightforward with rapid progress and no complications.
Praise God for the answer to prayer that this birth represents.
and Liz is a champ!
My wife shines in her native culture.
I mean, she DELIVERED that baby!

Thank you all for your notes and prayers.
We are overwhelmed by the number of people who let us know you are watching our lives and praying for us. It really touched our hearts.

Mum and baby are resting in hospital for observation over night.

Pentecost Sunday; Mothers' Day; Due Date

Talk about poetic convergence!
We are committed to Jesus Christ, the author of life!
This chapter has had a few twists.

Baby Fraser was pressing in two nights ago and has decided to coast a bit. So far, the Fraser boys have all been 'late sleepers' and waited for induced labour. Our prayer for baby 3 has been for an orderly and timely birth. Today is the last day for that.

Then today we realized the convergence of different reasons this day is significant to different people, or in our case each reason is significant.

The memorial of the birth of the church in Acts Chapter 2 is the due date for our child, when Liz would enter into a new chapter of motherhood; on Mothers' Day!

Pretty poetic, pretty cool.
Yet as of the writing of this note, no labour.
If you are reading today do pray!