Friends and Family,

It’s hard to believe that three months of Intro to IHOPKC Track 1 have passed! It has been a wonderful time of being refocused in the place of prayer and reignited with passion for Jesus and His purposes and plans in the Church and the world. I have been stirred by the diverse range of in-depth teachings at IHOPKC to go deeper in Bible study and really “own” at a heart level the beliefs to which I give lip service. I have a renewed desire to “eat the scroll” and be a mature student of the Word, and to be an anointed voice and not just an echo of what I’ve heard from this or that preacher.

This has been a busy time for Jay as well, as he began an iPhone app development job at Sporting Innovations in July! This is such an answer to prayer, as he only has an associate’s degree but was able to write a basic application for the interview and be hired with their commitment to train him. He’s getting paid to learn! On the weekends when I am busy with the internship, he is at home with work or teaching himself new programming languages. We are so thankful for this opportunity versus working through college or taking on hefty student loans!

Today was our first regular day of Track 2! There are significant differences between Track 1 and Track 2 as we continue in teachings and prayer room time, but are trained practically to lead small groups, lead “Harp and Bowl” prayer meetings, minister deliverance, and to be exposed to many “works of justice” ministries here, such as Hope City (the inner city soup kitchen and prayer room ministry), the Orphan Justice Center, praying with Exodus Cry (for the ending of human trafficking), evangelism outreaches, LIFE sieges praying for the ending of abortion, and ministering in the healing rooms and prophetic rooms. We will also be the primary ministry teams in the main services.

God has clearly led me to continue to Track 2 and provided the way financially, but no sooner have I begun but I am seeking Him for what comes afterwards...J My greatest desire is to join full-time staff at IHOPKC, serving on a worship team and in one of the other awesome ministries. I’ll know more after I get to do a little of most of them over these next three months and see what God places on my heart. If necessary, I will join part-time staff and seek part-time employment teaching or tutoring. I would love to be full-time for at least a season, but I put my trust in God that He will make my paths straight. 

Prayer Needs

1) Please join us as we continue to pray for my dad, Ron Schachner, for his healing from ALS/Lou Gehrig's disease.

2) Praise!!! Jay began as a junior app developer for Sporting Innovations two weeks after I began Intro! Pray for inspiration to make apps for the iPhone and iPad that glorify God and are successful!

Giving

My tuition for Track 2 is covered, praise God!!! :) However, we are about $200 short of our monthly budget, as well as in need of paying off several car repairs.  If you feel led to support us financially, you can make a tax-deductible contribution by writing a check to "IHOPKC" and attaching a sticky note with my name on it. (Please do not write my name in the memo):

1. Angie Stratton
   11332 Colorado Ave, Apt 339
   Kansas City, MO 64137

I would LOVE to hear what you are up to!  Feel free to comment or Facebook or e-mail me:

angiestratton@intern.ihopu.org

Love in Christ,

Angie and Jay

Missions and Prayer Movements Merge

Friends and Family in Christ,

I feel great excitement this week at the International House of Prayer in Kansas City.  God is doing what I believe is a historic event.  The IHOPKC leadership team is hosting 300 missions and church planting leaders from 120 different organizations for a three day “Call2All Congress”.  YWAM and Campus Crusade have come together to birth this vision, giving leadership as two of the largest missions organizations in the world.  There are a few major focuses: To connect strategically at a practical level to see the gospel of the kingdom go forth to every nation, people, tribe, and tongue; To empower communities, as prayer furnaces pop up throughout the world, to pray strategically for world evangelism and the fulfillment of the Great Commission in our generation, unto ultimately crying out as one voice for the return of Christ, “The Spirit and the Bride say, ‘Come!’“; To empower leaders from the persecuted Chinese underground church to raise up a MILLION missionaries for the “Back to Jerusalem” movement, which is the vision to carry the gospel BACK across Asia and specifically reaching the Muslim nations such as Iran, which originally brought the Gospel to China!

