I’m posting this from Dubai where I’m enroute to Sudan for this year’s Preachers’ Workshop.    I hope to blog each evening from Khartoum with updates and information for prayer and this will be posted on the news page of the Friends of Sudan website: news.friendsofsudan.net   I have already posted my outgoing itinerary there.

The main reason for posting at the moment is just to report the great news that just before I left home I heard from my mother’s new nursing home that they see no reason why her trial period there can’t become permanent.  This is such a massive relief and a wonderful answer to prayer.

We’ve just, although rather belatedly, produced our summer Prayer Letter which can be read here.

On Thursday (August 6th), John heads to Khartoum for the annual Preachers’ Workshops.  More information can be found at www.friendsofsudan.net

First of all, sincere apologies that we didn’t get an update out to you at the end of April.   I am a great believer in the fact that you can never be too busy to keep in touch with your prayer supporters but sadly failed to live up to that, and not for the first time, at the end of last month.  Our only excuse is that the last few months have been unbelievably pressured, what with John’s added workload and his mother’s illness, and has left us without very much spare time.   We remain more grateful to you for your prayers than we can express.

1. John’s mum continues to be treated in hospital, though the treatment is doing her no good, in fact the very opposite, and we are very frustrated with the way her case is being handled.  This is extremely stressful for us all and especially for her and we covet your prayers for an intervention from the Lord.
2. At a recent special meeting of the Faith Mission Council John was appointed Principal of the Bible College with immediate effect and he is looking forward to the challenge of continuing to develop the College and its training courses.  We are currently talking to possible additional staff though they would not be able to join us for another year.  Other staff appointments are also necessary and for all of this we value your prayers.
3. College Graduation is on June 20^th, at the start of what promises to be an extremely busy summer period with church and conference ministry and also tackling a number of issues related to the future of the College.
4. June 20^th is also very important for another reason – it will see the induction of our new Pastor at Harper.  Rhett Crabtree and his wife Susan and family are returning to Glasgow from their home in Ohio, USA, to take up the work and we look forward to serving with and supporting Rhett in the work.
5. John has begun the application process for a visa for another trip to Sudan in August, though the atmosphere has been made much more difficult this year by the indictment of their President as a war criminal.  Please pray for the Lord’s overruling.
6. Caroline is preparing for her third and final attempt at her final stage driving instructor’s exam in early July and has almost a full quota of pupils at the moment.
7. Iain, who celebrates his 25^th birthday on June 2^nd, recently started work at Tesco’s warehouse in Bathgate, near Edinburgh and Paul continues to work as a fitness instructor in New Lanark.

We would value your prayers for John’s health.  He has a persistent throat problem and is, on Doctor’s orders, banned from public speaking for a few weeks, to see if that helps the problem.  He is also suffering from viral gastro-enteritis at the moment which leaves him uncomfortable and very tired most of the time.   Fortunately we’re in the middle of  the College break just now so life is considerably less busy.

John’s Mum is still in hospital and although she has made quite a lot of progress in the last 3 or 4 weeks she is considerably weaker and less confident than she was when she went into hospital at the end of January.  Our prayer is still that she recover sufficiently to return to Auchlochan.   We would value wisdom as we are involved in various investigations and complaints regarding her hospitalisation and treatment.

Caroline has her first attempt at her final Driving Instructor’s exam on Tuesday 7th April.

There are ongoing discussions regarding the future staffing and leadership of the College.  Please be much in prayer about these.

Due to John’s current speaking ban there are not many commitments left in the diary which you can access here.

As ever we are indebted to you for your prayers on our behalf.

I have finally given in and given up on blogging. For a whole lot of reasons I just don’t have the time these days and so we have slimmed this site right down to provide a channel to keep family and supporters informed for prayer.

In the next day or two I’ll post the April update.