We had been practicing skits to do on the plazas because we noticed this is where Spain hangs out in the evenings. El Lokal gave us some portable speakers and mics so we could project our skit. We traveled like a little caravan of about 12 people to the local plaza and set up right in the middle. People started watching from the benches and some just ignored us and and engaged in their conversations. We had our translators with us and prepared a little message to explain our skit. We decided to get some attention Daniel would do some dancing to music. Some kids came and sat. We performed the skit and explained it which later we realized was a little strong for our audience comprised of age 10 and under! haha. After we started talking and hanging out some of the kids and tried to discuss Jesus as best we could with only 2 translators and broken spanish.

Camille at this point started to feel a small tug (from the Holy Spirit) to go to the corner of the plaza where she spotted some teenagers sitting around smoking (we later found out was Chocolat which is basically cheap chopped up marijuana with filler). She discussed it with Alexa and they almost didn’t go out of fear, but realized this fear is not from God. Boldness welled up and they decided to go. They took the two translators with them and walked over. Immediately, after introduction, the youth started commenting vulgarly about the two young American women. The translator who could understand it all wanted to leave, but ignorance is bliss for english speakers and the effects of the dirty spanish talk didn’t thwart Camille and Alexa. About this time, I decided to head over as well after I finished my conversation and prayer with a Russian-Spanish boy.

When I got there and they found out I was married to Camille, the jokes turned to intimate questions on marriage according to the translator. We tried to ask questions about life and engage on a deeper level, but the wall was up, although there seemed to be a bit of curiosity of why Americans were in their neighborhood plaza. Ariel, our translator was asking Camille to say something if she have anything, because he was sensing a boredom/irritation setting in.

We got everyone’s attention (about 15 teens) and Camille began to proclaim God’s goodness in her own life. About 15-20 seconds in, chaos erupted with questions and arguments against God. They boldly said, “I don’t believe in God!”. I believe these were honest heart responses of hurt people taking it out on God. Somehow this moment produced us talking in smaller groups for a short time about God. We talked about how God shows his love through healings and Alexa said something with boldness that later she said she was surprised it came out of her mouth, “God wants to heal you, is there anyone who wants prayer for healing?”

Two guys decided to try it out. One had a knee issue (I think it might have been sore from a sprain or something…hard to get details on the spot) and another had cramps in his arms. They didn’t allow us to lay hands on them (they were afraid of an exorcist-type moment from the movies they watched) so we just prayed next to them. The guy with the hurt knee started moving it and said he felt no pain. This got the other guy excited and so we prayed for him and his eyes lit up and he started almost dancing with excitement saying, “Yo tengo fe, yo tengo fe!” Translation: “I have faith, I have faith”. After this, we in our zeal asked if anyone else needed healing and a guy with bad eyes came and we prayed for him…and nothing happened..yet :). God may have wanted to do another thing as we continued to converse with them about God.

I started speaking to one of the few guys that knew some english and he let me pray for him and I felt the Lord say that he has had people telling him that he is dumb his whole life but the Lord wanted him to know that his mind was created by him and he is smart. He looked at me intensely and then said something in spanish to his friends. I could tell the Lord spoke to his heart. I think the Lord was orchestrating something special as Camille and others in our group had begun to prophecy as well. In fact, people with us how had never prophesied spoke out boldly. The local group of Spanish teens had suddenly became interested in this God that actually wants to have a relationship and bring healing to them. They were so excited to hear what God wanted to say that they were fighting to be prayed for.

About this time, a few shady characters, whom we assumed to be the drug dealers came up and Ariel and Camille boldly began to speak truth into their lives. Camille felt like one of the guys knew about God and when she inquired he said a family member has been praying for him for awhile. She offered him an invitation to officially give his life to Jesus. He said YES! We ask for any more who publicly wanted to give their lives to Jesus. Our friend that was healed really did have faith as he prayed to Jesus too.