            There has been a noticeable shift in intensity in the prayer room this week as we, the staff, interns, students, and greater IHOPKC family have been paving the way in prayer for God to impart vision this Thursday through Saturday and to unite across denominations and ministries and to do “above and beyond all” that the leaders who are coming can ask or imagine!  I feel so humbled and blessed to have these beautiful leaders from the thriving though terribly persecuted Chinese underground church here in our midst.  They will be staying here with YWAM and IHOPKC for three more months to be built up before they return at great risk to raise up the “Back to Jerusalem” missionaries.  I won’t risk endangering them more by naming names, but I will say that at least two of these leaders have impacted many in the Western church through a book written about their imprisonments and persecutions...and I will be here in the prayer room at the same time with them each morning for several hours!  So humbling.

            So I just wanted to share such exciting news, especially for someone like myself who feels equally called as a "musicianary" to both the prayer and the missions’ movements.  “On earth as it is in heaven....” we pray, so please join us over these next three days and three months.  My internship will be in the prayer room 8 hours today and 9 hours tomorrow covering them in prayer as they meet down the road. Unity commands a blessing, and I am anticipating great breakthrough from this step of unity on the part of 300 leaders.  We believe that our prayers and actions actually make a difference in the kingdom, as 2 Peter 3:12 says, “You ought to live holy and godly lives as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming.”  There is a day in the heart of God when the Great Commission will be fulfilled.  Let it be in our generation!  Let us rise up in this hour as an army of laid down lovers to bring the gospel of the kingdom to all peoples, being built up to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ (Eph. 4:13), until the Church in every nation is crying out with the Spirit, “Come Lord Jesus!” (Rev. 22:17)

           Three more days left of Intro Track 1!  Update from this experience to come!  They run us pretty hard, so it won't be till my 4 day break between Track 1 and Track 2 next week...Praise God, I get to do Track 2 right away!

Needs

    Prayer Needs

      1) Please join us as we continue to pray for my dad, Ron Schachner,  for his healing from ALS/Lou Gehrigs’s disease.


2) Pray for Jay as he masters iOS app development and seeks to transition to the tech industry. Pray for inspiration to make apps for the iphone and ipad that glorify God and are financially successful.

Giving

Cost of Track 1 (July-Sept) = 900

Cost of Track 2 (Sept-Dec) = 900

As I am not yet staff, contributions toward the internship are not tax-deductible.  (This will change after the internship begins.)  

If you feel led to support us financially, you can write a check it to:

  
  Angie Stratton                 

   11332 Colorado Ave, Apt 339        

   Kansas City, MO 64137

What is the Biblical Basis for Night and Day Prayer?

“...for my house will be called a house of prayer for all nations.”  Isaiah 56:7

HE IS WORTHY. The angels, living creatures, and 24 elders around the throne of God—those who see Him best—worship Him day and night without ceasing.  Jesus taught us to pray, “Let your kingdom come...on earth as it is in heaven.”

GOD COMMANDED King David to institute 24/7 worship with 4,000 musicians and 288 singers whose primary occupation was ministering unto the LORD. Every time a king of Israel re-instituted Davidic worship the nation experienced revival and victory.  (David 1 Chr. 15-17; Solomon 2 Chr. 18:14-15; Jehoshaphat 2 Chr. 20:20-22, 28; Joash 2 Chr. 23-24; Hezekiah 2 Chr. 29-30; Josiah 2 Chr. 35; 
Ezra & Nehemiah Ezra 3:10, Neh. 12:28-47)

Prayer is God’s chosen tool to release REVIVAL and JUSTICE in the nations. (Joel 2:15-20; Acts 1:14, 4:31; Luke 18:7-8)

“And will not God bring about justice for His chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night?” Luke 18:7a

International House of Prayer-Kansas City

What is the International House of Prayer in Kansas City, and what do they do?

The heart of IHOP-KC is the prayer room where 24/7 worship and prayer have been unceasing since 1999.  Anyone is welcome to come, pray, read, journal, worship and intercede.  Many are students at the four-year Bible school, interns, or staff members.  Others are members of local churches, visitors of all kinds, or foreign missionaries in need of refreshing.  Many ministries have sprung up out of this environment of “onething” (Psalm 27:4). As we gaze on the beauty of God in the face of Jesus Christ, the things that burn on His heart begin to stir our hearts—whether it is justice for the oppressed, salvation for the lost, or healing for the broken.

