Thank you for your continued prayers and support, especially as VBS season is upon us. Last week was VBS in Kemmerer, and we are thankful for a good week - and grateful to be recovering from it. There were many repeat attenders from previous years, with 18 on our highest day and about a dozen who participated every day. We were thrilled to have two girls return for Sunday school and church this past Sunday, and we are praying they will continue to come! Continue to pray for all who came, that they would remember what was taught from God's Word and be eager to learn more.
In Cokeville, we've had to adjust our plans for VBS in order to minister to one of the faithful attendees who will be having some medical procedures, and also not overlap with events in town such as Pioneer Day and rodeo. We are looking forward to once again having a one-day VBS on August 2nd. The kids in Cokeville will be going back to school shortly after VBS, so hopefully we can have good attendance, give them one more fun event before school, and most importantly, introduce them to Jesus.
Thank you to all those who prayed and followed our church plant's (Cokeville Community) Facebook page so that we can livestream our Sunday services once again. For us, live streaming has been one of the good things that came out of the recent pandemic upheaval, as it gives us a reach into hearts in our community who are not ready yet to accept Jesus and come out of Mormonism. We do not know why Facebook's rules changed all of a sudden, but within one day of sending our call for prayer and help, we reached the needed number with plenty to spare. We use the Facebook platform for the live streaming and then post the edited videos on YouTube because it allows us to post these events and videos on a local community group and reach people through the digital grapevine. Thank you for your help in getting us back to where we can use what man has made for God's glory!
Continue to pray with us for our house hunt. Several properties have been listed recently that are a little lower in price with some good features, though not quite right for us, so there is hope that God will soon bring the right one for us on the market. Hopefully, our real estate prices have topped out now with the new nuclear power plant having officially broken ground for construction earlier this week.
Beyond all the summer tourists and the seasonal workers that come through our area, we see the new plant as an open opportunity for the Gospel. Beyond just the economics - that our area and the towns we minister in will remain viable and not turn into ghost towns - this enterprise means that we will have the mission field on our doorstep twice over. First, with the religious but lost locals; but also, a whole field of workers coming through for the construction, training, and maintenance of the new facility. Pray with us that we will see some come and be part of our churches, and others who will be saved and go out and spread the Gospel at the next worksite.
Continue to pray for the salvation and growth of those in Cokeville, especially for R&R, J&C, B, BR, RG. Also, two additional requests for the work in Kemmerer beyond the building needs. First, for the salvation of two gentlemen with various issues, to whom we have been ministering in and out of the jail. Second, for the spiritual growth of the state inmates who are housed at our jail, as Pastor Hartman and James have begun an additional discipleship time with them on Monday nights.
As we were reminded recently from the book of James, the prayers of the saints have great effect! Pray for us, and we look forward to seeing what God is doing.