We decided to take a day trip to escape the heat and ended up a playground by the beach. While our youngest played, we relaxed and enjoyed watching the people around us. One of them was a very fit mother of three young girls, helping her girls on the playground equipment and doing pull ups on the monkey bars in between. It was fun to watch.

After a long while, the mother was preparing to leave (she had a bicycle and bike trailer) near the bench seat where we were relaxing. We engaged in conversation with her. She mentioned the word “blessed” which gave us the perfect opportunity to bring up the subject of God. Only about 15 minutes later, we were all sitting on the grass adjacent to the playground, laying hands on the mother (Dana), praying for her to receive the Holy Spirit. With some encouragement, she was filled with the Spirit, speaking in tongues as proof.

It all happened so naturally – proof of the hand of God upon the situation – and upon our entire day to cause us to be at the very spot where He wanted us to be! It was a great day!

We had the privilege of praying with a Christ-believing Jewish man (Zane) yesterday. We were in his store getting him to help us compare his products. We saw his surname (Rothschild) on his business card and asked him he was a relative of the famous Rothschilds. Zane said no, so we asked if his surname still indicated that he was Jewish. He said yes, but he was also a believer in Jesus. We were then excited to share the news of our traveling ministry and asked if he’d like us to pray for him. He was keen, so we prayed over Zane that he would have a desire for the Holy Spirit, and we also prayed for his healing needs (he suffers from neuropathy). Very interestingly, he shared with us a strong vision he’d had only one week ago that God was living within him. We believe this was a touch from the Lord, showing him that he should be filled with the power of the Holy Spirit. Please join us in praying that the Lord will give increase to the words we spoke with Zane yesterday and that Zane will take our advice and seek God for the Holy Spirit anointing – and that he will also be baptized in water in accordance with Jesus’ commands (John 3:5).

Two nights ago we had a baptism in our pool and she (Diana) received the Holy Spirit straight away, the moment she began to seek the Lord after coming up out of the waters of baptism. Diana had been going to church for ten years but had never heard of speaking in tongues. We spent about 30 minutes taking her through the scriptures first and she was very excited to see things in the Word that no-one had ever shown her before.

Diana is actually a very good friend of a gal (Caroline) that we prayed with and baptized quite a few months ago. Diana had come to visit Caroline for the week and Caroline encouraged Diana to get baptized in obedience to God’s Word. After the baptism, we spent the evening discussing lots more in the Bible and sharing stories of God’s hand in our lives. We all thoroughly enjoyed our time together.

Finally, we come to the last of our stories from our recent trip to Belize, Mexico, and Florida. Here they are briefly…

1) As we walked down popular 5th Street in Playa Del Carmen, we were approached by one of the beggar-looking salespeople that was selling waterproof cell phone cases. He also asked us if we wanted to buy weed, to which our response was, “No thank you, we’re Christians.” He was pleased with our response, so he began talking about God and how reading the Bible had helped him get through his long prison sentence. We learned he’d only just been released. He’d been in jail for murder for nearly twenty years if I remember correctly. We proceeded to tell him our testimonies and asked him if he’d like us to pray for him. He said he’d like to, so we found a little alcove outside of a hotel, laid hands on him, and prayed for him to be filled with the Holy Spirit. Manuel received the Spirit very quickly, quietly but fluently speaking in tongues as the first manifesting sign. Afterward, we spoke a while longer, offering him guidance and encourgaing him with the Word. Manuel declared that he felt washed clean and kind of light. Praise God for the Holy Spirit power!

2) While swimming at the beach in Playa Del Carmen, one of us lost a good pair of Ray-Ban sunglasses quite a ways out in the waves. They immediately sunk to the bottom and it was impossible to see where they went because of the murkiness of the water. We searched and searched for about ten minutes, trying to feel them with our feet, and also scouring the seashore to see if they’d be washed up by the waves. We then stopped trying to solve the impossible by ourselves and took a break, asking the Lord in prayer for His help. Various fleshly thoughts rose up as we kept searching, but we quenched them, choosing to believe that God is a God of miracles and that He cares for us even in these kinds of situations.

Suddenly, after twenty five minutes of looking (including renting sets of goggles and snorkles), faithful Elisabeth (just 7 years old) suggested to look further out. Don went with the suggestion and almost immediately he stepped on something that felt like the arms on the sunglasses. He grabbed with his toes and pulled them up out of the water!!! – A huge ocean, deep mirky water, constant large waves, and nearly half an hour since they’d been lost, yet God knew exactly where they were! We just had to exercise faith until He revealed it. Thanks to God – our most merciful, gracious, all-powerful Lord!

3) Please keep Trevor – the manager of the condo we rented in Playa Del Carmen – in your prayers. We got to share the Word with him quite a number of times over the course of our stay. He was very interested, but he said he wasn’t ready to make a full commitment to God and His ways. We’re not sure exactly what is was that was holding Trevor back from moving forward into the fullness of God’s blessings, but God knows, so we shall hope and pray that the seeds that got planted will be watered over time and that one day Trevor will take the plunge, so to speak.

4) When we first arrived in Florida, we had a vacation package to use up, so we stayed at a resort where we had to attend a presentation. The first sales representative was named Elvis and, while getting to know us, he asked about our lives. We took the opportunity to share with him our traveling ministry and he listened eagerly. He then proceeded to share with us many special things about his love for God and his desire to be used more by Him. Elvis said he prayed along these lines every day that he went for his walk out amongst God’s creation. He had been baptized by full immersion, but he knew – after hearing the scriptures from our lips – that he wasn’t yet filled with the Holy Spirit.

We were very excited to hear these things, so we offered to pray with Elvis when he took us to view the staged condominium. We told Elvis that this meeting was all for him – it was an answer to his prayers as there are no coincidences, only God-incidences! Elvis agreed, so he hurried things through so we could all get to the condo as soon as possible.

