Wow, where do we start!?
Joyce and I have always had a longing in our heart to go to the nations to share the Love of Jesus Christ. Having been on many trips to Russia (11) , as well as 2 to Costa Rica, our passion even got stronger to go. Earlier this year, the nation of Columbia seemed to greatly appeal to us, especially to Joyce. After talking to Chip Anderson, executive officer of “Christ for the Cities International”. We felt very moved to go there, especially to the city of Medallion, Columbia. Chip has many contacts there, so arrangements were being put into place. As we began our preparations for an August 7th, 2010 date. Things that we thought were going to work out was just not happening and 3 days before leaving, the trip was cancelled. Needless to say that we were deeply disappointed, we didn’t understand, we felt like we had been put on a shelf somewhere and abandoned. We never lost out passion to go, but things just didn’t make sense. As you know a faith walk never makes sense, anyway. We know the Lord put this in our hearts to go, but little did we know what he was planning for this trip.
We were finally able to confirm a date for November 28-December 8, 2010. With the date in place and now a church that we would work with, a church open to healing, the manifest presence and power of the Holy Spirit, a church that would embrace the “Gifts of the Spirit” including speaking in tongues. The pastor of this church, whom we stayed at his residence, was very open and had told us later that God gave him a dream of (2) people would be coming to their church and they will be a blessing to the body.
Let us back up a little now and tell about the vision we felt the Lord gave us as to how this was to look and what we would be doing.
Joyce and I have been trained under the ministry of Charles and Frances Hunter Healing Ministry”. We were students in their school and were a part of several outreaches that they conducted around the US. Charles and Frances are now both with Jesus, Charles early 2010 and Frances in 2009. Their ministry was world wide they ministered healing in many nations, the great commission was their life with the gift of healing. Charles and Frances were powerful role models in our Christian walk, we would watch their videos and bring tears to our eyes.
The vision the Lord gave us, is we would go to Medellion, Columbia to this church and put together a team that would go through the training process, catch the vision all based on Mark 16:15-18, take them out into the public areas and apply what they learned. Another part of the vision, is to have a healing explosion night, being advertised to bring in the sick and the lost. The final part of the vision was that when we left to come back home, the team was prepared, had a passion in their heart to pray over the sick and a deposit was left to carry on this vision in their city and across their nation.
Let us now begin the story or testimony of what the Lord prepared. We met with the leadership, the pastor and staff and the interpreters to arrange what the week would look like, that was on Monday.
Tuesday came and we had 55 people wanting to go through the training which included some 8-15 hours of videos, plus teaching about application and a lot of hands on learning. The first class we covered a need of forgiveness and how critical that is in God’s eyes for a lot of reasons, including your own health. We also covered the importance of the power of the Holy Spirit in your life, and to launch into the healing ministry you could not do that in your own power, but through the baptism of the Holy Spirit with the speaking of tongues, which is considered the gate to other gifts the Holy Spirit can release in your ministry, we strongly made it known to them that was important and was actually commanded by Jesus. Acts 1:1-5. We had favorable response and we believe all were baptized in the Holy Spirit with the evidence of speaking in tongues. Now that those two critical issues were handled, the training process was to begin.
That Tuesday afternoon, some of the team and ourselves went to a hospital and sought out those we could pray for, Joyce and I ended up in a room with a solider in the Columbian Army who had got wounded in a battle. We prayed with him for healing, and he accepted Jesus into his heart, which was the biggest miracle. Other members had similar opportunities as they ministered in the hospital.
Tuesday evening, the training became more intense and the videos showed many supernatural miracles that the Lord did. The videos were beginning to build a faith level, that if Charles and Frances can do this, and Dick and Joyce can do this, so can I do this, because that is part of the great commission, “You shall lay hands on them and they shall recover.” We could see them starting to see themselves doing ministry just by the questions they were beginning to ask, later after the session we had many come up to Joyce and I to pray over them for different things. The Lord showed himself strong by touching everyone who came up including salvations. There were many requests and the Holy Spirit was there in power meeting each one of their needs. Joyce prayed for a lady to have another baby, with in a year. Later that evening we felt the Lord was telling us that the training session on Wednesday, the team would begin to lay hands on each other, and they also will experience God’s power.
