Adventures of Mercy

We're back home!

2012-01-24T08:07:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone!

Well, that visit to Athens went whizzing past! We had a wonderful time catching up with all our friends at Athens Link. Iain, Doug and Mike were very busy speaking at different meetings and at the Men's Retreat while I just spent time hanging out with my friend Courage. We had dinner at lots of people's houses and it was all very yummy food they made for us! (Well, I just had very yummy grass as usual, but they guys really enjoyed the meals they had too!) We had dinner with: John and Cindy,Keenan and Sarah, Susan, and my friends Norene, Silas and Abigail. Norene and Silas had some very exciting news to tell me - they are going to have a new baby sister in June! I can't wait to meet her the next time I go back there!

I wonder when that will be? And I wonder where I will go next?

I'm in Athens!

2012-01-16T04:28:00.001-08:00

It might come as a bit of a surprise, but I am on another adventure! I am in Athens, Georgia with Pastor Iain, Doug and Mike. We got here on Saturday night so we are still feeling a bit jetlagged. It was such fun to see everyone again though and I was sooooo happy to see my best friend Courage! We are here for a bit more than a week and we have a very busy schedule. Next Saturday is the Men's retreat and Iain, Doug and Mike will be speaking at that. Now, I'm still not sure if I should go because I am a girl sheep! I think I will ask Courage about that. I know ladies can't go to a men's retreat but I'm not sure if they have rules about sheep.

Today I am going with Mike and Doug to visit Katie and Josh's Grandma and Grandaddy in Savannah. I am looking forward to seeing them again - I was there on my holidays with Josh and Katie last summer and I had a lovely time!

I will try to write more later to tell you what we're getting up to.

Our Church Weekend Away!

2011-11-21T03:51:00.001-08:00

I just got back last night from our church weekend away. We went to the Windmill Christian Centre in Arbroath and there were 39 people and one sheep (me) there from our church. It was great fun! We had a special verse that we thought about all weekend - Isaiah 55: 12 - "You will go out in joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and hills will burst into song before you, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands." We really enjoyed doing some crafts and artwork on that theme too!One of my favourite things was on Saturday night when we lit some chinese lanterns and watched them float up into the night sky - they were so bright and beautiful. We went on some lovely walks together too and played lots of very funny games! Some of the grown ups in our church are much sillier than I thought they were...I took my mobile phone with me and got some good photos to put here on my blog:Playing with some of my friends.

We had some great times of worship - thank you Myke and Abby!

One of the best bits was the lovely food we had to eat - thank you Hannah!

I heard a few people say we should do it again, and I hope we do because I loved the weekend away!

Some photos from Tanzania!

2011-09-28T03:18:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone,

Well, we've now been back a week, so I've had plenty of time to do my unpacking and sort out all my photos. Here are some of my favourites:

This is the view from our hotel window - you can see an African house and Mount Meru.

This was when we went for drive round with Pastor Joel and his sons. They showed us the sights of Arusha!

A dust whirlwhind!

Travelling again - we did a lot of that on roads that were very bumpy and very very dusty!

These pictures were taken at the ladies conference.

This huge bird came to say hello to me at the conference centre. I'm not sure what kind of bird he is and I didn't like to ask.. Do you know?

At the Bible College now - this is me in the libary, relaxing with a good book.

Having a chat with the Principle in his office. Do you think we should get him a Scotland flag for his desk?

In the English class. Of course I can speak English as well as Baa, so I could help the students with the things they were finding difficult.

Some animals now - the tortoises...

and the King Crane...

A porcupine...

Some zebras...

And an ostrich...

Then some snakes - Norma was not very brave... Iain was braver!

Of course, I was too small to hold a snake...

Mount Kilimanjaro... It was covered by clouds all the way through our time in Arusha so we couldn't see it or get any photos. We hoped it would come out, but on the last day we gave up and set off for the airport. Then the pastor remembered the students had given some gifts for Iain and Norma and he had forgotten to bring them. He was determined to go back for them even though it was quite a long way. But - guess what! When we got back to Arusha, there was Mount Kilimanjaro NOT hiding behind any clouds! We were so glad we went back for the gifts!

Iain and Norma at the airport, getting the gifts from the students.

Well, I hope you liked my photos! I'm going to have a little rest for the next couple of weeks because on October 13th I'm off on another trip. This time I'll be going to see all my friends in Athens Link - I'm so excited, especially about seeing my bestest friend ever, Courage!

We're coming home!

2011-09-19T07:32:00.000-07:00

Hello again!

This is the bit I don't like about going on mission trips - saying goodbye to everyone when it's time to go home.. It's always so great though to see our good friends again - and meet new ones too! And I know we'll be back here lots of times because Pastor Iain and Norma have got lots of invitations to come back. Please pray for us on the aeroplane coming back!

I'ts going to be so good to see you all again, and I'll get my photos sorted out to show you!

Goats!!!

2011-09-13T04:09:00.000-07:00

Hello again!

We are now back in dusty Arusha and Pastor Iain and Norma are speaking to the students at Arusha Bible College. There are 100 students at the Bible College and they all love to hear what Iain and Norma are teaching them about God!

It is very hot and dry at the moment which is what makes all the dust. Sometimes when we are out in the car the traffic stirs up the dust so much we can hardly see out of the windows! The other day we were driving down a side street when a group of Masai children suddenly came running down the street herding a whole lot of goats! They ran past both sides of the car - it was very noisy indeed and they stirred up so much dust we couldn't see anything for quite a few minutes. It was a good thing I was inside the car as I really don't like getting too much dust in my lovely yellow wool. It did make me sneeze a bit though. It's good for us to know you are all praying for us as it can be quite dangerous driving when there's so much dust blowing around and it's quite scary for the people, never mind a little sheep like me!

Big Mama!

2011-09-11T02:19:00.001-07:00

Hello everyone!

Can you guess who Big Mama is? I'll tell you later... (It's not me, just in case you're wondering...)

The ladies conference is now over. Wow - it was so busy! That was really a lot of women all together having a great time praising God and learning more about Him. Pastor Iain taught them about the Holy Spirit. He loves telling people about the Holy Spirit and then seeing the Holy Spirit touch their lives and fill them up with God's power. That's what happened to lots of the women and it was so good! When Norma was speaking she had her friend Faraja interpreting. Faraja is very good at interpreting so it went very well. I don't think it can be easy to interpret,or to have everything you say interpreted, but Norma and Faraja did a great job. By the end of the conference the ladies had given Norma a new name - did you guess? Yes, it was Big Mama! They called her the Big Mama speaker!

We then had a very bumpy ride which shook up our insides badly! I haven't stopped wobbling yet- I hope Iain and Norma have because they are speaking today in a church in a place called Moshi. Iain has been here before but it's the first time for me.

Have a great time in church today! And please keep praying for us...

It's sooo dusty!

2011-09-03T11:36:00.000-07:00

Hello from Arusha!

We got here on Thursday after a VERY bumpy ride from the airport! We are staying in a hotel - there have been lots of power cuts. I don't mind power cuts as, being a sheep,I go to sleep when it gets dark, I'm quite happy if there's only grass to eat and I don't mind cold showers. It's not so handy for Pastor Iain and Norma though. It's also very, very dusty! I don't like dust so much as it makes me sneeze! Norma has been sneezing a bit too, but she's not sure if that's because of the dust or a cold. Please pray for her.

Everyone has been very kind to us and I've enjoyed meeting Pastor Joel and his wife. We went into town twice and got burgers. Well,I didn't have a burger as I'm not keen on them. I don't mind trying new things to eat when I go to different countries as I am a mission sheep, but it seems you can get burgers no matter where you go!

Both Iain and Norma have been speaking yesterday and today at the Bible
College.

Hope you all have a great time at church tomorrow - say hi to the visitors for me!

On a plane to Tanzania!

2011-08-31T04:12:00.001-07:00

Hello!

I am on my way to Tanzania today with Pastor Iain and Norma. We will fly right over Mount Kilimanjaro - did you know that is the highest mountain in Africa? I've heard that lots of people like to climb it, I think this is the best way to see the top of it though!

We are in Tanzania until September 19th and this is going to be a very busy trip for Iain and Norma. The main thing they will be doing is speaking at the Tanzania Assemblies of God Women's coference. Norma said there will be about 4,000 women there! That's so many I don't think I'll get to meet them all, but I think I should get quite a lot of cuddles with that many women around! Iain and Norma will be speaking each weekend at different churches too. We'll also spend some time at the Arusha Bible College - Iain told me that Mount Kilimanjaro is very close to there so I think I will see it from the bottom as well as the top!

I have to go and have a nap now before we arrive in Tanzania, but I'll be back to write more on my blog very soon!

Holiday time!

2011-07-04T15:24:00.000-07:00

Even Mission sheep need some time to rest and play so I grabbed the chance to jump in Josh and Katie's suitcase and you know what? I am now in Alabama! It was a very long day on Wednesday. We went on two airplanes and the second one was a bit more exciting because there was a big thunderstorm so it took a long time for the pilot to decide it was safe to land in Savannah where Josh and Katie's grandparents live. Next morning Katie and Josh had real bad jet lag and got up at half four in the morning. They went out to the beach real early and had doughnuts for breakfast. I just slept real long!! Yesterday we drove for hours and hours and now we are in Birmingham...... not the one in England. It looks a lot different and they talk different too.
Guess where I am going on Friday?

Getting ready to come to Scotland!

2011-05-28T13:30:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone! Courage here! The countdown is on for my upcoming adventure to Scotland! I can't believe that we leave in 5 days! We, you ask? John, Cindy, Luke, Julie, Noriene, Silus, Mary, Dave, Diann, Wayne, Angie, Alex, Keenan, Chris, Jane, Susan, Diana and I leave for Scotland this coming Friday!

We have been busy with preparations! We have been meeting to talk about what we're going to share, praying, and having a lot of fun getting ready! A few weeks ago we had a fundraiser at a local restaurant called "Chick-Fil-A." I did not go to the fundraiser (can you blame me, I'm a chicken!?!?) but I did hear that there was lots of laughter and fun had by all!

I am so excited about my first overseas trip, and can't wait to see you!

Here is a picture of some of the team at Chick-Fil-A, the night of the fundraiser!

