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23 January As the diary gradually begins to take shape after the period of 'planning inactivity' I mentioned on 19th, it almost feels strange to see the next few months fairly well booked up now! Various preaching engagements have come for England - some just waiting to finally confirmed - and Romania and Mexico, along with Colombia, are the big awaydays in the list now. Romania may still be uncertain, as I'm being advised by folk there to be wary, as there is huge rioting, a lot of violence, in protest at the government austerity measures, but, on a much more serious and sinister level, apparent talk of another revolution to bring the government down. Normally, it wouldn't trouble me to be somewhere like that, but where I stay in Bucharest is - literally - two short street walks away from the main centre of violence. So... I'm holding off buying my ticket right now! Mexico is likely to be busy, and also warm(!) - even though it's hard to complain at the weather here, which is crazily warm! I've already got a couple of great guys going with me to Colombia in April, and waiting for one, maybe two more, to give me the nod. Lee, from Maidstone: Chris from Paignton, definites it seems, bith really great blokes, and with immense natural and spiritual gifting. Chris is a maths teacher - just a shame I didn't know him 40 years ago when I was taking - and failing - my maths 'O' level four times before getting it at the fifth attempt (with the lowest pass grade!). Don't you feel better now, knowing that, and knowing, that during those years of maths madness, I worked in a bank.... :) Chris will be great at working out prices on the exchange rates! (well, it IS about 2800 to the pound, not a particularly easy divisible figure! Lee is a paediatrician, so wonderful to take a doctor who wants to be involved in miracles, and great that, if the opportunity is needed, some of the childrens and old people's foundations might benefit from his medical skills.... And so, two weeks in England to come, a few preaching engagements, meetings with people I need to catch up with, and, all being well, a time with the nice folk at Authentic Media, who are interested in my book.... ooer! I don't think I mentioned it here, though I did in my newsletter, that January 18th was an anniversary. It was that date, in 1979, that I earned my last ever salary cheque: how faithful God has been over the intervening 33 years to an unknown, unskilled, and (then) very shy Englishman. So, so, so much has happened in those years, most of it wonderful, some of it not quite so (!).... 19 January My blog inspector (!! - a very dear friend who gently mentions to me if I've not written here for a while - and quite rightly, too! Thank you, Barbara!!) said to me the other night 'You'll start again with "oooohhh dear"....' - so I won't this time! The past 3 weeks have been a time where I've felt certain that God has just had me on 'hold' with regard to going anywhere and planning anything. I'm not the world's best person at sitting and waiting, I envy (in the right way) people who can sit and listen to God and do nothing else: I wish I could. Until 3 or so years back, my diary/agenda used to be booked up a couple of years ahead, and, for me, there was an immense security in that, knowing that, to myself at least, I could justify saying I had a travelling ministry... but it was like a straightjacket: people would get in touch asking if I could go here or there at relatively short notice, and I couldn't, which sort of disturbed me, but the security was greater than being disturbed. Gradually, it seems as though God has 'weaned' me off of booking a long way ahead, to this point where, until really the last 24-48 hours, I've not felt the 'liberty' to confirm any of the opportunities that I have ahead. It's been a vital time in looking at what I do, how I do it, and the means with which I can - or can't - do it all with! It has been good, too, because I made something of a mistake in going to see a physiotherapist to ask for exercises for thigh muscles, which as a result of my knees hurting, would tighten up the moment I started walking.... I told him to leave my knee alone: but when you're flat on your back, and he's a 6 feet 3 inch ex-army bloke who's determined to see what my left knee could and couldn't do, it's difficult to stop him when he's got his great mitts on your knee!! When I came out his place, I could hardly walk... resulting in excessive fluid forming inside my knee to 'defend it'... I had that drained (30 mls!) by the doctor, closely followed by cortisone... so it's actually been very beneficial to save my knee from the thrashing I give it when I'm away on a trip! And... just 4 or 5 days ago, out of the blue, I received an invitation to speak at a conference in France, in May: until not-so-long-ago, I'd have had to say 'no' to something so close dated: but just the day before, I'd been with a friend, and his love and passion for France came up, and I voiced mine, together with my sadness that I've not been to France for a good many years. Other 'short-dated' invitations have come in, too, which are now in the diary, and I've now felt that I can start to put 'flesh on the bones' of an open calendar. I could have been in Bolivia now, but really didn't feel any freedom to try and pray for the inordinate fare to Santa Cruz, taking the scenic route because I can't - yet, still!! - go through the United States. The difference in fares going through Miami, which I couldn't, or Toronto/Bogota, or Sao Paulo, was about £1,000!! It would also have taken at least 2 days to get there: as I was 59 a few weeks back, whilst not succumbing to the 'age' excuse, I hope, I really feel that the era of my life when I could even FACE a 2-3 day journey is somewhat historic! My wonderful friend Hendrik, from Colombia, wanted me to go with him: but as he's going again later in the year, I can go with him then. And, as I've mentioned, I've also felt that God's wanted me 'static'. So, I've now got some dates on the diary page: some preaching in England, a number of other important meetings with people and organisations, with Romania for a few days riding on the back of that trip. Mexico and Colombia are now - in my mind, at least - in place, and late May I'll aim to head to Australia. Meeting with the Rhinos in a couple of weeks is something to so look forward to: such a vital part of my life, relationships, ministry, and sanity....! They're all more insane than me, so I feel comfortably at home with them! Thank you so much for your prayers, your love, and your support last year: I covet all even more this year. Bless you loads! 28 December Oooohhhh dar, I've done it again... realised that there's been a month since writing anything here. No excuses, other than to say that, in writing my newsletter, which I guess most people who read my blog will receive, I subconsciously think I've 'done my bit' of communication, and promptly forget the blog.... Actually, writing the newsletter is quite a long, drawn out, and much-considered process - that might surprise you! Not the long 'bit', but the 'much considered' bit! I do like to spend a good deal of time trying to decide what to include in it. So, if you haven't recieved one, and read this, let me know at paul@paulbennison.com and I'll send you one... December has been a month of catching up on admin stuff, driving hundreds of miles in England both to preach and visit family, and catch up very necessarily with certain people, and then, of course, latterly, chilling out over Christmas, and utilising the time to catch up on rest after the busy-ness and intensity of Colombia. The trek around the southern half of England is becoming increasingly regular, seeing people in the south east especially, and then preaching in Plymouth, at City Church, always one of my favourite places to visit. It's not a large church numerically, but it has a heart, a passion, and mission bigger than most churches I know. From its core comes tremendous involvement in the Healing Rooms, Healing on the Streets, and, perhaps, most significantly, Street Pastors. If you don't know what any of those things are, I'm sure google will help you, but one of the reasons I love this church is that almost everyone is involved in one of those three major God-driven initiatives, including a wonderful couple in their 80's who are on the Street Pastors team - which means that they, with others, go out on Friday nights, at 10pm-4am, to help young people who 'get into difficulties' through alcohol, drugs, relationships, etc., or maybe all of those things... and it's led by a couple of very dear dear friends, Jules & Olwyn, who encourage, bless, lead, train, equip - against so many difficulties, not the least of which is Jules' very severe multiple sclerosis (20 years he's had it, and he's not yet 50) - which they, the whole curch, and I, believe IS BEING healed, and that we're just waiting for the manifestation of it... It was a great morning with them, followed by a wonderful evening with other 'old' friends, David & Sian, and then a visit to my sister, brother in law, and nephew, down in Cornwall. 6 beds in 6 nights, plus not far short of 1,000 miles driven, and I was looking forward to catching up with one bed for a few nights, and long lie-ins! It seems almost impossible that we're past Christmas now, and in less than 72 hours, we'll be ushering in yet another new year. I have to say I've never quite understood the need to celebrate every new year the way some do: the milennium, yes, I'll go with that, but for me, I'm happier celebrating every days' arrival, knowing that God has sustained me through the previous one, and will sustain me through the new one. If you ARE one of those who loves the new year, then please let me say 'Happy New Year' to you: I hope and pray that, in the aftermath of David Cameron, the Prime Minister, speaking out about his Christian faith just a couple of weeks ago, talking of reclaiming Britain back as a Christian nation: and then, listening to Her Royal Highness, Quene Elizabeth, preach the gospel in her 'live' speech to the Commonwealth, on Christmas Day (better than many people who title themselves evangelist!), that maybe 2012 could be the dawn of seeing God move sovereignly in our lovely nation.... I won't take up much more space here... just to say that many people ask me about the 'USA Visagate' saga, and how I've 'coped' with it (it's coming up 32 months soon!): my answer is that God has done much in me, for me, and, hopefully, through me, in these 'exile' months, not the least of which is a 'falling in love' with the United Kingdom again, having had a few years in the early part of the last decade where I admit, I fell out of love with a lot of what I saw, knew, and experienced... So, here's to God 'doing the stuff' in the wonderful UK again in 2012, and, for you, in whatever country you live in! I count every country I've ever been to as a place I love: so God bless you, all over the world, and lets - together - see this coming year as an opportunity to bring His Kingdom to a greater number of people so that they can know him, too.... Happy New Year (and day!)!! 27 November Read this quote from John Wimber the other day. Love it...
26 November Man alive, what a long haul back to the UK!! Even though you know it in your head - leave Cali 2pm Tuesday, arrive Northern Ireland 10 am Thursday - it doesn't make it feel any shorter! It was lovely being chaperoned to the airport by my wonderful friends Wilmer and Hendrik, and Wilmar's two adorable daughters, Sofia and Sara. Apart from Walter or Dunia, I can't think of many better people to wish you goodbye and safe journey! Amazingly, I did actually get some sleep on the Bogota - Toronto leg (I can normally never sleep on planes): it probably helped that it was the same naff selection of films and TV programmes on the way back as on the way out, and the noise-cancelling headphones, which for many years have been such a blessing now! Thank you, Bose! No hassles this time (or going to Colombia) with Canadian Immigration (if you missed what happened, look at the blog in April!). Bizarrely, the plane from Toronto - London was the exactly the same one from Bogota - Toronto: even more bizarrely, as my luggage had been on the first leg, it failed to make the second leg! Seems to me that they could just have left it on the plane in a container marked 'London'.... fortunately, it DID come back, about 8 hours after I did, th visit my family, though my nice new 'Antler' (always buy decent as theoretically they last longer!! lol!!) bag was destroyed... So, from Tuesday afternoon, and 33 degrees C, to Thursday morning, and 9 degress C, cold wind, rain... no wonder my body sometimes wonders what on earht is going on, let alone my mind, with the time changes. It's weird having spentnights not even under a sheet (too hot) to trying not to turn over into the cold bit of the bed, whilst snuggled in a thick winter duvet.... A couple of weeks to recover, before heading back to England to preach: then visit my family, and try to think what to do about Christmas... maybe I'll just get in a load of logs, a few beers, a bottle or three of wine, and watch TV... sounds grand! Thank you ALL - who have taken the time to read the Colombia wonder as it unfolded, for your love, prayers, care, and interest. I often wonder who - if anyone - actually reads this, apart from a very small handful of people who tell me they do: it was an amazing blessing to know that parts of it were read out at Mark & Scott's church, so for me that makes it all worthwhile. IF you read it, and it blesses you, I'd love it if you'd let me know.... Now to set to and write my newsletter: and prepare for the new year, with Bolivia, Mexico, Honduras, Australia, Sweden, and Romania to fit in somewhere... Oh, and add some stories, as I get permission, to the testimonies tab.... oh, an on the 'Who is Paul?' tab, I've added under the bit 'What other people say...' a wonderful 'testimonial' recieved today from Wilmar Gomez, the pastor of the lovely 'Shadow of the Almighty' church in Cali.... it made me realise that all the travelling, all the hassles, are so, so worthwhile.... 21 November (later) With a bit of time to reflect further tonight on this trip, I've realised it's been a very busy time, we've never really seemed to stop, least of all yesterday, until quite late when we ate, but also realised that I only preached 2-3 times during the whole time.... Over the years, I've brought many people here to Cali, and, in those years, and in the many prior to that speaking all around the globe, one of my main goals in ministry is to effectively do myself out of a job by giving other people every opportunity to 'do the stuff'. Years back, in the '80's, I wanted to take a brilliant (then)young man to an African country... he was working as an assistant pastor to a friend, so approached my friend to ask him if he thought it would be ok.... my friend, a Christian of many years, a pastor, about my age, asked me 'Why do you want to take him?' My answer was that he was a brilliant bible teacher for someone so young, and a good mate. My friend replied, 'That's what I mean! He's brilliant: they might think he's better than you, and want him back and not you...'. Why, oh why, oh why do we hold so tightly onto our 'ministries'? If they thought he was better than me (and even I knew he was!) and he would be better for the people we went to than I would, then... let him go there! I'd find somewhere else.... and for the 20 or so years since then, I have: and that (then) young man has had an amazing ministry in Africa, and elsewhere. I'm still friends with the young man (well, he's a good bit younger than me!!), and no longer have any contact with my older friend, who has 'fled' from church to church pastorate in those years, with no real sign of 'success', whatever that means. I have prayed many times over the past few weeks with Scott, who was 19 just a few days ago: I listen to his wisdom, passion, confidence in the God he loves and who loves him, and know that he's going to end up doing stuff I can only ever dream of. So... why stand in his way? I can't imagine.... I WANT people like him to be in a place when they're 20 or so that I, nearing 60, have never been.... I've taken an occasional 'cuckoo' with me over the years, who, behind my back, have tried to get me out of the way: I'll get out of the way if it's God, or the people I go to, who tell me, or those I'm wholly accountable to: meantime, I want to open doors for people in whom I see things I don't have. I've so appreciated Mark Marx's 'internship' principle, training up Timothys: I'm 59 in 24 days, I only have another 40 years or so of doing this stuff left, so...doors open to gifted called people! 21 November Sitting here in this very nice apartment, I feel a bit like 'Billy No-Mates' now, as Mark & Scott have left, so I'm in splendid isolation for 24 hours, thanks to Air Canada's ridiculous rescheduling for a few weeks only, meaning that there are no flights out from Colombia to Canada today, even though when I booked my ticked I was on tonight's (now non existent) flight! I can think of a million worse places to be than here, though, so it's not all bad news.... ....and looking back on the events of the past three weeks, this is a small price to pay for having had the privilege of seeing God do what ONLY God can do, but seeing it first hand with the immense blessing of Him allowing Mark, Scott, Simon, and me to be the route through which his power transformed lives. I've been doing this stuff for 25 years or more now (I thought a quantity of years like that was only something my grandparents used to speak of, and they were SOOO old...!): even after all these years, the thrill of praying for someone who tells you their pain has gone, their tumour has disappeared, their leg has grown, their hearing is restored, their paralysed body is tingling, or simply that their cold has gone, remains undiminshed. I never tire of seeing God move: and whilst now, my body is tired, and my eyes, my spirit wants to yell 'thank you! thank you! thank you!' to the God of the Universes, the creator, the King of Kings, Lord of Lords, and my friend... for using this thick, simple, and weak East Ender (someone born in the east part of London, for the uneducated!) to see heaven touch earth, and revolutionise the lives of individuals. Even more, to know (from Walter and Hendrik last night) that the simple stuff I share with churches, stories I tell of God's power, is vital, edifying, and exhortational, in a Christian culture that craves more and more and more teaching. C S Lewis once said, 'We don't need to be taught, we need to be reminded' - it's so easy to crave teaching (you just grow fat spiritually if you don't put it to use), to crave the prophetic (what's the point in saying 'so and so prophesied over me' if you don't put the last prophetic word into action. It blows me away that the message of God is so, so simple - which is perhaps why someone like me can actually believe it works! It's been wonderful having Mark Marx, Simon Allaby, and Scott Lorimer here: it's bee odd without my 'regular' companion here, Alan, and I've missed him, but those three guys (which when most Colombians say it in English comes out as 'gays'...!!!) have been such a blessing. It was hard to say goodbye to all of them, as we've shared so much of seeing God move this trip, and there's been so much laughter and fun, it's been a tonic... Thousands prayed for (literally - and it's when you write sdomething like that, it's good to have had others with me who say the same, as I know there are people who think some of what I report from here is 'evangelastic'...): thousands healed: many committing, or re-committing, their lives to God: pastors enthused: new doors opening: churches fired up to another level: pastors who think that their churches are to small, or in too dangerous a location to ever have gringoe visitor, blessed out of their boots to have us turn up: murders seen, robberies witnessed, taxi drivers astonished when you give them a 1,500 peso tip (50pence, $0.80): market traders the same: considerable quanitites of amazing but cheap south American steak consumed (!)... Just HOW can you put a price on seeing stuff like this, in 3 short weeks? And WHY would people NOT be prepared to pay the price to not only come here to bless, but be blessed by being here? Always, people ask how my life came to be this way. Many say they'd love to do what I do. YOU CAN. It just means being prepared to let go of everything - income, home, security, personal safety and comfort zones, maybe even family.... Jesus had a fair bit to say about it! Jose Luis' head - fontanelle, at least! - re-opening: paralysed Rodolfo tingling all over: a lifelong epileptic fit child having no fit for the first time in her 5 year life: children - and adults' 'arch-less' feet developing arches on the palm of your hand: deaf ears opening: cancers disappearing.... if you read this pathetic report of mine often, it's like reading the same thing over and over again, but it's all to different people, and that is amazing. And what's more amazing to me is that, even after 15 years and 40 visits, the pastors here still want me and those I bring with me, back... so, as I pack my suitcases today to leave tomorrow, I'm already looking forward to being here in April next year, God willing. Now, just to ask God for the grace to get through the long haul home....! I leave here, the apaprtment that is, at 2 pm tomorrow (Tuesday), and I'll be in Bangor at about 930 am Thursday.... care to join me over the next 40 hours???!! What;s more, I've REALLY hammered my knees on this trip... standing, preaching, praying, walking on dreadful uneven pavements (sidewalks for the people who don't speak proper English!!). Alan prayed for my knees before I left Ireland; Wilmar, Mark, Scott, and others have prayed for them whilst I've been here... yup, they're still a bit sore, BUT... from where I sit right now, they're healed... thank you, Jesus! 20 November (late!)
20 November (afternoon) Just an update on two great meetings this morning - Mark & Scott had a really good time at Generation of Fire, prayed for loads.... I loved being in the Shadow of the Almighty (in more ways than one!), loads responded to the challenge to break out of the safe zones, and then they prayed for the sick... countless testimonies from the front before the service ended. Going out on a high! I'll do a 'summary' here tomorrow.... if you've got any patience left! 20 November A little rider to last night's late blog...at the end of the meeting in Yumbo, Pedro, the pastor, asked if we'd go and pray for a man in his home. It's funny, but when you're think you're 'finished' ministry praying, it's quite hard to drum up the desire again, but Mark & I went... Rodolfo, 15 years with a broken spine (motorbike accident), lovely bloke, wonderful mum named Ema: in one of the poorest homes I've been in, anywhere. I really felt I should sit on the bed next to him (he'd been sleeping when we arrived, and mum had sat him up): it's funny, but I could almost hear people from my family past whispering to me 'Don't sit there!' 'Look at those sheets!' 'Smell it!'... I hope one of the things in me that's becoming more 'Jesus-like' over the years is compassion, and to love people wherever they are. Rodolfo was stunned we'd go there, and as I sat with my arm round him, and we both prayed (me translating for Mark - quantum leap this trip for me!), the transformation that came over him was lovely: peace, joy,he said some of his pain went down, and then, confirmed by Dr Dunia (who deals in this stuff day in day out!) tingling started to come back to his right side. Dunia said that would be the first sign of motor function returning. It increased, and we left him and mum, we believe, with new hope for the future.... 19 November (late!) Mark felt his 'mission' here had been fulfilled in getting the church - or at least, some from some churches, outside of the walls, and into the place where Jesus would have been. A brief respite as we waited for Walter to come at 5.30 pm to take us to Yumbo Baptist Church, pastroed by good friend Pedro, President of ASMICEV, the pastors association here in Cali. The brief respite could have been a good bit longer, if we weren't ready and 'dressed' for church, as he didn't come! He did, however, send Dunia for us, albeit 75 minutes late, which is a 'lateness' I still find hard to get my head around after 15 years here! It wasn't Dunia's fault, by the way.... Great meeting though, deafeningly loud music, but Mark spoke well, and quite a few responded for healing. There were a good number of testimonies, from the front, straight away, including a lady with extreme pain in both legs and right arm with no pain anymore; an older man who knew that his dicky ticker from a heart attack years before had been healed, a lovely young lady named Theresa, who had such nasal congestion for a long time, she hadn't been I were rather relieved that the thick mucous she told us about didn't put in an appearance on exit... :) And so, to really what is the last day, Sunday: Mark & Scott leave tomorrow, and preach at Generation of Fire Church, and I'm at Shadow of the Almighty Church, Wilmar, Hendrik, and Teija's church. Then we have a small meeting with Pilar & Diego Reyes at their new church in the south of the city at 4 pm, and reckon we might go for some well earned refreshment at the lovely French bar/cafe of the road to celebrate later on! 19 November
. as they need healing, and their stall is only a few hundred yards away from where we'll be.A meeting at Walter's church tonight saw a good few people healed, including a lady so, so tormented by spirits, telling Scott and me that they didn't want to come out of her.... happy to say, they did...!
18 November (afternoon) Sadly, just waiting for the taxi to come to whisk Simon off back into the arms of his family... happy for him, but we'll miss him, he's been a fantastic bloke to have on a team. We arrived at Nueva EPS hospital this morning, having managed easily to get a taxi on 'no car' day in Cali (3.5 million people here, no cars: we thought the taxis would be choc-a-bloc!).... the taxi driver we got was totally insane! We reckon there was some Italian in him somewhere, as he had 'that' accent, was totally expressive with his hands (whilst driving!), all over the road, never more than one hand on the wheel, and, most of the time, with his head turned 90 degrees looking at me as we talked! We were all laughing hysterically, which, I suppose, is where 'die laughing' must have originated!! Such a blast - and so fast!! Waiting for us, on the wall outside, were Jose Luis, Aida, and Jose Luis Jnr: they'd come especially to see us, to thank us (what did WE do... only prayed: none of us can do the miracle Junior had yesterday!).... it was such a wonderful way to arrive, tears, laughter, hugs, cuddles with Junior.... soon a queue had formed OUTSIDE the hospital, and people were coming from their houses around and opposite the hospital to get us to pray for them... healing on the streets impromptu! What a joy it was to share in their happiness, the son who would have been massively deformed in his head, and severely brain damaged... totally and utterly 'miracled' by an astonishing God.... People were coming from houses opposite and all around the hospital for prayer: it was really quite a revival scenario, and just mind-blowing! So many people healed in the waiting room, too: Aura - migraines (she had one, it went) and severe back pain; Milena - colitis, migraines, and (visibly) set free from witchcraft oppression; Carmen KNEW she was healed of her epilepsy; a lovely oldr lady, can't remember her name, with dementia, but healed of all body pain.... the hospital officer, directing people to the right section of the hospital, was, again, first sending people to us to be prayed for! Some patients, after being seen by Dr Dunia, were being sent by her to us, with a 'prescription' list of their infirmities, so we could pray. Others, we prayed for first, then Dunia told us that most had been immediately healed.... You know, it's almost impossible to write this stuff knowing how to communicate just how it FEELS to us to be here, and the immensity of the amazing presence of God, and his power, as life after life gets changed at a time when most people (who see Dunia, as a brain surgeon, anyway) are in fear for next week, not just their lives... Also, today, had a message from my dear friend Graham in Worcester, with reports of more miracles there!! So, thank you God, it's still happening in the UK.... a lady with ovarian cysts - healed: a girl with non-Hodgkins lymphoma (a horrible strain of cancer, if you don't know), recently had a scan after 2 months chemo. Three large tumours all gone including one fist sized one on her heart. Doctors very surprised! So... hospital Nueva EPS (another one!!) tomorrow... lunch with another key pastor... then a night prayer vigil at my friend Walter's church... closely followed by Healing on the Streets on Saturday.... the pressure of this city, and sometimes the programme, is relentless (we were 'relieved' to hear tonight's meeting has been cancelled, as it's 'no car' day)... 4 more days of relentless-ness... and countless miracles.... please Lord!!
18 November (2.30am - see last entry heading!) Amazing day.... Club Noel childrens hospital in the morning, a whole waiting room and corridor of desperate parents/relatives, and desperately sick kids... so much gratitude for our just being there, to care, to love... prayer works...! Jose Luis, 4 months, with cranial sysnosyntosis (yeah, me too!) - seems that the fontanelle closes too quickly (should take 2 years), deforming the head, and preventing the brain from growing, so mental and physical handicap (at best, death at worst) on a grand scale. Jose Luis, scanned today, his cranium is open again.... his dad was sobbing... A man with atrophied organs - shrinking, rotting, killing him - has his organs growing again (scan evidence). Scott prayed for a lady we heard new of today, last Sunday: for 20 years, she's had no menstrual cycle, desperate for children, but obviously unable to have any. Her cycle began, Sunday.... I'm sort of feeling apologetic, as this blog just seems to get better and better, as each trip to Colombia does the same... I sound like a stuck record! I could just go on and on... Loads prayed for today, some immediate healings, legs grew tonight after Simon preached (sadly, his last night with us) very well: many responded for recommitment to Jesus, and healing... great church, one I love going to and preaching in - Generacion de Fuego / Generation of Fire - pastored by the lovely Julio. Many testimonies to come from there, Mark & Scott are back there Sunday.... Lunch with the family of Pastor Luis Salas: wonderful time of deeping friendship with him, a key man in the growing of the kingdom of God, especially in Agua Blanca. Later, with Hendrik and Walter to plan Saturday's Healing on the Streets blitz in Plaza de Caicedo, scene of street miracles there in April when Alan was with me, and we were with Hendrik & Willmar. Nueva EPS hospital again tomorrow, it's a 'no car' day in Cali, only taxis, so getting there could be interesting! What a trip it has been: 5 days left for Mark & Scott, 6 for me... c'mon God! 16 November (3.15 am - can't sleep!) The end of this amazing trip to Cali is now in sight - sadly, Simon leaves Thursday afternoon to return home, Mark & Scott go Monday, and me Tuesday.... it always seems that at this point 'silly season' kicks in as the world and his wife want to see us/meet us/go to their church! Fortunately, Tuesday was realtively laid back, with a fantastic visit to Nueva EPS gospital (a different site to last weeks' hospital - back there Thursday). We prayed with dozens in the waiting room, adn the were some instant healings, and a lot of response.... a lady named Dina, with arthritis in her right knee and a wrecked left knee (sounds familiar? - same as me!!) was healed instantly, and of chronic spinal problems and the associated pain... one man got healed, leg lengthened, and told the receptionists he was ok now and went home... people are so amazingly blessed that we go there: I guess it IS kind of unusual, but it all seems so natural to me now, especially as Dunia announces to everyone waiting that we're there to see God heal them! After the hospital, and ahead of silly season, I took the opportunity of taking the guys to the biggest and best supermaket for coffee purchases/choice, then to the lovely craft shop, La Calenita, for stuff for them to take home, then downtown to get some other things Mark wanted, grab a juice drink at Manuel's stall.... then eat at the amazing Simon Parilla thatched roof steak house. True suffering for the kingdom.... At Club Noel later today, the kids hospital, where Dunia has been steadily getting stories back from after last weeks' visit, hopefully many more tomorrow from last week, and new ones from this week.... then various meetings with key pastors, and a meeting at the church, Generation of Fire, in the evening. Nueva EPS Thursday morning... Oh, and mission accomplished, Alan & Barbara, at La Calenita.... :) 14 November I don't really know where to begin to describe today.... it was another national holiday, but Hendrik had asked if we'd go and pray with a businessman friend of his. Mark Marx's phrase for the trip (and show's he's 'learned' Colombia quickly!) is 'expect the unexpected'. Where we went was TOTALLY unexpected. A long drive into the depths of Agua Blanca, to the area Alfonso Bonilla Aragon, absurdly the name of the airport, but couldn't have been further removed from an airport if it tried - I can't imagine many of the people in this district have enough to live on, let alone relate to an airport. 'The Foundation & Home for the Abandoned Elderly', in a small backstreet, run by aldy - Anabeiva - who, when she looked at you and smiled, it was Jesus looking at you and smiling. Apparently, we were the first gringoes to go there: it's an mazing small house, but packed - literally - with aged, infirm people who literally have been discarded by family, friends, hospitals: there's no real social services here. Anabeiva is a most wonderful lady: and it's so humbling to have someone in tears of gratitude because you're there, when really it should be - and in fact, is - the other way round. It was so poor, but immaculately clean, with a whole bunch of mostly incredibly infirm and desperately sick people. All four of us were wrecked, and wen I asked if we could pray for Anabeiva, and then the residents, she burst into tears and knelt, and hugged me all the time I was praying for her and speaking what I believe were God's words for her. Abandoned elderly - unbelieveable. No money, few possessions to run the ministry, Anabeiva has all the residents happy, cared for, and, most importantly, loved. The place is alive with the Presence and Love of God, and we were all wrecked. We didn't really want to leave, and all day, there's been a sense amongst our little team that God opened the window of something special he has his hand on, and allowed us to see it. Mark summed it up on his Facebook page - there are some places hidden deep in the heart of God. This is one of them. If had money, I know where put some: in Anabeiva's pocket. This ministry has shaken me to my core.... The rest of the day we celebrated Scott's 19th birthday, mostly eating and drinking, and seeing one of the worst films any of us have ever seen - Jack & Jill. If you're thinking about it, don't bother! Mark had to wake me up twice as I was snoring quite loud.... Early-ish tomorrow, another new hosital - a different part of Nueva EPS, so more praying for desperate souls and destroyed bodies. In all, 4 hospitals occupy the mornings of this final week here - including Club Noel, the kids' place, where we KNOW there are going to be more testimonies...
13 November Well.... we were down for a number of meetings today, according to the original schedule (!!): Mark was down to speak in Agua Blanca, at 8am, then 10 am in Yumbo, and tonight at a night vigil in the mountains.... Simon was going to El Abrigo, Hendrik's church (actually, dear friend Willmar is pastor now, as Hendrik is in a much more Apostolic role), at 10 am, and then with me to Cordoba/Retiro - an unkonwn (to me) area of Agua Blanca this evening. I was scheduled to speak at my long-time friends Jairo & Claudia Lozano's church in La Rivera, quite a long way north in the city, at 9 am. Friday, we were told that Yumbo and La Rivera were cancelled: that's not unusual here, pastors sometimes just head off somewhere else without warning! So, Mark & Scott hit the road at 750 am, somewhat late to get to Agua Blanca, but that's not unusual here either! I went with Simon to Willmar's church, and, sitting waiting for the meeting to begin, Walter called to ask where I was.... not where I apparently should have been! La Rivera WASN'T cancelled, so at 10.10 I headed off for the 30-40 minute drive to the church for it's 9 am start... :) We all had GREAT mornings.... many saved in Agua Blanca, Simon prayed for loads of people, as did I. We were all pretty whacked out by the time we got back together, and Simon and I were due to head off to Cordoba for a 5pm start. Mark & Scott were due to be picked up at 7pm for the trip to the vigil in the mountains... ours went without a hitch, the service was lengthened by the vast numbers wanting prayer, and we finally got back to the apartment at about 915pm - to find Mark & Scott still waiting for Walter.... seems that the translator had decided he wasn't translating, so finally, with Mark already tucked up (?? to hot for that!) in bed, Walter arrived at gone 10 pm to take them! Bless 'em, Simon and Scott willingly went, and they're there now as I'm writing... The meeting in Cordoba was absolutely amazing. Simon preached - I've hardly preached this trip, as it's always my greatest desire to give the guys with me the opportunities, and I told a few of the wonderful stories of the past few days before I introduced him. The deluge of people for ministry was sort of unexpected, but dozens and dozens were healed: legs grew to the same length - one lady, Blanca, getting on in years, had chronic back pain, and xrays from hospital to show that her left leg was at least 5 cms longer than the right. Sat her on a chair on the platform, and the whole gathered throng watched as the leg grew out. Another lady, did the same thing with. Pain went, scoliosis healed, sight restored, hearing restored, an 'in progress' migraine (regular occurrence for this lady) went, a young lad got arches in his feet, majorly blocked sinuses were cleared (pretty sight!!), arthritic hands healed, osteo parosis pain disappearing, a lady's knees were healed (again, thank you Lord! there are a couple here, too... :) ). One lady lost all pain in her feet (mostly caused by overweight), and 'felt' her metabolism engage as I prayed for her... The pastor's aunt was healed...For the first time in 30 years, prayed for someone with syphilis... not an immediate way of knowing if he was healed! Simon had a great time praying for people, too - loads and loads healed, many testifying there and then... thank you, Lord!!! As Simon & I were leaving Cordoba/Retiro in our little Hyundai taxi, Jhon, the translator said 'I want to honour you two guys'... 'Why, Jhon?'.... without doubt this is the most dangerous area of the city....' Relieved laughter from Simon...!!! 12 November (later) God certainly did the stuff.... this one meeting, in a tiny church in the district of the city known as Simon Bolivar, would have made the whole trip worthwhile... I've nver been to Simon Bolivar before, and brain surgeon Dunia was driving/ translating for us.... Walter with us too: they told us that this district has the highest concentration of drug cartels in the city, and is the 'centre' where most of the 'Siccarios' are... if you (unlikely, I know!) saw Sky TV's 'Ross Kemp on Gangs', he did a whole programme on them. If you want someone murdered, that's where you go to find someone to do it, for at most $100 (£60): two - normally young - men on a motorbike, with a shotgun... immense poverty despite the cartels, it's on the far side of Calvario, which, until tonight, had been amongst the worst and most dangerous places I've ever been. We learned from the pastors that we were the first foreigners to preach - or even be - there. What a privilege! The wife said that she'd never dreamed when we met her last week that we'd ever go to their small, dangerous, church.... Recognised the lady pastor - husband and wife Hernan & Aida lead the church - known simply as 'John 3:3' (No one can see the Kingdom unless he is born again) from the 'Fire Extinguisher' Health and Safety meeting (!) last week. Prayed for her then, for severe scoliosis, and an large un-diagosed lump on her shoulder/chest.... she told the church once we'd arrived that she'd been to the hospital since, for x-rays and scans: no lump, scoliosis healed, perfectly normal spine!! So much for knocking the Health and Safety evening.... :( . Simon preached really well from Acts 1, then we must collectively have prayed for all the people there. Aida was totally 'blitzed' by God as Scott & I prayed for her, others were healed.... then, as we werre leaving, Dunia told us that their son, Hernan 3rd, was paralysed down his left side, the pastors too shy to ask for prayer for him: ooohhhh my.... his left leg was a good 1 1/2-2 inches shorter than the right, too. His legs were almost instantly 'equalised'(!!), and a radical transformation overcame him... absolutely wonderful! Thank you Jesus! We'll hear he's totally healed, we all know that.... Dunia then told us about some of the kids from Club Noel, the kids hospital (see entry for 10th!) - with pictures, on her phone. A little boy, totally paralysed with cerebral palsy - moving, responding, reacting: another with an horrendous skin condition, much much better: the epileptic child, whose life had been one long endless epileptic fit, has not had a seizure of any sort since that day.... don't forget, this is the DOCTOR reporting this back, not one of us.... so many kids touched, yet again, it seems. We're back there next week... 12 November Second part of the HOTS training went very, very well this morning, pretty much the same number/froup as last night. Mark was excellent. In the healing 'demonstration' near the end, a few legs grew (not mine those 6 extra inches or so I've always wanted, though :( ), and a lovely 2 1/2 year old boy, Danie, who 6 months ago totally lost the ability to walk, much to the astonishment of everyone, including medics, who haven't known what it was, and consequently what do to do - walked, and kicked a football... a lot of clapping and cheering, and thanks to God....!! About an hour from the end of the session, the ever-present (these days) rain returned, with a vengeance: in fact, 5 hours after the end of the session, it's still raining, which scuppered the praying on the street: it has literally theown it down all day. I hate to think of what's happening in the areas where massive flooding, and multiple deaths, have already occurred this week. We're going to try and fit in a street 'session' midweek if we can: it's such a shame, as everyone there was really up for it.... Heading off to a mrrting in 30 minutes, don't know the church or the pastor's name (nothing new there, then!!), so praying that the day will end as it began, with God doing the stuff, as John Wimber so wonderfully and theologically once put it! 11 November So, no weird happenings on 11.11.11 - but some wonderful ones here in Cali! Tonight was the first ever 'Healing on the Streets' meeting in Latin America: Mark Marx spoke brilliantly, and there's a lot of excitement and enthusiasm. When Mark was mid-flow talking about us being the presence of God on the streets, the son of a pastor (in the meeting) at Hendrik's church, Mision Abrigo el Altisimo, arrived to join his dad: right outside the door of the church, he was attacked at gunpoint, robbed of his car, phone, and wallet, shots were fired.... so clearly the enemy was trying to disrupt the presence of God.... he's so totally unsubtle, and failed miserably, though it's sad about the guy's car.... it's going to be a great time tomorrow on the streets after the morning of teaching, right in the heart of the city, between the business district (people work here on Saturday! they're so poor...) and the 'downtown market, Plaza de Caicedo. The morning was spent in Santillana Hospital, recently reopened as Clinica Colombia: whilst we were waiting for pastor friend Walter to arrive, and Duina, the doctor, prayed for the wife of a young couple - Angela - in the waiting room... she was in extreme pain in her back, and epileptic... after a few moments of significant 'leg growing' all the pain in her back went, and time will tell about the epilepsy... Many people were deeply touched in the wards, a good number freed from pain and other illnesses, and a young man, in the hospital because he'd been shot (named Christian, only he wasn't one!) became one.... All in all, an interesting Friday....! 10 November First opportunity to update since Tuesday night, and just as I 'connect' the loudest clap of thunder ever, followed by torrential rain, explodes outside the apartment! Hoping the internet stays on this time! Thunderstorms have been threatening for some time, very humid, muggy, and overcast... The last couple of days have been quite outstanding, even by usual Cali standards! Yesterday, after much confused latino commuication and administration problems (!) we made it to Club Noel, the childrens hospital. As always, just went down corridor after corridor of rooms containing children with life threatening/ contagious/multiple diseases. Always in the rooms, are parents, sisters, grandparents, so its a wonderful opportunity not only to pray for the kids, but hte family too. To appreciate just WHAT it means to people, to have foreigners come into a room with sick kids, in a poor environment, you really need to be here. It blows them away, that we'd travel half way round the world, and sit with them, cry with them sometimes, bless them, and pray for healing. Many of the kids were massivley touched yesterday - an epileptic child, tormented by a long, continual seizure, shaking violently - stopped, was so at peace and rest the family thought the child had died! Thank you Lord! (The child HADN'T died, by the way...). Kids threatened by pneumonia, crippled by septic arthritis (I'm going to have to google that one) healed.... room after room... for almost 2 hours. It is SUCH a privilege, and even though it costs us an arm and a leg to get here (this time that's true more than ever!!), it's worth every penny, to see God heal, to feel the Presence of God fall in the midst of turmoil - be it a hospital, shop, taxi, or - dare I say it - even a church...?? Last night, Mark was on Hendrik's new TV programme - he hates being on TV, but Hendrik said it went brilliantly, advertising, amongst story telling, the weekend ahead training people to pray on the streets... The rest of us were back at Sunday evening's church - I now know it 'Communidad Dios con Nosotros' - The Community of God with Us'. Simon preached on 'What does the Kingdom look like?' (and excellently he preached, too), but we started off by asking for testimonies from Sunday - loads! First up, the Pastor, Rafael - I'd prayed with him Sunday, pretty acute pain in his stomach, pains in his legs, feeling very unwell: Sunday night, no pain, Monday playing football fitter than he's been in years. A lady, who lost a baby quite late in a pregnancy, had had major mnestural issues (like - none) for many months: her period began Sunday night. A lady with major-league blood circulation problems, and terribly long sighted - and hadn't slept properly for years - slept, read perfectly from small print across a long distance, and her legs are totally normally now with the circulation healed! The keyboard player, a lovely young lady, major arm-break 5 years ago - the elbow joint was sticking out pf the point of her elbow, got total mobility back in her arm, and could touch her shoulder with her fingers, first time in 5 years.... Many more healed last night, too: migraines, back pain, scoliosis, no arches in feet (there are now!), depression, high blood pressure, sight problems... I sound like a 'stuck' record, don't I??!!?? Right at the end, was asked to pray with a lovely young woman, probably late 20s: took a job out of desperation some years ago with an IT (Information Technology - Computers - if you don't know!). Turned out to be...well.... a pretty perverse company, that ended up controlling her (don't ask what she got into, please), and then SHE became a controller herself - running 'slaves' - she told me the term was 'dominatrix' - heard of it, know nothing about it. Her slaves did everything she told them, including selling their organs, for some of them it cost their lives. 3 months ago she escaped, gave her life to the Lord, but wanted prayer because she's got people after her, suffers extreme oppression, sleeplessness.... thank you, Lord, you redeemed her: and last night, the process of healing, rest, peace, and forgiveness just washed over her... A bit different to praying for a cold, huh? My translator was totally aghast, and said 'You hear some incredible stuff, don't you?...... Yes... and Jesus is bigger than all of it, for which I'm eternally grateful. And now, look forward to a meeting tonight, in Palmira, about 30 minutes north of Cali, then tomorrow morning, Santillana Hospital..... It really does seem that God is stepping up the tempo on this trip, with more healed each day than the last, so, with 11 days to go, and only 9 gone, we're all looking forward to it!!! Today we were at a new (to me) hospital - Nueva EPS - just cut loose amongst the people in the waiting room, ahead of their appointments. We were there just about 2 hours, and must have prayed for well over 100 people. The man who was directing people to the right window for their appointment began directing straight towards us....! At least 90% of the people were healed instantly! A lady in chronic pain, two walking sticks, back pain, spinal problems, terrible leg pain - was facially transformed as God swept through her body, all the pain went. She got up and walked across the room, then back: then again: and again... no pain at all! Her friend went to give her her walking sticks as they left, but she said she didn't need them anymore. A big guy (even by my standards!), in severe pain in his ribs, abdomenn, and legs, wept... I said above, thqat to have total strangers care for them, pray with them, kneel at their feet as we pray.... just blows people out of the water. The man was healed. A lady with a large midriff swelling - cirrhosis - in acute pain, totally pain-free, and the whole waiting room saw her (very large) swelling disappear.... A lady in chronic pain with a badly deformed right leg, had all her pain go (many of these were confirmed straight away by brain-surgeon friend Dunia) - her defored leg will follo the pain, and be healed in days.... Another lady, totally destroyed left knee, arthritic right (rang some bells for me I can tell you!) - totally healed, no pain, walking normally.... what more can I say? There were dozens and dozens... AND.... my knees, especially the left one I wrecked by accident last year, is getting better and better. The guys with me have noticed it in the way I'm walking.... so I'm up for my knees to be totally healed by 22 November, when I begin my trek home... It's a reall problem in trying to remember all the stories, there are so many, but I'll add more as they come back to each of us! And for the sceptics...dare I say cynics... there are 4 of us here, all seeing these things happen, so to exaggerate would bring our collective 'wrath' down on each other!