IHOP is currently home to Exodus Cry, a human trafficking abolition ministry; Hope City, an inner city prayer room and soup kitchen; Hannah’s Dream Adoptions agency; Healing rooms; Strike Teams, which travel to foreign cities and partner with local churches for targeted prayer and fasting for breakthrough; and many other ministries.

For more information and a statement of faith, check out www.ihop.org For director Mike Bickle’s sermons and notes, go to www.mikebickle.org

June 2012 Update: Intro to IHOP internship

Thank you, friends and family, for your prayers and support over the years as I have participated in mission trips and training!  Two years ago when I returned from Mozambique, God called me to Kansas City to the International House of Prayer community.  I saw this as a training ground with plans to do an internship and hopefully join the prayer room staff for a season as a worship leader.  At the same time God brought my husband Jay into my life.  It was clear God’s immediate timing was more about pursuing a relationship with Jay than the internship for the time being.  Many of you were at our wedding on April 9^th, 2011!  J  Since then we have had a great first year, working and enjoying life together.  God provided a great job for me teaching 1^st-6^th grade Spanish at a very nice Kansas City, KS public elementary school, and a timely job for Jay doing maintenance at our apartment complex.

However, we believe the season has come for me to do the six-month internship, to be trained in the Word, ministry, worship and intercession. I look forward to going deeper in living understanding of the Word through prayer and a greater love for our Savior as I seek Him first.           

My objective is to join IHOP staff at least part-time upon completion of the internship.  Jay and I expect to be in Kansas City for the next several years.  However, we have a long-term vision to go to the nations, to reach unreached people groups with the gospel, to bring freedom to the oppressed such as victims of sex trafficking, to establish prayer communities, and ultimately hasten the return of Christ. J

Jay has a gifting and passion for technology and our hope is that his marketplace calling will help support us and foreign missions as well as be another mission field.  We can’t wait to see all that God has for our future!! 

Love and peace in Christ,

Angie and Jay Stratton

Who said this?

Here is your challenge: Read the quote below and tell me, who said this? Was it:

a) Leonardo da Vinci

b) George Washington

c) Jonathan Edwards

d) Napoleon Bonaparte


"I know men; and I tell you that Jesus Christ is not a man. Superficial minds see a resemblance between Christ and the founders of empires, and the gods of other religions. That resemblance does not exist. There is between Christianity and whatever religions the distance of infinity…

"Everything about Christ astonishes me. His spirit overawes me, and His will confounds me. Between Him and whoever else in the world there is no possible term of comparison. He is truly a being by Himself. His ideas and His sentiments, the truth which He announces, his manner of convincing, are not explained either by human organization or by the nature of things.

"The nearer I approach, the more carefully I examine, everything is above me; everything remains grand—of a grandeur which overpowers. His religion is a revelation from an intelligence which certainly is not that of man. There is there a profound originality which has created a series of words and of maxims before unknown. Jesus borrowed nothing from our science. One can absolutely find nowhere, but in Him alone, the imitation or the example of His life … I search in vain in history to find the similar to Jesus Christ, or anything which can approach the gospel. Neither history, nor humanity, nor the ages, nor nature, offer me anything with which I am able to compare it or to explain it. Here everything is extraordinary. The more I consider the gospel, the more I am assured that there is nothing there which is not beyond the march of events, and above the human mind."

SNOW DAY!

Thus begins week two of my job hunt, and my major item on the agenda has been snowed out! That of observing math and Spanish at the local middle school in hopes that it both helps me settle on the age group and subject matter I'd most like to teach (middle or high school? math or Spanish?) and allows me the opportunity to meet a prospective employer (as I hope to be considered for the middle school math position which is open yet have not made headway in gaining an interview!)

Please pray that the Lord will open a door of employment for me. In order to be with my family during the end of December, which to me is the highest priority due to my father's recent diagnosis of Lou Gehrig's disease, I had to give notice at my previous position teaching preschool and Kindergarten Spanish. Honestly, I am very happy at the prospect of something else. I do not feel at my highest working with mass 2-6 year olds, eleven classes a day, and keeping their attention long enough to learn a foreign language is another thing altogether! Very draining. As Jay goes back to finish his college degree next Monday, my situation in Kansas City is changing from that of a indefinite temporary season to four more years minimum, which also increases my desire to find a means of income more suited to my temperament and giftings!!!