Photos from Zimbabwe!

2011-05-10T05:41:00.000-07:00

It was so good to be back on Sunday and see all my friends at Link Church! My friend Angela is going to come downstairs with me one Sunday and help me show photos of our trip and tell everyone in Splash and XStream about our trip, but here are some of my favourite photos!

Resting in the shade at a conference

Looks like this new friend is trying to EAT me! But he wasn't... :)

This is an African toilet... I was trying not to fall in!

At the Safari Park. Tortoises are usually bigger than me - but this one beat them all! He was very old too - about 300 years!

Maybe if I hide in this bush that crocodile won't see me...

Angela really wanted a photo of me with the lions - but they thought I was dinner!

This one didn't even notice me... He wanted a bigger dinner I suppose. I was glad!

Maybe if I ignore him, he'll just go away...

With some of my new friends!

A trip to the safari park!

2011-04-30T13:59:00.000-07:00

Hello!

Today we had a day off and we went on a trip to a safari park. Even though I've seen wild animals in Africa before (and so has everyone else on this team) it's always amazing to see them again and think that God made them all. I know how much fun my friends in Link Church have when they do things like drawing, painting and making models and things, they love being creative. So today when I was getting my photo taken alongside a giant tortoise (it was huge!),crocodiles(their jaws were soooo big!) and a lion (it's roar was the loudest thing I ever heard!), I began to think God must have had a lot of fun making all the animals in this world - and everything else too!

After we had seen some animals,there was a really great thunder storm - very LOUD crashes of thunder, flashes of lightning and the rain poured and poured down. I am not like most sheep and some people because I like thunder storms, they are very exciting and noisy. It was good we had the car to sit in while it was going on though because we didn't want to get wet in the rain.

Our visit here will soon be over-tomorrow we will be at a church in a place called Hatcliffe Township,then on Monday we start travelling home. Please keep praying for us!

Our third conference!

2011-04-29T05:20:00.000-07:00

Hello,

I can't believe we are already at the final day of our third conference! We've been so busy and time has flown by. We're all tired now so please pray for us. I've been thinking a lot about Psalm 23. Did you know David wrote that Psalm after he'd been thinking about how a shepherd looks after his sheep? It says "He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul." He wanted us to know that God helps us get some peace and rest, just like shepherds help their sheep find peaceful places to have a rest. Tomorrow is a day off for all of us so we will be able to chill out a bit more then I think!

Angela was teaching about healing again yesterday and two more people were healed! It's so exciting to see God touching people and making them better again, and I know the people who live here and have listened to what Angela has been teaching them will keep praying for other people who aren't well and more people will be healed.

I bet you are all watching the Royal Wedding today! I'm sorry I'm missing it but I'll be able to see all the pictures and you can tell me your favourite bits of it when I get back.

Happy Easter!

2011-04-24T12:27:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone!

I hope you all had a great time today remembering how Jesus rose from the dead! I was thinking about you all singing "O Happy Day" in church today - I'm sure you did it really well and hope the grown ups joined in too. I hope we can sing it again together when I get back as it's one of my favourites now and I've been baa-ing it all day!

Today we had this amazing trip down a hill on a track that had lots of HUGE potholes! I was very glad Angela was taking good care of me because I didn't want to fall into one of the holes, they were very deep! But it was quite exciting too. Tomorrow we are going to a place near Kariba Dam for two days.

Thanks for praying!!

2011-04-23T12:21:00.000-07:00

Wow,what an amazing day! Angela asked me to say thank you to you all for praying. She did a great job talking about healing but what made her (and the rest of us!) really excited was that God healed lots of people this afternoon. The first lady Angela prayed for started singing songs of praise to God - she had not been able to speak or make a sound for two years because she had a stroke! I thought it was wonderful that the first thing she used her voice to do was to praise God after He healed her.

There are hundreds of people here, it's been great to see some of my old friends again and to meet some new ones! A lady called Barbara has been looking after us very well. We're staying with her and she is giving us our meals. I like her a lot. I don't think she's ever had a little yellow sheep to look after before but she's doing very well!

Please keep praying for us!

We're in Muzarabani!

2011-04-22T12:44:00.000-07:00

Hello!

Here we are at last in Muzarabani.. It's so good to be back here and see our good friends, Pastors Simon and Silent, again. We had to get up really early this morning to leave at 5am! We were soooo tired after our long journey but also excited to be coming here for the Easter Convention. It starts this evening - last year more than 400 people came and this year we are expecting even more to come!

We would like you to pray about tomorrow - Angela is going to be speaking about healing and the Pastors and trusting God that lots of people will be healed. Please pray for Angela, that God will help her while she is talking to the people. Please also pray that God will heal the people who are sick or hurting.

I'll write later and let you know how it goes!

We're off to Zimbabwe now!

2011-04-18T06:28:00.000-07:00

Hello!

Well, I had a wonderful time in Athens with all my friends, and it was so exciting to see Courage again! He really liked my new look (actually, it was really my old look but he'd never seen me with my proper lovely wool before...)It was a bit sad to say goodbye but not so bad because we're going to see lots of each other this summer. Courage is coming to Scotland with some people from Athens Link in June, and then I'm going back for a holiday with Katie and Joshua in July!

Pastor Iain and I have just had enough time to wash our clothes, have a bit of a rest and get our suitcases packed again because tomorrow we're off to Zimbabwe! Some of my good friends are going with us too - Norma, Jim and Angela. We've got a very busy time ahead of us because they will be speaking at an Easter Convention and at two leaders conferences! We are also going to talk to some people about how the people in Link Church Dunfermline can help people in Zimbabwe to look after boys and girls who don't have Mums or Dads. I've heard that there are a lot of children without parents in Zimbabwe which is really sad. But God cares about every single one of them and one way we can show our love for God is by doing things to help these children too. I'm sure we'll all be able to get involved in that which will be great!

Keep checking my blog while we're away - I'll write whenever I can!

2011-04-05T19:24:00.000-07:00

Courage here...I'm so glad that my friend Mercy is back in town! We were reunited at the barbeque, and have had so much fun together already!

We hung out with great friends!

We listened to awesome worship music together!

And sampled some BBQ fixin's!

Can't wait to see what we do next!

Meet Courage!

2011-03-30T20:56:00.001-07:00

Howdy y'all!

I’m a chicken, and my name is Courage. On Sunday January 23, 2011, my life changed forever! The children at Athens Link Fellowship adopted me! I was adopted from a place where other animals made fun of me...they even named me Coward! :( The children at Athens Link did NOT like that, so they renamed me COURAGE! I also received new garments- -I even have an American flag cape! That evening at church the whole Athens Link family celebrated my adoption. I had never felt so loved!

I have heard that dogs are a man’s best friend. That may be true but, I know that humans are my best friends, especially the kids at Athens Link.

I love laughing! My Creator is full of joy, and He wants my joy to be full! Laughing is fun and at Athens Link we laugh (A LOT)! My favorite jokes are “why did the chicken cross the road”. Heee-heee. I like listening to music, and my absolute favorite artist is Kelli McCalla (I heard one day she may even let me interview her...I'll be sure to tell you all about it!). Oh! And I like art so much! I also like to fly, dance and chase all my friends at Athens Link.

Our pastors Mr. John and Mrs. Cindy encourage our whole family to dream, and I like following their lead. Lately, I’ve been dreaming about visiting my friend Mercy and her family in Scotland. Ohh I would love to play with the children in Mercy’s family!

My new clothes!

2011-03-15T05:46:00.000-07:00

Hello!

I am feeling very happy because my friend Lynnette has done something very special for me. She has made me some new clothes! I know everyone tells me I am so cute, but I did used to look a whole lot better before I had an unfortunate accident with my wool. Then I looked quite funny and some people even laughted at me. And my wool was not quite so warm in cold weather as it used to be. Anyway, Lynnette said she would make me a new outfit and now it's finished! Here's a picture of me in it:

It's a lovely outfit, don't you think? And Lynnette is even going to make me more outfits so I can change them. I'm so happy!

My New Friend!

2011-03-08T03:54:00.000-08:00

Hello!

I have something exciting to tell you! Last time I was in Athens, Georgia, the people there decided to get me a new friend. They thought it was so great that I get to go on trips all over the world and tell my friends at Link Church Dunfermline about all my amazing experiences that they decided the boys and girls of Athens Link Fellowship should have someone like me to do the same! So they found Courage - here he is with me the first time we met each other:

As you can see, Courage is a rooster, and a very handsome rooster too! And you know what? Courage can fly! It looks like loads of fun, I wish I could fly but that's not something sheep can do (unless they are in an aeroplane). Mind you, I don't think Courage can fly far enough to come to Scotland without an aeroplane! I'm so excited because he's coming over with our friends from Athens Link in June - I can't wait to see him again!

Courage and me are both going to write this blog from now on. I hope he gets to do lots of exciting things and visit different countries too so we can hear all about it!

Georgia Bulldogs!

2011-01-21T07:30:00.000-08:00

We're having a great time in Athens -I've met lots of new friends since I got here and,as you can see,they've made me feel very welcome! Do you like my new woolstyle? I know it's shorter since Maureen cut it for me but I'm getting used to it. I quite like my ponytail now too though I wasn't too sure about having a pony hairstyle at first. Here's more photos of me meeting some of the people at Athens Link Fellowship.

We had a very interesting tour of Athens and I had my photo taken beside a Georgia Bulldog! The REAL Georgia Bulldogs are the University of Georgia athletics teams but these statues are quite famous I think. It was so huge it would have been very scary standing beside it if it hadn't been painted with flowers! I got to sit in the front of the car on the dashboard and look out the window,which is my favourite place to be in a car as I can see everything and help the driver find the way to where we're going. Here's some photos of our outings:

My friend Diana made the photo collages - I'm very excited about them because I've never had any of those before! Did you like them?

The Banner!

2011-01-18T03:47:00.000-08:00

Hello!