Wednesday morning, we started off with a training video and we called up the trainees to pray over those who had physical needs. We had taken with us a manual in Spanish on “How to heal the sick” in it covers just about every sickness and disease known and how they can speak into those specific areas, note: Jesus spoke to the mountain, He didn’t pray He spoke to it, these training manuals became a part of them, and it blessed is to see them ask people what their problem was and than they would get out the manual and look it up and than they would apply what the teaching was showing them. The first trainee prayed for a woman that had scoliosis (abnormal curvature of the spine)we instructed her what to do, but she did the laying on of hands and spoke to the spine. When she got done, the pastor was standing behind the lady who was being prayed over and her spine started to move and got corrected. The pastor said “Look her back is moving and her blouse has tightened up because of the change in her back”. The trainee broke out into tears and said, “I cant believe God is willing to use me with His power”. The faith level was beginning to build with all the trainees watching and waiting for their turn, the healings always done in the name of Jesus.
The next trainee came up and laid hands on a man who had no hearing in his right ear. According to the manual, we instructed the trainee how to minister to this man with the deafness in one ear. Once again, it was the trainee that laid hands on him, not us. After the trainee was done we asked him to ask the man what he experienced. That man had a big smile come across his face and he said I can hear perfectly in both ears, you should have seen the joy on him. We saw this man several times during the rest of the week and he was just singing and dancing and thanking Jesus for restoring his ear from years of not hearing.
The next trainee came up, she was so excited to be apart of what they were seeing, she had a young lady come up and ask for prayer for her eyes. Her vision was poor and she could not read things at close range. The trainee was shown how to minister in this area, once again, it was the trainee doing the laying on of hands. When the trainee was done, we always had them ask, “what did you experience”, she said I felt a heat all over my head. They took her a bible and asked her to read it! She broke into tears immediately and said I can read it, I can see every word clearly. She started weeping and praising God to the point where her tears were getting all over the bible pages. Thank you Jesus!
The next trainee, a lady came up ready with her manual. They brought a young girl of about 8-10 years of age, who had flat feet. We instructed the trainee what to do, in this case to speak to the pelvic area and command it to rotate. She laid hands on the young girl and her pelvic area started to move and adjust, this went on for a few minutes. As the pelvis was adjusting the pastor happened to look down at her feet and they were both arched, no longer flat. All the trainees were getting a boldness of thinking if they can do it, I can do it also. The girl walked away with arches in her feet, all done in the name of Jesus.
The next trainee came up, a lady ready to see how the Lord was going to use her. The Lord put a lady who had been battling cancer in her body, for this trainee. We instructed the trainee on how to minister to her. As she laid hands on her and spoke to these areas the lady started to burn up with heat all over her body. We asked her what are you experiencing, she said a unbelievable heat all over my body, you can see that the Holy Spirit was doing a powerful thing to the point the lady was soaked in perspiration. She was slain in the spirit and laid on the floor, while the healing power of the Holy spirit was going through these areas. This is a healing that will be confirmed by a doctors report.
A young man trainee was next, he was eager to see what was going to happen. A older man who came in off the street to see what was going on, came up for prayer. So we had the trainee ask the man what he needed prayer for, the older man said his legs bothered him all the time, his back and bladder. We instructed the trainee as to how to target all these areas and then the trainee began to minister to the man. After the trainee was done, we asked him what he had experienced, The man said I felt this heat across my back, legs and areas of his lower stomach area. We asked, “what can you do that you couldn’t do before?”, he bent over and touched his toes, twisted at the hips and said I couldn’t do that for years. Time will prove out the healing of his bladder, We asked him if he knows Jesus as his personal savior, he replied “no”. We said would you like ask Him into your heart? He said “yes”. This older man perhaps in his 70’s received Jesus as his Lord and savior, this is the biggest miracle of all.
