Storehouse and Starter Packs - a year of giving

STOREHOUSE

Storehouse seeks to help those who, for many reasons, may have a shortage of food or basic household items. Thanks to the faithful giving of Link members during this year we have again been able to supply food parcels and Asda vouchers whenever we have received a request to help someone facing crisis. A typical food parcel contains basics such as teabags, coffee, sugar, salt, tinned goods, pasta and rice and pasta/rice sauces, breakfast cereal, biscuits, toiletries and household cleaning items. For the first time this year we have also supplied packs of nappies and basic baby requirements to help single mothers facing very difficult circumstances.

During 2011 Storehouse has supplied:

• Food parcels - 2 to contacts of Link Church members; 8 to outside agencies (Women's Aid, Your Oasis)
• Asda vouchers - £180 in total to Link Members, contacts of Link members and outide agencies
• Baby packs - 1 (with £20 Asda voucher) to contact of Link member; 2 to Women's Aid

We also collected again for Christmas Hampers and this year gave three to Women's Aid and one to Link Church friends. Each hamper contained a selection of basic food items and Christmas treats. With each hamper we gave a £10 Asda voucher.

Even after all this giving we still have 2 food parcels stored and money in the account, ready to meet emergency needs. We are aware that the Christmas period can bring its own difficulty and crisis to many people, and our contacts at Women's Aid know they can call us at any time should a woman in their care need this kind of help.

We can only meet needs through Storehouse as we become aware of them. Do you know someone in need? Please speak to Jackie or Ruth.

STARTER PACKS

Through our contacts with Women's Aid we also provide Starter Packs to women who are moving into their own accommodation. In these circumstances, women can receive grants to help with the purchase of furniture etc, but these cannot be used for the basic household essentials which we would all struggle to do without. Each Starter Pack contains essential items such as crockery, cutlery, saucepans, a toaster, iron and kettle. During 2011, there has been a constant demand for Starter Packs and we have given out at least one per month. There have been times when the lack of these items has been the only holdup to a woman finally moving into her accommodation and it has been necessary to put a pack together very quickly indeed! If you would like to know more about the Starter Packs, please speak to Jackie or Mo.

These vital ministries could not do so much without the regular giving of the people of Link Church. Those of us responsible for handing over the food parcels and packs hear so often that they are going to meet desperate needs and of how people have been touched by the kindness and love shown to them through our giving. If you have given in any way to Storehouse or Starter Packs during this year, be encouraged to know that your giving is making a huge difference to many lives.

"A generous man will prosper. He who refreshes others will himself be refreshed." Proverbs 11: 25 (NIV)

Christmas Services

Christmas is fast approaching and it is too easy to get caught up in the hectic round of preparations for the festive season! Let us all take time in the next couple of weeks to remember how Jesus our Saviour came into the world as a tiny baby, born in Bethlehem. There are a couple of services coming up where there will be the opportunity for us to celebrate the birth of Jesus together. Invitations are available in Priory Lane so please do invite your family and friends to come along.

Sunday 18th December, 10.30 am -

This will be a real family event where everyone can relax and enjoy being in church while we explore the joy that comes in the message of Christmas.

After the service we will have lunch together and invite our visitors to stay. Soup will be provided but please bring bread, fruit and cakes to share.

Saturday 24th December, 7.00 pm -
After all the busyness, this will be a time to reflect on the Christmas story with carols and readings.

AGM

The letters AGM are not known to raise any level of excitement and enthusiasm.  They are an essential part of the life of any charitable organisation, accounts, trustees reports and such need to be covered.  We met as a church last night.  Someone today was heard to comment that it had been the most enjoyable AGM she had attended in a long time!  Why?  It was not because there were any clever presentations or any grand giveaways! There was some real celebrations though.......


Around 40 children will be receiving school uniform this week, already to start school maybe even for the first time in January. After much work, our project to support orphans in Zimbabwe is now fully operational.. We thank God for this opportunity to make a real difference in the lives of some special kids.


Our accounts are in the black.  In a year where many organisations are having to report a loss we are in surplus, not huge surplus, but surplus.  We thank God for his provision this year in our individual lives and in the life of our church.  Building works completed and paid for!  Starter packs and food parcels donated to people all through this year.