Elvis received the Holy Spirit very powerfully almost immediately after we started to pray for him. It was a very emotional experience for him. It was so touching to see a big, strong man cry before the Lord in humility and thanksgiving. Please keep Elvis in your prayers. We only got to spend a brief amount of time with him, but at least we were able to encourage him regarding the most important things and then direct him to our website.

5) While checking in to a hotel in Boca Raton, Florida, we met Rogerio the porter. He was a really sweet, cheery man from South America, trying to get fully established in the U.S. in order to be able to bring his family to be reunited with him. Although no specific conversation transpired between us about God, we felt moved to offer him one of our cards. As soon as he saw the logo, his eyes brightened and keenly declared that he was a Christian, too. We asked him if he had been filled with the Holy Spirit, speaking in tongues as proof, and he said “yes.” He had been water baptized, and he believed exactly what we share as part of our traveling ministry. Praise God! Rogerio shared a few brief stories about his missions work in his home country, and it was wonderful to listen to his enthusiasm for God’s work.

One thing we were able to encourage him about, though, was with regards to praying in tongues every day. We discovered this is something he’d neglected to do, so we emphasized the importance of exercising the Holy Spirit like this, quoting scriptures like Jude 20. Praise God for the way He connects us together with all kinds of people – from complete unbelievers to those that have already been born again but needing wise counsel.

6) We met Mark and Pat while swimming in a hotel pool in Naples. We’d gone to Naples to visit some old friends. We chatted with Mark (an airline pilot) about life in general for a long while before we got on to the subject of the Lord. After a time of sharing testimonies and scriptures with him, his wife joined us all and we shared some more. It was great to hear about their own paths toward the Lord. They had some very interesting experiences, had both been water baptized, and were keen to tell others about Jesus. In particular, Mark had just been miraculously healed from prostate cancer.

We asked our standard question from Acts 19 and, although they both believed they had the Holy Spirit, they were open to hearing what we wanted to explain from the Word. They listened intently and were soon keen to pray with us. We met after dinner in our hotel room, and they both received the Holy Spirit. Pat was in tears. She was very happy and she said she felt tingly all over. Mark was peacefully joyful and he later texted us with a lovely message. They had to leave to head back to Texas, but please keep them in your prayers with us.

While in Belize and Mexico recently, some awesome things happened…

Firstly, a construction worker/handyman (Knelson) whom we’ve known for about 7 years finally got baptized and filled with the Holy Spirit. He used to attend the Seventh Day Adventist church when he was growing up, and he got put off because of the institutionalization and man-made religion. He still continued to believe in God and Jesus Christ’s sacrifice for mankind, but he never actively pursued a relationship with the Lord. We shared our testimonies and the scriptures with Knelson over the years as we saw him sporadically, and he seemed curious, but not enough to want to take any steps forward. He was afraid of getting caught up in empty Christianity again.

This time, we were only visiting Corozal Town (the town near where Knelson lives) for two days, but we got to spend a good amount of time with Knelson and share more amazing stories of how God has worked in our lives and used us over the years. It was certainly God’s doing how it all happened… Because of our short stay, we planned to only catch up with one couple, but something occurred that caused us to immediately need an extra pair of hands. So, we called Knelson and, despite the very short notice, he was actually available to stop by to help.

This time around, Knelson had an open heart and ears. Various things in his life had brought him to the point where he was humble and ready to fully submit to God, realizing that doing things his own way all these years hadn’t worked for him or his family. It was a very special evening. We got to pray again in the Spirit together and discuss more of God’s Word after his baptism.

Knelson has also been keeping in regular contact with us. It’s such a joy to receive his email updates. He’s very excited about the changes in himself and his life already. He says he feels brand new with a real power within him that he can draw upon any time to guide him through all parts of his day. He’s being mindful to pray in tongues every day, and he’s also started regular Bible studies with his wife and children. This is one of his inspiring emails:

“I read your email and I thank you so much for your advice. I know the Lord will always have good for me. I have the Holy Spirit in me and it is so wonderful that I am a different person. Thank you once more. It is a new life I am living now. It’s so different from what I was living. It is like I don’t have to worry about nothing, once you let Him live in you. May God bless you all and keep in touch.”

We’ll also be posting a little interview we filmed with Knelson the day after his baptism. You’ll soon find it on the “Winging’ It” page.

Then, not long after arriving in Mexico, we got to pray with two people – on separate occasions – to be filled with the power of the Holy Spirit. The first was Luis. He heard us mention we were Christians on our way past his sales booth. He opened up conversation with us, commenting (in a good way) on our faith. We took the opportunity to pursue the topic with him, asking him if he had received the Holy Spirit since he believed (from Acts 19). We only had time to speak briefly and give him our card before his boss ushered him back to work.

We had actually invited Luis to stop by our condo in the morning, to have us lay hands on him and pray for him to receive the Spirit, but he never showed up. When we saw him later, we commented on this, and he said he’d come another time. We didn’t think he’d follow through, but to our surprise, he texted us one afternoon, asking if we’d be home. He later told us that he’d been dropping off some clients in Cancun and was driving back on his own when he decided to turn on the radio. The first song that played was a Christian song with lyrics that really humbled him. He immediately thought of us and the words we’d shared with him, so he knew he just had to come visit with us.

Luis was filled with the Holy Spirit very quickly after starting to pray. He shed some tears and was very happy. He was excited to go and share things with his 8-year-old daughter who is apparently very God conscious. We invite you to keep them both in your prayers.

The second situation involved a jewelry store manager named Raul. We had only very briefly mentioned our traveling ministry and had given him a card on our way out of the store, but we hoped he would be sufficiently pricked in his heart to contact us. He did!

