Sunday, August 5, 2007
Thursday, August 2, 2007
Wednesday, July 25, 2007
Home again
I'm back!!! Here I am, back in MN, exhausted but happy. I got back about 1am Monday morning, have got a lot to process, and am still wiped out from all the travel but I'm excited to share with folks the stuff that God has done! When I'm a bit more settled, I'll have an open-house where I can share pictures, stories, and testimonies of God's good works. I'll keep y'all posted.
Thanks SO MUCH for your prayers and support! Please keep me in your prayers this week, as I seek God for my next step
here's a few words synopsis of my extended time in Rio this last weekend:
Riding motorcyclyes into the biggest slum in Brazil. Taking cable cars between mountains at sunset visiting Copa Cabana beach, praying and prophesying over people on the street. Some sweet Samba music, and 16 + hours of driving - mostly through mountain ranges.
i'll keep updating this here blog as i sort through my pictures and such.
Thanks SO MUCH for your prayers and support! Please keep me in your prayers this week, as I seek God for my next step
here's a few words synopsis of my extended time in Rio this last weekend:
Riding motorcyclyes into the biggest slum in Brazil. Taking cable cars between mountains at sunset visiting Copa Cabana beach, praying and prophesying over people on the street. Some sweet Samba music, and 16 + hours of driving - mostly through mountain ranges.
i'll keep updating this here blog as i sort through my pictures and such.
Wednesday, July 18, 2007
coming back on Sunday
just extended my stay by a few days to go visit Rio De Janero w/a few friends. i'll be back late on sunday night and will see many of you next week. i'll update ya'll more then.
blessings!
Kristen
blessings!
Kristen
Sunday, July 15, 2007
outreach update
hey guys, it's been a few days since i wrote last. tonight was our last night at the churches and i finished my 4th night of preaching! it was hard, fun, stretching, frightening, and God really came through. one night i prayed for a man who couldn't really breath through his nose and he got totally healed. that night a woman w/stomach pain said she felt fire go through me hands into her stomach and the pain left. people had me pray over their babies, families, ministries, and marriages. my goodness i've never prayed so much in my life!
one night an 80 year old man came up to me with tears in his eyes just thanking our team for sharing the love of God with him. he said he saw love in my eyse and i said i saw love in his. we just hugged eachother for a long time. everyone here hugs and kisses and it's so much fun to just love on God's children.
i did street outreach one day and our group led 6 people to the Lord in 2 hours. we'd just go up to people and ask them if they'd like prayer for anything. one guy's back got healed and then he got saved right there on the street. today my roommate saw a partially deaf and blind man completley healed on the street. as her and her interpreter prayed a crowd of people gathered around them, all listing their various illnesses to pray for.
last night during ministry time i prayed with a couple women for inner healing. i just held each one of them for about 10-15 minutes while they cried and Jesus touched them. they both said they are now my Brazilian moms.
the last night at both churches that my team of 15 was at i didn't really know what i was going to speak on. i'm supposed to use these prepared sermons i've spent forever and a day working on but then other stuff was on my heart so i went with that instead. as i was speaking i really didn't know what direction i was going in or what points to make - i''d just pray for God to give me the next thing to say. and He did! He showed up, really touched people's hearts powerfully, and we had extended ministry time after each message. tonight we actually prayed for every person in the service briefly - that took a long time.
one of they guys on our team got really touched tonight and just started praying for everyone he saw. back at the hotel he'd go up to people and prophesy over them and pray for them. at least one ended up on the floor. i really do wonder what the hotel people think of us.
these last for days the smaller teams have been out at about 40 or so churches - some in different cities. we'll all come back together tomorrow and are going to a soccer game. on Tuesday we head to the beach, have a celebration night at the hotel, head to the airport on Wed and get home on Thursday.
i can't even begin to express all that God is doing here and the amazing ways he's using this team of youth and young adults. I've been stretched and exhausted time after time but God has always always moved in our midst. thanks for all your prayers! it's now 3:41am here so i'm off to bed.
oh, and I'm supposed to say "hi" to Maraiah's mom who stumbled across this blog.
Blessings!
one night an 80 year old man came up to me with tears in his eyes just thanking our team for sharing the love of God with him. he said he saw love in my eyse and i said i saw love in his. we just hugged eachother for a long time. everyone here hugs and kisses and it's so much fun to just love on God's children.
i did street outreach one day and our group led 6 people to the Lord in 2 hours. we'd just go up to people and ask them if they'd like prayer for anything. one guy's back got healed and then he got saved right there on the street. today my roommate saw a partially deaf and blind man completley healed on the street. as her and her interpreter prayed a crowd of people gathered around them, all listing their various illnesses to pray for.
last night during ministry time i prayed with a couple women for inner healing. i just held each one of them for about 10-15 minutes while they cried and Jesus touched them. they both said they are now my Brazilian moms.
