As partners with Harvest Glasgow, we have eagerly participated in the launch of their first church plant in Ayr, Scotland.
Now as Pastor Lee Ballantine and the leadership at Ayr move the church into their new home in a local high school, our elders are pleased to be sending Luke and Camryn Dugard to them to assist with their worship ministry for the next year. The departure date has been set for October 11.
Luke and Camryn are asking for your prayers and also your help as they need to raise $2,650 per month for this ministry. To support Luke and Camryn and their work with Harvest Ayr either with monthly donations or a one time gift toward their travel expenses ($2,500):
- Sign up for occasional updates
- Give a one time donation from Canada (use the dropdown menu to select “Harvest Ayr”)
- Make a monthly donation from Canada
- Donate from the United States (use the dropdown menu to select “Luke Dugard”)
Updates
Hi friends and family!
We hope you had a joyful holiday season and were filled with hope at the start of a new year.
This past month kept us busy, as the Christmas season tends to, but in the best way. A lot of good things happened personally and in the church!
Harvest Ayr had two Christmas services on the 18th and the 23rd. The church members were encouraged to shine Christ’s light and invite friends and family to both services!
First was the Carol Service which was held at Harvest Ayr. We sang carols, heard the miraculous Christmas story, and engaged in fellowship over coffee and homemade treats.
Next up was the Christmas Party which was held at a local church, Castlehill Parish. We came together as a church family and had dinner, played Christmas themed games, sang more carols, and heard a brief message from Lee on the hope Christmas brings to all.
As well as preparing for our Christmas services this past month, Harvest Ayr also partnered with a local community center, Kincaidston, in hopes of serving the people of Ayr and spreading the hope of Jesus this Christmas.
The church provided dinner and sang carols at KCC one night, held a toy drive for struggling families in the community, offered volunteers to serve at a Christmas event at the center, and delivered meals on Christmas Eve.
This partnership presented an amazing opportunity to cultivate deeper connections in the community. As a church we prayed for God to work through us and stir in the hearts of the people of Ayr this Christmas. Some people we engaged at the events ended up attending our Carol Service on the 18th. Some have even continued to attend our services since! God was at work.
Our Harvest Ladies also gathered together to make Christmas wreaths and hear personal testimony of the redemptive work of Jesus. A lot of women in the church brought people they knew to this event, which further opened doors for Christ’s light to shine.
We met with our small group one night to have Christmas dinner, sing carols, and play games as well. This was such a sweet time of fun and fellowship with people we feel grateful to have gotten to know since our arrival.
We have settled into our new place and feel continuously grateful for God’s provision—this space is everything we prayed for!
Wren loves exploring and running around in the big backyard, we’re thankful for the convenience of being in a quiet neighbourhood that is also walking distance to shops and the grocery store, and we have an extra bedroom to house family and friends who plan on visiting us. God is so gracious!
Speaking of visitors, we had three stay with us over the course of this past month—Luke’s friend Alex, my sister Rylee, and my mom Tracy made trips out here. Even though we have only been in Ayr for three months we’ve quickly learned our way around the town and learned all the must see spots. Getting to show them all our life here, the work God is doing at Harvest Ayr, and enjoying their company was so special. Recruiting Ry and Alex for the worship team was an added bonus to their trips to see us!
Luke and I have had the chance to explore more of Scotland too! We drove up to Inverness and explored the town, saw Loch Ness and the Urquhart Castle ruins, walked through Inverness Cathedral and the local museum. We didn’t spot “Nessie” but still had fun, haha.
When my sister and mom were here we took a little trip to Edinburgh. While there we walked the Royal Mile, visited old bookshops, took a tour of Edinburgh castle and the Writers Museum, did the House of Illusions, and went to the Christmas Market. All of us were blown away by the beauty of the city and by how much there was to see and do!
This past month showed much evidence of God’s grace and goodness. Seeing Him work and stir in hearts this holiday season was so encouraging. Luke and I feel blessed to be working alongside the people of Harvest Ayr in the mission we as believers are called to.
Prayer requests:
-Sickness is running rampant here in Scotland right now, and has been infecting lots of church members. Please pray for recovery and health!
-God would bless Harvest Ayr and grow them as a church and each member individually over this new year.
-Encouragement and perseverance for Pastor Lee as he preaches the Word each Sunday.
-Luke and I would continue to be a blessing in our serving roles.
-Harvest Ayr would maintain the connections made through the KCC events over Christmas, and that the work being done in their hearts would continue!
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To Him be the glory!
-The Dugard Fam
“Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.”
Isaiah 43:19
Hi friends and family!
We hope our first update gave you a closer look into our life in Scotland and ministry partnership with Harvest Ayr thus far—it’s a joy to share this experience with you!