I'm writing this from Athens and I'm feeling just a little bit shivery! It is soooo cold here and it has been snowing here like it was in Scotland before we left. Did you know I had a woolcut before I came here? Ruth and Mo thought I looked untidy (what a cheek! I thought they were my friends...) so Mo got some scissors and gave me a trim. Actually, she did a good job, and I think it looks quite nice, especially my tail. I bet you didn't know that Mo is a good sheep hairdresser, did you? It's a shame she didn't know it's not a good idea to cut a sheeps wool just before it's going to get a lot colder though, I hope I don't get a chill! I'm not too worried about it because I am going to see Lynnette for a fitting for some cool new outfits when I get back! I'm really looking forward to that.

Anyway, here we are and so far it's going well. I gave our friends the lovely banner you sent them and they were very pleased with it! Norma helped me explain that the handprints on it are all of YOUR handprints and they thought that was so great - Leah's tiny handprint was their favourite too! We thought it would be, didn't we?! Here's a photo of me and Norma with the children from Athens holding the banner.

Iain and Norma are really busy and having a good time. Our friend Cindy Gaultney is not well, she has flu. We're staying at her house so I've been able to keep her company sometimes. Please pray that she gets better soon!

Going to Athens, Georgia!

2011-01-11T03:24:00.000-08:00

Hello!

I've just found out I'm going to Athen's Georgia on Thursday with my friends Pastor Iain and Norma. I'm so excited to be going on another trip, and I have lots of good friends there as I've been a few times before.

We have a special present from everyone in Bubbles, Splash and XStream which I'm taking with me. I think they will love it!

Mercy

Photographs

2010-11-30T03:34:00.000-08:00

I thought you'd like to see some of the children we've been working with. Sarah has put some photographs on facebook but I asked her to take some of me and the children too.

I hope you like them!

Certificates

2010-11-24T05:14:00.000-08:00

Today we were giving out certificates to the children who have been doing the phonics work this year. The children have done really well, and have improved a lot. They were very happy when they got their certificate, and I think they were proud of the work that they have done.

Sarah and I will be finishing our work in the schools next week because the schools will be getting ready for Christmas the week after.

We will also be going to a game reserve before we come home, and I am really looking forward to seeing the animals.

I hope you are all ok. Are you doing anything exciting at the moment?

Hi everyone

2010-11-08T03:41:00.000-08:00

How is school going? Have you started Christmas stuff yet? Sarah says that she doesn't feel like it is nearly Christmas because it is so hot here, and it feels like summer.

The boys and girls in one school (Rosehill) understand us and their teachers speak English to them all of the time, although they have found a couple of words more difficult. The children in Amaoti 3 find it more difficult because they don't speak as much English, especially the younger ones. That is why Sarah is here though, to help them with English, so that is good, and they are finding it easier.

It sounds like you had lots of fun in your holidays, well except poor Megan. Does it still hurt? I've never been to Blackpool, maybe someone will take me there sometime. I love fireworks. They don't really do much here. Hope you had a nice time watching them.

Thank you for praying for us! And thanks for the questions.

Bye

One month in

2010-10-29T06:30:00.000-07:00

I have been in South Africa for nearly a month now. Wow!

Sarah has been working more with the teachers this week, and most of them have started to do parts of the phonics lesson in their classes. It is very exciting to see, and the children definitely enjoy the lessons. One teacher told us today that she thinks that it is helping the children in her class, which is so great.

I hope that you have all had a nice school holiday!

Hunderds of children

2010-10-15T05:11:00.000-07:00

This week has been good. Sarah and I have been into lots of classes and Sarah has taught hundreds of children. They are very happy to see us, and very enthusiastic about learning English. What is your favourite lesson at school?

We saw some of the children practicing for a school play on Thursday, and they were very good at singing and dancing.

It is your school holidays next week isn't it? The next holidays they have is at Christmas. They have a long time off at Christmas, it is their summer holidays.

Sarah says that they start school at 8.00 and finish between 1.30 and 2.15. It depends on the school and the age of the children.

Bye!

A big day!!

2010-10-12T04:39:00.000-07:00

Sarah was very excited and quite nervous this morning as this is her first day actually teaching the children! She found out last week that she will teach up to 200 children a week, which is loads compared to how many she had in Scotland! But I have met children from Africa before, and I think these children will be so happy to be at school and to have Sarah teaching them things, so they will listen carefully and work hard. But we're very pleased that so many of you are praying for her because we both know that will really help.

Keep sending me questions because I really like answering them! And I have a question for you - how many hours do you spend in school each day? I'll ask Sarah to tell you how long boys and girls here in South Africa stay in school for so we can see if it's the same!

First week.

2010-10-09T09:43:00.000-07:00

We have had a busy week finding out what we will be doing while we are here, and meeting lots of new people.

Today we went to a market, which was very nice. The weather was warmer today too. It's been rainy but warm, although the people here think that it is cold. Sarah is a little worried because she thinks that it is going to get a lot hotter, and she's not used to it like I am.

Next week Sarah will be teaching in lots of classes and I will get to meet lots more children. We are going to church tomorrow, which will be nice because everyone I have met has been very friendly.

Keep checking this blog, and I will try to answer any questions etc. Sarah hasn't taken any photographs yet so I think I might have to have a go so that I can show you what it's like here.

2010-10-03T11:21:00.000-07:00

Well done! Yes I am in South Africa, and I am with Sarah.

Well Natalie I got here by flying on an aeroplane, well 3 actually, and it took ages, but I am relaxing now and getting ready to meet lots of new friends tomorrow.

I have only met one child so far, and it's Zach who is Rachel and Phil's son. They are the people who are looking after us. They live here in South Africa, and help lots of people here.

I've not seen any Giraffes yet (good question!) but I am hoping that I will soon.

So far I have eaten lots of aeroplane food which isn't the best, and some pasta too. Did you know sheep like pasta Jack? Well I do anyway, I am a unique sheep though.

I will be back in December and will keep telling you all about the things I get up to until then.

The questions are great! I would love to answer some more soon.

Anyway we are off to bed soon, so sleep tight.

Mercy

2010-10-03T02:31:00.000-07:00

I'm on my travels again!!!! Where do you think I am?

On our way home...

2010-07-18T10:19:00.000-07:00

Well,we are finally on our way home! Everyone is feeling a bit sad about leaving all our lovely new friends in Tanzania,but we are also so happy because we had a fantastic time, and God really helped us and did some great things in people's lives while we've been here.

Yesterday was a bit different again,we spent the morning at an orphanage. Ialways like meeting boy and girls,and it makes me so happy when I see ones who don't have parents to look after them being so well cared for.

Then Mark suggested we could do some touristy things,so we went on a drive up a mountain.It was SO SCARY! Mark said - and I agreed - that the road wasn't meant for cars. If I had nails I'd have bitten them,but I don't so I just had to close my eyes and wait till we stopped. When we did we still had to walk for about 20 minutes,but then we could see the most amazing views. It was so beautiful and that was only half way up the mountain!

Well I'm lookin forward to getting home and seeing everyone again. And in two weeks it will be Treasure Hunters Holiday Club,and I'm very excited about getting to do another one so soon!

Goodie bags and goodbyes....

2010-07-16T12:33:00.000-07:00

We are all feeling a bit sad this evening because today was our last day with the children at the after school club. But it's been so much fun and the children all seemed to have a wonderful time. We gave them all a goody bag to take home with them at the end and they loved them! It was sad to say goodbye,but so good to know they all had fun and learned more about Jesus being the light of the world and how much He loves them - and so wonderful to see some of them decide to accept Him as their Saviour.

The work at the clinic was all finished yesterday so we all had some time off this morning and went shopping. That was fun,but when the other girls all decided to get a hairdo, Idecided to stay with Mark and give that a miss! My lovely yellow wool has never quite recovered from the last time someone tried to give me a new hairdo!

Tomorrow is our last full day and we are going to visit an orphanage. I am really looking forward to that!

Snakes! (and ladders... :-])

2010-07-14T10:29:00.000-07:00

Hello!

I am so amazed at the amount of work this team has been getting through! When we got here, we wondered if we would get the INSIDE of the clinic finished. Well, the inside is all done and today we started work on the OUTSIDE! Everyone is working so hard and having a great time doing it all too... It is so hot though - they are all saying how hot they feel but none of them have wool like me, it just makes me soooo hot and bothered!

The after school club has been fantastic too - we had about 130 children today. We started playing snakes and ladders with them and they got so excited about it! Even the adults are loving it. It's a huge outdoor board, so it takes up a whole wall. And I think you might have heard the screams of excitement in Scotland whenever someone got a 6 on the dice! To tell the truth, I don't think they knew what the dice was for before we showed them. The team are beginning to wish we had more days here, and I do too! I think they should all be like me and come on trips like this whenever they can.

The work on the clinic is going so well we might get some time off on Friday - that would be good as everyone is a bit tired now. Then we'd all have plenty of energy for the last day with the children!

We're having a brilliant time!

2010-07-12T11:38:00.001-07:00

Hello again!

It's been a hectic few days but lots of great things happening! We had so much fun at the Mikumi park and we saw lots of wild animals - lions, elephants, giraffes, zebras, impalas, baboons, water buffalos, crocodiles and even some warthogs! The others on the team went to look round a snake and spider park but Mark and I decided we would rather not see those...

There has also been some wildlife in our rooms, but not so interesting - cockroaches! I hate cockroaches as much as I hate mosquitoes really, but they both seem to be everywhere I go. I heard a loud shout from Mark's room last night too - apparently something alive (a small alive thing I think...) popped out of his wardrobe. I didn't ask what it was, I was just glad he dealt with it!

We did 3 services yesterday at Bethel Temple and they were excellent! Mark was really pleased with the team again, they all took part by leading singing, giving testimonies or even preaching. We all thought Mark did a great job too! We also met some of the children who are going to come to the after school club so that was great fun.

It was such a busy day today - we started off by doing more work at the clinic, then we went to get ready for the children's club. It was brilliant! 120 children came (that sounds a lot but we were told there could be up to 600!). We are telling them about Jesus being the Light of the World. I think they all really enjoyed themselves and had a great time. I'm sure they willl bring friends with them so we could have even more children tomorrow!

An amazing week!

2010-07-10T02:53:00.000-07:00

We have had an amazing week and got so much done already! A LOT of painting.... Yesterday we did another two rooms and the hall. It's always great to be with a team who work so well together and work very hard. I think Mark is very pleased with everyone.