the last night at both churches that my team of 15 was at i didn't really know what i was going to speak on. i'm supposed to use these prepared sermons i've spent forever and a day working on but then other stuff was on my heart so i went with that instead. as i was speaking i really didn't know what direction i was going in or what points to make - i''d just pray for God to give me the next thing to say. and He did! He showed up, really touched people's hearts powerfully, and we had extended ministry time after each message. tonight we actually prayed for every person in the service briefly - that took a long time.
one of they guys on our team got really touched tonight and just started praying for everyone he saw. back at the hotel he'd go up to people and prophesy over them and pray for them. at least one ended up on the floor. i really do wonder what the hotel people think of us.
these last for days the smaller teams have been out at about 40 or so churches - some in different cities. we'll all come back together tomorrow and are going to a soccer game. on Tuesday we head to the beach, have a celebration night at the hotel, head to the airport on Wed and get home on Thursday.
i can't even begin to express all that God is doing here and the amazing ways he's using this team of youth and young adults. I've been stretched and exhausted time after time but God has always always moved in our midst. thanks for all your prayers! it's now 3:41am here so i'm off to bed.
oh, and I'm supposed to say "hi" to Maraiah's mom who stumbled across this blog.
Blessings!
Friday, July 13, 2007
my first church service
thanks for all your prayers everyone! the service last night went really really well. i was nervous but was relieved that the church was only about 75 people or so with the nicest woman pastor. In the afternoon a Brazilian guy from our team spoke about a 5-step prayer model and then one of the American guys taught on giving words of knowledge. several people gave words and a couple were healed on the spot. other members of our team prayed for the sick that couldn't stay for the night meeting. 2 guys prayed for an 89 year old man who was blind in one eye and had many other health problems. God totally restored the vision to his eye!! and he got saved too!! at 89 years old and with not much time left to live. that was a greart start to the day :>)
our team got to mingle w/the church members and i tried to meet as many as i could. i preached on the power of sharing the testimonies of God and shared many testimonies from my own life and stories of miracles God's done on this trip. my translator and I worked well together, i tried to get the congregation involved in reading scripture on the mike, had a team member share a testimony, did a salvation message, and even called for words of knowledge for healing. i just figured i might as well go for everything i can since i'll never see anyone here again and have nothing to loose. almost every person any of us pray for gets touched. last night i personally saw a woman healed of neck pain, severe stomach pain, and a lady with an untreatable disease received some healing and pain releif too. one person even gave their life to the Lord at the end of the service!! this is so crazy cause it's all on faith - i feel peace and know God is with me but don't feel anything else. sometimes i'll get a faint impression to put my hands here or there on someone and then they say they feel heat and fire there. i'm just trying to make it a discipline to praye for anyone anytime they say they feel sick or have pain. All glory to JEsus for what he's doing here in Brazil!!!
everyone said the message at the church went really really well and really encouraged me. we all took tons of pictures w/everyone from the church and stayed late after service to eat dessert there. we're going back to the same church tonight so i'll need to do some sermon prep now.
for prayer requests i'll ask for prayer for me personally as i'm seeking God for direction on a lot of major life decisions right now. I told him when i came here that he could speak to me and tell me to move anywhere in the world and i'd go. i responded to an altar call the other day to be commissioned as a pastor and missionary and am just really seeking confirmation for God's leading and timing on that.
our team got to mingle w/the church members and i tried to meet as many as i could. i preached on the power of sharing the testimonies of God and shared many testimonies from my own life and stories of miracles God's done on this trip. my translator and I worked well together, i tried to get the congregation involved in reading scripture on the mike, had a team member share a testimony, did a salvation message, and even called for words of knowledge for healing. i just figured i might as well go for everything i can since i'll never see anyone here again and have nothing to loose. almost every person any of us pray for gets touched. last night i personally saw a woman healed of neck pain, severe stomach pain, and a lady with an untreatable disease received some healing and pain releif too. one person even gave their life to the Lord at the end of the service!! this is so crazy cause it's all on faith - i feel peace and know God is with me but don't feel anything else. sometimes i'll get a faint impression to put my hands here or there on someone and then they say they feel heat and fire there. i'm just trying to make it a discipline to praye for anyone anytime they say they feel sick or have pain. All glory to JEsus for what he's doing here in Brazil!!!
everyone said the message at the church went really really well and really encouraged me. we all took tons of pictures w/everyone from the church and stayed late after service to eat dessert there. we're going back to the same church tonight so i'll need to do some sermon prep now.
for prayer requests i'll ask for prayer for me personally as i'm seeking God for direction on a lot of major life decisions right now. I told him when i came here that he could speak to me and tell me to move anywhere in the world and i'd go. i responded to an altar call the other day to be commissioned as a pastor and missionary and am just really seeking confirmation for God's leading and timing on that.
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