November 17th, 2025

Yo Yo given to Miss Valleria and passed down to me from another missionary. 
Children at the 2025 Sports Camp learned to use it!

By Linda Hokit

Spoils of His Word-October 16, 2025
Linda Hokit

Now then, just as the Lord promised, he has kept me alive for forty-five years…while Isreal moved about in the wilderness.  So here I am today, eighty-five years old. I am as strong today as the day Moses sent me out; I am just as vigorous to go out to battle now as I was then. Now give me this hill country that that the Lord promised me that day. 
 Joshua 14:10-12 (NIV)

I love the passage in the Bible where Caleb in his elder years says to the Lord, give me the hill country! In another translation says, “…give me this mountain” and in another, “…give me the high country.” Caleb is not seeking a rocking chair. He wants to be used to rebuild a nation. He wants to use his skills and stretch. 
How many of us ask for the difficult tasks as we are going into our retirement. Don’t we usually lean into ways to relax? Not Caleb, he wasn’t thinking relaxation. He was thinking service. Let me share with you about people I have known who accelerated their service when they could have just rode a wave into the sunset. 
During Sports Camp I was able to tell the children about a missionary in Alaska who served in a village in western Alaska called Kiana. Miss Valleria served many years there and then in Fairbanks in a church ministering to Alaska Natives. I got to work with her in her retirement years after she moved to Anchorage where she did the same. In Anchorage, there was a hospital for Alaska Natives where she served many years as a chaplain. She did not leave her post in Anchorage until she felt she had finished her race and was able to go south to spend her last years with family.  Many people came to know the Lord through her ministry and became strong Godly, leaders in their community. Please pray for Kiana. It was one of 40 villages impacted in some way by a typhon that hit Alaska recently. Pray also for the churches in impacted villages who will play an important role in rebuilding homes lost.
Another missionary who remained busy in her retirement years was Louise. She taught me what I know about teaching Conversational English to foreign-born peoples who settled in Alaska.  She learned from the person who started the work which became foundational for Conversational programs now established nationwide. Both Louise and Lillian taught students and other instructors well into their elder years. 
The story I want to share is about Lillian is how she taught Grandma Tucker to read when she was more than 100 years old.  Grandma loved the Lord so much she used to open the door of her little cabin at sunrise because she was expecting Jesus to return and she did not want to miss His arrival. When her husband died, she could not read scriptures each morning as they had done. So, she asked Miss Lillian to teach her to read. The first word Lillian taught her was “Jesus”. Since Grandma Tucker was nearly blind, Lillian traced the letters in her palm and used a large magic marker to write “Jesus” in large letters so she could see it. 
A few days later Lillian went for a follow up visit. She saw the word “Jesus” written all over the house in indelible marker! Grandma had literally encircled herself with God’s presence! That same day, she showed Lillian how she now read her Bible. She opened it and ran her finger along the page until she saw “Jesus”. Then she happily said, “Jesus”. She repeated this over and over because Jesus was enough for her!
Valleria, Lillian, Louise and Grandma asked God for the high country, the hill country, the mountains. They climbed until they saw their Savior. Their example fuels me in my own retirement. I challenge you to ask for the high country no matter how old you are!

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