After a long six months of waiting, the 
Wilkes Team was finally able to make it down to North Carolina! The meeting, after so long, was, on a small scale, what our meeting in Heaven will surely be like when we meet 
all of 
our loved ones, and most importantly, our dear Savior! We are thankful for such encouraging, uplifting friends with whom we can fellowship.
One of the blessings of being around the Wilkes Team is their constant pointing of everything back to the Lord. In our fast-paced world, it is very easy to take our 
eyes off Christ and become distracted with temporal cares. They are a living example of the principle found in Proverbs 3:6 – the command to acknowledge God in everything we 
do. Even in games, at the table, or just simply laughing over a funny incident, when we are with the Wilkes Team there is almost always a comment, story, analogy, or special insight that turns everyone’s hearts and minds back to our all-mighty Creator. What a desirable testimony to have!
Much of our time during the weekend was spent praying 
about and planning for 
NC Family Encouragement Weekend conference, which will, Lord willing, be taking place near our home on March 26-27. What a blessing it was to 
give ideas, plan, organize, and just 
work together to accomplish the common goal of getting everything in order for this upcoming ministry opportunity.
One of the fun points of their visit happened rather unexpectedly on Saturday
afternoon. Someone came down after looking out our upstairs window and announced that something had been caught in Herman’s live-trap. Several went and looked again, 
discovering that it was a cat. Upon closer observation, it was realized that we had actually caught a young female bobcat!! 
We enjoyed looking at it, hearing it growl and snarl a gracious plenty for our liking. 🙂 A 
little later, a trapper/friend who sells animal pelts came and took care of it for us.
Sunday evening all of the young people worked together to act out a silent demonstration of Daniel and the Lion’s Den for the parents. 
Complete with everything 
from nobles, townspeople, a king, the king’s page, soldiers, and even lions, we had a blast and made quite a few side-splittingly-hilarious 
memories.
We love you, Wilkes Team, and pray God’s richest blessings on you for your faithful service to Him and others. Looking forward to many more such times together!
We have a question for you, Neely Team. What does the sign on your dinning room wall say? We can only make out part of it, but like it thus far.
Hello, Martin Family! It’s always great to hear from you! The sign says “Christ is the center of our home, a guest at every meal, and a silent listener to every conversation.” Its a good reminder that God is always watching, even when we think that we’re alone. May we always think, speak, and live how we would if we could visibly SEE Christ in our midst!!!
Thank you Neely Team for such a wonderful time!! We truly love spending time with you all.
Such wonderful memories were made. We look forward to many more fun filled time with each one of you.
Love, The Wilkes Team
As I look back over the weekend, whether we were working, playing, singing, planning, discipling, and even when plans changed – joy abounded! Rejoicing in the Lord always and again I say rejoice!
When we are willing to live our daily lives in this way, the world is drawn to Christ in us the hope of glory. Thank you Neely Team for providing a timely example of this to our family!
Joyfulness- The spontaneous enthusiasm of my spirit, when my soul is in fellowship with the Lord. There was never a time with you all where the Joy of the Lord was not on your faces. We always leave overjoyed and ready to fight against the life battles knowing you all are fighting also. Thank you once again for such a wonderful weekend.