Birthday fun and Hong Kong July 21, 2010

So here we are almost at the end of July already. South Africa did an amazing job hosting the soccer world cup and I am so proud of my country! Hope you all enjoyed it like we did in Taiwan. We watched the final at Daniel and Nancy’s house and when it finished the sun rose already.

Taiwan was such a blessing! I had the most amazing time and Daddy surely did so much. There are so many testimonies of His goodness and His grace. It was an honor to have been to this great country again and to help with the church there. I am currently in Hong Kong and just finished a gateway camp where there were about 1700 people (students, kids, adults and leaders) from all over Hong Kong, mainland China, Puerto Rico, Ivory coast and other parts of China. It was an amazing experience and God totally rocked everyone’s boat.

I want to share some of my last Taiwan days with you guys. It was soooo great to have 6 of our original family at Bethel here in Taiwan. God is really doing something with family and we are all learning more about it. His heart is for community and family. It is so precious when we as the body of Christ stand together and love each other as a family and do stuff together. The heart of the Father is to see all His children unite. All the races, people groups, nations and countries.

So on the day after the team arrived, I planned an encounter evening. It was an evening where we all just beholded God’s beauty and wanted more of His presence. He showed up of course and so much creativity, joy and freedom were released. The drama team kicked off the evening with a piece about choices and Daddy’s love for us. We then entered into worship and Holy Spirit moved strongly in the room. It was amazing! We ended with a great fire tunnel which most of the friends haven’t experienced before. It was great to see God touch so many in such a special way. During my time in Taiwan, I painted some paintings to help me raise funds for my trip. I had all the pieces there and we had an auction. Thank you so much for everyone who supported me by buying a painting. Thank you for sowing into my life and helping me to be able to serve where I go. I also made calendars from my previous art work and sold some of them on the evening. May everyone be so blessed by them. I believe that they release His presence wherever they are! He did such a powerful thing in my life with prophetic art and it is great to see how he keeps leading everyday.

For my birthday the Bethel family, Jeff, Heather and Emilia joined me on a trip to my favorite place on the island. We went to Hualien! We left Taipei the afternoon after the Sunday church service. When we arrived at Hualien we hired some scooters (which is the most popular method of transport in Taiwan) and did some night market action. We went to eat the most delicious pork buns and dumplings on the island and did some walking around and shopping afterwards. The next day we took the scooters and went on a day trip to Taroko Gorge! Probably one of the most beautiful places on the earth! It was just great and I was just so blessed to have family with me on my birthday. Daddy is sooooo good. Sarah aka Saartjie overcame her fear of bikes and heights as we had to cross over some hang bridges. We all tried out some stinky tofu which is the national dish of Taiwan. I encourage you all to try it once in your life if you get the chance. It smells like a mix between horse poop and vomit seeing that they ferment the tofu for like two weeks and then deep fry it. Quite unusual. On the way back to the town, we stopped at the beach to swim and watch the sunset. It was just a glorious day. Thank you guys so much!

During my last week on the island, Kris Vallotton came to speak at an Asia for Jesus youth camp in Taichung. We were all on his team and Joanne, Evangeline, Evelyn and shelly joined us. We were also on the prayer team for the camp so we did a lot of intercession everyday. It was great to see the young students so on fire for Jesus. There were probably about 2000 students and they did a great job with the camp. Kris spoke on identity, the Father’s heart and on sexual purity. It was truly amazing messages as always. They struggled a bit with his humor at first but quickly became comfortable and had a great time. We as a team from Bethel had the opportunity to bless and prophesy over the rest of the prayer team. It was truly an awesome time of love being poured out. Daddy brought so much freedom and touched each and everyone. We took Shelly to the night market on the last evening to try out the many incredible Taiwannese food and also of course sinky tofu! She had some fun comments eating the tofu!

While I was in Taiwan I also got the opportunity to substitute for two weeks at my old school. It was great seeing and working with my old students. I loved every moment of it. I gave my phone number to the K3 students and they called me all the time. We have no idea how much we impact the lives of little children. They are such powerful people in the Kingdom of God.

So I’m in Hong Kong now! I’m staying with my spiritual mom and dad, Andy and Fiona for a while. I was planning on going to China from the 29th to the 8th to go and help with a youth and childrens conference, but it seems like I can’t get a visa. Because it is my first time I’m applying for a China visa, I have to do it in South Africa. So now I will be in Hong Kong until the 10th of August where I will be meeting up with one of my best friends (Toera Meeres) and attend Emily and Jens’s wedding in Thailand. The past 5 days I was on the prayer team for the gateway conference here in Hong Kong. Again it was such an amazing experience. This was a time of reconciliation between the people groups and for stepping into the Father’s heart. We had an amazing team from the states come and set up a 24/7 prayer and intercession room. The kids got rocked in the room as they just enjoyed the presence of God. Much of the kids learned how to hear His voice and how much they mean to Dad. There was such a tangible presence of God and the kids didn’t want to leave the room at night. It was a great way to lead them into the presence of God and teach them about the intimacy of the relationship with Him. He is so in love with each and every one of us and just wants us to get to know Him and hear what is on His heart. What a great experience.

I have some great and also not so great news. Been praying and feel like I have to go back home to South Africa. So that means I will not be doing second year starting in september! I am really sad not to be able to go back to Redding and see al my incredible friends and fellow revivalists. But God is good and He knows what He is doing. I will be going back to SA to be with my family and see what God wants to do through me there. I’ve been away from home for 5 and a half years and feel like this is the time to go home for the next season. I am super excited for that and know that all you friends in Redding will be happy for me too. But this came very sudden and know that it will be a shock to many. I’m going to miss all you guys in Redding soooooo much but just know that my heart will always be there. Who knows, God might send me next year to come back. Anyting can happen.

Prayer requests:

# I still have to buy a ticket from Hong Kong to South Africa and need a good deal. Pray that God opens up the door for good prices and that I won’t have problem with my baggage.

# For the plans God has for me in South Africa

# For the rest of my time here in Hong Kong and Thailand. That God will move powerfully wherever I go.

# For my family back in South Africa. I believe that God is calling us deeper into His heart as a family and He is going to do something really significant with us.

Love you guys so much!

“You DEAD to sin and ALIVE to Christ” – Rom 6:11

First month in Taiwan June 14, 2010

It’s been almost 4 weeks since graduation! Wow time goes fast! I’m sure everyone is enjoying watching the great soccer (or football for the English) matches. So proud of my country. May the best team win!

The time here in Taiwan so far has been a blast. It is sooooo amazing to be with my church family and friends here and to impart, serve and love wherever I can.  Daddy God is just sooooo good. Taiwan is getting ready for the greatest awakening in their history. There is something really significant on the way here. You can feel in the spirit and the atmosphere. People are coming to church by themselves asking to be saved! God is really preparing an army here that is ready to run with this revival. It is amazing to be apart of this. Papa has been really putting the verse “blessed are those who HUNGER and THIRST for righteousness for they shall be FILLED” on my heart. He gave it to me the first day I came to Taiwan. I just realize every day that this is what it is about. We need to stay hungry and thirsty for righteousness and then we SHALL be filled. I’m also busy reading John G. Lake’s book on his life, sermons and holdness of faith. And the same verse seems to come up in most of his sermons! Isn’t that amazing. The other day I was praying with Samuel and his parents for our upcoming trip to China soon, and I declared this verse over his family. Samuel then told me that this is exactly what the meaning of his name is! Incredible! Wow praise God.

I want to share a part of one of John G Lake’s sermons. It is such an amazing piece and impacted me soooo much.

“You will pardon me, but I have this consciousness when I am preaching, there comes up a wave from the congregation of a kind of stultified unbelief.  Do you know where it comes from? It comes from all the years you have sat under false teachers. You have been taught that to be humble you have got to say you are a sinner, you are no good, you don’t amount to anything. You sing:”weak and sickly, vile and full of sin I am.” I do not like to preach one thing, and Charles Wesley another. If you are born again, you are a son of God.  And for you to tear yourself out of your sonship, your relationship and the righteousness of God, and put yourself over in the reality of death, and tell God you are dirty and unclean, that His blood has not cleansed you, and His life has not been delivered to you, it is a monstrous thing. It is all right to sing that as an unregenerate, but it is not the experience of the sons and daughters of God. 