Today we are going to Mikumi Park on a safari - I am so excited! I hope we will see lots of different animals, the lions are my favourite. Whenever I see all the different kinds of animals God has made it reminds me of how amazing He is! I'll write more later and tell you what we've seen.

Painting!

2010-07-08T10:19:00.000-07:00

Today has been fun as we got on with some painting in the clinic! First though, David and Jayney had to go and buy paint, so I went to the youth service at the church with Mark and the others. It was very interesting and a great time with all the young people. We painted two rooms today, I helped a bit although I do have to be very careful as it would not be easy to get paint out of my lovely yellow wool. The others on the team didn't seem to mind so much if they got a bit of paint on them or their clothes. We had a great time doing it though and Mark said he was very proud of everyone!

This evening we are meeting with the children's pastor and his team to start getting ready for the kid's club that starts on Monday. I am so excited about that! I have been to kid's clubs at home in Scotland and in lots of other countries and its one of my favourite things to do! I'm sure all the boys and girls who will come will have such a lot of fun, and the team will love it too...

We're here!

2010-07-07T12:26:00.000-07:00

Hello! We arrived in Morogoro at 2.30 am local time - way past my bedtime! And that was after getting up at 3 am back home in Scotland... So everyone has been very tired today. We were at the Amibilis Centre and were shown round the different areas of work going on at Bethel Temple. It was all very interesting and we enjoyed meeting the people here. We start work tomorrow on painting the clinic, so everyone is turning in for an early night...

On my way to Tanzania

2010-07-06T08:33:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone!

I'm off on another trip, this time to Tanzania! I'm going with a team of 6 people - Mark, David, Natalie, Teri, Jayney and Cealla. Cealla is my friend from XStream (and KFC before that), we've known each other for years so it's great fun to be going on a mission trip with her. I've been waiting a long time to go on this trip, Mark and the team have been planning it for years and I can hardly believe it's actually happening today!

We set off at 6 am today, which was very early for everyone. And it will be nighttime when we arrive in Dar-es-Salaam, but we'll still have to travel to Morogoro.... A lot of travelling, but we are all very excited about getting there, and I'm hoping I can see some of my friends again because, of course, I've been before.

The team have made lots of plans for this trip. They will be doing painting and repair work in a clinic, and also running a children's club - there could be hundreds of children at the club so they feel a bit nervous too! As well as all that they will be doing some speaking at the Bethel Temple church services. This is a new experience for most of the people on the team and I think they are going to have a great time!

I'll write more when we get there...

Photos from Haiti

2010-04-12T04:09:00.001-07:00

Hello everyone!

I'm back home now and have had time to recover from our busy trip and the jetlag, so I thought I would put some photos on here for you to see some of the children we met. There were thousands of photos taken! They are all great, but these are some of my favourites:

These are the people on the team

The children have lovely smiles!Florence lives in the orphanage. Her family died in the earthquake and Florence was found buried under rubble 3 days later

This is the youngest little boy in the orphanage. He also lost his family in the earthquake.

These two photos are of children collecting water for their families. It's much easier for us to turn on the tap!

The children loved playing parachute games.

They loved singing songs too and, in this photo, they are doing an action song.

A very cute little girl!

Coming home!

2010-04-03T09:29:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone!

Well, Mercy and everyone else on the team in Haiti are now on their way home. It's a long journey so please pray for them! They've had an amazing times - there have been lots of difficult things to see and handle, but they've met lots of amazing people too and I have a feeling they might not be quite the same again! Mercy is looking forward to letting us know what she's been up to and showing us some photos.

They were in the Scotsman newspaper yesterday too! If you want to look it up online, here is the link: http://news.scotsman.com/edinburgh/scots-helping-to-ease-earthquake.6192537.jp

Ruth

Football with a new friend!

2010-03-31T04:16:00.000-07:00

Steven was so happy yesterday because he got to meet the little boy he sponsors here in Haiti! He came down with his Mum, and they played football before and after lunch. Steven gave him presents, including a Scotland football shirt! I think it will be really good now for Steven and this little boy because they have met and know what each other is like. Steven is still working hard, he's now doing things at the hospital.

Yesterday Peter was helping another man called Joe to build a shelf unit for the missionary house and he also fixed the ice making machines. I bet everyone here was really glad those were fixed because it is so hot here!

Some time to chill...

2010-03-30T10:42:00.000-07:00

Hello again!

well, there has been some time for the team to take it easy, but not much! But no-one is complaining because they find the people out here so amazing with the way they cope with life being so hard, especially after the earthquake. It's a priviledge to be able to be out here helping them and getting to know them.

Church on Sunday morning was amazing! It started at 7am which seemed sooooo early. The church was full of people - even though it's a small village there were about 400 there, and they all wore their best clothes and looked so clean and tidy which must be very hard when you think of the difficulties they have living here. Ruth told me before I left that the time was going to change in Scotland last weekend - I bet you'll all be very glad our church doesn't start at 7am!

Steven is happy today because he has got the water turned on in the missionary house they've been working in. The only thing left to do is to dig a septic tank outside (I won't tell you what that's for!) but they asked if some of the local people could do that so they could earn some money and Steven said he didn't mind at all! He's going to supervise but I think he will manage to sunbathe a bit at the same time...

A Party!

2010-03-27T13:22:00.001-07:00

We have had a really amazing day today! We had a big party for children from the orphanage. It started at 10 am and went on till 2 pm. There were 62 children, the youngest ones were 2 years old and the oldest ones were about 10 or ll. It was such fun with lots of games and the children all had such a great time! Some of them had a really hard time after the earthquake here, but it's good to see how well they are being looked after now and it was great to see them laughing and having a wonderful day. We also gave out some clothes and presents to the children and they were so happy! Peter took some photos so I'll be able to show them to you when we get back.

Well, we've nearly been here a week and it's been soooo busy - the guys have worked very hard and are quite tired. But the work they are doing will make an amazing difference to the people living and working here so that's really good.

Lots of work getting done here!

2010-03-25T11:02:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone! This is a very busy team I'm with here in Haiti. I've been watching Steven - he started out by putting a UV light into the missionary house, he then repaired the main into the hospital operating theatre, then he pumped lots of water back into the orphanage's water tanks - they had had no water for 15 days - and he taught one of the young boys we've met here how to fit a wash hand basin. I thought that was such a good thing to do because now that boy can do something really skillful and useful! Steven also repaired a water outlet that was letting too much water escape and he's done lots of small jobs too.. I can hardly keep up with him, and he's only one of all the people working so hard!

There's also a mobile clinic team of about 20 people with their interpreters who leave at 7 am every day for a long hard journey to a town called Gros Mangles - it's about 2 and a half hour's journey from where we're staying.

A Very Long Journey....

2010-03-22T02:54:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone!

The last we heard from Mercy was last night (Sunday), when they were preparing to make a 10 hour coach trip to Haiti. I expect they were already all very tired by then as they left Dunfermline at 4 am on Saturday morning and had very long flights! Mercy promised to be in touch whenever she could, but since the earthquake the phone lines and internet connections have not worked so it has been hard for people to keep in touch.

Meanwhile, here's some info on Haiti that you might not know yet:

Haiti is in the Caribbean. It is the Western one third of the island of Hispaniola between the Caribbean Sea and the North Atlantic Ocean.

The climate in Haiti is tropical (that means it's often very hot!) and there are lots of mountains. People in Haiti speak two main languages: French and Creole. The capital city is Port-au-Prince. If you watched the news after the earthquake you would have heard quite a lot about all the damage in Port-au-Prince.

8 million people live in Haiti. It is a very poor country and life there was very hard for people, even before the earthquake. Lots of people are unemployed, and people don't earn much even when they do have a job. Three quarters of the people have no running water and, outside of the cities, most people have no electricity. Almost half of the children of school age have never been to school, and half of the adults have never learned to read or write. That's why it's so important that people are willing to do different things to help the people in Haiti.

Lemonaid is just one of the groups that does work to help Haiti. Next time I'll tell you some of how that got started and what they do.

Ruth

I'm going to Haiti tomorrow!

2010-03-19T08:54:00.000-07:00

This is the flag of Haiti

Hello!

I'm busy packing at the moment because tomorrow I am off to Haiti with Ruth's brother Peter and her nephew Steven. They are going out there with a team from Lemonaid of Vine Church in Dunfermline. I've never been to Haiti before but it will be fine because Peter and Steven haven't either so we will all be the same. We are going to an island called Lagonave, where there is a mission hospital. We leave at 4 am tomorrow so I'll have to get an early night!

You probably know there was a big earthquake in Haiti a few weeks ago. This is the 4th time a team from Lemonaid has gone out there since then. They are taking tons and tons of stuff with them for the hospital! I bet Peter is really glad I am quite small and light as he already has lots of heavy stuff in his suitcase. I'm not packing much either as that wouldnt help at all, and sheep don't need to take much with them when they travel.

Peter and Steven are going to try to repair some of the equipment and vehicles that the people working in the hospital really need badly. We should get to meet lots of new friends too which will be great!

It's not going to be very easy to keep in touch with everyone at home as mobile phones and the internet aren't working in Haiti just now. But I'll write on my blog if I can, and Ruth has promised to write some interesting stuff about Haiti on here for you to read too. Please pray for us!

Photos from Ghana!

2010-03-01T03:37:00.000-08:00

I've got some photos to show you, but first I'm going to tell you about some of the other things that happened in Ghana before we left.

One day I was watching the news with Jim when we heard a report about a big fire in an oil refinery near Acra. One of the admin buildings was damaged by the fire, and most of the stuff inside it was destroyed by the water the firemen used to put out the fire. The really amazing thing was that there was a Bible which was totally undamaged, even though all the books all around it were spoiled!

We also went on an outing one day and visited two castles which had been used to keep slaves in before they were taken to Europe and other places. We heard that those poor people were chained up in horrible conditions, and had to sleep on the floor next to each other. I was very shocked and sad to hear that lots of slaves were even brought to Britain until 1807, when slavery was abolished here.

That same day we went to Kokum National Park and we walked along rope bridges 40 m high! I was so glad Jim was carrying me because my knees were shaking so much I think I'd have fallen! It was amazing to look down and see the treetops in the rain forest. There were no animals out because it was the wrong time of day - I think they mainly come out a dawn and dusk. That seemed very sensible to me as it's cooler here at those times.