There were other healings in that session that the Lord used the trainees to learn and experience God’s power with their hands. The faith level and expectancy was very high.
Wednesday afternoon, we had an outreach in a park by the metro station. The church had a large banner made telling about the healing explosion that will be held on Friday night at the church. The drama team from YWAM was there and they put on a production which was very effective and had the viewers attention. After that we had the healing teams positioned and we made an announcement that anyone who needed a healing to come up. There were people coming from everywhere to get a touch from the Lord. The teams were all busy, laying hands on people, there were back problems being healed, head aches being healed, long term illnesses being healed. A young man in a wheelchair, who suffered from an injury. The Lord was using the team to minister to him. The teams prayed over some people with addiction problems and the Lord was setting them free. There were people who were demonically oppressed, set free. There were two women who were witches who came into the area, yes Jesus loves the witches also, they were delivered and set free and asked Jesus to become Lord of their lives. The team experienced in Mark 16:17, “and these signs shall accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons”. Mark 16, “the great commission” took on a greater and more powerful meaning in the lives of the team and those who were watching.
Wednesday evening our session was held at one of the outreach churches. Pastor Juan had us speak and share what was on out heart. We talked about the desire that God puts in your heart, only He can fulfill that desire. We showed a hour of training, then had people come up who needed prayer. Several of the teams were there to lay hand on people, as well as me and Joyce prayed over people. Once again, there were many needs being met. Some had an instant visible healing and some would require a doctors examination. People with diabetes, lung problems, pain in the arm, back injuries, foot problems, disfigured toes were being straightened out, cataracts, scar tissue from surgery, heart issues, several with short legs grown out, arthritis was healed, and others. The team along with Joyce and I laid hands on many that night, the Lord was healing and touching all that came up. We could see the teams confidence raising with each outreach.
Thursday was a full day of three training session, one in the morning, afternoon and evening. The trainees were getting a good understanding of the importance of laying hands on people and following the proper way to speak into specific areas of the body. We talked about the authority you walk in as a believer and your ability to command the body parts to come into prefect alignment, the way God made it to be. We discussed how there was no need to holler, but speak with a firmness and confidence, which brings peace, which brings the Joy of the Lord and “the joy of the Lord is our strength.” We showed 3 one hour videos on Thursday. After the evening class, there were people who came up for prayer, physical, emotional and several received the baptism in the Holy Spirit.
Friday morning session which would be our final training before the healing explosion service Friday evening. After a one hour video we went through a training session and review of the manual and some of the terminology and what it meant and a lot of question and answer time. The questions were all good and that showed how serious they were about ministering to the sick. After all the training was done we handed out certificates of completion for their willingness to finish the training. We had 31 trainees finish with enough hours to get a certificate. They also received a badge with a ribbon attached with their name on it and they were part of the healing team that God was going to use that evening.
After they received their certificates, we had them line up in two rows and Joyce and I prayed over each one, and prayed an impartation and anointing of the Holy Spirit over each one. This was a very powerful time and a culmination of their dedication to the great commission, Mark 16:15-18. As we prayed over them the Lord had a word for several of them. The excitement was very high and they all very proudly displayed their certificates to their friends and family.
The Friday evening service has arrived, the time we had been building for. Before the service started one of the trainees brought his wife for prayer. Joyce, I, the husband and Rafael (the interpreter) took her up stairs and prayed over her. She was having trouble with her legs varicose veins and a lot of pain in her back. We spoke into those areas and the power of the Holy Spirit came all over her. She said she felt relief and heat on her back and legs. After that we ministered to Rafael about the baptism of the Holy Spirit with the evidence of speaking in tongues, once there was a little misunderstanding he had about the gift was cleared up, he was speaking in tongues with a lot of power coming out. The rivers of living water begin to flow.
The front of the church had been ribboned off so that we could set up five teams (3 per team) at a time. I spoke on Acts 2 on power and after that the stage was set for those who needed prayer to line up behind the ribbon. There was a very high level of expectancy for the teams and also those wanting prayer. Joyce and I did very little praying, all we did was coach them when they needed help and kept it orderly.