Here is our position through Jesus Christ. God has become our RIGHTEOUSNESS. We have become His very sons and daughters, and you sing weakness, and you talk weakness and you pray weakness, and you sing unbelief, and you pray and talk it, and you go out and live it. You are like that good old woman.  She said:”I do love that doctrine of falling from grace, and I practice it all the time.” Another man said,”Brother, I believe in the dual nature. I believe that when I would do good, evil is always present with me, and I thank god that evil is always here.”

You live it and you believe it, and GOD CANNOT DO ANYTHING WITH YOU. You magnify failure and you deify failure until to the majority of you, the devil is bigger than God.  And you are more afraid of the devil than you are of God.  You have more reverence of the devil than you have for God.  It is absolutely true. If any saint would dare to say”I am done with disease and sickness; I will never be sick again,” ninety percent of you  would say, “Keep your eyes on that person. He will be sick in a week. The devil surely will get him.” You believe the devil is bigger than God. Your God is about one and a half inches high and the devil is one and a half feet high.  What you need is to change gods and change gods quickly. There have been only a few folk that had a good-sized God.

You go over in Genesis and you see the size of God. It is fullsized photograph. You see Jesus Christ rising from the dead, and you have seen the God-sized photograph of redemption. We reign as kings in the realm of life. And what is the reaction in you? You say,”That is all right and I WISH IT WERE TRUE IN MY CASE; I would like to reign as a king.” And you think this moment how you are whipped, and you think how you have been defeated, and how weak you are, and you will be defeated all the next week.  You reckon on the strength of the devil and on your own sickness. You say,”If he had what I have he wouldn’t talk like that.”

HOW CAN THE POWER OF GOD COME THROUGH SUCH A MESS OF UNBELIEF? HOW CAN GOD GET NEAR?

Ninety percent of those who have received the Spirit have made God a little bit of a side issue, a sort of court of last resort. When you get where the devil can do no more, you say,”God, catch me. The devil has finished his work.” God is simply a life insurance company that pays premium at death.”

Wow, this is a wake up call! Who is God to you? Do you really believe you are a son/daughter of the King? How much do you let Him work through you?

I am so excited for the rest of my time here in Taiwan. 3 of my fellow BSSM family members will be coming to Taiwan soon to teach at the YMCA in Taichung.  We are all so excited.  And we will all be on Kris Vallotton’s ministry team for the 2 conferences he is doing here in Taiwan. The conferences will be from the 6th of July to the 10th.  

I prayed over my finances for next year and Papa gave me the idea to hold and encounter evening.  I’ve been working on some prophetic paintings here in Taiwan and will auction them off on that evening. If you feel lead to keep me covered in this area I will appreciate it so much. More details on the event will be in the next blog. It will be around the 2nd of July.

Last Saturday we went on a treasure hunt here in Tianmu and it was just glorious. It is just so amazing to see how He always comes through and through us, bring His amazing love to people everywhere. How can we ever grasp how amazing His love for each of us is! He is an extravagant Father who will never leave of forsake any of His children.

Prayer requests:

 # God’s children here in Taiwan to step into their sonship and authority.

#For love to always come first. Family to manifest in every situation.

#For financial provision for my trip here in taiwan, to Hong Kong, to a church in China and for 2nd year BSSM.

#Creativity and Joy to be released here and everywhere I go.

Thank you guys so much for all your support and love. May you have an incredible week and experience Daddy’s love and presence like never before. He is soooooo amazed by each of you.

Much love

Alwyn

Graduation in a week! Then summer in the East! May 10, 2010

Dear family and friends,
It has been such a crazy ride. The past nine months were incredible. When God touched my life about 3 and a half years ago in Taiwan, it was only a dream to come out here. By His grace, faithfulness and all your support and prayers I was able to come to Redding to learn more about Daddy’s heart and taste of this incredible revival culture. Thank you each for what you have poured into my life. No seed being sown into the Kingdom is ever worthless but always brings forth a harvest and you will reap the fruit of it.
I’ve experienced so much breakthrough throughout the year. It has been a crazy roller coaster ride and I loved every second of it. Dad has been showing me about always having the heart of a little kid and remembering to always stay a son. In Matthew 18 Jesus called a child to Himself and powerfully stated that we have to become like little children to enter the Kingdom of God. What is in the heart of a little kid? A kid has dreams that has not “lid” on it; limitless! Kids are adventurous; they are never scared to take chances but just do what they feel like. They might get hurt at times, cry a bit and then stand up again and go on the next adventure. Kids are humble and confident; they don’t try to be who they are not. They say what is on they heart and live as a child, not adult. Kids like new stuff! We tend to love a “comfort zone”. Kids are always looking for something new to do or plan. They don’t put anything or anyone in a box but they believe there is more out there. And the only thing stopping kids from their “plans” to be the greatest, are the “adults who are grown up.”
Then in Matthew 19:13-15 kids are brought to Jesus and they came to sit on His lap. What is amazing to me is that all the people who needed healing in the bible made an effort either to touch Jesus or they cried out to Him so He could heal them. With the kids it was different. Jesus called them to Him and the people brought them to Jesus. What God has been showing me is this; if we just stay childlike and believe Him, not just IN HIM, but that He is our loving Father who is so much “good-er” than we can ever imagine, then He will come to us first. We don’t even have to come to Him first like the ones needing miracles, but he will come to us, put us on His lap and lay His hands on us! He will love us extravagantly and with a love that no one can stop! A love that is sooooo deep and precious! A love that heals even the most heart-broken soul. And when He lay hands on us, we WILL feel it and manifest His love. We will be unstoppable.
So this year I’ve learned how to be a lover. How to fall in love with Daddy, Jesus and Holy Spirit every day. How to feed from His presence instead of my own works. How to stay in touch with His heart and with what He is doing, rather than being influenced with what the devil wants to do. I’ve learned that I am seated with Him in heavenly places! WHOOOO! Just think about what that looks like! We are seated with Jesus in heavenly places. That means right now because God is not bound by time. We are His sons and daughters and He only wants the best for His children. He is the perfect Daddy who we all long for. He gave His Son Jesus the authority back to rule over all the earth (which was given to Adam in genesis and taken by satan). We are to rise up into our callings as sons and daughters because Rom 8 says this: ” 19For the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God.” It is time to get the revelation of who we are and live out of that place of authority. Jesus did it all. What else are we still waiting for to happen? Now is the time! This is the most exciting time in history to be alive and all of heaven is interceding for us and cheering us on. This is the time to GET IT! Intimacy with God

Unity and communication
So there is one more week left of school and then I’m off to Taiwan. I will be interning at the church I used to go to when i was there – Tianmu Oasis bread of life. We are all excited for what God is going to do this summer so please pray with us all. I’m really excited to see my amazing friends in taiwan and to give away what I have learned this year. I will stay in Taiwan from the 19th of May until the 14th of July. Kris Vallotton will also be doing a conference in Taiwan where I will be serving on His team along with the other Taiwanese students that attended BSSM this year. This is a great time for Taiwan and God is doing amazing things all over. People are getting healed, saved and delivered as they come into and encounter with the Lord. I will keep you updated on what’s happening in Taiwan while I’m there. Please pray for Daddy’s love to come and break off the striving spirit that’s on the nation. That Holy Spirit would manifest in a new way and that God would rush through the streets of Taiwan like a mighty wave. Pray that His name only will be glorified and that people will realize how much He loves them!
After Taiwan, I will be going to Hong Kong, China and Thailand. More details on that later. So our graduation is this Sunday evening at 18:00 our time. It will be streamed live on www.ibethel.tv and you can all watch me and hundreds other revivalists graduate! I am sooooo honored to be nominated for the M. Earl Johnson award. Thanks to God and all of you guys. I would love for you to be sharing this moment with me. So just log to ibethel.tv and you can watch it for free. You will need to have an account already, but if you don’t have one yet it is ok. Just follow the step and you can create an account for free.

Saying good-bye with the following pictures from our TEFL graduation day! Love you all soooo much.