8 November (later) Today we actually got to sit down with Walter, my long-time pastor friend, who organises quite a bit of what I - and my friends! - do whilst here... he's been a bit like mercury this past week, and pinning him down for more than a day ahead in the programme has been nigh on impossible! So...it's now a busy programme, with more to come, and from one 'Healing on the Streets' course, we now seem to have 3 - it's taken one or two of the 'locals' a few days to really grasp what they have available to them here in Mark Marx.... it's been fantastic so far, but today seemed to step up the heat somewhat more.... ....which was surprising, in a way, because one of the first things we learned today was that tonight's meeting was cancelled! BUT... we were in a taxi on our way from Palmetto Plaza, where we'd been with Walter, to 'Centro' (Downtown), and just 'happened' to pick a taxi, the driver of which we'd seen just standing on the pavement a few days ago, wearing an 'I love the Irish' or something like that t-shirt! Turns out he's a Christian, named Jamilo, lovely bloke, and we talked with him about why we were in Cali - ubtil his propane gas ran out! Then we had to push the taxi to the 'gas' station - narrowly missing being hit by a fast-moving bus(!), and paid for his gas... he was in tears - a big (literally) strong Colombian man, in tears... prayed with him for his business, and paid our fare despite having paid for the gas.... he couldn't believe it! He's coming to church on Friday evening... ....in downtown, having drinks at Manuel & Martha's stall, chatting with Julian and Lina at the next stall, buying them drinks (which blessed them, and Manuel of course!), prayed with Juliasn - again, in tears - with a large crowd gathering to watch the gringoes, who shouldn't really (for safety reasons) have been in that part of town, praying on the streets... Lina asked where we were preaching, and they're coming Friday, too, and probably much more during the next 2 weeks... The presence of God was so strong in the taxi, and on the street.... something explosive is beginning on this trip..... temperature's rising, and something is being released into this city that I love so dearly.... 8 November Couldn't write here yesterday, as we had the most amazing (really!) Andean thunderstorm - (tormenta in Spanish - great word, huh?), with the most spectacular lightning I've ever seen - it took out the phone lines all around us, so no internet of course... all 4 of us stood on the balcony marvelling at the storm (we're 12 floors up, too, so a great view!), it was so powerful, so magnificent to watch and listen to, and the rain... wow... Of course the rain has its downside - at the last count, 38 Colombians had died, and lots more missing, in mudslides in Manizales, just north of here. It's the worst - and longest - rainy season in Colombia's history: in Manizales, 300 tonnes of mud just consumed countless houses - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-15629486 - such tragedy. Fortunately, yesterday was a national holiday here - so it didn't affect too much, as Colombians - like most latinos! - know how to siesta and fiesta! No meetings yesterday, but even in Europe on a Monday it'd be hard to find a meeting to go to! Remembering more of the healings from Sunday - a woman healed of major lung disease, not able to take deep breaths for years, just shallow panting, breathing totally normally: another pastor with kidney and colon problems felt the change happen as he was healed - a lot of colon and gastric issues here, loads healed on Sunday... as well as the astigmatsims healed, a lady - must have been in her 80's - just looked in wonder as her glaucoma began to 'roll back' - she put on her glasses and couldn't see... Today, all being well, meetings start again, culminating this week, for Mark at least, in what we are praying will be a huge turnout for the Healing on the Streets training, and then the real life 'putting it to the test' in Plaza de Caicedo, right between the business district and market district.... c'mon God!! 6 November Wow is about the only word to describe today.... parlty because lovely Simon Allaby arrived safe and sound tonight - and bless him, didn't complain when taken straight from the aiport to a meeting! Best way to get to know Cali - turn up, go to a meeting, and then watch God at work as you rpay for countless people... This morning, two churches, Mark & Scott at one, me at dear friend Hendrik's church. All manner of pain went, frozen shoulder healed, rotator cuff healed, a huge number of people with gastritis healed, long term headaches (migraines, it sounded like) healed... on and on.... wonderful. Tonight, all at one church, a flood of people forward, as legs grew, astigmatism totally wiped out in seconds (one lady quite near blind), a wrecked knee (left, like mine!) totally healed (thank you Lord, please don't leave mone too much longer!), scoliosis healed, major back issues healed, circulation issues healed (in one lady causing almost total numbness from waist down).... the senior pastor healed of major back and leg pain, and a digestive problem, so much pain dissappearing from people's bodies... one young man, about 14 I guess, hadn't been able to breathe through his nose, and therefore smell... I held my hand over his mouth as he (thankfully!!) breathed in huge intakes of air through it... then he told me he had no arches in his feet, so got him to sit, take off his shoes (that was a risk, a teenager taking off shoes he'd had on for hours! - he could, of course, now smell his own feet!!): as we took his shoes off, the arches were already forming, and Scott held ne, me the other, as we felt his feet change shape... so many others! Prayed fro three guys - Gonzalo, Luis, and Daniel, who all wanted ministry for more blessing - all three play football for Deportivo Cali! Luis was actually Scott's translator for much of the ministry time! Simon's translator, a lady....turned out it wasn't only her her first time in that church, but her first time in church - ever! Good way to start, eh, seeing and translating for miracles! She wants us now to pray for her son, who has diabetes... well, the footballers told me that Deportivo are playing America (no, not the country, their local city rivals!) on 16th... and the pastor (who is the father of Daniel, it turns out) is getting tickets for us.... YEAHHH! So many other stories from tonight... loads from Mark, Scott, and Simon - everyone prayed for was healed - and we're back in that church on Wednesday, so will hear testimonies, and see more of God's amazing power.... Celebrated with Simon, who was hungry after his long journey and plane food, with some typical Colombian fayre... McDonalds nuggets and chips! Er.... yum? 5 November A sort of 'expected' day in Colombia, with what was planned not happening! It was good, after the last few days of busy-ness since arriving here, to have a chill-out day - I think we all needed it, especially as tomorrow is going to be a busy one, with at least 3 churches involved morning & evening, possibly more, and the arrival of my great mate Simon, who wends his way here commencing at 3.30 am UK time (so he leaves in 20 minutes!), arriving at 5.20pm here, so 10.20 pm UK time. L:ike with Mark & Scott, it's Simon's first time in Latin America: if he adapts to the way of life as quickly as they have, I'll be delighted! Really expecting a high-octane day, to precede 2 more similar weeks, tomorrow. No more Health & Safety - just pure presence of God! Sounds like my friend Dunia, the Brain Surgeon, has got quite a few hospital visits lined up: and the lovely Pastor who gets me into prisons, whom I lost touch with a couple of years ago when he had a massive heart attack, is high on my list of 'must-contacts' early next week... A day of great rejoicing here in the nation at the death of Alfonso Cano, the guerilla leader. It's going to be interesting to see if there's any terrorist backlash to his execution.... read today that the drug war is hotting up even more (if that's possible) in Mexico - 8 people shot dead at a volleyball game in Culiacan, a city I've been to many, many times in the past. Dozens massacred in churches in northern Nigeria, more deaths (how man now?) in Syria, while a Canadian Dentist buys a tooth of John Lennon (from the '60s) for £20,000, and plans to take it on a tour of dental surgeries and dental schools.... what EVER is the world coming to? Near the end, I suspect.... I hope the tooth enjoys its tour.... :)
4 November (later) Well.... what another day of tragedies - the Chinese Mining disaster, Greece teetering on the brink of destruction, an horrendous car crash on the M5 motorway in south west England - the authorities don't know how many dead as some of the cars had totally disintegrated and burned.... and here, the FARC (revolutionary guerillas) leader killed. Oh, and - God turned up at a churches sort of 'Health & Safety' evening! Mark, Scott, & I were taken to what we were told was a Pastor's Dinner: turned out to be a demonstration of exit, evacuation, and safety signs, a show of multifarious fire extinguishers, and the relative 'hard sell' of what we think is some sort of Evangelical Credit Card.... :) - hmmm! There were some pastors there I hadn't seen in a long time: as soon as the H&S section was done, we were inundated with people needing healing! It was like God arrived when the discussions about the yellow painted floor escape route signs, and more, was over.... Loads of connections - loads of invitations to many churches - and - loads of healings! Legs, arms, hands, necks, shoulders, backs, colons, peritonitis, scoliosis, sight problems - all healed! It was a blast! The last hour more than compensated for the preceding hour and three quarters! Quite an evening, one way or another - you might even say it was the ridiculous to the sublime! Oh, and we did get dinner, but after everyone else.... 4 November When I first started coming to Colombia, my hosts - then - (been in my own rented apartments since then: it's so necessary in this city!) were loathe to let me go out alone, as an obvious 'gringo' in a beautiful 'olive-skinned' country, because of the 'dangers'... that included the central part of Cali, where it just heaves with people, traffic, noise, street stalls, multi-storeyed market shopping centres... well, as is fairly typical, I suppose, I broke the rules and began to head for 'centro'. Over the years, some of those street traders have become good friends - Martha & Manuel, for instance, who own a fruit juice stall - just the BEST juices, in water or milk that you could ever taste. No running water, no health and safety guidelines, fairly...er...low(!) hygiene. Next to their stall is a phone accessories stall: yesterday, I bought a case for my local phone there, and Mark, Scott, & I got chatting to the owners. A lovely couple... today, we were getting juiced up again - mora (raspberry) today, fresa (strawberry) yesterday - fabulous. Got chatting to the phone couple - Julian & Lina: he speaks some English, but has a quiet, gruff voice. We thought he wasn't well: not so. Some years ago, he was pulled off his motorbike by three robbers, robbed, strangled, beaten: wrecked his spine and larynx. Offered to pray for him: he was a wee bit hesitant at first, then said yes: within moments, both he and Lina were in tears, right in the middle of the street (streets 14 and 5, the interection, if you're interested!), and prayed specifically, too, for propsperity for their business. They were over the moon: want to go back tomorrow to see how he is.... Street prayer at its very best, eh? And lovely new friends to boot... Tomorrow, too, apparently, we're going to be taken to pray for a judge, in hospital - shot a few days ago, her husband (also a judge) killed, and she is under high security protection, and in a coma.... seems like a lot of guns and death so far this trip.... tjhis evening's new to follow, if I can keep the software running! 3 November Apparently, there were great reviews of last night's TV broadcast - so much so that it seems that the director of the cable channel might be at Hendrik's church on Sunday! It must be so exciting for a church like his and Teija's , determined to get the church outside of the building, to make such an impact with their first programme. Mark, Scott, and I were at a church new to me tonight - in the bario (district) of Agua Blanca (the poorest and potentially most dangerous area of the city) known as Antonio Narino. The Pastor wasn't new to me though - a lovely lady named Josefina, whom I met previously in the port city of Buenaventura. The journey there was 'interesting' though - as it often is into the depths of that bario: streets here are all numbered, but no signs are up to tell you which one is which, so you get to where you're heading by trial, error, and a lot of asking questions of passers-by, pointing fingers, and waving arms.... Scott came up with the quote of the trip so far, as we went round in circles for a while... 'Isn't Walter dribing on the wrong side of the road?' - to which I hesitantly replied 'It's a one way street'... with a large volume of headlights all pointing at us! The church was unusual - but great - if only for the fact that they met on the street OUTSIDE of the building: it proved that, when 'foreign' voices are heard in Agua Blanca, people tend to turn up! A small handful of people as we drove up, quite a crowd at the end when we prayed for (most of) them.... Mark spoke, and then gave a visual demonstration of God healing by seeing a lady with spondylitis healed and her legs equal each other in length.... Many visible and testified healings happened - lots of legs lengthening (one day it will be mine, as I DO want to be taller!)... prayed for a lady with severe scoliosis, in much pain, and she was healed: a herniated disc, again giving intense pain, was healed: a number of children were healed: a man with a bad heart condition - more pain! - was healed.... I think it's fair to say that everyone who was prayed for was healed, Mark and Scott seeing God do lots of great things, too. On our way back to the apartment, the reality of what life is still like in this city, couldn't have been driven home more forcibly. 3-400 yards, no more, from where we'd been on the street, we saw two men who had been shot dead just moments before we got there. The presence of God and the joy of his power - and the devastation of the enemy - within yards of each other. It just makes me want to do more and more in this city, that is so dear to me. A mile further on, Walter's car (with us in it!) was caught in the middle of a 4,000 strong (we were told by the police) student demonstration - even at 10.30 p.m. I know a wee bit of what they're like, having been on the campus of the largest university in Cali, Univeridad del Valle (35,000 students I'm advised) when a riot took place, and a student was shot dead, a few years back. So I'm very grateful to God for tonight for extreme reasons - healings, miracles, and protection... How do you even begin to quantify and process an evening like this one? 2 November Well, to say yesterday was a long day would be an understatement! It began - England time - at 4.45 a.m, in order to be at Heathrow at 6 a.m - 4.45 is, of course, 11.45 LAST NIGHT Colombia time! After my 'interesting' experience transiting Toronto Airport, Canada, last trip to Colombia, I was a wee bit hesitant about having to do it again, but, of course, between then and now, I#ve had verbal and written apologies from Canadian Immigration State Dept, and had my letter from them with me, just in case.... this time, I was through in about 2 minutes, so that was a blessing! With my knees being a bit tempramental, aeroplanes are not the best 'presecription' for them, but again, I'm sure it was answered prayer that the 8 hour+ flight to Toronto, and the 5.5 hour flight to Bogota really presented few problems. The only real 'glitch' was an hours delay on the domestic flight from Bogota to Cali - really NOT what you want at the end of long transatlantic flights! - and it meant, with a long wait for the luggage to come up, that I finally arrived in Cali at 00.15 a.m - so a 24.5 hour journey :(. But.... thank you Lord - again! - I almost felt 'fresh' when I walked out of the airport into the early morning heat of 23 degrees celcius, and sleep didn't come for quite a while! It was fantastic to hook up with Mark Marx, of Healing on the Streets, and Scott Lorimer, HOTS' intern for this year, and, of course, catch up with local pastors Hendrik, Walter, Diego, and Johan, some of whom had been waiting at Cali airport for 6 hours to be there for Mark and Scott, and then yours truly, who of course arrived late! I think I'm becoming Colombian.... :) Today was spent with Hendrik and Walter, going through the itinerary for the next 3 weeks, which it seems, is going to be very packed. The 'initiation rite' that I subject all newcomers to Cali to is a steak at Lenos & Carbon, a wonderful - and cheap - steak restaurant, and I'm thrilled to say that Mark & Scott passed with flying colours! Tonight, Mark was with about a dozen leaders from Walter's church, speaking, equipping, and praying for and with them - he and Scott had a great night there. I had the delight of being interviewed on the first ever LIVE TV programme broadcast by Hendrik's church, for about 20 minutes: it went really well, though I do think I look an absolute dipstick on TV.... it was disconcerting, as we could see what we looked like on a monitor behind the cameras, and also in knowing which camera to look at... but I had on my Bishop's purple polo shirt, so I felt suitably attired to be on the programme, which is NOT on a Christian channel, but on the secular cable channel 'Canal C'. Everyone seemed pleased with it... And so, we'll find out what is happening tomorrow - tomorrow, which is par for the course for Colombia! But a good night's sleep beckons, even if it IS 00.30 a.m here already.... Watch this space - if I can keep make the software behave to edit it! It didn't want to behave tonight, but in the end it did, perhaps something to do with commanding it to, in the name of Jesus!! 31 October Busy couple of weeks since the last blog - though I did get five very needed and appreciated days at home in Ireland.... this past few days, I had to be in England for what is (I hope!!) the final part of the US Visa application jigsaw, an Echo Cardiogram. Praying that it doesn't show up anything too untoward! Sunday, it was great to go back to two churches I often try and 'pair' for geographical reasons, as well as liking going to them(!) - Brownhill Road Baptist, Catford, and Green Street Green Baptist, Orpington. It was wonderful to walk into Brownhill Road Sunday morning, and be met by Dave, the 'powerpoint' man (it was so much easier when we could just call them 'the overhead projector guy' - don't really know WHAT to call them now....). Dave told me I'd prayed for him in January when I was there - he had a serious fall 18 years earlier, badly injured his hip, and had monthly physiotherapy sessions ever since, and a lot of pain. No pain at all since January, and one brief physio session in that time, too. God then proceeded to heal his knee, which kept locking - it was hot, whilst his left knee was cold.... thank you, Lord! Prayed for loads of people after the meeting, too: await similar stories to Dave's! Green Street Green is pastored by John & Yvonne Pressdee, and it is probably one of the least 'religious' churches, and most 'free' churches that I go to. John & Yvonne are just such good friends, great leaders, and so 'normal' - and real visionaries, with big plans for the future - which, bearing in mind John is 69 years old, makes them quite special in my eyes.... felt a tremendous liberty when speaking, and prayed for a load more people after the meeting, followed by a lovely glass of red wine with John whilst watching 'Downton Abbey' with them afterwards! Super day.... and a lovely Monday morning sitting talking with John (not just social 'chit-chat' - he is one of my Rhino accountability boys too!): it's a pleasure and a privilege being with them. A flying visit for 5 days to Romania was a good time, too: involved in some special events for long time friends - like a wedding and a baptism - and got to spend time with some good friends whilst there. A bit amazed - stunned, if I'm honest! - at the total transformation of Otopeni Airport: it's quite futuristic! Not so many years ago, it was positively historic and quite 'scary' just because of poor lighting, and (occasional!) aggressive immigration officals! Very nice now! It was also good to get to stay with Martin & Jan in Worthing, Tim & Merle in Tonbridge, and Philip & Jan in Addlestone during the 5 day stint in England. I do want to thank them - as I want to do with ALL the people who have me to stay when I'm on the road. It's not something I take for granted: I really DO appreciate hospitality, friendship, food, wine, and maybe an occasional (non-alcoholic? I don't think so!) beer.... Then... get ready for the crck of dawn beginning for the journey to Cali, Colombia.... which is where I'm writing from now. 18 October On what SHOULD have been one of those simple flights - Belfast-London (3 hour wait), London - Munich (1hr 20 turnaround), Munich - Bucharest (about 2 hrs in the air) - it turned into a pig-awful day! Belfast flight late.... over an hour: Munich flight late, over an hour (and if you know MUC airport, you'll know it was designed as a long straight route for the Marathon run - miles long) - we landed at gate H10, one ned of the terminal, with 10 minutes before Bucharest flight took off (asked for assistance 'cos of the old knees), it wasn't there... Bucharest took off from H46 (not even alternating gates, one each side, so past 36 - mostly vacant - gates, to the opposite end of the airport!).... ooohhh my knees! Made it though, determined not to let them stop me.... then to cap it all, Mr Slow on the car rental desk took about an hour to process what most car rental places do in 5 minutes.... On way into city, up to a red light - blue-light ambulance behind. What would you do? Nothing coming towards you, flasher behind you.... I pulled forward to let him past so the people wouldn't die! Then... more blue lights, pulled over by police, on the make, for crossing a red light.... good cop, bad cop - bad cop particularly unpleasant, wanted about £70. Told him he was a thief, and corrupt (all caught on CCTV outside where I was staying, wanted his name and number, and would report him... amazinlgy then, he relented.... especially when my Romanian friend advised the cop she was a law student..... so, nice short journey to Romania was....just 16 hours by the time I was horizontal! Hope the next few days are better!!! This is my 21st consecutive year of coming here to Romania - I think it's nearing 130 visits now (aid, reief, development, preaching, etc..): even after all these years I love it - and hate it! Some places get you like that.... I think it's in my blood now, this country! Just can't speak the lingo - though order McD's or KFC seems fairly untroubled these days! But as I'm losing a truck-load of weight, they don't feature often... :( 11 October Whew! A busy few days away, and now - back in Ireland.... exhausted, drained, having 'hammered' my knees, and, for 48 hours at least, reaping the 'reward'...! BUT - they are in the process of being healed, I know that.... Super morning meeting at City Church, Worcester on Sunday (after sharing in the 'joy' of England's ignominious exit from the rugby world cup with a whole crowd of them Saturday, and being glad I'm half Welsh - dad - as England are out!). It was a pretty full house at the school they meet in, and, as always, lots of people to pray for. One of their leaders has sent me messages today about a couple of lovely healings - one, Lisa, no pain at all in her body since Sunday), and 'Ben's uncle - proxy prayer! - he was in a motorbike accident I think, been in a coma for a month, nothing the doctors could do, likely to be a cabbage if he recovered - Sunday night, woke up, and is off life-support... God's pretty good at this stuff! Seemed like an interminable drive back to Surrey for the flight back home Monday morning: 4 a.m. 'get ups' are not my favourite! - but it does mean that I'm indoors at home by 9-ish, giving me a whole extra day at home. By 11 am, I wasn't sure I'd be mobile for much longer, but, thankfully, the old knees are recovering tonight a bit! So, a few days to do the laundry, clean the house, unpack, re-pack, see people, and watch as much football and cricket as I can - then off to Romania Monday morning. I was asked by a good friend if I could go to Poland for him (he stood on a nail and can't move!), but sadly, I couldn't accept (I've never been there). Once upon a time, I could have done it - postpone Romania, and go elsewhere 'east' instead: but it was all to close between England and Colombia (1 November), and I've a busy weekend ahead of Colombia anyway.... Hope I'll be hearing more testimonies in the next few days.... :) 8 October More stories of healings in from last weekend, which is very, very exciting - Mark the pastor emailed within 48 hours and said there 11 more verified, I've had text and voice messages telling me of more, plus emails! Makes it so worthwhile, and still - after all these years (25!) - it blows me away.... So looking forward to tomrrow at City Church, Worcester, just to see God carry it on in another part of England. Wonderful days away with the Rhinos... my accountability group - some amazing times of prayer, astonishing times of ministry, prophecy, blessing, and lots of wine! Plus fantastic accommodation, hospitality, and food at House of the Open Door, in Childswickham. It is SUCH a privilege to be part of such a fantastic group of men, to know that they love me enough to care deeply for me, and send me on my way more blessed and fired up than ever before.... Yesterday was very different for me - I was in River School, Worcester, speaking throughout the day to all the students at the school (11-16 years) - and had complete freedom to talk about the wonders that God is doing in so many places... talked with loads of the young people, prayed with them, and with staff, board, and the Headmaster! And Head was probably 45 years ago, waiting for the cane! An open door to go back there regularly, and input more of Jesus and his power in the lives of lots of hungry and fascinated young people! More relaxing day today :) even though some of it was watching England lose to France in the rugby world cup.... but my other 50% (Welsh) is rejoicing, even if sad with my adotped Ireland, as they got beaten too... :( And so to church tomorrow.... long to see Jesus move in awesome power... and then - back to luverly Ireland on Monday for a week, before heading back to Romania.... 4 October Been in England 5 days now, racked up 750 miles already, and tomorrow lots more to come... a couple of days in Cornwall visiting family was lovely (our clan is very, very small now - we could probably all fit into someone's downstairs loo if we had a reunion! - so for me it's very necessary to see my sister, brother in law, and nephew. Straight from almost the very west of England to almost the very east - to be with the amazing guys at Loose Baptist Church, Maidstone. Great name, huh??! Somone asked if 'loose baptist' might just qualify as an oxymoron... all the possibilities about loose women... the loose bowls club - fascinatingly with an Indian curry house opposite...!! Loose Womens institute... and the full time leader, Mark (who's wife Anne was wonderfully and instantaneously healed from crippling M.E/Fibro Myalgia -she got it just a few days after their wedding some 10 years ago....) is a great mate: to say the church has moved into a new dimension would be understating it, and devaluing what God's doing there. It's 30 months since I was there - last time, just after the US Immigration fiasco: I know I've moved on since then, too, but the lightness of spirit, the open-heaven access that has grown, the expectation, and the number of people who really DO mean business with God.... Friday evening, was a lovely meeting with all the Elders & wives - it's like a get-together of friends for me with them. The seminar on Saturday morning was (thoeretically!) 4 hours - it went on a good bit longer as a result of praying for people! A good number there - perhaps arond 100 - which is terrific for a whole Saturday morning. Some lovely healings - a wonderful young man from Afghanistan healed of pain that had been around a while (and Mark, the leader, had to 'chase' it around his body before the pain finally gave up! A young wife, Heidi, due for surgery on an impingement in her shoulder - extreme pain, very limited movement - 'windmilled' her arm instantly, no pain.... Emily (I think!) - healed of a long-term nagging ear condition... and more.... Then, Saturday night, what Mark billed as a 'Masterclass' (oo-er!!) - with people desperate to move into healing power, and a chance to ask whatever questions they had of the master'...me!! Great evening, brilliant questions, and a lot of impartation.... Sunday... tremendous meeting, great worship, and miracles... ayoung mum (early/mid 30's?), crippled 7 years, two walking sticks, totally crushed 3rd, 4th, 5th vertebrae, crushed two ther spinal bones, and wrecked her lower right back, the sacroiliac joint - and there was a huge lump. Crippling pain, doctors could do nothing for her, hadn't been able to even consider walking up or down stairs for 7 years.... she did both, no pain, totally healed, walking sticks under her arm as she left the meeting! Many others healed, too... as I get stories I'll put them here.... Last 2 days, staying with my friends the Allabys (Simon in Minister of Bolney Village Chapel, near Gatwick Airport): super time nattering with Simon, as he's going to Colombia with me: seeing great friends Nick & Sarah Harding and their adorable miracle son, 8 week old (born 2 months early and SHOULD have died, so should Sarah...) Milo. In real terms, Milo was 2 days old yesterday... a story of so many miracles! Lunch - and a wonderful time catching up - with old mate John Perry... and NOW... RHINOS!!!! Off in a few minutes for the best 3 days of the year...
21 September Well, I'd have to confess that I could get used to holidays.... :) - especially when it's so hot, and dry, with blue sky! Cyprus - a first visit to that lovely island - is a delight, and, whilst there, I changed colour a number of times! Fortunately, it hasn't washed off or blown off since being back home.... Being in the sun did wonders for making pained knees, especially at 42C! I'm so grateful to my friends for making their lovely home there available, it was such a privilege to be there. The journey home was one of those 'disaster' journies, though: flying out from Cyprus at 3.45 a.m., a 30 minute turn around in Vienna between landing and taking off (in different terminals, too :( ), and some of the benefit to my knees was lost in the dash up and down stairs in Vienna Airport. And - though I've been flying countless times a year for 25 years, now - there have not been many worse landings than the one coming into Belfast on the day that the hurricane force winds caused chaos throughout the UK! Form what I understand, planes have to land faster in high winds to keep the nose down: so instead of about 150 mph, it's around 200 mph+, and I did wonder if the wings were going to touch the runway, but the pilot did a wonderful job. It'd feature in my top ten of worst landings, nonetheless... Catching up from being away has been the order of the day since then, along with getting stuff done for upcoming trips. I'm over in England next week, to be with the Loose women (and men!) of Loose Baptist Church, Maidstone, for the last weekend of the month. It's a terrific church, and I'm looking forward to being with them. Then it's on to Broadway (well, nearby) for 2 and a bit days away with the Rhinos: I can never stress enough the value of these days, the men who love and care for me, beat me up when I need it, put me back together again when I need that, too, is so vitally important to me. From there, it's on to Worcester, for a day at the River School, and a weekend with City Church, with whom I spent a tremendous weekend in June. It'll be great to catch up with the folk I got to know again. Meantime, all the stuff required by U S immigration is collated and gathered, or perhaps that should be the other way round! - but there's really no knowing when, or even if, the day of my return there will be. So Ireland becomes more and more home.... Sometimes, there's little feedback for many in ministry of what God has done: that's why I love to tell stories as and when I get them. A couple of days ago, though, I got a message on Facebook from a long-time friend from Ghana, Joseph Mensah. I met Joseph, I guess, in 1988, when I spoke at a YWAM school where he was a student: he'd have been in his mid 40's then, training to be a missionary/pastor in the Central Region of Ghana, the 'bush' villages. He became a very dear friend, and I visited him in his village on many occasions, staying in mud huts: I look back on those days with great blessing - especially in one of the villages, where they'd very kindly positioned the hole for the toilet (over a deep pit, covered with plywood - not really designed for people of my build, and rather precariously bouncy!) right next to a banana tree, which I discovered to be of great value in taking the weight of of leg muscles that were required for other functions... squatting was never one of my strongest fortes! Itr was a privilege, too, to be able - then - to raise the money for Joseph to be able to buy his house in Ghana, just before his landlord was going to evict him and his family. From what I understand, they're still in that house: Sammy, their son, is married (he was so small when I first knew them!), and their daughter about to complete her Masters degree. Joseph & Gladys are about to launch a missions Universtiy... Two days ago, after quite a long 'silence', Jospeh wrote this: 'Brother Paul, I want to take this opportunity to thank you sincerely for GIVING ME HOPE IN LIFE!' (His capitals, not mine).... 23 years on, you have absolutely no idea what it means to me to read that: it sort of makes the whole the last 25 years worthwhile. Maybe he's not the only one who'd say that.... I can hope! What a blessing.
27 August I've been so aware, since last Friday, of people's prayers - thank you so much if you've prayed for me. After the events of Thursday & Friday, 18-19 August, the visit to the US Embassy in London, by the time I got back home here to Ireland, it was 1130 pm Friday night....as I'd not slept much Wednesday night, with a very early rise to fly to England, not really slept Thursday night churning over the visit to the Embassy Friday morning, and the subsequent emotional mauling that you get with US immigration, I didn't sleep until about 5 am Saturday morning - so a 48 hour + day. It's hard to explain, unless you've been 'through' it, the... aggression (it's the only word that covers it!) and dehumanising effect that immigration has on you. It's a real battering, and to be honest, I could hardly move physically for a couple of days after I got home. It beats me why they have to act this way: I guess (up until recently, at least) being the world's 'premier' nation, they could act as they pleased. But the image they give their country is unreal. So, now to compile further evidence - that they already have, and needn't have asked for if they'd done their research properly! - which means more time and cost: but, the wonderful thing is that it means I don't even have to consider quitting living in Ireland, which I love. 72 hours after the US experience, I received a 45 minute phone call from the Canadian State Department Head of Immigration, apologising profusely concerning an issue in Toronto I'd had every reason to complain about. So nice, so apologetic, so friendly. The contrast couldn't have been more marked in such a short space of time.... Many people, very close friends and advisors, have advised me just to get away and have a holiday, which I find difficult as, living on gift support, sacrificially given, as I do, it seems unfair. But I know it's right: and I've been offered the use of someone's holiday place somewhere nice and hot - which isn't something you could ever 'accuse' Northern Irealnd of being! - and so on Friday, I'm off for 10 days, trying to overcome my 'guilt' of enjoying myself! So if there's another gap here, that's why.... I'll probably set up my visits to Mexico, Colombia, and Australia while I'm away, so at least I'll feel I've done something useful....! 20 August So many emotions racing through my mind, somehow right deep inside I'm still at peace, and just so happy to be home here in Bangor. Need to 'hide away' I guess for a few days, might even go away in a few days time, and just try and fathom out what this whole saga is about. Long talk on the phone yesterday with the lawyer, who a) can't believe what has happened, and b) says they have no right to be asking some of what they're asking... I think I'll just leave as much of this next phase in his hands to sort out, I'll just believe for the finance to let him do that.... The greatest sadness right now for me is that, once again, through a country that - I understand - never signed the International Human Rights agreement, I'm stopped from seeing my daughter, son in law, and grandchildren - which are my human rights in the rest of the civilised world. This is hardest for me right now... and I need time and space to get my head, emotions, heart, and spirit, in line with each other, and then move ahead... Thank you for your prayers, your love, your messages: I'm so, so grateful for them: if I don't respond too quickly, I hope you'll understand. Bless you, and thank you. 19 August Don't really know what to write here today.... probably not a good idea to write anything, but as lots of people have been praying about the today's 'charade' at the U S Embassy, I ought to say that there is no change in my status - I haven't been finally denied entry to go back to the USA, but questions that could and should have been asked before - that didn't seem to be relevant to the US authorities in previous submissions - came today, and was sent away to get yet more information, more facts, you name it... I'm so, so tired, it's not a good plan to even think today, though that's not possible. Will write more in a day or three.... 17 August Well, tomorrow morning, crack of dawn, I fly over to England from Belfast for THE interview of Friday. It's a strange feeling: there is so much paperwork, and the US Embassy's website makes it very clear that if you forget anything or get anything wrong, your visa application is automatically cancelled.... So the last few days have been spent poring over the same old paperwork - reams of it!, about 2.5 inches (6cms) thick! - realised today that the passport photos required on the day aren't the same size as just about everyone else's passport photos, so been rushing round trying to find a photographer who'd do them on the spot! My lawyer is pretty confident, but - who knows? And - probably strangest feeling - is that this is IT. 2 1/2 years of - at times, immense stress - frustration, disappointment, different brick walls presenting themselves.... and in 48 hours, it'll all be over. They think it's all over - it is - then! All that I know is that still, very deep down, is a peace that can only have come from God: but my mind tries to over-rule my spirit, especially when confronted with the reams of paper, the 'threat' of missing material, and the fact that it can all go wrong with a misplaced word or document! So, I'm blogging really just to ask for your prayers for Friday, that, whatever happens, God's will WILL be done... and that, after 3 years of having been deprived of my daughter, son in law, and grandsons, in Houston, I can get back to the USA to see them. Now that WOULD be nice.... especially as it's Katy's birthday next week, it'd be lovely to see her as soon after it as I can! 13 August It's been a lovely few days back here in the summer of Northern Ireland: I'm glad I love the place and the people, as their summers don't sell themselves too well to people like me who like Cairo! I'm not certain, but I don't think the temperature gauge in my car here has gone above 20C (68F) since I've been home: and one thing is certain, there'll never be a hosepipe ban here because of a rain shortage! Spent a number of days catching up with people: spending a good bit of time, too, visiting people to pray with them, and - watching loads of cricket! And now, from today of course, football! I have to say that the cricket has been quite magnificent - if you don't like cricket, then I CAN pray for you, and that last phrase won't mean anything to you at all! Suffice to say - England rule! Back over to England towards the end of next week - it's the day of reckoning (!!) - my residency visa interview at the US Embassy in London! After almost 2.5 years, I guess that's make or break day, next Friday. My 'appointment' is given as 8 a.m. - but I guess they tell EVERYONE to arrive at 8, so I plan to get there about 6.30 a.m. so I'm not at the back end of the queue. On a purely human level, it should be a big day: but, truth is, since I've been in this house in Ireland, so much in me and around me has changed immensely, and I do know that, whatever the outcome, God's given me a peace that passes all comprehension, and I think (I hope, anyway) that I'll take whatever they decide, as I'm absolutely convinced that God's had his reasons for allowing this whole charade to happen, because of what he wanted to do in me.... It will, of course, be wonderful to see my family again, if and when I'm back there: and to actually have a look round the house I once called home to see what I'd made all the fuss about being deprived 28/29 months ago! I really can't picture some of it anymore, as I'm so at home here. I would appreciate your prayers next Thursday and Friday having said that: as it WOULD be nice, just this time, to get a pleasant US immigration person - actually, I think this is State Department now, so maybe they're nicer! And I DO want God's will to be done - not mine, nor some strangers sitting in an office in a huge London building.... Just to say, some great news from Australia - where I would have been now if it weren't for the two paragraphs above! - caught up with some lovely healings just a few days a days ago from when I was at Diamond Valley Baptist Church, Diamond Valley (strangely!), Melbourne, last year.... a lady called Julie, healed of bowel cancer, and someone whose name my friend, Robert, couldn't remember, who was healed of scoliosis.... there are some more testimonies on the testimony page if you want to look, including one I heard about not too long ago from 7 years ago! That was scoliosis, too - and a whole lot more on top!! 12 August Once again, I'm sorry to say, posting anything here was delayed by problems with my editing software, and computer.... :( - hopefully, all resolved now, so there's a bit to catch up on! Mid July I had a fantastic couple of days or so in Cairo - it was a little different there, in July, to an Irish summer! Bone dry (and not humid, which with high temperatures makes it unbearable), 40+ degrees (celcius, that is - about 104F), so it was just right... :). Spent time with a few people there: it was good to hear first hand the stories of this year's turmoil there (it all kicked off again whilst I was there, but thankfully it wasn't my fault!). I had never really met any Egyptians before, except one - a dear friend, Maged, from YWAM - and I thought he was a lovely, sweet, gentle man because he was a Christian... truth is, just about everyone I met was lovely, and very sweet natured. It was a wonderful experience, going into a souvenir-type store (I have to get a fridge magnet from somewhere!), where normally you're hassled by the assistants to buy a rug/papyrus/model of a pyramid or whatever, to have a guy come up to me, introduce himself to me, and ask me if he could tell me about Jesus.... we sat and chatted for ages, he had his Arabic/English NIV Bible open on the desk in the shop, and - of course - I had to buy something then, didn't I??!! Maybe it was his unique sales ploy.... hmm. No, he REALLY knew Jesus, as did his whole family. Back to reality, the next day sitting in the queue to sell at a car boot sale, at 6.30 a.m., unable to escape the queue because of the volume of seller-traffic, and then the rains came down.... :( I'd have left, except I couldn't get out: fortunately the rain stopped, and I was able to glean a few torturous pounds out of hassling buyers! Had some stuff nicked, too, which is always frustrating and disappointing.... Straight down, on that Saturday afternoon, from Worthing to Bridport, in Dorset (this is all in the UK, foreign readers!!), for a home meetingin the evening: it was really good to catch up with a few folk whom I'd met when I was there in May, and I DO love to tell the stories of what God is doing... :) Bridport Christian Fellowship on the Sunday morning was great: I even managed (almost!) to keep to time, and had a loooong line of people to pray for, which just kept getting added to... some people spoke of immediate benefit from the prayers... that's always nice, of course, but often I find it's a little later on the healing really begins to take impact. Sunday evening - Maranatha Church, Exeter: a great church led by my great friend Andrew Pearkes: he's been ill, and felt some immediate impact in his back when I prayed for him: as did I in my knees when he prayed for me! Lots of others to pray for, too: all in all, a busy but lovely day! Then Monday, down to Weymouth: long-time friends Mike & Beverely Robinson run the Healing Rooms in Dorset, and they'd asked me to speak at a meeting of all their Healing Room volunteers (well, those who weren't on away on holiday!). I met Mike & Beverley in Kaniki, Zambia (like you do!) about 16 years ago: our paths have only crossed very infrequently since then, but we've stayed in touch, and it was so, so good to catch up with them and do something with their lovely helpers. When we first met, Mike endeared himself to me immensely, and I think it's why we get on so well... he'd just been attacked by an armed gang of bandits from over the border in the Congo: Kaniki Bible School, where they lived and worked, and where I was speaking, is about a quarter mile from the border. Mike was more infuriated NOT that he'd had a gun to him temple, that the car was stolen, and his wallet - but that the bandit had grabbed his Ralph Lauren shirt and ripped the button off! He got in the bandit's face, and told him 'If my wife was here, she'd kill you!' - at which point they all fled, and Mike proceeded to look for his button.... that's why I love him so much! The meeting was in a wonderful house, overlooking the bays of Weymouth and Portland, where the Olympic rowing/canoeing events etc., will be next year. Really lovely time of blessing, with a number of people staying for prayer. The hosts were amazing: I have to say their names have gone right out of my head, but they're in their 80's, and spend their retirement running Bibles with Open Doors, in some countries where people half their age would fear to go... including to the guerilla areas of Colombia! Drove on Tuesday to Cornwall to see my family, then back to Surrey Wednesday, and Ireland Thursday.... which is where I am now, and I'll make this a separate section - above! How's that for Irish logic, 'cos you'll already have read that before you read this.... 16 July The last few days have been a blessing, spending time with a good number of people 'one on one' for prayer, encouragement, healing... you name it! It's sometime nice not to have an abundance of meetings - Jesus said it should be abundant LIFE not meetings (!) though I can tell you some churches where that's not the case... It's been good, too, to have a bit more time to catch up with watching cricket (what better way to spend free time??!??), especially as it's been the very 'fast' form of cricket - 20/20: what's more, my beloved Sussex are in the quarter finals of the cup! AND.... in less than 4 weeks, football begins again! Much as I love summer, and in particular light evenings, I do miss the football season! Terry, the FGB Director, mentioned below, is still doing well from his diabetes: he laos had a major breathing issue, and long-time cough (possibly, he thinks, through asbestos dust back in the 70's: he saw a chest specialist recently, who told him that his 'puffing ability' is way better than expected for a man of his age... God's good, huh? It's so lovely to hear from people when God has touched their lives: I really appreciate the emails and phone calls to let me know. I'm told that there are still testimonies being shared in the Coleraine Vineyard, hope I'll get to hear the stories! I head back over to England on Monday, for a busy 10-11 days, quite a few meetings, and a chance to get to go and visit my sister, brother in law, and nephew before coming back to Ireland. My plan to go to Australia in July was scuppered by the dear old US Immigration service, when I heard that my residency visa interview has been scheduled for 8 a.m. on the 19th: I can't imagine it's ACTUALLY at 8 a.m., guess I'll be one of the man 'sheep' turning up at that time just to sit and wait.... for the interview with the person who - humanly - gets to decide my future! I'm so grateful that God is responsible for my future, not an Embassy official: and I do know that the peace God's given me over the past weeks means that whatever is decided in London that day is irrelevant in terms of God's destiny for my life.... I do hope and pray that God gives me the 'green light' to keep the house in Ireland, for the increasing number of invitations and opportunities in Britain. One of the great things, for me, is that - having been in the USA for 3 years and now here in the UK again - I've really seen God regenerate my love for the UK, and what he wants to do here...
4 July Wow, so much has happened in the past couple of weeks! I was due to be in England to be best man (!) at a long-time friend's wedding, but some weeks before the date, the wedding was postponed. By then I'd arranged a few preaching dates, which all turned out to be terrific. It was wonderful, after - I think - a 3 year gap, to go back to the Vineyard Church, in Melton Mowbray: to see what God's building there through Neal and Elunedd, who lead it. It was a lovely morning: and as usual, a great privilege to pray with a good number of folk. Then it was down south, for my medical check-up with the USA Embassy's appointed doctor. What a joy (not!) to have to go to a lush private clinic, specialising, ti seems, in visa medicals, close to the Mayfair/Park Lane area of west London. I think the cost of the medical proved that they have a few hotels in place on their property, as the landing 'fee' was immense! (Guess you'd have to have played the English 'Monopoly' game to appreciate that one! So many people, over recent months, have been telling me that I MUST meet a guy named Jonathan Bugden: he's the UK & European Director for Integrity Music and books: it worked out so well, as he lives in Bexhill, and I was scheduled to speak at a Full Gosepl Businessmen's dinner in that town.... what a terrific bloke Jonathan is! So different to most people I've known in Christian music: such a gentle, humble man, with an amazing passion for the genuine Kingdom of God to blitz the earth. We nattered for a good 2 and a half hours, about everything - not even really talking books or music! The dinner was great, too: about 35 people there, and my very dear, long-time friends Hugh & Maureen, there: I've known them for about 40 years, and that very phrase alone is quite scary, as it's the sort of thing my grandparents used to say! I ended up praying for lots of people, including a man, right at the end, named Terry, suffering from long-term diabetes. Just sensed that God was going to heal him, and, whilst I'd never tell anyone to stop taking medication (I don't think that's my 'job' - I just pray!), I did say I believed he'd go 'hypo' during the next day or so - that's what happens when you take insulin and don't need it. Got an email from him last Saturday, telling me he'd had hypos all week! And, inviting me to speak at another dinner: turns out he's the National Director for FGBFMI.... Then, on to Lindfield, near Haywards Heath, to speak at the annual trust get-together that supports my increasingly good friend Simon Allaby. Simon's a very gifted evangelist/preacher, and has a big heart for overseas mission too, so it was a privilege to be invited. It was a great day, and again, had lots of opportunties to pray for people, and encourage 'faith-raising'! All being well, Simon's going to Colombia with me later in the year. For many years - maybe 10 - in the late 60's-early 70's, I lived perhaps a mile from St. Michael & All Angel's Church, in Eastbourne, and don't think I ever darkened the doros of the church, certainly never preached there - until a couple of Sundays back! If I'm honest, I was expecting a dark old Anglican church with pews.... to be wonderfully surprised by seeing chairs arranged in a circle, with the most beautiful alter in the middle - and a pretty packed congregation. I only had about 15 minutes to speak (those of you who know me know that's about when I'm getting into my stride!) - but it was terrific, loads of people responded for prayer, some testified to pain going/decreasing.... and it was a good 90 minutes after the meeting ended that I left the building! That same evening, in the packed living-room of Glyn & Emma, leaders of Old Town Community church, I was speaking again, and was still rpaying with folk after midnight.... Last Thursday, I met up with one of my best friends - a pastor from Cali, Colombia, Hendrik (he was my first ever translator there in 1997, and a growing network of churches in Colombia, Chile, soon to be Bolivia... he was visiting here in Northern Ireland, with contacts I'd given him over the years (I DO love networking!!), this time we met with Mark Marx, Director of Healing on the Streets, as he, too, is going out to Colombia with me in November, to train/equip/launch HOTS there... it's such an exciting prospect, as you know from my eulogising that Cali, Colombia is very much an open heaven.... what an amazing time in the whole of human history, to be alive, and serving the Lord! Hendrik will be a key person for setting all this up in Cali: and he and Mark got on really well. A small gathering at the home of friends, near Coleraine, last night, was lovely too: some visitors from England, one with cancer: lovely time with them, praying for Mike... look forward to hearing his story, as the doctors have really said there's no more that they can do for him... and the wife of my friends, who has had a horrible ear problem (no, her ears aren't horrible!), seems today to be healed... not only that, but they had a new arrival in their home yesterday - a 7 week old miniature schnauser - who is so gorgeous, he'd almost make want to stop travelling and have one myself....! (Only joking... ;) ) So, some time to recharge, and watch cricket... what better way to rest and relax?? Then off in about 10 days or so time.... And, in the next few days, if you're only my email or snail mail list, my newsletter will be winging its way to you. If you want one, and don't normally get one, let me know! 14 June My apologies - it has been almost a month since I wrote here, that's in part (a big part!) due to problems with my laptop, andthe installation of - and use of - the updated software for editing the webpage. Oh, if only I was IT savvy.... new tricks, dog, and old come to mind.... So much has happened since 20 May! Some terrific meetings - at my happy home, City Church, Plymouth, where it's always such a blessing to visit: a terrific home group meeting in Kingsbridge, Devon, with my very long-time friends David & Sian Fenton-Jones. Needless to say, many people to pray for! Then on to a new church for me - but with dear friends John & Ailsa Davidson, at Bridport Christian Fellowship. A coouple of meetings, Tuesday evening and Wednesday morning, both very well attended, and again with many to pray for. It was wonderful to get such a warm reception from the folk there, and I'm looking forward to being back there in July. Home to Ireland for just a few days, before heading to a field in the beautiful Cotswolds, near Worcester, in the heart of England. I'd been invited to be the speaker at the bi-annual church camp of City Church, Worcester, which was tremendous. I was a bit daunted, as their last speaker, 2 years ago, was long time friend Ken McGreavy, such an amazing Bible teacher, now with Jesus (good for him, sad for us): I told the folk that then, they'd had the 'Waitrose' of guest speakers, this time they were on the 'Lidl'.... What a fantastic weekend though: somewhere, faith was imparted in a new measure: there were some lovely healings - a lady with more than 20 years history of severe back pain, who'd not normally have been able to walk after a camping weekend, healed: the husband of another lady, not a Christian (him, not her!) healed of serious back pain, with the wife healed of other problems without even being prayed for...... It was such a pleasure and privilege to be with this church for 4 days: I never take invitations lightly, or for granted, and I hope that the friendship with City Church will go long into the future. Last Sunday, I was with the Causeway Coast Vineyard, in Coleraine, Northern Ireland. This church is really quite astonishing! Led by Alan & Kathryn Scott, they generally have 2 services on a Sunday, at 10a.m. with around 500 people, and 1145 a.n. with around 200+ people. Alan & Kathryn are such a terrific couple, and they made me so welcome, organising an evening healing meeting - the first one they've ever had - last Sunday, too. It is from this church that the 'healing phenomenon Healing on the Streets (HOTS) has come, headed up by dynamic Mark Marx. Kathryn Scott is a name that might ring bells for you, too - she is an immensely gifted worship leader, leading meetings and conferences worldwide, and the writer of 'Hungry' and 'Believe'. Alan is just totally dynamic. Mark is hardly ever in Coleraine, as HOTS has taken off globally, and he runs training events, and helps launch HOTS, in many cities and nations. It's looking likely that Mark will be going to Colombia with me in November to launch HOTS there... :) He wasn't around on Sunday, but it was such a blessing to be with the church, to be part of the worship, led by Kathryn, and to have such a wonderful response from the folk in the church! Prayed for quite a few, and knew that some who didn't get prayer would probably come back in the evening. That meeting was amazing! Alan had purposely left it 'low key', only really mentioning it in the morning meetings, and on a couple of earlier Sundays. He anticipated maybe 50 there for a 7p.m. start. Well - it was like revival had come! People were queueing to get in at 6.15p.m. - and by the time we began, hundreds and hundreds of extra seats had been put out - I reckoned about 350 there, gauging it on the first morning service of 500.... Dozens and dozens were healed instantly - from relatively 'minor' ailments (although no ailment is minor if you've got it...) to major trauma injuries, muscular and skeletal damage, diseases - you name it, God healed it.... it was wonderful. Having arrived at the building at 930a.m., I had a few hours 'breather' mid afternoon, and left at 1025p.m. that night. I am so glad I'd made the right 'call' - I'd got a ticket for the Odyssey Arena in Belfast to go and see two of my favourite 70's bands - Journey (Don't stop believing) and Foreigner (I want to know what love is) - it wasn't even a toss-up once Alan told me about the evening meeting, and it wasn't until I drove past the Odyssey on my way home on Monday morning that I even remembered it! I've prayed with a few folk in homes, hospital etc., too, and caught up with a wee bit of cricket and the odd film on DVD before heading back to England on Friday to be in Melton Mowbray (another Vineyard church), a Full Gospel businessmen's meeting in Bexhill, St Michael's Church, in Eastbourne, and Old Town Community Church, in Eastbourne too. Tuesday next week, I'm at a very posh doctor's surgery near Mayfair, in London - not by choice, I can tell you(!), but to have my medical for my US residency visa... value your prayers at 1pm Tuesday, UK time! Truthfully, I'm not worried about it, though it'd be nice to get a clean bill of health, and I'd particularly value your prayers for God to assist with the cost - it's outrageous, as those who live in the UK can probably imagine! And I think I have to have x-rays and a DNA test too, maybe some vaccinations - all of which are astronomic in cost.... :( In 10 days, my dear Colombian/Dutch pastor friend, Hendrik, arrives in Ireland, for some preaching engagements, but I'm especially looking forward to getting him together with Mark Marx to talk about HOTS Colombia, on 30 June!