My hope is to find a school district who will hire me to teach math or Spanish and co-apply to the state for a temporary authorization certificate. This can be renewed as I follow the requirements of taking a minimum of nine education credit hours per year. Teaching would keep me on a similar schedule as Jay, enabling us to hopefully do overseas missions most summers.

As we begin a new year, most of us usually take a moment to reflect on the previous year....Last year at this time I was contemplating moving to Kansas City, beginning to job search (deja vu!), and beginning to get to know Jay. Now he is finally living here all the time, I am job searching, and we are getting married three months from yesterday! The more that changes, the more that stays the same...I also am happy to be living in a nice house with four single women, three of whom are involved with the House of Prayer. How wonderful it is to live with godly people, such an encouragement, after living by myself most of last year! And for more encouragement, I believe Jay and I will be joining a marriage teaching focused small group called "Love & Respect" with IHOP-KC which conveniently runs from next Monday till late March. When I skipped an opportunity to do this course in seminar form in Mozambique to lead a weekend bush trip, I had a feeling I would come across it again at a more fitting time!

I pray that God would give you and I both a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, having the eyes of our hearts enlightened that we may know the HOPE to which He has called us, the RICHES of His glorious inheritance in the saints, and the immeasurable greatness of His POWER towards us who believe! (Eph. 1:17-19)

IHOP-KC in the News

IHOP-KC was featured as the cover story in November’s edition of Charisma Magazine. The article is entitled “We Won’t Stop Praying.” This edition also includes a highly favorable editorial about IHOP, as well as an article by Mike Bickle called, “Why the Church Must Pray.” There will also be a Conference Call with Mike on prayer on November 16, at 8 pm CST. To read the digital magazine online for free, visit the Charisma site at www.charismamag.com.

It's pretty cool!  IHOP-KC has gotten a lot of controversial press in the past, and there's still a lot of online stuff saying that we are a cult!  This is nice to be spoken of VERY positively from such a widely-read Christian publication.

On a personal note, I'm in the last few days of my online IHOP-KC eschool class on Song of Songs.  Pray that God breathe's life in to my final paper!  I will be outlining a portion of the Song in detail with Scriptural cross-references to Biblical symbolism, and then writing a 3-5 paper on how that particular passage identifies to my life!  It is a little intimidating to compile my commentary/outline...Mike Bickle's on the whole song is 152 pages!  Prayer welcome.  :)

Angie :) <><

I'm Getting Married!!!!

"My cup runneth over....!"

I'm sure most of you already know through facebook, but....I AM ENGAGED TO BE MARRIED!!!!

On October 15th, Jerald Jay Stratton, III, aka "JJ" or to me "Jay", took me star-gazing at a nearby lake.  He brought a blanket and candles and treats (including my fav extra dark Lindt truffles ;). We slow-danced as jazzy Ella Fitzgerald played on his laptop, and he began to tell me what I meant to him.  I felt him reach into his pocket and shuffle something behind my back before he got down on one knee and asked me to marry him.  I said, "Yes! Yes! Yes!" ;)  He proposed with a family heirloom ring, which I learned minutes later when we called my parents was in fact my grandmother's engagement ring!  I bawled.  It was beautiful, and such a blessing!  All my grandparents have been gone for many years, so it is so special to have my maternal grandmother's ring.  It is also an extravagant blessing for us financially and much bigger than I ever expected.  Haha!  :)

We will be getting married in St. Louis on April 9th, 2011.  Pray for us as we plan for the wedding and more importantly our marriage and future life together!  The Lord is stirring our hearts and minds to certain avenues over these next 4-5 years which we are very excited about---but more specifics to come on that later!  In the meantime, we've enjoyed spending each weekend together in these past two months since he officially moved to Kansas City.  He still works four ten hour days all over southern Missouri during the week, mostly out of Rolla and Springfield.  I'm looking forward to when we will see each other every day...but this is a great improvement to every third weekend!  It has been great to attend Forerunner Christian Fellowship (with IHOP-KC) together and enjoy time in the prayer room.