For Street Pastors, and Healing Rooms, Talk Matters and Choices.......
For Messy Church and the planning of Alpha Expresso


For our youth home group and kids programmes.


For our building that we are able to share with community groups. Thank you God, and show us how to increase this.  
For people who work hard in our building on upkeep and special projects. We thank God for willing hearts to serve.


For sharing lives with friends in Athens USA, Tanzania, Zimbabwe and Brazil.
For community groups and prayer groups, for our weekend away and people just there to listen and encourage.  Thank you, God.


So lots to be thankful for, to celebrate and to believe for more in 2012.  
Any amens to that?

Lots going on!

This has been a very busy month.  IMPACT world tours, a weekend away and another Messy church would be a few of the highlights.  We have also has some work completed on our roof and gutters at Priory Lane, kind of important with the weather in the last week.
Forty of us spent a great weekend at the Windmill Centre in Arbroath.  We managed a good balance of activities and time to hang out.  We freaked a few out with Chinese lanterns, and Windmill may well write a new clause in their regulations, but they were beautiful to watch.  A few crazy games led to whole lot of laughter and a few wonderful pictures.  Crafts, walks, games, cake and fruit and fruit and cake!  
We did a lot of thinking and praying through Isaiah 55, a fantastic chapter of encouragement.  "You shall go out with joy and be led forth in peace." Our circumstances may tell us one thing but our heavenly father tells us clearly we have joy and peace in him.

Courage and Mercy's blog!

Have you met Mercy's friend Courage? He is a stuffed chicken who belongs to the children of Athens Link Fellowship. He came over with the group who visited us in June and we saw some great demonstrations of his fantastic flying ability! This picture of the two pals together was taken during an outing to Anstruther.

                                                       

Courage and Mercy now have their own blog which they hope will help them and the children of both Link Fellowships to keep in touch. They both really enjoyed the time they spent together recently when Iain and Norma took Mercy on their trip to Athens, and Courage has written all about it on their blog and also posted some great photos. Why not have a look? Here is the link: www.courageandmercy.blogspot.com Courage and Mercy would be especially pleased if they knew the children had seen it!

Team Xstreme

Photographs courtesy of Peter Paton © 

"God Rocks!" was a huge theme of the Team Xstreme show at the Alhambra to around 900 noisy recipients.  This team were blowing up hot water bottles, and we do mean blowing up, smashing bricks, bending steel bars........... and sharing how their lives had been radically impacted by their Christian faiths.  For many this may have been the first time they really heard the message of how much God loves them and how he wants their lives to rock!
In the coming weeks we are praying that many will find a place in all the different activities going on in Dunfermline Churches and be encouraged to see how God will impact their lives!!  We've got our Sunday service, Messy Church, Alpha Expresso and a good few more things going on just now.

(For details on Link Church  Office-739169     info@linkchurch.org.uk      www.linkchurch.org.uk)

Impact World Tour

Impact World Tour is a ministry of Youth with a Mission and provides opportunity and focus for local churches. God’s people have opportunity to come together and seek the Lord for the welfare of their community and the salvation of their family and friends. It provides an effective and relevant means for the local church to express Christ’s message. Using international performing arts, sporting and musical groups in campaign style evangelism, Impact World Tour provides a focal point for evangelism in regions throughout the world.

After months of planning and preparation, Impact World Tour is coming to Dunfermline THIS WEEK! The main events will be held in Alhambra Theatre, Dunfermline, on Thursday 10th and Friday 11th November. These events are FREE - this is a great opportunity to take someone you know who is not a Christian to see the gospel presented in an amazing way, unlike anything you've seen before.

Thursday, 10th November, 7.30 pm  Team Xtreme International

Team Xtreme is a group of world class athletes, conditioning experts and power lifters with a concern for today's young generations.  Team Xtreme uses their tremendous physical size and natural abilities in sports to talk straight with youth and many who would normally never attend a Christian gathering. They stand up against the stream of voices selling destructive life-styles, and encourage to live honestly and morally.

 Friday 11th November, 7.30 pm Team GX International

Using 'blades, boards, bikes and beat' GX International present the Gospel in a fast and fluid way unlike anything you've ever seen. Speaking right to the issues that face the young generations, they offer solid answers to the tough questions of life.