20 May A quick update on US immigration - my file is now with the National Visa Centre, and I have a number. Might not sound much, but it's a major advance in real terms - after over 2 years of hassle so far! It has meant, too, that I can schedule my medical, compulsory where residency is concerned, and that's 21 June. You have to go to the doctor nominated by the US Embassy, who just happens to be in the Mayfair area of London (help!! £££££!!!!) - it's lovely to have lost quite a bit of weight over the past 3 months before heading for that, and hopefully another stone/14 pounds/7 kilos before I get there.... and then after that the interview at the Embassy. Still some miles to travel before this resolves in terms of time, but it'll, be a nice day when at least I can get back to the USA to see my daughter, son-in-law, and grandsons, transit to other countries, and preach there! I'd value your prayers that health will get better and better ahead of 21 June: and that the provision for all the bills associated with this next 'phase' will come in. I'm really praying that God will 'see fit' to confirm that I can keep the house in Ireland too, even when I'm back in the USA - I need to know that it's something he wants just because I need him to provide for it!! I spend a lot of time in the UK and to have a bolt-hole where I can rest and relax in the middle of a heavy schedule, is vital. If I had, say, 5 days between engagements in the UK, I wouldn't go back to the USA for that time, but I would go to Ireland... to my amazing friends and my home there, which are so precious to me these days!
19 May A while since I was last 'here' - a very necessary complete 'down' time after the Colombia trip, it's amazing how much a trip like that takes out of you. Add to that the fact that both Alan and I were not well while we were away - I'm learning to listen to my body when it tells me that it needs to stop and recharge! I've been in England now for 6 days - a wonderful morning last Sunday at Bolney Village Chapel, where my friend Simon Allaby is the minister. I was at the church many years ago, and boy, has it changed! It's had a complete re-build, and Simon and Sarah, his wife, are clearly impacting the community with their passion and enthusiasm, which is rubbing off on the church. Long time friends Gerry and Merial Page came up from Polegate, as I was relatively 'close' (thank you - it was SO good to see you!), and Nick & Sarah Harding - met Nick when I spoke on a YWAM school in Argentina 10 years back, and we've stayed great friends, and met Sarah when I spoke on her YWAM school in New Zealand 6 years ago... then they met, and married! Now they're BOTH great friends (I looked after their chickens, you might remember, 2 years ago!!). I'm hoping, and it seems possible, that both Simon AND Nick will go to Colombia later in the year, hopefully with Mark from Coleraine... and I always hope and pray Alan will go again, too.... :) It was a terrific meeting, prayed for a number of folk at the end, then had some good time with the Allabys and Hardings over a wonderful lunch (Sarah Allaby runs a catering business! :) ) Then to Worthing, and a lovely - if short - devotional meeting with the staff from CPO in worthing, followed by a 'catch-up' with my very-long-time friend Tim Herbert, who runs a terrific ministry (www.syzygy.org.uk) which helps and supports missionaries. Tim's an inspiration, as in 'another life' he was a very high-flying and successful banker, and then gave everythig up - and away - and went to work at an orphanage in Mozambique. From driving a TVR and wearing a Rolex, he slept on a verandah, with no room of his own.... oh for more people like him! And then - two and a bit amazing days with the Rhinos.... just arrived from there now in Cornwall, to see my family. Rhinos was just amazing: we love each other to bits, laugh, cry, share, drink wine, pray for each other, prophesy over each other... and, yesterday, as we began to pray for John Pressdee, the first of us to have a sharing 'slot', the presence of God and the glory of God just came down and filled the room. The 'heaviness' of the glory of God was tangible, and none of us could speak, move, do anything.... we just sat, and enjoyed and were in awe of of the presence of Jesus with us... it was astonishing. And he stayed all day.... whew! I was so blessed, as the last to share, to have so many amazing words spoken over me.... refreshing would be an understatement! So, to Plymouth, and the lovely City Church on Saturday, to speak there Sunday morning: on to Kingsbridge, then on to Bridport Christian Fellowship, Tuesday evening and Wednesday morning.... can't wait! 29 April And so, to bed on my last night here in the city that I love, Cali: it's 0030am, Friday night/Saturday morning, and the city is alive, happy, and very, very noisy. I LOVE CALI!!!! Maybe it'll be my next home, as long as God lets me keep Bangor, Ireland, too! I love Spanish - sounds lovely, praise and worship is lovely, though I still can't always fit all the words in, and - faith statement here - SOON I'LL BE PREACHING IN SPANISH! Blunders getting fewer - no more 'Is your wife ok?' to a pastor coming out as 'Your wife, she's hot!' Just the different verb to be... simples, huh?? No more 'nuevos carreras (hips) y 'neuvos heuvos' for 'neuvos huesos' - er... close, right: but close your eyes if you're fainthearted here - new balls, sorry, testicles, instead of new bones... well, nuevos, huevos, and huesos ARE all pretty similar! Wondefully, he got all three... his wife was very happy to attest to one of them, I'll let you guess!! I've not long been back from the church 'Camino de Salvacion: Cristo es Rey' - Way of Salvation: Christ is King - pastored by my friend Julian Restrepo: it's in Agua Blanca, the 'bad' bit of the city some say (though I know worse!). The place was packed for a Friday meeting, a few hundred there, and the response was overwhelming. Prayed 'en bloc' for the vast majority, getting them to lay hands on each other, but that NEVER stops the endless stream of people wanting prayer. For some, pain went: illness disappeared: one lovely elderly lady, severely brain damaged, went away beaming from ear to ear - she also had AIDS, so seemed to really appreciate the hug and kiss on the cheek, which she reciprocated. Her next AIDS test is soon... it'll be clear, I'm convinced. Three more people with AIDS, all young: years ago, mid '80's, a lovely cockney preacher, Johnny Barr, prayed for me (from a family with inherited blood issues), for a supernatural blood transfusion. I know how different I felt THAT night, so, what better time to pray for that than in the week following Easter, for the blood of Jesus to overwhelmingly transform desperate, dying lives.... it's amazing how from church to church the things to pray for are different: illnesses seem to 'cluster' in certain places - 4 with AIDS was unique for this visit, other places it has been diabetes, or asthma, or gastric issues. Prayed for a lovely little girl tonight with a cleft palate: really hope I hear the 'end product' of some of these prayers! It's always good to know that the pastor is pleased, too - 'muy contento' according to Walter! (very pleased, in case you couldn't work that out!). Packing almost done: hopefully sleep will come despite the noise - the 'Chiva' buses - drinking and salsa dancing mobile clubs! - are out in force, huge sound systems, thumping bass, and, unless a miracle happens and I get an upgrade (if you fancy praying for that, 1130 pm flight, Air Canada, Toronto-London, 8 hours, laying flat.... mmmm!) not too much sleep if any tomorrow night either. About 31 hours including stops, but not the 6 hour time change), a few hours attempted sleep near London (I should land in London at 9pm Sunday night), then it's to the airport at 5am to go home... BUT - WHAT A TRIP THIS HAS BEEN!!!! Deaf, dumb, arthritis, wrecked knees, a totally destroyed leg, cancer, asthma, migraines, scoliosis, eczema, masses of allergies, back problems.... and so much more, all healed. Never made the big event, but I wouldn't have swapped 5 minutes in front of tens of thousands to miss Monica, the deaf mute girl hear and speak on the street, to have the lady with brain and breast cancer laugh and cry all over me... and pray for a quartet of AIDS sufferers... hugged them all, what have I got to worry about? I'm more in faith to see it go than to catch it.... Even the apartment owner, Alberto (Beto) - amazingly in fact Alberto Sinisterra (wait for it....) O'Byrne (no Irish accent though!) came to the flat tonight to thank me for everything... all we've done is BE here, me and the wonderful bloke I inadvertently called Aslan in an earlier post... I think he so appreciates we leave it relatively spotless, and don't cause any hassle! And it's such a great block to stay in, listening to river rushing past, when the music fades.... Such a lovely relationship with Beto: we all really like him, who come: as I'm a constant, I feel I know him well now. He's an 'abogado' (lawyer) and clearly a property owner: would 101% recommend these flats if you come here, we even got our laundry done this time, so I'm taking home one used pair of socks, boxers, and a shirt. THANK YOU JESUS!!! I'm so glad that when God made the call to travel, he said I was never to charge for preaching, let alone praying: because of that, I, and whoever is with me, get to go to churches where people so rarely get the 'gringo' preachers: their gratefulness, appreciation, and kindness says it all. If I did this for the money, well, who'd miss out? Certainly me, maybe them... but pray God, that situation never happens. Avianca Airlines, Cali to Bogota (1 hour), here I come tomorrow afternoon: Air Canada, you lovely people with full economy, and needing people to upgrade, I'm on my way to Executive First Class, Bogota - Toronto (6-7 hours), Toronto - London (8 hours)!!!! Couldn't give flying fig for London to Belfast, as it's only 40 minutes! Don't forget the absurd check in times to add in - 3 hours for international flights! The passage through Bogota airport can be stressful, as they randomly choose suitcases to search at the door of the plane: it's chaos, believe me, and I've been nobbled the last 3 occasions. Praying NOT tomorrow night.... Thank you so much for your prayers: Alan & I were both so aware of them, and with the physical onslaught on us, needed them so much. My knees and feet feel like a word I really mustn't use here (not that I know it!) tonight... pray God they recover for the long way home.... it's 115 am now, so I MUST cansado bien.... sleep well! 28 April (later) Just a request for prayer/wisdom - I tend these days to 'short-date' diary bookings: used to book 2 years ahead (it was a sort of 'security blanket' for me, to know that my diary was full and people wanted me - I never disregard that, it is such a privilege to have people want you to preach and teach), and it was a straight-jacket. I love the flexibility now, maybe 6 months ahead maximum, but, always until the door closes, Colombia will be at least twice a year: same for Mexico... lots of bookings in the UK coming up too.... Just in the last few days, invitations to India (Orissa state, the most persecuted state I'm told, and Andrha Pradesh), Pakistan, Ghana, Kenya, and Australia have come. I'd love to do ALL of them: plus Uganda, Chile (almost a definite)... but I DO need 'down' time between trips a little more than I used to, I need to be 'sensible'! (though I'd rather burn out than rust out!) - AND - maybe, just maybe, somewhere this year, I might need to find time to go back to the USA.... I know some of what I feel is right, but need God just to give the nudge, or otherwise! Bless you!! 28 April Just noticed a 'freudian' slip spelling mistake below... 'Aslan packing to leave' - should of course have been Alan, but maybe its a statement of who Alan is becoming... faith, power.... he's home, and whilst I love it here, I do have a twinge of envy that he's finished his mammoth flights, asleep in his bed... it's always been the same, no matter how amazing a trip, you reach a point where home calls louder and louder... Years ago, I regularly - for a while - travelled with a great mate, Nick: to show you how much Nick LOVED missions, he, his lovely wife, and 2 sons went, lock, stock, and barrel to Zambia - in the north - for 6, maybe 7 years, planted loads of churches, impacted a culture. When we travelled, he often say, 'The day after the day after the day after tomorrow, we'll be going home'.... when Al went, it seemed possibly that the meetings planned for the end of this week might not happen, so I even thought of changing my flights and flying home today.... but then I heard there was meeting last night, one this morning at 8am, one at 1230 pm, another tonight, and another tomorrow at 7pm.... so, sacrificially ( ;) ) I felt I should stay on and fulfil them. Anyway, God's done so much here, I want to maximise every opportunity - who wouldn't? Well, you know, sometimes, I think God has a bit of a laugh with me! Apart from tomorrow night's meeting (it IS at a church called 'Generation of Fire' where I've been before, and it'll be good - IF it happens!) - every other meeting HASN'T happened! No translator available last night: my friend Hendrik couldn't ring me this morning as his phone had run out minutes, for the 8am pastors get-together: not quite sure why lunchtime didn't happen, nor tonight.... but, you just smile, say 'no hay problema' (there isn't a problem!) - so, Lord, absolutely blitz the place tomorrow night... Packing next - need a bit of blitzing after that! - then - I don't want to think of how many hours before my lovely little house in Bangor, Monday, about 10am (leave her 2pm Saturday afternoon to achieve that!). Thank you so much for your prayers over these 18 days: they've really been answered in ways it's hard to explain. All I can say is 'let your Kingdom be unleashed in the next 24 hours.... please, Lord'! 26 April It's been a good day, except for ASlan packing to leave :( - I have a few more meetings to fulfil, but would, in a way, love to be going home tomorrow.... for a little while, early evening, Thursday looked a possibility, as my dear friend Walter, who organises much of what I do here, told me that the pastor who had booked Thursday and Friday evenings had cancelled.... but then those slots were filled with other churches, lunch meetings, other appointments, so I'm destined to be here until heading for Alfonso Aragon airport, Cali, on Saturday afternoon! Still have no voice, or very little voice: a day of rest tomorrow for my voice alone is vital, especially as I'm preaching tomorrow night! We've also had the most wonderful thunder and lightning here this evening - rain too, the worst rains in living or historic memory in Colombia. People died in the flooding and mudslides of last Friday night, cars were washed away, and there are now over 3 million homeless in Colombia just as a result of the rains.... desperate situations. Even though it's not yet the 'end' of the trip, with Al leaving we've looked back - on lots of meetings, hundreds and hundreds - maybe thousands - of prayers, and hundreds miraculously healed. I do love what God is doing - deaf and dumb healed, tumours disappearing, legs straightening, new knees and hips going into place, migraines gone forever, arthritis healed, backs straightening. It's been 32 years+ since I earned my last salary cheque with the NatWest bank: would I swap what 've seen for the security of a salary and a house? Not on your life.... but it IS demanding, emotionally, spiritually, and physically. I'm so, so tired, desperate for some 'down' time back in Ireland, but so overjoyed with God has done on this trip - SO FAR! More to come before Saturday, even if it's a battle to think of Alan back home (Barbara, Jennifer, and Karen will be thrilled to have him back!!). I wouldn't swap this for all the tea in China.... 26 April What an amazing weekend! After Saturday night's fantastic meeting, with many healings (see below!), Sunday just carried on - and escalated, if anything! It's always 'interesting' here how time-keeping works (or, perhaps, doesn't!) here: we were due to be picked up at 730 am for a 7 am meeting (!!), my long-time great friend Fernando translating, due here at 730 too). The church guys, bless 'em, were here by 720, when Fernando called to say he was still at home - 40 minutes away!! As usual, it all worked out, and Alan & I went to a church (Cruzada Cristiana) I'd not been to before, in the north of the city - Floraria, I think the area is called. The church was heaving with people, and there (theoretically) was a time restriction on us, as I was due to preach in the south of the city at 1030am... it was a glorious meeting, where the presence of God was tangible, and I think Al and I prayed for just about everything that moved, with many reported instant healings - so many people with intense pain healed, someone got new knees (thank you Lord... mine soon!), backs were healed, a spine straightened.... it was hard to leave! Pastor Alexander, whom I'd never met, was deliriously happy: and heard today, from my dear friend Diego, that a lady his wife works with was miraculously healed there, too. Thank you, Lord, for the POWER of Easter, the POWER of your Holy Spirit, and for using plonkers like me (I better not include Alan in that generalisation ;)). We got to the next church (Iglesia Cristiana Siervos del Dios Altisimo - Church of the Servants of the Most High God) a wee bit late (we're Colombian, aren't we??) - and I remember instantly having been there before, a lovely young pastor named Alejandro. The worship band were in full swing, deafeningly loud, but good (hooray!) - and, dancing at the front was young lady Alan & I had prayed for there on the last visit - I think it was 2 years ago. Then, she'd just (Veronica, by the way) been in an horrific motorcycle accident, was desperate, having smashed her left leg to pieces. The doctors told her there was nothing they could do for her, other than crutches, for the rest of her life... God obviously had other plans, and she was at the front dancing, pogoing, walking perfectly normally when she stopped dancing, totally healed - with just a small white scar, about 2 inches long (5 cms) on her left kneecap.... Many were healed there, too: asthma, arthritis, cancer, sight.... it was wonderful!! I could go on, but you can imagine.... A lunch with a pastor almost entirely filled the 'gap' between getting away from that church, and being at the next one (Cielos Abiertos - Open Heavens)at 530pm, pastored by another acquaintance, Juan Pablo. Heaving with people, like the second service, too: we prayed for everything that moved, except a lovely dog (Simon, if you're interested!) who appeared not to be at all ill, but still appreciated my hands laid on him, especially on his neck and under his chin... dozens prayed for, many healed - a church full of people with allergies: many spoke of knowing immediately that their allergy had gone, a lady with breast cancer was healed, so many pain-ridden bodies healed. I love my job! Today.... a day off: lunch with long-time dear friends Hendrik and Willmar (no, not Wilma, that's a GIRLS name!). A good steak, a luxurious ice cream from Crepes and Waffles, and wonderful company and fellowship.... Alan, who leave on Wednesday morning (4am!!!) said 'I've done what I came here to do, seen what I came here to see!'. Can't ask for more than that, I guess. Tomorrow, maybe - Club Noel, the Kids Hospital, but that's not confirmed yet), a good meal with Al tomorrow evening, the day with Diego.... then Alan goes. I've got meetings Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, before hitting the road Saturday afternoon and the long drag home. Looking forward to my lovely home in Ireland... but want to see God do lots more before I leave.... 24 April Did the angel roll away the stone so that Jesus could get out? No, he did it so that the others could see in... Jesus isn't in here, He's risen! Wow, what a story! If someone had written it, it would be deemed to be fiction: but it's real, provable, true. It's such an amazing thing to be free, to have a destiny, a purpose, and eternal security, isn't it? Happy Easter Day, and thank you, Jesus! An extra meeting casually 'thrown' into the conversation earlier by my friend Walter - so now, 8 and 10.30 am, lunch with a pastor, and another meeting at 5pm. But it's ok, it's a day of rest...! So glad Alan's still here for today, I'd feel a little overwhelmed! 23 April (later) When I first began this journey (and boy, it's been a journey and a half!) almost 25 years ago, I believed then that God wanted me to go to places - often - that others don't go to.... of course, people come here to Cali, but there are many parts of this city that people don't go to, and many places foreigners wouldn't go purely and simply because it doesn't 'pay'... I felt then, as I still do now, that I never wanted to be 'famous' (whatever that means, but I guess you can work it out). I've never 'craved' big meetings, much preferring the small places often down pot-holed muddy streets. Every now and again, a 'big meeting offering' in a nice first world country would be nice, but I don't expect that'll ever happen! Perhaps that's why I never made it to the the huge meetings over the past two days: it's possible it might have jettisoned me into - perhaps - TV and Radio stuff here, and whilst I have no criticism of those on TV, I personally wouldn't want some of the sort of ministries that reach that audience. It was years before I 'gave in' and had a website, even: I've staunchly refused to set up a ministry organisation - Paul Bennison Ministries doesn't REALLY have much of a ring to it, anyway! - as, for me at least, they become something that serves you, and that you have to serve in order to perpetuate it. There's a -vague - possibility that a book (which I was commissioned to write a number of years ago, and did, before a problem in the publishing company meant they no longer published the sort of book I'd written!) might have a door opening for it, but I never even remember to take business cards or brochures with me, or talk about how I live, let alone sell stuff! So, having missed the 'Lord Mayor's Show' over the last 48 hours, it was back to what I prefer tonight.... smaller churches, informal, and wonderfully blessed.... A mind-blowing evening tonight – loads of people healed, including a lady who came scared (almost literally!) to death, with a ‘very dangerous’ tumour in her breast, another in her brain, awaiting imminent surgery.... prayed for her, asked her if, prior to prayer, was she able to feel the tumour: yes. Then asked after prayer... could she still feel it... after much boob-squeezing (her, not me!), she burst into tears, shouted, laughed, hugged me... it had gone.... so I know the one in her brain went, too.... much further boob-squeezing and by now quite an audience of intrigued people from the church, and she finally let me pray for someone else! A guy named Carlos was healed of arthritis and lupus, a lady with shortened arm muscles couldn't straighten her fingers - then could: Alan had a similar report of many healed - thank you, Jesus, for the stripes that heal us, and for the other comforter, your lovely Holy Spirit, who empowers and gives faith so that this amazing stuff can happen....
23 April I'm sure there are some of you who read this who won't appreciate/ don't appreciate the humour of Eddie Izzard (I happen to think he's both funny and extremely clever, if a little 'unusual'!!), but he once did a sketch about the phrase 'the best laid plans of mice and men' - it was riotously funny, with him hitting on the absurdity of the phrase. Well, the best best laid plans for Alan and me - coming here over Easter to be involved in these conferences - were plans that really did echo the absurdity of that expression! I wasn't scheduled to speak in the Velodrome on Thursday, but I WAS due to speak at the Stadium on Thursday night, and at the Velodrome yesterday. By Thursday lunchtime, it really was as though 'someone' didn't want us to be there. Alan's cold & cough deteriorated to a point where he felt really ill, and though I wasn't ill, it was as though an unseen hand had reached into my throat and totally removed my vocal chords. I had absolutely no voice at all yesterday, I couldn't even communicate with Alan, let alone a cast of thousands, or even a translator... so, coming here was obviously NOT for the conferences! I rested my voice all day, and, I suspect, all night (Alan didn't complain of me talking in my sleep through the walls!), though of course, I might have snored! My voice is sufficiently improved today to preach tonight, and hopefully for the remainder of the trip.... it'd be nice to know if there's some 'spiritual' reason why what we came here for, ostensibly, hasn't happened: suffice to say, all the other meeting so far have been fantastic, and I'm really going to 'go for it' over the next 6 meetings before I head my weary way home to Ireland next Saturday afternoon. This evening we're due to be in a church in Chipe Chape, been there before, always a great response, so looking forward to it.... assuming it happens!
21 April Well, after last night's great meeting, we - Alan & I - were at the Velodrome at the crack of dawn for the first of the weekend's meetings. There was a great turnout - not the 15,000 anticipated, but big, and it was great to be able to share a little (Alan too) with the crowd. My main speaking 'slot' is tomorrow for the Velodrome: then - I totally lost my voice.... a blessing, some might say! It meant that, as Alan felt particularly unwell with a nagging cough and a heavy cold, and with me sounding like I was an interrupted-flow of helium as my voice was breaking, there was no point in going to the Stadium tonight - no one could have heard me! I'm learning, in my advancing years, that I have to listen a bit more to my body telling things: I don't want to say that this was an 'attack' - but in all my years of travelling (25 nearly), I've never had to cancel a meeting, and in 5 trips with me, Alan's never even felt inclined to need to miss one.... so, I'm praying that tomorrow will see my wonderful dulcet tones restored (LOL!!!), and that I can speak in the conference, and in church tomorrow night.... It was great today, though, to meet some great people - Ricardo di Rocca, a preacher from Argentina but living in Houston, a lovely Ghanaian preacher, Edmond, Stephen Switcher, an itinerant preacher with a love for Colombia as great as mine, from North Carolina, and Marcos Barrientos, the worship leader from Mexico. Caught up with lots of other pastors and people I haven't seen in a while, too, so it was a good day apart from my teen-angst voice breaking! 20 April It has been a real blessing to have a couple of 'quieter' days, ahead of the roller-coaster that will be the next 4 days! The stadium/velodrome meetings, and quite a few churches - 5 I think between now and Sunday evening, and, of course, the lengthy meetings that will be in the velodrome. The continued sense that both Alan & I have is that there is tremendous opposition, especially in the face of having seen God do so much already. Unusually, for both of us, we've felt unwell (let's leave that at...er...bathroom issues for both of us!, and a really horrible cough and bad throat for Alan). I have a sense we might end up praying with hundreds, if not thousands, over the next few days, so we'd really value your prayers for protection, strength, anointing, and grace. We have a meeting tonight, though I still have absolutely no idea where - all my dear friend Walter has put on my schedule is '7pm'...... and then nothing else!! The delights of being in latino-land! It IS a great trip so far: and looking to God for it to be even more amazing as these next 4 days unfold. Monday and Tuesday next week are relatively quiet at the moment, which is a blessing after 3 meetings Sunday, then of course (sadly for me but happily for his family!) Alan goes home Wednesday, so I've got a truckload of meetings Wednesday to Friday all to my little self.... :( If I don't get much time to get online over the next few days, I'd love to wish you all a very blessed, powerful, triumphant, Spirit-filled Easter, and a life from Sunday living in ALL the good and power of our amazing resurrected and living Jesus. 18 April Sometimes, when people are NOT healed instantly (I prefer to call that a miracle, anyway), they assume it isn't going to happen. BUT that's not true: when we give up immediately, it's my view (and experience) that healing DOESN'T come, but often God heals slowly - to me, the very nature of the word 'healing' is a process. Slowly might be an hour, a day, a month - but it isn't possible for God NOT to answer prayer.... So the story of Martin Shiel, from Edinburgh (see first blog 26 March, and testimonies tab) is a fantastic example of someone who has seen God unfold miraculous healing into his life.... a few weeks ago, he could hardly walk, with his right leg in a pretty serious-looking leg brace.... see the testimonies page for the ongoing update of Martin's lovely story.... 18 April It's one of the great anomalies of my life, for me at least, how somewhere like here, in Colombia, I can see my plans changed (without knowing they're going to be!) in an instant, and just 'ride' it.... was headed for a church last night to preach, discovering no more than 2 minutes from the building that it was a youth event, which sort of changed what I had in mind to say.... allied to that, the meeting, for which Alan & I were picked up at 6.20 and had begun at 6pm (!! that's not late in Colombia!), was pretty big numerically: and the translator hadn't arrived by 730pm.... I wouldn't want to risk my Spanish yet to speak publicly, but I'm sure it's part of God's blessing on us here that we can just relax, anyway, and feel sure it'll all work out in the end! Normally it does.... Wonderful meeting there, at the Catedral de Viva (fairly easily translatable, but Cathedral of Life for those whose brains don't work that way!). Found myself preaching a really motivational message, so wanting to raise the faith levels of the young people. Ended up praying a 'blanket' prayer for healing over all who were sick, getting them to lay their own hands on the ill bits of their bodies (if it was appropriate!)... some healings were testified, including an older Usher healed of a serious heart complaint. Wonderful! Same church this morning (having discovered VERY late last night that the first service wasn't happening, at 8am - there's still a God, yeah!!!). The place was heaving with people, translator there 30 minutes EARLY this time (!!). Alan did really well, amongst other things talking about Barbara's miracle 3 years + back: then spoke about 'moaner' Habakkuk seeing God's power as he went from disillusionment to awe... Alan and I must've prayed for well over 100 between us, quite a few testifying to immediate freedom from pain. I love God's (sometimes obtuse!) sense of humour, as I ended up praying for at least half a dozen people with major knee issues, some with instant relief.... just saying in my head, as I prayed for them 'O.K Lord, just remember my knees!' - it seems this evening that he might WELL have remembered them, as they're the best tonight than they've been for a good while! Thank you, Lord!!! Both Alan & I have felt 'out of sorts' since we've been here - nothing describable, but no appetites (good for me, I guess, but he's thin!), I just sense it's part of the 'onslaught' we've both experienced ahead of, and during, this trip... leading up, I hope and pray, to a blockbuster time over the next 10 days while Alan's here, and 12 days of my being here....
16 April Great meeting tonight - a real faith-booster, it seems, for a church already 'up for it'! Alan spoke really well, Dunia - my long-time brain surgeon friend (keep hoping she'll give me a transplant! - preferably with a brain similar to Brian Cox, the guy who'd probably actually HELP me to enjoy and learn physics!)- translated well - and it was a great place to feel such liberty when preaching.... it's great when you feel you're 'on a roll' and God seems to be raising faith. We prayed for quite a few people at the end, for some pain disappeared, and demeanours and attitudes changed. Gustavo, the pastor, is responsible for some of the big meetings at the end of next week, and he seems really excited by what God's going to do then on the basis of tonight! And, what's more, he's a really great bloke.... 15 April Wonderful time this afternoon right in the centre of Cali, on the streets at Plaza Caicedo, with great friends/pastors Hendrik & Willmer... along with two white plastic chairs... It wasn't long before we got people wanting prayer, and we prayed for a good number: all of them received healing, pain going, legs 'growing' (that's normally backs straightening, of course: if it's legs growing, then I'll get prayed for everytime as I'd love to be taller!). One lady, Marie Isabelle, with womb cancer, felt her womb on fire as I had my hand on hers on her womb, and as Willmer and I prayed... she knew she was healed.... another lady, Monica, profoundly deaf and dumb, began to feel things happening in her ears, then heard sounds, and then started making vocal noises she couldn't previously make.... and then she was away, it was hard to say anything to her as the noises got louder and longer.... Backs were healed, and, in the close proximity to the most dangerous part of the city, God just wonderfully turned up... praying he does so tonight at the church meeting! Last night, as Alan and I sat chatting just before crashing out for the night, an enormous explosion occurred. I tried to explain it away with possible causes, but knew - as did Alan, who, of course, knew about bombs having lived in Northern Ireland during the 'troubles' - that it was a bomb.... car alarms started shrieking.... but we still slept ok! Just praying no one was hurt. There are still parts of the city that the police won't go to at night, and ther noise came from the direction of one of those neighbourhoods.... And so to church in about 90 minutes. Better think about what God might want me to say.... 14 April (later!) Really needed the relative peace of today, my body really deciding that it WAS tired after the last few days exertions...! Just great to have Alan here - his journey was rather uneventful, which must have been nice: but it IS exhausting, and he's got here needing a good night's sleep. Tomorrow kicks off quite busy, and then gets busier through the two weeks.... Tragedy here in Colombia today, too: I'm glad it got a mention on the BBC's news page, as so often Colombian tragedy just doesn't warrant recording. This has been the winter of the heaviest rains in recent history, and the rain of the past 36 hours (which caused my flight cancellation of course) caused a mud-slide today, in Manizales, sweeping a bus into a ravine (don't forget, this is a country dominated by the Andes and the amazon), with at least 14 dead, and 6 are still missing. I'm told that local news reported that two of the bodies were swept away in such incredible waters that they were found 30 kms (about 19 miles) away from the scene. With so many people being killed in such astonishing ways in the past 15-16 months, it almost seems like' Oh, only 14...' - but in the past year, the rains have accounted for the deaths of over 300 here, and made 2 million homeless, facts which escape the world news... Outside the apartment where we stay, we have the Cali River, which goes through the middle of the city: it is roaring tonight, louder than I've ever heard it. So many rivers, including the Cali and the Cauca, have burst their banks, and infiltrated the water filtration systems for the city, contaminating the water to such an extent that half the city has been without water for 2 days, and likely to be for much longer. Tragedy everywhere.... Wars, rumours of wars, floods, earthquakes, famines.... didn't I read about events like this somewhere....? 14 April Lots of people say to me 'I'd love to do what you do.... it must be wonderful going here, there, and everywhere, seeing God do stuff'... it IS wonderful, and that's why after 25 years, I'm still doing it. But the cost is what most people never look at, and the glamour that some people imagine in a 'jet-set' life-style is just non-existent most of the time. Maybe if you can travel business or first class, it's different, but packed in what Adrian Plass once called 'sardine class' is a different ball-game altogether! I'm only a little short bloke, I don't know what it must be like for him at 12 inches (30 cms) taller than me.... I came in a taxi from Cali airport to the city this morning, looking at the Andes, feeling the warmth of the climate, and with the usual rising sense of excitement that I get when I come here, and I said out loud, 'It's so good to be here again!' - I really mean it: that's the up-side. The downside had immediately preceded that feeling! I left my lovely little home in Bangor Monday early evening, thinking about the (then, I thought) known 30 hour plus journey I'd got ahead of me. Going through Canada, because of the USA visa fiasco, adds some time on, but it's normally trouble-free... this time, not so, being pulled in by Canadian immigration for questioning, seemed related to the fact that I'd had the little hiccup with US immigration... for a few minutes, I did wonder if I'd be able to transit, but in the end it was ok...just found it a bit odd, as Canada DOES have a Great Britain Union flag on it's own flag... maybe it means absolutely nothing anymore to be part of what's left of the Commonwealth! Lost a bag in Toronto airport... bummer, pain, any other adjectives that fit... arrived in Bogota: immigration and customs a total breeze, pleasant, courteous, fast (learn some lessons here, USA, Canada, Britain...!! ) - no problem changing airports for the domestic flight to Cali. Boarded 930 pm, sat on the runway til midnight, then went back to the terminal (isn't that just the most inappropriate word for the main building at an airport??!!??). Weather in Cali too bad to fly: massive rais, flooding - you name it. At 2am they cancelled the flight, so the prospect of trying to sleep in a cold, plastic-bucket-seated terminal was not a blessing! Finally flew at 615am yesterday morning, arriving here in the apartment in Cali, at 9 am Wednesday, having left Ireland at (Colombia time, which IS relevant in terms of the travel time, and I had 6 hours extra to stay awake!!) at mid-day Monday. 45 hours.... glamorous? I think not! 4 hours sleep in that time, too... and airline food. If that's your idea of glamour, then you need to get a life! Then I discovered that I was preaching last night... what a blessing that turned out to be! It was at Casa de Dios, House of God: my lovely, very-long-time friends Norbey & Carmen Arias pastor it. Carmen has been so, so desperately ill for a couple of years or so now: times when there seems a measure of improvement, other times when it seems worse.... but it is SUCH a blessing to be around Norbey. Despite the crushing pressures he and his family have been through, he is always smiling, a true relection of the joy of the Lord being his strength. It was a terrific meeting, prayed for many, and, according to Norbey, the faith level was notched up a few more places, and that alone would make this whole trip worthwhile, if it ended here.... Saw my dear friend Walter Torres, one of the 'itinerary organisers' here yesterday, too: boy, is there a programme already, and only half planned to date! TWO Stadium meetings next week - 40,000+ at each, live on TBN in the Americas, streamed live online.... pampers ready for action here! Another conference same Easter weekend, possibly 15,000 at that.... in the Coliseo, one of the stadiums, I'm told there'll be a huge percentage of 'Christians in Waiting' - (the lovely Chinese description for the not yet saved!), so that really excites me, and daunts me... Many, many churches already booked... some I don't know the names of, but what's already planned is on the diary page. This - me! - is the bloke who never wanted big meetings, preferring to go to the smaller 'backwater' churches that others won't go to, or the lesser known places, even dangerous places... and now.... 95,000 people maybe in one weekend! That's a few trips' worth of people in 3 days... :) Really value your prayers, as for both Alan and me, we're looking at a busy, hectic, but wonderful trip, that has had SO much opposition and attack on us personally in the weeks leading up to it (even the journey - which my knees didn't appreciate too much!), that God is clearly planning something wonderful. What a privilege it is to be blessed by God to come to a place like this.... I know there are people in Scotland who'll tell me off for writing this - ;) - but I'm the Rodney Trotter of the preaching scene - the Plonker - but just so, so grateful that God uses the weak and foolish to overcome the strong and the wise.... I love this upside down kingdom!! Please pray for Alan today, as he's travelling here, arrives Cali 7pm (1 am UK time), so far his journey has been relatively uneventful, it seems.... and please pray for his family back home, as, of course, the opposition to this trip affects them, too - that'd be Barbara, Jennie, and Karen. God bless 'em outrageously while dad and husband are away....
6 April Terrific evening in Ballymena, speaking to the three combined home groups from the Causeway Coast Vineyard, Coleraine - not a church plant, as such, but a campus. A packed living room, 20+ there, a real delight and privilege to share with such a spiritually hungry group of people. Always fun having a question time, too! Got to pray with a good number of them for healing at the end. Great night. Packing now for Monday, and the exit from the UK for 3 weeks to my second - or is it third? - home, Cali, Colombia. Not looking too much to about 30 travelling, but excited by what God is going to do there, as always. Alan from here (Bangor) is going, too, but he doesn't arrive in Cali until Thursday: it's so good to be with him, as he EXPECTS to see God do miracles, and he's such a blessing to be with. Obviously, as it's a Latino country, I have no idea of the itinerary right now (!!) - it's amazing how easily a westerner can adapt to 'not knowing' when we live in a culture where - mostly - everything is so ordered, and planned. All I know so far is that there's a conference over the Easter period that we're involved in, I'm speaking at: and heard a few days back, that there's a 'vigil' - remember the stadium meeting in the 'Transformations' dvd? - in the Stadium, and - apparently - I'm speaking at it. OOOOOOERRRR..... there are generally about 50-60,000 people there.... value your prayers!!! As soon as I know what else is in the diary for the 18 days I'm there, I'll update the diary page, and, hopefully, keep the blog updated too.... ;) 2 April Maybe I'm getting old, but I'm feeling more and more 'Victor Meldrew' over some things these days.... though I'd have to say that I'm a lot more than just Victor over this tragedy unfolding in Afghanistan. There's enough wrecking the world at the moment - earthquakes, floods, famines, violence, war... without 'christians' (and I use that word reservedly and with a small 'c') like the men who call themselves pastors in Florida inciting hatred.... just had to write something here to express my anger - righteous, I hope - concerning men who have absolutely no understanding of the world, and certainly very little 'handle' on the faith they profess to have... my friend Andrew White, the amazing Vicar of Baghdad, was on TV in the States last year in tears over the initial threat to burn the Koran, stating that it would have devastating impact on the Christians living in the moslem world... many in his church have been massacred as a result of just last year's 'threat' - no wonder we're seeing now the beginning of the impact those men have had, having actually burned the Koran, the burning streamed 'live' on the internet two weeks ago. God help all of us who own, name, and claim the name of Jesus as Lord, Saviour, and Friend, when so much of the battle we're facing comes from within our own 'ranks'.... God help the families of those poor UN and civilian people massacred in the past 3 days, when one of the pastors concerned disowns any responsibility for what is happening in Afghanistan.... God, forgive us, please.... 30 March Just a quick mention that there are some more lovely testimonies under that tab from the time in Scotland. One that isn't there was told to me by my friends Graham & Margaret in Troon: in November 2009, I was asked to pray by proxy for a man - David - in his 40's, who was critically ill with cancer, but was still planning to go ahead with his wedding to a lovely friend of theirs, even though he had a deadline on life expectancy. Well, when I was with Graham & Margaret, it 'just' came up in conversation that David is totally healed (and no, not dead, which I know many Christians would say is the perfect healing, being with Jesus!), but walking-around-living-married-enjoying life healed... as is Graham, who was miraculously healed a few days before the doctors had said he would meet his maker - prayed for in October 2008, then minus a few fairly significant organs that docs had removed to try and stem the increase of cancer in his body... needless to say, he's not minus those organs since then! God does WONDERFUL stuff... 26 March It's always a blessing to hear that God has really blessed someone's life with healing! There have, actually, been a number from Scotland, but I was especially blessed to hear from Martin Shiel, from Newcraighall, Edinburgh, whose story is on the testimonies page... healing AND weight loss - more of that please, Lord!! Also, the story of Doreen, also on the testimony page.... there were a good number of testimonies over that period in Scotland, especially in the Sunday meeting a Wellspring. God's good!! 24 March Great privilege,, yesterday, to meet the guys who lead Causeway Coast Vineyard: it is from that church that the fantastic 'Healing on the Streets' has come, as well as it being a church that is seeing many saved, and exploding numerically in Coleraine, Northern Ireland. I felt very honoured to be asked to spend time with their leaders and ministry team: it was so good to meet Alan & Kathryn Scott, and Mark Marx, with whom it seems I much in common! (East End of London especially!). The connection was one of the sort I love most - Alan's brother was at a meeting in Glasgow a couple of weeks back, and put us in contact... I love it when something doesn't have to be worked at! Lots of people have asked me, as someone involved in healing, if I know the H.O.T.S church: but I love to wait until the connection comes naturally, in God's time... felt so welcomed by them, and look forward to seeing where God takes this new friendship in the future. I'm down to speak there on June 12, which is, again, such a privilege.... Had a lovely few days at home, chilling out, letting my knees recover (the guys yesterday really prayed for them so I'm looking forward to supernatural recovery now!), watching cricket (wonderful!), football (wonderful!) and rugby (not so wonderful for England last Saturday!) on TV.... and now preparing for Cali, Colombia.... just Alan and me this time, he's such a wonderful friend I'm really looking forward to loads saved, healed, blessed, and lots of wonderful cheap Colombian steaks... 16 March Back home in Bangor now, a great blessing! Crack of dawn start to Heathrow airport, on-time flight - until we reached Belfast, where there was thick fog...so we went round and round and round and round.... for about 75 minutes, which is a bit of a pain when you're desperate to get home! The long drive south yesterday, via Keswick to my lovely cousin Robert, Norma, and their son Steven, was a delightful (!!) mixture... such heavy snow coming out of Edinburgh on the M8 I wondered if I'd make it yesterday, followed by sleet in the Borders, then rain in Cumbria and Lancashire.... so it took a lot longer than I'd hoped, and my left knee complained a bit by the end of the drive! Came 'home' to me at the weekend, in Scotland, as I thought on the date (apart from that today would've been my lovely mum's birthday, and next Tuesday a year since she went to see the Jesus she loved), and realised that yesterday was the 17th anniversary of having been pulled from a 'fatal' car crash by an angel, who just 'happened' to have turned up in a meeting in Worthing, West Sussex... won't go into the whole story, but when you're in a Mini Metro, having just done an enforced emergency stop behind a 38 ton twin-trailer truck, ending up literally inches (probably 6) from the rear of the truck, and you're hit by another 38 tonner at about 40 mph (65 kph) into the back of it. a big angel comes in handy.... guess it was MORE on my mind as I was actually driven over the exact spot it happened on my way to the airport this morning! It was actually wonderful to tell the story again over the weekend, as it is proof positive that God's promise of 'setting his angels charge over us that we won't even hurt our foot against a stone' is so, so real.... it's a wonderful feeling to know that you SHOULD be dead, and yet you're not, because of God's great mercy and promises. And proof that you should give weird and wonderful words of knowledge when they come to you, as Kathryn, who was driving that day, did...(and drove brilliantly, I might add, to stop when she did - and this is a bloke talking about a woman driver!! 'God's told me to tell you to swivel your hips, Paul' wasn't quite what I was expecting to hear trapped in a tiny cocoon of a car less than a third of the length it had been, by the engine (on my lap) the boot (behind my seat), and the jagged point of the crumpled roof immediately where my head WOULD have been if the angel hadn't pushed me forward.... bless her, she delivered the wacky word from God: and in front of - maybe - 200 people (we'd totally gridlocked the M4 Heathrow exit at 830 am on a Monday morning, so there were lots of - er - helpers around the car!) with my seatbelt still in place (it was jammed) I rose gracefully out of the car, not with a swivel (never good at that even standing upright!), but at least a small jerk (perhaps that's me, too, a small jerk!).... You know, as I look back on that day (which I did vividly at 530 am this morning!), I'm so grateful for a God who protects, keeps his promises, and knows his plans for me... There's loads more to the story, but maybe you'll have to email and ask me for that if you haven't heard it....!