Other highlights over these past two months have been seeing family and friends at several weddings in the St. Louis/Illinois area.  First we celebrated with my cousin Debbie as she wed a wonderful man from Kenya.  Then two weeks later my very good childhood friend Jonathan Block married at the family farm where I spent many hours adventuring during summers growing up.  Then two weeks after that, we visited Rolla and stayed with Martha and James Cameron and went up to St. Louis for Jay's company team building day at Dave and Buster's.  Beforehand we met my parents at a few reception sites, and were happy to find the least expensive option to be very beautiful (and be running a special for April!)

Now to Him who richly provides for all our needs according to His riches in glory be blessing and honor and praise!  :)

It's beginning to look a lot like...fall!

Can you believe it is FALL?!!!!

The next thing you know, we will barely enjoy anticipating Thankgiving because they will be piping Christmas music the day after Halloween!

The leaves are turning, the wind is blowing, and change is blowing in the wind....at the end of September I will be moving yet again, but this time for a bit longer chunk of time, I believe.  I will be rooming in a house in Grandview with several young women either on staff or interning or students at IHOP.  I will finally have the fellowship I have been desperately needing!  Jay and I are looking at joining a small group at church, Forerunner Christian Fellowship (with IHOP-KC).

Things are continuing to heat up.  There have been over 1000 commitments of faith in the past three weeks through the YWAM and the "Greater Grandview" 20+ church outreaches, and each one is connected to a "Local Link", someone trained to personally disciple or connect new believers to a suitable mentor.  The Awakening evening Thurs-Sat services will discontinue Oct 9th, but God has more and not less planned for the community here as we go deeper in the place of prayer and prepare for the next wave...believing for a Great Awakening, which will not only touch primarily the "greater" (worldwide) house of prayer community, but our neighbors, our co-workers, our schools, our youth, and our generation!

God, send revival that not only the whole church will notice, but the likes of which bring the fear of the Lord into our entire society!!!


This year for me personally has been a season of testing and deep pruning.  Tested by isolation, removal from ministry within the body, working "under the sun" in a position that I do not have vision or passion, seeming fruitlessness.  "A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones." Proverbs 17:22  The confession of my mouth did not always line up with truth as I battled feelings of abandonment from God and disconnectedness from His love.  He has reminded me many times that this is just a season of testing, but I have had to confess bitterness and not trusting His leadership.  I would receive moments of encounter in the Word, but could not seem to encounter Him in a deep and lasting way.  I believe He needed me to run into my pride and barrenness and show me how desperate I am without Him before He can use me to the extent He desires.  I now know that where I thought myself strong, I am weak.  Where I thought myself gifted, I am barren.  Where I though myself humble, I know how great is my pride.  Where I believed myself steadfast, once alone, I falter.  Where I believed I trusted and had great faith, I met my despair apart from Christ.  I know more fully it is completely a gift!  It is He who moves in me to will and to act according to His purposes. It is only when I DIE that He can truly LIVE in me.  When I am WEAK, He provides the strength.  The harvest, the fruit, is not for me to provide.  The truth He taught me in Africa had to be proven through the fires of testing: "If I raise the dead or sweep the floor, or even take a nap, the pay's the same....My bread is to do the will of the One who sent me."

TO HIM BE THE GLORY!  AMEN.

What....?!! April?!!!!

I don't know how it happened so fast, but it is over halfway through April, 2010!!!!  Many changes have transpired since I last wrote.  Mid-March I moved into my new abode in Independence, KC, where I serve as resident manager at a non-profit transitional apartment program for 17-20 year olds who have aged out of foster care or young women with babies who have no other support structure.  I don't receive a salary, but am provided with a two-bedroom apartment and utilities in return for being available evenings and weekends to do resident checks, drive them to get groceries, etc.  I feel very blessed to work with wonderful ladies and have this position where God has brought four young women and one guy into my life to pray for and mentor.  This is a program run through a state grant so I am somewhat limited, though at least one if not two of the ladies who run it are Christians.  Pray for open doors for the gospel to be presented!  Pray for words of knowledge and wisdom and boldness for me to glorify Christ!  I got to pray for healing for one of the girls who had a cold last Saturday.  It didn't lead to too much conversation but I hope and believe it was a step.