Some of the team members will also be going into several of our local schools during the week, including:

• Pitreavie Primary School
• Dunfermline High School
• Queen Anne High School
• Buckhaven High School
• McLean Primary School

Please pray for Impact World Tour this week!

• Pray for the events on Thursday and Friday, that the Alhambra will be full with young and old alike and that many will respond to the message of God's love and their need for salvation.
• Pray too for the teams going into the schools and for the children and young people who will hear the gospel clearly presented by the teams.
• The Impact World Tour committee has put a tremendous amount of work into planning and organising this week's events so please pray that everything goes according to plan.
• Pray too that all financial needs of the week will be met in full.

Answered prayer

£1500 of roof work costs

plus

£1500 annonymous cheque for building fund

equals

HUGE answer to prayer.

God is good!!

Dwell

Check this out. This is the link to the song that Abby was sharing in Sunday. Aaron Keyes http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-V8n4L_n1kU

Lyrics:

Verse 1

Though a thousand may fall at my side

Though the enemy war against me

I will not fear the terror by night

I will hide in the shadow of Your wings

 Chorus

I will dwell in the shelter of the most high God

I will rest in the beauty of Your presence

Your faithfulness is a shield and my great reward

I will not be afraid, I will trust in the Lord

 Verse 2

You have set me securely on high

You've delivered me out of darkness

And when evil surrounds my life

You've commanded Your angels to guard me

Bridge
No weapon formed against me will prosper

No weapon formed against me will prosper

No weapon formed against me will prosper

Says the Lord

Pringles Cans Collection

Our children and young people have had an exciting year finding out how, if we pray about the things we need, trust God to help us and then do our bit, we can see amazing things happen. Way back in the summer they did a fantastic job of decorating Pringles Cans which we could take home to collect our change in for the building fund. A big thank you to everyone who took a can and saved up your change for us! (We know they got very heavy indeed once they were even half full!)

The cans came back over the past couple of weeks, and we counted up the money in them. Actually, the coin machine at the bank did that for us and we were very glad of it's help, even though it did seem to take a very long time to do it!

First we poured all the coins into the machine...

Then we waited while it sorted them all out...

And we waited while it counted them....

We found out the machine does not like coins that come from America, or Spain, or Cyprus or even Zimbabwe because it gave all of those back to us!  Then, after a lot of counting (while we waited) it told us how much we had collected. We were very impressed because it is a lot! The final total is:   

£164.94!!

All of that money will be paid into our building fund to help with projects such as providing disabled access and toilet facilities in our building. Of course, we still need a lot more than that, but we can keep on doing our bit! There are still lots of Pringles Cans - why not pick another one up next time you are in the church and start collecting your change again? And, of course, we can keep on praying and trusting God too!

Sunday 23rd October

On Saturday 22nd October, the Christian Motorcycle Association is holding a conference in our building at Priory Lane.  Mike Fitton the National Chairman of CMA will be speaking.  For more information on the CMA check out this link.
http://www.bike.org.uk/cma/index.php

We are pleased that Mike will be sharing with us at the Link on Sunday morning.
Mike is an former police officer.  After becoming a Christian he worked as a youth and children's evangelist with Crusaders for ten years.
In his role with CMA he  travels and preaches extensively throughout the UK, Europe, South Africa and the USA.  He visited Sudan in November last year at the invitation of Open Doors UK.
He is a leader at  Whitby Christian Fellowship http://www.whitbychristianfellowship.org.uk/.

God has given us room.....

In fact, God has given us many rooms! As I wandered round 39 Priory Lane yesterday, with a can of polish in one hand and a duster in the other, listening to sounds of the minister serving with a hoover, ( International ministry to a conference of 1000 last month balanced with some cleaning this month has to be good for the soul!), I was struck again by the fanatstic facilities we have.  Our building is a huge resource for us to use and share with the community around us.  Thank you to each one who works so hard to keep it in good condition by either putting stuff back where you found it, picking up a paint brush on maintenance nights, by givining into the building fund, or those who serve us regularly in weekly cleaning and maintenance.

We have some ongoing challenges, leaking areas in the roof and toilet facilities that yell upgrade at us, but we are believing that these are opportunities for us to see God lead us and provide for us! He created the mounatins, rivers, seas and oceans.  He came up with the giraffe and the elephant.  He is more than able.

