Dan Alcantara: Notes from Scotland 3.5
Hey,
Dan’s dad is home from hospital and we're continuing to get settled into our new home, decorating for Advent and Christmas and learning how to work in our new ministry context.
Tracy's mum made this nativity set for us a few years ago and it's a joy to have it again after being away from our things for a year.
Dan's dad went home from hospital a couple of days before Thanksgiving! There's still some follow up that he will need to do with a cardiac doctor, but besides that, there appear to be no complications from having the virus. This is a huge relief, especially as it's been quite a rough year for him and us. Thank you to everyone who joined with us in prayer for him!
In ministry, things are beginning to pick up as they always do at Advent. Dan has been busy preparing opening devotions for prayer meetings as well as a sermon for the third week of Advent. Besides the church prayer meetings, which have been able to happen in person, Dan has also been taking part in a pastors' fraternal group with other pastors in Scotland. They're a great time for brothers to share about life, ministry and how to pray for each other. Preparations for the first quarter of 2021 have also begun, with the church spending January focussing on prayer before spending six weeks continuing studies in John's gospel.
The Cornhill training course is proving to be incredibly rewarding and incredibly stretching. In cohorts, the students are each assigned passages to either prepare a 20-minute sermon/talk on or to present a theme sentence (what the passage is for, what the original author intended for his audience) and an aim sentence (what that means for us now) with supporting evidence. The instructors have graciously given Dan easy passages like Mark 3:28,29 and 2 Chronicles 36:22,23 so far. It's worth looking them up. Along with those assignments comes time learning biblical theology, teaching NT epistles, and a concentrated time studying Exodus.
Our first snow of the season arrived! The kids have missed the snow since we left Illinois and this is Owen's first, real experience of snow!
Tracy has been able to spend a bit more time in town running errands and has also done an amazing job of turning the house into a home. It seems like every day the level of boxes goes down while the coziness goes up. Her job search continues, but she has two promising opportunities at the moment. Join with us in prayer that one of them would come through soon so that we will be able to operate with a full income.
The kids are continuing to do really well in school. They recently took an assessment to see where they were at with things and, thankfully, all three of them are basically where they should be. This news was a big relief for us because the curriculum we used to homeschool them in Poland was based on the US system rather than the UK one.
Finally, Liam turns 8 on Thursday (10th)! It is such a privilege to get to be his parents and to watch him grow and learn. He's experienced so much for such a young boy this year and he's always quick to smile. Happy Birthday, buddy!
Prayer Requests:
This has been a good time, but also a hard time. It's never easy being far from family, but especially so during medical crises and the holidays. Our finances are very tight while we wait for the Lord to provide fruit for Tracy's job search. Even so, we still have reasons to be grateful even while we share these prayer requests.
We are so grateful for Dan's dad's return home from hospital in time for Thanksgiving. Thank you again for praying for him and for us while we waited for news on his recovery.
Pray that the Lord would provide a job for Tracy soon so that we can focus our attention on the work at hand.
Pray for evangelistic opportunities even during lockdown in South Lanarkshire (our county). This time of year always brings in more interest to the church, pray that the Lord would be working in peoples hearts as they hear the gospel and the wonder of the Incarnation preached.
Pray that we would be able to put Owen into nursery/preschool soon. He's desperate to make friends, especially as stay-and-play groups have not been operating during the pandemic.