My second job is teaching Spanish full-time at a high-quality (read: posh) preschool in Leawood, KS.  I just completed my second full week, and boy am I tired!!!  Learning to tailor lessons for 10 classes of 2-5 year olds and manage two jobs is a challenge!  However, I believe it will only get easier as time goes by.  Pray that I grow in patience and love and work as unto the Lord!

As if this weren't enough, I registered for eschool with the Forerunner School of Ministry at the International House of Prayer-KC this past week and began my first course.  Tentative plans are to complete the first year of the Bible school as I work.  My first course is one I have actually been listening to (on tapes from the 90's!) for the past ten years, Mike Bickle's Song of Solomon course.  I'm excited to study it again in depth though, as life experience has opened the latter part of the book up to me a lot over the past year, but I also feel a need to experience breakthrough in the basic "dark but lovely" reality of a believer.  For though I am dark in my sin and weakness, through Christ I am lovely before God!  Pray that head knowledge moves deep into my heart as I am made perfect in love, to walk boldly and confidently before God!!! (1 John 4:16-18)

God's grace has helped me start getting up early and spending an hour at the IHOP-KC prayer room on my way to work, and what a difference it makes!  I hope to learn to get to bed earlier and soon lengthen that time to two hours.  I would have a lot of trouble being alert to have time in prayer and the Word in my apartment in the mornings, and I'm so thankful to be able to go somewhere that is so focused and energized.  By the time I get there I am wide awake and ready!

I'm super blessed, I can't even say how much, to be dating an amazing man JJ Stratton, who is passionate about God and moving up here to KC in about six weeks!  We had a blast when he came up for the Passion for Jesus conference this past weekend, worshipping and ministering together.  He is also looking into the Forerunner School of Ministry at the International House of Prayer.

Friends in Kansas City, now is when I take a moment to apologize for not looking you up sooner!  I could make all the excuses, transitions are busy, blah, blah, but rather I'll just say, let's get together now!!!!  I don't care much for living alone, though I haven't had much time to think about it the past two weeks, and I'm eager to prioritize friendships, if you will all forgive me!  :)

Revival Coming to Rolla!!!!

Praise God from whom all blessings flow! 

God is so faithful!  Back in December of 2004 when He moved on me to organize a 24 hour prayer day at the BSU in Rolla, I never would've guessed I'd find myself back in Rolla doing 24/7 intercessory worship!  Basically, my previous job opportunity didn't work out and though I'd had another interview, I was free at the time to come to Rolla and sow into what I believe God is stirring up here.  I'm pretty much leading worship sets 8-10am Friday through Wednesday, and also last night I did a second set 9-11pm.  It is a blessing for me to see others hear the whispers of the Lord and raise up intercessors to press in for spiritual breakthrough for Rolla as a town and the Missouri S&T campus!  The prayer meetings are thin and weak but the Lord shows Himself strong when weak and broken people say YES to him in obedience!

I just heard last night there is a group of people who desire to raise up a house of prayer in Rolla.  Wow.

This has such an impact on me, though I haven't lived in Rolla for five years, because of the two times in my life that I heard the internal audible voice of the Lord, one of them was about Rolla! 

In 2002 I was in Costa Rica serving at an orphanage, and it was a Sunday afternoon.  I was fasting during lunch and laying on my bed praying.  The Holy Spirit came and filled me and rested on me in an amazing way I have never felt since.  There are no words to describe how amazing it felt, like a blanket of warmth completely surrounding me but also within me.  It was like an orangey heat and a flower blooming...there really aren't words!!! I was so at peace and filled with the love of God.  My natural mind reacted almost on its own, "God is here!  Quick, ask Him something!"  I still think that's funny. But more strange is I found myself whispering, "When is it coming?  Lord, when is revival coming to Rolla?" And I heard the intonation of these words, though I don't believe it was out loud, "When you cover it in prayer."  I just rested in His presence and enjoyed.  Then I though I felt it start to lift and I found myself asking, "When?  When is it coming?"  And again He said, "When you cover it in prayer."  THREE TIMES this dialogue took place!  I don't know why I had to ask again and again, but I did and He answered. 