This morning the building was full of toddlers and their grown ups in the main hall and a women's development group downstairs working on craft projects.  Messy Church is made for our building and one Saturday a month the place becomes gloriously chaotic and really quite messy. No-one cares about the mess, (altho a more effective hoover may be needed soon), as there is a friendly atmosphere that many people have come and relaxed in to.  People are what our building is about.

We are excited too that  around the third week in January we are starting what we are calling  Alpha Expresso. The versatility of the building allows us to run a coffee shop with the best of coffee and of course muffins, chocolate slice and other delectable goodies while we explore such topics as "Is there more to life than this?" "Who is Jesus?", "Is the bible relevant today?" in an informal setting.

We do have some incredible home baking people in our church community so that alone should be a reason for coming along. Wednesday evenings, 7.45pm,  open the door of 39 Priory Lane and the smell of feshly brewed coffee should welcome you!  Just need to work now on getting the coffee machine serviced............ .

Mo

Final Tanzania post.....

...................... for this trip anyway as Iain and Norma will be returning to the UK with many invites to return to Tanzania. 
They spent time this weekend out in a village out from Arusha.  The facilities were very very basic but the sense of God's presence in the meetings was huge.
Pray for them as they say their goodbyes and begin the journey home. They are due back Tuesday morning.

Back to Arusha

Iain and Norma have travelled back down the road to Arusha.  We have yet to hear whether Mount Kilimanjaro came out of the clouds while they were in Moshi and blessed them with an appearance.

This week is teaching and sharing at the bible college.  Iain is teaching classes in homiletics and prophetic ministry and Norma is teaching on counselling and English studies. They are also ministering at Morning Chapel services.

They thoroughly enjoyed ministry on Sunday at Moshi at the former Superintendent's church. There were around  1000 per service and a powerful anointing.  They have been  asked back to do a week's seminar.

 Norma is doing well with her cold germs all gone although the dust does occasionally inspire a cough.

News from home and away

The back stairwell is to be painted this weekend.  It had slipped a little in our contractors mind but, with a gentle nudge. they are now pulling out the stops to get it finished. The majority of the painting will be done on Saturday.  There may be some finishing off on Sunday so please use facilities downstairs and first one there Sunday morning make sure there is a "Wet Paint" sign and some chairs to block off the stairs if necessary.


From Tanzania, Iain writes

"Glad to say our part of the  Ladies Conference has been completed. Very worthwhile with good communication and the moving of the Spirit. Norma very well received as the big "mama' speaker.

Travel was tough with the appalling bumpy roads but otherwise all ok.

Norma has majorly now thrown off her cough which is good

Plans have changed for Sunday. Instead of being back up to Arusha and into a new hotel for one night and two services, first at 7am we are to be a t Lazaro's Church here in Moshi. He was former AOG Superintendent and is Barnabas's father-in-law.  I spoke at his scene for a week about 5 years ago. "

Tanzania- Moshi

Norma writes today.............

"We are now in middle of conference...it is going well and it is a big scene. Iain got chance to teach on Holy Spirit today and there was a lot of life!  My session went well..I had my friend Faraja interpreting...she was great and God was good. We met some American missionaries at conference from Arkansas and Washington State so we are going for tea with some of them.
 Still appreciate prayer especially for my cold and cough.

Tanzania Update

We have received a number of texts and emails from Tanzania.  Keep an eye out on Mercy's blog. She has her own stories to tell.

Iain and Norma are beginning to settle into life in Arusha.  It is a big bustling city and the traffic is a little alarming at times, particularly on the side roads.  Norma developed a stinking cold just after arriving possibly from travel or the dust around Arusha but by Sunday this was improving which is encouraging.  They have both spoken over the weekend.

Today they have started the Women's Conference.  Pray for God's life to flow.

The People's Bible

We believe that the words of God change lives.  We do because many of us have experienced it as individuals and have stories to tell.  We may not have heard an audible voice but we have heard him in the quiet place in our heart or through the words of another.  With certainty we have heard him as we have read through the pages of the bible. More accesible today than ever for whole sections of the world. (Editor note- love it on my kindle!!) yet so often the bible is unexplored by people.