Ensenada and San Francisco April 25, 2010

So after the missions trip, some friends and I decided to go back into Mexico for a few more days of fun in the sun.  We drove down to Ensenada, a smaller coastal town about 2 hours from the border. We stayed at a YWAM base there and helped out where we could.  We just wanted to bless them as well and God just set up so many divine appointments.  Of course we had lots more tacos (except for the day after we ate a few bad ones) and did some road trips around the little town.  It was really amazing and good to see a different side to Mexico.  Tijuana was very busy and cluttered whereas Ensenada was very touristy and relaxing.  We enjoyed walking through the beautiful streets and visiting the harbor.  We had so much fun making balloon animals and handing them out to people on the street.  It was amazing how just a balloon can make such a difference.  Many adults were so blessed by getting one and we prophesied and prayed over many that God highlighted to us.  The coolest testimony happened the first night we were there.  There were two youth groups there building houses in Ensenada.  One group was from Canada and the other from Ensenada.  They had a guest speaker there who spoke powerfully on always being aware of how God wants to use you and how you can always do more. He was really motivating the kids and his wife was translating for him.  Afterwards the 5 of us prayed for him and his wife.  We started prophesying over them too and God totally rocked them.  They have a ministry with youth that are coming from the streets.  Most of them doing drugs and being in gangs.  We shared some of the testimonies with them of the previous week in Tijuana and how much God has done for all the people.  They were sooooo encouraged and blessed us as well with some of their testimonies. Here is their website if you want to check it out http://www.jabesjuventud.org/

He started sharing with us about this movie one of the kids showed them called ‘finger of God.” We were so excited to share with them that we are from Bethel and that they show some of the students in the movie.  So two days later they came back again (They live about 2 and half hours south from ensenada) with some of their youth and we got to pray and prophesy over them.  God is sooooo good.  We established this amazing connection and they want a group to go down there in May to go and help them and just sow into what they are doing.  It is truly amazing.  Every person you meet everyday is an encounter waiting to happen.  Daddy has unlimited resources! He never runs out!! Wow and we get to partner with that everyday! Come on!  Here are some pics from the trip.

Alex in his ‘taking pictures”pose

Spicy Mexican candyOn the streetsharbor posealex enjoying his tacos and bottled cokeI smell something funny….celebration jump….or…maybe..connecting with localsGorgeous shop!!!angel slaying a demon – SWEET!What would Mexico be without some dancing!Kitchen dutystopping for some AMAZING tamalesGlory!Declaring promises!

Then after Ensenada we went up to San Francisco.  They dropped me off at Megan and Wade’s place (Sarah MB’s sister and her hubba)  Barend also came from Redding and we spent the week of easter with them.  Sarah and Kevin also joined.  We has such a great time.  It was the first time I got an Easter basket seeing that we don’t do that in SA.  We went to a baseball game one evening and we even tailgated and everything.  We went bowling, go cart racing, played mini golf and toured the city of course.  Megan and Wade blessed us super much.  We just relaxed and it was great having a week off.  We played WII a lot and did come crazy birthday dances. We were in our cozies often and had great family time.  The city was amazing.  WoW! Everything was really clean and the buildings looked great.  We took the famous cable cars through the city, saw china town and of course the Golden Gate Bridge.

Nacho and Ramases with their Easter basketsCheers to the Galdes!

Some Yummy Sushi!

Going for gold

Watch out PB!

Powerful Saraii!

The twins

First, second and third.  Congrats buddy B!

The fans!!

Tailgate before the game! Awesome hot dogs Wade!

Going nuts!

Artists everywhere on the streets in San Fran

Friendy and I at pier 39

Alcatraz….a bit windy

Streets of the city

Cable car fun

Waiting to go back on the cable cars

Prophetic arts night

For Megan and wade : Pure friendship

At the amazing bridge

Downtown

Mexico missions trip 2010 April 6, 2010

Wow!  I expected to see Pappa move powerfully on this trip and I totally did!  Hundreds were touched by His love.  I saw God work so powerfully through His children, bringing freedom to many captives.  On the first morning God spoke to me about a child’s heart.  How we should just believe in Him.  Not just that He is a great God, but that He wants to touch everyone around us.  We as Christians are a body and we need others to speak into our lives and vice versa.  Like children we should just live the adventure, take chances and be superheroes with Jesus.  We are seated with Him in heavenly places.  How much more do we want before we act.  Little children have dreams, they are confident, adventurous and humble.  The only ones stopping children from doing all these things are adults.  We just need to believe and Jesus will pursue us.  He will look for us and we will come sit on His lap and He will lay hands on us and touch our hearts.  Our strength comes from that place of sitting on His lap and just knowing like a kid that we belong and that nothing can take us away from that. 

On the prayer mountain (just behind the camp ground where we stayed) overlooking Tijuana.  One of the pit stops on the way down to Mexico

The trip truly changed my life! I saw miracles everyday and people were just so open to be prayed for or to be loved on.  Holy Spirit was always showing the way and it was so great to step out in different areas. So I’ll share some testimonies of what happened with our group.  We were about 170 students on the trip and were divided into teams.  We all had a drama team, prophetic arts team, preachers, kids team and worship team.  So our team consisted out of 21 and it was just amazing.Waiting for all the students before we cross the Mexican border.  I’m with my great friend Samsung (samuel)Getting the joy going before we enter Mexico.What would a trip be without ultimate ninja of course.Ready to cross the border.  Yes, we walked across! 

The border

We all got on buses on the Mexico side

We arrived in Tijuana the first evening and got settled in our cabins.  We had a big team so it was really great getting to know some new friends and just to fellowship. So the next day (Wednesday) we had a morning worship session which was just amazing.  We just felt the glory and knew that God’s going to move powerfully.  Pastor Mark Brooks was leading the trip so we had great times of laughter and fun with Holy Spirit.  We made sure we got filled up each day so we could give out what we freely have received.

I took his picture from the prayer mountain

Bjorn on the prayer mountain – Photo by Alex Rau

Getting ready for worship

The amazing team I was in – Team Fuego – Fire!

So the afternoon after group meetings and planning, some of us went out on outreach in the community closest to where we were staying.  We were divided in groups of 5 to 6 and just went out in the streets. I wanted to see God move through me on this trip.  I’ve been hearing and seeing all the miracles throughout the year but didn’t experience much breakthrough myself yet.  So that is just what God did.  The first house we were at, a man came out who had back pain.  I put my hand on him.  I started declaring the Kingdom in His back and our second year leader said it was done already.  So we asked him to test it out.  He was healed instantly. Wow first guy I prayed for!  God is soooooo good!  At the next house we prayed for a lady with a sore ankle.  It was healed instantly too!  Then we saw this little boy in the street who had a cough.  We prayed for him and he said that his tummy felt really good.  Haha That’s awesome.  We also prayed for a lady’s knees and they got healed too.  Then we prayed for her daughter.  She had back pain, so we asked her if we could check her legs.  The left leg was shorter than the right.  We prayed for it to grow out and it did.  They were sooooo touched by Daddy’s love.  All of that happened in just over half an hour!

The outreach group I was with

The first guys whose back was healed!

The little cute boy we prayed for

Legs growing out.

The prayer mountain and the camp are in the back ground

On Thursday our group went to a drug rehab center. We had an hour to do outreach again and we asked Dad for divine encounters.  We were in a total different part of the city.  As we were walking I said to the guys we should do a treasure hunt.  With a treasure hunt you ask Holy Spirit for some clues about the person who is going to be God’s treasure.  Just like the parable of the lost coin. So we got 4 clues – White sweater, headache, fish and pressure.  So at the first house we were at we saw no one with a white sweater.  We asked the guy about the clues and he didn’t have any of it.  So we looked at the back through the window and saw someone wearing a white sweater.  It was his wife.  We called her and she had both headaches and pressure.  She told us her heart is sad.  So they invited some of us in and we were able to minister God’s love and goodness to her.  She was shaking and crying and told us that she had lost her son in a shooting not long ago.  And she knew the person who actually killed him.  So we prayed with her and lead her through forgiveness.  After the prayer she still had a headache so we prayed for it to leave.  It did of course because Daddy is sooooo good.  The lady’s daughter was there and I got a word of knowledge for her.  It was spot on and we got to prophesy and pray with her as well.  Afterward we pray that she will be filled with Holy Spirit and she totally started to giggle.  It was so great.   Then we went to the drug rehab and had the most amazing time.  Worship was crazy and the presence of God was so strong in the building.  We were not allowed to take any pictures.  We prophesied over a lot of the guys and got to pray in small groups.  It was amazing.  I prayed for a guys and took him on an encounter with Jesus.  He gave Jesus stuff like anger, lust etc and then Jesus took it and gave him a present.  I asked him what the present was and he just said it was so good.  That was just amazing to see his countenance change and have an encounter with the King of Kings.  After the meeting we went for our first tacos!!! WHoooo! Amazing!  Now I know what real Mexican food tastes like! And I love it! The tacos were unbelievable. 

Fire tunnels!

Jesus overlooking Tijuana! Yeah!

The drug rehab we went to

Preparing the pork tacos – delicious

Yum yum! I loved the guacamole!

