Spring Progress

We can't believe that May has come and gone already! Elizabeth, our youngest daughter, her husband Craig, and our grandson, Cal, came for a wonderful visit in May. We were in Edinburgh for the Church of Scotland General Assembly when they arrived. We enjoyed exploring that area around Leith with them seeing the Scottish Parliament building, the old docks, fantastic seafood restaurants, as well as touring the Britannia Yacht used by Queen Elizabeth for many years. It was "decommissioned" and docked in Leith. That was quite interesting, to see such a historic and beautiful ship that Queen Elizabeth designed herself. It was also interesting to read about all the notable guests who joined the Royals as they sailed all over the globe.

We had tea in the balcony room where they use to gather and play games and dance, etc. It was fun seeing it all with Liz and Craig....Cal slept through most of it! He was a real trooper when we did our sight-seeing jaunts!



We spent a week home on Skye, where they all experienced life in the rural community of Snizort
Parish! We bottle-fed baby lambs, picked fresh strawberries, talked to the cows, visited the only sheep tannery in Scotland and

experienced gorgeous sunsets over the loch. We also had fun playing with Cal. He seemed to thrive on 4 adults making him the center of attention!

He wore his new kilt and sporran to church on

Sunday night and everyone was impressed with his cheerful and quiet disposition as well as his outfit! It was hard seeing them leave after such a good time, but we are comforted in the fact we will be back in the states in October for a few weeks.

Several have asked about the garden...it's starting to grow and it's exciting to see things sprouting. I had to make a scarecrow, and so went online and read about the method of making them. I came up with a pretty good one. She looked better before the rain and wind beat her down though! We have eaten lettuce this week, and anticipate that being the first of many good things...like brussel sprouts, beans, cabbage, carrots, turnips, artichokes, onions, leeks, rhubarbs, strawberries, blackberries, etc.

Murdo left for two weeks, and I know the weeds are bad, but I honestly can't tell exactly which are weeds and which are the veggies in some places...so I'm awaiting his return for guidance and some further instructions!

We are enjoying the youth group. We have grown to 4 youth now, and are getting better acquainted and having fun with them. After we talk about the book, Crazy Love, and have a time to pray, we play games. Can you believe they love the old game "Pit"? We brought that with us...and they are really enjoying it. We played "Taboo" this week, and it was interesting how many words they don't use here.... For example, our word trash is "rubbish" here. A sweater is a "jumper". A driveway is a "brae". A yard is a "garden". The list goes on and on. So, word games are somewhat challenging! It's refreshing to spend time with the youth. One of them, DI, is particularly keen on coming to church every week and very interested in spiritual things. We would appreciate your prayers for him and the others who attend.

Robert is preaching through the "Sermon on the Mount" on Sunday mornings and is spending several weeks expounding on the "The Lord's Prayer". We have had several visitors who are here on "holiday" (vacation). We had a couple from Germany last Sunday and they were so appreciative of Robert's Texas accent. Said they understood him much better than they did the Scots! We appreciate your prayers for him, preaching at Uig and then driving 30 minutes and preaching again at Arnisort. The groups are small in each place, but people want to worship close to where they live rather than combine together further away. We do have a joint service on Sunday nights at Kensaleyre. We are hoping to have an outreach holiday club next month for children and have asked a young minister and his family to come and lead it. We would appreciate your prayers for that.

We have had to study and then take UK driving tests here recently because our Texas licenses are only good for one year...We both passed the theory tests without any problem. Then we got to the practical test. Well, let's just say that Robert was nervous. He failed. Linda is now his chauffeur until he can take it again. She got to watch him while he was taking the test and learned all the "do's and don'ts"! She took the test the next day and passed with flying colors! Robert says it's all part of God's sanctifying work in him. Linda agrees. Now he has to be a passenger! Ha! He will retake the test in July. Hopefully he won't be nervous and will succeed without further delay!

Big News!!! Heart Matters, our 501C3 non-profit corporation, was finally approved for tax-exempt status recently. We have a wonderful board of directors, contributors, Christian lawyers and an accountant who have such a great encouragement to us in this process. We are excited about the possibilities of this ministry. As we have expressed in earlier blogs, the churches here are so small that they lack the financial means for any "extras" ie. training materials, discipleship seminars, children and youth ministry outreach, or perhaps subsidizing some of the youth going to summer camps. If any of you are interested in donating to Heart Matters Ministry, all donations are tax deductible. If you would please send any donations made out to Heart Matters via Craig and Liz Goedecke at 145 Lamont, San Antonio, TX 78209. We appreciate your prayers and support so much! And remember, we are always ready to welcome visitors! If you are interested in coming, let us know. We would love to have you. As Craig and Liz discovered, this is a BIG MANSE! We have plenty of room and there is loads to see and experience on Skye. Bless you!!