So this is exciting........... The People's bible project  is coming to Dunfermline on the 19th October.  The details are being finalised just now but it looks like it will be in the Kingsgate Centre.  Check out the People's Bible website for more info. Put the date in your diary and plan to be there to write out a couple of verses.  They are also looking for volunteers to help organise this day and be there to chat and help folks with the process. You can volunteer through their website.

And in Dunfermline the different churches are collaborating on writing out Mark's gospel.  We have it at the Link for the next couple of Sundays. Please take a turn and write our a few verses.

Tanzania

Remember this trip?

We are fortunate as a church to have a real connection into Tanzania and to have the friendship and ministry opportunities offered to us by AOG Superintendent, Pastor Barnabas.  Iain and Norma will travel to Tanzania next week.

Their itinerary is as follows

31^st - Travel to Tanzania

4^th – Ministry in local church

5^{t h}- 8^th - National Ladies’ Conference

11^th - Ministry in local church

12^th – 16^th – At Arusha Bible College

18^th – Ministry at Pastor Lazaro’s Church

19^th – Leave for home

20^th – Arrive back

Iain says

Norma and I leave for Tanzania on Wednesday 31^st for a period of just over two week’s ministry. All the details are not yet to hand, but when you are in Tanzania there is very little sitting waiting for the next event! Time is usually well filled. The above however gives major details.

Our ministry time is in the Arusha/Moshi area, sitting in the shadow of Mount Kilimanjaro, the highest mountain in Africa and the base for expeditions into the Serengeti.

We shall be under the care and supervision of Joel and Farajah Hamuli, a couple we have known and ministered with in the past. Joel is the Principal of the Assemblies of God Bible College in Arusha and Farajah is the National Leader of Women’s’ Ministries in Tanzania.

The main event will be the National Ladies Conference with in the region of 4000 ladies expected, many of them leaders of their local ladies’ scene so this is a real challenge and precious opportunity to minister for the Lord. Norma and I have six sessions between us which gives a real chance to share some of what the Lord opens up for us.

Added to the above will be input into the Arusha Bible College and preaching in some of the local churches including Pastor Lazararo’s church in Moshi. He is Barnabas’s father in law and a former superintendent of AOG in Tanzania. I ministered at his church when I was in Moshi a number of years ago.

 Prayer is valued for travel, health etc but principally for the right material to share and wisdom and insight to flow in the anointing of the Lord as He directs.

Thank you.

Blessings,

Iain

Our Schools

Heavenly Father,

We bring our schools to you, our kids and each one who works there. 

We pray for your annointing and your protection. 

We pray for your love and life to flow. 

Woodmill High School

Calaiswood

Clifton Hall

Kings Park

Crossford Primary

MacLean Primary

Deans Primary

Lochgelly High School

Dulloch Primary and Nursery

Pitreavie Primary

Dalgety Bay Primary

Wellwood Primary

Cairneyhill Primary

Touch Primary

Queen Anne High School

Inverkeithing High School

Canmore Primary

Amen

Messy Church and other stuff

Messy week was a huge lot of fun for everyone.  It worked real well learning together, from the tinies right up to the most experienced holiday club kids worker.  We painted, we prayed, we planned, we were challenged to see and hear God speaking for those around us, we worried a little and we prayed some more.  We had the picnic inside. (Isn't Scottish weather an unpredictable joy?)  Then on Thursday we had our first Messy Church.  You kind of have to see it as it is hard to describe but we had 20 kids and 18 grown ups working on a variety of craft projects together, learning  how God created everything in our world and was pleased with all he made!!  We chatted lots during the story while the toddler made themselves heard, we sang, prayed and ate together.... baked potatoes and lots of cake!!  We loved it!!!  The next one for real, that was just a try out,  is on 27th August at 4-6pm.  Come and join us.

After a summer programme that mixed things up our community groups will be getting back in gear.  The Zimbabwe orphanage sponsorship is moving along nicely and we will be ready to support kids attend school at the start of the school year which is at the turn of the year.  We continue to collect food from M&S for James Bank but a change in policy of their sell by items has resulted in a huge reduction of "waste" we can collect.  We are praying about how we can respond to the need which this will create for the service users of James Bank.