On Friday we had the same schedule as every morning.  Prayer time on the mountain, worship, testimonies and getting ready for the day time.  Our group went to a small church in another part of town.  We had time to do outreach once again.  I walked around making balloon animals and blessing kids and people with them. Again I was just so overwhelmed by God’s goodness and how he cares for everyone.  We prayed for a man who just lost his auntie.  He knew that it was a divine appointment. He had a lady friend there and we prayed for her one knee.  She started feeling warmth in it and it was amazing to see God touch and heal her.  Then she started pointing to her other knee and the same thing there.  She felt heat again.  Then we also prayed for her back.  God gave us many others to pray for on the street and just to share about His love.  The evening we did the service at the church and I did another prophetic art for someone.  I gave it to an old lady and she was so touched.  At the end we prayed for healing and many of the people were so touched. One of the ladies in our group gave a prophetic word to a lady in the church and she started crying histerically.  God was healing her heart.  After the service we went for tacos again of course! Whoooo!

Ministering on the streets

Get that corn out of my face.

Our fierce leader – Roshanna

during worship

The prophetic painting for the lady – Cecilia.  I felt that she has climbed many mountains.  She has been through much in her life.  But Jesus has been with her all of her life that’s why they are red.  I got the verse Mat 5:14 for her.  She is a light that can not be hidden.  Now she is just surrounded by God’s glory and He is showing off with her.  She is the purple and white tree and represents beauty, purity, royalty and authority.  She just shines His beauty!

Tacos again! Yum!

Saturday was our day at the beach. We had the morning and afternoon to ourselves.  We explored the markets and ate some more tacos! This time some shrimp and fish ones.  The evening we were at revolution street.  This is the place in downtown Tijuana where the most violence and prostitution happens.  So we got the outdoor stage for the night.  Everything was set up for God to move and He did.  I worked mostly with the little kids at first.  We did a lot of face painting and balloon animals.  Later on I prayed for a guy who got filled with joy.  So many people got filled and there were so much freedom everywhere. Sarah and I prayed for two young middle school kids.  I got a word of knowledge for the one guy which was spot on.  We prophesied over then and then prayed for them to feel the Holy Spirit.  Immediately the one guy’s hands started shaking and they were so touched.  We explained to them that God is always around and with them and they could feel Him wherever they went.  It was amazing.  Then later on a drunk guy approached me and I prayed with him for more than an hour and a half.  I just saw there that God’s love is so powerful.  He felt so honored that I didn’t judge him and just prayed with him.  He had a spirit of fear on his life and we cast that out.  At the end of the night he was worshiping with us, jumping and singing and looking much more sober.  Thank you Jesus.  I lead him in many prayers and God totally touched him.  All throughout the evening we saw amazing miracles.  Metal dissolved in peoples’ bodies, a pimp got healed and saved, 2 people on crutches could walk without them and many many more.  A good day in the Kingdom!!!

Awesome friends on the bus

On the way to the beach! Joy joy joy!

Naomi and Stephanie praying for a lady’s eye on the beach.

Fish and Shrimp tacos

Horses are everywhere in Mexico – Photo Alex Rau

Bethel students taking the streets – Photo Alex Rau

Mexican dancers

This guy could walk at the end of the night.  Jesus healed him! WHOOOOO!

The two boys got so rocked.  They went through the fire tunnel a few times and got filled with Holy Spirit.  We also raised some money to buy them some new shoes.  They were ecstatic. Photo – Alex Rau

No more crutches! Thanks Jesus! – Photo Alex Rau

The stage we were at – Photo Alex Rau

So many got healed! – Photo Alex rau

Me with some kids!

On Sunday our group went to a different church again.  There were a lot of kids this time and I knew it was going to be a good day.  I was on the prophetic arts team again and I painted a picture of joy!  I knew that God was going to release some joy in the house.  The church was well established, but so needed to know that God is a good God.  He is not a angry Father.  So the team were also picking up on that.  After the worship I went into another room to work with the young kids. They were all preschool kids and my heart was just sooooo happy.  We shared with them about forgiveness and lead them through it.  We made some stuff and just had fun.  In the sanctuary, the team started to call out words of knowledge for healing.  At first no one got healed but they kept on pressing in.  Then God totally started working! He moved so powerfully in the place and people were getting healed and delivered everywhere.  There were a lot of crying and inner healing going on.  One lady was manifesting a demon of rejection and the one guy on the team loved on her and prayed with her and casted out the demon.  The goodness of God just totally rocked everyone.  It was soooooooooo powerful.  It reminded me of the passage in Eph 6:12

For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.

Painting a the service. 

With one of the amazing kiddos!

Too cute!

We are princes and princesses ruling the earth.  We are sons and daughters of the King of Kings and need to step into our identity and bring heaven down to earth.  Yes, God can intervene and in the wink of an eye let everything be over.  But he chooses to work through us because He is a God of relationship.  A God who loves to give people a choice, because without a choice, there is only control.  And control is witchcraft!

Celebration time!

Having some amazing mexican ice cream.

So at the end of the service joy of course broke out.  We danced and shouted and just rejoiced because God is good and He loves us!!  You have to know that.  Not just know about that. KNow and experience it.  Then after the morning service we went for tacos and mexican ice cream. Yum! In the afternoon the ladies in our group gave us each a red rose and a prophetic word to honor and thank us for protecting them and honoring them on the trip.  It was so special.  The evening we shared testimonies of the week and it was just crazy.  Joy and celebration broke out and we were mostly all on the floor! It was so great and we were so rocked by what Father God had done over the past week.  WHOOOOOO!  And at 12 we sang for Samuel.  It was his 25th birthday! I painted him a prophetic painting for his birthday.Sam’s painting.

On Monday we started to head back home.  We crossed back over the border and camped out at Vinyard church in Laguna Niguel.  So this is the OC.  We could spend the day at the beach but I was so tired so I just took a nap and rested for the evening’s service. This was a sister church so we knew it was going to be a memorable evening.  This was a time of celebration and sharing God’s goodness with others.  The evening was wild! The most memorable thing I saw was a lady who had 2 knee replacements.  She couldn’t bend her knees and GOd totally healed her.  She was sooooooo overwhelmed and cries, laughed and shook the entire evening.  Wow what a privilege to see Daddy heal others.  We as a body need to realize how much our words and actions mean to others.  We need each other.  We need to get the revelation that every person we come across each day, is an encounter waiting to happen.  God wants to move and we just need to give Him the chance.  That’s where our faith comes in.  We need to just step out in faith.  Of course we feel comforable when things are possible.  But it is when things are impossible that God shows up.  That’s why it is called THE FAITH. 

I Hope and believe this will encourage and bless you guys.  Thanks again for eveyone who sowed into this trip.  You’ve sowed into heaven and will see the fruit of it.  May you all have an amazing week.

Ready for missions! March 15, 2010

Hi all you fabulous friends and family out there!  You are all such powerful people and I love you!

I want to start this week by sharing a sermon which Pastor Danny shared with us last night.  I think it carries such a powerful word and will definitely make a huge impact on each of your lives. So here it goes.

The culture of life – live true to your heart. Prov 4:23 – Watch over your heart with all diligence for from it flow the springs of life.

My life has to do with who I AM.  If you are in an environment, it is not the environment that changes you, but YOU yourself.  Our of MY life flows the issues of MY life.  You build the life YOU live in.  If you blame someone for how you react, you are giving them the power over your life.  Then you give away your power.  Each of us are powerful individuals, but most people don’t know that.  Check out the next video if you can. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_OBlgSz8sSM

The video is about two little baby boys.  The baby brother bit his brother’s finger.  It hurt but it wasn’t too bad.  So he put his finger in his baby brother’s mouth again because he thought it was funny.  Then the baby bit him really hard! Lol so funny.  But so true!  We do that all the time.  We give someone else the blame for how we react.  Who gave Charlie the finger?  Charlie didn’t take the finger by himself.  HE put it into the baby’s mouth. Who needs to take responsibility?

Gen 3:9-12 - ⁹Then the LORD God called to the man, and said to him, “^(I)Where are you?”  ¹⁰He said, “^(J)I heard the sound of You in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid myself.”  ¹¹And He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?”  ^12(K)The man said, “The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me from the tree, and I ate.”

God gave Adam 1 thing not to do! He told him he could do anything he wanted, but there’s only 1 thing he couldn’t do!  So Adam did it.  And after that he answered to God “….You gave me, ……She gave me, ….and I ate.”  He started blaming others for what he did.  Something entered the human race ritght there and we see it in the next generation with Cain and Abel again. 