Since this time, I met with one of the guys and shared the story of God and how he fits in and he was touched. We haven’t seen the drug dealer since, and pray that he connected with his family. We continued to go to the plaza and meet with the group, but many of them have since left the usual spot. Next time we return we will definitely be looking for this group!

The crazy thing is every plaza in Spain is filled with groups of youth like these smoking and partying waiting for someone to tell them that the things that they fill themselves with pale in comparison to the Kingdom of God.

May His Kingdom come.

(Title clarification: The official name of Spain is “The Kingdom of Spain” the different kingdom is the Kingdom of God, hope this clears up any confusion)

So many times, we discredit or pass over quickly the core things of our faith and this is included. I am a son of God. Done, nexttttt topic. This however is at the very core of our belief and unlocks our true identity. This separates all of the religions of the world with Christianity. A God that wants relationship, but relationship doesn’t do justice to what he is actually yearning for. God wants a family.

For a brief period of time in the beginning in the Garden of Eden, he had family. Adam and Eve walking with God probably eating and drinking with Him. Then came the fall to temptation which was actually a acceptance of belief that the Father couldn’t be trusted. The Enemy brought his atmosphere of fear, condemnation and rebellion and disconnected a son and daughter who as a result adopted the identity of orphans. This identity says I’m not worthy of the Love of God (shame) or I can do everything on my own and fight for all the things I get myself or I am afraid of a trusting relationship (mistrust). It is counter to the identity of son or daughter which is one of trust, love, sacrifice, generosity and peace.

The seed of the orphan spread through humanity with a patient Father trying to reconnect. He tried making new covenant after new covenant that would reestablish “his people” a.k.a his Family, his sons and daughters. This was in fact his plan of discipleship of the human race, since He is sovereign and knows the outcome at the end of the Age. Like a loving father, he knows that sometimes kids learn best the hard way. When he tried with the Isrealites after sealing the Covenant, the God of all creation came down and ate with Moses and the 70 elders (Exo 24). A few chapters later, we see the Israelites rejecting God and turning back to worshipping idols. This is our Father! He wants to eat and drink with us knowing the rejection coming. He’s a good father. It is again echo’ed in the marking of the New Convenant of Jesus (the exact representation of the Father) at the Last Supper. Again, rejection was in the very room in form of Judas, yet He makes a covenant of family knowing what is ahead of Him. God the Father is always knocking on the door of our hearts patiently saying to us, “Come Home, Sons and Daughters, Come Home”! He wants to dine with you and introduce you to the family.

When we accept the Father’s invitation into the family, we gain freedom because our identity moves from orphans and slaves to sons in the love of the Father. We trust the Father and walk in his ways and achieve freedom and peace and then we can introduce the orphans of the world to their true Father in heaven and their true identity as a son or daughter.

And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. -John 17:3

When we accept Jesus we take on the family name and become co-heirs with Him and are seated in heavenly places. It’s the Father’s good pleasure to give us His Kingdom! Are you still feeling unworthy? I pray that the Spirit of Adoption enters you and your spirit cries out DADDY to our Father in heaven. All creation is waiting and groaning for you to be revealed as a son or daughter and live with the Father as he dwells and lives with you.

We hit the ground running in the DTS calling students and preparing for the DTS. Now 1 week into the DTS, as I ponder the past month, I am awestruck at how God has orchestrated it. The best way to describe this step of faith is that it was directly on to the treadmill of God. He’s already moving we just step into the flow and hold on!

Camille and I just celebrated our SEVENTH YEAR ANNIVERSARY! What’s really amazing is the personal God we serve and love told someone to pay for our hotel room. Just a few weeks before, someone gave us their car to use RENT-FREE for the summer! I am starting to believe God loves to bless and pour out favor on His children :) He has already given us an immeasurable priceless eternal gift by the death and resurrection of His only Son, but he choses to continue to bless us with temporal things on occasion as well! Thank you Father!