On Sunday mornings this month we are looking at the verse in Genesis 26v22 which we believe God has given us a church that says ""Now the Lord has given us room and we will flourish in the land."  What does it mean to flourish as individuals and as a church, in our families, in our work places, in our community?  In John 10 v10 Jesus says "I have come that they may have life and have it to the full" and as we were reminded yesterday that does not mean life will be easy but we will have everything we need to walk through our lives knowing peace and contentment.

Messy Church

It has been quiet around church for a few weeks with so many being away! We hope everyone can enjoy a time to relax and recharge the batteries over the holidays, whether at home or away. If you will be around for the first week in August, there will be a lot of exciting things going on as we get ready for our launch of Messy Church.

Messy Church Logo Copyright Bible Reading Fellowship© 2011

Messy Church is a once a month time when families come together to enjoy creativity, music and eating together.

The aims are:
• To help families feel they belong in church and to each other
• To help people have fun and be creative together   
• To introduce Jesus through hospitality, friendship, stories and songs

Find out more at www.messychurch.org.uk.


We have set aside the first week in August to plan, prepare for and practise Messy Church. Monday and Wednesday mornings we will meet in the church at around 9.30 am for two fun filled, faith building sessions targeted at all ages as we look to God to stir up our creativity and our passion for connecting with our communities. We'll start with coffee and juice, and eat lunch together before finishing around 1 pm. Everyone is welcome, but if you have a particular excitement for families then please come along! Tuesday we will have a picnic in the Glen (11am -1 pm). Meet us in front of the Andrew Carnegie Museum if you would like to join us. Thursday we will try out Messy Church from 11 am - 1 pm in the church! And on Friday there will be a church barbecue (5.30 - 8.30 pm - venue to be arranged).

Here are some future Messy Church dates for your diary:

Saturday 27th August
Saturday 24th September
Saturday 29th October   
Saturday 26th November     

@ the Link Church, 4 - 6 pm   

Athens Link Visit

The Athens team returned home on June 13th after a busy week of fun, sharing and praying together, daytrips to various places and some good work done around our building. Most of us enjoyed the chance to catch up with at least some of the team during the time they were here. We have heard some encouraging testimonies of how God has touched lives and we’re sure there are even more stories to tell.

Many thanks to everyone who helped make this visit possible by hosting, providing transport, helping with the catering and giving us homebaking for the team and the various different events, joining in with the work projects around the church and generally welcoming the group and helping them feel at home among us! A big thank you too to all involved in the huge BBQ, and for all the hard work that went into planning and holding our ceilidh.

We hope this will be the first of many trips to and from Athens! Here are some photos from the week (thanks to Diana Zylow!)

Some photo's of our building's journey! Enjoy! We are!!

Our kids and their grown up are loving having this room back! The ceiling looks great!



Ahhh!!  A very happy home for our toys!



This is just fab... a joint US and UK little hands project with some help from big hands.
Can you spot Mercy and Courage?



An additional project is in progress!



Youth Room kitchen!

New shelves need a bit of organising!!

Floor back in and carpet down!

Our prayer room cleared of clutter and open for prayer- a life lesson in there for us.

Progress!!

What an incredible few weeks we have had.  It has been busy...... the lack of blog posts is testament to that.
The building work is finished, well that is to say the work on the building to restore the flood damage is finished.  We have been hugely blessed by teams that have come into our building and have worked to a really good standard, have worked fast and have been friendly and helpful.  We are grateful to them.  The rooms look great and soon we will post a whole blog of photo's.
Wednesday night last week we turned everything the right way up again.  What a joy to have the creche room back with a lovely ceiling and a most beautiful cupboard!  Our prayer room has needed to be a store room for the last few months.  No more!  It is ready and open for prayer.
We have also been able to press on with the work on the back wall.  Remember this quote from Charles Wesley.

Faith, mighty faith, the promise sees, and looks to that alone;
Laughs at impossibilities, and cries, “It shall be done!”

We have seen God's provision! 

This week our building is full of noise again but this time not hammers and saws. There is loads of chatting and laughter. We have 17 visiting for the Athens Link.  Picnics, prayer, and  mountain hikes are just a few of the things going on.

The kids do their bit.