Gen 4:3-8 -  ³So it came about in the course of time that Cain brought an offering to the LORD of the fruit of the ground. ^4(C)Abel, on his part also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of their fat portions And ^(D)the LORD had regard for Abel and for his offering; ⁵but ^(E)for Cain and for his offering He had no regard So ^(F)Cain became very angry and his countenance fell. ⁶Then the LORD said to Cain, “^(G)Why are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen? ⁷“^(H)If you do well, will not your countenance be lifted up? ^(I)And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door; and its desire is for you, ^(J)but you must master it.” ⁸Cain told Abel his brother. And it came about when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother and ^(K)killed him.

“Why are you angry?…..If you do well, ……If you do not do well…”     YOU are to master IT. If you do well, you are going to win.  If not, you are going to invite the destroyer into your life.  Take for instance the next situation.  You are married and have your first baby.  The baby starts screaming in the middle of the night while both you and you wife are sleeping. Your wife doesn’t get up.  So you have a choice to make.  First choice – You stand up and go take care of the baby.  You do it because you honor your wife for what she’s done for you.  You see her beauty and want to do this for her, because she is your princess.  You want her to get some sleep because you love her.  Second choice – You lie there and think it is her job to get up and let the kid stop screaming.  You start accusing her of being a lazy wife because she doesn’t want to get up.  So you get up and think all these thoughts in you heart about why she didn’t get up.  So now you feel betrayed. Soon your betrayel ends up in deception (you start to defend yourself).  You start to justify why she should’ve gotten up instead of you.  You justify that you work hard every day and she doesn’t even wanna help you.  You bring the food etc etc etc.  Then you start to blame her.  The statement that really spoke to me here is this:

THE ONLY REASON WHY YOU DON’T HELP SOMONE IS BECAUSE THEY DON’T DESERVE IT!!  Think about it.

So now you say: “I’m doing this because of YOU” (blame).  NO! It is still a choice. You choose.  You start to say: “You change first, then I’ll change”. Now I believe that YOU CONTROL ME!!! THis is a BIG LIE!  It is not true.  I haven’t been given a spirit of powerlessness, but a spirit of love, power and SELF CONTROL!!!  I have the supernatural ability to control MYSELF!! 

There wasn’t a moment in Jesus’ ministry that HE didn’t manage Himself.  He was NEVER the victim.  He never blamed anyone for what He did.  He stayed powerful.  Even to death on the cross. 

Luke 11:34 -  ”The eye is the lamp of your body; when your eye is clear, your whole body also is full of light; but when it is bad, your body also is full of darkness”.   Honor the voice.  When you betray yourself, it leads to darkness!!!

Luke 9:54-56 - “When His disciples ^(A)James and John saw this, they said, “Lord, do You want us to ^(B)command fire to come down from heaven and consume them?”  ⁵⁵But He turned and rebuked them, [and said, "You do not know what kind of spirit you are of; ⁵⁶for the Son of Man did not come to destroy men's lives, but to save them."] And they went on to another village”.    The disciples was ready for a big party for Jesus.  He believed He was going to be the earthly King to reign in Jerusalem.  So they were offended because they didn’t want to give Jesus a “party”. So they decided to call fire down.

YOUR BEHAVIOR IS A DEAD GIVE AWAY OF THE SPIRIT YOU ARE UNDER! THE VOICE YOU ARE OBEYING!

What drives my decisions?  Most likely you have a list of justifications why you live that way towards someone.  So one question you might ask is: “But what if someone is really selfish, judgemental, chronic, evil, a jerk etc?”  Look at the next example.  You are driving in traffic and somone cuts over 3 lanes right in front of you.  What is your reaction? You start reacting to that person in the car and even referring to him/her as an object.  YOu start cursing or just thinking about how crazy that person is etc.  So YOU make the decision how to react to the person.  YOu forget that that person has feelings, needs, dreams and is not an object.  What if that person was your daughter in the car?  What would your reaction then be?  You would think: “What’s wrong, what can I do?  Maybe i must go check?  You might phone her etc.” 

WE LOVE POEPLE.  BUT WE MANAGE OBJECTS!!!!

How much is your FREEDOM worth?  What is the meaning of offense?  It is that which keeps me from BEING MYSELF!!! Just think about a person or time you were offended at someone.  When that person comes into the room, you start behaving  madly.  You either leave the party or start making comments.  You sacrifice being the best YOU, when you betray your heart towards that person.  YOU PUT YOURSELF IN PRISON. You gave your FREEDOM to that person. 

How do we clean up messes?  Go back to that small, still voice…..It’s a choice. Honor it!  “If you do well…..Won’t you be made cheerful?” 

Self control isn’t just pointing away from something.  It is pointing TOWARDS something!!!! If you choose to honor the choice, you will automatically be filled joy and love.  And then you will be able to live out of that!!

I am going to Tijuana Mexico in just more than a week!  I am super duper excited!! Thank you so much to Katia and Oom Albert and Tannie Ronnie!  You made this trip possible for me.  I honor and thank you so much for partnering with me so I can go bless the people in Mexico.  We are sooooo excxited for what God is going to do there!  So I will leave on the 23rd of March and we’ll be back on the 30th of March.  I am leading one of the groups that are going to work with the kids.  I feel like God is going to do amazing things with the kids.  I’m dreaming with Him and partnering with heaven for what’s going to happen and it is just marvellous!   I do need to ask you to please pray for this trip.  It is soooooo important.  Each of you can sow into this trip by praying for our team.  This is what matters most.  I made a prayer card so you can see the main things to pray for.  If this is on your heart please pray with us so we can see heaven come down and totally transform Tijuana!! WHOOOOOO!!!

On Saturday a bunch of us had the great opportunity to go snowboarding again.  Thank you Jesus!  It was the most beautiful day and God truly showed off with His beauty.  It was a glorious day! Clear open skies and beautiful soft snow on Mount Shasta.  The heavens and the earth were just shouting and declaring God’s name!!! Here are some of the pics.

Some testimonies:  Last weekend we were at a friend’s house for dinner.  One of the kids there were on crutches.  The hurt her knee while doing gymnastics and had pain.  She couldn’t put pressure on it.  So a few of us prayed for her knee.  It was a quick prayer and we just released heaven into her knee.  We prayed twice and all the pain was gone.  She started walking withour crutches, bending her knee like it was normal.  Thank you Jesus! You are so faithful. Then after that, one of our other friends also had knee problems.  So the little 3rd grade girl prayed for his knee.  Of course Jesus healed him too!! He is soooooo good!  Yeah God!

Yesterday at children’s church the kids were praying and prophesying over the nations because this is misisons month.  We had 7 stations where they did different stuff.  One of the stations were a hand washing station.  We had bowls with objects in them.  The kids went there, asked Holy Spirit what object to take and then someone would prophesy over them why they chose that object.  I was at the prophetic arts station where the kids drew prophetic pictures for the nations and I asked some kids what Holy Spirit told them about the object they chose.  One of the boys chose a crocodile.  I Asked him what that was all about.  He then told me that Holy Spirit told him that just as the crocodile can cling on to stuff and not let go, so he clings on to GOD!!! WHOOOAAAHH!  Then one of the first grade boys who I am just crazy about came with a little elephant.  I asked him the same question.  He answered that Holy Spirit told him that He was like a glow in the dark star.  He is just shining in the dark.  I don’t know how that relates to the elephant, but I just love that!  In his own heart he connected that to the elephant and it was just so awesome. 

Many of my friends already are on their missions trips or just came back from some of them.  The testimonies are just insane of how God’s love is just winning everywhere.  God is touching His children in such powerful ways.  Expect to be touched by Him.  It is His heart to pursue you!!! Do you get that!!  He is the bridegroom and we are the bride.  Just open your heart and ASK!!

It seems like a door is opening for me to come to Taiwan and Hong Kong for the summer! I will keep you updated on this as it is in my heart to come and share with all of you in Taiwan this summer of what God has done for me here at Bethel.  Please pray with me and declare God’s provision over this trip.  If you can help me in any regards, please contact me and let me know.  I am soooooo excited for what Daddy wants to do!!!