I think 7 is a significant number as it is repeated various times in the Bible. It communicates rest and a setting in motion of the events in the past. God rested on the 7th day, but what he had created was set in motion by his command “Be Fruitful and Multiply”. I really feel God is saying this over our marriage and also that vision (set in motion from the past 7 years) will be birthed for the next 7 years of our marriage in this 7th year.

Some of you familiar with the DTS process is probably wondering where we are taking a team to! We are going to…

Spain

It has been on our hearts for awhile and we had prophecies about it as well. I think its fitting that this trip will happen in this year, because of it being our 7th year of marriage and our long (in my American instant-gratification-type patience)  waiting for the releasing from God. We have been wondering when it would happen! We ar excited because we have a diverse team of 10 (including us) with Koreans and Americans. Now that I’m “settled” expect posts weekly.

Here’s our other outreach locations:

What’s going to happen? Join us in March as we head to Taipei, Taiwan for 9 months to study the complete Bible. I’ll be sure and share revelation and experiences along the way. Camille and I realize one of the paradoxes of the Kingdom of God is that when we are hungry for God, we feed ourselves with God and become more satisfyingly hungry.

I think there is a verse in Hebrews (6:4) that talks about once tasting of the heavenlies and having shared in the Holy Spirit, having tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come that turning away is possibly permanent because we can’t crucify Christ again. Many people use this as a warning of falling away. I think its more of an encouragement to taste the Goodness of God and how it changes us forever and to keep going deeper into His heart. Its about the Supernatural change in our hearts and soul only God can do.

We’re already getting some crazy prophetic words, that make us think that there is more in Taipei for us than just a intense bible study. Jesus, have your way.

More on the School of Biblical Studies program »

Why Taipei? Well, first because God told us and confirmed it. Also, it has a great community and reputation for being one of the best SBS programs. Plus its pretty cheap—Can’t complain there.

Click here to view the embedded video.

We started our Mystery Fun Night with a movie that I watched in my DTS, Finger of God. Its meant to build faith in a God that heals, does miraculous signs and wonders and is moving around the world. The whole time during the movie I was feeling this impression of a struggle in the room. I think it was many of the students wrestling whether what they saw was real or not as the documentary showed people having “gold dust” on them, healings, and other miraculous things.

One student came to me after the whole night and said he was mocking it in his head but prayed to God that if it is real that he would reveal it to him. That’s just what God did.

After the movie, we tried to get on with showing outreach locations as all of us staff were super excited to show the students. I about hit play on the movie but had to make a change. Just then I saw people enclosing around Chris and Shalom, our married couple. I pretty much ran over because at this point people were shouting, gasping and everything in between. What I saw was Chris sitting in shock with tears streaming down his face. I looked at his body and it was COVERED with what I guess can only be called “gold dust” but it looked more like glitter to me.

We asked him to get up and speak about what happened and he said he saw a little gold dust even before the movie but played it off. By the end of the movie, he was covered and couldn’t deny this was from God.

We were all stunned, some of us trying to rationalize it by looking around for where they could have rubbed against a place, some of us laughing and clapping because that’s all we could formulate into a response. Andrew, our leader, got on the mic and just kept saying, “I don’t know what to do with this, I just don’t know” A thought had popped into my head that maybe, just maybe this was a step to build faith so I made a suggestion to ask if anyone needed healing of any kind. Andrew announced it and students and staff started praying for Jesus to heal each other!

It turned into a session of laying on of hands and praying over all areas of sickness and injury! and, man, were the people healed! As I prayed for people about every few minutes I’d hear a shout of joy from another group and then from my group! One guy got healed from something in his back (I wasn’t praying for him so don’t know exactly what it was) and just took off running and jumping for excitement! All I know is he was free of pain. Backs healed, legs healed, colds healed. A few people were not healed (also a mystery we must trust God on).