You know that story in the bible where the wee boys gives his lunch to Jesus and Jesus gets on with the business of feeding the 5,000.....? Well our kids at church have decided to do their bit for the building project and give what they have......... their pennies and their creativity. 

So they have turned your average Pringle can into a work of art and are collecting their pennies and asking for your help. Would you be willing to collect your loose change, fill the can and add it to our building fund?

We have some challenges ahead but we really want our building to be acessible for everyone. Check out this blog post for photos of what needs to be done. http://linkchurchdunfermline.blogspot.com/2011/03/praying-and-believing.html.

We have had really good news about a possible solution to wheel chair access to into our building. We are just checking things out and then we will be bringing you the details!

Building repair work- phase one

The Youth Room- there is no access at all to this room just now, for obvious reasons. We may be able to repair the creche ceiling but not if anyone falls though it!!




The floor boards were lifted and all the deafening. What you are seeing is the creche ceiling.

 


Any guesses?  The creche cupboard!




The creche cupboard is at the moment open to the stairs.




Creche ceiling




Stairwell

 The areas of the building damaged by the flood have been completely stripped back.  The guys that have worked in the building have been a real blessing.  They have worked hard to reduce the inevitable mess, hoovered like pro's,  arranged to have skips at the building for twenty minute periods, ( the permit to have it stay on the road would not be granted until next week and they were not prepared to leave us in a mess), offered to make me a cup of tea and carried all the boxes up and down for toddlers today. A huge thanks to them!   Here's praying the rest of the squads are so easy to work with and around.

Even with all the work to minimize the mess and the cleaning afterwards there will be a bit of stoor (might be a big bit!) that will settle over the coming days.  If you want to lend a hand with the cleaning at any point just let us know. The youth room is a no go zone.  These pictures let you see all you need to. Safety is paramount.  The creche room remains closed. The stairs from the creche room down to the kids room are usable but we will have our kids use the ones at the kitchen end just now as the banister has been removed.

It struck me today how important it is to get things cleared out and stripped back to allow complete restoration. Sometimes we look for quick fixes in our lives.  God isn't into patching us up. He is into wholeness. We just need to be willing to let go of the bits that are damaged and not fit for purpose so he can do his work to make us whole.

Maureen

Update 2 from Zimbabwe

(As this is being typed there is the joyful noise of hammering in the building at Priory Lane. The work has begun!)

The conference at Muzarabani went really well. Iain described it as a very "rich" time.  All four of the team were involved in preaching and sharing. They have seen God move in healing.  Jim had to battle through a reaction to his malaria tablets leaving him feeling unwell. Not easy to preach after an hour long journey down a bumpy road from their accommodation when you are not feeling at your best.  After the conference they then had a long journey down to Karoi where they again have been preaching and sharing in, with many hungry to hear and receive from God.  They finish at 3pm this afternoon and are immediately into a 3-4 hour journey before starting the Leader's conference in Harare at 9am tomorrow morning!

They ask that we continue to pray for  God's anointing, for stamina, health and travelling mercies in this intense and busy  schedule.

They have been working hard on the orphanage sponsorship programme and 30 children have been identified. There are many stories of children really suffering with the loss of parents and relatives.  Children denied basic education as there is no-one able to pay the small fees required.  They have made a really good local contact who will be travelling to Harare for the leaders conference when they will be able to work on prioritising this list.

News from Zimbabwe

The crew all arrived safely with their luggage on Wednesday lunch time, a long but OK trip.  The good news is that all four are able to communicate by text and phone call when they can get a signal. Helps the families back home!  Mercy has also been busy sending a few texts and kids big and small can catch up with her on her blog. http://www.mercyadventures.blogspot.com/

The Easter Conference in Muzarabani has been going well with 5 or 6 hundred attending. It has been interesting to see a good percentage of young women there. All four have had a chance to share and God has really been moving with many filled with the Spirit and healings. A woman who had been silent for two years after a stroke began to sing praises to God.

The team have been blessed by a lady called Barbara who has provided food and lodging for them.

Please continue to pray that the right conversation can be had about the sponsorship programme for orphans that we are so keen as a church to become a reality. This is a key element of this trip.  For the on-going itinerary the Link website has the details.

The team have asked that we continue to pray as they travel and minister.