We were extremely blessed to see how well the teams did and how well they applied the teachings. They really took charge and the Holy Spirit was moving in a powerful way, people were being healed of back problems, necks, varicose veins, female issues, arthritis, some deliverances, emotional healings, children were being healed of leg problems from birth. One lady was in a wheel chair and was paralyzed from waist down, from a gun shot wound to her back and was without use of her legs. After team laid hands on her and spoke into those areas, they stood her up, her legs were tingling, she felt stretching going on, she had no feeling before this. One of the issues that they had her address was the forgiveness to the person who shot her on a street corner, that set the stage for the beginning of her recovery. We do believe that there will be progress reports of her healing. We also got blessed to watch our interpreters get involved and to pray over these people, also. The healing explosion went strong until about 11pm Friday night and at one time there was about 40-50 people waiting to be prayed for, the trainees were having the time of their life and they did not want it to end. Many were healed, we couldn’t keep track of them all, this was all done in the name of Jesus Christ. We know that there will be many testimonies coming forward from this entire week of miracles, miracles, miracles. Joyce and I were really blessed to see the confidence build in the teams as they ministered, everyone of them launched into a high level of faith, with boldness from the power of the Holy Spirit working through them.
We had awesome interpreters: Adam, Margarita, Yamid, and Rafael and through the whole week we could see them taking on a new and deeper understanding of the presence of the Holy Spirit and with power. They witnessed many miracles and it was life changing for them.
Saturday morning and afternoon we had a break and a chance to see the city and to ride the tram from mountain top to mountain top. What a beautiful city, especially from the view in the tram (cable car).
Saturday evening, I was asked to speak to the youth group. They have a great worship team and the youth were dancing and worshiping the Lord. Joyce got up and shared a testimony about our journey, our experiences, our walk with the Lord and how the Lord delivered our oldest son. After Joyce finished, I shared on the word “commitment”. I had taken some large photos of different automobiles. One being a rusted beat up car with weeds growing around it, unusable. The second was model “T” car, clean, but slow and old. The third was a bright yellow , new sports car with all kinds of power available to you. I had three of the youth come up and hold the pictures in full view.
As I showed the pictures, the question came up, what is your commitment to Jesus and what do you want it to look like in maybe 5 years? Which of the 3 automobiles will represent you in 5 years.? They all without hesitation pointed to the fancy car with all the power. I shared how just by the step of your right foot you have a lot of power available to you. This illustration allowed me to talk about the Holy Spirit and the power that you can operate in, with that we called them all up front and asked who wants to receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit, with the evidence of speaking in tongues. Nearly all wanted that, so we prayed with them and asked the Lord to baptize them in power. Many of them received their prayer language and began speaking in tongues, the power there was unbelievable, the presence of god was so strong, many of them were on the floor weeping and crying out to God, speaking in other tongues. Joyce and Yamid were there laying hands on them and assisting them, the Lord was using them both with power coming out of their hands. This went on for a lengthy time. There were healings going on also, back and headaches, eyes (2) different people, Yamid (the interpreter) prayed over a lady with bad ankles and she got her healing. We finally ended at about 10:30pm and the youth were changed. the fire of God hit many of the youth.
Sunday morning service, I got up and asked if there were any testimonies to share. Several got up and shared about what god had done through the whole week. The trainee got up and share he was the one we prayed for on Friday for his wife and the healing of her back and varicose veins. He said they went home that night and said his wife was up for most of the night telling how good she felt and the pain was gone out of her back and she could sleep. He said he finally had to tell her to go to sleep, so he could get some sleep. Thank you Jesus.
I shared a message that day on “according to your faith, be it unto you”, Matthew 9:29 with reference to Hebrews 11:6, “and without faith it is impossible to please God”. Joyce got up and shared the story about our 3 month old grandson, Zurick. She shared about how his liver bio duct had been destroyed after birth and the faith walk of the parents, to believe by faith step by step to bring a healing to him, according to God’s promise to us, “I will never leave you, nor forsake you”.
