the rusco house is on the move!

Ahem... please excuse my absence. I realize that my last post was in January, this is tad embarrassing! How about a cute picture to make up for it?

There, that's better. Am I forgiven now? Thanks!

So what do I mean by "on the move"? I mean that our family is moving across the Atlantic to the beautiful nation of Scotland, land of bagpipes, kilts and haggis... and more importantly a land that needs help in their churches.

Last summer, Darren caught the missions bug. As he thought about Paso Robles and the great churches we have in the North County, he began to feel a need to go to a place that had a greater need. When he studied the church all across the world he saw that many former Christian nations had lost their way and the church had faded into a sleeping institution. He felt a pull to go back to those people and bring the gospel of Jesus to light once more and help wake up the sleeping church.

We first looked into Ireland, France and Italy. We talked with missions organizations that had projects going in those countries but we never felt a connection with those teams. One day the Multnomah alumni magazine arrived and Darren read and article about a man who had gone to Glasgow, Scotland to start a church. The man's story resonnated with Darren because they had both been so committed to preaching the Word of God that they had neglected to develop a prayer life. Once the prayer life was explored and developed, both men began to see their ministries increase. Darren wrote to him to thank him for the article and to his surprise, the man responded with an invitation to visit Glasgow!

In November, Darren boarded a plane to Scotland. To be honest, I thought this was just a silly idea that he needed to get out of his system and I didn't expect much to come of it. You may have seen this on facebook around that time:

Although he was incredibly homesick, he was able to listen to God's direction as he traveled and met with the team in Glasgow. When he came home and told me all about his experience, I knew this was not just a whim, this was our family's new direction.

While in Glasgow, Darren learned a lot about prayer. When he came home, he began to implement these things into our services and home groups and we began to see God do mighty things. Over the past months we have both felt confirmation that although amazing things are happening at PRBC, it is ok that we move on, because we know our church is in good hands.

In March, Darren, Jason and I went to Glasgow for another visit. Darren was adamant that if I wasn't happy, we wouldn't go. We had a fabulous visit with the team and the Ingraham family. Here are a few pictures from that trip:

The gang in front of Edinburgh Castle.

Jason and his pal Emma run into a little trouble with the law...

Finally, justice is restored when Jason is rightfully returned to his throne.

As you can see, we had fun. While flying home Darren and I had a moment where we just looked at each other and knew that we were meant to move to Scotland. I think my exact words to him were, "I'm in!".

Our next step was to join the organization that supports the Scotland team. This is Church Resource Ministries or CRM. Please check out their website www.crmleaders.org . We really like CRM. We just completed our orientation week in Anaheim this last week and we are very impressed with the way they care for their staff. They are an established organization with a rich history and an innovative ministry that is strategically looking to the future of world missions. We are very happy to be a part of this group.

I'm sure one of the main questions in your mind right now is, "so, when are you guys moving?". That's a good question! Our goal is January but there are a lot of factors necessary to make that happen. We are making our plans toward that end but we fully understand that God is ultimately in control of the timing.

Over the next few weeks I plan on blogging more about Scotland, why we're going and how a family of five picks up their lives and moves it across an ocean. Also, Darren will be sharing more details in church about our transition so be sure to show up on Sunday or "like" Paso Robles Bible Church on Facebook. Sermons are usually posted there for you to download. Until then, check out CRM's site and take a look at our team leader's blog for more info about the church in Scotland www.brianingraham.com .

Thanks for making it to the end of this post. How about one last picture?

This was one of our many attempts at taking Hayden's passport photo:)