We baptized Raul in the ocean after taking him through the scriptures for about an hour. He had a strong Catholic background and he was keen to learn what we knew, as it was all a mystery to him. It all made complete sense to him, and he was keen to be baptized the right way (full immersion) according to God’s Word (baptism comes from the Greek word “baptiso” which means to be sunk like a ship).

So, Raul came back to our condo the next day, eager to get baptized, although he never actually received the Holy Spirit when we prayed with him after his baptism. After talking with him some more, we discovered one major thing in his life that he needed to repent of (and show forth fruits of that repentance). We believe that was the stumbling block that was preventing him from getting Spirit-filled. However, Raul had an awesome attitude and, despite a little fear, he was eager to “go and sin no more” and lead the new life he had started in the waters of baptism. Praise God!

By the way, please also keep Matthias is your prayers along with Raul. Matthias is a Catholic friend of Raul’s whom Raul brought along when we first went through the scriptures at our condo. Raul translated to Matthias as we all went through both an English and Spanish version of the King James Bible. Although it was all new to Matthias (he had only ever been exposed to Catholic teachings), he was excited to hear and see such a powerful message. He couldn’t bring himself to get baptized yet, which is a shame, but everyone is at a different stage of coming to repentence and full submission before God, so we hope and pray Raul’s experience will have a positive effect on him.

Anyway, there’s more to come about our adventures in Mexico, and also during the next part of our travels in Florida. Three more more people got filled with the Holy Spirit – a guy in Mexico that had only recently been released from a long prison sentence for murder, and then a lovely couple we met while swimming in a hotel pool in Naples. We’ll share their stories when we get some more time…

We never got to complete the list of people in our last post, so we’ll continue those shortly, but for now we’re excited to share with you something amazing that happened this last weekend. First, here’s the back story:

Just over 18 months ago, we got a call from a Florida vacations company wanting to sell us a package. We ended up purchasing one and, during the course of the phone call, we somehow got chatting to the representative (Leon) about the Lord. I can’t remember how it all started. It might have been that we mentioned our time in Belize and Mexico because they’re just slightly south of Florida. We discovered that Leon hadn’t yet received the Holy Spirit, so we offered to pray with him over the phone – as we have done with others that are long distance. Leon took our number and purposed to call us back some time when he was off shift.

It might have been that same day, or perhaps the next, when Leon called. We shared many scriptures with him and he was keen to pray. He was filled with the Holy Spirit, praying in tongues fervently and boldly, almost immediately after we began praying. It was a very moving experience for him. He kept expressing how thankful he was. We reassured Leon that we were simply vessels that God used to spread truth and God’s the one that did everything.

Anyway, fast forward just over 18 months and we’re now living in a different location. A fairly short-notice trip to Belize was on the cards for us, so we thought we’d combine it with some time in Mexico. We phoned a vacation club company to see if we could arrange an affordable package, but we couldn’t get through to anyone, so we left a message. Whenever one of the sales staff tried to return our call, we were never home. Apparently (Leon told us when we recently caught up with him), the sales staff kept trying without success, so they gave our number to the manager. The manager was Leon – he had since changed companies from the first one 18 months ago to this new one of which he’s now the manager.

Leon also tried to call us a number of times and he’s was about to throw our number in the trash and give up when he felt moved to try one more time. This time he got hold of us (but he didn’t know it was us!). Leon began his sales pitch when we quickly recognized his voice. We reminded him who we were and he was shocked. After some discussion about the mighty hand of God, he admitted it was a miracle that God forced us all to connect again.

The other miraculous thing is that we had been praying for the Lord to guide and direct us as we weren’t quite sure how to plan our travels. We wanted to go where there was work for us to do for God. So, now we knew for sure that the Lord wanted us to head to Florida and not just Belize and Mexico.

Not long after we arrived in Florida, we phoned Leon. Interestingly, he had suddenly gotten crazy busy with his other side business, so he wasn’t sure if he’d have time to spend with us. He ended up inviting us to come to his church service on Sunday which is when he could gurantee he’d be available. When we turned up, we happily discovered it was an all-black church (we’d never met Leon up until this point, so we didn’t know his background). We were excited to see how the Lord would use us this day!

The fellowship meeting was very loud and lively, and we were welcomed by many before and after the service. The climax came when we got talking to the bishop, sharing with him our history with Leon. He was excited to hear about our traveling ministry and our work in praying with people (churchgoers and otherwise) all over the world to receive the Holy Spirit and water baptize them in Jesus’ name. He seemed quite shocked to find a group of people who still believe in the baptism of the Holy Spirit – he is Spirit-filled, but many of his congreation had yet to be anointed with the Spirit.

We offered up our services, to pray with anyone there that day. The bishop was a little taken aback by the spontaneity, but praise the Lord that he followed God’s leading because five people ended up receiving the Holy Spirit, plus we helped Leon to get praying in tongues again (as he hadn’t done so again since our first phone call with him 18 months ago). We emphasized again the importance of exercising the Spirit (like a gym membership!) every day, first by praying in the Holy Spirit (praying in tongues) as much as possible – during times of quiet worship and even at other times throughout the day’s activities (whenever the situation permits e.g. while doing house and garden chores, while driving alone or with other brethren, etc.).

We had a number of follow-up phone calls and texts with Leon and also with the bishop over the next few days which was great. They were both very grateful for the way God caused everything to happen, and Leon was especially invigorated by the various messages of encouragement God gave us to share with him.

We invite you to join us in keeping the new converts from the church service last week in your prayers (and Leon and the bishop also, of course).

We invite you to join us in praying for all of the following people the Lord has caused us to connect with (all in very interesting, different ways) in the last few weeks. God’s hand never ceases to amaze us!

