For the past month we have been on the outreach portion of our dts. Our outreach is here to the Big Island. The first couple weeks, Aaron was the point leader in a Bible distribution in Kona. He led our team, alongside other local churches, the Salvation Army, and Ywam leaders to go door to door in distributing a Christian Bible to every home in Kona that wanted one. In just those couple weeks our team was able to hand out and pray for over 125 people and homes. I must say, it was really uncomfortable at first going door to door asking people if they wanted a Bible. In my mind, I felt it wasn't going to be effective, and I didn't really like it when someone knocked on my door, but the more we did it, the more we enjoyed it. Some people were cold towards us, but others invited us in, desperate for conversation and company. Our first day led us to the door of a woman "T". "T" had lost her 19 month baby boy a few weeks earlier to drowning and was so thankful we ended up at her door. We actually went back a few times and prayed over her, took her dinner and flowers, and just listened to her. She had 5 broken ribs and couldn't raise her arm at all and after we prayed over her she could raise her arm, and said she didn't feel the constant pain she had been feeling. Praise Jesus! My heart goes out to this precious woman who kept her smile in the midst of all of her pain. Please keep her and her 4 other children in your prayers. One thing I am learning is that people just want to be heard and to be made to feel as though their life matters. People's hearts are open, they just are waiting for others to reach out to them and show them the love of Jesus.
Another thing we did was that our evangelism team went on "treasure hunts". A treasure hunt is when you pray and ask the holy spirit for "words" or clues to go where He wants us to go. We have seen many people come to know the Lord through treasure hunts. Some of our youth prayed one morning and the Lord gave them words such as "book" "Safeway parking lot" and "plumeria tree" and "arm". So they headed over to the safe way parking lot, and lo and behold there was a young man ("A") sitting under a plumeria tree reading a book. When the kids approached him, they were able to share with the young man how they came to find him. "A" just started crying, admitted that he was addicted to heroin and wanted to change. He shared that his mom was a follower of Jesus, and that he wanted to be too, so our 12 year olds led this heroin addicted young 19 year old to Jesus, prayed for him to be filled with the holy spirit and then prayed deliverance over his heroin addiction and healing over the needles marks that marked up his arm.
Also for two weeks we had a team who helped minister to two other dts's on campus in a freedom ministry called "Pure Heart". Aaron and I both served on the Pure Heart team. We sat in on Tom and Donna Cole's teachings and at the end of the teachings each day there was a time of ministry. This type of ministry is possibly what I was made for! I loved every second of it. Pure heart was designed for those who already have given their hearts to Jesus, but are still being held in bondage by Satan from hurts from our past or guilt from sin in our life. For instance, some examples may have been shame of past abortions, or sex addictions or porn addictions, or hatred towards their parents for not being affectionate towards them. Others could've been carrying the shame of being sexually abused by a family member when they were younger, and some were believing the lies of being worthless, or ugly and fat, because of painful words their mom or dad, or old boyfriend had spoken over them at one point in their life. Walking through this ministry just showed me more than ever how much power our words carry. These precious kids were just wailing in pain on the floor over words that had been spoken to them that they started to believe about themselves. Ministry time consisted of praying over them, allowing the holy spirit to pinpoint specific memories or words of pain in their life, allowing them to grieve or be angry at these situations, and leading them through confession and forgiveness and the end result....FREEDOM! IT WAS BEAUTIFUL!!!! Some kids appearances had physically changed after they had been set free from these painful secrets, memories or lies that had been believing about themselves. The Lord had given me a picture in my mind of all these precious young followers of Jesus. They had given their hearts to the Lord, but all the junk they carried in their hearts kept them chained to a ball and chain around their ankles. With the chains they were still able to walk with the Lord, but once they received the ministry, I saw the freedom of Jesus come. He broke the chains off and they were now more free to run with Him instead of walk. In going through Pure Heart myself I physically felt this freedom, but to be on the other side and to be used by God to help lead people to their freedom was such an honor. Words can't describe how amazing and honored we felt to be a part of such a beautiful thing.
