Day 14 and 15 – The Drive/The Convos/The All-nighter

We got up at 6 am Monday morning in order to pack up and be able to leave the Bed and Breakfast directly after breakfast. Then began the long, arduous trek down through Scotland. We drove about 5 hours down to Stevenston to reclaim some baggage we had left before leaving for Skye. We also got a chance to meet with Pastor Scott Cameron of the High Kirk. Besides seeing the Covenanter’s covenant in St. Gile’s Cathedral, talking with Pastor Scott was the most impacting experience I had in Scotland. It was just a phenomenal way to end the trip. In talking to Scott for 30 minutes, I felt like I had sat through about 4 sermons. This man is brilliant, he knows the Scripture, and there is a roaring fire in his soul for God. Pastor Scott encouraged me to keep the fire that the Lord had kindled on the missions trip burning on my return home. We spoke about evangelizing, living grace-filled lives, prayer, and of course, all that God had done in and through us throughout the trip. I have an immense respect for this Pastor and I envy those who get to hear him preach on a daily basis. But the day was far from over. We had a last dinner with Ian, Elaine, and Paul Lundblad. Paul is training to become a missionary to a middle of nowhere town in Sweden. As part of the training he went to Istanbul, Turkey for 5 weeks. Some of the stories he told us were totally dumbfounding: legs that were too short growing before his eyes, a person who needed crutches to walk for the rest of his life dropping the crutches and walking away, as well as countless divine appointment stories where God put him in the perfect place at the perfect time to minister to people. Not only did Pastor Scott fan the flames of passion that God had kindled in my heart during the trip, but Paul reminded me that the powerful miracles of God are still alive, still active, and still very very real. They only need to be expected. He said that if you expect God to do mighty works and create divine appointments, then throw yourself completely on God without reservation, He will come through. I can’t imagine a better way to be encouraged before leaving for home, my everyday mission field. At this point it was getting late. God blessed us with our first and last gorgeous sunset in Scotland before we left. We decided to pull an all-nighter so we could sleep on the plane-flight home. We got into Manchester, GBR around 4 am. (Only Josh had dozed off and caught some shuteye for a wee bit.) We fought doggedly on, staying awake until our 10 am flight out. (Emma died on an airport café table, but the all-nighter had been completed. We'll give her a break.) The five of us slept for the majority of the 71/2 hour flight home making it the quickest cross-Atlantic flight in history. Upon arriving home, we got to finally see our families at the airport, then went home to crash. We are finally back on U.S. time now and are prepared and inspired to continue our missions here in our own backyard with the people we come in contact with on a daily basis. Once again, thank you so much for your prayers and support during this trip. They were a huge encouragement and were felt daily!
~ Trey