1) Isaac – Home Depot employee: He’s been a church-goer with the Mormon church for many years. Despite Mormon teachings, he was interested in the Holy Spirit and the first sign of speaking in tongues. Some of us had the opportunity of praying with him in the store. After sharing the Word with him at the checkout, we came back later when he could take a break. He never received the Spirit at the time as he seemed distracted, but he’d like to continue to seek God.

2) Jeff: He came to our house to fix some blinds and my husband got talking about God together with him. It turns out that Jeff is the one that organizes the outreach at the festival where we met Mandy (see our earlier post). How’s that?! Jeff is Spirit-filled and understands, for the most part, the truth of the gospel message, but there were quite a few encouragements my husband was able share with him, as moved upon by God. They had a great discussion. Praise God for the way He leads us to connect with people that need to hear a message from Him!

3) Ariella: She’s Lisa’s daughter. (Lisa is the lady with the German Shepherd that we met outside of a sushi place – from an earlier story we posted on this page.) We met up with Lisa again for more prayer and discussion about God’s Word, and to help her with her dog. Ariella was there for the day and we got to share some scriptures with her, too. Ariella is very God conscious and was interested in what we had to say.

4) Young guy (can’t remember his name – it all happened so quickly!) outside of a McDonalds on our way to visit with Lisa: We stopped by the store for a quick bathroom break. There was a very God-conscious homeless guy outside of the store, preparing his sign that he would use to beg for money for the day. One of us got talking with him and it soon led to us praying with him to receive the Holy Spirit. We prayed under some trees in the quiet parking lot and he was filled with the Holy Spirit quite quickly. He had to leave to attend a local charity event, but we encouraged him to call or text us so we could water baptize him on our way back through. We never heard from him, but we hope and pray he will be mindful of everything we shared with him.

5) Gabrielle: We met her in a Chick-fil-A after connecting with Lisa and Ariella. What happened with Gabrielle was very interesting and completely new to us. My husband spied her “Got Jesus?” sticker on her computer as he exited the bathroom and passed by her table. He tried to speak with her, but communication was difficult because of her disability. We think she might be autistic or something similar.

After trying, my husband headed back to our table. Five minutes later, I noticed Gabrielle standing at the wall near the notice board. She seemed distracted, and she was wiping her eyes. I thought that maybe she had been tearing up a little. She then did an abrupt obout-face and beelined for us. She babbled a whole bunch of hard-to-decipher information to us as we listened from our table, so I interrupted and simply asked – gently and confidently – if she’d like me to pray for her. She rambled some more, so I lovingly offered once again, quietly seeking for the Holy Spirit to triumph in this unusual situation. I persisted, asking Gabrielle where she’d like me to pray with her. I pointed with a suggestion, but then Gabrielle motioned with her head in the opposite direction.

I got up and went with Gabrielle to the outdoor patio. She followed me to a corner, I quickly told her what I was going to do, and then I told her to start praising God with the word “Hallelujah.” I laid hands on her as I prayed along with her, and Gabrielle almost immediately received the Holy Spirit, speaking in tongues fluently. I let Gabrielle pray for quite a long time, to get used to allowing the Holy Spirit to worship God in this new way. She then gave me a huge hug at the end. It was very special.

I was able to give her a card and some brief encouragement before she whipped herself away. It was quite a surreal experience for me as I had never before encountered praying with someone like this. I so wanted to know more about her and how much she understood, but I rested on my faith that God knows Gabrielle’s situation and He is the one that clearly filled her with the Holy Spirit. Obviously there were things going on that were far above and beyond my understanding, so far be it from me to question the Lord’s mighty hand!

This is another belated post. So much has been happening that, yet again, we’re behind in recording all of the amazing things God has been calling us to do lately…

We had a long list of doctor’s offices we could choose from for a medical we all had to go through. We chose one that seemed the best for us, and as soon as we entered we realized why God had moved upon our choice. Every wall was covered with scriptures! While in the examination room with the doctor, we asked her the meaning of all the references to God throughout her clinic. She (Dr. Gonzales) excitedly told us about her walk with the Lord over the years and her new radio ministry she very recently started (that she wants to extend into Mexico). We discovered she had received the Holy Spirit, speaking in tongues, many years ago, but she had never prayed in tongues since that day.

Dr. Gonzales was was keen to hear about our traveling ministry adventures, especially the many testimonies we have of praying with people to kick start speaking in tongues again (after they had at one time been filled with the Spirit but were never encouraged to pray in tongues as much as possible every day). After asking her if she’d like us to pray with her, she immediately invited us back that very night at 6:30 when she finished for the day.

The surprising and wonderful thing was that when we turned up, Dr. Gonzales’ waiting room was filled with other people she’d invited to join her. We ended up speaking for over an hour, preaching with boldness and authority from the Word, as led by God. That night, three people were filled with the Holy Spirit, praise God! Also, we prayed with another particular lady that had been resistant to the message we shared (because it contradicted the incorrect message she’d been told by her church group). She was in the same boat as Dr. Gonzales – she’d been filled with the Holy Spirit, speaking in tongues as proof, many years ago while diligently seeking the Lord on her own in her bedroom. She was going through a rough time and her coming to God (versus trying to solve the problem on her own) worked, but she had never prayed in tongues since then.

We encouraged her to allow us to lay hands on her and pray with her. Even though she was rushing out of the door at the time (she needed to get home to her children), she agreed to give it a try. While praying with her at first, she was seemingly conservative. We motivated her to kick things up and come to God fervently. As soon as she did this, she blared forth in tongues. We’d just finished quoting the scripture at the end of the Gospel of Mark that tells us God worked with them and confirmed the word (that the disciples spoke) with signs following (Mark 16:20), so this experience – that everyone else in the room witnessed – was a powerful support of the truth we’d been preaching all night.

