It’s now official… Our idea to stop over in Hawaii on the way back home was not our idea after all. God totally had His guiding hand upon it all! Below are the highlights so far. There are so many details that we just don’t have time to type out right now. Suffice to say that the hand of God is all mighty and never ceases to amaze us!

a) A young couple (Brandon and Claire) was seated at our table at the local Benihana Japanese restaurant. We got chatting to them over dinner and soon we were talking about the Lord. After dinner, they wanted to know more, so we invited them to go to a quiet place to review some scriptures with us. They were keen, so we grabbed a Bible from our hotel room. Soon we were all back in our room praying with Brandon and Claire. They both received the Holy Spirit anointing, speaking in tongues as proof. We showed them how Peter commanded Cornelius and his family (in Acts Chapter 10) to be baptized in water following being filled with the Holy Spirit. So, we went down to one of the quiet pool areas and both Brandon and Claire were baptized by full immersion to complete their commitment to God. They were leaving first thing the next morning, so we didn’t get to spend any more time with them, but we encouraged them to pray in tongues every day (as we encourage everyone to do), to build their relationship with God (Jude 20-21, “But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost, Keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.)

b) We went to a timeshare meeting and got talking to Gina (our sales rep) about what we do on our travels. She was keen to share her experiences and we soon found out that she believed she had prayed in tongues when she was quite young. We said we’d look for an opportunity to pray with her during or after the presentation, to confirm if she was in fact filled with the Holy Spirit. We got the chance to do so when Gina was showing us one of the model suites. Straight away she broke out into tongues as we laid hands on her and prayed. It was beautiful hearing her pray in the Spirit. She remembered that it was something she used to love to do when she was a child, and she was so glad to be praying to God like that again. She was crying with joy and she was so grateful to God that He connected her with some people who encouraged her to “activate” the Spirit again after it had been kind of lying dormant for so long. As we did with Brandon and Claire, we encouraged her to pray in tongues every day from now on.

c) Yesterday we went for a drive around the island. We ended up in a town to visit a soap factory and then to the local burger joint for which we had a coupon. As we were walking on the patio, we met a friendly lady and her family. She mentioned the word “blessing” as we began to part company. Of course, we couldn’t let that pass, so we asked her if she went to church. Well, that was just the beginning of an amazing evening! Again, there’s just too much that happened to give the power of God justice in a short summary…

We talked with Victoria and her family for a very long time, sharing testimonies of the Lord’s hand. We found out that Victoria and her children are all filled with the power of the Holy Spirit. They’re passionate about the things of God and seek to glorify Him in their music and art (they are a very talented family). We expounded the Word of God unto them more perfectly (as did Aquila and Priscilla to Apollos in the Book of Acts), encouraging them that God wants them to not just tell people about Jesus but to actually baptize people and pray for them to be anointed with the Holy Spirit (John 3:5, “Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.”). They were keen to hear this message from God for them (using us as mere vessels), so much so that they introduced us to a table of people they knew from a local church. So, praise God, we ended up being able to expound the Word of God more perfectly unto them also.

A while later, we ended up praying with two of them (Travis and Cole) in our car and they both received the Holy Spirit anointing. Travis then called two of his friends to come down and join us, so we got to speak with them as well. We found out that one of his friends had just been filled with the Holy Spirit, speaking in tongues for the first time, only two weeks earlier. The other friend had not yet been baptized with the Holy Spirit, so we prayed for him and he received the Spirit. We then shared with them the importance of baptism in water now that they had an understanding of the truth, so we headed to the beach (by this time is was about 11:00 at night!).

By the time we had a very late dinner and got home to bed it was after 1:00 a.m. Our five-year-old daughter was flaked out on the back seat of the car much earlier than that, but she was very keen to hear about the events of the night that she missed!

We hope all of these brief but powerful accounts encourage you, too, that God uses the natural circumstances of this life (like heading to a certain restaurant because you found a coupon!) to bring His Word to people. Some people may have never heard about Jesus. Some may have a love for Jesus but have not yet been born again of water and of the Spirit. Some may have received the Holy Spirit anointing years ago but were never encouraged how to “use” it. God wants to use you for all kinds of work. You have been called as mouthpieces of His truth just like the first disciples. It’s not about you – it’s all about Jesus. Your life is His, and if you have your eyes and ears open and a heart full of faith, mighty miracles will happen. This is what brings joy unspeakable (as the scripture describes) to your life, and it’s what brings glory to the precious name of Jesus Christ.