14 March Wonderful time here in Scotland! Even though the weather hasn't, er, been at it's best (! gales, rain ,snow, sleet!), it's been a fantastic 'season' of meetings from west to east, a lovely time of meeting and getting to know some great people, and seeing existing friendships growing from strength to strength. The long 'haul' from the south east of England, in my dear old car, went beautifully and very quickly (though of course, not once did I exceed the speed limit ;)!). It was great to see long-time friends Graham & Margaret in Troon, and to have the opportunity to speak at the Light House Church in Troon on Sunday. It was a terrific meeting, I loved it, people seemed to be blessed, and they laughed a lot, which is good for the bones anyway! Sunday evening was right in the middle of Glasgow, with Church Alive meeting at the Glasgow City Mission for the first time: prayed for countless people in the two meetings, and know that God blessed and healed folk.... Over to the outskirts of Edinburgh, to speak at a celebration meeting, Sunrise, in Tranent: lovely and relaxed meeting, with a good number there, and, what's more, home made cakes and coffee (!!).... some healings, including a lovely little boy, 9 months old, suffering with a nasty virus for many days, healed instantly.... Back to Glasgow, for a wonderful evening at Cathcart Baptist, with the Scotland Healing Rooms, some people healed, and just a wonderful sense of God changing lives, healing, blessing, and challenging.... And so, back to Edinburgh - Wellsprings Church, and Tranent again.... brilliant meetings in Wellsprings, with some super healings - a man named Martin, right leg in a knee brace, unable to walk upstairs properly - did just that Saturday evening, and - RAN - chasing a ball in a park on Sunday.... more healings as people felt heat and fire come on them and through them - asthma being cleaned out, depression lifting, tension and pain going from stress-filled bodies... in Tranent, people testifying to feeling God touch them, and transformation beginning.... Day 'off' today, but brekkie with a terrific couple, Scott & Faith Brennan, church planters, radical people, a kingdom link: last night, the same with Andrew & Gill Mitchell, this weekend with David & Maggie, who lead Wellsprings.... lunch with a man named David, who, interestingly, has a similar experience of US immigration as me (!!), out in the afternoon home visitng to pray for sick and dying people, then a meal tonight with someone else... day off... ;) And tomorrow... back south via Keswick to see my cousin and his wife.... and then home to Ireland - woohoo!!! And, what's more, England beat Scotland at rugby yesterday :) - now I run the gauntlet of them needing to beat Ireland, whilst I'm there, next weekend!!
4 March Well, it was wonderful to get back to the UK after the long, long haul home from Mexico - flight delays in Mexico and in Montreal because of the weather in Canada... seemed like a 'forever' journey home! Landed at about 830 am, just time for a quick cup of tea, then off in my freshly-annually tested aged car to the Rhinos... just 100 miles or so drive, but after a 24 hour journey and a sleepless night on a plane from Montreal to London, that's more demanding than it sounds! My car had failed it's MOT - annual test - on rear brake and a new tyre issues: not a big deal in 'parts' terms, but an arm and a leg in a labour terms! When my dear friend Keith went to the garage to collect it from the test, he took it for a run to make sure it was ok - and it wasn't! This time, it was the front brakes - the disc was was warped, so new disc and pads... hmmm! So, off to Rhinos, and doing, er, let's say 70 mph (!) on the motorway.... horrible vibration, stopped when it was safe to get out and look - the new tyre completely shredded and destroyed! Called the AA (AAA in USA!) to change it for me, and, lo and behold, 40 miles later, the spare that had been put on - completely flat and wrecked! What chance of that happening on the same wheel, I wonder???? So, two new tyres purchased... and expensive week for the 'old girl' in the end!! Rhinos was terrific: so much laughter, fun, tears, wisdom, insight, declaration, prophecy.... what WOULD I do without those guys??? It was lovely, too, to see one of community staff (we meet as Rhinos in a Catholic Charismatic Community in the Cotswolds) - who came and told me that her friend, Elaine, whom I'd prayed for in September (spoke at a Celebration meeting they hold monthly there), who had been critically ill with cancer, was healed.... made punctured tyres and an MOT failure seem irrelevant! We had a great few days together, us Rhino-boys: then, at last, it was back home to Ireland. Thank you, Lord! Went to the car.... flat tyre! Arrgghh!!! We have a lovely tyre place in Bangor, run by a wonderful Christian: I've prayed for his wife in the past, she's always in a lot of pain, so I'm sure my puncture was so I could hear that she wasn't good... but, not just a puncture, but brake issues, too! What's this all about? I own nothing, really, just two aging cars, but it does seem that someone, somewhere, either is trying to stop me, or stop me from stopping! New brake caliper... order in.... Prayed for her Sunday at church: went back to the tyre place midweek, to discover that the OTHER brake caliper needed replacing too! But I did hear from the owner's son that mum was much much better.... so that's worthwhile, too! She seems pretty much healed, I've subsequently discovered! Great time with Towerview Free Methodist's men's breakfast.... and then visits to a couple of homes to pray for very sick people.... just good to have the privilege of sharing with a bunch of men! A few days at home, giving my knees chance to recover, and then, Thursday, over to England, to drive to Scotland for a bust 10 days here.... thankfully, my old girl in England drove beautifully the near 500 miles up here, and I've 36 hours before beginning a busy round of meetings.... heard last night that a man I prayed for, by proxy, 15 months ago, dying with cancer, is healed - so that's as pretty good way to start a week of ministry here!! I'd value your prayers for this week, as I'm shuttling to and fro across central Scotland, and have a good number of preaching engagements, and doubtless quite a few people to pray for! And beginning, mentally, to gear up, too, for Colombia, in a few weeks... it's always good to have the ticket booked, and even better, to know yesterday, that my great Irish mates Alan and Andrew (at least) will be with me in Cali... this time, there'll be something different, in that there's a conference over the Easter weekend, which I'm speaking at, and I think they're expecting 15,000 to it.... 13 February What a thrill to go back to Puebla - to have the opportunity of strengthening friendship with the church there, Mundo de Fe:to have the privilege once again of speaking to the Leadership Team; but, more than anything, to see transformation through answered prayer last time! When I visited in September, and met German (pronounced Herman) and Issabelle (pronounced Issabelle!), the pastors. Issabelle was extremely unwell, with a major blood disorder and severe bronchial issues. She was 'grey' - not your usual lovely Mexican olive colour - and so underweight with 'drawn' facial features.... also, if you recall from the September blog, they were struggling financially, and some of Issabelle's probable bronchial issues were exacerbated by the fact that they had a rough cement floor in their house, which produced cement dust with every movement. Well... I ma over the moon to say that she is now completely well, healed of her blood condition, bronchitis, and looking so wonderfully healthy... I prayed for them at the time that God would prosper them in every way, finance as well as health: they now have lovely new tiles throughout their house, redecorated, and really seeing God move in their lives, family, church, and city.... German's mum asked for prayer last night: struggling to talk , with nodules in her throat, and an inflamed and swollen thyroid - all healed by this morning's meeting... God's so good! I found myself saying to her last night that she'd wake up this morning with everything eased... not only eased, but healed! The meeting with the leaders was terrific: prayed for some, met Paula again, who gave me the apple last time, and her lovely husband John... prosperity is coming to them, too: John has a position as accountant with one the world's big 4 accountancy companies - DeLoitte's, Paula is teaching English in a Christian school and God is really beginning to bless them, and is in the process of giving them the desire of their hearts. There were probably 60 or more at this morning's meeting, which Benny and I went to from another 'sign' that God is prospering the church.... they accommodated us at the hotel Villa Florida, a super hotel that was so, so comfortable! I can't remember when I last visited somewhere to minister, and was put up in a hotel, let alone one as nice as this one.... There was a lovely sense of God's presence to preach in: many responded, for commitment, for wanting to stand up and be counted for God, and for healing.... one lovely lady, with chronic arthritis is her knees and shoulders was healed - she could hardly move her arm and then, within moment had it above her head.... knees healed too (ok Lord.... thank you, but mine would appreciate that too!). Others were healed - pain disappearing, infirmities leaving... I'm looking forward to hearing that the numerous people I prayed for with diabetes have been healed... Relationships grew... opportunities to return increased.... and now, at 1102 pm tonight, I'm going to sleep as it's up at 530 am for the long haul home... The airline changed the timetable: I was SUPPOSED to arrive at 830 pm tomorrow night from Toronto: but the 0130 flight (which I'd have liked to be on) now leaves at 2pm: so my flight is now 930 am from Mexico City via the dullest of airports, Montreal, and I don't arrive until 730 am Tuesday... meaning that I have to drive after a sleepless night, about 150 miles to meet with the Rhinos.... I'd value your prayers! At least another of the Rhinos will be pretty exhausted though - Russ lands Tuesday morning from Vancouver! Have to pay the bill for my dear old Toyota's MOT failure, plus tax it Tuesday... value your prayers for what I still need for that! At 166,000 miles, she's too good to throw away, and still worth (I hope!) repairing.... couldn't live without her though! 6 February Wow, what a meeting this morning.... Mundo de Fe, Azcapotzalco just keeps growing. The place was pretty full, the Presence of God tangible. Got people who were healed on Friday to come up and testify - that can always be a risk, giving someone a microphone (!), but a few did, and told of God's immediate healing on Friday evening - including the lovely lad I mentioned yesterday - his name is Johan, he'd fallen, and seriously damaged his ribs - probably broken - and said that when he was prayed for, he felt fire going right through him, and all the pain went... he gave me the most wonderful hug at the end of the meeting, with a fantastic smile on his face.... mum was pretty over the moon, too! It was one of those occasions where God just turned up, and it was so 'easy' to preach. Dozens responded, and people were saved and healed. What more can you want from 'church' huh? Even with Benny & Paty, Mimi, and others praying, we were still praying for people for about 45 minutes after the meeting. It was tremendous. I'm a bit sad that's my last meeting with this church, unless Benny asks me for Wednesday & Friday this week! Though I am looking forward to Puebla, though not so much to the 'aftermath' of being there, which is being at Mexico City airport Sunday night at 10.30 pm for a 1.30 am flight back to Toronto... and then the longer haul back to London. But....Rhinos next week....!!!! And then home to Ireland - yeah!!!! 5 February Well, a good day today , after a great night last night in the church here - today, Brighton & Hove Albion, love of my (secular!) life, won 4-2 away from home, and seem to be strolling away with the League One title... last night, in a prayer meeting here, in Mundo de Fe, Azcapotzalco, there was a good turn out (for an 'end of week' prayer meeting): shared a little on making choices in faith in our minds and spirits, rather than being swayed by circumstances, situations, even diagnoses... prayed for just about everyone in the meeting, and some were healed, and I know one lady, in terrible distress, found faith - and peace - in a new relationship with Jesus. One lovely young man - about 9 years, I guess - was instantly healed, as was a young lady (a bit older!!) immediately healed of a long-term throat and bronchial disorder.... a super young man, maybe 10 or 11 years, Jose - God just touched his life in such a lovely way. When he came to me, sadness and hurt were written all over him: turns out mum is a witch, and all his life she's rejected him, never wanted him: and to see the love of God melt so much of his pain away, and a lovely smile - great word in Spanish, sonrisa! - come on his face, was so precious. Tomorrow, the meeting in the wonderfully named Ixtapalapa, is postponed - it turns out the building the church rent is being redcorated this week! - so I'm with the Azcapotzalco church again.... don't you just love all these names! Already, expectancy is rising in Puebla for next weekend's meetings (apple church) - German (Herman it's pronounced!): German has put on Facebook that an explosion of the word is going to happen! I'm there over the weekend with their leaders, so I'm really looking forward to God moving.... At risk of being accused of being a doom-spreader, I know I've blogged before at what's going on in the world these past months... we're only into week 5 of 2011, and already we've had a cyclone with 'unprecedented' winds in north-east Australia (200mph/300kph), the most 'catastrophic storm ever to hit Australia', another earthquake in Chile, the bomb in Domodedovo Airport, Moscow, a mining disaster killing more than 20 men in north east Colombia, the massacre in Arizona of the American Congresswoman's staff and innocent bystanders, the flooding in Brazil killing over 800 and the heaviest rainfall in generations, 3 earthquakes in the UK (Cumbria, Yorkshire, Scotland), 1 million people losing their homes & displaced in Sri Lanka through flooding, a similar story in the Philippines, thousands of birds falling out the sky dead in Arkansas, USA, and 2 million dead fish washed up on the beach in Virginia, USA, - and riots, anarchy, and revolution in Egypt and Tunisia, and today, Serbia. Church, this is OUR time: this is surely the most exciting generation to be alive! Despite that (!) it is a quiet day today, time for email catch up, and an exciting trip to Walmart, then maybe a film! And, by the way, for all people further north than me, struggling with cold, wind, and rain, it'll be only about 28C here today.... :) 2 February Well, after the cold and wet (and, I gather, snow again) of the UK, it is rather nice to be here in the high 20's temperatures of Mexico City. It was great to have 10 days or more at home, though, and I really do miss home now, more than I've ever done in 24 years of this travelling life. Did I hear someone say 'It's your age!'.... maybe, but I so appreciate my coal/log fire on chilly evenings, and dear friends. It was a bit gruelling to get here - over to London from Belfast late Friday night, then at Heathrow Airport for 6a.m. to fly to Toronto. I'm not sure I'd recognise Heathrow departures at anything other than those crack-of-dawn times! I wanted to get to Mexico on Saturday, all in one day, so in order not to have the expense of a long layover in Toronto, which involves hotel, car, meals etc., I found myself flying London - Toronto - Montreal (I'd already flown over Montreal on my way to Toronto!) - Mexico: all in, a 23 hour travelling day, and, as usual, no sleep on the plane.... and lots of dashes through airports on dodgy knees caused by delayed flights. I really AM grateful to God that I don't seem to suffer jet-lag: Mexico is 6 hours behind the UK, arrived here at past 11p.m. feeling pretty grim - as you normally do after long flights with odd meals and no sleep - and by 10 a.m. was in church and ready to preach on Sunday morning. However much I think I must be used to the altitude here by now, I realise when rushing from plane to immigration & customs that I'm not: sweating profusely, panting, and doubtless rosy-cheeked.... Sunday's service was great: my friends Benny & Paty Osorios' church, Mundo de Fe (World of Faith) is lovely. One whole side of the 'church' is steel roller doors, but it gets increasingly full each time I visit. It's such a privilege to be able to preach in churches, especially churches that seem to keep wanting back time and time again. Benny & Paty are doing a great job with the church. Sometimes, when you preach, you know it was, perhaps, at best, average: other times ok: and sometimes you really like God did something. I'm so glad it was one of those latter occasions, and an increasing privilege when many people come up to you and say 'That was specifically for me'... then I think you KNOW God's done something, and spoken... Meetings with pastors in the daytime is also 'part of the turf', and tonight, Wednesday, I was back in the Osorio's church to preach again. I did my bit and apologised to Mexicans on behalf of the Top Gear team (that programme is HUGE here) who became even more famous than usual because of derogatory (though joking - I hope!) comments about Mexico, Mexicans, and their food.... all the Mexicans I know are incredibly hard-working (TG had said they are lazy), and of course the food... well, it's terrific. And, believe it or not, there's not a cactus, or sombrero, or sleeping Mexican in a sombrero under a cactus to be seen anywhere! Loads in the desert - cactus, that is: and mostly it's the tourists who have the sombreros, looking especially foolish at London's airport baggage reclaims at 5.30a.m. on a cold morning, wearing one... Sunday, after church (so about 4p.m.!) I was taken to a specialist Mexican cuisine establishment (that CAN sometimes be a bit worrying, as they eat just about every part of most animals here! - I've 'done' cow's eye, cheek, lips, sliced brain, and other bits in the past, not all from the head end!), but it was to have pozole (think 'pothole' with an 's' after the 't' and with the 'e' pronounced 'eh'!) - exploded popcorn soup, in my case, with chicken. Try finding THAT in Tescos! It's a bit disconcerting (increasingly over the past 5 years or so), especially for someone who, 24 years ago, would also read his sermons from notes verbatim, to have God change everything when you actually stand up to preach... I still have some notes, just in case I think I'm going disastrously, to give me something to come back to. But notes are useless when God changes the message at the last moment! I do spend a lot of time preparing (really, did I hear some of you say??!!!), and today was no exception. First it was going to be around an aspect of David: then Moses ('What will distinguish us from all the other people of the earth?').... and then out came stuff about Job, and why God allows us to be under the enemy's onslaught.... Hopefully, another sermon with Sunday's impact, which it seemed to be, judging by comments afterwards. I often have to laugh, being here especially, as it is such an unlikely place for a Bennison to be 'at home' (I really do love Mexico, especially Mexico City, and Mexicans)... a city of immense proportions numerically, constant noise, and incredible pollution. I often think that if I was blindfolded and put here without knowing where I was, I could tell you I was here by what appears in a tissue when you blow your nose... I'll leave that there! Suffice to say that the pollution works overtime on your nasal passage! 7500 feet up in the air means walking is a little more strenuous, too, so I'm grateful that my knees have in part recovered from Saturday's hammering in order to get here! I find that the thin air decreases appetite, too, so there's blessing all round! If I stayed here for 6 months, I'd look like victoria Beckham! (Well, perhaps not quite....) 18 January So, the further down referred to yesterday is now up here.... I decided that if you'd already read yesterday's entry, you might not read down it again to find this bit... not that it'll change your life I'm sure! So, it was a week of seeing 'old' family & friends... long lost family & friends... and it didn't stop on the Sunday, either... Saturday night was spent in the company of 'old' friend Gerry Page, such a great bloke and brilliant musician, Glyn, the pastor of tomorrow's church (Sunday, that is, not the future, though it's that too....) and a couple of great guys from their church... in fact, it WAS church, too: and communion, with wine and biscuits, even a little cheese to assist the biscuits' journey.... guys making a difference, working with homeless, changing their town. Sunday... Old Town Community Church, Eastbourne: my 'home' town for many years - aged 6 - 26 years. Then, it was more a 'cemetery with lights', a place where old people went to die in comfort - and then forgot why they went there... but even then, back in the '60's, there were some streets not known for their glamour and middle-classness, but for their notoriety. It was into the heart of this community, some years back, that friends planted a church, in the Community Centre: and what a difference that church has made.... it's really what church should be like: changing the community, restoring lives, rescuing and rebuilding shattered families. It was great to speak there: Glyn & Emma, who lead it since the back end of last year (veeeery long time friends Jo & Susie Marriott led it for years - 35 year long friends!) are going to take it into a whole new dimension, and it was a real privilege to be there, and to pray for loads of people afterwards. Salvation, too.... simply the best! And.... my friend Hugh & Maureen Saunders turned up, from about 20 miles away: Hugh was the Treasurer in the - then - wonderful Youth for Christ centre I had the joy of working for, but long before that, we were friends, as I was then part of a great youth group in Heathfield, East Sussex, and Hugh & Maureen were in a church we worked closely with - 41 years we've been great friends, so I think THAT reunion takes the prize for the oldest friendship of the week! They both go to the gym every day.... in their 80's.... puts me to shame with my crap knees!! Sunday evening was onto another long-time home territory - Worthing (1984-2006), to speak at Worthing Tabernacle. Mark, the tremendous pastor there, has been a friend for years, and I have a number of great friends there. Slightly different type of church from the morning - a renowned teaching centre on the south coast for generations, a tradition Mark carries on brilliantly. So, it was up into a pulpit, probably 10 feet high... big screens behind me with me on - man, that is so disconcerting if you glance and see yourself.... I hate being in photos, let alone in full technicolour on large screens! It was a terrific evening: I invited people for prayer, then thought, for a few minutes, that no one was coming... only for a tidal wave of people to come, and I was, with much pleasure, praying for people for almost an hour and three quarters.... Monday...5.30 am, Heathrow, back home to Northern Ireland: a formula one trolley pusher with hard-sided suitcases decided my knee looked a good target :( - it wasn't so much the collision that hurt - though it did, big time - it was seeing it coming at the last second and twisting instinctively (the worst movement I could have done) to avoid it that did the damage... somewhat easier now, but I'd value your prayers for it! And so.... last year, on January 12, for some reason I took a blank sheet of A4 paper, and just wrote 'Haiti, Earthquake' ultimately writing 300,000 or more dead. Why I did, then - I wasn't sure. Hard on the heels of that came 'Chile - earthquake - many dead, the whole city of Concepcion moved 10 cms (4 inches for US friends!) according to satellite measurement.... Through the year it went - earthquakes, floods, mud-slides, mine disasters, plane crashes - on a scale I don't remember in my 58 years... culminating in the tragedy of Australia, or more specifically Queensland. 75% of that most beautiful state declared a 'disaster zone' through the flooding, that even the good old BBC said was of 'Biblical proportions'. Wonderful that the BEEB acknowledge that the Flood happened Biblically, but not that it happened to such a glorious part of the planet in such an astonishing year. Colombia, mi tierra (my land)...had flooding, mud-slides, and death on an unprecedented scale: Mexico, also mi tierra, had violence and murders on a similar unprecedented scale... are we entering the beginning of Matthew 24, I wonder? I took up the cudgel again this year, beginning with Australia: 18 days into the year, and I've almost filled one side of A4 paper with the incredible events already - Brazil (what a terrible tragedy), Sri Lanka (hundreds of thousands displaced because of the worst flooding since the Tsunami), 5000 birds falling out the sky dead in Arkansas, 2 million dead spot fish on the beach in Chesapeake Bay, Virginia: 2 earthquakes in England - Cumbria & Yorkshire: 6 inches of rain falling in a few hours in the north of the UK, the Brisbane River in Queensland, rising 6 inches in an HOUR.... well over 100 dead in a religious stampede in Kerala, India (I LOVE Kerala) - the most 'Christian' state in India, Tunis on fire with rioting, death, looting - and Tunisia is one of the most peaceful nations in t he Arab world... flooding on a massive scale in the Philippines... the partial destruction of a 'peaceful' prison in Ford, Littlehampton by rioters... I won't go on... but church, these are days when all hell is breaking loose, and we need to be standing up to be counted - but, thank God Paul said in Romans 5:20 that 'where evil abounds, there grace will abound the more'... what wonderful days of opportunity for the church to become what it was created for, for us to dream - 'dream like we'll live forever, live like we'll die tomorrow' (thank you, James Dean) - and, not to stay dreaming, but to live 'like we mean it' (thank you, Rhino Eric Delve - his latest, excellent book). I have so needed these days to recharge my batteries and let my knee recover, but late next week, I head to England overnight, and then a loooong day of travelling, via Canada, to Mexico City for 18 days, preaching almost as soon as I get to go to sleep, and then, later in the trip, going to the apple church.... if you want to know what that means, then have a look at the blog entry sometime late in September! I am SO, SO grateful to God for being alive today, in this generation. I am also grateful for all the trials and tribulations that have come my way courtesy of a man in immigration in Philadelphia airport 21 months ago. I've learned so much in these months: including how to handle a level of pain not known before, which has certainly helped my praying for people IN pain.... nothing is wasted in God's economy, and my friendships here in Bangor, and in other towns in Northern Ireland, are amongst the best I have EVER had.... So, bring on Mexico.... then Scotland.... then Colombia.... then England.... here I am, Satan, I'm on your case.... "If what we choose to do with our lives won’t make a meaningful story, it won’t make a life meaningful either". Donald Miller (A million miles in a thousand years). Food for thought there.....
and yet another VERY long-time friend, Kitt Mason, sent me this... which after the 'heaviness' of the last few paragraphs, might make you smile: CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL MY FRIENDS WHO WERE BORN IN THE 1930's 1940's, 50's, 60's and early 70's!
They took aspirin, ate blue cheese, raw egg products, loads of bacon and processed meat, tuna from a can, and didn't get tested for diabetes.
We ate cupcakes, white bread and real butter and drank soft drinks with sugar in but we weren't overweight because...... CONGRATULATIONS! 17 January 2011 Oooohhh.... I did it again.... almost, no, actually, a month since last writing here. My sincere apologies to all of you who read this :(. Thank you for your faithfulness and patience with me. My unofficial P.A. (no, not a sound system) has, er, politely reminded me that my blog is suffering from lack of tender loving care.... Christmas and New Year took a surprising turn for most of us, I guess, with the severity of the weather. It was impossible to drive here in NI, certainly on the less populous roads, for quite some time, so instead of going for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day with my great friends, the Barrs, in Aghadowey (to pronounce it, think of that wonderful pop song from many years ago, Agadoo... so, then add an ey to the end....!), I went to Marks and Spencer, and bought in my own personalised Christmas dinner, stocked up with oil, logs, and coal, and waited for Christmas night, midnight, to watch England wop the Australians at cricket :). A little hard to rejoice with that result, and the next one in Melbourne, and the one day series, because of the astonishing, traumatic, and devastating floods in Queensland. More of that further down.... many sleepless, log fuelled fire nights were spent glued to the TV until the early morning, and then bed at 7.am! I did make it to the Agadoo-doo-doo place and had a lovely belated couple of days Christmas with Drew and Valerie. Then, over to England on New Years Day.... all was quiet (that's a song, too, by the way!), ahead of a third visit in 13 months to Brownhill Road Baptist Church, Catford, on Sunday. I always used to worry I'd be one of those preachers who would say 'I've been everywhere - once'.... thankfully, I do seem to keep getting asked back to some places! It was a lovely service, good to meet the Pastor (who'd not been there my previous two visits - he was very kind at the end, so I hopefully passed the test!). It's a lovely church, as it's a bit like preaching at the United Nations: I prayed, at the end, for Ghanaians, Zambians, Sri Lankans, a Jamaican (I think), and many more... ooohh, and yes, a few Brits, too! What was even more a blessing was that my cousin, Raye, her son John, and his wife, Karen, were there. They'd come especially to see me... the last time I'd seen Raye was in 1975, so John would have been 7 then, so he'd changed a bit... my family is so small our family reunions could - in reality! - take place in most people's downstairs loos, so it was particularly special to see them after 36 years. We had lunch together, too, which was great, and promised not to leave it another 36 years! I'd be 94 years old then.... I'm seeing Raye's brother, Robert, and his wife Norma, all being well, in March, too: on my way back 'dahn sarf' (down south - it's being back in London that does it!) from Scotland. It is ONLY 2 years since I saw them, though, on a previous trip back from Bonnie Scotland. Sunday evening, 2nd, saw me at my dear friends John & Yvonne Pressdee's church, Green Street Green Baptist, Orpington. It was a terrific service, too, prayed for a good number of people, including a young man whose back and shoulder was healed instantly.... so good to spend time with John & Yvonne, too. John, of course, is a much more mature Rhino than me.... Down to Cornwall for a couple of days to see my sister, back through Wellington, Somerset, to stay overnight with my old YWAM friends, the Broom family, and caught up with, after goodness knows how many years, Tim's brother & sister in law, Andy & Michelle.... an open invitation to where they are now was happily received - Portland, Victoria, Australia.... Tim & Suzie I met when I spoke on their YWAM school in '96: in '97 we went to India together: there's nothing like a good monsoon flood in Chennai to bond you with the people you travel with! The over-abundance of frogs on that trip would have made Paul McCartney very happy. Then to Worthing, to catch up with a number of people, including my great mate Paul, in Hove, who got saved on a trip to Colombia with me about 8 years ago. Then to Eastbourne, Saturday, to preach Sunday: but first, to catch up with two more great couples I hadn't seen for 15 years or more... what was it about that week that was so delightful for 'catching up' - and nostalgic, too? Pete & Diane, and Don & Pauline were a joy to catch up with. Don, who is 80 now, and could pass for 60, and Pauline even younger, will forever live in my memory and experience! When I first met him, in '84, he was the first man ever to kiss me - on the cheek, I'd hasten to add. I was both blessed and shocked... for some months after that, if I saw him coming down the main shopping street, I'd duck into whatever shop was close by, in case he repeated said blessing in the street: and then I thought, why?? It's Biblical, affirming, and a wonderful sign of friendship. Since then, I've kissed a few blokes... I do try and pick and choose them, though! Actually, what I said 'up there' about writing about Oz 'down here' I'm going to leave til tomorrow... as it's now 2 a.m. on that very tomorrow, and I need to sleep. I will talk about Sunday's churches, too.....
19 December Back in Northern Ireland, thinking last week that I was escaping the snow and ice of Sweden... only to have the worst snow in more than 25 years here! And boy, it's cold, too. It's been good to be able to 'chill out' (in every sense of the word!!) and watch some cricket - at 2.30 am, as it's coming from Australia! -, though the last few days have not been good for England :( .... I'm around here for Christmas, so looking forward to some relaxing days and some earlier nights until the next match been Australia and England begins on Christmas night! Then, a very busy week in England, not just with church meetings, but lots of other meetings too. It's unlikely that there will be much worth blogging until the new year... unless you would like me to write here the sort of things many write on Facebook and Twitter - about what meals they're eating, when they go to the bathroom, and so on....? No, I thought not.... So, have a lovely Christmas, and a New Year - I hope and pray - in which Heaven will touch Earth.... Thank you for your interest, support, and love over the past year... 13 December Wonderful day yesterday with 'The House' here in freezing cold, snowing and icy Gothenburg! Passion, vitality, creativity, hunger for God, desperation for the city/nation (especially after the terrorist bombs just a few hours earlier in Stockholm), and a bunch of people not prepared to stay at the same level in God for too long, before aspiring to the next level... it was, to be honest, quite scary to stand up and speak to such a church, after electrifying worship, but I hope and pray I did ok (they told me it was ok afterwards, so I choose to believe them!!). Afterwards, many go to the local pizza restaurant, and church continues in a rather more different vein, but important in building relationships. I got the evangelism numbers wrong from Saturday - my apologies. It wasn't 20. It was nearer 50! Including an 83 year old lady in a wheelchair, who became a Christian, and said 'I've been waiting and looking for my whole life for this!' How to look the end of your life in the face - with a smile and reassurance! Wonderful! There's so many amazing young people in this church, and it was an encouragement and a blessing to hear them testify that they were scared out of their minds before approaching people in the Mall to talk about Jesus... face you fear, and do it anyway... one particularly close friend, as he's become, Hedrik (nicknamed Henke) is a chef in the 'tv chef' category... only saved a few years ... scared on Saturday... and led at least 14 people to Jesus.... And so, today.... down the slippery wooden steps again, and to Landvetter Airport :( - though it will be nice to be home again, see friends, and watch Australia v. England on Thursday on tv! (That's cricket, for the uninformed!). 11 December Wow.... good day... up and down stairs, not just here (there are 108 up to the house, and beautifully icy! - I checked - some are very uneven rock, just to add to the effect). Ulf and the guys watch me going up and down somewhat cautiously, and laugh... nicely, of course! - holding on to branches, plants... but... I've done it! Thank you, Lord.. my knees just a wee bit (I'm becoming Irish!) sore, but the pain I'd have expected.... not there. And as though God was having a laugh... we had to park in a multi-storey car pack in Gothenburg city centre... with the lift (oh, by the way, that's another Swedish word I know - 'hiss' - much better than 'lift', isn't it??!!) (and no, I'm resisting the urge to say that God was taking the hiss...) wasn't working... so down a few flights of steel fire escape stairs - OUTSIDE - in the ice... Before you start to wonder 'why or how or why this church here has so many totally non-religious and radical people... I'll tell you. The church in theory is 5-6 years old: for 3-4 years, they did NOTHING but pray and fast, every weekend, and a few longer fasts, in order to hear just how and why God wanted this church to be. The moment they begin to feel 'comfortable' with it, they pray and fast again, because they are desperate to keep moving forward in God's plan, and not sit back and relax. In the mall today, over 20 people gave their lives to the Lord, from 'cold' start conversations, in less than 2 hours....
10 December Lovely day yesterday praying for sick people in homes, and being with the family in Boras. The Isacssons really bless me as they have such a heart for persecuted, poor, and displaced people - it's wonderful to be finding more and more people who are dissatisfied with the sort of Christianity we've grown so accustomed to, and, for many people, comfortable with. For me, I felt it 'sharpened' me to be with so many different nationalities and faiths in one place, and it's a real tribute to Bjorn & Maria that they have access to, and bless so many, people that most Christians would prefer not to be around... And so today, on to Gothenburg for part 4 of my journey - to the great guys who form the group known as 'The House' - a more radical or fired up group of people it would be hard to find anywhere! My great buddy, Ulf Christiansson, who heads it up, is the most non-religious wonderfully spirit-filled Christian I think I know! It was an interesting test for me! This week, Vello & Ingalill in Orebro, and last night Bjorn & Maria, prayed for these seriously 'crocked' knees of mine - one, the left, with an almost open invitation from hospital to call and go and have surgery for a replacement. Ulf & Else Marie live in a house with a wonderful view over a gorgeous lake on the edge of Gothenburg - but it's high up the side of a pretty steep hill, and no road to it - just.... loads and loads of steps (I guess-timate about 100!). Up until the prayers this week, and from Alan & Barbara in Ireland - of course, we met when God miraculously healed Barbara's accutely osteo-arthritic knees - with both my knees knackered, stairs and slopes have been particularly painful. Well, I've been up and down the stairs here three times already, and no pain... not only that, I think my second time 'up', bearing in mind they are covered in snow and ice, was the quickest I've ever done them! I was out of breath, but that's par for the course for me with their steps! I do love some of the Swedish words.... :) - we went to Ulf's neighbours this evening for glogg - pronounced, I think, glerg... mulled wine with spices, almonds, and raisins... so nice! Typical Christmas fare here... did, of course, pray over the wine before I drank it, that the alcohol content would be removed... ;) Tomorrow, onto the streets for evangelism... that should test my Swedish vocab! Hej, glogg, tak, and Gud are about my limit..... 8 December And so on to Boras, in the south west... been here a few times now, to friend Bjorn & Maria Isacsson. They have the most enormous hearts for the very large immigrant, asylum seeking, and refugee community in this city. Last night's meeting here was probably the best ever: Christians, non Christians, Moslems - from Albania, Kosovo, Azerbaijan, Syria, Iran, Lebanon, Poland - even a Colombian lady, who looked totally speechless when I spoke to her in Spanish! - were there. The meeting begins with 'fica' - good Brit christians would call it 'refreshments', but it's more than that... a really community spirit has grown here through Bjorn & Maria, and others, including the pastor of the church where we met. It's such a privilege to speak to such a group, many of them with the most horrific background stories of persecution, deprivation, and threat. There must have been 30 or so there: I think I ended up praying with all of them, and it is so moving to be thanked, and hugged, by - for instance - an Azerbaijani moslem couple, in tears - for praying for them... their gratitude to OUR God was so lovely... and hearts are changed. Something really powerful happened for a lovely Kosovan refugee, Igor: and others talked about intense heat in their bodies, so I'm waiting for the testimonies.... Eating lunch today, in a Thai restaurant in the city, with Maria, she got a Kosovan couple she knews - Roma moslems - to come and join us. They were lovely: wanted to hear stories from me about God healing people, astonished as they listened... then they said their daughter, in Albania, had cancer, and they were so grateful for prayer, right in the middle of a busy restaurant, for 'proxy' prayer for her - Ardiana - and both gave me the biggest hugs before they left. I love this stuff! 8 December So, a bit more about the meetings in Orebro... and then on to here, Boras (pronounced Boros - there's a little 'o' over the 'a'!!). Vello & Ingalill have started a new church, so it was a real joy to be involved with them, especially to discover I was their first 'outside' speaker! Vello is a prophet and a 'seer', Ingalill prophetic, evangelistic, and with a wonderful heart for worship. A good number came to the meetings, which are so beautifully relaxed and informal, and incredibly powerful. Like I said below, the presence of God was tangible: it was so easy to speak into an environment like that, and it was a real joy to pray with just about everyone in the meeting afterwards, for healing to asking God for the faith to live a more radical lifestyle. Saturday was the Julbord, the meal: even ended up praying for people here, too! And then Sunday, with a packed room, ther worship took off. Sometimes, worship can almost seem a drudge - a necessary yet 'added on' component: other times, you heaven invades earth, and it did on Sunday. Healing, challenge, commitment, faith, power.... prayed for just about everything. On Monday, a meeting was scheduled with a Ghanain pastor who had been preaching in Lindkoping (Lind-shopping!). Eric, who translated excellently for me, had been there on Saturday night/Sunday morning translating for this pastor. I'd happened to mention that I'd been to Ghana many times on the Friday evening... I wonder what odds bookmakers would give on a meeting taking place in the middle of Sweden, in December, between a West African and a Brit - who last met nearly 19 years ago in Tema, Ghana, and had not been in touch since...? That's what happened - as I walked into the house where this man, James Godlly, was staying, I knew that I knew him: he'd vaguely recalled my name, which is why we both agreed to meet.... In those days, I spoke at many Youth with a Mission schools on the subject of 'Goals, Dreams, and Visions'. I'd been going to YWAM Ghana since 1988, twice a year. James had been a Discipleship School Student in a class I'd taught in 1992. Since then, he's planted a few churches, and is about to launch a new mission ministry next year based in Ghana. He's in Sweden preaching, prophesying, and encouraging churches (in the snow, which is a huge 'price' to pay when you're West African!). For 23 years now I've travelled, all over the world, spoken to a few million people, I reckon, but it's always such a blessing when you hear - especially 19 years later - that what you taught changed someone's life.... in my 'Goals' teaching, I shared a number of things you can do in order to see goals and dreams fulfilled. James told me on Monday that the list is the front page of the 'mission document' for his church, and the new ministry, and has been since he first began. He never dreamed he'd meet me again, and here we were, in mid-Sweden, sub-zero, in snow, 19 years on... and planning that we'd do something together in Ghana next year! How does God work these things out?? It blows my mind, it really does: even more, that little ol' me, in beautiful West Africa, might even begin to make an impact on some else's life and ministry..... thank you, God! James then prophesied over Vello and Ingalill, and totally blew them out of the water, speaking out things that - up til then - had been 'secrets' only shared between husband and wife concerning vision and the future.... Spent the evening with Vello and Ingalill watching the dvd 'Furious Love' - and was totally wrecked (again!!) as I watched it - as were they.... Really got to know an astonishing couple, Konak & Vivia, from Czech Republic & Slovakia respectively, Roma background... his name is pronounced more like 'cognac' (which I was very happy to do!)... he's wonderfully outrageously passionate for Jesus, amazing sense of humour (totally wild by many eastern European standards!).... but have this sense I've got to know someone who is a 'mover and shaker', a real Kingdom builder... 2 December The weather scuppered time schedules for getting to Sweden, but I made it after a long day, beginning at 4.15am in Ireland! The joys of travelling ministry! Spent day one in Sweden with my dear friends Stojan and Soila Gajicki (he's Serbian, Soila is Finnish). I know that God has joined my heart with theirs, and Sotjan is such a dear friend now. We talked and talked for hours (networking! - and, more importantly, building our friendship more and more) - some of those hours sitting in their sauna, which is a delight! I believe more and more that friendships like this - and others established here in Sweden, are going to be 'key' in the future. No meeting, just friendship... wonderful. On to Orebro (pronounced Er-eb-ru) last Friday: to dear friends Vello and Ingalill Vaim - also key people! They have a new church in the city, and Friday and Sunday we had the most wonderful meetings: to say you could touch the presence of God would be an understatement. His presence was tangible: lives touched, many prayed for/prophesied over, and at least one healed... as you know, I often don't hear about them for days/months/weeks afterwards! Saturday was a 'Julbord' (yool-board) - Christmas meal - many there, great food, and three lovely homeless men came whom Ingalill had invited.... such a joy to share food with them. When I'm in Boras, later or tomorrow, I'll tell you about a Ghanain pastor I met here yesterday.... and fill in more details! 2 December O.K., so I'm cheating here a little, backdating this until just before coming to Sweden! After Colombia, I spent a few days in England, actually for the purpose of trying to raise some cash at a car boot sale (sort of a yard sale but filling your trunk for Americans!)... it was a joy, as sitting with about 400 sellers at 7.30 am on Ford Airfield in freezing cold wind is a wonderful way to spend a Saturday morning! The next day, it was a similar story in Brighton, except that it poured with rain there... so a pretty fruitless 2 days! I really needed a few days r&r at home in Ireland after Colombia: I got that, helped by the fact that one of the greatest events on the sporting calendar began - Australia v. England at cricket, so I snuggled up at midnight each night UK time to watch England take the Aussies apart! It was also a good time to catch up with friends, and meeting new people - maybe networking? - as well as going to a number of people's homes to pray for some pretty sick people. Then, off to Sweden - normally to the cold, but this time leaving cold and snow behind - only to find even more cold and more snow! 9 November So, the last day, and the long, long haul home... a few weeks ago, I had thought about being here a month, but with a busy week ahead of the trip, and another immediately after, the thought of being away from home in Ireland for 6 weeks did not seem such a blessing! I'm learning to listen to my body (about time, did I hear some of you shout!!), and I think the days of 6 weekers are over! Alan has already gone (it's 7 am here - he went at 6.30): In & I leave at 11.45 am. The thought layovers in Bogota and Madrid are not a great blessing right now: it'll be 22-24 hours before any of us are back in the UK. Just praying that THIS 10 hour flight with Spanish airline Iberia has seat back TV's so at least we can watch a few films! The one on the way out had a 'central' screen at the front of the cabin, so only one film (and it was dire in the extreme!), the food was awful, and a loo blocked... sort of wondering how ever this airline got into the best network and were good enough to merge with British Airways! So, what's been the summary of the trip? Dozens and dozens saved: hundreds (maybe 4 figures) healed: serious diseases gone (cancer, diabetes, asthma, TB, at least one healed of AIDS: incredible new contacts for the future, with Pastos Alvarro Cerna (Cathedral of Life), Pastor Candelaria (Avant), and Pasto David, who's church in Agua Blanca I can't recall... all want 3-4 day 'crusades' next time: having Hendrik on board again to bring European (he's Dutch but been here with Teija for 25 years) organisation to the trip: Gustavo, the mover and shaker pastor on board: Walter, long time friend, increasing his sphere of connections and opening them up to me: and the kids hospital... healings, blessing, hope, grace given away there, and the spiritual wrecking of three grown men for the UK... Why would I not want to be here? Sometimes, Latino timekeeping drives you nuts, but we do seem to have 'cracked' that one in the past few days: despite it, 'stuff' happens, and, in truth, I love the somewhat more laid back-ness of this culture than the pressure culture in many other places. I'm so glad, though, that 24 years ago, when this journey began, I asked God to deliver me of my 'Englishness' - the Englishman abroad couldn't cope for long, not the Brit abroad, less still the American abroad! So, Cali, time to say goodbye maybe until April, but the stories will live on. 8 November Saturday afternoon - well, 5pm - we were back speaking at a church in an area of Cali with the delightful name of Chipechape (pronounced Chippy Chappy!) - sounds like a happy carpenter. The church - Casa de Oracion Rey Jesus (House of Prayer of King Jesus - sounds better in Spanish, doesn't it??!!) is pastored by a great couple Diego & Candy: one of the great things about this trip is that, when all 3 of us - Alan, Ian, and me - have been together, we've all shared stuff the Lord has given us, and it always seems to fit together.... surprising, that, huh??!! Saturday was no exception, and the 'flood' afterwards of people for prayer was, as before, huge... the three of us were inundated for a couple of hours, but there were some amazing things reported.... Someone was healed of cancer, someone of diabetes, a man was healed of a long-time bacterial disease in the lower half of his body - untreatable for years. Migraines went, others declaring healing from asthma (many), diabetes, scoliosis... just a 'usual' evening in a Cali church! Sunday, we split up, Alan & Ian going in the morning to my dear friend Hendrik's church (El Abrigo el Altisimo - the Shadow of the Almighty): they had a tremendous morning, Hendrik telling me he hasn't felt the presence of God in the church quite like it for a long time... in the afternoon (5pm) they were at the church's kids' foundation, where a few months ago a new church began, led by Jhon Jairo (no, Jhon is not spelt wrong!!) - all day, many to pray for, and I know, and have seen, both Alan and Ian move into a new dimension in what God can do and does through them.... easier to see it objectively than for them to see it in themselves! In the morning, I was at a church called Avant, led by a propehetic lady, Candelaria, who wants to introduce me to a number of new (to me) churches across Colombia, and in other countries, incldunig Guatemala: had a most amazing time there, and it was such a blessing that the clock in the church facing me had stopped! Just seemed that God had turned on a 'prophetic' preaching mode for the morning (maybe because it was a church led by a prophet?) - well, in the evening too! - and had a remarkable response to an appeal for people who wanted a 'Caleb' spirit, to dream and move outside of their safe areas. Needless to say there was a long stream of people for healing: many said they knew they were healed - pain going, disease leaving, new arches created in a young girl's foot (fallen arches seems to be a curse here).... Afternoon: in very new church in San Fernando, Communidad Cristiana Cielo Abierto - sounds better in Spanish too - Chrsitian Community Open Heaven' - I know that I've said in the 'rest of the world' many times over the years that the heavens ARE open over this city, and Colombia: they certainly were last night! I spoke (a bit!) about Habakkuk, and where it says in chapter 3 about God opening his hand where his power had been hidden - that happened last night! It was almost like I could 'see' God's hand, through the open heaven, opening and releasing his power. A man with a broken arm was healed: migraines went: a huge number of people with respiratory problems - bronchitis, bronchiectisis, sinusitis, asthma - were healed.... some were saved, some set free from long-term problems (I guess some would call it 'delivered'!), and the usual - of hearing myself say to people that certain things would happen within a day..or two..or a week... help! Glaucomas went, cataracts... it was wonderful! Then, to cap it all, Hendrik wanted me to meet a man - I STILL only know him as Gustavo! - who was in the church where Hendrik was associate pastor during the era that the 'Transformations' video was made: the church of the murdered pastor, Julio Ruibal. Wow, to say Gustavo is a 'mover and shaker' would be an understatement!!! We 'connected' almost instantly, chatted until way after the mall, Palmetto Plaza, where we met, had closed... and it has opened up a whole new network of churches, meetings, and opportunities for the future. Also going to be doing a lot more with and through Hendrik in the future: I've always veered away from asking too much of him as his churches are growing, and I've introduced others to him who come here, and he organises them: but our friendship goes back a long, long way, and he reminded me of one of the early times he translated for me, in the church of another dear friend, Norbey, when Norbey's church was on Fifth Street (La Quinta - much nicer!! I think I'm becoming more Spanish by the day!!!!). In the middle of preaching, Hendrik translating, with whole of the 'shuttered' front of the church up, open onto the street, we were interrupted when a man was shot right outside.... Cali's changed a wee bit since then.... but it reminded me that my life is one I wouldn't swap for anything! Sort of colourful, I guess.... 4 November What is it going to take for churches to realise that something astonishing is happening this year? For some reason, I began to write down the major events - traumas, tragedies, disasters etc., - at the beginning of the year, beginning with Haiti's devastating earthquake, closely followed by Chile's.... Haiti is still featuring, regularly in that list, with cholera killing hundreds and right now, Hurricane Tomas dropping unprecedented rains on the nation. Today... more volcanic eruptions killing dozens in Malaysia, right on the tail of the tsunami there... two plane crashes today (Cuba and India). If we're not starting to live in Matthew 25, then when we do, that time is certainly going to be interesting.... having just watched the film 'Furious Love', which I'd recommend to anyone unless you're nice and safe and secure in your comfort zone and want to stay there (sadly, a large percentage of the church, but Matthew 25 talks about that, too), then NOW is the time to GO - and simply give away the love of Jesus, who loves Haiti, Indonesia, Cuba, Pakistan, despite what judgmental Christians have said about some of these events being God's judgment on a nation... just see the amazing Indonesian pastor in Furious Love to send that lie back to where it originated We've made excuses and fabricated reasons for not going for far too long... Today, we went.... not far, but into hospital wards with kids with TB, and other contagious diseases, and saw the love of Jesus touch dozens of lives - not just the kids, but the parents, too. Prayed for one little boy, with chronic asthma, with mum in tears because his life was so at risk: prayed with mum, too: Ian said afterwards that her face changed totally in those moments, I saw it too - from hopelessness to hope, fear to faith.... why would you not want to see that? We were in the kids hospital - with parents almost begging us to pray for their children. Before you come back with the comment - as many do - 'It's all they've got' - I want to dispel THAT excuse, too: it isn't all they've got. Club Noel is a pretty good class hospital, part public part private: great doctors, like my dear friend Dunia Quiroga, who came round with us today. For those who don't recall her, she's one of the top brain surgeons in Latin America, lectures all over the Americas, and is so skilled it's almost scary... but she recognises that supernatural healing is not only important, but vital. One of her patients, a little boy with hydrocephalus and a multitude of other things, was waiting for his appointment, with scared, frightened dad and mum... the change that occurred in all 3 was astonishing.... we went in and out of wards with terminally sick and dying kids... just our BEING there changed the lives of parents of kids, because someone 'strange' cared... All of us were in tears at one point or another, wrecked by what we had seen, and yet overjoyed at the privilege of being there.... And today, we had the delight (for Ian the trauma!) of being driven by a taxi driver who'd have been much more at home on a Formula One circuit! I don't think I've ever been through this city so quickly!! At one point, I told him that he was a 'buen chofer' - great driver - at which point, he accelerated, and turned in his seat to speak to me! Ian, sitting next to him, was hoping he'd make it home to the bathroom! He was great fun.... And so, into a busy weekend.... and soon, home....
