It has taken me some time to get back and finish up my blog about our Mission Trip to Rochester, NY. but here I am better late than never.
I titled this post "In the Field at Home" because so many wonder why we take missions teams overseas when there is so much that needs to be done here "at home". So as a review of our trip you will get a glance at Miracles happening in the field whither overseas or at home. First I want to tell you that a Missions trip is a war, a spiritual war is a fierce battle before, during and after the trip. We have seen this over the years, watching the enemy attach the adults and youth alike, watching them walk away from the church seemingly convinced they have done their good deed for life, now they can do as they please.
I want to start by Praising the Lord for our team, the Lord gave us a group willing to work, and willing to be mentored. We had young and older that working together, all learning as they go. Nobody was better than the other. We trusted each other, prayed with each other, and when the enemy was attacking we would pray. We got text messages in the middle of the night, and we prayed and watch the enemy flee.
Like I wrote about in our previous blog, the Lord gave us scriptures about doing Great things in His name, and prophetic words from our prayer partners that "Signs and Wonders" would follow us as we served. This was a confirmation of what the Lord had been teaching us, but did cause some fear of the unknown. But also some excitement to see the Lord use us for great things. I would love to go day by day, but instead I want to focus on two days that kinda cover everything that happened.
The day we went to the beach and handed out balloons was a first for us. Everyone had an opportunity to share "Encouragement Balloons" with many strangers. This gave us the opportunity to share what and why we were doing this for others. The balloons had paper tags that had encouraging words written on them. We had 7 new salvations that afternoon, and actually had a young lady rededicate her life because of the words on the paper. These encouraging words were the answer to things she had been praying about. God was confirming His love for her through these words. We had two boys from our team lead others to the Lord that had never lead anyone to salvation before. That is exciting! We planted seed in the lives of many, from many different backgrounds and faith ideas. This was really a day that created excitement and removed fear for the days to come. We worshipped on the beach for the remainder of the evening, praying, and sharing our experiences. You could see a light in their eyes that was shinning directly from their hearts.
Friday - Vacation Bible School was over and we had planned a free afternoon/evening at the beach. The enemy also had his plan. The youth went to the Mall, and then we were meeting at the beach. Kris and I had to make a trip to a few stores to buy supplies for the Family Carnival the next day. So when we finally meet at the beach, discouragement had set in. The beach was closed, it was windy and not many people hanging out at the beach. So I decided that we would go and try to find a different beach. Amanda was driving the van with all the kids (experience she will never forget), and they were getting hungry and discouraged. They couldn't find the beach and just wanted to get out. So we pulled over and I got in the van and drove and we took a different road toward the Lake and found a very small beach near a small peer. There were a couple restaurants right there so we decided "this is it" we are stopping and making the best of it. We walked out to the beach and a few of us went into the water and played frisbee, while other kinda scattered along the peer and other got a bite to eat. Some talking with each other, others spending time alone, and still others just observing. Discouragement was rampant, but God was aligning a master plan.
To make a really long story "shorter", a Chinese girl was following and teasing one of the girls on our team, and they started a friendly game. Then Kris started talking with them and they began to talk about Jesus. She was a Christian, but she was scared because her family were not. So as they were talking the family came and a rather lengthly discussion took place and the entire family received Jesus as their savior. The young girl spoke english fluently, but the family spoke only a few common words. So the young girls translated the entire conversation, But when they prayed the prayer of salvation with a young girl from our team, they prayed in Fluent English, and then again in Chinese. Did you see that , Fluent English. That was super exciting for everyone involved. The discouragement was lifting. As we regrouped and were discussing everything we started talking about Baptism. Three of our team members said, "I want Baptized, Now". We sat as a team and started to worship and pray, and a powerful time of prayer began to unravel. Chains were being broken, and hearts were being healed. We explained about Baptism with water and Baptism with the Holy Spirit, and out to the water we went. I still had my swim suit and T-shirt, others just their clothes, but one at a time we Baptized them. Then as we were standing there together close excited about their decisions, we told them that the Biblical example is Salvation, Water Baptism, and Baptism of the Holy Spirit. They immediately all said we want that too. So we talked a little and I explained to them how this happened for me, and how it happened for others I know. Then we prayed......Pray in tongues, and in own language.....first one, then the other, then the other began speaking in other tongues. Each one crying with the biggest smile on their faces I have ever seen. The coolest thing was when we were praying in a big huddle we didn't notice anything around us, but when we started towards the shore we saw that the peer was full of people that had come out to watch the sunset on Lake Ontario. Immediately my mind went to the book of Acts, when Peter had to explain when the tongues of fire fell on the disciples. Then preaching to all the bystanders. We all continued to worship and watch the sunset. As the sun was setting, the Chinese family walks down the peer waving, excited, but sad to go, as never to see us again. Simply humbled, and amazed at how the Lord changed the day from a discouragement to a HUGE memory for everyone. That was a Cornerstone for each of our lives, and our trip, but it wasn't over.
Family fun day was great....watched a young boy leave his Crutches behind as the youth prayed for him, and went away to play. Three Salvations. Lots of fun, and encouragement for the congregation and the community. Lots of games, candy and over 200 hotdogs for the kid in each of us.
Sunday morning arrived too early for most of us, but through the preaching of the word and the prayer with many in the team we had many healings. Our intercepter gave a testimony of a healing that took place in her leg and back from a few nights prior. She had her first full nights sleep in years. We had one lady receive Jesus as savior, and others healed from stomach issues. (We got email confirmation from one of those women telling us how good she feels.) Then is was time to pack up and head home.
Heading home you can't drive by Niagara Falls without stopping. So we spent a couple hours at the falls. As we were preparing to get dinner a man approached the group asking for something. We couldn't understand. He was deaf. One of our team members knows how to sign language pretty good so she came over and we had a really cool conversation with this man. He had never had hearing without hearing aides. With the aides he could only hear noise and it was soft. So they talked and he was a christian, so we asked him about his faith and if he believed Jesus could heal his hearing. So 16 people huddled around this man in the parking lot at Niagara Falls, praying in the Spirit then we asked him, "can you hear? " Nothing, so testing the Lord, we asked him to remove his hearing aides, and we prayed again. The parking lot blew up in prayer and praying Gods word about healing. After Kris started singing softly and he could hear a mumbling singing. First time every hearing anything without the hearing aides. So we prayed one more time and praised the Lord for being faithful, and watching the kids eyes of faith open bigger than they have ever been before.
Wiped out, we headed home with so many memories, and we were able to say, The Lord fulfilled the words form our prayer partner, "Signs and Wonders" did follow the ministry of our team. We observed the book of Acts first hand.
So Miracles still happen today, and some things you can't explain without seeing first hand.
Praise the Lord..........Lord Send us Again Soon
Now we are being diligent, working with the team, encouraging them so they don't fall as we have seen so many before.
Thanks for you interest in Crossing the Jordan Ministries, and remember God's word is truth, and if it worked then it will work today.......if you Believe!!
In His Service,
Todd
