I have officially not been able to shower for a month. I miss the smell of “clean” and appreciate western toilets and showers to almost a idolatry status now. Haha so, pray for me. I have officially renamed any toilet that isn’t a squatter, “The Throne of Mercy”. I have trekked through Nepal, with two weeks of food,with my newest team “The Spirit Dancers” this month and it has officially been one of the hardest months of my Race.
I wrote about it in my personal journal and let’s flip back a few weeks and you can snoop around in my thoughts.
— flip—-
Glory to God who transforms and renews… He gave us the authority to cast out demons, heal the sick, and raise the dead. Below are celebrations of great movement of the spirit:
After many hours of traveling from Kathmandu we arrived at a church in Hatorah where we would stay for a week.
Some days passed
I quietly was lead to speak to a woman who was crying and weeping at Saturday church. At one point she started making one noise over and over. I don’t often feel deep with people I don’t know but my eyes started tearing and my heart felt heavy. So I sat next to her leaned over to pray and felt myself speaking in tongue. She spoke back in perfect English. My first display of speaking and hearing The Lord translated for me when the woman couldn’t speak my language. I spoke to Ben that evening about it, because I didn’t understand what had happened, I never speak in tongue to people, rather I tend to alone. Speaking in tongue in this scenario, Ben said, was often a spiritual gifting of tongue given to people who are mothers. This gifting of tongue, in the way the Lord used it, is actually used more as a source of being a comfort with in women and children. It is some women’s gifting to be a comforter through this display of tongue. I have the some of the gifting of a mother.
Some days passed. I don’t know how many.
The day before our off day I trekked for about an hour to another village than the one we were staying. I was approached by Ryan and asked to preach a sermon to a crowd of believers who had fallen back into Hindi practices and Hindi people.
People were asked to gather and most people walked away. Only one woman stayed so I started my sermon regardless of the size. I sat in front of her and began. I focused on her and most who had walked away began to return to sit and listen. Before I knew it I had a group of ten people in front of me. I continued as the crowd grew. Others came out of the fields. The group grew and tripled the ten that sat before me. Hindi neighbors and even other Nepali Christians surrounded us. Once I had finished our team began to pray over the sick with in the crowd and healing took place.
“Is anyone’s right arm in pain? Jesus is giving us a vision of a right arm.” Samara both spoke. A man who had no mobility his right arm stood. Ben, Hannah, and Samara prayed over him a three times and he arose smiling and moving his arm with a healed arm. Regaining full motion in his arm, several people around him began to sit with us and ask for us to pray in the name of Jesus for them.
The woman I spoke to, the one from the start came to the church the following day.
She came to me with food and I sat down with a thirteen year old Nepali girl as my translator and began to teach more of the Bible. She asked me after a while to play guitar so she could dance. I started and the room was filled with joy. I heard a couple neighbor kids at the windows. So I decided to move the woman outside so the four kids could dance too.
School kids heard the guitar on the streets and came to the yard. I sat and played for a few minutes to a small group… After a moment I looked up and saw 50 to 60 elementary age kids.
I stopped playing and asked them through the same 13 year old translator, if they knew what the songs were about. They shook their heads no. “Do you know who the man Jesus is?” My young translator said “they do not know who’s son that is.” Organic and unplanned is how Papa uses me.
I asked if they liked stories and if they would like to hear one. 50 broken English mixed with Nepali “yes”s were what I was greeted with.
I told the kids about the creation of the earth, the fall of man, and moved on to the redemption of the cross. Few left the crowd disinterested as some walking on the streets were added. The crowed of elementary students grew about 70 more students, but they were much older. So, I began the story once more. This time my team jumped in, even though it was our off day, and began to act what I was saying out. People left and people were added.
((A week later we got a call and four school children came to church and one woman from the day when I shared my sermon accepted The Lord on valentines day))
After a while Joe was surrounded by a group of 30 older teenage boys. My translator had moved and began translating for Joe. At this point I went inside and laid down on my sleeping mat and just closed my eyes. Hundreds of faces I had just seen were planted in my brain.
We traveled by bus 12 hours to Rampur.
Maybe two days pass, I don’t know.
But plans changed and we impromptu were added to a women’s bible study. We lead it,
then it was time to pray for the sick. Almost two seconds in, I was praying for a Woman with a hurt shoulder, a demon possessed woman manifested and was thrashing around gnashing her teeth and screaming in Napali that Jesus was not Lord and telling us foreigners we needed to leave. I felt lead to go in front of her and so I walked towards her and she screamed and slightly lunged towards me thrashing and tried to bite me. I took a moment and asked God for strength. Then I felt an overwhelming sense of power surge through me and I loudly in almost a tone of voice I don’t think I could ever do on my own roared ” you have no place here in the name of Jesus get out.” She fell and became herself again and cried. I sat and held her and began to focus on bringing joy and peace. I knew it wasn’t over. But Bitu told me my prayer was good and had released her from a spirit. But it wasn’t over, when I hugged her my spirit kept saying you’re so close…you are hugging a demon right now but you know your authority. The Lord will give you strength.
Then Ben came over with Pastor and Bitu. They began to pray again and she manifested again. I began speaking in tongue and at this point everyone was doing what The Lord was asking of them. Finally exhaustingly I whispered and said to the demon ” speak if you want to speak.” She started chattering and screeching this awful sound. She had so many demons. But each one left her body
Ben explained later when she started screeching. We finally reached the leader because her ability to speak was shut. Pastor was over her head yelling and proclaiming truth at the demon who was overtaking her body and sweating bullets. I could feel his sweat hit my arms. I was speaking very heavily in tongue at this point, which until this month never really did out loud, I’ve only experienced it when I pray alone. But at this point, who cares what people think or what’s normal. A Heavenly language was the only sword I seemed to pick up when she began speaking the demonic screeching and chattering. Then Ben spoke something and something happened. The demon left. She started quietly saying Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, and louder and louder she kept saying it and then opened her eyes and was staring exhaustingly numb back at us. She was freed, but didn’t want to accept Christ fully. She said her heart was hardened, she couldn’t read the word. Jessica then spoke and assured her she was free, but Jess doesn’t remember what she said, so I think the spirit was talking through her. So keep this woman and us in your prayers. The demon tried to make a deal saying if he left than she or we (don’t know which cause of translation) had to leave rampur. But we are not going anywhere anytime fast.
She returned the next mornings or church and sat behind me. Unsure of her manifestations I kept ushering the kids to the other side of me just encase. I would rather be the first to grab her. Nothing happened.
Service was over.
Then people gathered for prayer. She was with in the circle started screaming. So I began to walk in calmly. This didn’t last long. Pastor prayed five minutes in contrast to the five hours the day before. Then ten minutes later she and pastor sat down to read the word. Pastor read it to her with a love I pray I have one day. Once a hardened heart now softer. She struggles with shame after manifestations so remember to pray for her.
–flips close—
so there we have it, wild huh. Yeah I still have to take time to process it myself. Now let’a shift gears quick. Things towards the end of Nepal got really difficult for me. I lost a really really dear friend back at home. We use to blow glass together. I’ve been coming up with a way to deal with it in a healthy way and still maintain focus on ministry. But, let’s be real, living thousands of miles away and not being able to be with your friends back at home to grieve a loss is hard. But, God is so good, so merciful, and he will help carry me on…
Still not fully funded, so please help in any way you can before my deadline March 1st.