3 November Well.... so much for foot on the accelerator yesterday!!!! Good 'ol Latino time-keeping reared its head, and both the hospital visit (to Club Noel, the kids hospital) and the church last night were cancelled - not before we were there, though, in the case of the hospital! All being well, we're NOW going there tomorrow.... For some obscure reason, the pastor of last night's church said he couldn't afford to have us: I'm not quite sure which bit of 'there's no charge' he didn't quite understand, but there you go.... If you're film buffs, as all three of us are, or like to think we are!, to have a free evening unexpectedly, on a limited budget, the cinema's a great place. Here, they have luxury VIP seats for less than the naff seats in the UK... we saw two films... one was good - 'The Town', with Ben Affleck: the other, well - a word of warning! We saw 'The Burning Field', with Charlize Theron: if you're going to see it, it's probably IS a great social comment film, but... like the glasses they hand out at the door of 3D films, we felt it only fair that the cinema provided very sharp knives at the door so you could slash your wrists, or at least a few seats with nooses over trap doors.... it was THAT entertaining! Some will say... 'Well, it's the price you pay for being so worldly and going to the cinema'..... Pah or other words!! We actually got the giggles in that second film.... three amigo big boys giggling in a social comment film.... It'll probably be 'Tinkerbelle' dubbed in Spanish if any more meetings get cancelled! So... we sort of waited to hear that today's meeting might go the same way, only to discover 30 minutes after it started (when we were just being picked up!) that there were TWO meetings - both starting at 7pm, and by now it was 7.45 and we were still at the apartment! Swallowing hard, trying to throw frustration to one side, I went to one church, Alan & Ian to the other - where we all turned out to have 'blockbuster' meetings! The guys said there were about 70 at their meeting, in the north of the city, a church called 'Betel' (I've been there before) and, from what I hear, Alan was prophesying left right and centre, and Ian preached his heart out... ending up praying for everyone there, and seeing God do some great things... Alan seems to have 'caught' my disease of saying to people things like 'by Saturday, this will have happened'... You have to find yourself in that position to know just how scary it is when you hear yourself say it and know that it has to be God as you weren't even thinking it!! Alan jokingly said he wanted to change his flight to Saturday morning so he could go home before the outcome! It was SUCH a good night that Ian said 'if the trip ends tomorrow this will have been worth it!' - but it ain't over yet!! I was in a church - Cathedral of Life - in the 'rough' part of San Fernando: never been there before, arrived over an hour after the meeting had begun, only to find that the translator wasn't there.... that's a mild nightmare heart-attack moment, especially as it was a biggish church (0ver 200 midweek is pretty good!)... Winston, the translator, was summoned, but I then realised that the church had dug someone else out of the congregation, Carlos (I discovered later that he was an alcoholic, so I think that's another 'first', in the translation stakes!). Truthfully, he seemed very good, was easy to have next to me, and my Spanish is such now that I know when something is mistranslated, and there didn't seem to be a problem! Duly, Winston arrived and took over, and the whole meeting was fantastic - lots of laughter, and people also breaking down in tears as I spoke on the love of God for this tremendous city, for the alcoholics, druggies, prostitutes, cartel bosses.... I preached late on for salvation, and a good number (maybe up to 20?) responded, which is such an amazing privilege. Salvation is STILL the greatest miracle of all - God bringing people from darkness to light, death to life... Oh, and by the way, Carlos got set free from his addiction at the end of the meeting, and healed, too: his wife was healed too.... Many responded for the call to be more passionate, not only in their walk with God, but for busting out of their comfort zones (probably about 180 of the congregation) even though I warned them that they'd be making themselves an even bigger target for the enemy to attack.... And then healing... many healed! Osvaldo was kneeling at the front crying, a lad in his 20's, in immense pain, dislocated shoulder (I could feel it, too, when I touched it)... within seconds whirling his arm like a windmill, no pain, ball and socket back in place... another dislocated shoulder healing followed (how unlikely is it to get 2 in one meeting, I wonder?). A lady with cancer, filled with fear (understandably) transformed in moments: me and my accurate prophetic words, saying to her, 'your womb is healed' only for her to say that that's where the cancer had begun, and that surgeons had removed it!!! Close... better still I told her she'd get a new one... She felt the remnant cancer go.... God is so amazing.... A man with bad heart disease, palpitations, high blood pressure (Jhonny, his name), healed instantly.... others with sight being restored (not from blindness, but eye conditions)...so as you can see, just from this little snapshot, it was an amazing night! So... hospital tomorrow.... meeting in the afternoon, and then church in the evening - we think!!!! 1 November Arrived in Cali, Colombia, on Tuesday evening, 26th... as a 'westerner', one of the things hardest to get used to as a traveller is the rest of world's wonderfully slapdash approach to times and dates! Alan and Ian from Northern Ireland are here with me: Ian & I arrived together at Cali airport, after an immensely long day - we'd checked in at Heathrow at 5am, arrived in Cali at 830 pm (but with a 6 hour time change - so the equivalent of 230 am Wednesday UK time), only to find no one there to meet us! Ian had stayed all night in Heathrow as it was, as he'd flown from Belfast Tuesday evening at 7pm.... a hastily booked taxi brought us to the apartment here, and desperately needed rest and sleep.... Alan arrived Wednesday evening, and, bless him, came straight from the airport to a church meeting! Normally, with the above non-western theme mentioned (!) nothing is organised meeting-wise until we get here: this time, we HAD a meeting on the first night (though everything else planned for Thursday didn't happen!!). We were at a church right in the 'centro' area of the city: close to the Calvario (pronounced Calbario), which is a pretty dangerous area at night for gringos... a great pastor, Julius, a good band, but boy, did the worship run a long time - an hour and 40 minutes, and the need for sleep for Ian and me was overwhelming! But, although tired, and with my knees hurting from 'the long day's journey into night' the day before (that was a film title, in case you didn't know!), I really felt an incredible freedom to preach, and didn't even notice my knees or the tiredness. A good number of people responded for prayer, and some announced their healing, with others to follow.... by now, Alan had joined us, which made it feel 'complete' here! Thursday was, er, interesting: a number of things planned, which didn't happen, mostly cancelled pretty late on so you couldn't actually relax and enjoy the day! It was, though, great to spend a couple of hours with my long-time friend Hendrik Hoere, and fix up a few meeting dates with him.Alan and I had a great time chatting with and prophesying over some dear friends here on Friday evening. A terrific church in Agua Blanca followed, pastored by a couple I'd never met before - Juan Carlos and Margot Ortiz: it really was a great meeting, with Alan and Ian both sharing really good stuff, a great freedom again to preach, and many to pray for afterwards. That's why it's so good, amongst many other reasons, to have people like Alan and Ian here, as I'd have been there hours praying on my own! Sunday SHOULD have been 3 services: but the translator never arrived for one of them! Another of the things you just have to grin and accept.... but it was lovely to be in my friends Norbey & Carmen Arias's church, even if the service DID begin at 7am....wonderful meeting, all of us contributing, and some words of knowledge and prophecy that I just pray were spot on, and look forward to hearing the outcome soon.... straight on to another church in Agua Blanca, a new one to me, and a tremendous sense of God's astonishing healing anointing, especially for a lovely lady named Veronica, who had a broken knee alongside other leg injuries, following a car crash: she knows she is healed, and I'm sure that when she woke up today it was with a new kneecap... others were healed, some very obviously, as the three amigos from the UK prayed for them. Halloween is big here, though not as big as in Mexico, so today was a national holiday: after the loooong meetings yesterday, it was a blessing, as tomorrow we begin an accelerating run of meetings every day and evening. We went to see a film tonight - sooooo depressing (The Burning Fields) it made all three of us laugh....
25 October My apologies (again!) for being so late to update here, but I've been having trouble with my update software, so I'm also cheating and updating this prior to arriving here in Cali, Colombia.... It was a really good meeting at West Church, Bangor: it started well, with a lovely lady named Liz arriving and telling me that I'd prayed for her a year ago, which I'd remembered, as she was scheduled to have (at least) one toe amputated from her foot, it might have been more.... I remember agreeing with her that this wouldn't happen - and it didn't, they merely removed a little dead tissue, and she is healed and walking perfectly.... another lady told me of a close friend, Eileen (I think) in Inverness: prayed for her by proxy for her cancer (if I recall she had death hanging over her imminently) and, whilst not fully healed, is still alive and enjoying life! It was good to pray with a number of folk after the meeting, some who said that pain eased immediately, but mostly I'm sure stories will filter back later at some stage, like Liz's! The week following that meeting, I'd purposely kept clear, as I was heading off for England the following week... three great days with the Rhinos, still such a vital part of my diary... their love, encouragement, ministry, and prophetic input is so vital to me. Then it was down to Cornwall to visit and pray for my sister, brother in law, and nephew - and to have them pray for me. My family is really pretty small now, just Vivien and me, a couple of cousins, and an aunt... I'm not sure there's too much more than that left now :( - our family reunions - if we had them - could be held in most people's downstairs toilets, space-wise!! Sometimes I wish we had a bigger family, if I'm honest, especially when I hear of great times together of friends' families. From Cornwall, to Plymouth, to stay with dear friends Julian and Olwyn, who lead City Church there: that feels like going 'home' to be with them and preach at the church. It was a great service Sunday morning, and such a blessing to have the privilege to preach and pray for people. The same goes for Maranatha, Exeter, where I preached Sunday evening: just a lovely response, and lots of people forward for ministry. Then back towards London, on the Monday, for an overnighter before heading for Colombia crack of dawn Tuesday.... I'd really appreciate your prayers, as, a few years ago, I damaged my right knee whilst in Colombia: I was half way across a multi-lane road, on a red traffic light, only to find a speeding taxi (about 60 mph/100 kph!) not planning to stop (not at all unusual at red lights here though!). I felt my knee 'pop' as I ran, it hurt for days, but did nothing about it :(... well, it still hurts a great deal, and I compensated by using my left leg more... which now has torn ligament and cartilage in it! Also, linked to the stress of the past 20 months with US immigration, I have one or two other ailments/aches & pains which I'd dearly love to do without! Some people look at me very strangely when I tell them I'm hurting: with a 'you shouldn't hurt, you pray for people who do!' sort of look (some have said it, too!): it's my view that because it is my delight and privilege to pray for the sick that it makes me a pretty obvious target for the enemy! And much as I try to deny it, I AM getting older... If you want to know more specifically what to pray for, email me and I'll let you know. 10 October Wow, 10-10-10! Not too many of us will be around in 1,000 years time when this next happens - unless some very special miracles take place! And, of course, next year we get 11-11-11, and then 12-12-12, and the three in a row make this a unique era! If only we could get a hold of the uniqueness of this age in which we're living... 2010 has been a most remarkable year, with countless major tragedies and disasters just seeming to roll one into the other. Watching the Colombian landslide on the internet, seeing the toxic lake empty its horrors into the lovely nation of Hungary, seeing the deaths in Chiapas and Oaxaca, Mexico, due to unprecedented rains: and yet, even as I'm writing, realising that the miners in Chile are about to be set free after 3 months... what a day of rejoicing it must be in Chile, and Wednesday, when the they estimate the first miner will make his way up that 700 metre tube.. .wow. Tonight, Sunday, I'm speaking at West Church, Bangor: looking forward to it, and very nervous, all at the same time, but so wanting to communicate the passion of the Father for a world that in 2010 has had its foot on the 'going to hell' accelerator... as I've been preparing, all the kept coming into my head was a very old hymn I remember singing when I was young: "For I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that He is able...". When Paul wrote to Timothy, it was him who said those words in 2 Tim 1:12, and it was at the end of a statement of what the gospel is, and what we've been called to. So I guess that's something around what will come out tonight - and doubtless over the next few weeks in different places! The power of suffering and sacrifice is hugely under-rated, that I'm sure: and I speak as I'm still 'reeling' from the 'apple' gift in Mexico a couple of weeks back... But some wonderful things have happened since then, including a lovely miracle for a wonderful lady in Coleraine: victim of two aneurisms, one of which was removed surgically, the other couldn't be as it was in too dangerous a place near her spine, she was unable to eat, and almost unable to drink, for three weeks. Had the joy of praying with her last Sunday, and when her son, David, returned from work Monday, she was tucking into a full meal, and apparently hasn't stopped eating since... :) Sidney & Carol in Limavady - well, miracle after miracle here - Sidney cut off his thumb 11 months ago, and was told by doctors that, even though they reattached it, he'd never really get any use from it, and that it might not even 'take' if the nerves decided not to rejoin... Sidney has virtually FULL use of his thumb, just a few nerve sensations near the tip waiting to reignite. Carol had spinal surgery some days after Sidney's thumb ended up on his workshop floor: a mistake in surgery left her paralysed and incontinent, doctors saying she would be in a wheelchair for the rest of her life (she's early 30's I'd guess).... also that because of her back, they could never have more children. Well, Carol is walking, not incontinent, 12 weeks pregnant, and teaching again..... God is pretty good at this stuff!! And tonight, too, my long time friend Patricia, who with her husband Simon, have two lovely children, told the story of Oscar... who before he was 2 years old was diagnosed as so acutely autistic that he had no 'life' to look forward to, and would just rock backwards and forwards and make noises... well, 7 years on from being prayed for, which was a massively significant event at the time, and now 9 years old, Oscar started school this week, and is 'above average' in every subject according to the educationalist's assessment last month.... wow..... Thank you, Jesus! So, I'm now home, it was a great meeting, with Ian, Alan, and Andrew - all going to Colombia with me (well, a faith statement where Andrew's concerned right now!) all at the meeting, and Barbara, Alan's wonderful wife so amazingly healed almost 3 years ago now too... loads of people prayed for, and some with testimonies of healings in previous meetings that I'd not heard about! So a great time!! 1 October Wow, that was LONG journey home.... but it is so good to get back here to Northern Ireland, however wonderful the time in Mexico was! I think I've reached a point in my life now where I can't do 4, 5, or 6 weeks away anymore... 2 or 3 in more than enough!! Just to look at my own bed last night, let alone get in it, was such a pleasure.... It is such a blessing, though, when people REALLY want you back: and it seems that there are 7 or more churches that have asked me to go back to Mexico - soon - so, I'm looking at trying to get back there, maybe for 3 weeks, in January. I did wonder about 4 weeks, but the first paragraph sums that up! Of course, if I could get across to the churches of other friends in Cancun, and Playa del Carmen, two of the most wonderful beach resorts in the Caribbean, that might just tempt me to stretch it.... What an honour and a privilege it is to go to places to serve people living in such diverse and difficult places - and for them to want you back. It blows me away. It makes all the long, long hours in airports and aeroplanes so totally worth it. 28 September The past week has been great, the huge variety of different meetings, renewals of old friendships, blessings, and many emotional pulls in various directions. When I last wrote here, was about to go to see the band Bon Jovi play as part of the birthday celebration for my great friend, Joel Luis (known as Jois) who reached the ripe old age of 30! Jois has been a great blessing to me for many years now, has he is a doctor and worries about my health, the lifestyle that affect my health, and the outcome perhaps more than I do! More about him in just a moment! How could you not love this country?? The people are wonderful, the food is terrific, this particular city is just mind-bending, and some of the names - you've got to love them! Teotihuacan (pronounced 'Tay-oh-tee-whack-an), Ixtlaxiwatl (work that one out!), Xochimilco, and, even where the church is that I'm based with - Azcapotzalco. Man, it beats Bognor, Horsham, Worthing and so on... hands down!!!! When I first started coming to Mexico, it was to speak at Youth with a Mission training schools, and occasional church visits to speak. That organisation closed down here in Mexico City many years ago, and apart from one family Church run by my dear friends Enrique & Mimi Osorio, most of my contacts in Mexico City were lost. This visit has reignited many old friendships as well as enhancing and growing my friendship with the Osorios. As I've mentioned in previous blogs, sadly, just over a year ago, Enrique went to be with Jesus, but Benny, his second son, has risen to the task of taking the church up and on in a quite remarkable way. From one of the churches I used to regularly preach at, a number of people have gone on to start their own churches. This week I have not only caught up with some of them, but also preached alongside them. It was a real joy to catch up with Enrique Cardenas, & Alvaro & Vicky Dader: Enrique has a church way to the South of Mexico City, but over a couple of hours with him last week, the door is wide open to go and minister alongside him on my next visit. It was a delight to see him, and Alvaro & Vicky, after a gap of nine years. I spent some time on Saturday with Alvaro, which was wonderful, as that gap, too had been nine years: it was also very good for me as Alvaro does not speak English! To say I was stretched would be something of an understatement! But, we had a wonderful time together, then on Sunday had the delight of preaching in the church that he and Vicky pastor, in Polanco, one of the business districts of the city. It was a great morning: in fact it began at 10 AM, and we finally left the church to go for lunch at about 3:45 PM! Some great contacts were made even through that church, and a friendship built with two lovely couples, one from Venezuela and the other from Honduras. Lunch was long, but good, as we got to know each other alongside the Dader family. After a hot and tiring day, perhaps to eat with my lunch one of the hottest chilies I have ever eaten, was not the best idea! The chilli concerned was Chili de Arbol, and as someone who loves chilies even I would have to say it was explosive! Little did I know that Monday evening, in the home of a pastor and his family from Puebla, I would eat even hotter chilies.... There was a fantastic meeting Saturday, the youth meeting at Mundo de Fe church, the church of the family I have known for 14 years now. It was one of those meetings where it just seemed that God spoke, and there seemed to be a tremendous sense the presence of God in their gathering. Sometimes as a preacher, you finish preaching and feel 'that was decidedly average': other times, you feel 'hey, that was pretty good!', and still other times when you feel 'wow, God turned up there!'. Saturday's meeting was one of those! Yesterday, Monday, I was back in Puebla, at the leaders meeting for another Mundo de Fe (World of Faith) church. I'd met the pastor and his wife last week, and it was a privilege to be to go and speak to the leaders of their church. It was a great evening, and again it really felt the presence of God was there amongst those lovely brothers and sisters. And Puebla is in the zone where all the floods and landslides have been in recent weeks in Mexico (although there was another tragic fatal one today in Oaxaca: pray for this nation, as so much is happening here right now, it must mean that God is about to break out big time). Also in my beloved Colombia, a terrible tragic mud slide today. The world is falling apart.... I've been travelling now for 23 years or so. But some things continue to just wipe the floor with me emotionally: something that occurred yesterday. Herman & Issabel, the pastors of this church, are a lovely, lovely couple. The church is not big, and they are poor, but their hospitality was just unbelievable. They provided enough steak to sink a ship, and the meal was terrific. They also provided a bowl of chilies – chintila, I think it was called - even more explosive than the arbol! The hospitality and the love they gave to me was incredibly humbling, and still, even after all these years, I don't know how to handle it.... It just blows me away. At the end of speaking to their leaders, I had the joy of praying for most of them, for a variety of issues, including healing, and I do believe that the Spirit of God was present in their room to heal. Then came another 'wipe the floor' moment..... One of the leaders whom I have prayed for, came and spoke to me, and said, 'Thank you so much for being here with us, it has been such a blessing. While you praying for me, God told me to give you everything that I have with me, so please would you accept this?' - and she handed me an apple: no, not a computer, not an iPad (though one would be great to preach from...), not an Apple iphone.... just an apple. It felt like being given the Widow's mite... and it wrecked me, and it beat hands-down receiving an offering of thousands of pounds or dollars or pesos (not that I ever receive such offerings!), and I'm in tears again as I write this, just as I was last night when the event occurred... It was worth coming to Mexico just for that. You know, when I watch some programmes on Christian television, and see the slick meetings, and the big 'fund-raising' push, it turns my insides... there is no greater blessing than being in a place the 'big slick' preachers would never go, and being on the receiving end of sacrifice. The pastor even took an offering for me: you HAVE to accept it, they want to bless you because you've actually gone to where they are, and loved and cared about them. What more could I want from 23 years of ministry???? Somebody tell me if I'm missing something here, please? Vivid in my memory is an event from years back: in a poverty stricken village in Mozambique, preaching to people with nothing but the little they could grow, and the pastor announcing the offering. People went forward with sugar cane, corn, cassava, yuca, wheat... put it on a blanket on the floor at the front. I remember thinking what a blessing that would be to the pastor and his family, also poverty stricken. And then he gave it all to me.... me, from my western world, a western social security system, food banks, you name it.... sometimes I just do NOT know how to handle some of this amazing stuff.... And, for all those who think a travelling ministry is glamorous or exciting, tomorrow I leave for home.... I leave the house here in Mexico City at 10 am: fly at 2pm to Toronto, wait a few hours there, fly at 1130 pm to London, arriving early Thursday afternoon, then wait a few hours, and fly to Belfast. I'll be in my house at about 6pm Thursday, from 10 am Wednesday. Glamour? Not really. A few airmiles, yes: no sleep - almost certainly: economy airline food - oh, God, please help! - a few films/movies - yup: but.... I received the equivalent of the 'widow's mite', a hatful of invitations back to places 99% of tv preachers wouldn't go as it doesn't pay. And, do you want to know something? I wouldn't swap with them.... not for anything. Jois, my lovely doctor friend, fell in love with a young lady I introduced to his family earlier this year, Rebecca, who was studying Spanish in Mexico City, from Northern Ireland... he's so, so, so in love... and such a blessing to me... with my crocked knees, he took pity on me, and gave me a bunch of injections/shots on Sunday night (including, er, placenta!) which has already made such a difference, and he wouldn't let me pay a cent... Who needs a tv ministry, big church invitations, business/first class flights... when all that I've just written happens to you when you're prepared to go for nothing....? Answers on a postage stamp, please.... I have to stop writing, I'm crying too much....
21 September Some of the older Brits reading this may remember a funny, satirical chat show Australian by the name of Clive James. He has a wonderful sardonic sense of humour, and many moons ago did a series of programmes on TV called 'a postcard from...' and went to many of the megacities of the world reporting on the normal and the bizarre. The one he did from Mexico City began with 'Mexico City is the only city in the world where you leave the plane in mid-air' –referencing the fact that the city is at an altitude of 7500+ feet ( 2500 m for the metric amongst us!). Given that piece of information, it helps to remember when just the act of walking can leave you breathless, and certainly the act of preaching for the foreigner is extremely exhausting. Clive James also said, referring to the pollution in the city, that to 'open your eyes in the morning is to cry a little', and also that 'to run your tongue over your teeth is to taste the petrol'! Having said that, yesterday I was taken to a city about two hours east of here named Puebla, which I had always regarded, having never been there, as a relatively small city. I guess by Mexico City standards it is small, a mere 6 million people! It was a great day of connection and networking, especially with a lovely pastor named Herman, and his wife Isabelle. Sometimes you meet people and know that you will work with them in the future: this is how I felt about these two. Remarkably, Puebla is a drive over the mountains from here, and it is cooler and the air is thinner, but the drive back coming over the top of the mountains and looking down on a relatively pollution free Mexico City was quite remarkable. It really is one of the most amazing places, its population being more than 50% of the whole of the UK, or in excess of three times the population of New York and London! Over the weekend at the conference it was good to hear of some healings. This seems to be a slightly different trip for me, in that many other meetings I will be involved in, and have been involved in, are meetings for leaders and elders of different churches, which is a real privilege. Thursday in the evening there is a live radio broadcast in which I'm speaking, always a little bit nerve wracking, but again a tremendous privilege and responsibility. Friday there are daytime meetings, and Friday is also the birthday of the youngest son of the family here that I stay with. So, suffering for the kingdom, and in order to celebrate Joel Luis's (Jois) birthday I will be going to see the rock band Bon Jovi with him and his brother Benny! It's a hard life :) 17 September Well, quite a day in Mexico yesterday, what with the flooding and the terrible shooting in Juarez. We had tremendous rain here in Mexico City, but nothing worse than that up until now. The conference began well last night, with a good turnout, and are very receptive and enthusiastic crowd! The theme of the conference is 'Rebuilding', and I felt a tremendous freedom as I spoke and a very warm reception. Before the meeting began, it was wonderful to be greeted by a lovely lady, Magdalena, and her son Carlos; she was thrilled to be able to tell me that Carlos was healed when prayed for my last visit in April. He had had a lot of nodules in his throat, which affected him in many different ways, and they had all totally disappeared without any medical treatment or surgery within 72 hours. God is so good! It is a real joy to be here with the church that I have visited many times over the last 13 years. When I first came here, in 1997, it was then a new church pastored by my dear friends Enrique & Mimi Osorio. Over the years my friendship with them grew and grew, and it was always a joy to see the church going too. Sadly, Enrique went to be with Jesus a year ago this week, the young man ( 58 years young!), and he is a sad loss to those of us who loved him. The church was then called 'The lion of the tribe of Judah'. Enrique's role and mantle has been taken on by his son Benny, who is doing a great job with his wife Paty in taking the church on and up into the future. We have recently – in the past week in fact – renamed the church 'Mundo de Fe' ( 'World of Faith'), if the double privilege to have been here at the birth of the church, and now the rebirth of the church. The privilege is even greater, as it was a delight, nine years ago in December, to conduct the wedding ceremony of Benny and Paty here in Mexico City, and to now be involved with them in seeing God take the church to a new level.After last night's meeting, it was a joy to be able to pray for a numberof people for healing. 16 September I think prayer was answered when I woke up this morning in Toronto, at 4.45 am! Why is it so many flights I have to catch seem to be 'crack of dawn' efforts? I had to be at the airport by 6am. Yesterday, it was 5.30 am! Even after 23 or so years of doing this, it's still an awful shock to hear the alarm go off at that sort of hour, and just know you can't turn over and have another 10 minutes... But prayer meant that the pain in my knees was much lower, and the cramped flight, that I wasn't looking forward to, to Mexico City, was easier than I'd expected. I'd pre-booked a bulkhead seat, but there was no bulkhead, so I could stretch my legs out! No upgrade, though, sadly :( Arrived in Mexico on the 200th anniversary of Independence: flights were delayed, as the airport - and much of the city, it seems - was closed (an absurd thought about a city of 32 million people - it's bigger than many countries!): we circled for what seemed like hours, but I reckon ours was the first flight to land, as the was no one in immigration and baggage, so I was through in about 15 minutes from landing, to see the smiling face of my great friend Benny Osorio. It seems I'm the first speaker at a conference tomorrow, so straight in at the deep end! It's amazing to think that this is my 27th time in Mexico, and it all began - together with my involvement in Latin America - in 1996. Well, actually, it the 'challenge' to come here came in 1994, in a 'chance' meeting (?!!) in Ghana, West Africa, with a Mexican who was then part of Youth with a Mission's Mercy Ships ministry. The 'challenge' was very spiritual - not! - Hugo & I had challenged each other to see who could eat the hottest, spiciest food. His statement that a Brit could never outdo a Mexican wasn't possible to fulfil in West Africa, where food isn't particularly spicy, and so he told me to come to Mexico, where he'd give me habenero chilies... it took me, ooohhh, about 15 seconds to hear from God on that one, and I came, I saw.... and I conquered! Before you think that's too unspiritual for words, it opened up Mexico to me, and here I met Argentinians, Brazilians, and, perhaps to me at least, more importantly, Colombians... who all, through a relationship formed over 2 weeks in Africa, invited me to their countries on the basis of relationship. I wouldn't want to really go anywhere any other way! 15 September Midnight 30 and I'm sitting in an hotel in Toronto, in the middle of a layover en route to Mexico City. Wednesday was a very long day - well, the trip started at 6pm Tuesday UK time in Belfast City airport, and a flight that was delayed nearly 2 hours - due, it seems, to incredible rain at Heathrow - which kept traffic (air, of course!) delayed all day.... friends who live near there say it started to drizzle at about 6pm.... hmm! One of the unexplainable joys of air travel and a travelling ministry. Back to the airport for 5.30 am this morning. I mentioned in my newsletter that the past months have taken their tolls on me physically, especially my knees - which ARE being healed, as I've had people like Jean Hunter, Alan & Barbara Gouck (Barbara was healed nearly 3 years ago of a chronic osteo arthritic condition in both knees, so who better to pray for someone else's knees??), and Rolland & Heidi Baker all pray for them. One I damaged 5 years ago in Cali, Colombia: the other I damaged in Bucharest, Romania in June, when all the people with me heard the noise it made when my foot and body turned a corner, but my left knee didn't.... That was all to say that my knees sort wrecked today, having these hours in this lovely city. I DID get to the Niagara Falls - but couldn't walk anywhere: the Falls are great, but... once you've seen the Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe/Zambia, and the Iguascu Falls (Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay) I'm not sure Niagara has the same effect on you... and then I DID go up the CN Tower, an act of faith for someone to whom heights represents a challenge! I did it though, and walked on the glass floor (1300 feet above the street) and went to the very top.... knee pain and knee jelly are an interesting combination!!! I just hoped there wouldn't be a fire, as you have to walk down stairs, and my knees are in no shape to do that! I really would value your prayers for them, as I sort of need (ho ho!) them, and today, well, today has been a test of faith in my belief that they are being healed! My knees are being healed - with your help! And so a crack of dawn start again tomorrow to head for the city that never sleeps - Mexico City. A busy 2 weeks methinks... When I get to Mexico, I'll try and fill you in on the latest USA situation. Also to say that I now have a newsletter available - if you want one, and don't get one either email or snail, email me with your email address or postal address and that will be rectified! Lots of stories... and three 'emails' in the last sentence!!!! In fact, in 8 words....!!!! 12 September Someone once sang 'if tomorrow never comes' – after the last blog it does seem that tomorrow didn't come. I am very sorry! It has been a busy few days, I have been over in England, and travelling a good deal. Last weekend, I had the privilege of speaking at a celebration meeting at the House of the Open Door Community, right in the heart of the beautiful Cotswold English countryside. It really is a beautiful place to go for a retreat, or just for a short getaway, and it is a place where three times also a year, the Rhinos group of which I am a part, meets. So although it was a meeting, it was also going back to be with good friends. It was a delight to pray for many people at the end of the meeting, and especially to know that some even then experienced a measure of healing. Even more delightful was to be introduced to the meeting by long time friend Simon Forrest: I have known Simon since he was 16, along with his mum and dad and sister, and through our friendship he met his lovely wife Sherna, and they are both part of this community. I also tried something not advisable (!) In that I attempted to see if my head was harder than a Cotswold stone wall! I have to report that it isn't! It's the first time in my life than I have genuinely 'seen stars'! It was great, too, to have the privilege of sharing at the Monday morning devotional time of Christian Publicity Organisation, (CPO perhaps better known as!), and a joy to pray with and chat to a few folk afterwards. It is a terrific organisation, facilitating churches and organisations not only in Britain, but further afield, with great professional material, and a great little magazine, called Inspire. During those days in England, I was also able to catch up with many people I need to see and don't get to see often enough. So what else has happened in recent months? The trip to Australia was very good, it was fantastic to link up again with a long time – no see friend, Jason, and his delightful wife, Sharini, whom I've never met before. It was great to get a share in the number of meetings, to pray for many people and to hear again of some immediate healings, and some 'in progress' healings. These included a lovely man with extreme pain in his lower legs and feet, and with either fallen or no arches. By the time he returned home, all the pain had gone. Another lovely young wife, in the early stages of multiple sclerosis, was particularly discomfited by the reaction to certain injections that she had to give herself each day especially in her legs. I really felt as I prayed for her that the first sign of her healing would be that there would be no reaction to this particular shot: she was due that very short the next day Sunday, and would have prevented her from being in church. She was there in church with no reaction to the injection. Praise the Lord! It is one of the great joys of what I do to hear people say at the end of meetings, or even sometimes conversations, that their faith has been raised, that they didn't know God was still doing the things he's doing in different parts of the world today. I know that one of my goals is to see faith rise in people as we live in a world that is in a state of emergency, with all its crises, that requires us as the people of God to use the faith of Jesus, where he told us we would have – 'you will do the things that I have been doing, and greater things you will do than I have done because I'm going to my father'. Just very recently to lovely stories, both very different, have come to me: some weeks ago I went with a friend to pray for a young couple, the wife almost full-term pregnant, but with the baby in the wrong position. The doctors had tried to turn the baby and been unable to and for reasons I didn't go into in-depth, there seem to be much concern around the birth. As we prayed, I sensed that the baby would turn that night, and spoke to them. Praise the Lord, the baby did just that! The same evening, we went to pray for a young dad, married with two lovely young children, he is in his early 30s and dying with cancer. The doctors had not given a good diagnosis or prognosis and there seemed to be little that could be done for this young man, Robin. Often with situations like this, as someone who prays, you never get to hear the outcome, certainly not straight away anyway! At the conference last month with Rolland and Heidi Baker, a man stopped me to speak to me to notice this young family and asked if I'd heard about Robin. It seems that Robin is completely healed and has no cancer anywhere! Thank you Jesus! I know for sure that I can't heal anybody, any more than I can get somebody saved, but I am grateful, so grateful, that God uses the foolish things of the world to confound the wise, and the weak to overcome the strong. Isn't God wonderful? I heard just this week that a lovely lady, Agnes Russell, whom I met with her husband Richard last year in Scotland, has also been healed. That was in the Marks and Spencer coffeeshop here in Bangor, Northern Ireland, just a few weeks ago when they were over visiting friends for a wedding! So much happens outside of the four walls of the church that IS church in its truest sense! It would be fantastic if every story were like that. Of course there are always people who 'do not get healed': I do believe, from days many years back sitting in the church of Samuel Lamb, in Guanzhou, China, that my goal is to see everyone healed. I recall clearly to this day, 23 years on from their first visit to Samuel, hearing him say to me 'What do you mean, people who don't get healed? That situation never arises It's not possible for God not to answer prayer'. So I still have something to aim for! But we live in a Christian society that for generations has grown-up with the curse of unbelief embedded in its roots, and this is one of many reasons why people might not receive their healing. If it was impossible for Jesus to not do miracles in Nazareth, because of the unbelief there, how much more we likely to be restricted by the curse of unbelief. I do believe, however, that breakthroughs are happening: the apostle Paul said in Romans 5:20 that 'where evil abounds, their grace will abound the more'. We certainly live in an evil world. In Australia, I was asked to go and pray for a man a little younger than me, Wayne, along with one of the full-time staff of the lovely Diamond Valley Baptist Church in Melbourne. I'd already been told that Wayne had cancer and he wanted to die: it just is not possible to see people healed when they so clearly do not want to be. John and I had perhaps an hour and a half with Wayne: he was determined to see his late mum, and sisters both of whom died, and even though during our conversation his spirit seemed to lift a little, there was still a sense that he had no desire to see his cancer healed, despite having two sons and two grandsons of his own. John heard very quickly that Wayne's housemate had returned home that same afternoon and found that Wayne had committed suicide in his back yard. So sad and yet there was nothing that could be done for him because of his own choice. In Britain in the past couple of weeks there have been two very sad occurrences: long – time friend Richard Hubbard, a great man of God, with a fantastic ministry and a lovely family, died with a rare untreatable and incurable cancer. Please pray for Lynda, Sam, Amy, and the wider family as they live through their grief. Just a few days ago, the one-year-old grandson, Quinn, of another very long time friend, Ishmael, died with a similar cancer. There are no answers, at least on earth, please pray for Quinn's parents, Adam and Suzy, as well as for Ishmael, Irene, and their much wider family. In 48 hours time, I head off to Mexico, a country itself in crisis right now. It seems that the drug wars there are accelerating, but it's a country dear to my heart, and I look forward to a couple of weeks in Mexico City and possibly other cities alongside my dear friends, the Osorio family. The trip to Mexico kicks in a very busy few weeks almost up until Christmas for me, with meetings in Ireland on my return early in October, meetings in England mid October, including the always longed for Rhinos, with two days and a bit being so important in terms of sharing lives and being prayed for, prophesied over, and recharged. A few more meetings in England follow that, and then a lengthy trip to Colombia from the last week of October almost to the end of November. Another week back in Ireland precedes 10 or 11 days in Sweden, where at the very least I will be both busy but also have the chance to spend time with my good friends the Vaims, the Gajickis, and the Christianssons. But it promises much as I can to keep the blog up-to-date! I am anticipating many great testimonies to come from all of these trips. No news yet from American immigration: other than that the immigration authorities decided not to 'appeal' my case but to completely reconsider it. This is good news, as appeals often unsuccessful and can take many years. It seems that there were points in the denial that was issued in June that were inaccurate under US immigration law, which were noticed by my lawyer. In the light of his pointing those out to immigration, this also somewhat unprecedented step of reconsideration has been taken. During June, the house in Virginia suffered something of a disaster in that a mains water pipe burst and filled the house with water – no surprise there then! – What exacerbated this was the fact that the east coast of the USA was experiencing a heat wave of unprecedented proportions: the lowest temperature during the three weeks the house went unchecked was 95F (38C), and often even higher, so the house was like a swimming pool in a sauna! Tremendous damage to quite a few things, including the need for some large portions of the internal walls to be removed, and of course a great deal of cosmetic damage to carpets and furniture. I'm so grateful to God that many years ago – 1984 – year I went to Bible school, he encouraged me to give up the last house I owned, and to not worry about possessions. I wish I had learned that lesson instantaneously (!) but I did even then begin to learn it slowly, and the burglaries in my apartment the England four years ago, with the loss of a huge amount of 'stuff' has taken me further down the road of not worrying about possessions. I'm still learning! Many and years ago, I read a book by American pastor Max Lucado, and in which he said 'we don't possess our possessions, our possessions process us'. I so don't want it to be that way, so this current situation in the USA has been another leg of the journey for me. It has been a hard learning curve, as of course I have not been able to be there, see the damage, assess what I do and don't need to repair or replace, or even choose the colour of the carpet or the paint on the walls as the place is rebuilt and redecorated. What I do know is that, if sitting here right now and writing this, I have tremendous peace, which can only have come from God. This has been a long blog for you to read, think you are sitting through it! there is still much more I could have said, but you get the idea! 1 September Once again, my apologies for the lack of anything written here. It's not that it's been a quiet summer, though I have taken August pretty easy, after the pressure and stress of the past months (17 months now since I was last in the house where all my 'stuff' is! - news about that in a minute), I realised how totally exhausted I was, so felt that, as August is a pretty 'thin' month for preaching in churches (as God goes on holiday, of course!), I've taken it a bit easier. We just had a great weekend here in Bangor, with Rolland & Heidi Baker, from Mozambique (10,000 churches planted in 9 years, orphanages, schools, hospitals built, miracles by the tens of thousands, and over 200 raised from the dead....). Makes me look very hard at what God does with and through me, and realise, too, just how far I have to go in my walk and life with Him. I love to be challenged though, it does me good, and at every opportunity, I rubbed shoulders with them both to get everything from them that I could! Rolland kept praying for me, he said 'You're too much fun to leave alone!' so I was zapped dozens of times in a few meetings! Also, in Bangor, for the past 75 years, there has been a wonderful missions conference - they get great speakers in, and this year was no exception, with Mark Buchanan, from Vancouver Island, Canada, and my great friend Simon Guillebaud, from Burundi. Simon challenges me just by WHO he is, and what he does, as much as what he says. Mark was inspirational and had me in tears at the end of his sermon Sunday morning. I've been up and down to Coleraine a few times, to my lovely friends, the Barrs, sometimes for informal meetings, and sometimes just to watch TV and drink a Magners or two... for the tee-total among you, Magners is apple juice: for the rest, it's the best cider I've tasted! Back at the start of the month, I preached in Catford again - Brownhill Road Baptist Church: it was a lovely time, and, as with when I was there before (November last year), ended up praying with a good many people. Please, if you would, pray for a lovely couple I met there: Nabil & Zoe Abou-Rahme, I guess in their early thirties: Zoe has a very rare form of cancer (two very young children), the top experts at the Royal Marsden & Brompton hospitals are at a loss to know how to treat it, inoperable, and immune to chemotherapy. And.... pray please for a lovely young lady I met in Melbourne, Australia, in July: Bethany Wake. Daughter of Wycliffe Missionaries, Bethany is 15, and yes, you've guessed, she has a rare and untreatable form of cancer. Had a wonderful time with her, her dad, and a couple of pastors, such faith in the hospital room. She too has a facebook prayer page - pray for Bethany Wake. Lots more to write.... but it's nearly 1am, and I have to be up at 4.15am to go to the airport! Will add more tomorrow.... 17 June Delayed sharing this piece of news until I'd got a clearer picture of what's going on... for those familiar with my 'USA Saga', something happened that Gunnar, my wonderful USA based immigration lawyer has never experienced! Whilst I was in Romania last weekend, I had an email from him, incredulous at the reply he'd just received from the Immigration Service, that my application was denied, on the basis that 'Foriegn Mission Director/Missionary' was a not a bone-fide job per se.... the fact that churches all over the USA have both Mission Directors and Missionaries, all recognised by the tax/government/social services, seems not to have reached USCIS (Customs Immigration Service). The decision is appealable, and I/we (church/lawyer) are going ahead with it. I had a long chat with Gunnar on the phone, and he is astonished. Everyone over 'there' and those I've talked to here all believe this is part of an ongoing spiritual battle, which we are asking God very powerful to intervene in! I'd really value your prayers over this issue, as I have to officially appoint Gunnar by 25th June to appeal it for me, which also means coming up with a considerable amount of money for the official appeal fee, plus Gunnar's own expenses. Right now, I have none: summer (and Christmas) are the worst times of year for people who live like I do, so your prayers for faith, hope, and provision would be greatly appreciated!! 16 June Two and a bit fantastic days away with the 'Rhinos', at the beautiful, peaceful retread, House of the Open Door Community, near Broadway, in Worcestershire. The value of these days can never really be communicated: they are special in so many different ways. We laugh until we're hoarse, we share lives, we share 'successes' and failures, we drink wine, eat incredibly as the Community look after us so well, we cover each other's backs, lift each other up with the most powerful, outrageous, uproarious prophetic praying you could ever imagine.... and leave refreshed, built up, established in our calling once again, and ready to claim more of God's Kingdom to come, and his will to be done.... wonderful days. In between times, I've been in Northern Ireland, for r&r (rest and relaxation for the non social networking readers amongst you!), to spend time building wonderful friendships here..... in the mix are frequent visits to my dear friends Andrew & Valerie Barr, in Coleraine: with them last week for a gathering in their home, a lovely evening of just sharing what God is doing in this lovely country. I'm back in Coleraine on the 17th, to speak at a men's meeting in their church, where I've been asked specifically to talk about miracles...... Your Kingdom Come, Lord Jesus!!! And then staying over with the Barrs so I can share a Magners with Andrew.... non alcoholic, of course! It is so lovely to be able to come home to this house: especially with so much football and cricket on tv right now! If anything will help me unwind, it's sport... even if England can't manage to beat the USA! 5 June The more I dwell on the 'event' blogged about the journey (in blue, 24 May!), the more astonishing it gets.... I've talked to Dave & Clare, and Ian, who were with me on the trip to Colombia, and they are as astonished as me.... in fact, Dave reminded me that it WASN'T 2 hours, but an hour and 50 minutes, the rain re-started when we'd been 'home' 10 minutes..... What's more, the storm went on all around us on the journey home. Incredible thunder and lightening on all the mountains around us: it was like we drove under a huge umbrella. You have to see and hear an 'Andes' thunder storm to know just how incredible they are, and just how miraculous this ride was. Even a few weeks on, my jaw just hangs open when I think of it.... God is so, so amazing! Since returning to the UK, I spent time in England, visiting my sister, brother in law, and nephew, in Cornwall, and then some lovely days away with the Rhinos (if you've never read my blog before, you'll find out who the Rhinos are on the 'who is Paul' page!). It was such a blessing to be with them, and the prayer/ministry time we all get from each other is just so vital and powerful. A couple of weeks ago, another part of my life ended :( .... when my dad died, I was 12 (he died 45 years ago in September). Two amazing men from our church, Victoria Baptist Church, Eastbourne, took on significant roles in my life, one - Norman Barber, my Sunday School leader, took on the role of the 'dad' who took his boy to different places - Twickenham for rugby, Farnborough Air Show (the year Concorde did its first ever public 'fly past') and many other things. The other man, Roy Lanning, who was my 'Covenanter' group leader, took on the spiritual role. I am so deeply grateful to both men for looking after a lost and bewildered 12 year old.... Norman died some years ago, but Roy died just 2 weeks ago, and it feels like something else has 'gone' from my life, around the same time as mum dying..... And for that, even more I'm grateful for the Rhinos, who cover me spiritually, emotionally, practically, watch my back, and love me to bits..... So, tomorrow & Monday, Coleraine, Northern Ireland: a meeting with my dear friends Andrew & Valerie Barr, in their home. Wednesday back over to England, en route for Romania, then back to Ireland the middle of the following week.... would value your prayers! 24 May COLOMBIA PART 2....!!!! Something quite astonishing happened on the way back by road from Buenaventura.... I've said before that it is a dangerous road, only two lanes, over the Andes, dangerous in daylight and good weather..... so even more so at night, and in the middle of the most incredible rainstorm I've seen in a long time. It's normally about a 3 hour journey in good weather. We'd left the church after the evening meeting to go to get a sandwich in the nearby shopping mall, when the rain arrived. It was so hard it took out all the televisions in the mall, and was even finding gaps in the roof (of a newly built mall) and was gusting inside the food area. We were, if I'm honest, a little worried about the journey back! Bendy mountain roads, no white lines, no cats eyes, steep drop.... even on top speed the wipers weren't handling the rain, and the road was like a river..... Having seen God do many wonderful salvation and healing miracles, I sat in the back seat of Walter's car and thought about the miracles Jesus did.... I have to say I've not been overly successful with geographical and meteorological miracles in the past (:-(), but just declared out 'Peace be still!' with all the authority I could muster - and the rain stopped!!!!! It didn't begin again until we were all nicely safe and secure in our apartment.... what's more, the 3 hour journey (good weather) that should have been more like 4-5 hours bearing in mind the conditions. took just over 2 hours.... so, without wishing to over-exaggerate, it would seem we were transported some distance, too. Before you go 'He's out of his mind, now he's really gone over the top'!!! - don't forget that there were 6 of us in the car who all experienced the same thing.... and there's really no way you can do that journey in the time we did: huge trucks, farm vehicles, buses, and frightened drivers all use that road, and overtaking 'spots' are 1) at a premium, and 2) extremely risky! And if Jesus said 'You'll do the things that I have done, and greater....' then - bring it on, Lord! A meeting in yet another dangerous area of Agua Blanca was on, then off, then on again at the last minute... the pastor, David, was worried not many would come to hear the gringos (never a problem for me with numbers, but seems to be for others!). He needn't have worried - about 400 turned up, and again the whole meeting was one charged incredibly by the power of the Holy Spirit. The whole evening was dynamite, and I felt really constrained to make an initial appeal for salvation, and then leave some time before making an appeal for healing. Often, if you make such appeals close together, the people who have responded to the call for salvation rush across to the 'healing' side, and they can get missed by the local church leaders.... It was right to do it, as about 120 gave their lives to the Lord, the church leaders chatting with all of them to follow them up. I should think a further 200 (at least) came forward for healing, and there were many who were.... All of us 'Brits', plus Diego and Walter, plus Lupe, Walter's wife, were praying for the sick for around 2 hours A mum, carrying her 6-7 yr old daughter came to me, the little girl had very damaged feet and legs, no arches in her feet, with severe walking difficulties. Prayed for her, and she and mum left.... prayed for some more.... only to find mum and the girl back in front of me about 20 minutes later, with mum laughing and crying, and the little girl walking by her side - with arches, no pain, walking perfectly. Apparently, they'd got home, and the daughter told mum 'When he prayed for me, I felt this amazing heat right through my body, and saw a brilliant white light, and saw God, who told me I was healed'.... when they came back, I got them up onto the platform to testify, along with a number of others who'd received instantaneous miracles.... the testimonies, of course, led to even more healings.... healings went on until all had been prayed for, at about 1045pm (from a 6pm start!). Dave & Clare were back at that church the next night, and were praying for eople until 1130pm... ...whilst Ian and I were taken by taxi to Puerta Tejada. Never been there before, and I was told it was about 45 minutes out of the city.... 2 hours+ later, and having stopped many people to ask the way (most of whom made encouraging comments like 'don't go down there, it's too dangerous!' and 'keep away from that street, it's too dangerous!') we found the church.... to find, as we'd say in England, 3 old ladies and a dog at the meeting.... hmmm. By the time Ian got to share his testimony and speak, and I did too, there were about 15-20 people, and some people got healed, so I'd never say it wasn't worth it.... They want a 7 day 'crusade' there next time I'm in Cali, seven days in the danger zone, huh? Yes..... Another 'interesting' arrival at a meeting found a similar story - 3 people, plus, outside, a devastated pastor, who, that day, discovered that there had been immorality at the heart of the worship band, resulting in 25 or so of his 30 members leaving the church.... to say I felt out of my depth with how to address the situation, so fresh, would be fairly accurate, but I am so grateful to God that we (Ian & I) were there. We spent time praying with the remnant, especially Oscar, the pastor, and his wife, for an hour or more, and, it seems, left them encouraged, blessed, and re-envisioned. Another lovely meeting, this time in the north of Cali, pastored by a couple, Candy and Diego: on the surface, it seemed more of an 'up and out' church than I'm used to being in in Colombia, the church only 7 months old, but with well into 3 figure membership/attendance. Once we got down to the nitty-gritty, it was a church full of people financially destitute, incredibly sick and incurable, and many with humongous problems.... a lot of healings, and lot of people prayed for, and a lot of blessing..... On the last Sunday, Ian blew everyone away at Walter's church: Dave & Clare did the same at my friends' Hendrik & Teija's church, and I went to yet another church I've never been before. I knew next to nothing about it, but the name of it 'got' me as I walked in! It's called 'Generacion de Fuego' - Generation of Fire.... and boy, was it a great service. Souls saved again, I guess I prayed for 100 for healing, stretching my Spanish incredibly (I'm grateful that God seemed to do some miracles with my Spanish more than ever before!), and during preaching, prophesied over a number of people in the congregation and band.... It was a wonderful 'meeting' end to a quite astonishing trip.... Hundreds and hundreds saved: hundreds more healed, invitations back to do many '7 day' events next time, invitations to Peru and Ecuador, and, more than anything else, the total, mind-blowing, incredible privilege of being there when God turns up in meeting after meeting after meeting.....
