Next Stop: Los Baños - and I’m not talking about the
washroom! Although I can’t deny that our missions trip destination did happen
to be known for its relaxing hot springs! A delightful perk we made sure to
take advantage of during one afternoon of rest.
We were warmly welcomed by the pastors and staff of the local church we partnered with in Los Baños on our first day of ministry there. It was special to get to know them a bit and to hear what God had been doing in their church over the past year before launching into our scheduled events.
Our first night of ministry was at Destiny Church Center where we were given the privilege and honor of hosting the church service and then taking those in attendance to the town square to reach out to their neighbors. I was given the opportunity to paint on stage with a few others of my teammates during the worship service. I wasn’t quite sure what I was going to paint – although I had a little bit of an idea when I began. I was so thankful that as I waited on the Lord for each next brush stroke, He helped me pull it together easily. After asking God who the painting was for, He hi-lighted a girl in the audience. When I gave it to her I found out that she had been hoping the painting would be given to her all along because she really liked it. I love how God loves to give us the desires of our hearts!
We were warmly welcomed by the pastors and staff of the local church we partnered with in Los Baños on our first day of ministry there. It was special to get to know them a bit and to hear what God had been doing in their church over the past year before launching into our scheduled events.
Our first night of ministry was at Destiny Church Center where we were given the privilege and honor of hosting the church service and then taking those in attendance to the town square to reach out to their neighbors. I was given the opportunity to paint on stage with a few others of my teammates during the worship service. I wasn’t quite sure what I was going to paint – although I had a little bit of an idea when I began. I was so thankful that as I waited on the Lord for each next brush stroke, He helped me pull it together easily. After asking God who the painting was for, He hi-lighted a girl in the audience. When I gave it to her I found out that she had been hoping the painting would be given to her all along because she really liked it. I love how God loves to give us the desires of our hearts!
I encouraged her that I felt like the painting signified that there’s grace for her to go to a new level of freedom and blessed her to go to deeper levels of joy (for the yellow) revelation (for the blue) and abundant life (for the green).
After the worship service and giving away our paintings, Theresa Dedmon led a mini workshop on how to prophesy through various means as well as how to heal through art. As a part of that teaching, our team demonstrated. I sensed there was someone in the crowd who had pain in their foot. So I drew a picture of a foot and asked if anyone had pain in their foot. Two men came forward to be prayed for and they both were healed by having the art placed on their foot and praying a simple prayer. Praise God! One of the men said that he couldn’t dance during worship because of the pain. But after we were done praying, he was stomping his foot without pain!
Soon after our time of teaching, we divided the church up into teams and activated them in what they just learned. That is one thing I really appreciate about Bethel – they are keen on application – not just head knowledge. So the team I went with prayed for a young man with kidney problems and back pain caused by his kidney issues. He only experienced pain in the mornings so he said he would test it out the next morning to see if there was any improvement. We prayed for several others including a woman with heart/chest pain. She said her pain went away! God is so good! And another man’s back pain went from a level 10 of pain to a level 4 (10 being a lot of pain – 1 being very little pain). How many of you know that healing took place in that man’s back? It’s a HIP – a healing in progress. J So we celebrated what God was doing in His back and thanked Him for the healing that took place. A lot of times giving praise to God for even the littlest of improvements opens the door for even more or complete healing.
I wish I had the details to this next story I’m going to tell you. But unfortunately I don’t as I wasn’t directly involved with it. But it’s too good of a testimony to not share! Another team member of mine received a word of knowledge regarding ankle pain and a woman came forward for prayer. They placed the picture of the ankle on her ankle, prayed a short prayer, and her ankle was healed! But the story doesn’t stop there. This same woman who was freshly healed from her ankle pain, excitedly went out to the plaza, presented the Gospel to six different people while sharing the testimony of her healing and all six people came to know the Lord as their personal Savior! Oh but wait, she didn’t stop there. No, she didn’t. She was on a roll to say the least. Not only did she present the Gospel, but she prayed for the healing of a young woman’s ears she met in the plaza. The 16 year old girl she prayed for had been deaf since birth – and at the prayer of this newly healed woman, the young woman’s ears were opened and she was healed as well! Oh the power of a testimony and our mighty God! He is so awesome!