Dr. Gonzales is keen to get together with us again when we’re back in town, so we’re very much looking forward to seeing how much more we can be of service in her life – and in the lives of others she knows. In the meantime, we invite you to keep everyone that was touched by the Lord that night in your prayers: Dr. Gonzales, plus Eduardo, Carolle, Monica, and Bianca.

One of our biggest encouragements to them was to never let a day go by without worshipping the Lord in tongues (and not just English – or in their case, Spanish). We also explained that Spirit-filled believers can pray in tongues whenever they like – not just during times of dedicated worship. The more they do so, the stronger the relationship they’ll build with God.

This is a belated post: Praise God! Stephanie came to visit again (a few weeks ago), this time with her husband. We enjoyed a long afternoon together, discussing many scriptures and sharing stories. Yet again, we felt like Aquila and Priscilla in Acts 18:26 expounding the Word of God more perfectly unto those that, by God’s hand, we have been connected with. It was a great day!

Well, yet again we have many amazing stories to catch you all up on. Since our last post, our weeks have been full of much work for the Lord, speaking to many people in a whole range of circumstances – either believers in Jesus but not yet filled with the power of the Holy Spirit (some not yet even water baptized), or those who have already been born again of water and Spirit but needing someone to “expound the Word of God unto them more perfectly,” expecially needing some encouragement to pray in tongues every day.

So, here’s a new list of people to keep in your prayers:

1) Julie & Katie: We met these Australian sisters in a bakery while on a road trip. We got chatting about Australia first, but soon we were talking about the Lord as they both had a strong Catholic background. After a long discussion (standing right there in the middle of the busy bakery!), one of the sisters was eager for us to pray with her. So, we moved to a quiet seating area behind the building. Katie received the Holy Spirit very quickly, speaking in tongues fluently. She was very pleased. She had to get back to her sister (who was not “into” praying with us at the time – everyone is at a different stage in terms of receptiveness to God’s Word) as they had plans to get somewhere that day, but we did have a chance to encourage Katie regarding the need for baptsim by full immersion in water and also living a righteous life. This kind of scriptural direction is very important to share with everyone you pray with – especially if they’re not yet married.

2) A born-again friend of ours introduced us to a business associate of his. They both came around for lunch one day and we found out that she had been a believer in Jesus for many years. She was very interested to learn about the necessity for water baptism and receiving the Holy Spirit in order to enter into the Kingdom of God (John 3:5). At the end of the afternoon and much Biblical discussion, she received the Holy Spirit during prayer. Last week they both came back again for another lunch and the water baptism. We had a great day together and she’s very excited about her new walk with the Lord – she texted us a picture of the Bible she bought the very next day!

3) We were driving home into our community and there was a golf cart in front of us traveling quite quickly. We thought we’d try to pass them, but we decided against. Suddenly, the cart screeched to a halt. We stopped to see if they were okay. We all laughed when they declared that they thought we had been following them. We chatted to them for a while, glad to meet new people in our area. We ended up inviting them into our home for a cold drink (non-alcoholic!). We enjoyed getting to know them and we were even more surprised to learn about the wife’s path with the Lord over the years. Receiving the Holy Spirit and speaking in tongues was new to her, so she was excited to learn. We ended up praying with both her and her husband and they were both filled with the Holy Spirit very quickly. They enjoyed hearing themselves pray in tongues for the first time and asked some more questions. It was a very unexpected evening for everyone!

4) My husband and our boys went to a movie together and ended up chatting with a lady sitting next to them as the credits were rolling. She had a very cute dog with her that had been surprisingly perfectly behaved the whole time. They chatted about dogs for a while and then the lady (Kit) said something subtle that got them on to the topic of God. (This is the way most of our work for the Lord begins.) They gave Kit our website address and encouraged her to be in touch.

We never heard from Kit, but then my husband ran into her again as he entered a shopping mall. He asked her if she had considered things some more and she mentioned some struggles she was having at a church she had been attending. After encouraging her some more, Kit said she was keen to pray for the Holy Spirit, so they both went to where my husband was parked and they prayed in the car. Kit received the Holy Spirit – speaking in tongues as proof – very quickly. A few days later she came to our place to get baptized and we enjoyed some time together chatting about various scriptures.

Kit has been keeping in touch with us and it’s a joy to hear the many things she mentions about now being filled with the Holy Spirit. She says it has had a profound affect on her life, praise God!

5) We were doing some shopping in the 99cent store when our daughter spied a man with kittens in a carry bag. We chatted with the man (Daven) for quite some time as our daughter petted the kittens. We discovered that Daven was suffering with many health issues and had experienced many negative and quite destructive things in various church fellowships over the years. We comforted him with various scriptures and asked him if he had received the Holy Spirit since he had believed (in Jesus) – as per Acts 19.

Though Daven had been water baptized with a clear understanding of his commitment to God at the time, he hadn’t yet received the Holy Spirit anointing. He had witnessed speaking in tongues many times, but he had never personally had the experience. We confirmed that because of this he could know that he didn’t yet have the Spirit dwelling within him, but we could pray for him. Daven was excited to pray with us that very night, so after we had both purchased our groceries, we all headed outside to a quiet area along the sidewalk. We laid hands on Daven and he was filled with the Spirit after a couple of minutes of seeking God together. He was in tears from the experience.

We caught up again with Daven this last weekend and enjoyed talking about God’s Word, and sharing stories and experiences. He’s keen to keep in touch and learn more. Praise God!

6) We were on an outing when we spied a gorgeous German Shepherd with his owner. His owner was just being seated in an outdoor patio area at a sushi restaurant. Being dog lovers, we beelined for them and started chatting. We discovered we had lots to talk about, so we ended up joining her at her table as we shared stories on mutually interesting topics.