Pastor Fernando preached Sunday night and talked about where the Lord wants to take the church. Joyce and I ministered after the service, with Margarita (the interpreter). Several came up and the Lord was healing many, some band members came up and said they were really dry in their Christian walk. We ministered the baptism of the Holy Spirit over them, and the spirit came upon them and they started to shake and loud tongues came out of them, Margarita later said, “I guess I never realized how important the Holy Spirit and speaking in tongues is and for our life as Christians”
Many of the people we seen all week came up to us and said how much it has had an impact on their lives and it was tough to say good bye.
Our time with Pastor Fernando and his wife Lucy, who’s house we stayed at, was very special. The gracious hosts that they were, the meals they arranged, the willingness to serve, the laughter we had together, meeting their lovely daughters and most of all their love for their church and for people. We thank them for all they did to make this week a blessing to many. Thank you for trusting us.
Monday came and Pastor Fernando drove us to town to have a meeting with Pastor Pedro, who is in charge of “Christ for the City Medellin”. We were both encouraged by the impact that “Christ for the Cities” was having on the churches in that area and Pastor Pedro, his family and staff and their commitment. We were then taken to a hotel to stay until our departure on Wednesday.
Now to back up to the Tuesday of the start of the week. We were in Pastor Fernando’s church on that Tuesday evening and a man came up to us and introduced himself, Pastor Al Pedio, and he wanted us to come to his church and minister, so we told him we could do it Monday evening and Tuesday morning before we left for home on Wednesday am flight. So we arranged for them to pick us up at the hotel Monday evening at 5pm. 5pm arrived and so did Pastor Al Pedio and an interpreter name George, we all departed for his church, which was a located above a bar. George shared with us that he had been in prison in America and got saved there, also learned English. George and Angela (his wife), were our interpreters, for the next two days. This is a faith walk, and we know the Lord had something powerful that He was going to do. There were about 25 people in the church at that time. They had a little praise and worship and then I got up and shared the word, we talked about faith and God’s will to heal and He wants to heal you.
The people stated to come up one at a time, Joyce and I would take turns praying over them. One of the first was an older woman who had back and shoulder problems, with very limited range of motion. We prayed over her and the Holy Spirit adjusted those areas and she was able to raise her arms and bend over and touch her toes.
The pastors grandson came up and had us pray for his flat feet. We spoke to the hips and pelvis and commanded it to rotate and it did rotate. His feet arched a little, so we told him to go and just wait. We began to minister to another, while doing so David (the grandson) came running up and said, I was in the back of the church and my feet began to hurt a little and they started changing. We checked his feet and he had full arches. Thank you Jesus.
We had another lady come up that was Jaundice and was suffering from a severe liver problem, we spoke to that liver and commanded it to release the bio and to function normal and we prayed over her whole body to function. She experienced heat going on in her body and we could see the color of her skin starting to return to normal. Once again a doctor’s report will confirm this. The white of her eyes were cleaning up.
A lady came up in her mid 40’s and said she was injured some 25 years ago, from a fall in gymnastics. Her vertebra and disc were out of alignment and she was in constant pain, not allowing her to perform simple tasks. We spoke into those areas of the spine and commanded an alignment and new discs. We asked her to do something she could not do before. She sat on the stage and put her legs into a position what would be difficult for anyone, only she did it with ease. The pain was gone as well as the mobility in her back was restored. She said “I am healed, thank you Jesus, 25 years of pain and it’s gone.”
We had several come up with severe back issues and leg issues, some could hardly walk. The Lord touched everyone of them and they walked back to their seats pain fee, with their agility being restored.
Can you see the compassion that God has for people? He wants you well, He gets no glory out of sick people.
The power of God was so strong, arthritis was healed, varicose veins were healed, knee issues were healed, many said, “ I experience heat going through my body”. Joyce and I were both getting tired, so the people said they will come back in the morning.
