- REQUEST FOR PRAYERS - TROOPS SERVING IN IRAQ -

The Monday house group have been asked to include troops in Iraq in their prayers and this we are doing. However we thought that the congregation may also wish to contribute. The contents of the Rev. AJR McCulloch RN's e-mail to Fairmilehead Parish Church can be found below:-

I am presently serving as Chaplain to two units here in the Contingency Operating Base (COB) just outside Basra: the UK Medical Group (including our Field Hospital) and the Joint Engineer Regiment Group.

We have quite a number of Scots in these units, and of course (as you will probably be aware) both 1st Battalion Scots Guards and The Royal Scots Borderers (1st Battalion, The Royal Regiment of Scotland) are here too.

Please pray for us, and for all the 4000 (four thousand) or so British troops deployed to Iraq at this time. Our men and women are working very hard and doing a good job in difficult circumstances. Please pray also for our families and friends back home.

It would be a great encouragement to folk here if some messages of support and encouragement could please be sent to me, to be passed on to our servicemen and servicewomen in the different camps within the COB. It's good to be prayed for, and even better to know that you are being prayed for.

Messages can either be sent to me by email [ aviljoen90@hotmail.com ] or using the free air letter service (BFPO "bluey's" are available at any Post Office).

If anyone asks about sending morale-boosting parcels, we would certainly appreciate biscuits (but not chocolate-coated ones: it was 34 degrees C here today, and it will get much hotter soon). Biscuits are always nice - but the main reason for asking for them is that receiving them reminds our people that they are not forgotten at home. By all means stick a label on the biscuit packet saying which congregation has sent it. Parcels weighing less than 2kg go free to Operation Telic from anywhere in the UK, as long as they are addressed to an individual serviceperson. I am happy to be a point of contact, and to distribute them; and my address here (until mid-May 2008) is:

The Reverend AJR McCulloch RN
Chaplain
Hospital Squadron
UK MED GP
COB
Op TELIC 11
B.F.P.O. 641

Thank you, in anticipation. I know your support is and will be much appreciated.

Alen McCulloch

If any of you wish to pray, send mail or send biscuits via Rev McCulloch I'm sure he and many of the troops will have their spirits lifted knowing folks at home have them in mind. Thank you.

- House Group -

The house group meets once a fortnight on a Monday morning from 10.15 for 10.30am. There are usually around twelve members present, and we have a lively discussion. At the moment it is the Gospel of St Matthew that we are reading. In the past we have discussed the women of the Old and New Testament, and many other interesting subjects. During our session we also hold a coffee morning with bring and buy; an annual lunch; and a special Christmas meeting.

The House Group started over twenty years ago. In that period there have naturally been many changes in membership, with new members being made most welcome and soon feeling at home in the group. We are always pleased to welcome new members. For more information please contact us at the church office.