Just before we left we visited a Primary School and all the children came out to meet me and we had pictures taken together. I met a little girl who is also called Mercy and we had a photo taken of the two of us. The children were so friendly and invited me to live with them, but I told them I had to go back to Scotland to the children who are my friends there.

It was good to be coming home, but it was very cold in Scotland, and Jim and I had got used to the very hot weather in Ghana!

My friend Mercy!

Meeting some new friends

In one of the churches we visited. The singing was very good and I helped with the translating

Roadblocks, earthquake warnings and near kidnapping!

2010-01-20T03:58:00.000-08:00

Don't worry, it was me that was nearly kidnapped, not Jim! There were lots of children at church on Sunday and they all loved me... One little boy loved me so much he wanted to keep me, but Jim knew how much everyone in KFC would miss me so he held on tight to me! He took photos of me with them so you can see those when we get back.

The people here are really loving to hear Jim talk and are going to make recordings so they can listen to everything he said again after we leave. That was so encouraging to hear! It takes a long time to go anywhere here because the main roads are so busy and there are so many police roadblocks - we were stopped at 8 one day on the way from our hotel to the church! Then, when we get off the main roads, the way is just over dirt roads - Jim even had to get out of the car one day to move rocks out of the way. Acra is a very large city so it can take ages to get around.

We were woken up one night by a lot of commotion outside. We wondered if people never go to sleep here! The next day we found out there had been an earthquake warning and people had been told to get out of their houses as it was safer outside! The pastor had got a taxi from his house all the way to the hotel so he could warn Jim, but by the time he got there they had decided there wasn't going to be an earthquake after all, so he decided just to go back home and not wake Jim up. We were very glad to know he had been so caring about us - and also to know that you are all praying for us back at home!

The mosquitoes are being very annoying and Jim has some nasty bites on his leg. Please pray they get better and that his malaria tablets work well!

Teaching by torchlight!

2010-01-18T08:49:00.000-08:00

We are having an amazing time - plenty of strange things happening and lots of great things too! It turned out that so many people wanted to come and hear Jim speak that they couldn't all fit in the church! So we had to have our meetings outside. The first night it rained so much that they had to cancel the meeting, but the next night about 70 people came! It was great having a meeting in the open air, but of course it was night time so it was dark - and hard for Jim to see his notes! It's not often that we have to rely on torchlight but this is just that sort of trip... Jim was sooo good speaking to the people about God and afterwards 5 people accepted Jesus as Saviour! It was wonderful.

When we first got to the hotel, Jim was given a "Welcome pack". It had a kettle, a loaf of bread, tea bags and a tin of condensed milk! Very unusual... There wasn't even a knife so Jim had to eat his bread the old fashioned way (that's breaking bits off the loaf!) Thankfully, being a sheep, I'm fine anywhere in the world as long as I can find some grass to munch on.

I'm in Ghana!

2010-01-15T11:19:00.000-08:00

Hello! This might come as a bit of surprise to some people, but I am in Ghana at the moment! I am here with Jim Storm from church. He has come to meet up with some friends he has know for a lot of years and he's going to have a very busy time!

It is soooo hot here, 30 degrees - I'm already wishing I was back in snowy Scotland! I realised on the way here that I didn't bring my scarf with me, but I'm glad I didn't now... We are staying in a hotel - they gave Jim a mosquito net but there's nowhere to hang it up in our room! Jim managed to wrap it round himself to keep the mosquitoes off, but I dont think that helped him feel any cooler.

I'm so glad Jim is here to keep me company, but please pray for him as he's the only one who can speak at meetings or talk to all the people we are meeting so it's going to be really hectic for him.

That's all for now but I'll try to write more later!

Church in Morogoro

2009-11-29T07:25:00.000-08:00

We had a good morning in church today. I was with Angela and she preached - it was brilliant! And Helen was translating for her - Norma knows Helen well so I'm excited about telling her we met Helen when I get back! We're visiting some of the different projects the churches here are involved in this afternoon so that'll be really interesting and I'll tell you about it later.

Pastor Iain is preaching 4 times today - that's a lot so please remember to pray for him!

Finally... we made it!

2009-11-28T06:38:00.001-08:00

We are back in Morogoro at last! We left at 4 am this morning, which was very early for me. Sheep like lots of sleep you know, that's one of the very few things I don't like about being a missionary sheep - I keep having to get up really early! We had to wait a long time for breakfast too - we still hadn't had any by lunchtime... But it was an interesting drive.

Angela is just trying to put up the mosquito net for us. And guess what?! A VERY cheeky mosquito is sitting watching her do it! I don't like mosquitoes. They don't bother sheep all that much because of our wool, but they bother Angela and she is my friend. So I think I will stay awake tonight and make sure that naughty mosquito stays away from her.

Angela hopes we can find out what we're doing tomorrow after this. I'm sure it will be another busy day!

Stuck in Mbeya!!

2009-11-27T08:41:00.000-08:00

We had a lovely ending to our week in Mbeya last night as our friends here held a farewell celebration for us and made a lovely meal. We all felt so special and loved by the people here! I had my photo taken with a girl called Mercy - just like me! I love it when I meet people with the same name as I have, but it only seems to happen when I am on a mission trip somewhere. I don't know why that is since I think my name is lovely!

Well, we got up early this morning to leave Mbeya and travel back to Morogoro, but the car broke down! We waited around most of the day to see what would happen and we are all very tired now. The car seems to have been fixed - well it's going at the moment anyway.. In the end it was decided that we should go back to the place we've been staying in this week for one more night. We're planning to leave at 4.00 am to drive back to Morogoro. Please pray that the car goes all the way there and back without problems, and for a safe journey!

It's going really well!

2009-11-25T02:43:00.000-08:00

We are having such a good time! Angela, Mark and Iain have all been teaching the people here and they are so interested in what they are telling them. I was with Angela yesterday when she was talking to some women about how God heals us on the inside. 20 women came and asked to be prayed for after it! Angela was so happy about that.

Mark was giving an open air talk to some men about being married - I think he found that a bit different!

Iain asked me to say thank you to everyone for praying - please keep it up!

Lunch at the Pastor's house!

2009-11-22T09:23:00.000-08:00

I went with Angela this morning as she was speaking at a local church. Pastor Iain and Mark went somewhere else, but us girls have to stick together! It was very good and the people were so glad to have us there. I met lots of children and they were very interested to hear about the boys and girls in KFC and sent their love to you all.

After that we got taken to the Pastor's house for lunch. I don't think they were expecting a little yellow sheep to be there too, but they were very kind and looked after us so well!

I'm so hot!

2009-11-21T04:07:00.000-08:00

Phew! It's so hot and humid here, even though the sky is cloudy... The only problem with my lovely yellow wool is it makes me overheat in these hot countries. Pastor Iain, Mark and Angela think it's hot too and they don't have any wool!

It was a good day of teaching yesterday. I wasn't teaching of course, I just listened, but the others did a great job and the people loved to hear the things they said. Today we are having a day off and we're driving through the hills on our way to Lake Nyasa. It sounds lovely and Angela thinks it could be cooler there, so I'm looking forward to that!

Lots of love to everyone in KFC - I'll miss seeing you tomorrow but have fun!

We are in Mbeya

2009-11-19T12:07:00.001-08:00

We finally arrived in Mbeya after a 12 hour drive - it's so good to be here and we are all very tired... It was an exciting journey though (for me anyway...) with lightening and torrential rain on the way down!

The people here welcomed us with a lovely song and dance in the church - it made us feel so special! They are so pleased to see us and, I have to admit, it is wonderful to see them too.

But right now, it will also be wonderful to see my bed - so goodnight!

No showers!

2009-11-18T11:06:00.000-08:00

We had our first meeting in Morogoro today, it went very well. We're all quite tired so we're looking forward to a good night's sleep now. We have mosquito nets, which is good. But the showers don't work... I don't mind too much as I already had a good wash this year (not to mention that horrible incident in the tumble dryer) but it's not so good for Angela, Pastor Iain and Mark.

And - Angela just found a column of ants climbing up the wall... I'm very used to ants as they seem to be everywhere on most trips I go on. So I will keep guard so Angela can have a good sleep - it's a long drive tomorrow over bumpy roads.

We've arrived!

2009-11-18T01:21:00.000-08:00

We arrived last night at 11 pm, it was a very long journey. Then Pastor Iain, Mark and Angela had to queue for an hour to get visas. They couldn't get them before they came this time because of the postmen being on strike. I didn't have to get one because sheep don't need visas, which is really great because it means I can go anywhere in the world!

After that, we went to a hotel in Dar es Salaam for the night. It was wonderful to be able to go to bed for a sleep after all that travelling! Poor Angela said the bed was very hard. I was fine as sheep are used to sleeping on the ground anyway, and I have so much lovely yellow wool that I don't need a mattress or pillow or anything.

Today we are driving to Morogoro, which will take a couple of hours. It's lovely to be back here and I am so looking forward to seeing all my old friends and making some new ones!

I'm going to Tanzania!

2009-11-16T01:55:00.000-08:00

I'm very excited because tomorrow I am off on another trip! This time I am going with Angela, Pastor Iain and Mark to Tanzania. I have friends there already so it's going to be so much fun to see them. Angela took me home with her yesterday so we can get ready together. She is letting me travel in her suitcase, which is going to be great.

Please pray for us! And I'll write my blog as often as possible so you can keep up to date with what we're doing out there.

2009-10-21T04:25:00.000-07:00

Hello! I'm really excited because soon it will be our Light Party! It takes place on 31st October from 6 - 7.30 pm. Lots of people will be out trick or treating for Halloween then, but I like the Light Party a lot more - it's great fun and not scary at all! Any boys or girls who are aged from 5 - 12 (at Primary School) can come and the party is free!

Hope to see lots of you there...

Snot and Sniff take over the Starship!

2009-08-07T06:48:00.000-07:00

Today is our last day which is a bit sad because we've been having so much fun. At the beginning it looked like Snot and Sniff were going to take over the Starship Miracle Seeker from the Captain and No. 1! Alexander told them the Captain and No. 1 had to pass an MOT, and they pretended they had failed it! Snot and Sniff even beamed up No. 1's Mummy! It was very nice meeting her although No. 1 seemed a bit embarrassed, especially when her Mummy asked for a hug.. Snot and Sniff took charge for a little while but the Captain was too clever and got her Starship back from them.