21 May Well, what can I say about Colombia, Cali especially, that doesn't sound like a repeat from the past 14 years....? Hot weather (around 35-38C most days), and every meeting wonderfully blessed by God... some new church locations, some re-visits, took three people with me - Dave & Clare from England, who have been with me before, and Ian from Northern Ireland (though he's English!) for the first time. I arrived ahead of the others, and had a great weekend preaching in a couple of churches - one pastored by very-long-time friends Hendrik & Teija Hoere, in their lovely new building, a church with a great name too - El Abrigo el Altisimo (the Shadow of the Almighty). and another in a place named Yumbo (pronounced 'Jumbo', but with a 'soft' j), a huge industrial city north of Cali, to a new church to me pastor by the President of the pastors association, Pedro Rojas. Both were great meetings, and very hot (!! clothes changing colour due to excessive water content!), and prayed for loads of people... some in Yumbo testified to immediate healings, and there were some people who made a first time commitment to the Lord, too. The first half of the sermon was translated by a guy who had lived in London for 8 years: in fact, very close to where I was born! But... just because you can speak English doesn't necessarily make you a translator, and my Spanish has improved somewhat, so I had to help out occasionally! The lovely brother concerned made a valiant attempt at his first ever public translation, but it was hard going from a preacher's point of view! Pedro wants me back, which is nice to know, especially as he'll be President of the pastor's association for the next 2 years! Translation is a real 'gift': knowing languages doesn't always mean much, as you have to instantly be able to contextualise and idiomise what is being said.... it became a lot more cohesive when my dear friend Diego took over half way through, but God used the whole service to do some lovely things.... A return visit to another long-time friend's church, Norbey & Carmen Arias, Casa de Dios (House of God) was again a lovely meeting, with a super time of 'proxy' prayer for Carmen who has cancer, amongst many other things. We were able to go to their home later in the trip to pray for her, and there was a noticeable physical and emotional improvement in her conditon. The service was tremendous, with - again - many being prayed for, and some immediate testimonies. A 'usual' trip to the port city of Buenaventura was a great time - though it was, again, markedly hotter than Cali, reaching about 42C (about 112F for the small percentage of the world still on that scale!) with intense humidity. It was a privilege, once again, to be able to go into the huge, desperately poor hospital in the city: I discovered on the Sunday that the director had stopped Christians going there for some time, so I saw God's hand on the visit even more. The conditions are tragic: the desperation of the patients even more so. Ian was with me, Dave & Clare went to the emergencies section. We spent as much time praying with the families visiting as we did with the patients - families have to provide all the food, a lot of the hour-to-hour care, including changing & washing clothing and bedding. It is such a privilege to be able to bring hope into hopelessness, as well as healing into people's lives, which God did with a number: greater still was the fact that at least 15-20 people gave their lives to the Lord, patients and family members - still, of course, the greatest miracle of all. There were some genuinely immediate healings, a lot testifying to pain going, and joy coming into desperate lives. Wonderful church Saturday evening, outside the city, in the jungle, pastored by friends Daniel & Liliana: the church was packed, with loads of young people too: it was an 'electric' atmosphere, and a good number gave their lives to the Lord, and there were some wonderful healings, including a man, who'd had long-term back and spinal problems, much pain, who testified to instant healing. Daniel & Liliana are an amazing couple, and they are really seeing the Kingdom of God brought into an incredibly tough situation. They are so poor, the church is actually situated on a bend in the road known locally as 'Dead Man's Curve' as so many accidents happened there.... they are changing that! Buenaventura is also a hotbed of witchcraft, all types of oocult activity, and a violent city.... three weeks before we were there, a car bomb was exploded outside the town hall. Sunday morning was in a lovely church in Buenaventura, with a wonderful lady pastor: many people again responded to the gospel, and many were healed... what more can I say....? It still amazes me, after all these years..... The evening meeting was a slightly different ballgame (!)... such a religious spirit in and over the church, Dave and I hit it as hard as we could, and pray for change there.... so many ...er... unusual things going on in the meeting..... Club Noel, the children's hospital in Cali, again a regular visiting place and scene of many, many miracles over the years, was a similar story.... hope, joy, salvation, healing.... Ian really grasped the opportunity to see miracles happen, and a young girl, about 6 years old, who had never walked, took her first steps, to the astonishment of her mother and aunt, as he commanded a miracle in the name of Jesus. It is hard to describe, in hospitals in Colombia, the appreciation of patients and families, to have 'gringos' even bother to go there, let alone engage with them and bring something into their lives that wasn't there before. Miracles of all sorts before your very eyes.... Some astonishing meetings during the second week.... I was asked to speak at an evangelistic meeting in a gazebo in a public park, in the poorest and most dangerous area of Agua Blanca, itself the poorest and most dangerous part of the city.... I wasn't totally aware of QUITE how dangerous this district - Mohica - was, until we got there, when the pastor, Raul, informed us that he'd specifically requested armed police to be on each street around the park... loads of them! Pump action shotguns, machine guns.... the pastor himself had experienced a huge muscular neck and back spasm at 3am that morning, and was healed instantly..... loads of people at the meeting, plus a large number of young people playing football or just 'hanging out' at the park.... MANY saved, loads healed.... a fantastic night. My friend Hendrik had been in that very same area a few months before, and was robbed by 5 armed gunmen... didn't know that until afterwards, perhaps a good thing! Long blog, this one, too... I'll add more tomorrow! Much more to add....
21 May A long time since the last blog.... there are a number of reasons for that, not the least of which was the death and funeral of my mum in March and April, and the slow agonising demise of my laptop which refused to run the necessary software for updating here... there are other reasons, too, maybe for later! Mum's death, though in many ways expected, still affected me deeply. Though she had been in dementia care for some 5 years, until February, she seemed to be 'going along' as per normal, but then it was noticeable that she was going downhill. Since mum had been in care, I'd tried to get to see her (and my sister and brother in law) every 6-8 weeks: she lived in Cornwall, which for those who don't know is the most extreme westerly point of England, and as I look back now, I'm so glad I saw her a good deal, even though for most of those years in care she didn't know who I was. Strange, isn't it, how we are sometimes? I saw mum more when she didn't know me than I did when she did know me.... March saw her getting more frail, and then just around her birthday the deterioration was rapid. I was over with her for 2-3 days before she died, on 22 March, and, obviously, back again for the funeral on 1 April. Saying goodbye to mum had another strange impact on me.... it made me miss my dad all the more, even though he died 45 years ago, so with all this going on, blogging didn't seem particularly a priority. One of my favourite rock songs is 'The Living Years' by Mike & the Mechanics, and it's all about how our priority seeing people who are dear to us can often be overshadowed by 'doing' life.... I'm so grateful and blessed to have had a mum - and dad, though for a very short time - who loved me to bits, and would do anything for me. My trusty 4 year old Hewlett Packard laptop had severe damage done to its operating capabilities by the very people I had to contact to sort out an 'issue' with it - the technical support section. Countless hours on the phone to their 'help' (joke!!) centre, then their complaints department (don't bother with them if you have a complaint - they can't and won't do anything!), did nothing at all, after their initial 'expert' had rendered the machine almost useless. I had to give up the fight with them once mum became worse, and big trips intervened, but I will resume it in the next few weeks, even though I've had to acquire another machine in the last few weeks. Now I've finally reinstalled the software I need for writing here, I'll - hopefully- be a little more frequent. The slow moving machine that is USA immigration seems to have almost ground to a halt.... though there was one disastrous mess up with the application to them submitted by the lawyer.... Immigration for some reason had my permanent residence application with me as both the 'petitioner' and the 'beneficiary', and the postal address of the church in Virginia wrong... so the receipt for filing, a very vital stage I'm told, was sent to the church, rather than the Pastor: problem is, the church is only occupied on a Sunday pretty much, from about 9am - 130 pm. Because of that the receipt was returned to immigration as undeliverable, resulting in them effectively 'shelving' my application for 3 more very expensive (for me) months. I called the lawyer to find out what was happening, only to discover it was....nothing :(. So, it goes on.... I keep hearing more and more 'horror' stories about friends and their 'issues' now going to the USA.... right now, I have no idea when I'll be able to go back there.... it's over a year since I was last there, and a year next Wednesday since I was 'returned'. As well as not being able to see Katy, Joshua, and my grandsons - which is tough, I miss them terribly, it also means that I still can't even transit through the States en route to Latin America, which really does nearly double the cost of getting there. It's been 'interesting' in the few months I've not written here to see how many people are actually interested in reading the blog! After such a long silence, I've heard from some people who seem to have missed it.... hopefully it's a lot more than have written to me! AND SO TO WHAT GOD HAS BEEN DOING..... There have still been a lot of trips during these months, though the 'diary' section is way out of date :-( ..... I've also been determined to rest a bit more between trips, as I know what last year, effectively living out of a suitcase, did to me physically and mentally, so I am scheduling more 'pit stops' at home in Ireland. Since last writing, I've been in Romania, Mexico, England, Scotland, and Colombia. All have been good, with Mexico and Colombia being great! The Colombia trip comes to an end on Tuesday (18th) then the long haul home from Cali, via Bogota, then Toronto, to London, ash cloud permitting. It's been 5 years since I was last in Mexico, but it was like being at home straight away, staying with my dear friends, the Osorio family, and being involved almost exclusively in their church, La Leon de la Tribu de Judah (The Lion of the Tribe of Judah, if you can't work that one out!). A wide variety of meetings, from cell groups to men's groups to a number of services. Many people prayed for, some healings, and - it seems - much blessing for them and for me. I had one unusual meeting, which I had to be taken to by boat, on the canals of Xochimilco (great name, huh?!), with the meeting being held in the Mexican equivalent of a Garden Centre! It was wonderful to see the Osorios again, though the joy was tempered by the fact that my dear friend and brother, Enrique, the 'dad' of the family, was not there, having gone home to be with Jesus, last September. He was the same age as me :(. The trip to Mexico was curtailed and changed due to my mum's increasing ill health, and then her death, so I plan to go back to Mexico later in the year for a proper trip. All the chopping and changing of dates meant that charges were incurred for flight changes, I had to 'lose' and overnight hotel booking (for a 21 hour layover in Toronto) and car hire.... I was going to use that 21 hours to go and visit Niagara Falls - well, I would have been relatively close.... in the end I had to route through Montreal, which again required a hotel and car... but, the airline did me a small favour in that they upgraded me to 'Executive First Class' from London to Montreal (and boy, was it good!).... Healing news from Scotland and Ireland too: Steve -'To date my shoulder and neck, which have troubled me for many months, neither are causing me any pain'... 'Annette & Roddy's baby is now in correct orientation' - a lovely couple from Ireland whose baby was breech, looking unlikely to turn before birth, did so overnight!.... (south east England) Tim - after 55 years of 12 day a month migraines (crippling ones), no headache for two years come August.... Scotland again... "My mum told me that at the end of the service on Sunday you asked for people to go forward for healing. She also told me that she felt with all her being that she was to go forward but she never did. My mum has an exceptionally close relationship with God that shapes her whole life and she couldn't understand why she felt her legs would not walk her out to you. My mum is a real tough cookie and part of me feels that she didn't want others in the church to see her as she would not want others to see her pain. My mum has Arthritis and Psoriasis that causes her pain on a daily basis, but she never complains and she has such a sunny and positive spirit that she never feels sorry for herself. Nearly everyday she tells me in some way or another how blessed by God she feels her life is.
She told me how you had also said about rubbing or touching can bring healing or closeness and as she left i think she gave you a wee shimmy, she felt she had to do something as God had spoken to her so strongly. She told me that she genuinely believed that she had experience a touch of healing through this contact...she held out her left hand and her fingers did in deed look straighter than i had seen them in a very long time. I know you probably get hundred of emails asking for prayer and healing and you probably only feel you can heal the ones that God has called to you, but i really believe that my Mum was spoken to on Sunday and for some reason she couldn't make it to you. Therefore, please don't find me rude, but could you please say a prayer for my mum? I really felt i had to search you out and contact you because she really felt you had a strong impact on her and she so rarely does anything for herself. Though, she may throttle me if she ever finds out I've emailed you about her!" And then, a couple of weeks later... "Just a quick update to let you know of some of the healing that has happened for my mum! Last week i was home visiting my mum and she showed me her right hand....her fingers for the first time in about 20 years are straight! She hasn't been able to straighten her hand out for as long as i can remember but her fingers were so straighten out she could put her hand flat on my leg. She has also been wearing a splint recently to straighten her hand out and that too appears to be holding straight on its own without the splint. I pray that more healing keeps coming for my mum but i can't express how grateful i am for what has happened so far! I really was taken aback at her hand, i truly believe you are bring miracles to my family and for that, I thank you." Craig (NI) - severe hip and upper leg pain healed... Sydney & Carol, incredible ongoing miraculous healing.... Sydney from a thumb cut off in a work accident, Carol from paralysis caused by failed back surgery.... Ragnhild from Finland, healed by email (! God uses it, don't knock it!!) Great few days with my friend Mike Edwards and his lovely 'Voice of Comfort International' church in Greenwich, South London... many prayed for, and a time of real blessing it seems, for the church, and it was for me, too.... OK.... that's a long enough 'first' blog after so many weeks! I'll do Colombia, which will include a lot (! tell us something new, Paul...!!) next....27 January There are lots more stories in addition to the ones I put in yesterday's blog, but a couple more that were so special they are worthy of extra mention. A young mum, who had severed from severe depression when I visited her church a few months back, told me that she is completely healed of it when I was back there a few weeks ago. Another young lady, whom I discovered I'd had the privilege of praying with at the Detling Bible week last August, was then suffering from acute anorexia, and was under 5 stones in weight (under 70 pounds, Americans!). The doctors told her she was dying. She came and spoke to me in a church a couple of weeks back, probably doubled in weight, looking totally different, and well and truly healed from that terrible addiction. I've not mentioned names, because I've not asked the people concerned if I can, and it would be an intrusion into their privacy for me to do so. If I can get them to write out their stories, though, then I'll place them on the testimony page! 26 January Over a month and no blog... I do apologise if you're one of those who looks here regularly to see what's been going on.... there are no real excuses, just that I tried over the holiday to take a real break, something I rarely do, and realised that I'm not very good at knowing how to relax and rest... I hope and pray that your Christmas and New Year were as relaxing and restful as mine, and that 2010 is a time when you know and experience the presence of the living God more than you have ever done. Christmas for me, with dear friends in their lovely home, was a real blessing. An enforced additional rest occurred at the beginning of the month, when I flew back to England for 2+ days with my accountability guys, the Rhinos, when the UK was at a standstill (again!) because of snow. We were scheduled to meet in the middle of the Cotswolds (for those of you who know England), and then I was preaching there and in Worcester at the weekend. Well, that part of England was hit especially hard by the weather, so by the time I landed in England, everything had been cancelled! The frustration with airlines today reached a new peak for me over the next 24 hours as I tried to get to Ireland. One of the things that I appreciate about the USA is that customer service IS just that.... in Britain we're not very good at it sometimes! It was certainly non existent with the airline I was dealing with, and what had begun as a 70 pounds round trip escalated into a changed ticket, one way, costing 173 pounds! What a bargain - not! A recent return visit to Loose Baptist Church, Maidstone, was a really great time. Youth meeting Friday evening, a Saturday morning session on healing, which resulted in praying for a large percentage of the people there (it was scheduled to finish about 12.30pm, and, if I recall, we left the building nearer 3pm!). Saturday evening was with the Elders of the church, and Sunday was a packed house. There were some who testified to having received healing, and it was especially delightful to pray for a man named Bob, after I'd had a word of knowledge concerning bad pain in the right side sacroileac area of the back. No one responded initially, which is always an 'interesting' (!) time: Bob hadn't responded as it was his first time in church, dad to one of the young women of the church, and - he would say - not yet a believer.... he was healed, and 'gob-smacked' according to his daughter, Sarah! A lovely guy, Matt, was healed in his knees, and there were other testimonies, too. A great weekend up in Coleraine, Northern Ireland, with good friends Andrew and Valerie Barr.... I was with them for an evening just prior to new year, and prayed for a lovely guy, Craig, in his forties, but with major-league hip pain. God is good - he was healed, no pain since. Visited then, too, the home of a couple, the husband had, 5 weeks earlier, cut off his thumb, the wife was rendered paralysed and incontinent when surgeons, doing spinal surgery on her, probably severed a nerve.... they had been told (I stand corrected if I've got these numbers slightly wrong!) that only 1 in 10,000 surgical procedures to put a finger back actually work.... well, we stood and agreed in prayer that his would - and it has worked! Sidney was also told by a nurse that if they see one in 3 years work it is unusual. He has almost total feeling and senses to the thumb restored, apart from maybe the top quarter inch, which is coming back! The wife became 'continent' almost immediately, has full feeling restored to her right leg, and use, if not yet full feeling, which will come, of her left leg. Both are miracles! One of the things that is 'difficult' about what I do, in praying for people, is that you don't often hear what happens. British people especially it seems are reticent to report on what God does.... it was fantastic, then, to hear about a couple prayed for in Bangor, Northern Ireland, who had been told they could never have children: and to discover about 2 months after praying for them that the wife was 6 weeks pregnant! Just Sunday night, a man told me in church that his right arm, which had been causing him a great deal of pain, was healed when I'd prayed for him in October. Thank you, God! It's a privilege to pray, many times, never knowing the outcome: it's an even greater privilege to share in the thanksgiving to God when someone tells you that God's done what you prayed for! Just a quick mention about my USA immigration situation: I'm delighted to tell you that, after 4 months of putting the application for permanent residency together, Gunnar, the lawyer in Pennsylvania, submitted it to the US Immigration service on December 21. It was a nice Christmas present to hear that! The whole petition is about 300 pages, hopefully covering every aspect of what the CIS (Citizenship & Immigration Service): they may ask for further evidence, or simply approve it. Gunnar reckoned on December 22 perhaps between 2-8 months. I think I have to go for interview, probably a medical (cough, please.... takes me back to school days!). Now would be a good time for God to start moving the mountains many have told me that he'll do! Perhaps mountains of paperwork...? Gunnar told me mine was the largest application he's submitted in his time as an Immigration Lawyer. Meanwhile I'm learning what it is to rest and relax, ahead of a very busy schedule about to unfold. This coming weekend I'm back in Ayr, Scotland, at the lovely Southside Christian Fellowship. Hoping to get Graham with the new gall bladder etc., along to tell his story.... Then middle of next week out to Romania for 5 days, and probably a change of schedule to the last newsletter - perhaps to Sweden, with Mexico happening in March after yet another trip to Romania, with Pakistan (the invitations to other cities there keep coming in!) in April, and now Colombia in May. I'm hoping to move the Philippines on to June, maybe tie it in with time in Malaysia and possibly Australia (how do I end up there in the winter????)... Who knows, maybe by the time I go to Mexico and Colombia, I might be able to do it via the USA, which is so, so much cheaper than alternative routes!
20 December Wow, Christmas seems to have arrived so quickly this year! I'm back in Ireland, since Thursday, having made my flying visit to Romania (which was a good trip) and then the long drive down to west Cornwall to see my mum and sister, and family. It's sad to see mum most of the days I get to see her, as she spends a lot of time sleeping, and - mostly - she doesn't SEEM to remember who I am. Dementia is a horrible thing, and I empathise with anyone who has relatives suffering from it, or alzheimers.... Still trying to get the house organised in Ireland, why oh why am I so un-practical. Show me a diagram of how to put flat-pack stuff together, and I'm lost instantly! And paint and I have never been friends.... I'd rather preach in a jungle village and sleep in a mud hut than decorate! I do hope and pray that you will all have a lovely Christmas, knowing the presence of the living Jesus, God's greatest gift to humanity, in everything you do. I pray, too, that 2010 will see your dreams fulfilled, and the blessing of God take you to increasing levels of faith and experience. Thank you for your love, interest, support, and care in 2009. 9 December Wasn't able to finish writing here two days ago as my internet connection wasn't good enough..... I have been very blessed by some wonderful people from the church in Ireland who have systematically cleaned and decorated (still a work-in-progress!) the house, and people who are doing things I'm hopeless at - like plumbing in a washing machine & dishwasher (I was given one of those - it's just like being in America!), putting flat pack furniture together, and other stuff I hate, lose all the screws for, and can't even understand the instructions! Today was a long day, up at 4.15 am to be at the port for the ferry to Scotland, then a long drive south ready to head for Romania at the crack of dawn tomorrow. I just marvel at my aged car, which flies down motorways, and I think today it wondered what had happened to it, as, for the first time in 3 years, it has no suitcases or bags in it! 7 December A quick mention of an error in my newsletter - my phone number should read +44 7976 529325! Some further wonderful news concerning Graham, from Troon, mentioned below. He was due to have surgery for a double hernia and a hiatus hernia 8 days ago. Having prayed for him, with my great friends Graham & Margaret Wallace, 2 weeks ago, Graham saw the consultant 11 days ago, and was told there was no need for surgery.... God's blessing him and his family outrageously! The lovely chaplain of Kilmarnock Prison, whom I met when I visited there with Steven Anderson, of the Scotland Healing Rooms ministry, was awaiting double hip replacement surgery, and was in constant pain, and walked accordingly. Steven wrote to me last week and told me that since that Friday, 12 days ago, Colin is walking perfectly normally with no pain... and Jim, a painter, who could hardly walk to the front of the church for prayer in Cathcart, Glasgow 11 days ago, went into work the next day running and jumping, climbing ladders, and testifying to all his work-mates about God's miracle healing power. I love this stuff!! Last Tuesday, I was on the ferry with my overladen aged Toyota, from Stranraer to Belfast, to go to my new UK home. The sea was 'interesting' for 3.5 hours, with a force 9 gale blowing! I'm so grateful to God that I'm blessed to have no problems in the air, in cars, or on the sea- which is a blessing, as I spend so much time in one or other of them! 28 November Just a quick note first to say my Christmas newsletter has been posted on the 'newsletter' tab (what a surprise!). November's been a pretty busy month, with a great deal of travelling in the UK, all of which, I'm delighted to say, has been excellent! It was a joy to spend three days with my great friends Dave & Sian F-J, and their sons Drew & Tim: known them since 1984 (scary - 25 years!) and they bless me so much when I'm in their home. That was en route to see my family in Cornwall, which is always lovely, and though, while it is lovely to see mum, it is hard when she longer shows many sign, if any, that she remembers me. On the return trek, it was as always great to be able to speak at City Church, Plymouth. It was a great morning, and a good number responded for healing. It was a thrill, too, to receive a prophetic word (thanks, Angie!) concerning finance: such a need right now! So bring it on, Lord! The same evening, I was with my great friend Andrew Pearkes, and his wonderfully 'out of the box' church, Maranatha, in Exeter. It was a blast, with many responding for ministry. A lovely 30 minute early morning for the devotional time at CPO (Christian Publicity Outreach) in Worthing, and then came the long haul north to Scotland. I am so blessed by the Lord for the car I have in the UK - my 16 year old Toyota Carina, with 160,000 miles (petrol, not diesel - not so uncommon for a diesel!) on the clock, just keeps going, it seems, better and better....It was so weighed down with 'stuff', the tyres at the back disappeared into the wheel arches! Because of my enforced sojourn in the UK, everything I have there is in the car now, en route to Ireland next week. As I have been unable to get at anything in the house in America, I have had to buy many many things as the seasons have changed! When I was 'returned' to the UK in May, it was spring, so I had t-shirts and polo shirts, and a spare of shoes! Today, as I write, it's 1 degree celsius in Bangor, Northern Ireland, 34 fahrenheit! More about immigration and Ireland in a minute! It was lovely to be with long-time friends Graham & Margaret in Troon, on the glorious west coast of Scotland. During the few days with them, Margaret took me on a whistle-stop tour of the homes of some very sick people, with whom it was a delight to pray. In one home, of a couple George & Karen, there was a very real sense of God's presence, and Karen's dad, Alec, saw a very specific vision/picture for me, which was an incredible encouragement. Thank you, Alec.... In another home, of Graham & Lynne, God just totally blew me away. I'd been in their home about 13 months ago, Graham (early 40's I guess - if you're younger Graham, I apologise!) had been allowed home from hospital for a few days, possibly his last time at home having just had surgery for (now) untreatable cancer. He'd had his gall bladder removed, and a few parts of other organs, and there was very little hope or time left. Seeing him last week, totally healed, I wouldn't have recognised him.... when he was scanned, he'd got a new gall bladder, and other organs were all intact! What an amazing story! Since last year, the family have been on a round the world holiday, kayaking all over the place, and two weekends ago, in mud and rain, Graham and his two lovely children walked 8.5 miles.... God is amazing!!!! A wonderful weekend with the Scotland Healing Rooms folk: a great time in Kilmarnock Prison: please pray for a resident there, Brian: had a long chat with Brian, 95% blind, with a real sense that God is going to do a miracle for him... he has another 13 years there, having been sent down for murder... .but nonetheless, a lovely man, and someone who God loves dearly. So many challenging and stimulating questions from the prisoners, even if I did need to have translation from broad Scottish into English to understand them! Wonderful meetings in Edinburgh, Cathcart, Glasgow.... loads prayed for, hopefully faith raised: and then the honour of sharing with the radical bunch of people who ARE the core team of Scotland's rapidly growing Healing Rooms. And a fantastic word from God for me from Stephen.... thanks, my friend! Right now in Romania, where it's bizarrely warmer than most of western Europe: should be freezing here now. Busy weekend, then back to England Monday. I'm hoping and believing that the immigration saga will move on another huge step this week: it seems that my great Lawyer, Gunnar Armstrong, is about ready now to submit my application/petition to the Immigration authorities. It's a huge file, apprently! Please pray, if you do, that all the encouraging words about God acting swiftly, moving mountains, etc., that I've been given, will kick in as all the documentation is sent off! In the meantime, I've taken on the rental of a little house in Bangor, Northern Ireland, which will now become my permanent UK base. It's a major league step of faith, but I know that through this whole 'visagate' saga, that God has been stretching my faith in every direction, both in trust and in ministry, and there are so many positives now coming out of what, 8 months ago, and over recent months, has seemed to be the opposite! Thank you for your prayers. Do give a ring if you want to know more. 4 November Writing this from the beautiful Devon countryside, with grey skies, pouring with rain, and the sun out.... only in England!! Slowly making my way down to Cornwall, to visit my mum, sister, brother in law, and nephew, stopping en route to blog, hopefully get my newsletter written (none this year so far :( - well, it has been an unusual year of change, and I wanted to write something positive!), then at the weekend, speak in two great churches, City Church, Plymouth, and Maranatha, Exeter. Last Sunday was really good, in many ways. At Brownhill Road Baptist, Catford, in the morning, and felt a real liberty there.... gave a word of knowledge concerned with healing, to which (at first!) no one responded.... that can throw you when you feel convinced God has said it. So I did a 'Heidi Baker' and pushed it, at risk of looking an even bigger idiot, until finally someone responded to it. Phew! As far as I know, healed: then at least 3 others said it related to them, too. I made an appeal for people to come forward for prayer for healing, at least 15 did, and then, as always, a few more after the meeting (!) - and was then told that had NEVER happened before in that church.... one or two people told me there and then pain had gone, or a discomfort disappeared.... so.... let's see what happens for them this week! On in the evening to my Rhino-buddy John Pressdee's (and Yvonne's, of course, but she's not a rhino!) church, in Orpington - another Baptist church, but shaped in a way that is really 'Pressdee-shaped! - it was such a privilege to go there, as, only 16 days before, the whole Pressdee family mourned at the funeral of their lovely 41 year old son in law, Andy: to be 'big' enough to have someone speak on healing when you have just NOT seen someone so close to you healed, is wonderful, and I sensed God would do some good things as a result. Another word of knowledge, this time in the form of pain (it's at that point you hope someone responds to it, as you can get left with the pain yourself!). I got out of my car, and it felt like someone had put both legs on a stretching rack, the muscles in my upper thighs felt at breaking point. So dutifully I shared this: again, no response. Hmmm. Then felt it was possibly hip related, at which point a lady responded, prayed for her, and she spent the rest of my sermon on her back on the floor! During the sermon, I talked about seeing the supernatural replacement of hip joints, at which point she sat up and said 'I need that too!', so, after further prayer, she was moving her hips and legs in ways she hasn't done for some time! God is good!!! And my own leg pain went at that point.... Others testified to their own healings, too, including someone with really bad shoulder pain. I always look forward to hearing the stories at some point into the future!
31 October Back in England again after a really good few days in Bangor, Northern Ireland. Since writing here a couple of days ago, I've spoken the lady with cancer, and the salvation of her friends is very real! It is such a privilege to see God do what John Wimber (the great American healing pioneer, and evangelist) used to call 'the stuff'. I'm so glad that God uses pathetic, wrung out individuals to work through in bringing transformation, by the power of His Holy Spirit, into the lives of other people. The lady with cancer is breathing better, but still needs a lot of prayer. On Wednesday evening, spent time with a lovely pastor that I only knew a little until then, Noel: it was good to get to know Noel (I do remember that his wife Janet cooks good curries!) - I had a real sense Wednesday evening that our meeting was infinitely more significant than a social reunion. Met him in the recording studio of a guy named Jon, whom I first met two years ago. Prayed for him at a meeting, where he was, if I remember correctly, playing guitar and keyboards (brilliantly) - while suffering the most horrific diseases in his body, doing everything from a wheelchair.... his sense of humour, even then, was remarkable (I'm more and more convinced that healing comes through laughter and fun - that's what makes the JOY of the Lord our STRENGTH). Joy isn't in the miseries who so often tell you, long faced, with monotone voices, 'I'm full of the joy of the Lord' - if you haven't met people like that yet, thank God you haven't and pray that you don't!). Jon was then 4 and a half stone in weight (63 pounds for American readers, or 24 kilos for euros!), suffering from, amongst many things, chronic crones disease, premature hair loss, and (from the long list left that I can't remember!) was told that he and his wife would have no more children.... By the way, Jon is in his 30's, been sick for years. Well, he runs around now like a 15 year old, has incredible energy, the doctors say he has no trace of crones left in his body, AND - his hair is growing again!!!!! He also now weighs 8 stones (112 pounds, about 50 kilos) - AND AND AND - he and Dawn have a wonderful new baby..... astonishing!!!! God is outrageous! God, heal every part of Jon's body left to be healed, and grow his hair thick and long..... One of the lovely things I inadvertently missed blogging from Colombia, was a visit to a secondary school. where all 4 of us - Alan, Dave, Clare, and me - were asked to share our testimonies, our walk of faith, and then answer questions, all of this under the banner of the students wanting and needing to hear and speak English! It was a great time, with a very attentive, and then enthusiastic audience, who asked some very good questions. Tomorrow, Sunday, I'm speaking at a church I've not been to for, I reckon, 15 years (is it true preachers speak everywhere twice, once on the way up, and once on the way down - it's good to be back??!!). My long time friends Dave and Pat Bridle have invited me to Brownhill Road Baptist Church, in Catford, S E London: it'll be great to be there again. Then, in the evening, I'm at Green Street Green Baptist, Orpington, Kent, led by my wonderful fellow Rhino friend, John Pressdee and his amazing wife, Yvonne. They really have done wonders at that church, so I'm up for a day of healings and miracles, and - where necessary - salvation! Just a quick update on the USA situation: 7 months since I was last there now, but it looks, just looks, that in the next few weeks the lawyer will be submitting my petition for permanent residency, to become the Director of Foreign Mission for Restoration Christian Centre, Newport News, Viriginia. What that means is that I contniue to do what I'm doing now, in involving that church more and more in missions, still getting to travel just as much as ever, hopefully with a few more of RCC's members in tow! There are still many months to go, humanly (Gunnar, the lawyer, estimates 6-9 months), and potentially many hoops to jump through, and hurdles to negotiate. Your prayers would be appreciated. Due to the protracted nature of the immigration saga, I took a giant faith leap this past week, and have agreed to rent a house in Bangor, Northern Ireland, which will of course become my UK home. I've realised that with the amount I'm in the UK and Europe anyway, it is sensible to have somewhere that can be home AND office. I'd really value your prayers for this, as it is, for me, a big commitment financially for the rent, and practically, too, as it means furnishing the house, and, of course, now paying rent here, and bills and utilities for houses on two sides of the Atlantic. Perhaps I could get some tips from Members of Parliament in the UK on how to run two homes.....!!!! (They own theirs, though....)
26 October Looking back, the trip to Colombia was, once again, fantastic. It is always demanding there, partly due this time to the abnormal temperatures, but also the humidity and the altitude. But so, so worth it! A good number saved, many healed, lives transformed, churches turned upside down.... wonderful! God is so gracious and so faithful every time I go there, and with those who go with me. The trip home seemed to last forever - 10.5 hours non-stop Cali to Madrid: and, though I managed to get four seats to myself across the middle of the plane, and lay down, I STILL couldn't sleep :( . Why is it that, on a short haul flight, say to Belfast, or to Romania, I fall asleep before the wheels have left the ground, and long haul, I hardly even close my eyes? Murphy's law?? The 4 hours in Madrid airport waiting to fly to London seemed interminable as well - thank God for Starbucks! A few days away with the Rhinos was just the prescription following that trip, especially at the beautiful House of the Open Door Community, in the middle of the Cotswolds, England. Seven of us (missing one :( - we miss you Phil!), lots of laughter, some tears, good food, and amazing ministry within the group, is so so important to me. Right now, I'm in Northern Ireland: after the heat of Colombia, the Irish climate doesn't QUITE compare, with a nice wind, cool to say the least, and a good bit of rain! But God's the same here as He is in Colombia, and yesterday, in the morning at Christian Fellowship Church, Holywood, and in the evening at Towerview Free Methodist Church, God turned up and blessed people. Many ministered to in the morning (well past 1p.m. before leaving the hall), and again in the evening - a lady with lung cancer (lungs so bad and so noisy they kept her awake at night) and - I think - 3 secondary cancers, including liver - she was breathing easily after prayer, and three ladies, who'd driven quite a distance to get to the meeting all got saved! Praise the Lord!!! Here in Ireland until Thursday, then heading back for a full day of preaching Sunday in South London. 15 October Well, tomorrow we leave Cali :( - this trip has gone so, so fast, and so many lovely things have happened, 17 days was just not long enough. Heard great reports back from Sunday's visit to the Baptist Church in San Fernando: I guess Alan and I must have prayed for the majority of the congregation of 200+ - I think it was one of the latest finishing services the church has had! Not the preaching, you understand - the praying! The preacher was excellent, I hear... :) For a church that is probably not used to my style, or testimony and preaching like Alan's, there was very real blessing there. It has been great to stay at the Baptist Seminary - a lovely lady who works here, Gloria, has had very real peace the last two weeks over biopsy surgery - she was desperately worried about it, and she had the biopsy Tuesday. We heard today that she is doing great, back home, and thanking God. You'll have read (maybe??!!) further down this blog about Andres David, the 14 month old who got a whole grape stuck in his throat, cutting off not only his own breathing (that was restored) but worse, cutting off the oxygen to his brain. He's been is a completely comatose state for 4 weeks, no movement, nothing.... since praying for him last Friday, he has started moving, he's opened his eyes spontaneously, and there is 'life' in his eyes - God is so, so good..... Last night Dave and Clare spoke at the great church 'Dios Esta Presente' (God is Present here), at the church's request on 'Halloween'.... they did that, but unpacked all sorts of good stuff on being set free from fear, healing, and more, and prayed for many after the meeting. Various hospitals over the past few days, too: prayed for loads of seriously sick children at the 'Club Noel' children's hospital: if history repeats itself there, God will heal all of them, and many parents too.... I'm in faith for that. At Santillana Hospital, prayed for a good number of patients, again many kids, and we know of some who were healed, and for some the progress has begun. Planning to be back here in March, hopefully for a month that time.... And now, packing - aarrgghh! - and the long trek home. Dave & Clare head back to the USA, via Bogota and Washington DC, Alan to Bangor via Miami, London, and Belfast, and me back to London via Madrid (11 hour flight.... ooohhhhh!). Value your prayers for safe travel. 12 October Another great day yesterday. Dave & Clare disappeared off at the crack of dawn to do two services in Casa de Dios church, 7 and 10 am (there are some churches that have their first service at 6am - I know, I've done that a number of times - 6, 8, and 10am!). Great meetings, prayer and prophesy flowing.... it is great to have found out about Carmen, Pastor Norbey's wife, who, a year of so ago was diagnosed possibly with cancer: prayed for her a lot last year, and, whilst she is still unwell, it is now definitely NOT cancer..... ALan & I went to the Baptist Church of San Fernando, in the north of Cali. Our accommodation here in the city this time is, in fact, in the missions house of the Baptist University (Fundacion Universitaria Bautista), and the opportunity came to preach in a church I've not been to in all the 12-13 years I've been coming here because of that link. A good friend told us we'd need shirts and ties (rather than polo shirts) - I'll be honest, my first response was either they have as we are or not at all, but pretty rapidly after that the apostle Paul's response to 'become all things to all men in order that I might win some'..... repentance on my part! So Alan and I went shirt and tie shopping! I own a good number of 'proper' shirts and many ties - it's just another of the frustrating expenses that the immigration issue with the USA has dumped on me, as I can't get at them.... So, dressed up like dog's dinners, and trussed like turkeys, we set off.... once we met the Pastors, Leonel and Consuelo, all the doubts of it being like so many Baptist churches changed! There ended up being great freedom, a wonderful response from the congregation.... Alan (again) spoke very well, and at the end, I asked for people who wanted healing to raise their hands... probably 10% did, in a crowd of 300... then the other 90% proceeded to come forward too! Much pain went - migraines, tumours, carpal tunnel (there's SO much of that here this time), arthritis pain went, and I'm looking forward to hearing what happened to a dear lady named Graciella, in a wheelchair, who looked like she was ready to get out of it and run.... Today's planned day out at the Juan Valdez Parque de Cafe is off... Pastor Walter, who was taking us, has a sick little daughter, so rather than expect him to just leave her, we told him to stay at home with her. So, I guess it might be shopping and a movie.... Tomorrow's a potential early start, and a good day.... with a school at about 8am somewhere in the south of the city (we're pretty much in the middle, and it's a big city!), and then the kids hospital, Club Noel, where I've seen whole wards emptied of terminally sick children healed and go home... (see Dr Dunia's video interview on the testimony page - she confirms it!!)