It wasn’t very long before we turned to the subject of God. We discovered her interest in the Lord, making way for us to share our own testimonies and amazing experiences. After much discussion, we ended up inviting her to pray with us to receive the Holy Spirit anointing. We also emphasized the importance of baptism.

She was totally fine with us coming back to her place to baptize her. It all made sense to her and she wanted to be obedient to God’s instruction for salvation (John 3:5). She also received the Holy Spirit almost immediately after coming up out of the waters of baptism as one of us laid hands on her and prayed. We also had some more prayer after she dried off, so she could get even more comfortable with praying in tongues seeing that it’s so important for born again believers to pray in the Spirit every day.

7) Please also pray for Mandy. We met her when we attended a local festival. As soon as we entered the gates, we were approached by a guy who was part of an outreach group. The group was quite large and they had tables set up with Biblical information. The guy asked us a few questions which we eagerly answered and then we asked him some of our own – particularly, “Have you received the Holy Spirit since you believed (in Jesus)” (Acts 19:2). Although he wasn’t interested in discussing the Scripture, Mandy (who had wandered over to join the conversation) was willing to stay and listen. In the end, she said she’d be willing to keep an open mind and go and study what we referenced in the Word. That was many weeks ago. Then…

One night we happened to pop in to a local coffee shop that we hadn’t been to for a very long time. We ordered our frappuccinos and sat down. Soon, Mandy and a couple of her fellow church members walked past us and into the store. We weren’t quite sure if they were the same people we’d met at the festival, but they recognized us and stopped by our table on their way out to say “Hi.” We chatted briefly and talked about “God-incidences” and how He was the one who made us connect again.

Despite this, I still felt disappointed (after we parted ways) that I didn’t take more opportunity to talk to Mandy personally. So, I prayed that the Lord would cause me to run into her again somewhere. The very next day, I decided I wanted to take our daughter to join up at our new library. As soon as we walked in the door, I spied Mandy behind the registration desk! She works there! I excitedly told her about my prayer and reminded her that God still has a message for her that He wants her to regard.

I look forward to being able to reach out to Mandy over time as we visit the library. Please join me in praying that one day she will take me up on my offer to pray with her to receive the Holy Spirit anointing.

Here’s the last part of our “Recent Adventures” story…

The last person we got to speak with in California before we had to leave was a man named Joe. Rarely do people ever approach us to talk about the Lord – we’re generally always the ones taking the initiative!, but this day Joe came up to us in an indoor mall. He wasn’t on a specific outreach, but rather he felt moved to reach out to us in particular. After asking a lot of questions and doing lots of patient listening, we discovered he was already filled with the Holy Spirit. However, we discerned he needed some encouragement and redirection in terms of his preaching, so we shared with him many scriptures and personal testimonies, to “expound unto him the Word of God more perfectly” – as did Aquila and Pricilla to Apollos in the Book of Acts.

It’s quite amazing how many people God connects us with that are already born again but have never been properly counseled regarding preaching the gospel and walking in the Spirit. One of the biggest things we discover is how few people are encouraged to pray in tongues as much as possible every day. It’s something we tell everyone we pray with and baptize.

The next biggest part our adventure happened when we had a large garage sale (over the course of a couple of weeks) very soon after returning from California. We shared the Word of God with as many people as we could as they browsed our items for sale, and we ended up having a total of five separate baptisms! They all received the Holy Spirit, too, except one (who we later discovered still needs to work on repentance). There were also two ladies (on separate occasions) who received the Holy Spirit when we prayed with them. One of the ladies had been wanting the Holy Spirit for a very long time, but nothing ever happened when she prayed with others. We told her that it seemed like she needed to hear the fullness of the truth before she received! Please keep all of these “garage sale converts” in your prayers. Their names are Mike, Howard, Byron, Bruce, Adam, Cathi, and Theresa.

The following is a continuation of our last post from two days ago…

5) One day, we had a very unusual day trying to get to Los Angeles and things not turning out as expected once we got there. We all commented on how there must be a bigger reason for how the day had ended up. As it turned out, there was:

On our return, we realized we were getting low on gas. We could have made it, but we made a last minute decision (which was actually the guiding of the Holy Spirit – we realized afterward!) to turn into a small gas station we came across unexpectedly. It wasn’t even the type of gas station we would normally frequent.

Once inside, we got talking with the young lady who was alone, attending the cash register. One of us commented on how unusual it was to see a lone, petite gal working late at night at a little gas station in the heart of L.A. We asked if she (Angela) was concerned about it. She shared her fears with us, revealing it was actually her very first shift at the station. This led to a conversation about God and His protection which then led to Angela sharing her love for Jesus and her desire to get to know God better. We asked her if she had received the Holy Spirit since she believed in Jesus, to which she answered “No.”

Within minutes, we were praying with Angela behind the counter with one of us keeping an eye on the door for customers. She received the Holy Spirit (speaking in tongues as the first manifesting sign) very quickly, and she was absolutely elated. She said she felt changed – brand new, and we were able to share how that was consistent with what the Bible says about being born again of the Spirit. We chatted a little longer, offering encouragement and quoting some more scriptures, and she received it all with joy and a fresh look on life (she had had a very heartbreaking upbringing).

It was amazing how just before we arrived, the gas station seemed busy with people, and after we had finished spending time with Angela, it got busy again, but during our time inside with her it was dead quiet. Praise God for the way He moves upon situations to facilitate the sharing of His Word!

6) We found a nail in one of our car tires and decided to take it to a tire store even though the tires were all run flats. It turned out that the nail was only a very short tack, so it hadn’t done any damaged at all. But, while we were there, we saw a young gal (Brittany) reading a self-help book outside in the sunshine (she was waiting for her car tires to be serviced). We got talking with her and gave her one of our cards, mentioning that God has amazing wisdom in His Word for improving someone’s life. It turned out that the gal was very God conscious and was very open to hearing about people’s spiritual experiences. We shared with her our testimonies and she was excited to hear that she, too, could receive the Holy Spirit with proof.