As mentioned in our first update, when we arrived in Ayr on October 11th we had been provided a temporary place to live. One of the women at the church so graciously offered her home to us for three weeks! In the meantime we searched for a place of our own. This proved more difficult than anticipated, as by the end of the three weeks we hadn’t been able to secure a place haha. While actively continuing our apartment search, we hopped around from two air b&b’s, the second being a ministry opportunity. The couple who rents out the house are believers and were encouraged by our ministry partnership with Harvest Ayr. Both said they felt called by God to aid us in any way they could, and offered the house to us for an entire month at a discounted rate. This blessing gave us more time to breathe while we kept searching for our own place. Then on November 14th, two weeks from when we would need to find another temporary home, we got an email saying we had been the chosen applicant for an apartment! Such an answer to prayer. We move in tomorrow and are beyond excited!!!
We in total probably toured over a dozen apartments and got our hopes up more than once, but continued to pray for God’s provision of a home—and He did in His perfect timing. God is in the details—working and faithful even in the waiting!
We also excitedly had our first family member come to visit! My mom, a.k.a Wren’s Grammie, got to spend six days with us in Scotland. We had so much fun showing her around the beautiful town of Ayr, introducing her to our new church family, and simply enjoying each other’s company. Having a little piece of home here with us was so special!
Upon our arrival last month, we have both been able to further define our serving roles at Harvest Ayr and settle into them. Luke is serving as the head of the worship department, but has also committed to other serving roles that fall under the worship umbrella—running the production ministry, leading and directing worship at Harvest Men events, set planning and scheduling each week, creating a worship service guidebook for future volunteer worship leaders, and training up worship volunteers. Before arriving in Scotland I hadn’t fully rounded out my service roles at the church, but pledged to serve where there was need! I have since committed to serving in Kids Ministry, co-managing Social Media, service slides prep, and helping out with the monthly Harvest Ladies events.
The past month has been so fruitful! Serving alongside the other church members has been a blessing. Getting to see the passion to serve Jesus and His kingdom, the belief in the power of prayer, and the genuine love for all in the hearts of everyone here is so amazing. All of us have had the opportunity to forge new friendships with the people at Harvest Ayr, and we’re so grateful. You start to feel more at home when you have those connections! Being blessed with a home to call our own for the reminder of our time here was the last missing puzzle piece for us to begin fully settling into life here in Ayr. Thank you Jesus! And we truly feel, by God’s grace and peace, we are settling in nicely.
Prayer requests:
-More people would walk through the doors of this church and be transformed by the gospel.
-We would be a blessing to the church and in our committed service roles.
-Encouragement and perseverance for Pastor Lee over this next ministry year, and as he delivers the Word each Sunday.
-The Harvest Ayr Christmas service and community outreach events would bless the people of Ayr and draw more of them to Jesus.
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Wishing you a happy upcoming Holiday season!
To Him be the glory!
-The Dugard Fam
“But you, O Lord, are a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness.”
Psalm 86:15
Hi friends and family!
Thank you for signing up to receive monthly updates from us. We’re excited to share the details of our ministry partnership with Harvest Ayr and life in Scotland over the next year with you!
We arrived in Scotland on October 11th at what felt like 2am but was really 7am local time. It was a long first day, but it only took us about a week to fully adjust to Scotland time! An unexpected blessing was Wren quickly adjusting to the time change, which definitely made it easier on us haha.
Finding a place to live for the next year is proving more difficult than we anticipated, as we are currently still looking for a place to live. But thankfully, while we’re on the hunt, a young woman from the church so graciously offered her home to us. The neighbourhood we are being housed in is a close drive to downtown Ayr and only a 10 minute walk to the water!
Our fam has been settling into life in Scotland by getting out for lots of walks, connecting with people at the church, getting plugged into a small group and church events, and exploring the beautiful town of Ayr. Wren in particular has loved collecting shells at the beach, checking out the big parks nearby, making new friends from church, going to Pirate Pete’s (indoor soft-play for kids), and jumping in lots of muddy puddles!!! The weirdest adjustment for us at first, was learning to drive on the other side of the road haha. Making the switch was awkward and a little scary, but Luke has since mastered UK driving!
We spent our first Sunday at Harvest Ayr on October 16th. Everyone was so welcoming and excited to finally meet us, and that further assured and humbled us in being called to serve here! Harvest Ayr currently has thirty members and a great group of young kids Wren has become fast friends with! They gather together at a local high school every Sunday to worship and be taught God’s word. Since our arrival, three new people began attending Harvest Ayr and have already plugged into church events—evening bible studies, small group, and mens soccer night. God is doing great things in and amongst the church here and we’re eager to see how He grows the faith of the members, and Harvest Ayr as a church.
In our monthly updates, we’ll be sharing about settling into life in Scotland and the progress of our ministry partnership with Harvest Ayr. We also wanted to include specific prayer requests in the monthly updates that you can be praying for!
Prayer requests this month:
-Our fam would continue to settle into life in Scotland and our roles serving at Harvest Ayr.
-God would provide a place for us to live over the next year.
-More people from the community would walk through the doors of the church and be changed by The Gospel.
-The members of Harvest Ayr would be blessed for their service in ministry over this first year.
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We are continually humbled and encouraged by your support for this mission, and are excited to update you each month on how God is working here at Harvest Ayr! To Him be the glory.
Thank you!
-The Dugard Fam
“Sing to the Lord, all the earth; proclaim his salvation day after day.”
1 Chronicles 16:23