So do YOU believe it? Its hard to fathom why God does this. Some websites I’ve seen say well its not of God, its of Satan. Satan is doing a pretty bad job of getting people to go farther away from God as we praised God well into the night. These manifestations brought us closer to God and got us more hungry and excited to read the Word and get to know more about the God who heals (Jehovah Rophi, Exodus 15:26).

Can I explain it? Nope. All I can do is continue to bring all things before God, but rejoice when He decides to do something amazing and touch His people.

I just want more of you God! The real, out of the box, raw, authentic, one and only God! Open up our eyes to your wonderful workings and mysterious ways. All glory and honor to you, my God. AMEN

You see, the Awaken staff, leaders, and I can prepare and try to teach students about God, but it ultimately comes down to the individual and God. What is happening right now in hearts is that God, the God that created the Heavens and the Earth, is in pursuit of and captivating the hearts of the students. Although we care about our students, it will never measure up to God’s love for them. We must partner with God in this process for any lasting results.

The Spirit of God is stirring alive as the revelation of Gods character permeates their very being. The old lies that were attached to students are being replaced with the Truth about how God created them beautifully and wonderfully and with purpose. It has to be one of the most beautiful things to watch. Although most of the transformation is internal, you can see physical manifestations like brighter complexion/eyes and extreme joy and peace.

What is happening is a miracle. The Spirit of God, the Spirit of Truth, is dwelling inside of a human. Isn’t it crazy to actually take a second and think about? Jesus gave us such a gift. Gone are the Old Testament days of the select few people with the Spirit on them or that have access to the Holy of Holies. We have full access to the Spirit 24/7!

Jesus talking about the Holy Spirit:

“If you love me, you will obey what I command. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever—the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you. John 14:15-18

I don’t know about you but I think a gift from God deserves some examination and exploration! What is crazy is this gift keeps giving. With the Spirit, we have access to wisdom, understanding, discernment, reverence of the Lord, and council, the fruits of the Spirit as well as gifts like prophesy, teaching, leading, speaking in tongues, and many other things probably still to be discovered. It is a lifetime of exploration and understanding of just who the Holy Spirit is!

The Spirit was there in the beginning of time hovering over the waters and will again pour out over all the land in the end of time. I believe we are experiencing it!

Thank you Lord for not leaving us empty handed when you left, but you had a perfect plan to give us your Holy Spirit! I pray you continue to release the pouring out of your Spirit on all people! AMEN

Next post will be my thoughts on outreach and our future as we return to South Carolina and plan for the next step.

It seems like when ever you get Jeff (our DTS leader) and Jed (our brother-in-law and CommTrans alum) together crazy things happen! Its evident from the stories they came to us with from their trip in Amsterdam with the other outreach team. I think its because they just love Jesus and fire our teams up and we regain perspective on our situation from people outside of it. At any rate, having them here was refreshing and laughter filled!

We decided to do an outreach in the Kampii (city center) bus station which is huge because it also has a mall attached to it and is the hub for buses and to the subway. Its the junction of everybody in the city. We had about 14 people so we prayed and split up. I ended up going with Jed. The result of the next 3 hours was amazing. God moved in awesome ways many times with just small acts of kindness and love.

Jed and Calvin and a Divine Appointment

Jed wanted a massage in one of those massage chairs you see all over malls, so he sat down next to these 2 girls just talking in them. He happened to have 2 Euros and offered to turn on one of their massage chairs. This opened up the conversation to talk to them. Of course they asked what we were doing and so I told them we are followers of Jesus and part of a program through YWAM in Hawaii. She said that was a coincidence because one of her friends who they were just talking about when we walked up is going to some “religious” school in Hawaii too. I asked what her name was and she said, “Susa”. I was shocked! We were talking to a girl that was good friends with our friend in my exact DTS in Hawaii. What are the odds of us being in Helsinki, population 500 thousand, on this exact night in this mall on this massage chair unless God was wanting us to pour into her. She said Susa (we call her Silvia) always is praying for her but she said she isn’t romantic and feels like you have to be romantic to love God. Jed gave a great story about Jesus and God as a friend too. Aria and I were also able to give short testimonies. It was really interesting because she was so open like she wanted us to give her a reason to believe. I felt like her friend was soaking in all that we were saying and Aria was able to pray with her. It was cool to meet these two girls. We got their contacts and plan on hanging out again!

