It has been about 10 years since the gospel trip has taken place in St. Louis. The saints are excited to have us visit and have been taken every opportunity to spend time with us. Here is a brief summary of each day’s activities:

Friday-Lord’s Day:
Midwest College Winter Retreat: Four college students went to the conference. Having the college conference as the first part of the gospel trip enabled the trainees to know the students. This was a strong start to the gospel trip, and it was quite powerful that the trip started with other Midwest localities being written upon our heart.

Monday:
The arrangement was such that every morning, we would have coordination at a sister’s home. Her heart is for the Body and everything she does is with the Body in view. She consistently and joyously opens her home for many meetings of the church. Our coordination was saturated with prayers. Afterwards, we went to the zoo, where we spent time with local saints and YP, and we ended our day with dinner in various homes.

Tuesday:
The sisters joined the sisters’ prayer meeting in a local restaurant. The sisters are burdened for shepherding and fruit bearing and have been reading the book, The Normal Way of Fruit-bearing and Shepherding for the Building Up of the Church. In the afternoon, we attended neighborhood children’s meeting at a sister’s house. Many saints in different ages participated in serving the children. While the children were having storytelling time, the parents were reading Raising Up the Next Generation for the Church Life. Two new ones and the classmate of one of the children joined the dinner. Then we split up and joined the prayer meeting with the local saints.

Wednesday:
We attended the community group meeting, a gathering of local saints to read the ministry books with the new ones. A new contact joined the singing time and really enjoyed the flow of life among the saints, especially the young saints because she also wants the same kind of experience and enjoyment for her daughter who no longer pursues the Lord. She has a seeking heart for the Lord and has been shopping for a new church, looking for reality. Then we split up for dinner with the local saints and the new hospitality arrangement.

Prayer Burdens:

• The Lord would continue to bring this group of brothers from Streamwood fully into the church life and under a clear, controlling vision of His economy
• Migration of solid couples and serving ones to strengthen the church in St. Louis
• 5 remaining fruit for the church in St. Louis
• Strengthening of the neighborhood children’s meeting to be a channel to reach out to more children and parents in the neighborhood

Today we had a successful day BfA tabling at Seminole State College & Valencia-East College. There were many open students who wanted a Bible & we got the contact information of 66 people total! We passed out 22 & 36 Bibles on each respective campus. We plan on following up with the contacts the day of, or at the latest the day after, in order to solidify a contact with them while the connection is still fresh in their minds.

One of our major prayer burdens is that we will have a positive response from as many contacts as the Lord desires. Also, that they can really be connected with the saints (because there isn’t a club at the schools) at the weekly Bible studies/appointments without any students falling through the cracks due to lack of communication.

A highlight of the day was the home meeting at the home of a family who has been meeting with the saints for 1 year, but are so open & love the Lord with an incredible amount. It was very sweet hearing their testimony & being burdened for their Christian pursuit. Another great highlight was appreciating the portions of one another while tabling, particularly the appropriate boldness of one another where we may personally lack in bringing someone to the table, or asking them to pray to receive the Lord, etc.

Attached are two photos of each subteam on the campus. Much grace & prayer for the Lord to continue going before us!

Our time in St. Catharines concluded with another visit to the saints in Aylmer. This time, the trainees and a couple local saints were able to spend the night with the families in the area. Corporately, we had a sweet time of singing and fellowship over a week in the Holy Word for Morning Revival titled, “The Original Condition of the Church, the Degradation of the Church, and the Recovery of the Church.” The feeling amongst the trainees was that this fellowship was very timely for the saints that had recently departed from the Mennonite religion. Following that time, we were able to have further fellowship in their homes that continued late into the night. It was truly a blessing to enjoy the unique portion of Christ that these members offered.

Unfortunately, due to adverse weather conditions, it was difficult for some of the trainees and saints to make it to the joint table meeting in Hamilton on Lord’s Day. However, the time was still very sweet with testimonies of what the Lord had done the past week. Undoubtedly, the saints in Hamilton, St. Catharines, and Aylmer have been inscribed in the hearts of the trainees.