So my friends, there is a divine exchange rate being established!! This is the currency of heaven.  Stay on task.  Stay vigilant.  It is a walk of faith.  It is not a crawl.  So WALK.  “The Spirit and the BRIDE say come”.  Do you realize we are the bride.  This is not just a crush on Jesus.  Fall in LOVE with HIm.   Use every resource inside you that Daddy God has given you to take you from Glory to Glory.  Christ in me, the hope of Glory!  In order to change the atmosphere around me, I have to first change the atmosphere INSIDE of me!!! THis is the time to get it guys!! Live like kids and go on an adventure with Jesus.  He is absolutely FULL of JOY, PEACE and RIGHTEOUSNESS!! And He lives in you!!!!

Love you guys

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow! February 13, 2010

Hey guys.

It’s been a while I know.  Man time flies! I’ve been back in Redding for just more than a month now and it has been nothing but an amazing ride.  God has been taking me deeper into His heart and I am just learning how to carry and steward His presence wherever I go.  And how to LOVE! That is the most important thing we can ever do! Learn how to love everyone just for who they are and where they are in life. 

Well, a lot has happened so I’m just gonna skip around as I go.  Two weeks ago, me, Barend, Mike and David went on a snowboarding trip at Mount Shasta.  It’s about an hour away from Redding.  It was a glorious adventure.  Snow everywhere!  Of course we fell a lot but towards the end, I found my groove and could do many things I couldn’e before.  It’s just like in your spiritual life too.  We (like babies walking) try stuff out and sometimes we fall.  But are we gonna get up and just go for more?  Improve our skills?  Or are we gonna stop and say oh no, I don’t want to fall again.  Just a thought….

Darlene Johnson, Pastor Bill’s mom, came to talk to our class one day! What a priviledge! Oh my word.  It was like an interview setup on stage and Eric Johnson, her grandchild, did the interview with her.  He asked her about Bethel’s history and just about life.  It impacted us all so tremendously.  She is sooooooo full of love and passion for God. She had some powerful on liners. Here are a few: 

I DON’T WANT TO BE IN THE SMOKE! I WANT TO BE IN THE FIRE!!! 

  A HOUSE FULL OF LOVE HAS ELASTIC WALLS!

Last weekend, Darren Wilson was here to introduce his new movie, Furious love!!! It was the world premier here at Bethel.  My track (prophetic arts with Theresa Dedmon) met with him the day before the showing of the movie.  We had a chance to hear his life story and also how God so dramatically touched him and opened this door to his movie directing etc.  He was always a screen writer, but God took him outside of his camp (comfort zone) to do greater things for him.  The movie was incredible.  His first movie was “Finger of God”  as was about the signs, miracles and wonders all around the world.  What God is doing and how His heart is to show His love to His children by manifesting His power and greatness.  To see the trailer of the movie and read more about it, click on http://www.fingerofgodfilm.com/#/trailer/      You WILL be rocked by it.  You can actually watch the movie on youtube if you search for finger of God.  It is just in many different segments.  But I Would suggest buying it if you can.  It is soooooo good.  And here is the link for furious love! http://www.furiouslovethemovie.com/  THis movie is even more intense.  It is about finding the light in the darkest places in the world.  He went into the places we sometimes wouldn’t even dream or think of going to, searching for God’s love.  He visited Hindu temples where they sacrifice goats each day to the god of death, the sex trade in Thailand, interviewed an ex bride of satan and many many more stories!  It will change how you see life and love!!!!!!! You have to see it.  So visit the website!

Randy Clarke was here for a week in January.  He did a healing school and we were in the convention centre.  It was amazing.  Hundreds of people got healed and saved and it was just so amazing to see and feel Daddy’s love for all.  He is so amazing.  Last weekend Jesus culture was also here.  I didn’t attend the conference though, but thousands of teenagers and young adults came to be rocked by love.  Sergio Scataglini, a revivalist from Argentina was the guest speaker and he also spoke at school one day.  What an honor to hear all these preachers and revivalists.  Also Georgian Banov was here! We had such a party.  If you don’t know who he is, you can google his name and see.  He and his wife works with the Gypsies in Europe and they love God sooooo much.  We danced like never before and it was just one big freedom fest!

I wanna share some of Danny Silk’s stuff with you guys.  He came to talk about three weeks ago.  I just love all his messages.  It is so real and just so practical.  Here is what he was talking about:  The practice of self control.  Luke 8:40-42 And as Jesus returned, the people welcomed Him, for they had all been waiting for Him. And there came a man named Jairus, and he was an official of the synagogue; and he fell at Jesus’ feet, and {began} to implore Him to come to his house; for he had an only daughter, about twelve years old, and she was dying. But as He went, the crowds were pressing against Him.

You always have the option of managing yourself in any relationship.  The basic core of any individual is FREEDOM.  We often say “YOU make me so mad!”  That infers that YOU control MY baing mad.  You can not control MY mad.  I DO!!!  If I don’t manage myself in your presence, something else manages. me.  Then I give away the power God gave me.    I CAN protect my priorities in my lifetime no matter what happens.  I have been given control of my freedom.  (We have a Spirit of power, love and a sound mind).  

When you are full of resource (healthy) then lots of people want a piece of you. (Jesus in luke 40-42)  Jesus prays! What happens?  100% gets healed.  Jesus decides to go to Jarius’ house (his house was on the other side of town.  On the other side of the crowd. ) The crowd all needed something.  They all knew he could heal and they all wanted something.  He could meet any one of their needs!!! Someone reaches in and grabs Jesus by the “power”.  Jesus asked “Who touched me?”

Jesus manages Jesus everywhere Jesus goes!!!!! He is never at the mercy of OTHER peoples’ needs. 

Relational boundaries.  As people cross boundaries, there’s more access to YOU.  You must have eyes to see – Healthy boundaries.  Ps 24 says “Who may ascend the hill of the Lord? Who may stand in His holy place?” This shows that it requires certain things to ascend the hill of the Lord – There are boundaries.   It is very important to practice the recognition of priorities so we can all practice LOVE, HONOR and TRUTH.  

Acts 6:2-4 So the twelve summoned the congregation of the disciples and said, “It is not desirable for us to neglect the word of God in order to serve tables. “Therefore, brethren, select from among you seven men of good reputation, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we may put in charge of this task. “But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word.”

The disciples said they won’t be serving tables anymore!  They had to put up some new boundaries and set someone else in charge of it.  Nobody else is going to tke care of YOUR priorities!  Learn what they are and how to adjust.  Define boundaries: 

To keep in what I want to keep in (honor, love, hope, joy, peace, respect etc.)

To keep out what I want to keep out (fear, disrespect, punishment, anger etc.)

To protect the priorities of my life. (my time, energy, resources, relationships)

OTHER PEOPLE”S CHOICES SCARE YOU WHEN YOU DON”T KNOW HOW TO SET BOUNDARIES!!!!  Isa 10:13 For he has said, “By the power of my hand and by my wisdom I did {this,} For I have understanding; And I removed the boundaries of the peoples And plundered their treasures, And like a mighty man I brought down {their} inhabitants,     When you can take somebody’s boundaries away, you take away their power.   Thus, violation is so traumatic! – Losing boundaries. 

You are NOT free if you don’t have a choice to say NO!!!! You can not say YES if you don’t have a NO!!  YOu can be free in the presence of people who know you.  You can learn to demand respect from most intimate people.  LOVE is where you are the free-est!!!

How to set firm boundaries: 

• Be valuable and communicate it.
• Tell others what you are going to do, not what they should do.  You control now long you participate in a disrespectful conversation.
• Words require appeals, but action makes requirements.  Use few words and follow through by ACTION. 

2 Tim 1:7 For God has not given us a spirit of timidity, but of power and love and discipline.  Partner with the HOly Spirit.  He will introduce the Kingdom to manifest through you!!

My mission trip is coming up pretty soon.  We will be in Tijuana Mexico from March 23 to March 29.  I appreciate all of you guys who are praying for me and sowing into this trip.  If you still want to sow into this trip and invest in the Kingdom, please let me know.  I will appreciate any donations.  The trip is going to be incredible.  We will be going to many orphanages and also work with alot of street kids.  Bethel has been going  to Tijuana for 19 years and have build up such stong relationships over there.  Every year we see hundreds of miracles and just hope restored in Tijuana.  We see love win over evil and just partner with Heaven to sow into their hearts.  Here is a prayer card for those of you who want to pray for this trip.  Even if you just pray, it will be much appreciated. 

Love you guys

Chrismas break in South Africa January 15, 2010

After the first incredible, unexplainable, awesome, radical, fabulous, miraculous three months at Bethel School of Supernatural ministry, I was blessed by Dad to go and be with my family for Christmas and new year.  Oh, what a year 2010 is going to be!!!!