10 October Wonderful reports back from last weekend in Buenaventura.... the pastors of the church, Abraham and Xiomar Ramirez, have said that it was a major turning point in the life of the church, that it has taken the church to a whole new level of faith, expectation, and power... that means so much to the Kingdom, so thank you, Father, for your blessing there, and please maintain and then increase the growth, passion, and power.... Tuesday night's meeting at the foundation.... you can find pictures from that meeting, if you've signed into Facebook (along with, it seems, about half the world!) at this link: http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=30407679&id=1289037028 (you might have to cut and paste this). Again, feedback has been marvellous... people healed, saved, and blessed. This visit is even more latino than ever (!) in that we're getting our meeting details often on the afternoon of the evening we're preaching... you just roll with it here, and, even trhough I like to know 'up front' where we're going, it's actually quite easy to remain phlegmatic and chilled about it.... having said that, we DO have some of the next few days schedule now, so that's updated on the 'diary' tab. Wednesday, Dave and Clare went to our dear friend's Walter & Lupe Torres' church.... a lovely meeting, with, as usual D&C praying for everyone and prophesying over all or most! Alan & I were at 'Casa de Dios', 'House of God' church. It is pastored by my long time friends Norbey & Carmen Avias. I'm always amazed at the turnout for midweek meetings outside of countries in the western world: a good number, Alan spoke brilliantly. It's fantastic to see how God is taking him to new levels in every meeting, and giving him revelation..... he's gone from telling the wonderful story of his wife, Barbara's miraculous healing - he still tells it (and she has the most famous ex-osteo arthritic knees in the Americas!) to preaching what God is giving him, and a real liberty to preach with revelation. When I think back 22 months to a Sunday morning in Bangor when I met Alan & Barbara, and Alan wouldn't have been 100% convinced then that God could do what was prayed for, though I think he knew deep down that God was the only hope for healing Barbaba's knees....(they were! - rapidly) but not before God set him on fire, with all I could describe as a 'Pentecost' experience... he's still on fire now..... When it came time to preach at Norbey's church on Wednesday night, I'd got a great 'platform' prepared for me by Alan, and I went for it.... God gave me many prophetic words for people, and then we prayed for a good number at the end... healing testimonies will come, but, more importantly, lives were changed by the world and the power of God..... It's still unusually high temperatures here - 35-38C daytime (98-104F Americans!), so it was lovely Thursday evening to preach in the garden of the home of Diego and Pilar Reyes. They are SUCH dear friends, planting a church in the heart of their community, Jamundi (pronounced Ham-und-ee).... 25 people, 60% of the not yet Christians, sitting in the (relative) cool of their verandah on a warm summer evening (jealous yet??!!). We all went, Alan again spoke very well, I preached, and asked Dave to do the evangelistic appeal. 13 people gave their lives to the Lord. Thank you, Father! We then prayed for everyone: prophecy and healing were sown into lives. At that meeting was a lovely man I prayed for 2 years back - Umberto, and his wife Helena. Their grandson, 14 months old, is in a coma having swallowed a grape 5 weeks which stuck in his throat, cutting off his breathing, which in turn cut off the oxyegen to his brain. Medically there is nothing that can be done for him: but we went to their home to pray for him, and a real peace from God fell: we left, believing that the miracle for Andres David would happen. It was great to see Umberto again, as, 2 years ago, he could hardly walk, with chronic hip problems, walking with sticks (canes, for Americans!). My prayer for Umberto, in Spanish, has become apocryphal... I was well into the Spanish prayer for a miracle when I totally forgot the word for bones... asked Diego (under my breath)... 'huesos'... off praying again, asking for 'nuevos' bones.... slight problem in Spanish is that huesos is similar to 'heuvos' (eggs), and nuevos is similar too... so ended up commanding 'nuevos heuvos' to Umberto.... new eggs - I won't trouble you with what that translates to in real terms in Spanish, but it refers to an altogether different part of the anatomy! You can work it out! Lots of laughter.... then 'nuevos huesos'... Umberto now walks perfectly, no sticks: he walked up six flights of stairs to pray for his grandson, better than any of us did! Thank you Jesus! Last night, back at a wonderful church in Agua Blanca (that's White Water' by the way.... there's little other than stagnant toxic water evident in the streets!) at the church Hefzi-bah, pastored by an amazing man, Fernando, in a wheelchair 23 years. I've know Fernando a while, and his church is wonderfully liberated and free. Last night, Dave did some crazy stuff with a load of the children there, Alan spoke and shared Barbara's story better than ever (you have to be so, so proud of him Barbara!). Dave sang a lovely song of his about God's grace, based on Psalm 51... so again, a great platform to preach from. When the ministry time came, we prayed for everyone (probably over 200) to receive the crazy Spirit of God (( base that on 2 Corinthians 5:13!! - 'If I'm out of my mind, it's for the sake of Christ...) - and then, for healing, involved all the kids in praying for the sick. Many healing manifestations began - feeling muscle growing on wasted limbs, carpal tunnel being healed, pain of all sorts leaving bodies.... and then prayed for Pastor Fernando... all of us believe he'll be out of his wheelchair before long (as a policeman 23 years ago, he was shot in the back and it destroyed his medula (I have no idea what that is, but thankfully God does!). Busy day tomorrow with a number of meetings.... and even more blessing to come.... fortunately Dave & Clare drew the short straw, with a 7am meeting, and another at 10am! They are at Casa de Dios, Norbey & Carmen's church - I'm with Alan at a Baptist church in the city somewhere, which has required buying a tie (it's hot enough here without being trussed up!). 6 October A great weekend in searing heat in Buenaventura. Hosted by the church Allianza Cristiana (Christian Alliance - quite easily translatable really) and the pastors Abraham & Xiomar Ramirez, there were quite a number of meetings, and some wonderful healings... Buenaventure IS a tough city, but God is at work there, amidst the poverty and violence of a rugged port city. The temperature was incredibly draining, outside very high 30's (100+F), in the church touching mid 40's (115+F) and so, so humid. My clothes changed colour when I preached, including the knees of my trousers! Perhaps that's too much information... :) Maria was healed of spondylitis.... Leidy of serious lung problems.... Diomedes was healed of long time spine issues.... Manuela of pain in the pancreas and spleen... Judith of throat and ear pain.... more to come! Tonight, Tuesday, Dave & Clare were at a church I've been to before, pastored by a lovely man, Farid. It is a cell church, about 100 there, and they prayed for and prophesied over everyone. Alan and I were at the wonderful kids foundation, Fundacion el Abrigo, in Agua Blanca. Every Tuesday they hold cell meetings and once a month a healing meeting. That was tonight. It was the biggest meeting they've had since it began, 25% more than the normal number, and there were some instant healings. Tatiana, severe stomach pain for a year - healed: Theresa, joint, bone and tissue pain in her left arm and right leg - healed: Genni healed of severe arm pain.... more to come! It was a shock to learn of another big immigration issue, though reassuring in a bizarre obtuse sort of way! Benny Hinn was refused entry to England last week, so it's quite good to know I'm in somewhat exalted company! If you want to know more, you can read about it a www.bennyhinn.org
2 October Arrived here in Cali, Colombia, on Wednesday night late... long, long day of travelling, made all the longer (and much more expensive!) due to the fact that I can't even transit the United states whilst visagate rolls on! I had to fly through Madrid, then into Bogota, 3 flights, 5 airports, 24 hours... having left England with the temperature at around 14C (that's about 56F for American friends), it was 26C (80F) at past midnight, and getting hotter! Day temperatures are soaring.... Quietish day to recover yesterday, and today thrown right into busyness! Driving to Buenaventura for a very busy weekend of meetings - but that IS the city where the little boy came back to life last year, and hundreds were saved and healed there in March. It would be amazing to see the same again: so Dave & Clare Cleave and I would value your prayers for a miraculous intervention. Alan Gouck arrives from Northern Ireland on Sunday night, but it is strange here without him and John Crowder, from Virginia, who is still recovering from his quadruple heart bypass surgery. Buenaventura is Colombia's main port: it is tough, dirty, rough city - that Jesus loves... it is far, far hotter there than it is here, so we'd value your prayers for that part of this hectic weekend, too - it's been 45C (118F) and 100% humidity the last few days there, so....preaching is like taking your own in-built shower! The next 15 days seem to be fully packed, and, please God, the blog will be full of wondrous stories.... As for Visagate (!), Gunnar, my lawyer, is hoping to get all the info he needs from John and the church in Hampton within the next 48 hours, and my application for permanent residency should go in next week. It could take a few months, it could take a few years.... many have been praying that God will move mountains, so now would be a great time for that! 19 September My apologies for the long delay here again... I've not been doing nothing (in fact, I've been quite busy!) but I just want to report things clearly, especially where this absurd visa situation is concerned! Had a really good morning at Pevensey Bay Baptist Church mid August: first time there, but it was great to see Terry Fitzsimons, whom I knew from my old Youth for Christ days (they ended 1983) when he was a tremendous evangelist to the travelling community. Prayed for a lot of people after the meeting, and, as usual, I hope and pray to hear good reports from there one day soon! It was good to be in Ireland, where I ended up staying for 2 weeks, since then (and anyone who knows me will know how wildly funny this is!) I've been staying in West Hoathly, West Sussex, LOOKING AFTER 3 CHICKENS!! I'm house-sitting for friends who are on holiday in the USA, and where they live is quite rural, hence the chickens... I'm not the world's most natural 'good life' person, but the eggs do taste good, and the birds are quite sweet.... my biggest responsibility is to get them up in the morning, and then put them to bed! Nick & Sarah's house is quite rural, and built on quite a steep slope: of course, the chickens are at the bottom of the slope, and by the time I get back to the house, I'm panting! Two lovely Sunday preaching engagements this month, at two unrelated Kings Churches, in Addlestone, Surrey, and Wellington, Somerset... prayed for a good number of people at both, and in Wellington is was great to receive a picture, drawn for me, by Joe Jenks... prayed for his 3 year old brother, Sam, last time I was there, who had never spoken: that same Sunday night he spoke, and Joe drew me a picture saying 'Thank you for Sam's speech', to Paul from Joe. It's impossible to get something like that and not be in awe of what God can do.... and not be brought to tears! Same meeting, Tricia, who I prayed for last year - 15 years off work, on many benefits with major back problems: she came and told me - walked into doctor, signer herself off, same with social services, got a job...healed.... wonderful!!! Thank you Lord... My visa situation is that now, I'm submitting a permanent residency application through Gunna, the lawyer: the church in Virginia want to appoint me as Foreign Missions Director. Gunnar's working on it now, and is hopeful of getting the application in forst week in October. There's a lot of water still to flow under the bridge, and it might be anything from 6 months to 2 years before I might be able to go back. 5 months since I was last there.... seems an eternity already, so possibly 2 more years isn't a great blessing! But God is good, I asked him to give me peace to be able walk through the months ahead, as well as hit the accelerator where ministry is concerned, rather than just buckle and hide! Thankfully he seems to be doing that....
24 August Thank you to everyone who has written to me, with words of encouragement, and blessing... thank you for praying, if you did, for the Embassy visit last week. It seems that the B1 US visa is not the one I need, so a fresh approach is now in process for a religious workers visa (R1) or permanent residency. I'm really none too sure what all the letters mean (B1, B2, R1, R2... we live in a world of letters and numbers!). What I do know is that God is doing something in all of this immigration stuff, and I want to come out of the end of the process having understood what He's trying to achieve! I've been over in Ireland for a few days now (cool and wet, compared to the sauna of the Oval in Surrey for the triumphant Ashes victory (yeaaahh!!!) over Australia. If ever I need proof that I'm still English, it's when football and cricket are being played! I plan to stay over here for another few days, while I take stock of the visa situation, and work on the alternatives!
14 August Well, I now have the date for my interview concerning the visa to the USA... it's this coming Thursday, 20th, at 1045 am.... I asked the lawyer, Gunnar, to arrange it in Belfast, if possible, as the US Embassy in Grosvenor Square, London, can sometimes be hectically busy, and more than a little intimidating. I'm at the Belfast Consulate, which is great. There are loads of 'requirements' which I'm now working through, just to ensure that the interview takes place. Seems like you only have to breathe out of turn to get the appointment cancelled and the visa fee lost! I'd value your prayers, as it seems that the US Embassy feel they have the right both to hold the passport of visa applicants, and deny the applicant permission to leave UK for any purpose whilst the application is 'in process'.... hmmm. I'm due to be in Romania and Colombia within the next 6 weeks, so some prayer into that bizarre and absurd 'rule' would be appreciated! Right now, I've just finished being involved at the Detling Bible Week, in Maidstone, Kent: a wonderful week of ministry, teaching, connections, and God's blessing.... it really is such a privilege when you hear of people's lives being changed forever by God's power, and that somewhere in that you've had some involvement... A lovely lady named Anne came up to me last Sunday, after I'd spoken in the Communion Service (which, thankfully, went ahead as a 'normal' communion service, despite the 'warnings' from Health and Safety - God bless 'em! - about swine flu. A huge percentage weren't in faith to catch it!! I asked anne what I could pray for for healing: nothing, she'd come to say thank you - for praying last year. Then, she'd suffered from chronic depression for over 30 years, multiple failed suicide attempts, and every morning woke with a 'flicker' behind her eyelids when the depression kicked in before she'd opened them, and the thought 'Oh, I've got another day to live'.... Since the same meeting at Detling last year, she's not had a moment of depression, no flickers... and a transformed life. My dear friend Timothy Bigden, whose testimony is on the testimonies page, told his story to the conference of total healing from 55 years of chronic migraines, and hasn't had one since... Two years ago, prayed for a (then) 4 month old, Jude Hudson, just declared profoundly deaf by doctors: Jude hears now... God is so, so good! A good number of people healed this year, too.... great connections with a number of people - including an amazing guy, Simon Guillebaud: a wonderful French couple, Francis & Diane Dognon: Catherine Brown, a prophet from near Ayr (my Scottish 'home'!): renewed friendship with my long time friends Geoff & Annie Lawton - I worked alongside Geoff for some years in Youth for Christ in the late 70's and early 80's, and I guess it's at least 20 years since our paths last crossed! 4 August My apologies for the big gap in writing here, but a few weeks back I decided that I'd do what those who care for me, and those to whom I'm accountable (they care for me immensely!) advised me to do: take a break.... The past 3 months have been very stressed, and so I 'disappeared' for 3 weeks, to get up late, watch films, see a few friends. It became possible for me to stay in a couple of places where I could be on my own, which, with the lifestyle I lead, is very, very rare. The more I began to unwind, the more tired I became, and I spent a lot of time thinking, praying, sleeping, reading, and (this will astonish those who REALLY know me!!) I hardly looked at my computer! It was most certainly what I needed, particularly with the ongoing 'visagate' situation: there were so many questions to answer for the lawyer, US immigration forms to fill in, and some of the questions took hours! On one of the official immigration forms, there was a box 2.5 inches (about 7cms) by 3/4 inch (1.75 cms), with the instruction: 'List all the countries you have been to in the past 10 years, with dates'................!!!!!!!! It took 16 sides of A4 paper to do that (that's about 22 pages of US letter paper, for my American friends!). As my diaries/agendas are in the house in the USA, I had to do it from passport stamps - 3 passports, the current one, and two old ones. Passport stamps, for those who are used to them, are often illegible: over inked, under inked, smudged, one over another.... it took me about 20 hours just to decipher them, and then longer to put them in date sequence, and I particularly wanted to get it right so that I could demonstrate where USA stamps were transit stamps to other countries. Maybe now I have that information, perhaps I'll post the finished article here, as (depending on your mindset!) it is either very impressive or completely crazy! Of course, it was made more difficult, as there are no stamps in passports within the European Union countries, so I had to compile those from past web pages, memory, and other people's memories and agendas! Hopefully, all the documentation and information that the lawyer, a great guy in Pennsylvania, Gunnar Armstrong, needs, is now with him, and it's possible that in the next few days the visa application will go in, and the appointment for my interview will be made. So, I now feel refreshed, at least: all I did in July was spend a very happy and blessed day speaking at St Luke's Church, in Maidstone, on my return from a good trip to Sweden. It was great being back in Maidstone, even though my dear friend Eric, the Vicar, was on holiday. This coming weekend, I head back to Maidstone, for the Detling Bible Week, where I'm speaking at the Communion service on Sunday afternoon (those with Detling memories will recall the '4-5 hour line' of people wanting prayer for healing a few years back. Much as I'm happy to do that again, it is somewhat of a relief that there is a fantastic ministry team at Detling headed up brilliantly by Pat, Eric's wife, and so the prayer burden is well shared! I'm also sharing seminars with my great friend Arnold Muwonge, from Uganda. The seminars are called 'Pray the world', which sounds pretty good from my point of view! Following Detling, I should have been going back to the USA for a few days: instead, I'm going to Eastbourne, where I had such a great tome back in May. I'm preaching in Pevensey Bay and probably a couple of other places in Eastbourne, over the weekend 14-16 August, and then - if it's confirmed - going to Uganda on 22nd, for 10 days. A couple of preaching dates in England, followed by a short visit to Romania, will precede - hopefully - a return to the USA for a few days r&r before heading for Colombia for 3 weeks at the end of September. 3 July I've wanted to wait before writing here about the visa situation, so that there is something positive to report: I saw the London immigration lawyer last week. Also through a long time connection - a student on a YWAM school in England maybe 13 years ago - I was put in touch with an immigration attorney in the USA who is very familiar with YWAM and offers low cost immigration services to missionaries. He has spent many phone hours - at no charge - going over the circumstances of my situation. He knows that being a US resident has never been on my radar screen and feels quite hopeful about the outcome once the true facts are documented and presented. 2 July Long time, no blog! It's been an interesting month - lots of great things happening, some terrific meetings, a lot of good feedback and stories from places visited... plus, of course, the ongoing 'visagate' issue! Also some devastatingly tough things have happened, which, with everything else going on, have made it a steep 'learning curve' month. As it is NOT possible for God NOT to answer prayer, and as it is NOT possible for Scripture NOT to be true, then - all things work together for good, and what the enemy means for harm, God means for good. A few days in Ireland to gather my thoughts, and try to work out what needed to be done in order to get back to the USA. Received some lovely testimonies from people via email - I've posted a couple for now on the 'testimonies' page. 2 weeks ago, it was a delight to go back to the King's Church, Epsom (though it might be Ewell!) after many, many years' gap. Doug & Chris Croucher, who lead the church, are long-time friends (we worked out it was probably 21 years!). Two really great services, the presence of God was there: prayed for loads of people afterwards, a lot wanting impartation, which is very thrilling! A great 48 hours away with my 'Rhinos' accountability group: it is always such a huge blessing to be with them, and for me, this time, as it has been a particularly 'trying' time. Thanks, guys, for your support, your love, your insight, wisdom, blessing, and affirmation. The past week, I've been in Sweden, sharing ministry with Heidi Plympton. It has been a great week, beginning with the first Swedish wedding I've attended... it was outdoors, in a lovely park in the centre of Gothenburg. It was a boiling hot day (unusually so for Sweden, we were told) - and it's stayed that way ever since - the wedding of friends Henke & Jacki was beautiful, and a great evangelistic opportunity with lots of people passing by listening. It is always a joy to be in Gothenburg with Ulf and Else-Marie: an even greater joy to be involved in their wonderful church, 'The House'. Sunday's meeting was brilliant, Heidi prophesying out of her boots, me imparting stuff to people, and numerous prayers for healings... their were some, and testimonies were given at the end. Then something a little different - we had to get a ferry across to an Island, wherre there was the first ever healing/miracle/prophesy meeting in a cafe in an idyllic location, a place named Foto (the last 'o' is pronounced more like 'er')... probably some 120 people filled the place, many not-yet-Christians - and dozens responded to come forward for ministry. As always, stories tend to come slowly... Monday night in Boras was great, speaking at a prayer group of probably 100, in the Pentecostal Church. Tommy in Boras healed of pneumonia and a lump blocking his throat; Mattias healed of long-term crippling fibro-myalgia; Tim healed of decades of torturous migraines; 4 yr old Sam speaking after 3 years of silence; Marina healed of muscles that constantly tear in her calves..... God is good! The tragedies.... please pray for the Johnston family in Ireland: they lost their lovely daughter Jenny, 5, who who beat death almost 2 years ago only to go home to be with Jesus after a series of chest infections caused by the pressure of the tumour on her breathing.. Words are nothing at a time like this: I know how I feel, as I've come to really love the Johnstons, and especially Jenny: how they must feel today is beyond anything I know. And my lovely friend, also in Bangor, Paddy: suffered for some time with motor-neurone disease, also succumbing to an infection, and going to be with the Lord.... Joanne, his lovely wife, must be devastated, Paddy was on in his mid-forties, and, from having been there a few weeks ago, it would seem an infection was what ended Paddy's life... I'll miss both Jenny and Paddy a great deal, and I'm so sad that I couldn't re-arrange flights from here in Sweden to get back for either funeral.... Visa information update to follow!
2 June PRAYER & MAYBE HELP NEEDED….! Right now I’m in the middle of an extraordinary situation, and I’d value your prayers. Like I've said in virtually every blog, I’ve seen God do some amazing wonders over the past few months, in Colombia, Sweden, Finland, Ireland, and, wonderfully, England! Some amazing healings and miracles…. Which seems to be bringing retaliation from the enemy that is intensifying. That’s good news, as it means he doesn’t like what I’m doing…. Last Tuesday, I flew to the USA for a couple of weeks of much needed rest, after a demanding few months. I never (usually!) have any problem getting into the USA, but last week, I encountered the enemy disguised as an immigration officer! (Angels come in disguise and take us unawares, so doubtless the enemy gives it a go, too). As an Englishman, domiciled in the United Kingdom, and on a UK passport, it should be so easy to get into the country with whom we have the 'special relationship'!!! Seems not so.... My brother in law is calling it 'Visagate' which I think may well stick.....!!!!!! Quite irrationally, and without questioning me, in a few minutes, the rather unpleasant immigration gentleman (??!!) - decided that I was illegally earning a salary and soliciting business there (which of course, I’m not!): for that reason he refused me permission to enter the country. Many Americans have written to me expressing their distaste and concern for their immigration service, it being, as the arrivals hall posters say, 'the face of our nation')... 5 hours later, I was on a plane back to the UK. No access to the house, my clothes, anything: and with the real possibility that I might not get to see my daughter, Katy, Joshua, and my two lovely grandsons again for a very long time… If I had earned, or actively 'touted' for support and even preaching engagements, I'd have held my hands up and said 'Fine'... but I never have, which makes so unbelieveable. American immigration is ‘interesting’, and at times, it seems, deeply complex (I’m sure Brit immigration is the same, it’s just that as a Brit I never have to encounter it….). The immigration officer concerned made his decision in minutes, without reference or questions to me: I tried to tell him that I have never earned in the States, at which point, in front of a good number of other people, he became very abusive, and slanderous. It’s incredibly disorientating and frustrating to be barred from access to your possessions and what you believe are your rights…. I think I'm having to learn some new lessons in letting go of what I THINK are my rights. As I thought about my own frustration, though, it was like God said to me... 'How about persecuted Christians who are parted from their homes and families for 20 years?' - I thank God that my situation is not even comparable to that... Now, I have to begin the process of accumulating every piece of information that I can (and relying on others to do what I now can’t do the American end) to prove that I don’t earn there, and, looking at the American Embassy information on the internet, it seems it will be at least 5-6 months before I can get to the house for R&R, if everything goes 101% well (unless God intervenes with a miracle). I had to ‘commission’ yesterday an American Lawyer, an immigration and visa specialist, operating from Mayfair, London (help!!!!! – if you’re reading this outside of Britain, it might help you to know that Mayfair is probably the most expensive real estate area in the world) to work on my case. I see him 3 weeks today, that’s the earliest appointment I can get, just for the initial consultation,11am on 23rd June. It’s going to cost a great deal of money, so I’d really value your prayers, but I have no other option open to me. At least I’ve managed to get this brought closer from the time I was quoted last week, viz. sometime after 6th July. For that alone I’m grateful. This company have been dealing with issues like mine for 31 years in London, and are ‘on the doorstep’ of the US Embassy in Grosvenor Square, London. To prosper for 31 years in Mayfair must mean that they are pretty good! It will run well into 4 figures (pounds!). And because the enemy thinks he can win…., I know that, but I decided at the weekend that this didn’t take God by surprise, even though it devastated me for some days…. And that if Satan thinks he can win, by keeping me from much need rest, then I’m going to do him as much damage as I can in the weeks/months that this will take, and inflict as much devastation on him as I, with God’s help, can manage…. So, I‘d really value your prayers. I'm going to Northern Ireland tomorrow, where I have a place to live, and it’s somewhere where I can, for a while at least, rest and relax after the travelling and now this past week of immense stress! If you need my England address for any reason, it is 13 Meadow Way, Addlestone, Surrey KT15 1UF. Thank you for your continual love and support for me. I can’t tell you how much I value it. May God bless you outrageously and abundantly more than you would ever dare ask or imagine.
1 June I've known Gerry Page, as I said below, for 32 years (that's the sort of thing I used to hear my grandparents and parents say, thinking 'how old they are!!'). For 21 years, his lovely wife Merial has be incapacitated - let them tell you why, and wha's happened since we had a great time praying together!
"There were times in the 1st seven years when she (Merial) couldn't walk across the room but that hasn't been the case recently though she still couldn't walk around a supermarket or more than 50 - 70 yards without great arthritic pain in her hip and knee joints that would last for days. She has osteoporosis as a result of the years she spent mostly bed bound. Walking with very painful joints for many years had caused problems with her back going out of line but as far as we know there was no scoliosis, though she does have three vertabrae at the top of the spine which are out of position. More recently the arthitis has spread to her hands, and she has had problems with pain in her shoulder (which we forgot to tell you had been healed!) We are just waiting on the completion of healing in her hands and hip and knee joints and neck but God is definitely doing something and we continue to walk on in it. Also before you prayed she was constantly taking pain killers to survive, but since then, although she is far from pain free she is managing without them which is totally amazing.
"Merial has noticed a significant difference since you prayed. We didn't see totally healing with in the 21 hours as hoped but we have seen and she has felt some great changes. It seems like her spine has been straightened out, giving her a new posture. Something has changed in how she feels although she finds it difficult to explain what but knows something is happening. Today we have been to London with the children for the first time to visit the Science Museum and some of the famous sights, and Merial managed more walking than she has done in over 20 years. Although she had to use her wheelchair for a good part of the day she was able to get out and walk for fairly long periods of time and this evening is not suffering in the way we would expect. Tomorrow we are going for a walk on the downs as that is what she asked God for! Watch this space... ". Work in progress... a wonderful story is unfolding. Don't give up if you don't receive the instant miracle... some miracles come slowly.... Sooo.... now I don't want to detract from Merial's story.... so I'll save my crisis for tomorrow! 30 May Lots of lovely testimonies from last weekend in Eastbourne - doubly special for me as it's really the place where I grew up - I was born in Stratford, London, but my mum and dad moved to the Eastbourne area when I was 5. I think I might even have been quite sweet then.... and two from Williamsburg, in the USA.... A great day with Old Town Community Church, in the morning at their 'usual' venue, and then - unusually but wonderfully for a church - in the Drive pub. I've always been convinced that's the sort of place Jesus would be in the 21st century, going to the people rather than expecting the people to come to him - like church historically. And Jesus, as far as I can see, never healed anyone in the synagogue or the temple - so, to have the chance of sharing testimonies of the mighty things Jesus is doing to a packed pub (I'm not great at estimating numbers, but I'd say conservatively there were 150 there) in between songs by the excellent Gospel Choir led by my long time (ouch - 32 years!) friend, Gerry Page, was wonderful. In the morning, a lovely guy, Hayden, was healed of asthma - he felt it happen, a lovely young la, Chelsea, was healed of bad shoulder pain - both testified in the pub, the best testimonies ever are from people just healed as no one can say 'You're making it up', which lots of people do. Robert was instantly healed of stomach problems and other issues; Ted was able to walk from Old Town to the town centre Monday (you'll know that's no mean distance if you know Eastbourne) 'for the first time in a long time'. In the evening, I reckon I prayed for 60 people or more, a high percentage of them not yet Christians... at least one person got saved, and some were healed... wonderful! Gerry's wife Merial is a wonderful 'work in progress' healing - I want to ask them if I can tell the story before I write it here... Stories from a few weeks ago, in Williamsburg, Virginia - I'll paste my dear friend Ian Roberts' report here, and on the testimony page.... I'll just tell you the backgrounds. Deborah had a massive undiagnosable blood problem (non diagnosis can often be far more frightening than a serious diagnosis). Her platelet count was down way below danger levels (if I recall, 15000). Lisa was a victim of multiple sclerosis and acute depression. Both were on SERIOUS medication.... Here's what Ian wrote to me: I had 2 phone calls today - the first from Deborah Thompson who had just returned from the Doctor - her platelet count has jumped thro the roof to 160,000!!! She is ecstatic and giving praise and thanks and testimony......we continue to believe for complete deliverancec from diabetes and for her eyes to return to healthy 20/20 vision... God is good, huh???!!!! Tomorrow, I'll share a current crisis that I'd value your support and prayers for, but I want you to have time to rejoice in what God has done, and then apply it to what I need God to do!!!!
22 May A few days of not being able to get online again....my apologies! I'm trying to connect via a mobile internet 'dongle' in an area where there is very little phone signal.... which makes the internet a liiiiiitttle slow.....! So this blog might be brief! A great weekend last ...er...weekend (!) at Loose Baptist Church, Maidstone. I've known Mark and Anne, the pastors, for a few years, and, as Anne was wonderfully healed from a particularly vicious 18 months of M.E. (fibro myalgia if you're in the USA!), they have a great belief in healing. There have been some testimonies but I want to wait until they are confirmed before writing about them... and I'm sure there will be more. At least 3 people gave their lives to the Lord Sunday morning, which is the greatest miracle of all. This weekend I'm in Eastbourne, with a meeting at Old Town Community Church: if Eastbourne's the same as when I lived there (about 120 years ago...!), it is not the upper class end of the town! I'm looking forward to it - and also the evening 'do' at the Drive Pub, when long-time friend Gerry Page is taking his choir and band to be the live music for the evening, with me telling 'God stories' between songs.... please come along if you can! It's in Victoria Drive, 7.30pm.... should be a great evening. Gerry told me today they've leafleted about 1,600 houses.... could be a long night of praying for people - good job there's plenty of liquid there to keep me going (water, of course....) 12 May If ever you have the privilege of being 'stranded' ('delayed is the word airlines keep feeding you with - 'another 40 minutes' when they know full well it's going to be hours - or cancelled!), then I hope for your sake it is never in Newark, New Jersey, or Washington Dulles airports! I arrived dutifully at Dulles airport at 1130 am on Thursday 3 hours before my international 'check in' though the initial flight was only domestic to New York... at 7pm the plane was still on the ground... I really think that Washington' main airport should knock the 'es' off of the end of the name, as Dull suits it much much better! Thankfully, Continental airlines realised, by 5pm, that I wasn't going to make ANY connection to London that night in Newark, so they booked me on to the direct flight with Virgin Atlantic... a long, long day like that was not what I needed though, and I fell asleep on the plane 30 minutes before we landed in London :( ..... joy oh joy! Friday was a 'spaced out' day as a result! Early start Saturday (in the 'car boot sale' queue at 615am).... 's funny, car boot sales go better when the day is cold and the sky overcast! Saturday was warm and sunny - seems people head out for day rather than crowd in the buy other people's 'treasures'! It was so so... :( But... Sunday morning at City Church in Plymouth was great, so good to have Heidi there too, and prayed for a lot of people between us at the end of the meeting... faith is rising in that church for the total healing of Jules, the pastor, such a wonderful guy, who has had MS for countless years.... soon, Lord.... no, now, please! Sunday evening with a small group of folk in my friends David & Sian Fenton-Jones' home in the delighful little village of South Milton, in Devon... a lady there, Monica, told me of the healing of her ankle last summer when I preached in Kingsbridge - she'd had a serious bone spur which went.... Satan's moved the infirmity down now, to the fusing of the bones in her toes and feet... so he's gradually being driven out... really sensed Monica would be healed and pain free within days. Anna Marie, suffering from ....well, you name, she's likely to have had it! ....a real sense of the presence of God on her as he began to free her from the illnesses, and more importantly, the side effects of the steroids which have been so vicious in her body. Pete came suffering from a severe pain in his shoulder and neck, bones crumbling, when he just 'happened' to say God had done a miracle in him many many years ago. I asked him to tell everyone, having felt God say to me that he'd be healed as he spoke out his own testimony of God's miraculous power all those years back.... as he came to the end of God's story in his life, he just laughed and said all the pain in his shoulder and neck had gone! TESTIMONY IS POWERFUL!!!!!! Two lovely 'in process' healing testimonies from my dear friends Maria and Bjorn Isacsson in Boras, Sweden.... I've posted them on the testimonies page. Gid is so, so good.... 5 May Thankfully my body seems to be coming out of its 'hibernation' of the past 10 days! Not quite so tired today... praying for a real refreshing as Thursday and my next journey gets closer and closer. I was re-reading today a prophecy my friend Heidi had for 'The House' in Gothenburg.... in it, she used a little phrase that jumped out at me even more than it did when she delivered the word (by phone, if you remember!) at the beginning of April... that God is 'setting up a display of ferocious righteousness' that will tear down religious spirits.... and that (and bear in mind this was 4-5 weeks ago) given his church the 'tools' to heal the wave of 'new sicknesses that are emerging in the earth'.... with the subsequent advent of swine fever, and the fear that has gripped the nations across the world, this is really reassuring (and very cool!). The Mental Health Foundation produced result of a recent survey (13 April 2009) - stating that 77% of British People find the world more frightening in 2009 than in 1999; people are in more fear of crime in general, knife crime, terrorism, MRSA... you name it, people are afraid of it. Young people are more afraid than older people, though older folk are 'not coping'.... along with the financial crisis, WHAT AN OPPORTUNITY this is for the church.... to BE church, and not DO church, and to start being what the world needs instead of what religion wants.... 'm excited... by all that's going on... 3 May Well, the more I've forced myself to relax since I've been home, the more tired I've got! I think my body is trying to tell me something.... no more 5 week trips! I'm just trying to do what my body wants to do, so I've really chilled out as best I know how, these past few days, and I'm praying that the 'getting more tired' syndrome will reverse in time for me to head back to England on Thursday! Yet another overnight flight, yet another Continental Airlines connection in the delightful (not!) Newark Airport... straight into a crack of dawn car boot sale (like a yard or garage sale, American friends where about 1000 people with cars and 10,000 greedy grabbers converge on one place to sell stuff!) as I need the cash... then drive to Plymouth, where, on Sunday morning I'm with my lovely friends at City Church.... The great joy for me (on a par with the joy of being with them!) is that Heidi will be there too, our first outing together since July 2007. And man, she's on fire....!!! Light the blue touchpaper and stand well clear.... Those of you who know me well will know that my dad died 45 years ago... today would have been his 85th birthday, and Vivien and Derek, my sister and brother in law, are sending me pictures that they are scanning from those fiddly little tranparencies that we used to think so marvellous... as I've looked at them, it has reminded of what I lost as a 12 year old, but reminded me of the legacy dad left, not financial (far from it, we were never a well-off family), but put so wonderfully at dad's funeral by our then pastor, George Cumming - culled from the story of Stephen in Acts: 'He was man filled with Holy Spirit and faith'. If I inherit nothing more in my life, that's an inheritance I hope that one day might be my story, maybe my legacy. I'm so grateful for my dad, and look forward to seeing him again one day (though I hope, not soon!). 29 April The testimony of Jesus is the Spirit of Prophecy.... so wrote the Apostle John, in Revelation 19:10. What does that mean in reality? When we talk about what Jesus DID 2,000 years ago, it builds faith.. and the impact of the 'story' carries a prophetic application that we can claim for our own lives. Nothing has changed, 2000 years on, as we are called and commissioned by Jesus 'to do what I have done, and great things than I have done because I'm going to the Father'. So, the testimony of Jesus TODAY, what He is DOING today, becomes a mighty sword in the believer's hand... for me, I apply this to healing and miracles. Jesus left behind him an awesome inheritance for us, you don't need me to tell you that: teaching, wisdom, authority, power, love inexplicable, healing, miracles. that 'special gift of faith' that means that we can know that we know that we know what God is going to do through His Son and the awesome power of the Holy Spirit. 'The people of Israel knew God's acts. but Moses knew His ways....'. The enemy HATES the verse about testimony (along with several thousand other verses!!!) because he knows that when we tell of what Jesus is doing, others get healed, receive miracles, get saved... sadly, there are people in churches who want to deny that God does this 'stuff', perhaps because it challenges them where their own theology of healing falls down (such as 'God doesn't do it today', 'It stopped at the end of the apostolic age'), or maybe through sheer unbelief or even jealousy.... There are a number of reasons why I haven't blogged anything for nearly 3 weeks: during the last few weeks there has been a situation where a lady received a real measure of healing and blessing (as compared to 'being healed') from a 30 year-long crippling disease. Real change came over her emotionally, and physically: some motor function returned, and I made a point of engaging the translator not only in translating my words, but to see the change in her face and her body, to a point where it was translated for me, from her, 'My husband will never believe this after 30 years!'. There's no way I could have known she said that as I don't speak the language! I did in fact put the story in the blog at the time: but someone, unknown to me, though known to God, challenged what had been written, through a pastor who should have known better than try to save his own face and succumb to the will of the enemy by asking me to remove it. You'll never seek God's face if you're trying to save your own.... The translator, more than well known to the pastor concerned, astonishingly denied what he had seen to save the pastor's face. Denying the power and work of the Holy Spirit is not the unforgivable sin, but I suspect in God's agenda runs it quite close... And we wonder why revival doesn't happen??? I never want to write ANYTHING that isn't provable, irrefutable: I am unable to confirm what happened because I'm no longer in the country, and have no way of contacting the lady in question. So, I've waited a while to let the Lord show me what happened here: and He showed me what I've written above. Many other wonderful things happened during the whole trip away: some people I've had e-mails from, people who were healed, others who testified... a lady, Ritva, involved in a car wreck, damaged the nerves in her face above the bridge of her nose, affecting her sight, even her smile. As God touched her, watched her face change, and she laughed.... In Sweden, I was asked to pray early in the meeting for a man named Stefan: critically ill with cancer, with a liver swollen and distended.... I wanted to tell a few stories (to raise faith, as the testimony of Jesus etc., etc.,!), and prayed for him. A couple of weeks later, I received an e-mail from his sister in law, to say that Stefan was much worse for the next 3 days. That OFTEN happens, the enemy knows he's losing his grip, so he kicks back with even greater venom: it's OUR response in that immediate period of time that determines whether we are healed or not - not our faith, but just the determination to say 'I AM healed'. These are the sister in law's words, not mine: "He is now better but we must continue to pray for him. He was very sick and for at least three days he throw up everything he ate and drank, then suddenly he got better and we praise God for it!!". Five weeks away was a long time: it was demanding (12 meetings in 6 days in Finland, and probably 1500 people prayed for), over just 2 of the days in Sweden more than 9 hours of speaking and then prayer for people afterwards.... Ireland was great, a little more relaxing, and the Men's Conference seemed to go well... I think I prayed for the majority of men there, anyway! Some told me they had been healed last year when I prayed... maybe I'll know next year about this year! Some real transformations in some of the men, which is fantastic.... Wonderful news, too, that God has miraculously healed my prophet friend Heidi, just as doctors were telling her she might never recover, that she might not be able to walk 100 yards (that's just under 100 metres for my European friends!) for maybe 6 months, maybe 6 years... and on the day when her 'disabled' sticker arrived for her car, so she could park anywhere. She was going up and down stairs all day not because she needed to, but just because she could.... So, all being well, the Heidi-Paul double act will be appearing in a number of places over the coming months! Check out her blog: http://heidiplympton.blog.co.uk ..... Then, the long (delayed - thank you again Continental Airlines and Newark Airport) return home. I don't think I've EVER had an on-time connection out of Newark Airport... :-( ..... but it IS good to be in my home, wonderful to be in my bed, and today was a lovely day in that I got to pray for 2 ladies in the Williamsburg area who have got 'undiagnosed' or 'wrongly diagnosed' curses over their lives, and both have had extreme damage done to their bodies by being given medication for one thing which had severe and life-threatening reactions in the bodies elsewhere... I'm looking forward to hearing, even in the next few days, what God has done for them. So, I sort of apologise for not blogging, if you've been checking, and sort of don't apologise, as I wanted to just let the Lord clear the 'garbage' above out of my mind! 9 April Four days of only being able to get online for about 5 minutes, just long enough to download mail, and not a strong enough connection to handle the web page! Sunday afternoon in 'The House', Gothenburg, was like being in heaven, with amazing worship, Ulf Christiansson's wonderful rock singer's voice, and passionate worshippers. Again, it was so easy to preach from this sort of 'platform', and I had a blast... prayed for loads, to receive more fire (if that's possible with some of them!). It really is a unique church, and I believe it is a church 'model' for many many others who want to carry God's glory and see the fire of revival fall..... Any church 'founded' on nothing less than 2.5 years of prayer and fasting HAS to radical. It is a real delight that they want me back in June, together with Heidi, so I can't wait. Some healings, others in process... tinnitus, knees... Ulf and Alex, his powerfully anointed and equipped son, drove me to Boras, where my friends Bjorn and Maria have a wonderful ministry to refugees. The first 8-10 people, at least, were from Iran, Kosovo, Albania and more... and others from Angola, Palestine... Lovely time ministering to them, and God touched a number of lives. The Angolan lady then prophesied over me, that I have the fire of God in my hands, and an anointing greater than Elijah on my life... it's a blessing to receive a word like that, but I think the Elijah bit might have to be weighed...!!!! The fire of God bit I'm very happy to own! Monday was spent first driving from home to home to pray for housebound sick people in Boras - MS, Parkinsons.... over these Scandinavian nations there really seems to be a territorial spirt where Tinnitus is concerned. Countless dozens, even hundreds, have asked for prayer for it. Monday evening was spent with a group of people wanting to begin an apostolic centre in the town of Aneby: the Pentecostal pastor in the town took the very bold move of closing the church down because there were so many 'issues' - in order that something new, fresh, and powerful could emerge. I stayed with that Pastor, Vilgot, his wife Margaretha, and son Robin... a radical family, with the call of God on their lives, and the adventure and freedom of God in their spirits. Tuesday was lesson after lesson on 'Your Kingdom Come - More!' with about 50 students and a host of other hungry gatecrashers! That was the theme for the two days, including evening meetings, and I just went for it big time....! I believe we're not so much in a World v. Church' clash anymore, but in a 'Church v. Kingdom' clash.... A great, but tiring and demanding two days, and I'm wanted back there this year, too! At least three 'leg' healings... one young lady with short calf muscles, had problems walking and running - she ran that night! - another with knne problems that prevented her running - she ran too! - and a young man whose right leg was a clear 2cms shorter than the left (normally a back issue), and his right leg came down to the same length as the left as his back lined up. Thank you Lord! Then a 200 km drive to Orebro, and a wonderful warm late night welcome at Vello and Ingalill's house.... Today, on to Kungsangen, just outside Stockholm, to my dear friends Stojan & Soila Gajicki, and a sauna and barbecued bratwurst sausages... before being back at Arlanda airport for 6am, to fly to England, then later on on to Romania.... I'd value your prayers for tomorrow! It's going to be a demanding day of travel, I land in Bucharest at 0025am Saturday morning. Bless you! 5 April Moved from Orebro to Gothenburg on Friday... sad to leave there after such great meetings and wonderful hospitality. But the church I'm with here in Gothenburg is just amazing: led by long-time Christian rock band (Jerusalem) front man Ulf Christiansson, they founded the The House on no meetings, but 2.5 years of prayer and fasting. During that time, people DID join, and through the prayer and fasting, lives, ministries, anointing, and calling were revolutionised amongst those there. A few months back they had to finally move out of Ulf & Else-Marie's house, too many people! But what they found was a building in the city just like a house. Perhaps 100-130 there at last night's meeting: the worship, led by Ulf with his rock singer voice (wonderful!), took off..... then I did something I've never done before! Prophet friend Heidi wanted to come on this trip, but she has been unwell for 21 months, and felt it would be too much.... so, Friday night I asked her on messenger if she had any words for Sweden. Then, in the meeting, she prophesied to the church and the country over the phone. The platform of worship and the prophetic was so, so wonderful to preach from! It was one of those occasions where I knew I was 'on a roll' - Ulf was blessed to see some 'unexpected' people prayed for, and transformed, there were healings (his mum's shoulder and neck (he's nearly 60, so I don't know how old she is!), and others were wonderfully set free and liberated.... Can't wait for this afternoon, then on to Boras for a meeting at 6pm.... 7 hours speaking at a Bible School on Tuesday in Ralingsas, and preaching in the evening: 4 more hours with the school on Wednesday, and preaching again... then, overnight back with my lovely friends Vello and Ingalill on Orebro, and on to Kungsangen, with Stojan and Soila - I went to Serbia with Stojan last year - but no meeting, just friendship, a sauna, and a cerveza or two! 2 April (more!) Two wonderful meetings, last night and tonight, in Orebro, Sweden, a city fast becoming one of my favourite places to visit, not only in Sweden, but anywhere. The meetings were organised by my dear friends, Vello & Ingalill Vaim, a wonderful Spirit-filled, Spirit-led, passionate, Kingdom seeking fun-filled couple. The meetings were wonderfully informal, perhaps over the 2 nights with 60-70 or so people attending (different people each night almost!), with lovely worship led by a man named Bjorn, and his wife Brittis. God's presence was there from the start: it was easy to build a rapport with those attending, and last night, I felt it right to raise, and even impart, faith. Many responded for prayer, I know that there will be many testimonies. The meeting was a first for me in one way: I've had meetings before where I've had to ask for a change of translator (or even give up speaking - but that's rare!) for various reasons.... Ingalill is a great translator, but halfway through my 'preach' she just got wonderfully, uncontrollably, and instantaneously drunk in the Holy Spirit, and couldn't speak... her & Vello's daughter, Elisa, only saved last year but wonderfully and radically changed, walked very purposefully to the front, and carried on where her mum had left off... it was amazing! Tonight really continued where last night left off.... expectation was high, even though about 70% of the people were different from last night, and the worship - Bjorn again (ho ho ho) - laid a lovely foundation. I felt led to speak on the establishing of the Kingdom on earth, and the end of man's Christian empires... and for the 'finisher's anointing' of Zerubbabel (Zechariah 4) to be poured out on all of us. Prayed for lots more people.... watch this space! A wonderful night.... 2 April Been a delay in writing here, not because nothing's happened - it has, and it's been great, with testimonies of healings and miracles - I've just tried to use these two 'free-er' days to relax! Good things first... a lovely little girl, I guess about 5 years old, in Jyvaskala, the daughter of one of the Salvation Army officers there, had bad stomach pains every night. She was so sweet, I sat down with her on my lap, and prayed for her, and kissed her when she went... her dad told me that she ran back to him saying 'Daddy, he kissed me and sat me on his lap!' (thrilled rather than accusing!!!!)... next night, dad told me that when she went to bed that night she had no stomach pain for the first time in many many weeks... In a church in Turku, I was greeted on arrival by Harri, who had been such a great translator for me there earlier in the week, with a lady named Maia (I guess that's how you spell her name): I don't know old she was, but I'd think late 60's, scoliosis/curvature of the spine, that had affected her for much of her life. I'd prayed for her Tuesday, and for the rest of the week she'd walked perfectly and straight, and swam 2 kilometres a day, which she had never been able to do... A lovely young lady, Miina, I'd think about 17 or so, had her spine curved too - out 22%: quite considerable, her left shoulder obviously much lower than her right, many centimetres. Mum was in church at the beginning of the meeting, and told the people what had happened - she had been completely straight since then, and they even had to move a lampshade higher which Miina had been able to walk under until then.... Miina then arrived, and we thanked God with her for such a lovely creative miracle in her body. When it came time to pray for the sick, I said I'd pray for one side of the congregation, and Miina would pray for the other... people were very blessed! The best people to talk of salvation are people just saved: the same with healing - the best people to pray are those who have just received a miracle! Look at my great friend Alan, from Northern Ireland: he's only been a Christian for 16 months, as a result of his lovely wife Barbara being wonderfully healed of osteo arthritis: he's praying for the sick and seeing healings and miracles, because he hasn't learned yet from a 'Christian heritage' that God doesn't do this stuff.... Jussi, from Turku, Finland was healed of cancer (I've put her testimony on the testimony page, strangely enough!).... she said in her email 'I felt so healthy today'... her friend Oili, who has MS, was 'much better' and is standing (she was very much wheelchair bound when I met her last week!), with more power in her arms and pelvis, and her sitting and balance are much better.... And another friend, Anja, whose sight was failing badly - well, 'her sight is much better'.... Thank you Lord...