Tuesday morning we were picked up again at the hotel by the Pastor and another interpreter. We got to the church again and there were many anxious people there ready to receive. I shared the word for a while on healing. Followed by people starting to come up for prayer.
One lady came up for prayer, but before we prayed for her back and legs, the Pastor led her in a prayer to receive Jesus as her Lord and savior. The Lord was faithful to heal her, she had been set free spiritually and physically.
A woman came up who had been battling with breast cancer, stage 4, and other issues. We laid hands on her, while praying targeting those specific areas. We asked her what she had experienced. She said she had a extreme heat go through her body and she said she couldn’t explain the things going on in her body. The Holy Spirit was doing powerful healing, this also would have to be confirmed by a doctor.
Joyce had a word of knowledge that someone had been having bad headaches. We asked the group, and one lady raised her hand. She came up and Joyce prayed over her. The lady has a very sad look on her face. She received her healing, but was still lacking joy. She went and sat back down.
A young lady came up and wanted prayer for her to find a man, to become her husband, through marriage. Joyce was about to lay hands on her, but before she touched her, she broke into laughter and ended up on the floor with a deep belly laugh. This went on for about 10-15 minutes. We had the lady who had the headaches come back up, who needed joy. This young lady who was seeking a husband, now filled with laughter, hugged the sad faced woman and she began to crack a smile. We prayed for the young single
woman that with in 90 days the Lord was going to allow her to cross paths with the man the Lord has raised up for her, that was her desire. We prayed that they would have several children, the church was filled with joy.
As the morning went on, we had gotten reports from those sitting in the church, that they got healed just sitting there. Two ladies in particular came up and shared that testimony with everyone. Thank you Jesus.
An older man came up for prayer for his lungs and other issues. He said he could not take 3 steps with out being fatigued and out of breath. According to the manual, we spoke a creative miracle of new lungs into this man. After that we asked to take deep breaths and exhale, he did and we had him do it repeatedly. A big smile came across his face and he said I couldn’t do that before. I asked him to walk to the back of the church, so he did it without any hesitation and in full stride. At the back of the church, I asked him to run up to the front and he did with no breathing problems at all. He erupted in laughter and so did the church. He said his desire is to walk to church, and with new lungs the Lord blessed him and fulfilled his desire. Thank you Jesus.
There were several more people wanting to be prayed for, it was getting to be about 2pm. So we lined them up, the Lord knowing what each of their needs were and Joyce and I laid hands on them and they were being slain in the spirit and the Holy Spirit was touching each and everyone. In the two sessions at Pastor Al Pedio’s church, there were probably over 40 people who received healing from the Lord, what an encounter.
There was a lady that came up at the end of the service on Tuesday and said that while we were praying over people, she saw a cloud over us up in front of the church.
Pastor Al Pedio was so blessed and kept saying how his church had received their healing. Every person without exception, got their healing. Thank you Jesus.
To bring this to a close, I would like to share two prophetic messages we received, before we left for Colombia:
– We were to be “master bakers of bread, fresh bread, not stale, but fresh warm bread and that God will refresh us, He will bring us into a new fresh experience and as you receive the fresh new bread, you will feed others and teach others to bake bread.” (Bread is healing for the children) We had on this trip the opportunity to bake the bread, distribute it and teach others to do the same.
– “A man we will meet, will take us to a deeper place and God will give us the grace to fulfill this call”
When we had the opportunity to minister in Pastor Fernando’s church that was an unbelievable experience, and when Pastor Al Pedio came and took us to his church, we felt that was the deeper place with an even more powerful anointing.
We thank the Lord for Him cancelling that first attempt to put this trip together, it would have been a disaster. We thanked Him for the two awesome churches and pastors we got to work with and how open they were to the Holy Spirit. We thanked Him for all the precious people we worked with and trained and all the powerful healings that took place. Jesus is the divine healer!!
We would also like to extend a thank you, to the people who made this trip possible through their prayers and support, our Father in Heaven was glorified by the miracles He preformed.
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