It was just amazing to be in South Africa for the holidays.  My heart was so warm everyday and just experienced God’s love all around.  It was eye opening though to see how the bitterness of deception, peoples’ lives affect.  But much greater was it to see how God’s promises all were coming to pass and how He was and IS freeing many everyday from the lies of dark side.

Well, I would lie if I say that I didn’t eat TOO much over this festive season. Man it was sooooo good.  South African cuisine is just the best!!! Now I have to get into some serious cardio action lol.  The first few days of my visit home, I spent with old best friends.  Marliese aka Sterrie (best friend from University) and Hansie (my piano teacher). You guys are amazing.  Thanks for the incredible Thai food, fab South African wine and dine, the crazy gig in the shakiest place on earth, the touring through the most beautiful town in South Africa (Clarens) and just honoring me with your presence and love. 

The week over Christmas was spent with the Swanepoel family in Vanderbijlpark. Fun was had by all!  We laughed so much that our bellies were insanely sore. (Thanks Deanne for Slappies) The weather was beautiful each day so of course we spent most of our time in the pool.  The funniest was the morning we all woke up with sore legs, arms and backs and wondered how it happened.  Hmmmmm…. Never thought TV games could give you such a workout.  If you haven’t played WII before, be careful!!! Tannie Rommie introduced some new board games and we sang and laughed so loud that the neighbors were a bit suspicious.  Haha! Christmas was so special and we had a wonderful time as a family celebrating the birth of King Jesus.  My sis, cousin and I did a drama and the Holy Spirit touched all of us in a new wonderful way.  Thanks to all you guys who wrote words for my family.  They were of course spot on and so inspiring.  Thank you Jesus. 

Then we went to one of my favorite places on earth.  Die Laeveld. To my granddad’s game farm in Hoedspruit.  We didn’t see a lot of animals this time.  My uncle took their Meerkat (like Timone in the Lion King) with and we took our dog with.  It was so funny to see them play because the Meerkat chased the dog around most of the time.  It was pretty warm up there and luckily we had a swimming pool to cool off in.  We were divided into teams as always because our fam is pretty big, and then we had the duty of making food and cleaning for the day we were assigned.  It was mango season and the trees were COVERED with thousands of mangos. We did a lot of picking and packing and some of the guys got stung by wasps.  Hahaha it was funny.  Luckily I wasn’t one of them.  I felt Africa embrace me each night as I slept outside.  As I were laying there each night, I was overwhelmed by the bright moon shining through the trees, the beauty of the Hand of God, the sound of birds and animals getting ready to either sleep (or hunt EEEECK) and I just knew in all of that, the most important thing to know…. I was, and is every day,  so loved!!! Nothing tastes as good as freedom!!!

One morning I woke up feeling something moving on my head.  I jumped up quickly and saw a white toad on my pillow! Yucky!  One of the other days I put on my shoes to go running and felt something in there.  I thought it was a sock and so I pulled it out.  Ha another white toad fell out of my shoe.  This time it was a bit smaller.  My grandma told me I went hunting for them when I was very little.  I used to go and call her to come with me so I could catch them. 

All of us younger kids went on a day trip one of the days to a little beautiful historical town called Pilgrim’s Rest. We enjoyed the traditional old streets and shops and took this amazing picture.  About 20 years ago we were there as well to take a picture at the same place. 

The last week I went home (Burgersdorp) to see the new house my mom and dad built for themselves in town and our farm where my brother now is in charge.  God just set up so many divine interventions and I was just overwhelmed by His goodness.  I helped my sister move to her new home where she also will start teaching this year.  So this is a year for so many new things. 

And my last 3 days I spent with Nina (My friend from Taiwan who introduced me to Bethel 3 years ago).  I saw wonderful Marga (also an amazing friend from Taiwan) as well and had so much fun with them and Nina’s friend Venesia.  We went to the botanical gardens in Johies.  Wow wow wow! There I introduced them to the Gherkin and swing dances I made up and we laughed like crazy as always. Nina’s mom made such amazing food so we ate too much again.  On my last Sunday we went to church, visited ocean basket (A must if you love seafood) and saw avatar. 

Now I’m sitting in LAX and reminiscing over my trip. Again there are no words to describe how beautiful and wonderful my family and friends are.  But most importantly how amazing our King is.  And how he cares for each of us is such a powerful unique way.  And how He loves to express His love to each of us. Do we let Him love us openly as He so desperately wants? Or do we look at the enemy and his schemes and only see what’s wrong in our lives.  I believe we are each so blessed in our own little “world.” The bible says that the Kingdom of heaven is at hand. That means that it must be in reach….. Just a thought! Bless you guys!

Christmas is coming! December 7, 2009

Finally my ticket is booked to go home! I will be home for Christmas yeah! I am so blessed with my wonderful family and I am stoked for what God is doing in my fam! It’s going to be a great time.  So here is the Itinerary:

 Mon 14DEC DELTA 9076*        LV REDDING CALIF 700A        AR LOS ANGELES   845A          COACH
  Mon 14DEC DELTA 101         LV LOS ANGELES   1020A    F       AR ATLANTA       539P          COACH

Mon 14DEC DELTA 200            LV ATLANTA       655P     D        AR JOHANNESBURG  505P#     DEC 15

Mon 11JAN DELTA 201           LV JOHANNESBURG  905P     D       AR ATLANTA       645A#        

Tue 12JAN DELTA 2081         LV ATLANTA       825A     F     AR LOS ANGELES   1042A         COACH

Tue 12JAN DELTA 9074*          LV LOS ANGELES   850P       AR REDDING CALIF 1040P   12JAN

So I will be arriving in SA on Tuesday (15th) afternoon.  I will be in the JHB area for the first few days and over Christmas.  We are going to Vanderbijlpark to my uncle’s place for Xmas.  So if you are in the area and would like to go for coffee or hang out, please contact me via email or on my SA number. I would love to see as you! After Xmas my family will go up to ”die laeveld”.  My grandpa has an amazing game farm up there and we will celebrate the new year with them.  I am so stoked.  Family is so precious! We will be up there for probably a week or so and then all the way back to Burgersdorp.  My flight back to the states is on the 11th.

Thanksgiving week! What an amazing holiday.  I was so blessed.  Margaret Cantrell – an amazing lady from chruch – invited me to her house along with 4 other guests to come and enjoy this time of thanksfulness with her.  What a precious jewel she is.  I painted her a prophetic picture to say thank you for the wonderful blessing.  She made the most amazing food.  She gave us each a pamflet with all the information regarding thanksgiving so we could know where it came from.  So basically it was a feast at the end of harvest time and everyone just came together to celebrate and give thanks to God.  We ate SOOOOOOO much food.  Turkey with stuffing, sweet potatoes (traditionally they put marshmallows on it, but she made another recipe), mash potatoes with gravy, lovely fruit, salad, pumpkin pie etc etc.  It was just divine! Afterwards we hung out building a puzzle (those of you who know me really well will know how much I appreciated that!) and – supposed to be- watching american football on the TV.  It was such a lovely time of just being family.  It reminded me so much of my ouma ROSA – grandma – and all the times we spend in her house.  She was so amazing and I miss her dearly.

Well the rest of the week went by pretty fast.  I kinda tried to rest but was a bit overtaken by a cold.  We had a “lord of the rings marathon” the one day at Brianne’s house which was fun.  I’ve never seen all the extended versions before and really enjoyed it a lot.  We started like 9:30 in the morning and finished at around 11:00pm that night.  Well done team!  It was so much fun to do it with you guys.  Love ya like crazy!  I was actually surprised bacause I hardly fell asleep once during the whole day.  It was great.

So what’s been happening at school.  How to put it into words?  We (the students) are currently experiencing the Lord strongly in more intimate ways.  Everyday just brings so much more to the table and He is strengthening us with His love and discipline (which is not punishment).  Man I am learning so much at school and everyday seems to be so full of His presence.  I wish I can totally (the word everyone says here) share my heart with you guys at the moment, but I am just enjoying discovering new things with Jesus as I go.  For now He is showing me plans and strategies and I am dreaming with HIm.  WE had two guest speakers coming in over the last two weeks and the word they brought were just incredible.  God has such a perfect timing for everything.  Last week Jack Taylor came who is a Father and friend to Bill Johnson.  He brought with him about 30 of his spiritual sons and daughters to come and be here with Bethel for the weekend.  They came at a crucial time and just came with one purpose – To honor Bill and the team and everyone here for what we are doing.  It was so amazing.  Sunday night they spoke words over Bill and Beni and the team and just honored them for what they have sown into and just let them know that they are standing with them.  Then Jack Taylor spoke on washing of feet and they washed BIll and Beni’s feet on stage.  It was such a beautiful sight and meant soooooo sooooo much to everyone.  Once again I was just overwhelmed with the honor in this place!

