What began with uncertainty after a reconnaissance mission a day before has now turned into an outstanding witnessing opportunity. Despite a relentless northwest wind, which makes part of the cycling journey dangerous – and every stop painful, by the end of the ride, there are more than 30 names in the prayer list. The population of Shetland\u2019s Mainland Island is under 18,800, which means that approximately 1 in 600 people has been personally contacted in just a few hours.<\/p>\n
They come from all walks of life. A seasoned trucker. A man fixing his stone wall as he tries to protect himself from the wind behind the rocks. A couple stopping by a lonely, simple-looking petrol pump by a country convenience store. A young woman walking around a bend in the road. An old man working on his tractor. All of them engage in courteous dialogue and seem to be intrigued by the initiative, which includes an invitation to attend weekend meetings at a hall in Lerwick, the islands archipelago\u2019s capital.<\/p>\n When a person shows interest and seems open, a member of the team offers to pray for them. Most people accept.<\/p>\n Even though the Reformation reached Scotland in 1560 and around 30 percent of the population still identifies with the Church of Scotland, most people hardly ever read the Bible or pray. Generally, the I Will Go Ride team member offers to pray with an invitation to delve more into Bible study. Together with The Great Controversy, the team is distributing Arthur S. Maxwell\u2019s Your Bible and You, to those who express a wish to know more about God\u2019s Word.<\/p>\n Challenging, but Encouraging<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cDoing mission in Scotland is challenging, as there are less than 800 Adventist members in a population of more than 5 million,\u201d explains Wilfred Masih, recently appointed pastor of the Inverness and Highlands Church. \u201cScotland is actually a big mission field,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n But Masih, who is privileged to pastor the northernmost Adventist congregation in the United Kingdom, believes that despite the challenges, there are opportunities. \u201cPeople are kind and seem open to discuss spiritual matters,\u201d he says. Several cycling team members point out how many people are willing to be prayed for, even though the pastors can tell they are not acquainted with prayer or haven\u2019t prayed in a long time.<\/p>\n For Masih and others, the regular challenges Scotland presents to Adventist mission work are compounded once you get to the Shetland Islands. \u201cFor one, there are not many [residences] to stay [in],\u201d he explains. \u201cThe unforgiving weather, the isolation \u2026 all that makes any outreach initiative difficult. And of course, another challenge is the fact that, as far as we know, there are no Seventh-day Adventists\u201d in the islands.<\/p>\n But again, Masih emphasizes, \u201cpeople are very friendly, very approachable, and quite open to have spiritual conversations.\u201d<\/p>\n Trudging On<\/strong><\/p>\n After a light lunch by a side road, the team of cyclists trudges up an apparently endless climb with difficulty. The wind hasn\u2019t stopped, and an occasional icy drizzle makes the journey even more laborious as the cycling gear gets soaked. \u201cThere\u2019s no such thing as fully waterproof cycling jerseys,\u201d Kent says. \u201cWhen it rains, you eventually get wet.\u201d<\/p>\n The cold makes things worse. The less the cyclists stop, the better, as for some, taking a break means they will start shaking uncontrollably. Still, they press on, looking for more people with whom to share the good news about God\u2019s plan for this world.<\/p>\n \u201cI love a good challenge, and I love being a witness,\u201d retired pastor Paul Tomkins says. Tomkins keeps riding by people years younger than him until they get to Scalloway, Shetland\u2019s old capital. Only then he decides to call it a day.<\/p>\n The Power of the Wind<\/strong><\/p>\n Meanwhile, the list of people to pray for gets longer and longer: There\u2019s an Angus and a George. There\u2019s a Matty, a Barry, and a Beryl. There\u2019s also a Stephen and a Dave.<\/p>\n \u201cJust think that one of them could become part of the first core group of church members in the Shetland Islands,\u201d one of the pastors says, seeing with the eyes of faith. \u201cGod might be already working in their hearts,\u201d he adds. \u201cIsn\u2019t that amazing?\u201d<\/p>\n Like the unrelenting wind, Adventist missionaries hope that the message they are spreading in the Shetland Islands will soon engulf the archipelago and render fruits for the Kingdom that will know no end.<\/p>\n The original version of this story was published on the Adventist Review \u00a0website<\/a>. [Photos:\u00a0Marcos Paseggi, Adventist Review]\u00a0You can read more from Marcos Paseggi about the I Will Go Ride<\/a>\u00a0team.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Restoring Hope Scotland initiative took the I Will Go Ride team to UK\u2019s most northerly islands<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":14729,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1588,7,1577],"tags":[1450,1448,1447,671,287,1446,773,1449],"class_list":["post-14728","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ireland-united-kingdom","category-news","category-organisational-updates","tag-anthony-kent","tag-christ-for-europe","tag-cyclist","tag-i-will-go","tag-news","tag-ryde","tag-scotland","tag-shetland-islands"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ted.adventist.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14728","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ted.adventist.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ted.adventist.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ted.adventist.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ted.adventist.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14728"}],"version-history":[{"count":17,"href":"https:\/\/ted.adventist.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14728\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14827,"href":"https:\/\/ted.adventist.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14728\/revisions\/14827"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ted.adventist.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14729"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ted.adventist.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14728"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ted.adventist.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14728"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ted.adventist.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14728"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Anthony](\"https:\/\/ted.adventist.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/image-6.jpg\")
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