We invited her to come sit in our vehicle to pray, so we all piled in. Very quickly, Brittany was filled with the Spirit, praying in tongues softly but very clearly and fluently. She kept praying for quite a while and then stopped, beaming that what we had recently described had just happened to her. We expressed to her the importance of baptism in water as part of the conversion process, shared more stories to inspire and teach her, and then exchanged contact details.

We had arranged a date for Brittany’s baptism, but some things got in the way of her plans (we always warn people about this happening as Satan will try his best to get in the way of people completing their reconciliation with God!), so hopefully we can catch up with her again as we’ll be back down in California very soon.

7) We visited a local fair while in California and as soon as we got in the gate, a guy approached us, offering us one of his church pamphlets. We wandered over to where the rest of his group were chatting to various people, and we began to ask him questions. One of them was if he had received the Holy Spirit since he believed in Jesus. The guy became very agitated and his feelings of animosity toward us grew to the point where he walked away (even though we were simply encouraging him to discuss the Scripture calmly and openly as mature adults), but this was perfect as it left us alone with a woman from his group who had come over to listen to the conversation.

At first, she was very closed minded toward all of the scriptures and amazing personal testimonies we shared, but after a while her heart softened. We managed to end the conversation with her agreeing to take on board what she’d heard, and to look up the scriptures we’d highlighted with a humble approach. We pray she will do so and that the truth will prick her heart even further. Her name is Mandy if you’d like to join us in upholding her in prayer.

8) Minutes after our long conversation with Mandy, we ran into a lady we’d met at a restaurant. We had later discovered that she was an alcoholic, so we knew what was God’s message for her this second time we met up with her.

The words we spoke to her from the Lord moved on her deeply and we asked if she’d like us to pray with her. She welcomed our offer, so we found a small area of grass behind one of the fair rides to gather around her in prayer. She never received the Holy Spirit that day, so we encouraged her that baptism in water was her best move toward the Lord, to demonstrate to Him her sincere repentance and desire to live a changed life.

She actually phoned us two days ago to share how much she appreciated everything we said to her. She shared her plans to check into a rehabilitation center and be done with alcohol for good, and she hopes to meet up with us again next time we’re down her way. Praise God!

By the way, we’re still not done! We have LOTS more to tell about God’s recent hand upon our lives, so stay tuned!

Wow, the last part of our trip was a whirlwind, and the weeks since our return have been the same. We need to catch you all up on the amazing things that have happened. There are way too many details of God’s miraculous hand to tell in writing, but feel free to connect with us directly (info@christiansrule.com) if you’d like to hear more about one or more of the particular stories. For now, here’s everything we can remember in a nutshell:

1) Siru (our new Finnish friend and sister in the Lord) and her girls are now back in Finland, but we enjoyed many days together talking about God and enjoying one another’s company before they had to leave. Siru’s oldest girl, Lulu (12 years old), also ended up wanting to pray for the infilling of the Holy Spirit. She received pretty much instantly, speaking in tongues so fluently and gently. She told us she felt very peaceful after the experience, so we were able to share scriptures that talk about the “peace that passes all understanding.” It was late at night when it happened, so we got together the next day and she was baptized in the hot tub in the gated community where we were renting. We stay in touch with Siru on a regular basis via WhatsApp and email, and we also speak on the phone at times. It’s wonderful to learn about Siru’s growth in her newfound relationship with Jesus.

2) While on an outing with Siru and her family, we “ran into” a young man (Randy) while searching for a coffee shop. He looked lost, so we rolled down the window and asked if everything was okay. He told us that someone had just stolen his bike and he was searching around. We told him we’d keep an eye out, and we gave him our ChristiansRule.com card with our phone number on it, to let us know what happened. That led to a conversation about Jesus and we ended up praying with him right there in the parking lot to receive the Holy Spirit – Siru and her family and a new brother in the Lord parked on one side, praying, and our group on the other side, also praying. It was a great experience for the brethren in the other car to be exposed to as they had newly been born again. It was a very good example of how work for the Lord often comes our way when we’re just out and about during the day.

3) We met a lady who was already born again of water and the Spirit while helping a friend with a project. She shared with us her amazing healing testimony and we also got to share ours. It’s amazing how many times God connects us with people who are already filled with the Spirit but don’t pray in tongues as often as what’s necessary to build a strong relationship with God. We encouraged her – as we do with everyone – to never let a day go by without spending time with the Lord in worship, praying in the Spirit, and even praying in tongues at other times throughout the day (e.g. while about house chores, in the shower, driving, etc.).

4) While browsing at a women’s trade show event, we met a lady (Debbie) and her friend (Anessa) who were very God conscious. They first got talking to us because of the smallest, cutest one in our group! After enjoying some light banter, they asked us about our travels. They were very excited to hear some of our many testimonies of God’s hand. We soon found out that Debbie had never been baptized by full immersion. In fact, she admitted she had been recently thinking about it a lot, and even her mother had been bringing up the subject, urging her to take the step.

We exchanged numbers and, soon after, Debbie phoned us, saying she’d like to talk more about it. We met at a coffee shop, armed with our Bibles, and Debbie was very pleased to see for herself that the Word of God supported everything we had so far told her. Days later, Debbie arranged for us to come by her house to meet with her and Anessa’s husband, Jerry. Jerry was keen to connect with us, although the beginnings of our conversations with him were quite uncomfortable.

