Hello Friends,

As our departure is imminent a lot of things have become clear to me as to what I hope for this trip. Firstly, for the last 5 or 6 weeks I've had a myriad of health problems. The relentless and sometimes random nature of this makes me think that the bulk of this must be a spiritual attack. While this is distracting, irritating and sometimes painful, it makes me think that perhaps we're on the verge of something big. I've felt for some time that Scotland would mark a new turning point in my life, perhaps the end of an old chapter and the beginning of a new. I feel very strongly that I'm very close to a new breakthrough in terms of my spiritual journey. My hope from this trip is that I'll be able to put all these distractions aside, perhaps wrestle with any additional internal elements I'm not yet aware of and push through towards the prize. I can't imagine what this will look like as a result, but I have the feeling that it could be big.

All that being said, I think this trip will be remarkable in other ways as well. For the first time we will have a group comprised of people returning to Scotland as opposed to making their way for the first time. The time seems ripe for God to really let loose both in our lives, and also in the lives of those we will be ministering too. Having group consist of four men will also focus the energy of the trip more. If all goes well, I foresee breakthroughs in the entire teams lives in monumental ways. Please continue to pray for us. The Money is in; we are heading out, but now the real work begins. And now the need for God's will to be made clear to us becomes most necessary.

Yours in Christ,

John

Hey friends, we're back!  That's right, Scum of the Earth is heading back to Glasgow for the 5th time!  & we've got people returning other than myself, Ben Mercer!  Tyson Rasmussen from the 2011 team and John Favara from the 2012 team are coming with me, as well as Matt Kingham being the one & only newbie this time across the pond :)  

We have our tickets, we have our visas, we leave two weeks from today, and we're so excited to see old friends and make new ones!

As per last year, we'll be posting here a few times a week and sending out prayer emails a little less frequently.  If you'd like to receive the prayer emails, please send us an email at scumkids.in.scotland@gmail.com and we'll be sure to add you. 

Thanks for checking us out and they'll be many more posts coming soon!

Ben Mercer

PS: We're still looking for prayer partners & financial donors.  If you'd like to get bi-weekly prayer updates, please email us at scumkids.in.scotland@gmail.com and we'll add you to our list.  
If you'd like to donate, you can do so online at http://www.scumoftheearth.net/SOTEC/Ben_Mercer.html.