Swamped, But Still Going Strong

I am somewhat astonished by how long it has been since I last posted on my blog. I had planned

to blog frequently about my big move to the North East of Scotland as I took up ministry at St. 

Fergus Parish Church. I had the best of intentions, but was not able to carry them out. Even 

though my residential internet access was activated last week, I still did not post to my blog and 

answer emails from friends. It had been my fervent desire to keep people informed of my move 

across the Pond to my new home in St. Fergus, Scotland. I did not succeed in carrying out those 

best of intentions. I have felt swamped by all that I have had to do to get setup here in St. Fer-
gus. There is much more I have yet to do. 

I am doing very well. I am happy and enjoy being in a new area of Scotland that I had never real-

ly experienced before. I firmly believe that the Lord shaped me for such a time as this during the 

sixteen months I spent in my hometown of Longview, Washington. I have been well prepared. 

Even now I have a strong sense of what I need to do to enter into pastoral ministry here with the 

people of St. Fergus and Peterhead, the latter being the large town just a few miles down the road 

from the former. 

But I have also been challenged by the reality that the way things were done in my hometown in 

the USA are certainly not the way things are done here in North East Scotland. I have to unlearn 

habits, customs, and routines that made sense in Longview, but do not work here in St. Fergus. 

There have been times I have felt like a little child who is having to learn from grownups and old-

er children how to do basic things of life. It is humbling, but it is a process that everyone goes 

through in varying degrees when one moves from one culture to another. It is a process that I ex-

pect to be in for years to come. 

I am developing new habits, customs, and routines for my life here in this part of Scotland. As 

a result, right now I spend considerably more time to do routine things that I did quickly when 

I was at home in the USA. Even the way things were said and done in the South East of Scot-

land where I  lived before are not the way things are said and done here in the North East. Some-

times I feel swamped as I try to do everything I believe I need to get done to settle in here. It
takes time to build new habits and routines. But soon I will be up to speed with many of the things
I struggle with now.  

As always, if you are the praying type, I ask for your prayers as I learn to live and serve the peo-

ple of St. Fergus and North East Scotland in Jesus' Name.  

Many blessings to you and yours,