Scotland Team 2011

Sunday, July 24, 2011

Scotland Update No. 8 - Sightseeing and Celidh

Hello again! We had a great day yesterday (Saturday) visiting the Highlands. Harry (our friend and tour guide) took us to amazing places. We saw a castle in ruins and many other amazing sights. We finished off our day with seafood (at the restaurant that is considered to have the best seafood in the country). It really was a perfect day with great weather. There wasn't a cloud in the sky, and if you have every been to Scotland, you would know that is not normal.

Here are some pictures to give you a taste of what our day was like:

A view from Dunadd Fort -- a mountain we climbed -- where the King of Scots traditionally accepted his crown.

Some of the ladies on the team near some ancient burial tombs -- everyone appears to be slouching so Kayla and Sarah can be the tallest in the picture for once in their lives!

Have fun storming the castle!

(500 points for the Blue Team if anyone can identify the movie reference.)

I love these ladies, but I hate getting my picture taken. (#justbeinghonest)

The view from our van.

(Not that we followed this car all day, but more for the picturesque scenery!)

Matt and his fan club on the shore of Loch Lomond.

Today (Sunday) we had church at the Potter's House and visited our local ASDA. We had fish and chips for dinner and then went to a Celidh (Scottish dancing -- pronounced "Kay-Lee" -- yea, I don't know what phonics they're teaching over here either -- but apparently the "d" and the "h" are silent).

Tomorrow is our last full day in Scotland, and we have mixed emotions. We will spend half of the day in Edinburgh to visit the castle and walk the Royal Mile. Then, we head to North Berwick for lunch, and one of our campers is getting baptized in the North Sea. It's going to be an incredible privilege to share that moment with her! We wrap up the day at the Fraley's for a cookout.

We will update more later and post more pictures.

Thank you to everyone for reading and for praying for us. We have seen God do great things, and we know it could not have happened without your prayers and support. It's also amazing that no one on our team has gotten sick. Please continue to pray for grace and health as we head home.

We are looking forward to one more day in this beautiful country.

Love to all! (Liz wrote that part. Too mushy for me to write that.)

Saturday, July 23, 2011

Scotland Update No. 7 - - Wednesday night

Hey Everyone!

Sorry we haven't had a chance to update the past few days. We had a wonderful service Wednesday night. During the worship something shifted in the room. All the counselors went around the room and prayed for each camper. People in the room were healed without being prayed for. For some time we kept worshipping and praying. It was such a sweet and spontaneous time with the Lord! I don't know how to describe it to someone who was not there but it was clear the Holy Spirit was moving around the room. It was not just some "emotional" thing for these campers but the Lord had taken us to a new level of His presence. Later on in the service, Annie spoke to the camp about the importance of discipline and practical ways to grow in the Lord over the next year. She shared an example of how she had decided to run a half marathon but had not really trained for it. She explained to the campers that if she had trained, she may not have finished a lot faster, but that she would have enjoyed it.

After the service, we had movie night and served coke floats and popcorn to the campers.

Our last full day was Thursday and while many were sleepy, we made the most of our last day together! During the service Thursday there was a spontaneous time of testimonies and campers got up and shared things the Lord had done in their lives this past week. After Annie spoke about "boldness" we went back into worship and cleared away all the chairs so there would be room to worship freely and dance!

After the service, the Scottish counselors had a surprise for everyone. We walked outside about dusk (which happens to be about 10:30 or later here) carrying lanterns to the back field. They had arranged for sky lanterns to be released. It was so beautiful and most of us had never seen them before! They are Chinese lanterns that use a small flame (and some wind) to carry them up into the air.

Here are some pictures:

We will update more later today!

Wednesday, July 20, 2011

Scotland Update No. 6 - - Game day pics!

Enjoy the pictures from Wednesday games!

Tug-o-war

Scotland Update No. 5 - - More Pictures for your viewing pleasure

Hello again! We are so thankful to have the internet up so we can post pictures and keep everyone back home up to date!

Tuesday night was the "Kids & Old People Dance". There were "baby shower", "Over the Hill", and "Aged to Perfection" signs.

Scottish youth break it down.

This was a common look for the night.

Some of our team: Molly, Sarah, Bekah & Laura

Our team enjoying tghe dancing.

We showed two videos during the dance: one of babies rollerskating to Michael Jackson's "Beat It" ... and a hilarious video of different old people dancing (as seen above). We were not sure if the Scottish students thought it was as funny as we did but we sure did. :)

Jessica and Matt looking good. (her button says "Aged to Perfection")

Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Sadly No Livestream This Week

Unfortunately, we are not going to be able to get the livestream working even though we do finally have wifi up at Lapwing. We have a million cables in our bins, but not the right firewire connections to make it work. Please pray for us tonight though as Annie talks about Healing. Getting ready for the evening activity -- Babies and Old People! This should be good. Pictures to come!