We get one day a week off on outreach, so we stay pretty busy, but every night we have dinner, and worship on the patio at Uncle Billy's which is located right in front of the strip of Kona. Just about every night we have people walk up curious about what's going on. We have people join us for dinner, and worship. We have seen people healed, the saved revived, and hearts being surrendered to Jesus all around our dinner time. Each night brings something and someone new. This next week we head over to South Point for a week of refreshing in the Lord. Going strong 6 days a week with your family, and living out of a small motel room can cause you to feel a bit burned out. So this week our team will be focusing on being alone with the Lord, resting in Him and getting refreshed and reunified before heading over to Hilo for the next month of ministry time. I am most excited about Hilo! In all our praying the Lord has spoke the most about our time in Hilo. I can't wait to see what He has up his sleeve for us . Would you please be in prayer for our team for continued unity and for a time of refreshing in the Lord this next week as we head over to South Point. Also, for us all to be bold in the Lord, sensitive to the voice of the holy spirit, and to have unoffendable hearts. Thank you to each and everyone of you that has supported our family and prayed for us. We love you and are so thankful for each one of you.
Also for two weeks we had a team who helped minister to two other dts's on campus in a freedom ministry called "Pure Heart". Aaron and I both served on the Pure Heart team. We sat in on Tom and Donna Cole's teachings and at the end of the teachings each day there was a time of ministry. This type of ministry is possibly what I was made for! I loved every second of it. Pure heart was designed for those who already have given their hearts to Jesus, but are still being held in bondage by Satan from hurts from our past or guilt from sin in our life. For instance, some examples may have been shame of past abortions, or sex addictions or porn addictions, or hatred towards their parents for not being affectionate towards them. Others could've been carrying the shame of being sexually abused by a family member when they were younger, and some were believing the lies of being worthless, or ugly and fat, because of painful words their mom or dad, or old boyfriend had spoken over them at one point in their life. Walking through this ministry just showed me more than ever how much power our words carry. These precious kids were just wailing in pain on the floor over words that had been spoken to them that they started to believe about themselves. Ministry time consisted of praying over them, allowing the holy spirit to pinpoint specific memories or words of pain in their life, allowing them to grieve or be angry at these situations, and leading them through confession and forgiveness and the end result....FREEDOM! IT WAS BEAUTIFUL!!!! Some kids appearances had physically changed after they had been set free from these painful secrets, memories or lies that had been believing about themselves. The Lord had given me a picture in my mind of all these precious young followers of Jesus. They had given their hearts to the Lord, but all the junk they carried in their hearts kept them chained to a ball and chain around their ankles. With the chains they were still able to walk with the Lord, but once they received the ministry, I saw the freedom of Jesus come. He broke the chains off and they were now more free to run with Him instead of walk. In going through Pure Heart myself I physically felt this freedom, but to be on the other side and to be used by God to help lead people to their freedom was such an honor. Words can't describe how amazing and honored we felt to be a part of such a beautiful thing.
We get one day a week off on outreach, so we stay pretty busy, but every night we have dinner, and worship on the patio at Uncle Billy's which is located right in front of the strip of Kona. Just about every night we have people walk up curious about what's going on. We have people join us for dinner, and worship. We have seen people healed, the saved revived, and hearts being surrendered to Jesus all around our dinner time. Each night brings something and someone new. This next week we head over to South Point for a week of refreshing in the Lord. Going strong 6 days a week with your family, and living out of a small motel room can cause you to feel a bit burned out. So this week our team will be focusing on being alone with the Lord, resting in Him and getting refreshed and reunified before heading over to Hilo for the next month of ministry time. I am most excited about Hilo! In all our praying the Lord has spoke the most about our time in Hilo. I can't wait to see what He has up his sleeve for us . Would you please be in prayer for our team for continued unity and for a time of refreshing in the Lord this next week as we head over to South Point. Also, for us all to be bold in the Lord, sensitive to the voice of the holy spirit, and to have unoffendable hearts. Thank you to each and everyone of you that has supported our family and prayed for us. We love you and are so thankful for each one of you.