Alexander the computer was having some technical problems today, but we didn't mind in the end because the music crew just did more songs with us. They asked the boys and girls what they would like to sing and they said Fandabidozzie - that's been the favourite song for years!

Today we heard about when Jesus rose from the dead, which was truly amazing! He is alive today and is still with us. We learned a memory verse this week too - I just about know it off by heart now. It is "For God loved the world so much that He gave His only son. God gave His Son so that whoever believes in Him may not be lost, but have eternal life." John 3: 16

We've had lots of fun all week but the most important thing is that we've learned about Jesus' life, the things He did and why He came (which is what that Bible verse tells us.)

At the very end some of the parents of the boys and girls had arrived, so we all faced the back - where they were standing - and sang "I believe in Jesus" for them. They really liked it! Don't forget our Open Evening tonight - we hope you can come so we can show you the fun things we've done and tell you about what we've learned!

An amazing miracle!

2009-08-06T06:53:00.000-07:00

Today started off quite sad because Sniff and Snot's pet Gloopy died. They gave him Comet Cola and he pinged so much he banged his head. Alexander (the Computer) said he had expired. But then something really exciting happened later because we had a visit from a man called Lazarus. Jesus had raised him from the dead even after 4 days in his tomb when he was a bit smelly.

Alexander has got over his computer virus now and was much better today. He even sent the Captain and Number 1 pictures of himself, he seems to have become quite fond of them. I think he likes me too although he hasn't sent me a picture.

Aerobics was silly again today because the Captain, No 1, Snot and Sniff did it. We didn't know what they were doing, I don't think they knew either! Snot and Sniff were very naughty because they froze the lieutenants, Captain and No 1 and put horrible lollies in their mouths. They had blue tongues for the rest of the morning! They tickled them and tried to make them giggle to see if they were properly frozen. They haven't tried to freeze me yet which is very good!

Tomorrow is our last day of Holiday Club and we are having an Open Evening when you can come and see what we've been getting up to all week. Please come if you can, it'll be lots of fun!

Snot and Sniff freeze the Captain, No 1 and the Lieutenants
Me with The Admiral of the Sheep and No. 1

Dr Swotty interviews Lazarus

Testimonies about God answering prayer

Alien Day

2009-08-05T07:47:00.000-07:00

I had a sleepover on Starship Miracle Seeker last night.I got chatting to the computer.He told me his name is Alexander.He knows lots of facts about just about everything. He wasn't feeling too well today, he had a computer virus and kept sneezing. The Aliens - Snot and Sniff were feeling a bit off colour too. It was probably all the Comet Cola they drank yesterday,it certainly made them ping a lot!

I was a bit worried when the team and children first arrived as most of them looked very odd! But it turned out it was Alien Day and they were all being Aliens! Snot and Sniff really liked the look of them all. I was asked to judge who were the best Aliens -it was a very hard decision to make as they were all fabulous!

We had a visit from a strange looking character called Bath Vapour today - he did aerobics with us which was funny and he also helped us to pray. We wrote prayer requests on stickers which we put on helium balloons.

We're learning some great songs this week -although everyone still likes to sing Fandabidozzie! We learned a new song today called 'I believe In Jesus' -all the boys and girls shouted "I believe in Jesus!" when it came up in the song - it sounded great!

We're learning about Jesus the Miracle Maker and today's story was about lady who had been ill for 12 years. She got healed by just touching the hem of Jesus coat! It is a brilliant story. Dr Swotty beamed her up so she could tell us more about it which was very interesting!

Well thats all for now, here are some photos from today.....

One of the Aliens who came today.

Bath Vapour

Bath Vapour poses with two of the team Aliens.

I'm on a space mission!

2009-08-04T05:41:00.000-07:00

I am so excited because today I have gone on a space mission! I am on the Starship Miracle Seeker (it's our church's Holiday Club) and we are having a fantastic time! Admiral Norma brought me with her today when she came to inspect the fleet. There are lots of Space Cadets, who are the children, the crew and the Leutenants who are the Team Leaders. The Captain and her No. 1 are in control - they are a bit strict but I like them a lot. There are also two silly aliens called Snot and Sniff, who can be a bit naughty.

Tomorrow we are all to come dressed as Aliens, as it's Aliens Day - I don't know what an Alien sheep would look like, so I'll have to think about that one.

One last thing for today before I show you some photos! On Friday at 6.30 pm we are having an open day! Anyone can come - if you are a parent or auntie or Granny of one of the children, for example. You can even come if you are just a friend! It's going to be lots of fun and you'll see what we've been doing all week. I hope you can come!

I'll write more later...

Admiral Norma introducing me. We're sideways because we
were still getting used to being weightless in space.

Me in my rocket. I'm having a sleepover here.

My makeover...

2009-07-17T03:52:00.000-07:00

Hi!

I have had an unfortunate experience this week. I am now 3 years old and, in all that time, I have only had one wash - even though I've travelled to lots of different countries. Some of them were very hot so I really needed another wash. I didn't expect to get put in a washing machine, although that was fine - quite a lot of fun in fact! And I came out feeling so lovely and clean and my yellow wool actually looked yellow again!

Then the unfortunate thing happened. It's still not quite certain how I ended up in the tumble drier - was it because I would dry off quicker, or did I get put in by accident with all the clothes that had been in the washing machine with me? Anyway, I also spent some time in the tumble drier - and now I look like this...

Everyone has been quite kind, saying my wool looks more like any other sheep's wool now. I have to say I feel a bit silly though. Although it is nice to be clean. I promised I wouldn't let on who did this, but Ruth has asked me to point out that she doesn't have a tumble drier...

Photos from my Tanzania Trip

2009-07-08T03:54:00.000-07:00

Hi,

I've been sorting through the photos we took on the Tanzania trip and thought you might like to see some of them!

Pastor Iain teaching at the Bible College

Norma preaching at the ladies meeting

Two new friends from Rwanda - I met them at the wedding.

My mosquito net. I was very glad of this!

At Amablas Hostel in Morogoro, bananas for lunch...

I visited this church with Norma.

Some of the children I met - they were doing a presentation in church. It was very good!

Norma with the staff and lecturers from the Bible College

The College Principles two children.

Pastor Iain with the students he taught. They had a very good time together!

I hope you liked those photos! My next big adventure is coming up soon so watch this blog!

New friends!

2009-06-03T03:20:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone! Life here in Tanzania is still very busy for Pastor Iain and Norma with lots of preaching. Iain will be speaking for the next three days to everyone at the Bible College here at the Chapel Service. The course he was doing about the Holy Spirit is now finished and it went very well. Norma has also spoken many times at churches, the college and extra ladies' meetings, so she's not had much time to put her feet up either!

I am having a wonderful time making new friends with the Bible College students - I've had lots of photos taken with them! They are such great people and have exciting plans of what they are going to do to serve God when they leave the Bible College. Hopefully we'll be able to tell you about some of that when we get home.

We'll be travelling back to Morogoro on Sunday and then we start for home on Monday night. Please keep praying for us and for a safe and good journey home! I'll try to write more before then though..

A lovely rest!

2009-06-01T06:35:00.000-07:00

Hello!

We're still having a wonderful time but we were very glad to get proper rest yesterday afternoon and evening! Pastor Iain and Norma went for a walk but it was too hot for a wooly little sheep so I stayed in and had a nap. Iain has already been teaching for 16 hours - wow! And the people here love to listen to him, they don't think 16 hours is all that long at all.. Iain and Norma went to speak at different churches yesterday - I didn't know who to go with because I like listening to them both! Norma is happy today because she is having a day off, no meetings to get ready for.

We met a girl who knew Katie's Mum, Maureen, 15 years ago when she came to Africa! That was a very long time ago - even though she was just a little girl when Maureen met her she's now been serving Pastor Iain and Norma their food at the Bible College. It was very exciting to meet her, and she was happy to get to know us too.

Speaking Swahili!

2009-05-27T10:39:00.000-07:00

Hello again!

I'm having a lot of fun learning to speak Swahili - it's a great language! Mind you, it's just as well most of the people here speak English because I just couldn't get my tongue around the word for drink - mnywo - and I was REALLY thirsty! It's great that people here speak English, they think it's very important to learn our language. Not all of the children here get to go to school - I think some of the boys and girls in KFC wouldn't think that was too bad! But the children I have met here are really happy when they get the chance to go to school because they know how important it is to learn lots of things.

While I've been having all this fun and meeting people, Pastor Iain and Norma have been so busy. Norma did one of the sessions today in the Bible college and was more than ready for a nap after that! It's very hot too. Iain is taking two classes tommorrow AND the chapel AND the men's group! I think he'll be ready for a long nap too after all that...

Hujambo!

2009-05-26T10:41:00.000-07:00

Hello! I'm having an interesting time here at the Bible College. The students are really enjoying hearing all Pastor Iain has to teach them about the Holy Spirit. I am learning some Swahili, that's the language people speak here. People keep saying "Hujambo!" when they meet me so I think that must mean hello. It's not easy learning other languages though, and I have tried quite a few during my travels! Lots of people here speak some English which I think is great.

We are all having a good time but Pastor Iain and Norma are soooo busy! Please keep praying for them!

Lizards and Mosquitoes!

2009-05-25T03:03:00.000-07:00

The wedding on Saturday was great fun! The service lasted more than 3 hours! I've never been to a wedding before but Pastor Iain thought that was definitely longer than any wedding service he has been at before. There was a reception after it as well, so we had a very late night, even though we had to get up very early as the first service of the day started at 7.30 am! My friends in Africa REALLY love being in church!

We are now in a place called Dodoma. We are staying in our own little house on the Bible College compound. It's really nice and there are some interesting little creatures living here too. They are lizards - I think they are quite cute but Norma does not agree. And of course, there are mosquitoes everywhere! I don't think they are cute - they get into my lovely yellow wool and make me itchy. Pastor Iain will start teaching today for the next two weeks. Norma will do some sessions too. Iain's going to be teaching the Bible College students about the Holy Spirit. He loves teaching about the Holy Spirit and the people here love to listen to him, so I have a feeling the next couple of weeks are going to be great! Norma is going to speak to some community groups as well - it's just busy busy busy! Please pray that God will give Pastor Iain and Norma all the energy and strength they need.

