Deputation Update

1/13/2008

Dear Family and Friends,

Our first “official” week on deputation has passed, and the LORD has been so good to us! Jeremy quit his job at UPS on December 28, got everything ready, and we left out for a mission conference on the 5th in Wilson, NC. While in our first conference we were blessed to see the LORD’s provision for our needs. The first night a family in the church took us out and provided our meal and another man gave us some money which took care of our lunch for the next day. Two more individuals gave us enough money to take care of our lunches for the week and the church took care of our supper. Also, after the first night of the conference, Jeremy realized that he only had one pair of dress socks. After one of the services a man in the church came up to us and gave us a bag of new dress socks that he had bought and couldn’t fit into. The LORD reminded us that He knows even our little needs!

We left Wilson, NC on Wednesday and drove to Greenville, SC and the LORD provided us an unexpected place to stay on Thursday and Friday night. While in Greenville at another conference we were blessed to meet the Allen’s who have served in Brazil for over 30 years. It was a blessing to sit down and learn from them during the short time we had. We left Greenville on Saturday morning and drove home to wash a few clothes and repack. When we arrived home and checked our mail, there was a $300 check waiting for us from the Women’s Clinic that delivered our baby back in November. I guess they decided to reimburse us for some reason. That was an unexpected blessing which took care of some bills!

Today, we enjoyed our time at the Community Baptist Church in Bladenboro, NC. We were allowed to present our burden for Brazil and then preach. Jeremy also was able to go Sunday afternoon to the church’s nursing home service. We were given a very generous love offering which provided all our travel needs and food! The LORD has reminded us over and over again that He will provide our every need! We’re convinced there is no other way than full-time deputation! We were also able to schedule five more meetings this week which puts us around 50 more for the year with many more still promised! Lighthouse Baptist Church in Columbus, GA also called this week to let us know they voted to start supporting us in February! So that puts us up to about 10% after our first week!

Please continue to pray for us as we travel to Hickory, NC on Wednesday, and then up to Maryland and Pennsylvania for the remainder of January! We are enjoying ourselves very much and are excited to see the LORD’s working on our behalf! Feel free to call or email – we would love to hear from you!

Love and Prayers,

Jeremy and Esther Lockhart

704-692-8243