May the Lord continue to bless His marvelous work in Southern Ontario and may the saints continue to press on in a strong way!

Final Statistics:

• Tracts distributed: 980
• Bibles/Rhema Literature distributed: 169
• Salvations: 5

Prayer Burdens:

• Please pray for the proper follow-up and shepherding of the students that were contacted at Mohawk College, McMaster University, Brock University, Niagara College-NOTL, and Niagara College-Welland.
• Please pray that the saints in Aylmer and the surrounding regions would continue to be blended with the saints in the nearby localities.
• Please pray for the proper and normal growth of all the saints in Hamilton and St. Catharines.

The last days of our gospel trip here in Lethbridge were very busy and full of enjoyment! On Thursday, February 8, we had another neighborhood children’s meeting. Because of a snow storm that came in, we had less children show up, but there were still three neighborhood children and four of our own children. We had a really fun time with them and sang songs and told a story about God’s creation. After the dinner, a couple of us went with some saints to visit a family they have been in contact with for a while. We had a very encouraging time of singing and the mother of this family told us that she enjoys these visits more than she enjoys their own assemblies with their church! We were so encouraged!

On Friday evening, February 9, brother Greg Spencer spoke to the saints concerning inoculation. We also watched a video about M. E. Barber that was so encouraging. We have a rich history in the Lord’s Recovery and we need to realize that we are standing on the shoulders of so many loving seekers that went before us!

On Saturday, February 10, we spent the whole afternoon with the young people. We went to the university gym and did some rock climbing and played basketball. The young people had a really good time. Then, after dinner, we had some fellowship to encourage the young people regarding service and getting a good education. Later, when we prayed in twos and threes, two young sisters prayed that the Lord would help them with their grades in school so that they can go to the Full-Time Training!

This morning, Lord’s Day, February 11, we had our last table meeting and prophesying meeting here with the saints in Lethbridge. Many saints came from Calgary (3 hours away) to enjoy the meeting and a love feast together with us. The prophesying this morning was a glorious culmination of the Christ we have all been enjoying over the past two weeks. In the afternoon, we had an encouraging word concerning our need for a vision of the recovery, the universal church, and the local church.

After our time in the afternoon, some local saints from Lethbridge went to visit a brother in Coaldale, whose wife was not yet saved; there was a young boy staying at their house. The saints preached the gospel to them and both the brother’s wife and the young boy got saved. The saints also gave the boy a Bible. Praise the Lord!

Overall, we have had a wonderful time here and we are sad that it has come to an end so quickly! But we are so happy to have had this opportunity to be built and blended together with the saints in Lethbridge and to labor in the word and on the gospel together with them.

Praise the Lord for a glorious two weeks!

Prayer burdens:

• Please pray for the saints to continue to be strengthened and encouraged in their pursuit of the Lord, both personally and corporately.
• Continue to pray for the children’s work in Lethbridge, that the Lord will have the way to gain many more families through neighborhood children’s meetings and that our own children will be preserved to become useful vessels in the Lord’s Recovery.
• Please pray for the young people and college age in Lethbridge. Pray that the college students would rise up for the gospel work on the campus, and that there would be the opening for a club on campus.
• Finally, please pray for an increase in blending and building among all the local churches in Alberta (Edmonton, Calgary, and Lethbridge).

Today was our last day at West Richland. We had the Lord’s Table, and then had the third meeting of the blending conference. The speaking brother shared on the peace offering, and I believe all the saints where helped by the speaking. Afterwards, many of the saints testified and confirmed the word. Later, in the evening, we visited two saint’s homes for dinner and fellowship. Praise the Lord for the saints in West Richland.

Prayer Burdens:

• Pray for all the Bibles we distributed in Washington, and the Lord’s Word would be sown into good earth.
• Pray that the saints in eastern Washington would all experience Christ as the reality of all the offerings.
• While we were here, the saints were burdened that we would blend with several of the saints in their homes. We visited over a dozen homes in one week, at times visiting two houses a day. Pray that the Lord would encourage all the saints we visited, and bring them all into the reality of the church life.