We are sending lots of love to everyone back at Link Church!

I loved the Seniors!

2009-05-23T10:23:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone! Not much time to write because we are really really busy, but I wanted to let you know about the fabulous time we had with the Seniors. Norma spoke to them and they thought she was brilliant! They still get very excited and happy when they hear great things about God, even though they are older than me. I'm really looking forward to the wedding today, this will be the first time I've been at a wedding in Africa so it will be so interesting to see what happens. I'll tell you all about it when I get back! I hope you pray for us in KFC tomorrow - we've got three meetings to go to!

We're here!

2009-05-21T05:15:00.000-07:00

It was very exciting arriving in Tanzania and so great to meet my new friend, Bishop Barnabas! I've got friends all over the place but none of the others are Bishops. They are all special people though. Even though we just arrived yesterday there's been no time to put my feet up at all - we have seminars for seniors every morning from today (Thursday) till Saturday. I wondered who the seniors were, but they seem to just be people who are a bit older than me. I'm still quite a young sheep (I just turned three) but they don't mind me coming to their senior's seminars.

I'm very excited because I'm going to a wedding on Saturday! I've done all sorts of things in all sorts of places, but I've never been to a wedding before! If I'd known I would have brought something nice to wear, but I'm sure my lovely scarf will do, and I can comb my lovely yellow wool so it looks very special. Sunday will be another busy day as we'll have three services - please remember to pray for Pastor Iain and Norma as they are the ones doing all the speaking.

We're staying with some Nuns which is good fun. They are lovely and great friends of Pastor Iain and Norma.

I'm on my way to Tanzania!

2009-05-20T03:49:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone!

It feels like I just got back from one trip and now I'm away on another one! At least I had time to wash my wool and pack my suitcase again... This time I am going to Tanzania with Pastor Iain and Norma. We had to get up really really early - 4 o'clock in the morning! I'm not really a morning sheep, but I don't mind so much when I'm going on an exciting adventure. When we get to Dar Es Salaam, we're goingt to be met by a very important person - Bishop Barnabus. He has an unusual second name so I'm not going to try to write that.

We're coming home!

2009-04-15T00:52:00.001-07:00

Phew! We've had a really busy time... I've not had much time to write on here but it's been a fantastic trip. I've made lots of new friends and I think Zimbabwe is a lovely country. We've spent most of our time in the African township - wow! What an amazing place it is.. There are lots of bumpy roads so I've been jiggled about a lot as we've travelled - I thought that was a lot more fun than anyone else did! Pastor Iain and Jim did a great job with all the meetings they had to speak at - after the Easter Convention they still did a couple of days talking to leaders and their wives! They worked really hard and I know the people have enjoyed listening to them so much and learned a lot.

We are travelling home today (it's Wednesday) and it's a long long long journey again. It will take us 25 hours to get back! Please pray for us.

See you soon!

There are ants everywhere!

2009-04-11T05:49:00.000-07:00

Hello,

We are having a great time here. The Easter Convention has started and we've had some great meetings. Some of the people here were helped to come by donations from friends in the Link Church, they are so happy to be here and everyone is getting really blessed listening to Pastor Iain and Jim when they speak! I really love to hear the African's singing - their music and dancing and everything is fantastic! We have good music in Link Church (especially downstairs in KFC :-)) but it's very different music here. If I was a more musical sheep I would sing some of the songs for you when we get back, but I'm not much good at singing and dancing really.

There are still a lot of power cuts but I don't mind. We just light candles when we need to see better and everything looks so interesting then. There are ants EVERYWHERE! Sometimes they even crawl into my wool. It really tickles when they start walking all over me.

We're here!

2009-04-08T06:58:00.000-07:00

Hello again! We're finally here in Zimbabwe, staying in a place called Resthaven. It's a good place to be as we were all pretty tired after our long, long journey! We're getting a couple of days to rest though which is really important, even for a young sheep like me (I'm almost three). There have been lots of power cuts, some places don't have any power between 5 am and 10 pm - and the water can be cut off just as much. It's bad enough for Pastor Iain and Jim, but much harder for the people who live here all the time. I hope you'll pray for them. Iain and Jim fill up a thermos flask so they can have hot drinks in the day time. I manage fine as long as I can have some grass.

The Easter Convention will last for four days, and Iain and Jim will both speak twice a day every day! They are going to be so busy but the people here just love to hear them talk about God.

I'm off to Zimbabwe!

2009-04-06T10:33:00.000-07:00

Hello! I'm really excited today because I'm on my way to Zimbabwe with Pastor Iain and Jim Storm. We're going to see our friends from Fellowship in Christ again and we're going to their Easter Convention. There's going to be hundreds of people there so I should get to make some new friends too. Pastor Iain and Jim will be able to encourage the people in Zimbabwe a lot, they've had some hard times recently. It's a long journey though - we'll be on 3 different planes before we get there! I'll need to try to get some beauty sleep because I don't want to be too tired when we get there.

Well, that's all for now, but I'll write more soon!

Thanksgiving

2008-11-27T12:29:00.000-08:00

Hello again!

Today is Thanksgiving and all of Pastor David and Carol's family are here - there are 14 people altogether and 1 sheep (that's me!) There is lots and lots of food and we are having so much fun. Ruth and I didn't really know what Thanksgiving is all about, so our new friend Isaac told us (he is Carol and David's grandson. He said that, many years ago when the first people came to live in America, they found it really hard and lots of them died. Some Indians helped them out by bringing them food and teaching them how to survive here. So the people decided to have a day called Thanksgiving to thank God for His help, for their food and for their friends who helped them out so much. It's still going on today after many years and I have to say I've really enjoyed it! It's a lovely sunny day and everyone is outside playing with frisbees. They are working off the huge dinner they just had so there is room for some dessert!

On Tuesday Ruth and I went to visit Pastor Kent and Sandi Reynolds. They have been at the Link lots of times and they asked lots of questions about how everyone is getting on. They loved to hear about all the things that have been going on back home in Dunfermline! It was really good to see them again. Sandi was busy getting ready for Thanksgiving too so Ruth went with her to help her do some shopping!

We've been to St James Church!

2008-11-25T07:12:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone!

We had a very busy weekend with our friends Bill and Vivien Arnold and it was loads of fun! On Friday night we went to see a basketball game. Ruth thought it would just be some guys playing basketball but there was a lot more than that going on! There was a band,girls dancing, cheerleaders and two huge bulldogs - well, Ruth said it was just men dressed up in costumes but they still looked a bit scary to me. They were a bit silly at times though. The basketball game was exciting and the Georgia Bulldogs team won which made everyone really happy. One of the players was 7 feet tall! They were all big and I felt even more tiny than usual.

On Saturday we had a pancake breakfast at the church. There were lots of people there because they were having a workday so we met some new friends. I met a lovely girl from Russia - she has been adopted by a family in St James. I had my picture taken with her and I'll tell you more about her when I get home. We were back at St James on Sunday and went to 3 different meetings. We met some more people who have been to our church - Bobby, Chris, LaMurl, Bill and Glen were all there and they were excited to see Ruth in their church! We met lots of new people too and they were all so kind.

We came back to Carol and David's yesterday afternoon. Carol works with the older people in St James Church, helping them in lots of different ways, and she took us to meet three of them on the way home. They were lovely and very interesting to listen to as they told lots of stories about their lives and their families. I think it's not surprising at all that Carol loves to spend so much time with them. They love her very much too.

Stone Mountain was fun!

2008-11-21T06:32:00.000-08:00

Hello!

We had a wonderful time at Stone Mountain! We arrived on Wednesday evening and went for a little walk around. It was dark so all the Christmas lights were on - there were lots of quaint little shops and unusual buildings and Christmas music playing in the background. It felt like we were in a film about Santa or something! Then we went out for dinner - yum! We had lots of things to choose from. Sheep don't normally go on diets, but I think I'll need to after this holiday! Our waitress was very kind and friendly. Her name was Nina and she is from Croatia. I've never been there but I would like to go if everyone is as nice as Nina is! We told her about all the places I have been to then I had my picture taken with her. The next morning we went to see the 4D film at Stone Mountain Park. The film was Polar Express and we had to wear funny glasses to watch it. It was a bit scary for me in one bit because it was like we were on a very fast roller coaster. We kept getting splashed with icy water and it somehow seemed a bit windy at times in there, but it was good fun. We did some shopping before we came back.

In the afternoon Ruth and I went to visit Mary Redman - she has been to our church twice before, the last time was just last year, so it was fun to see her again. She has 3 dogs, the two big ones were ok as they weren't interested in me. But the little one kept trying to sniff me out of Ruth's bag! It was a bit scary - after all the amazing places I've been to and survived, I thought I might end up being a snack for an American dog! But then Ruth zipped me into a pocket so I was saved. It was such a warm day we were able to sit outside for a while. It was a lovely time and Ruth and Mary had a great time chatting.

We're off to spend the weekend with Bill and Vivien Arnold - they have been to the Link too but a long time ago now. Ruth told me we will have a wonderful time there because they are so kind!

Madison

2008-11-19T09:41:00.000-08:00

Hello!

Yesterday I went with Ruth, Carol and her daughter, Mary, to the town of Madison which is about an hour from here. Madison has some beautiful and really interesting old houses. I think they are called Colonial buildings. Carol and Mary told us that, during the American Civil War, the soldiers were going throughout the South burning all the towns and cities. But the women who lived in Madison begged them not to destroy their town and agreed that the soldiers could stay there when they were passing through this area, and that they would look after their injured soldiers. So Madison wasn't burned to the ground and it's about the only place that has all it's old Colonial style houses! It's a beautiful town and we found some interesting shops there too. We went to a coffee shop - I'm not sure if it was for breakfast or lunch because it was in the middle of the morning - and I got to try some grits. As you know, I'm a mission sheep so I'll try to eat anything I'm given. Grits are not so good as grass though.

Today Ruth and Carol are taking me to a place called Stone Mountain. We are staying all night and it sounds like it's going to be great fun! I'll let you know what I see there later.