Jerry had read though the entire Bible more than five times and worshipped at a local church for a while also, and his life had changed dramatically when he first started to open his heart and mind to the things of the Lord. Because of this, it was very difficult for him to accept that he had not yet been born again of the Holy Spirit. We explained how repentance and even baptism in water can have a profound effect on someone’s life such that they convince themselves that they must also have received the Holy Spirit. However, after a very long while, the fullness of the scriptural message we shared convicted him that perhaps he was not yet filled with the Spirit. He was willing to come to the Lord humbly in prayer.

Within seconds of laying hands on Jerry, he was anointed with the Holy Spirit, speaking in tongues as proof. At the same time, some of us were praying with Debbie, and she also received the Spirit. We prayed with the two of them in the Spirit one more time, to prove to them that they could now pray in tongues whenever they chose to, to connect with the Living God and build their relationship with him. It was amazing to hear what came out of Jerry’s mouth in encouragement toward Debbie. He started to talk about the importance of praying in tongues daily and standing fast to the truth despite contrary messages out there in church circles!

And, another bonus was that Siru (see our previous posts) was with our group the whole time! So, she got to hear the message again which was important reinforcement for her, and she got to lay hands on others in prayer and see them filled with the same Spirit she had received just weeks earlier! Praise God!

More to come….

We ended up having lots of opportunity to spend time with the Finnish lady and her children – the ones we mentioned in our last post. We had many great times together over the last week or so, exploring the area, having fun, sharing stories, and of course talking about the Lord. It was wonderful to learn she has been praying in the Spirit of her own accord and starting to read the Word of God for the first time in her life – what a beautiful adventure of discovery for her! It was sad to have to part ways as their travels are nearing an end. They already feel like family! Lord willing, we’ll be able to connect with them again in the near future.

We also had two more baptisms this week, on separate occasions. Both people we have known for quite a while, so it was such a joy to see them finally take this step toward God. We baptized one in the community pool at the complex we’re renting, and the other we baptized in the pool at the hotel where the Finnish family were staying. (It was so great for them to experience it all!) They both also received the infilling of the Holy Spirit (speaking in tongues as proof) when we prayed with them after coming up out of the waters of baptism.

Where possible, we like to encourage people to get baptized first before praying with them to receive the Holy Spirit. Of course, it doesn’t always work out this way – particularly if we happen to meet people during the day who are open to prayer and we pray for them on the spot. But, if we’ve known people for a while and they’ve heard the truth from our lips a number of times, we generally direct them to the scriptures on baptism when they’re finally at the stage of repentance and wanting to turn to God.

What a miraculous and blessed week we’ve had! Thank you, Almighty God!

Some awesome things happened while we were in LA. First, we met a guy inside a department store. Our six-year-old daughter smiled at him in the line up and said “Hi” to him. This started the ball rolling. While chatting in the line up (there was a long line!), Steven mentioned his son who is studying to be a pastor. We mentioned our traveling ministry and immediately he was intrigued by our stories of praying with people who are familiar with Jesus and the Bible but have not yet received the Holy Spirit. Our standard question is often, “Have you received the Holy Spirit since you believed?”

Steven was excited to meet us out front to talk some more once we had both purchased our items. We chatted outside for a while and then went to our car to pray for him (it was night time and quite cold outside). Steven received the Holy Spirit after a few tries. He was overjoyed as it was something he was never before familiar with. He had never before heard about the baptism of the Holy Spirit and speaking in tongues as proof of this anointing. We emphasized to Steven the need to also be baptized by full immersion in water as Jesus highlighted in John 3:5.

After that, we started to chat to one of the breakfast servers at our hotel. Each day, we talked more and more about the Lord to the point where she came to our hotel room one morning for us to lay hands on her and pray for her. She was going through some very rough times with one of her children. We soon discovered that her co-worker is already filled with the Holy Spirit. The co-worker overheard us talking to one of the breakfast diners, and she was amazed to witness our boldness and the authority with which we spoke. We were able to encourage her that all that and more can be hers by using the fullness of the Holy Spirit that God has given her which includes praying in tongues every day – exercising the Spirit. Although she only had a brief amount of time to talk with us, we were able to share our website with her. We thank God continually for our ChristiansRULE website and the benefits it provides others i.e. being able to direct people (non-believers, believers but not yet born again of water and the Spirit, or those Spirit-filled but needing encouragement) to information that will help them with their relationship with the Living God.

The breakfast diner this lady overheard us talking to is the other amazing story. We had been continually running into her and her children (from Finland) day after day, and then one day we happened to be getting into our car at a parking lot in the middle of huge, busy Los Angeles and who should be waiting to take our parking spot? The same Finnish gal with her children! Even her girls commented on how amazing it was and, of course, we recognized the Lord’s hand upon it straight away. We were all surmising what the odds would be for something like that to occur, knowing full well that with God in charge, statistics are completely irrelevant.

We purposed to share the Word with the mom the next time we saw her. We didn’t know when that would be, but it was the very next morning. One of us “happened” to bump into her while making a quick stop at the breakfast room for a piece of fruit. We asked her some questions and soon found out she had been suffering with a chronic back problem for many years. We talked about our personal miraculous healings and she was happily intrigued. She ended up agreeing to come back to our hotel room for some prayer, and there we explained more about Jesus and the necessity of being born again. She was keen to pray and she received the Holy Spirit very soon. It was interesting hearing her speak in tongues because she already spoke about five or six languages!

We talked some more and then went down to the hotel hot tub to baptize her. It was great that her girls were there to share in the experience even though they couldn’t understand much English. We’re catching up with her again tomorrow while we’re here in the Coachella Valley for a while. We invited her to come visit with us, so it will be lovely showing her and her girls some sights and talking more about the Lord together. They’re from Finland and we’re from North America, yet the Lord connected us – from two completely different parts of the world, yet now united by the Holy Spirit within, thanks to Jesus and His sacrifice upon the cross.