28 March Hmmmm... overnight in Jyvaskala it was -20C, so a little short of the prediction. Still pretty cool though...! It was an INTERESTING drive: the person driving me is one of those people who is continually jiggling with the steering wheel, so every journey so far has been 'jerk the wheel a few centimetres' - which often means we're on the rumble strip at the edge, or on the white lines in the middle (also rumble strips). I've had to grab the wheel 3 times on the trip so far, as concentration (maybe tiredness) is his greatest asset. Even his son, who followed us for a hundred miles or more (almost 200 kms), said 'he's a funny driver to follow! all over the road!'. I did think once our time was up as we were on the wrong side of the road with him trying to clean the windscreen/shield! So, stress levels aside, or, better still, taking them into account (!), the meetings have been great! Met in the Salvation Army centre, it was packed, last night and the night before. Thursday's meeting was way over 4 hours, with probably 150 people to pray for: not all for healing, as I'd preached leading up to other things - freedom from fear (of men, shyness, insecurity and so) and also for fresh anointing.... so as both nights were in the same place (no driving - thank you Jesus!) until after last night's meeting, there were many filled with new fire, new vision, new passion.... there were healings, too! My voice has begun to crack up again, which is a bit of a concern, as I'm preaching 5 times today and tomorrow, at 1 and 6pm today - in Tampere and Lahti (150 kms/100 miles away), and then at 11am tomorrow in Helsinki, and then twice at 4 and 6pm in Turku, again about 150 kms away, I'm told. Please pray for my voice: and for strength. I'm pretty tired, all the changes of bed don't help with sleep patterns, and though I'm trying to snatch a bit of shut-eye in the car (two reasons - I need the sleep, and it means I can't see all the 'incidents'!). Tomorrow night, after the evening meeting, it's back to the ferry, for the overnight roll to Stockholm, and two meetings Monday afternoon and evening! I think I have Tuesday free, but I'm heading a few hundred kilometres to Orebro, but it will be to my dear, dear friends, Vello and Ingallill Vaim.... we laugh a great deal, and talk very deeply a great deal, so it's a lovely mixture. 26 March This has to be in haste, as I'm being driven a long way from where I am (where am I? If it was Wednesday evening yesterday, it must have been Hervanta, Tampere! About 150 kms (100 miles) north of Turku, and a good 15 degrees celcius colder (It is -15C here, probably about 0F!!).... and today we drive another 200 kms further north, where I'm told it could be -25C).... deep joy, and deep snow! Again, an amazing turnout for the first of three meetings, at noon yesterday, in Turku. Church was packed, and the Spirit of the Lord was VERY evident... I don't know how many people said they were healed of cancer, but I know of at least 3: a giant of a man diagnosed 18 years ago with paranoid schizophrenia testified to his KNOWING he was healed - you could tell by his face and persona that massive change had happened); lots more besides those... At 3.30 pm I was ushered in to a packed church in Huitennen, to be greeted by a Scot in a kilt (would YOU wear a kilt in those temperatures??!!)... wonderful meeting, a physical therapist healed of cancer, her colleague having an improvement in her failing sight, a lovely elderly lady, in excruciating pain, laughing instead of crying as the pain went, another lady with chronic pain (undiagnosable by the doctors) in her right leg, healed instantly....loads more, but time is running out! It is SUCH a privilege to see God move like this.... Last night, in a church that meets in a cinema, in Hervanta, a 'satellite' town on the edge of Tampere, perhaps Finland's third biggest city, God just ran riot! It is a church with many young people, the worship was was with the first rock band I've encountered in Finland (mostly it's acoustic guitar or piano).... dozens healed! A man born with chronic bronchitis, struggling to breathe, just began to gulp in large lungfuls of air and was healed: a lady who had suffered brain damage in a car crash was healed: and now I've just been told by the pastor I have to leave in 2 minutes... so I'll try and get on line again later!
24 March Having done my Captain Pugwash (think you have to be British to know that one!) impersonation last night, spending longer on the sea (11 hours) than I've ever done before, arrived in Finland around 7.30 am this morning. It really was a good crossing, despite parts of the sea being frozen: a lot of places I know could learn from the Swedes and Finns how to equip a ferry! Not much respite before launching into the first meeting, at noon: it was a wonderful time. I couldn't believe how many people were there - about 100 - for a mid day meeting on a Tuesday.... I think they must have mostly been people on sick leave... :( or with time on their hands.... I think I prayed for all of them, the meeting lasting a mere 4 hours 45 minutes (well, the meeting was 2 hours, praying was the rest...). Finished at quarter to five, taken for 'lunch', back to where I'm staying after that, and out for the next meeting (a mere 4 hours 10 minutes) at 6pm.... Loads of people healed in the noon meeting - bodies all over the floor, looked like a drive by shooting! My brain is scrambled as it is late, so I'll need to 'revisit' that meeting to write some down.... Tonight was even more remarkable. I preached in a Finnish Lutheran Church (there's a first time for everything!!! My, my Irish Presbyterian churches, Methodist Churches, and now Lutherans - whatever next??!!) - around 4-450 there... I think THEY all came forward too, but I did ask for some of the church ministry team to help.... prayed for a mere 2 hours 10 minutes.... but boy, was it good! A young lady, Mina, scoliosis (curvature of the spine for Brits!) was healed... felt damaged discs and vertebrae moving under my hand. Her shoulders were level, she stood up straight..... A lady named Ritva - well, you could see the second the Holy Spirit hit her. She had an accident that had destroyed the nerves in her face above the bridge of her nose, affecting her sight and her hearing... her face changed, and she began to laugh. And laugh. And then some. So many were healed tonight: I'll recall more when my brain is more active (don't laugh!), and a number saved.... what a result! And I almost phoned in sick (not literally!) to get out of the meeting... at 5.30pm I'd have given my right arm to be anywhere else (as well as ambidextrous).... 23 March Arrived in Stockholm yesterday, to a very busy schedule, and a lot of snow! Started snowing as we left the airport... and I'm told that the forecast for Finland this week is for the return of severe winter weather.... deep joy! Great meeting yesterday in Sundbyberg, Stockholm: some very tangible evidence of God blessing and healing and changing people's lives. More and more of that please, Lord, over these next 18 days here in Sweden and Finland. Some evident 'deliverance' for some people: obvious and testified healings of others.... a lovely ex-missionary man (Tanzania) was so blessed and released from the pain of surgery following 'rear end' cancer... his wife freed from pain, too.... another man, in deep depression for a few years, tried to commit suicide twice, was set from from a spirit of death and suicide, and went from wailing in emotional pain to peace and then laughter... 11 hour ferry crossing tonight to Turku, Finland, from here tonight... I'm told the ferries are great, so I'm hoping.... sleep doesn't come easily to me, I'm sharing a berth on the boat, so I'd value your prayers! The trip, too, seems to involve a great deal of being driven.... that shouldn't be a problem, I hear you say...but, when you've been driven 3-4 hours to do 3 meetings, finish at 11pm, andhave 4 hours back to your bed, it's unbelievably exhausting... 18 March After a quiet few days trying to shake off this most vile of colds, I have to say.... I've failed! I still sound like someone who smokes 100 cigarettes a day - raspy, croaky... and right now I'm packing for tomorrow, a trip of 5 weeks, preaching every day almost... I'd really value your prayers on this one! It'll be 'do-able' with my voice, but unless it's back to normal, how long it will last, I don't know... It really is a heavy schedule, too: the first thing is of my own making - I'm doing a car boot sale on Saturday morning, as the money is much needed, but sitting on Ford Airfield at Littlehampton at 8am might not be the best for my cold if it's still hanging around then! Yesterday, I received an email from the pastor I'm with first; I'm preaching twice in his church in Stockholm on Sunday and Monday. Monday night, the overnight ferry from Stockholm to Helsinki, then preaching Tuesday twice in Turku... Wednesday three times in Turku, Huitinnen and Hervanta... the full schedule is in the diary, but it's demanding. There's more in the final itinerary than I knew about :(. Please pray for strength. Having not felt like doing much because I've felt so unwell (I know, I know, some people think it's funny that someone who believes for healing and mighty miracles is unwell: actually, praying for myself is far, far harder than praying for other people, and no one who prays for and believes in healing is immune from everything...if they are, will someone please tell me where Smith Wigglesworth's been hiding out? I'd love to meet him... ;), I have to be honest and say right now I'd rather stay home..... BUT, once at Washington DC airport, or at least on the plane, the adrenaline will kick in again. I'm looking forward to being back in Sweden, especially looking forward to going to Finland for the first time, then in Sweden again, happy, too, to be spending a few more days in Romania, and then pleased to finish up the trip with a visit to Northern Ireland, my second home now. I'd value your prayers as I'm the speaker at the Men's Weekend away, and I really want to bring the men there something fresh from the Lord. I've then got 14 days at home, which will be a real blessing.... my house hasn't been dusted and cleaned since I don't know when, but then I haven't been here to make it dirty! It also means that I can catch up with a few people locally, which is very important to me.
15 March During this trip, only John so far escaped one of the most horrible colds that I've certainly ever experienced - much more like flu, but not quite enough to make you stay at home in bed and sleep it off.... some people would say I'm sure that it was a good thing that I almost totally lost my voice (!), but fortunately there was enough of it left for the translators to hear! On Wednesday evening we were in three churches: John and Alan went to El Abrigo el Altisimo, the Shadow of the Almighty, where they reckon there were 100 people, most of whom responded for prayer. Alan knew of some immediate healings. Clare went to the church pastored by a lovely lady, Argenis, where I spoke a few months back.... she had about 50 - most of whom wanted prayer.... that's a busy night all around when there is only one or two of you! Dave & I went to Adoradores - Worshippers - pastored by a great young man named Edier Fernandez. We'd had a marvellous meeting there in July last year, with some wonderful miracles occurring.... it was great to hear some of the ongoing stories! Right near the end in July, I'd had the opportunity to pray for an older lady, Carmen, whom I later learned was Edier's mother: she had cancer, and was dying. She told me then that she felt it leave her: that's always good to hear, even better to walk into the church and see her, 8 months on, worshipping the Lord! I got her to testify during the meeting, and she said that the doctors had kept testing and re-testing her for cancer as they couldn't believe it. She kept telling them it was God who had healed her... I know Scripture says that God will be not be mocked, and one of the Doctors laughed at her, and said that she had just been fooling them all along, that God didn't heal... horrifically (for him) both he and his wife have subsequently been diagnosed with cancer. I have this sense that we will see more and more of this sort of thing as people denigrate the amazing power of God.... Adrianna, who had been married for 7 years, and her husband whose name I think is Luis, couldn't have children. Doctors said it was impossible. Well, a week on Wednesday she is in hospital to give birth to twins.... it is as close to the day of 9 months as you can get from when I had the joy of praying for them. It has (and most certainly will in other ways!) revolutionised Luis's life... Thursday we were back to the hospital, Santillana, this time without having Dr Dunia to go round with us. She was too busy: another Doctor allowed us only down the corridors to pray, which was incredibly frustrating. Some of the kids from last week had gone home healed, which is wonderful. I was so wanting to get in to see Issabella, the 7 year old who began to come of of her cerebral/genital/oral herpes coma.... she had been doing well for 4 days, and then, tragically, contracted meningitis, which killed her almost overnight. I was in tears, speechless, and (am still) devastated by that news. I know that what people have said is that she is now healed and perfect and no longer in fear is true: but somehow that isn't sufficient for me.... I am so angry at the devil for what he does, and it has made me more determined than ever to see him crushed and beaten. The other coma 'victims' are all doing fine, thankfully.... On the last night, we went into 2 more churches, John to Walter Torres' church, Revival Centre, where he prayed for everything that moved.... the rest of us went to a church I've preached at many times, in a part of the city known as La Rivera. Jairo, the pastor, is a lovely man: we had a great evening, with salvation, healings, and deliverance, and many prophetic words for people. I even managed to croak a message, and croak a few prayers.... All being well, I'm back, probably with the same 'team', in late September, for 3 weeks, including a pastor's conference and crusade at Edier's church, for a week. It looks likely too that I'll be in Armenia, Buenaventura, and Bogota next time, so the net is widening! The journey home - as with the journey to Cali - was dreadful! We were up at 3.30 am to be at the airport for the customary 3 hour check in for international flights... once again, we were on the plane, when we were told the plane had a fault and we had to disembark... what we were told would be a quick job took 5 hours, meaning we missed our connections in Miami. Alan managed to get a later flight to London, but the rest of us were told we'd have to stay overnight in a hotel. That might sound nice to some, but believe me, layover hotels are far from glamorous, even less so when all you want to do is be home in your own bed. I put on my 'militant' persona.... and we flew finally into Washington DC, landing at 1130 pm, and John's wife Mary, and son Scott, drive us the 3 hour drive home....
14 March Please forgive the lack of 'blog' the last couple of days: we were so busy, and all of us, to some degree or another, had the most vile cold bug.... I'm home now, so will try and blog later on today (it's 5am here and haven't been home too long form yet another journey from hell on airlines!).... so many good things to tell you! 11 March Sunday afternoon we had the usual hair-raising ride back from Buenaventura! 'Life passing in front of your eyes' is a fairly typical experience of that drive! Dave & Clare were involved in a meeting with my dear friends Diego and Pilar Reyes in their young but thriving church in Jamundi. The service began at 4pm, for which, of course, they were the customary 1 and a half hours late Colombia time! Nonetheless, God turned up and blessed them immensely with prophetic words, words of knowledge: the meeting finished at around 11pm! Monday, the trip to the children's hospital was postponed because we'd have been with terminally sick kids, and Dave, Clare, and I were all manifesting wonderful colds! Didn't seem like a good idea to take such a nasty cold, too, into a hospital, even though we are in faith for them to be healed..... The 'day off' yesterday involved a trip to the Juna Valdez coffee park, which is in Armenia, a good 3 hour (hair raising!) drive from Cali.... last time I took John there, it was a Monday, and they close on Mondays... so, we went on Tuesday.... it was closed (unusually) for maintenance... so a long, abortive journey, at the end of which the drive, tiredness, frustration and colds meant we all crashed out fairly early when we got home! Back to business today though: meetings tonight, tomorrow, and tomorrow night, so we're raring to go and see God 'top off' this trip with some wonderful things. A healing meeting tonight at Hendrik's church would be good to pray for, if you could! 8 March A few wonderful meetings since Friday! Friday evening, we were in a church in a place called La Sirena: they meet in a house, but outside of China 20 years ago, I don't think I've ever seen a house so packed! John & I were welcomed like returning victors, such was the greeting! The place was heaving with people, boiling hot, and everyone came for prayer.... a number found salvation, and many were healed... again, cancers, blood and circulation issues, broken limbs mending... Found out more information about some of the people responding in hospital, especially the ones in comas... Dr Dunia Quiroga told me that one lady, Blanca, had such a critical blastoma (I can't remember the term she used, but is was in the cortex of her brain: these are inoperable and incurable, and kill quickly... hers had spread to the cerebrospinal fluid, and metastasized (I sound very professionally trained here, don't I - comes with having a brain surgeon as a dear friend!). Her coma was so deep that nothing affected her.... so for her to move, to see her eyes moving under the lids, and response from her lips, is a major miracle in the making.... Improvement continues, too, with Issabella, much to the astonishment of all who nurse and treat her.... what a testimony she will be and have when God finishes the job! Saturday, we set off for the port city of Buenaventura, and the fun-fair ride that the drive to that city is! It's an astonishing journey, over the Andes, on roads that are really not good, just two lane, and with big trucks from the port taking the 'short' route to Cali.... overtaking is an art form, but a 'heart in mouth' exercise too.... last July, when John, Alan, & I were in the city, we were so conscious of the heaviness and spiritual darkness of the place. Wonderfully, some of that atmosphere has lifted, and the meetings we were involved in this time were quite astonishing. We arrived to lunch in the jungle outside of the city, with lovely pastors Daniel and Lily at their home... it's a joy to be with them, they are so kind, generous, and hospitable, even though very poor. We had fish (ooooohhhhhhh dear!) with the eyes still in place... those who know me well will know my complete dislike of all things fishy! - but what do you do when people have made such a sacrifice to feed you? So, I ate... my sacrifice in return for theirs! Last night, there was a combined churches get together in a school - well over 500 people there.... John spoke, Alan testified, Clare spoke, Dave spoke and sang, and I preached... well, the tsunami of people coming forward was huge.... Alan prayed with a young lady of 16, named Mara: extreme pain, carried to the front, crying and shouting with pain.... she was totally instantly healed.... a multitude of other things healed as he prayed for different people... Dave & Clare prayed for a little girl who'd broken her arm, and couldn't swivel it or turn it from the elbow - that was healed instantly.... I prayed with a young man, Carlos, deaf and dumb - he spoke instantly in tongues! - and heard, too.... another deaf lady got her hearing back in like minute increments! It just kept getting louder and louder for her.... a lovely guy, Jhon (yes, that is how you spell it!), broken leg 3 years ago, unable to walk without walking sticks/canes.... we actually saw his leg moving as I prayed for him, and I took his cane away and asked him to walk.... he did, a few steps... then stopped. I asked if it was pain- or fear of falling - that stopped him: it was fear... prayed for that to be broken, and then he just walked and walked and laughed and laughed... An older man, I recall his name as Luis, had been very active: but he had major hip and knee problems, and walked with great pain, and with immense difficulty.... within minutes he was squatting on his haunches, kneeling, bending his leg, and walked out, with just a slight limp, and no pain.... More cancers went, major blood circulation problems were healed, scolioses were straightened... it may sound awful to some, but there were so many healings it is hard to remember them all! As they come to mind, I'll blog them.... Today, we were in a lovely church of the leader of the pastors association for Buenaventura, Pastor Jolanda: her church is 'Jesus vive hoy' - Jesus lives today. Again, a packed house: and more salvation! As I finished preaching, I felt that I should get people who wanted to be free from fear to stand: I think probably 95% of the church stood - fear of man, of witnessing, shyness, insecurity, fear of just about everything in fact! Prayed a 'blanket' prayer for them, before asking those forward for healing. As I prayed, three people fell and began to manifest demonically: God wonderfully set them free. A good number received salvation, and dozens and dozens were healed.... a lady named Carmen, probably 75 years old, unable to walk, got out of her chair, and started striding up and down the church. she was still doing it 10 minutes later.... another deaf lady heard.... bones mended, pain left, cancers went..... what more can I say at risk of not being 'boring'???!!!! God is so, so good... and still 4 days to go.... 6 March Today we spent a lot of time in a very poor hospital: it used to be the Social Security hospital (Seguridad Social), but was recently privatised by two big companies, so should improve.... it was an astonishing few hours..... John, Alan, and Diego (translator) went off together, and Dave, Clare, and I went with the lovely Doctor, Dunia Quiroga, brain surgeon extraordinaire.... it's great having Duina with you because she knows exactly what patients can and can't do, exactly what they have and haven't got... We prayed for 3 people (amongst others - more in a minute!) who were in deep comas. Dunia had told us a few days ago that people in such comas only respond to deep pain .... all three began to move - limbs, lips, eyes... one began to open her eyes.... Dunia was stunned, which is a nice response to confirm that God was bringing them back to 'life'.... a elderly lady named Sophia was transformed... she'll be going home soon, as will a great guy named Cesar Augusto (amazing name!! Ceasar Augustus!!). Cesar is 42, and was dying with Parkinsons disease, and was HIV positive. His whole visage was troubled, stressed: his body shook uncontrollably. I sat down on his bed and put my arm round him, Dave felt he should put his hand at the top of his spine.... I prayed for peace, joy, and miraculous healing.... he stopped shaking instantly, and didn't shake again for the 10-15 minutes we were with him.... I asked him if he felt anything - he said he felt fine, and well.... God is good! Dunia gave me an update on Issabella (see 5 March entry): she is moving quite extensively now, communicating with her mum by eye movement, and following mum's and nurses movements with her eyes.... everyone who nurses her and knows her is amazed.... keep praying for he, please! As with everyone else in the blog, if you have time! Some amazing things happened in a church in Palmira last night, called Puertas al Cielo (Gates of Heaven) - Palmira is a city to the north of Cali, and, as usual, with latino time-keeping, we arrived at the church about 8.10pm for a 7pm start (!).... that can add a great deal of pressure, because to be in a church for the whole service, and experience the worship, gives you a feel for where the church is at. Not only that, but Alan, John, and I were driven to the church at over 100 miles an hour (160 km+ for those those who work in foreign language!), which is ok on a British motorway (if totally illegal!) but on Cali's packed streets with Colombian drivers.... hmmm...! Nonetheless, the power of God was there, and He turned up big time to heal and save. The pastor, Juan Carlos, said there were over 300 people there, and my estimate is that we prayed for 90% of them. There were many testifying to immediate healings, others which began.... stories will follow! It's always a delight when a pastor is over the moon with the way a service goes, and certainly Juan Carlos was delighted. En route to Palmira, we went to pray for a lovely pastor named Harrell, from the church Dios esta Presente, who was hit by a motorcyle whilst crossing the road recently. He had suffered incredible brain trauma, horrific broken bones, including a totally shattered right leg, and we were told at first, by the doctors, that we weren't allowed to see him. Persistence paid off, and we (Pastor Walter Torres and I_ were given 2 minutes with him... a Colombian 2 minutes, of course, which was 15 in reality! We were told there would be no recognition (both of us know Harrell), no response... I guess that doesn't take the Holy Spirit into account! After a few minutes, Harrell was smiling, and even began talking, though it was strained, and my understanding of Spanish didn't compute, but Walter did.... Harrell was saying 'God is in control'..... we hugged him, anointed him, and blessed him before we left.... he's going to walk out of that hospital very soon. We did get customarily hi-jacked in the way to the hospital, ending up going miles north of the the city to view a sugar-cane plantation.... deep joy! Couldn't see the wood for the sugar cane.... Tomorrow we head for Buenaventura, where last July little Andres came back to life... lots of meetings, lots of being driven, lots of praying... please pray for strength for us, and B'ventura is so, so much hotter than Cali (it's 33C/94F here!!) and very, very humid.... also has malarial mosquitoes! 5 March So busy the past couple of days.... various hospitals, churches... Monday evening, long-time pastor friend Hendrik had Dave, Clare and Alan at a cell group meeting from his church, in Agua Blanca (one of the poorest parts of the city). It's a new-ish cell group, led by a relatively new Christian but incredibly on fire and anointed man, Gustavo, at their kids foundation, which he runs... out of the 50 adults there, 13 made first time commitments to the Lord, 7 recommitted their lives, and that on the strength of Alan's testimony.... Dave & Clare then began prophesying over people, and a meeting that normally ends at 9am because Agua Blanca is (somewhat) dangerous for Christians after 9pm, ended at gone 11om.... Safety? No problem! John & I spent time with dear friend Fernando, our best translator, to plan translation and meetings over the next few days... Tuesday, Clare, Alan, and John went way south of the city to Jamundi, to a drug rehab centre. 25-30 people were there, all three shared testimonies. John was in his element having once been a drug addict, and subsequently has run a drug rehab programme. Many of the 'inmates' responded for ministry, and, as so often happens in Latin America, a meeting that was 'scheduled' to run for 2 hours, went on for many more! Causes a few problems later in the day, but Latinos never seem to mind that! The ministry was very well received, even though it's a government sponsored place: oh to have that freedom in the west. A number made recommitments, and one guy, whom Alan spoke to, was on the verge of committing suicide, his wife had left him, his kids had gone, he'd given up God ages back, but wanted to know God again... Praise the Lord! Meanwhile, Dave & I went to hospital Santillana, with Doctor friend Dunia... prayed for loads of incredibly sick kids, with some immediate evident results... I must just tell you one incredibly horrific story.... a lovely 7 year old girl (we know she was lovely, because her mum showed us photos of her) was in an incredibly deep coma. She had been sexually abused by her father, and was suffering from genital and oral herpes, the coma induced by cerebral herpes. Issabella's body is a tragic, horrific mess. No movement, response: breathing via tracheotomy, fed direct into her stomach with tubes, Dunia told us that deep coma victims only respond to deep pain. Issabella is emaciated, mouth covered in scabs, body bruised.... mum was there, but is in denial of what her husband has done to her daughter. The nurses are praying that God will take her life, so that she doesn't have to go back to her father.... hmmm. Both Dave & I had a sense that God would use her to bring change in her dad.... what the enemy means for harm, God means for good.... as we prayed for her, I stroked her face, held her... her respiratory therapist was there, along with Dunia, who is a brain surgeon (so who knows what cerebral herpes can do)... both were astonished at how Issabella responded, starting to open and close her mouth as though breathing normally, movement in her hands, and eyes, and an incredible transformation in her face. Her face had been a picture of pain, shock, trauma, and fear: and peace became the most evident feature. The therapist was astonished: she said she'd never seen anything like it, Dunia was amazed too.... So much more I could write about the hospital but we're about to be whisked away again... Last night, at a church I go to often, Dios esta Presente (God is Present), we had a wonderful evening. All of us shared, I preached, and (conservatively) 95% of the people there - about 200 - came forward for healing and ministry. It was wonderful to go there and see 2 babies - both born in the month to people I prophesied over last year who couldn't have children! Healings last night, more to come. A church, making a huge difference for the kingdom, under incredible attack on it's leadership by the enemy. We;re going this morning to pray for a pastor who, having been appointed in January, aged 37, was instantly involved in a motorbike accident, and has irreparable brain damage. Every pastor of the church is either very ill or injured, cars are being stolen, finance is under attack... God is about to say to Satan, I believe, that 'enough is enough' and will roar like he did for Samuel in 1 Kings 8..... So, more later, as we have to run now! Hospital this afternoon, church in Palmira tonight.... please pray for us!
2 March Wow, talk about hit the ground running....! And what a day day one was here in Cali, Colombia - without a day to unwind, relax, and settle in, God turned up in immense power.... More of that in a minute! Heading back for the airport again before dawn on Saturday was NOT a blessing, but at least we had a plane with no dents and it managed to get off the ground and take us to the delights of Miami Airport, where we had a 6 hour layover. I have to say, having spent a grand total of 18 hours in that airport on the way to and from Barbados in December, it is really not an airport you want to spend more than about an hour in! We arrived in Cali about 9pm, 16 hours and a day after leaving for here. By the time we'd got to the apartment we are staying in, it was past 11pm, and by then we'd learned that between us we were preaching 5 times on the Sunday, the first service at 7am. 4 services were in one church, 7, 9, and 11am, and 4 pm, the other in another church at 10.30am. I was in a church I've never been to before, Igelsia Fe y Esperanza (Church of Faith and Hope), and it's a pretty big church. Well over 500 at the first service, rising to about 6-700 for the other two, and about 500 in the afternoon. I preached 3 of the services, with John taking the 9am service. Dave & Clare went to the church of my great friend Walter Torres, and though it's not big, they had a blast... Clare preached, Dave prophesied, and it seems like they prayed for everyone, with very powerful results, including deliverance. At Faith and Hope, in the first service, dozens responded to the call for salvation first, and then maybe 300 for healing. More saved in meeting two: many more prayed for: and increasing again in meeting three! It's almost impossible to explain how tiring preaching and praying for crowds of people are, but it is oh so rewarding.... but by the time the 4pm meeting came around, we were shot.... but again, it's amazing how God re-invigorates you when you need him to! During the worship, we were singing (in Spanish of course!) 'Open the heavens, let it rain...' when all of sudden the ceiling above the platform came crashing down under the pressure of an immense torrent of water... who said God doesn't answer when we ask! It was a very prophetic moment, and paved the way for an unplanned sermon on my part! During the 4 services, at a conservative estimate, 250 gave their lives to the Lord! I asked for testimonies of healing before I spoke: three ladies with cancer testified to immediate healing, feeling the cancer leave them, and (physically) seeing that tumours had disappeared. A lady testified that when John prayed for her, intense stomach pain disappeared: Alan saw arthritic fingers straighten, so did I.... diabetes, high blood pressure, osteo parosis were healed, along with a myriad back issues, and I do believe that we'll hear the story of the healing of a lovely little girl, Ana, who was brain damaged at birth by oxygen deprivation.... I could blog on, but we'll try and collectively get the stories 'catalogued' - and, truth is, after 7 hours of sleep in 4 days (hardly slept last night, the adrenaline of the meeting was pumping: I'd appreciate your prayers for sleep!), I need to go to bed soon! Today we were at Club Noel, the children's hospital: we saw some physical healing, but perhaps the most remarkable was little girl, Sara, maybe 3 years old, whom Alan prayed for - T.B, chronic asthma, immobile, lifeless - who instantly was up and kicking, and...wait for it... speaking in English, which she didn't know, of course, being Colombian and only 3..... There will be many testimonies when we're back there on Monday next week.....
27 February Seems it might be possible that someone (!) doesn't want us to go to Cali.... we all got up at 3.15am to leave for the airport at 4am, boarded the plane just a few minutes late, then all had to get off again because there was a 'maintenance problem'. I guess with the two recent big high profile crashes here in the USA, there is heightened paranoia, but it seems there was a big dent in the small fin-type wings on the tail.... we were told it would be sorted in an hour, then another hour, then another hour.... until finally at around 10.30 am - when it was too late anyway to get our connection in New York for Miami - they announced what we all knew and the flight was cancelled... We waited for our luggage to be returned, and somehow they'd managed to lose one of mine when it hadn't even left the airport... it did come back in the end, then we all creaked and groaned our way home, to do it all again tomorrow. Thankfully, we're NOT with Delta this time (YEEEEAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!!! Hooray!) and we're flying two hours later direct to Miami, then on to Cali.... so, an unexpected evening at home to sleep more than 45 minutes I slept last night, and maybe even watch a movie ..... We know now that it IS going to be a good trip.... 26 February Catch up time again! In a few hours, I'll be leaving for Cali, Colombia, where, if God does there what he's done every time so far, there should be lots of wonderful stories to relate here... please pray that the five of us going - Alan from Bangor, Northern Ireland (who God is using increasingly and wonderfully in healing even though he's 'only' been saved 14 months!), John from Virginia, my Pastor here (he turns into a prophetic steamroller when he lands in Cali!), and Dave (prophetic, musician) & Clare (preacher, prophetic) Cleave, from Cornwall but now in Virginia too.. .will really sense the Word of the Lord, and know the power and release of His Holy Spirit.... Please continue to pray for Jenny (see 16th) - she's doing better, but Satan is NOT going to win.... pray especially for Michael &Lynne that they will know the power of praying people all over the world supporting them as they defend their daughter against the onslaught of the enemy.... Some wonderful stories... I'll have to try and be brief as I'm still packing to leave in 6 hours' time and it might be nice to sleep for a couple of hours! Robert in Northern Ireland, cancer... told by doctors a number of times not to plan too far ahead (!) in his late 70's.... his dream 2 years ago was that he'd live long enough to celebrate his 50th wedding anniversary to Betty... prayed with him then that he'd not only achieve that, but live to see many more than 50. The 50th is this year, now, and the doctors have told him that his cancer-cell count is the lowest it has been for a very long time.... Robert's an amazing man, incredible faith, determination, and he's become a wonderful friend. Graham in Scotland... desperately ill last year (Aug/Sept), young (early 40's), young family.... had loads of surgery, lots of things partially and totally removed. Really, his prognosis was no sort of normal life.... if there was to BE a life... he just 'happened' to be home from hospital on the weekend I was in Troon/Ayr, had the joy of praying with him and Lynne.... from what I understand, some of the removed organs have...er.... miraculously re-appeared, and they have just returned from a 5 week I think - I stand to be corrected!) holiday in Australia.... There are more.... but I really need to pack!
16 February Please could I ask you to pray for Jenny, the lovely little girl in Northern Ireland? Jenny has been under constant onslaught since new year's eve, with various infections that have gone way beyond 'normal' in the ferocity of the attack on her... she's been hospitalised a number of times with chest infections, two of which (I think, might be more) have stopped her breathing. All I can feel and believe for this amazing little fighter - and she really is that - is that she has such a future ministry (though the enemy doesn't know the future, of course, any more than he knows he's beaten) that Satan has sent his legions after her life. Please pray that not only will he not succeed, but that Jenny will do such damage to the him in the future.... Please pray for Michael and Lynne, too, her mum and dad, who are so amazingly strong through these incidents.... Thank you. Bless you. 11 February Wonderful few days here in Northern Ireland, with the beginning of at least one amazing miracle unfolding! Despite the astonishing winter weather, flew here ok, which was a great relief. So much of the UK seemed to have ground to a halt with snow and ice. Had the privilege of preaching at both morning services of West Church, Bangor (my home church here!) - prayed for dozens of people for healing and many other things at the end of each service. In the evening, with it having snowed much of the day, headed south towards the border with the Republic of Ireland to Armaghbreaghe. A lovely Pastor, Ivan Thompson, is pioneering a whole new move of God's spirit there, so it was a delight to speak at the healing service, which we got to with ease, as the snow seemed to melt in front of us! There was, though, a lot of snow around the church, and we wondered if many would come as it was bitterly cold. Well, around 100 did... and I guess we prayed for around 60-75% of them at the end.... including the joy I had of praying with a lovely young woman, Diane, told by doctors about 3 weeks earlier, that there was nothing more they could do for her cancer... those words bless me, as it means that there is only one thing left for medics and cynics to acknowledge when healing comes - that it was God who did it. Diane had received a lot of treatment - including radiation, which gave her skin cancer, as if she needed that on top of all the internal cancer she had... she'd had many surgeries, scarred all over her body from neck down: had lots of tissue and lymph glands removed, many tumours taken away. Despite her dire acute illness, she'd managed to achieve a first class honours degree in Occupational Therapy, so all in all quite a remarkable young woman - who had been sent home to die with a supply of chemotherapy tablets to take until...... As I prayed for her, I found myself praying that God would give her new flesh, new skin, to replace all the scar tissue, that it would be external evidence of the internal miracle. (How many times do I think, 'Me and my big mouth??'). WELL...... Monday evening her dad said to her 'I think the scar on your neck is shrinking and getting paler...' - closer examination showed that not only was that true, but new, pink, fresh skin and flesh were appearing where the scar had been... that is happening on her chest, as well, I'm told.... if that's not a miracle, what is???!! God is so, so good..... I'm waiting to get hold of her phone number to talk to her.... encourage her, pray for her, and hear as the miracle unfolds.... Last night, a lovely meeting at Towerview Free Methodist church.... prayed for a man named Robert, with parkinsons... Alan, my good friend, had prayed for him, then I prayed, having been praying with others whilst he was with Robert... and by coincidence (!) I prayed exactly the things Alan had... Robert's face changed... he looked so different from when he'd arrived... looking forward to hearing what God has done for him today! Both Alan and I knew that we knew that we knew he's being healed.... Miracle Jenny J is doing well.... dad and mum and family are such an inspiration, and quite amazing in their faith.... More to tell, and to come, but now I need to sleep, as I leave tomorrow back to England, en route to Romania Friday.... Colombia's coming soon, too.... can't wait!
5 February A couple of weeks' silence... can't remember when I had a month at home, with only a few meetings locally in the USA to speak at... I've said before, I struggle a bit with relaxing - like with sleep, relaxation and I are not the greatest friends! - but as the days went by, I got more and more tired, which suggested that my body actually NEEDED the break... Added to that, it's the first time in a long time that I've been able just to sit and listen to the Lord, and he said things to me, and did things in me, that I didn't know needed doing! It was a precious and special time. One of the -very - unexpected things that God did was in the most unlikely of ways... for years my brother in law did 'slide' photography, and had a mass of transparencies in his garage which he and my sister never looked at any more... until I told them a couple of months back about slide scanners, for the computer. Since they got one, they've been avidly scanning and printing. 10 days ago, they sent me a few pictures from over 40 years ago: with my mum, when I was 12: and with my dad, in May/June 1965. One picture, a picture taken from behind, was of me and my dad, who died suddenly 3-4 months later, with our arms round each other, and little 12 year old me with my head on his shoulder.... no sooner had I clicked on it to open it and the tears erupted.....for hours. Even as I'm writing this, it's happening again..... Dad died in September '65, only 41 years old, and I only knew him for a little while really, but boy, did I love him... and I realised in January 2009 just how much I miss him, what a wonderful dad he was, and how much I'd still love him to be in my life. The bible says that there are many teachers, but not many fathers... they are so important, whether 'natural' fathers or spiritual.... I thought that I'd dealt with the loss of my dad years ago: only to find that the grief was still sitting in an unknown part of my emotions and I had no idea.... Travelled back to England last weekend, to arrive just at the same time as the snow, and with the wonderful prospect of quite a bit of driving ahead! I was down in Cornwall to see my mum, sister and brother in law and nephew Stewart.... it was good to see them and be able to rpay for them. I went a day earlier than I'd planned to race ahead of the snow, as I was always told they never had any in Cornwall...! Hmmm.... they do, and a lot! It was 'interesting' driving on narrow hilly roads, with parked cars, and walls pretending to be hedges, where no car had gone before, on fresh snow on ice.... hmmm. Prayed a lot, as even a small dent on my trusty Toyota would see it written off (totalled, for any Americans!)... well, it is 15 years old, and on the journey back from my Rhinos get together last night (again, finishing early to race today's snow - good job we did, as where we were had 8 inches (20 cms) today.... Talking of Rhinos, had a wonderful time away with them, even though two couldn't be there. It's so hard to verbalise just how vital this group of men are to me. It's so wonderful to be in an environment where I know I'm loved for me, not for what I do, and where I can be ...me. And to have a bunch of anointed, spirit filled men, anoint you, pray for you, and prophesy over you, is a wonderful blessing.... So, weather and open airports permitting, I'm in Northern Ireland from Saturday, preaching three times on Sunday, and doubtless a few more times during the week, before heading back to England onwards to Romania..... a few days there, then back to the USA for Colombia on the 27th. There seems to be a huge expectation in Cali for this trip, so my faith is rising up through the roof for it... And I'm believing for great things in Ireland too.... in the evening, the first ever (I believe) healing meeting in Keady/Armaghbreaghe, close to the border... come Lord Jesus, and do what only you can do....
24 January Just a note to say an update to one testimony, and a lovely new one, have been posted on the 'testimonies' tab.... preparing here to preach at my home church tomorrow, value your prayers, I want to share something relevant and from God. Also to say that my trip to Serbia, Croatia, and Montenegro has been postponed (I'm beginning to get a complex about postponed trips!!!!) - very valid reasons, but it leaves me with some dates to fill in May. I'm due to be in Romania mid May, so if you want me to come to your church, I might well be able to! The pound continues it's merry way to the bottom of the world currency pile, it is down to $1.37 to the pound commercially now, which means for ordinary people $1.31 tops... to have dropped so far so quickly is a disaster! And it keeps going down.... 19 January Tomorrow's a big day here in the States, following today's national holiday (Martin Luther King Day), with the inauguration of Mr Obama. Who knows where the world will go now from a human perspective? On the surface, he seems to have it all, but I remember only too well a similar 'young' man with the looks, the answers, the smile, the charisma, and the oratory, riding to power to in the United Kingdom 12 years ago. Thank God GOD'S in charge.... we don't have to know, believe, or want any more than that. God is still faithful: I've had to remind myself of that over and over even in the last 24 hours, as the pound has once again plunged against the dollar - last week, it was mildly hopeful, when it reached the 'heady' heights of $1.53 to the pound (6 months ago it was $2.06). Tonight it is at the lowest it has been commercially for a very long time - $1.42 - and the commercial rate is always much higher than the tourist rate, so I guess for me it's around $1.37. God is faithful..... but would you still pray for a miracle financially for me, please? Pray always helps accelerate God's faithfulness!!!! The next trip is pretty much non-remunerative, with a visit to my mum, the Rhinos accountability days away, and Romania... I'd really appreciate your prayers! 14 January Well, no great revelation as to what to do with the 'lost' 10 days that will now be Alaska next year... at least, not yet! - so it looks like I'll have a few extra days at home, which is a very nice prospect, as I don't often get a 'run' of weeks at home. It might mean I feel compelled to do more cleaning (though I think that's unlikely!), rather use the time to see people/pastors in this area and develop friendships and relationships. If I'm honest, when I'm at home, I sometimes feel guilty because, with people supporting me so sacrificially, I ought to be out 'doing'. Truth is, the average pastor or missionary seems to get a sabbatical every 7 years, often for between 3 and 6 months, and in 30 years I've never had one! So maybe 3-4 weeks at home is acceptable.... This Sunday, 18th January, marks the 30th anniversary of my last date I received a salary cheque/check. Quite a remarkable testimony, not to what I've done, but to God's love, loyalty, faithfulness, and provision. I really feel humbled and blessed: if anyone had told me in 1979 when the first scared and tentative step was taken to walk away from a career in banking, that 30 years later I'd still be on that path, I'd have laughed and said it's not possible... So, here's to the next 30. I'll only be 86 then, so I should still be running.... 10 January It's always a joy to go to visit my great friends' Frank & Phoebe Shaia's home fellowship - The Watering Hole' - in Williamsburg. There is always a very real sense of the presence of the Lord there, and it's always informal, relaxed, but extremely powerful. The people are a very prophetic bunch, and last night I was so blessed to be on the receiving end of some amazing words from the Lord through a number of them. It is a great privilege to have prophecy spoken over you (when you sense it is right, and not 'flaky'!! - there is plenty of that sort around!). Frank is very prophetic, and has prophesied over me a number of times in recent months, especially to do with God opening up Mediterranean countries to me, beginning with a picture of a door, very specifically Med 'style'. Last night it was more detailed, mentioning 'a pastor in Israel' and another 'pastor in Italy'. I have a few indirect links in Israel, but none in Italy, so but moving closer to Italy in a few months' time as I go to Croatia and Montenegro, on the same trip as Serbia.... those of you who know me will know the 'angel' story: God spoke very clearly last night about an increase in his divine protection, and that (and this REALLY blew me away!) he will go wherever I go. Before you jump on theological 'high horses'! that really is a direct fulfilment of God's promise in Psalm 37:4, which I've taught for years, and then about 6/7 years ago heard Bill Johnson (Bible expositor extraordinnaire known to many) preaching, that it is not God's desire he wants to fulfil through us if we delight in him, it is OUR desire... what do YOU want.... which in turn is fulfilled by Jesus' promise of 'anything you ask in my name, I WILL do it...
I've longed to go to Israel, never been, always feeling that as it wasn't a 'mission' trip, I couldn't justify it... I think, too, that I've always wanted to go with a specific English preacher, who knows Israel inside out, and the Muslim world, too: perhaps I need to contact him and ask him if he has plans to go again soon.... he's in his 80's now. I felt a few more pieces fall into place last night, and almost like a changing up of gears.... There was more to the prophetic words, but I'd value your prayers as I weigh up and get others I'm accountable to to weigh up, what God has been saying. Thank you!
8 January If you get the chance, do have a look at the new testimonies from Victor and Roy on the 'testimonies' page... I will add the photo of Victor when I can remember how to do it.... :-( Christmas & Winter 2008/09 newsletter now available! 7 January Well, things can change fast! A lovely Pastor in Bethel, Alaska, called yesterday- it seems that one of the churches I was going to be involved with, with Dave & Clare, has gone through a radical change, with the Pastor (not the one who called, he's overseeing the transition) standing down, leaving the church in a state of flux. In a communi |