We haven't seen Pastor Iain and Norma again but we know they are really really busy all the time. They leave tomorrow for home so please pray that they can have a good safe journey home and that God helps them to have a good rest.

Yesterday was fun!

2008-11-17T08:29:00.000-08:00

Hello again!

I just want to tell you about the busy day we had yesterday. Our friend David is Pastor of two small churches here, and we went to one of them with him and Carol yesterday morning. It is called Corinth United Methodist Church. There weren't many people there, maybe about 3o, but they made us feel very special and were so glad we were there. Pastor David introduced me and Ruth and told all the people about my adventures in all the different countries I've been to. We sang some great hymns and Carol played the piano. At the end, all the people there gathered at the front and we had our picture taken with them. Some of them had been to Scotland and told us about the places they had visited.

Guess where we went for lunch after that... KFC! I was surprised they have it here, but Ruth said KFC started out in America then came to Scotland. (Not Kids For Christ, of course.)

Then we went to a service in a retirement home called Iris Place. It was beautiful, a lovely home, and we met some really lovely people who live there too. A few of them came to the service, and Pastor David let me and Ruth get up and introduce ourselves and tell the people about all the things we both do. They loved me, I could just tell! Some of them had been to Scotland too, and one lady said she had ancestors who came from Scotland. That was lots of years ago though, even more years than the grown ups in KFC have been alive!

I'll be back soon...

I'm in America!

2008-11-14T10:09:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone!

I'm very happy because I'm now on my retreat! We're staying with our friends, Dave and Carol Staton, in their lovely home. It has trees all around it and sometimes deer come into the backyard! I haven't seen them yet but we'll get a picture if they do that while we're here. There are lots of different birds here too, ones we didn't know the names of, and they come to eat seed and things on the porch.

We had a long journey so we've all been tired since we got here. Ruth and I have had lots of time to rest which is great, but Pastor Iain and Norma are very busy going to lots of places and meeting up with lots of people. They have gone to a place called North Carolina this weekend to speak to some people who are having a weekend retreat there. Remember to pray for them because they need lots of God's strength to do all the things they have to do!

Thats all for now but I'll write more later.

I'm going on holiday!

2008-11-10T06:11:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone!

I'm very excited because tommorrow I'm off on my travels again. It's a bit different this time though because I'm not going on a really really busy trip. Ruth is going out to Athens, Georgia (that's in the USA) with Pastor Iain and Norma - they're going to be speaking at a retreat for some friends of mine - and Ruth is going with them to see what's all happening out there, meet up with some friends and have some time to chill. Well, since I've been on sooooo many trips over the past 3 years, Ruth said it was time I had a proper holiday and asked me to come along with her! I'm very pleased because I feel quite tired and would like a nice rest before my next mission trip. I'll write more when we're there and let you know when we do interesting things. But I better finish packing my little suitcase and have an early night - we leave at 3.30 am tommorrow! Yawn...

I've been at the beach!

2008-09-12T11:08:00.001-07:00

Hello!

I'm having a great time here with Pastor Iain and Norma. We've just spent a few days at the beach. I got my feet a bit wet which was OK, but my scarf got a bit sandy and I didn't like that much. It scratched my neck a bit. It's all out now though. We're now on our way from Atlanta to Athens, where Pastor Iain will stay for a few days with our friends there. I'm going to a Ladies conference with Norma - since I'm a girl I'm allowed to go even though I'm a sheep. Please pray for Norma, she's speaking at the conference and it would really help her if you were all praying! The conference is at a place called Tocoa Falls.

This is a photo of us with Cindy Soble - do you remember her? She was part of the team who came over to work on the kitchen in our church last year. We've been telling her how great it's been to have that kitchen done!

I'll be back later to let you know how everything goes!

I'm in America!

2008-09-08T02:55:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone!

I'm in America at the moment. I came here last Tuesday with Pastor Iain and Norma. My friend Jack and his mum and dad - Doug and Susan - are here too. We're staying with some old friends of the Allan family, they are called Bill and Diana Ambrose. They have been very kind to us. Here is a photo of me with Pastor Iain, Norma and Diana.

This weekend is going to be very busy. Norma is going to speak at a Ladies Retreat from St James Church in Athens, Georgia, and Iain will be speaking at three Sunday services at St James on the Sunday - and at a community group that night! I've already been to St James church before, although not on a Sunday, so I'm looking forward to going back and seeing some of my friends there again. I'll write more later to let you know how it goes!

I'm on an Indian Reservation!

2008-08-07T05:56:00.000-07:00

Hello Everyone!

Just wanted to tell you about the fun time I'm having this week! It's Holiday Club week at our church and we are all Indian Braves on Running River Reservation. We've had some great stories from the Bible about a lost sheep, a lost coin and a lost son, and we're learning how precious we are to God. Our memory verse is Psalm 139: 17 - "God your thoughts are precious to me. They are so many! If I could count them they would be more than all the grains of sand." I've almost learned to say it, but I'm not the best at it, some of the children who are here have brilliant memories!

We've had some great games and I've been learning new songs. My favourite is Fandabidozzie! We have a visit every day from two puppets called Pete and Ailsa who talk about what they've learned on Running River Reservation and then sing a song.

It's very busy at Link Church at the moment because, as well as Holiday Club, we have some friends over from America who are doing all sorts of things in our church. Six of them are helping the Holiday Club team and they've been great fun! There are also people doing painting upstairs in the church, and some have been going to do drama in the High Street and tell people about Jesus! It's been so busy my head is buzzing, but it's exciting too and I've made loads of new friends. It's really nice that these new friends came to visit me and everyone here because it means I get a rest from going on aeroplanes!

Here are a couple of photos:

This is the team on "Tribal Hair Day". There were some very strange hairstyles...

This is me with the team children and Big Chief Misses With Arrows.

Photos from china!

2008-04-10T10:51:00.000-07:00

Hello again!

I've been home for a day now and had a nice rest. I've also got some photos ready to show you. I hope you like them!

Our last day...

2008-04-09T07:36:00.000-07:00

We got up very early on Tuesday morning to walk along to Tiananmen Square so that we could see Chairman Mao. He used to be the leader of China and after he died they built a big building where his body lies. We queued with hundreds of Chinese people to walk past him. We then walked back to our hotel and after breakfast we got on the bus to the airport.

Our flight took 10 hours to London then we had to catch another flight home to Edinburgh and we got home after midnight - we were very tired as we'd been travelling for 24 hours by that point. We had a lovely trip and we will really miss being in China and all the new friends we made.

Saw some Pandas!

2008-04-07T11:10:00.000-07:00

Hello! Today we went back to Beijing on the aeroplane. When we got there we went on the Metro to the Zoo. I loved it there - we saw lots of different animals, but the ones I liked best were the pandas. They were so cute! There was even a little baby one, he looked so cuddly. After that we went out for our last dinner in China - after 11 nights of Chinese food we went to pizza hut! Most of the people were really glad to be eating something they were more used to. I didn't mind the Chinese food too much because I try to eat and enjoy everything I get since I am a missionary sheep. But I have to say the pizza was very nice, and it felt quite like being at home in Pizza Hut!

Tommorrow we will be coming home - I'm really looking forward to seeing you all again and telling you all my news! But right now I think I should get an early night since it's going to be a very long day tommorrow.

See you all soon!

The terracotta army

2008-04-06T07:24:00.000-07:00

Today we went to see the Terracotta Army, which Dot said is really famous. She's been looking forward to seeing it and it was amazing. There were soldiers and horses, all made out of terracotta which is a kind of stone. I felt a bit nervous about them even though they are just statues because they all had different faces, just like real soldiers would!

After that we went to a market and everyone got some souvenirs. It was a very hot day and we went for a walk through a park. Lots of people were flying kites and I got really excited because I love kites! They make me want to skip like a little lamb again. Tommorrow is our last full day in China, but I think we'll still be doing lots of fun things.

Another city...

2008-04-05T12:27:00.000-07:00

We are now in Xian - we had to get on an aeroplane to come here but it only took a couple of hours. There was still plenty of time to go out and see some more of the sights so we went to look at the city wall and we saw the old part of the city. The city wall is very old, and it was a person called Emperor Hongwu who started to build it a very very long time ago. I've heard some very unusual names since I came to China, and I'm very glad that my friends in KFC decided to call me Mercy! We also went to see a pagoda, it looked amazing and I can't wait to show you the photos Dot took there! While we were there we walked through a very lovely garden. There were all sorts of different plants and flowers which were so bright and colourful. I saw some I've never seen before, I don't think we get them in Scotland. It's been such a busy day and lots of fun, but I need to have an early night tonight because Dot said we're going to see something really amazing tomorrow! I'll write and tell you about it when we get back...

Sightseeing!

2008-04-04T10:28:00.001-07:00

We've been doing some sightseeing in Beijing today -- we went to Tienanmen Square. There were thousands of Chinese people there. They thought Dot looked lovely because she is tall and blonde, so lots of them wanted a photo taken with her. No-one wanted their photo taken with me because small yellow sheep aren't so nice to look at, but I don't mind because I've had my photo taken quite a lot already. We also went to see "The Forbidden City". I wondered whether we would be allowed in since it's called the Forbidden City, but it turned out it's actually a very old palace which is a museum now and it was very interesting. We also saw a Tea ceremony which I enjoyed watching, even though I don't like tea much at all!

Stairway to Heaven!

2008-04-03T08:35:00.000-07:00

Well, we finished our trek today - by climbing 1000 steps on the Stairway to Heaven! Wow, that was quite a workout, even for a little sheep! It felt like we were just going up and up forever. The views at the top were amazing though, so it was worth all that climbing.
After that we got on another coach and had a trip of about 3 hours to Beijing -that's where we are now, in a really nice hotel. I've just been watching Dot have a foot massage - she said it was very nice after all that walking and climbing, but I'm not having one because sheep aren't really into that sort of thing. I would rather just go and stand in a nice cool stream to cool my feet off a bit. Dot says that, after the foot massage, we're going out to look for a snack. I don't know if she's kidding me or not but she says they sell insects to eat! I think she really means it. Yuck! I know I'm a missionary sheep and all that, but I think I'll just stick to snacking on grass this time!