Kevin and a Simple Message

Jeff and Kevin were hanging out and Jeff felt like the Lord was telling him that Kevin should go talk to this one guy sitting down. I think Kevin had the feeling too and just felt like telling the guy that Jesus loved him. After that, Kevin talked to him more and later said he felt like it wasn’t even his words but he was speaking the words God wanted this guy to hear. The result was this guy accepted Jesus on the spot! Once he finished talking with the new brother in Christ, he saw a guy that he met at the soup kitchen we go to. He was so drunk he couldn’t even communicate well so Kevin decided to pray for soberness and laid hands on him and as he prayed in Jesus name the guy looked at him coherently in the eye, got up quickly, and said he had to catch a bus! He walked briskly away like a sober person would.

Jeff Street Preachin’ and God using Assa Mix (Finnish candy)

Jeff felt like there was a spirit of quietness/fear over this land (which we know is true because of being here and feeling the oppression). He decided to go in the opposite spirit and be bold and speak out loud a message of love to anyone who would listen. Petra translated into Finnish while he spoke. They were in the main junction where a lot of kids hang out and people are walking all around. After his message, 4 or 5 people got up to talk to him about Jesus. Seeds were planted and many of our team talked to this group of people for hours. Jeff also saw this kid with beer in hand nearby and felt led to offer him some Assa Mix. The kid had been listening to Jeff’s message and said his brother’s friend had talked about this Man (Jesus) and he had always wanted to know how he could know Him. Jeff was interrupted by a security guard kicking the kid out for drinking in a public area. Jeff walked with the kid and talked with him and the result was a tearful embrace and a salvation of one of God’s lost sheep.

Petra leads a new friend to her friend, Jesus

Petra had talked to a girl after Jeff’s message and got her contact information to hang out later. She invited her to the prayer night the next day. Petra hung out with her and ministered to her. Half way through the night, she made the announcement that her friend had accepted Jesus (she probably would have herself if she knew english)! We all laid hands on her and prayed for God to reveal his love and his Spirit to her even more.

Its important to know with all the people led to the Lord that we try to continue the relationship to disciple them. The relationship doesn’t end with salvation-that is just the beginning. Its so important to include new followers of Jesus into our communities to help them build a solid foundation on God’s love. For years I believed in Jesus but didn’t know Him. Just as in every relationship it takes time to get to know Him. There is nobody that can know everything about God, but he reveals his mysteries bit by bit through our life and every revelation is always worth seeking after!

These are just some of the awesome stories that came from that one night and 3 hours devoted to listening and obeying. It goes to show God uses everyone uniquely. We don’t have to be a bible scholar or a minister before He will use us. He knows all of our hearts and is pursuing all of his lost sheep to know Him and give their whole heart to Him. We just have to say yes in obedience out of love for Him and to what he is leading us into and watch what the living God does!

To end this post, here’s the results of a snow wrestling fight, haha:

I started to intercede for them and after awhile I all of a sudden felt my hands burning. It was really strange because there really isn’t a reason for them to burn, so I thought it must be from the Lord. I recognized that when I pray for healing sometimes my hand starts to have the same feeling so I started praying to partner with them, if indeed they were praying for healing. I had my doubts but I thought it wouldn’t hurt.

When the group came back, I asked how it went and they said they had prayed for this guys ankle and it was healed! I was like, “NO WAY!” Rex said as he prayed his hands were burning and he felt the tendon being healed in his hand.

It’s funny because I was thinking earlier that day that it would be cool during intercessory prayer to sense something going on with the group serving coffee and be able to partner with them in prayer and it happened! We serve an awesome God! I pray that through the healing it makes this guy realize that there is a God that loves him.