Dear Soldiers of the Cross,
Once again God has given us a wonderful opportunity to serve along side our family on the mission field. My son Keith and daughter-in-law Lori and our three grandsons Logan, Levi and Ledger labored together in a VBS on the Fort Hall Reservation in Idaho. Praise God for HIS many blessings.
After leaving the Navajo Reservation in Arizona, we traveled to the Fort Hall Reservation in Blackfoot, Idaho and met with the Hoopers Creek Baptist Church group. This makes four years that my home church has assisted us with Vacation Bible School (VBS) on this reservation. As always, they were filled with excitement looking forward to a mighty move of God. We were blessed to have our Pastor, Bro Phillip Youngblood and his family join us, as well. To our surprise we were blessed to have Bro Josh and sister Kathy Lanning, from Fletcher Baptist Church in NC, join us for the VBS and work on the fellowship building. In between the VBS we were able to finish up the last of the work on the fellowship building. Thank God for the extra help.
Missionary / Pastor Bro Joe Copley and his family were very busy around the church, preparing for the VBS. They made many visits throughout the reservation along with mailing out invitations. The group knocked on many doors, inviting folks and sharing the Gospel.
The VBS started out with record numbers of kids showing up. We were all amazed at what God was doing. Our last day had an overwhelming 90 kids present and a total of 137 people in the service. Bro Joe and sister Lela were thrilled with having that many attend their services. God truly did honor their efforts. Three people asked for salvation during the week; thank God for his saving power.
After VBS on the Fort Hall reservation, Ms. Sheril and I traveled over to the Spokane Reservation in Washington State. Faith Baptist Church of Spokane, WA, Missionary Larry McKenney, his wife Regena and the Higginbotham Family, assisted us with VBS on the Reservation. We got there a few days early, in order to visit the reservation and invite kids to come. I had been working on putting this VBS together for more than a year-and-a-half. There is no church or Gospel witness on this reservation. Because of the heavy smoke from all of the wild fires in the area, the tribal offices had to shut down on the afternoon of our first day of VBS. With no kids showing up the first day, the group seemed cast down, but we encouraged them to stay steady in the fight. The next three days we averaged 11 kids per day. What a blessing! The last day of VBS we had 4 kids ask Christ for salvation. Praise the LORD! for this great opportunity. The young preachers from Faith Baptist Church are going to continue working with these dear folks by having some Bible studies. Please pray for the Spokane, WA Reservation that God will send them a missionary.
As we Labor for Christ
Gerry & Sheril Locklear