The following week DR Michael brown was here. What an incredible man of God.  He grew up as a JEW and went literally from LSD (Strong drug abuse) to PH.D.  He is now a messianic Jew and last night he profoundly spoke on the importance of the Jews and Jerusalem.  I would encourage everyone who are interested (all believers should always be praying for Israel) to go on www.ibethel.tv and subscribe to watch that sermon because it was INCREDIBLE.  Dr Brown is insanely intelligent and was the head overseer in the Brownsville revival.  For any questions concerning the Jews and other interesting topics visit their amazing website at www.askdrbrown.org   You can also watch episodes of their show on their and get tons of information about lots of topics people usually try to avoid!

Here is something great we are reading and going over in Kris’s book – Basic training – the supernatural ways of royalty. 

True humility is not the absence of confidence but strength restrained… Humility is an issue of the heart.  We can’t be humble by accident; we must purpose in our hearts to know our greatness yet never exalt ourselves higher that we ought…We can be people of humility and still be confident in who we are.  Unfortunately, confidence always looks like arrogance to the insecure. (Vallotton p106)

We’ve already looked at the fact that Christ was the ultimate model of humility and servanthood.  He restrained His strength by emptying Himself of His priviledges as God and taking on the limitations of humanity. But the Gospels record that Jesus wasn’t perceived as a model of humility.  Jesus regularly offended the Pharisees and even His own followers by making statements that struck them as arrogant and blasphemous.  Here is a typical response to His statements: 

Then the Jews took up stones again to stone Him, Jesus answered them, “Many good works I have shown you from My Father, For which of those works do you stone Me?” The Jews answered Him, saying, “For a good work we do not stone You, but for blasphemy, and because You, being a Man, make Yourself God” (John 10:31-33)

The point is that the perception of people really has nothing to do with whether a person is truly humble. Humility is an issue of how you relate to God and how He perceives you.  The reality is that it is a byproduct of understanding and believing the truth of who God is and who you are in Him. It is true that Humility is a choice, but the fact is that the best way to choose humility is to choose to believe what God says about you. FAITH is the primary trait we must cultivate in our lives in order to “purpose….to know our greatness.” It is when we step out on the words we have heard from our Father that we truly discover what is inside of us and, consequently, are able to learn how to restrain our strength.  Faith is the most humble attribute we can cultivate in our lives!

So may you guys be blessed this week beyond what you can imagine.  May His favor rest upon you and may you hear the heart of the King more clearly.  You are each a precious part of His heart and He is so jealous of your love.  I pray deeper levels of intimacy over you in Jesus name.  It’s an honor the be able to share with you guys.  Thanks for the prayers and for sowing into my life. 

Two weeks ago at the healing rooms here! INSANE!!!!!! Check out for yourself - http://www.facebook.com/#/video/video.php?v=737385920683&ref=share

Love ya lots

GIVE THANKS! November 23, 2009

So it’s thanksgiving week here in the States! We don’t have any class this week so I’m looking forward to huge meals, time with friends, tennis games or whatever the new day will bring!

Let’s start with some testimonies.  That’s always a good place to start.  God is soooooo good.  First of all, I’m going home for Christmas! WHOOOOO! I am so excited I can just jump all day.  My mom and dad decided that they wanted me home to be with the family and so they offered to pay for a ticket! I am sooooo blessed.  I have the best mom and dad in the world.  So this is really unexpected and so refreshing.  I am stoked. 

On Saturday I went to the healing rooms again.  I just love going there to hang out, dance and soak in the presence of God.  While I was there a lady went to the front to give her testimony.  She was 95% deaf for 20 years! And God just opened her ears! She was really emotional and you could just feel her heart being touched by Daddy’s love.  That’s what the gospel is all about.  His love for us and He wants to show us how much He loves us all the time.  We just need to take it! And give it away of course.  Freely you have received, now freely give!

My one buddy Armand (amazing SA dude from Pretoria) went on a Treasure hunt this Thursday.  They found a girl on their list and she had a metal plate in her neck.  They prayed for her and after they prayed, they couldn’t find the metal in her neck anymore! Come on!!! That is just insane.  Bill Johnson makes this joke and says he wonders what God is doing with all the metal in heaven haha.  Last sunday pastor Danny Silk gave a testimony of some of the second years that prayed for a girl.  While they were praying for her, she slowly started bending backwards until she touched the floor! Like a bridge position or something.  They thought it was a bit weird but afterwards she told them “You don’t understand! I was a gymnast and I hurt my back relly bad.  The doctors put two steel rods in my back!!!!!!!”  She came back a week or two later with some x-rays from the doctor and there were NO MORE STEEL RODS IN HER BACK! Jesus is sooooo good!

Well as you guys know, on Saturdays my outreach is to go out to the community and take food to anyone who is hungry.  Our location is at a skate park so we have a lot of young crazy bikers and skaters.  I love it.  After serving two guys from our team started talking to 2 young teenagers from a home group (This is like a home for kids with problems).  They quickly came to the topic of God and they asked them if they ever felt the power of God.  The 2 guys said no so they asked if they wanna feel it.  Because God so wants to show us He is real but most of all that He cares and that He loves us so much.  So they started praying for them and immediately they felt the presence of Holy Spirit.  The one kid said that he is so light headed and the other guy said it feels like he is going to fall over.  So we asked them if they wanted God to increase His presence.  They said no haha.  They were a little freaked out I guess.  But that opened the door to really minister to them the love of Christ.  They were soooooo touched and now had such a new revelation of who God is.  He is soooooo real guys and He is everywhere! Just ask Him to increase and open up to Him more everyday!

So other news. On Saturday Kim and Darrell Hill (He is from SA and she is from here) invited the amazing SA bunch to get together and have a real Thanksgiving party! For many of us it was our first experience with this legendary US tradition and fun was had by all.  We spent the whole day toghether doing art, playing games and just being thankful for what God did over the past year(s) and also for what He is doing now.  We had such a big feast and Kim and Darell really spoiled us richly.  It was just a wonderful experience. 

Dick Joyce was here as guest speaker at the school of ministry this week.  Wow what an amazing time we had.  He had some great words for the students and the house and imparted some dunamis to us all! Thanks God for all those who have gone before us and who have paved the way for us to be here today.  It is such an honor.

We will have our first meeting for the Tijuana missions trip soon and I am so excited.  Thank you for all those who are praying with me for this trip already and also especially for those who are sowing into the trip financially.  If there is still someone who want to contribute, please contact me.  I would appreciate your help and gift a lot.  This is going to be an awesome awesome trip.  For those of you who are not sure what to pray for, just pray for God’s presence and love to touch their hearts. 

So this week is going to be great.  We have a special meeting with pappa Bill Johnson on Tuesday (only those who want to go).  I have 2 more Thanksgiving dinners lined up! I’m meeting friends for a Lord of the rings trilogy day! And that is just the first part of the week.  Thanks for all your prayers and words of encouragement! I love you all dearly.  May God speak to you so clearly through this blog and may you see how He longs for your heart every second of every day.  And it’s so easy! You just have to be with Him! Love ya!

For those of you who whose internet is fast enough to watch some videos:  http://www.facebook.com/album.php?page=2&aid=125746&id=672251450#/video/video.php?v=1169705196891&ref=mf  Debra Reed speaking about kids!! THIS IS INSANE!!! I am sooooo lucky to be working with her on Sundays!

Last Sunday night’s meeting turned into a powerful prayer meeting.  Come Holy Spirit. http://www.facebook.com/album.php?page=2&aid=125746&id=672251450#/video/video.php?v=1170321412296&ref=mf

Another POWERFUL video on kids moving in the Holy Spirit and Power in the church! http://www.facebook.com/album.php?page=2&aid=125746&id=672251450#/video/video.php?v=1298776629934&ref=mf

A great testimony of grace! http://www.facebook.com/album.php?page=2&aid=125746&id=672251450#/video/video.php?v=1165364581449&ref=mf

A REALLY REALLY REALLY funny South African music video!  For those of you who love laughing! http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=112967148091&ref=mf#/video/video.php?v=112967148091&ref=mf