Since then I've prayed and thought about this many times.  What exactly does it mean to "cover it in prayer?" The only thing that ever seemed to really be a complete covering was praying all the time, praying without ceasing, praying night and day.  And I didn't get a sense that the "you" meant just me, but a corporate "You," the Church.

So...that was the summer after my sophomore year of college.  By the time I was about to graduate in December of 2004, two and a half years later, I had gradually felt led that before I left Rolla, I needed to organize a 24/7 prayer day, just to be faithful to the word of the Lord.  The Lord blessed my non-administratively gifted efforts over a three week span and we managed to have worship leaders and bands and intercessors come together at the Baptist Student Union for an entire 24 hour period.

I actually felt led to stay in Rolla seven months after graduating.  Finally I moved on.  Nothing much happened, but oh, well, at least I was obedient. :)

And now, to be "randomly" connected to my friend who is organizing it at a time when I just "happened" to be free (I have two interviews later this week in Kansas City so it is unlikely I would've been free later in the year, or even this month)...I'm just thankful to be caught back in the swirl of what I believe God is preparing to do in this area!

In addition to worship and prayer, they are hosting prayer walks every day from 4:30-5:30pm and plan to have a prayer booth in the middle of campus on the opening day of the St. Pat's celebrations this Wednesday.  I can't wait!

On a side note, please pray for wisdom as I contemplate several different avenues of work and IHOP and living arrangements in Kansas City, and for favor in my interviews.  One is the second interview with a non-profit transitional home as the residential manager.  They help young people 17-20 learn to live independently and move ahead in education, whether getting their G.E.D. or trade school or college.  Many have aged out of foster care and a few are single young mothers.  The position involves checking on the young adults nights and weekends, some case management, and offers an apartment and utilities, NO salary.  And its in Independence, a half hour drive from IHOP.  The other position is near IHOP teaching Spanish to 2-6  year olds full time. 

Technically, I could do both, but as I was hoping to just get a part time job and have more time for the prayer room and ministry, or classes, I would probably prefer not to be so busy.  Or I could hit it hard for six months and really save up and then do an internship...

There is also a great living opportunity near IHOP with two amazing Christian girls...very tempting...

February Finds Me...

...enjoying the prayer room any time night or day at the International House of Prayer-Kansas City...prayerfully waiting to hear back about a job I interviewed for Sunday involving a live-in respite position caring for a young woman who has had a stroke (I really want this one--believe it may be the "perfect job" I was asking the Lord for on Friday when I came across it!)...February finds me...gratefully accepting the hospitality of Lorelei Lyons, my Mozambique Harvest School friend whose room I am staying in until God opens the door to something more permanent...this is a beautiful house near IHOP and an answer to prayer!...

It finds me speaking at the Baptist Student Union in Rolla, MO, this Thursday about the gospel of the kingdom and God's hand in Mozambique....bringing my amazing new boyfriend, JJ Stratton, to St. Louis to meet my family!...(yay!)...

February finds me growing in excitement over the new waves of awakening God is bringing to the United States...anticipating and praying into another GREAT AWAKENING that will shake the intellectual humanism which has poisoned the Ivy Leagues and for Boston to be the Jericho that will fall and release revival to New England and all of America...!

God is doing a new thing in the earth, and I want to be a part of it.  So Feb finds me asking...how...?

Nampula 10 Day Outreach

Warning: this is long and probably should be divided into chapters!  And I skipped so much. :) So just print it out and put it in your bathroom or something and maybe you'll eventually finish it.  :-P  

Nampula 10 day seemed to get off to a rather bumpy start, between some miscommunications with Mozambican leadership, and having a translator who was not really present for the first few days (which no doubt contributed to the miscommunications.)  Matt and I would think that we were finally on the same page with the Moz leadership and something else would come out that we'd had yet another misunderstanding!  So we experienced some growing pains during the first couple of days, for sure.  Cross-cultural Ministry 101!

When we arrived in Nampula we met up with Pastors Tanueki and their two teenage children, as well as nephew and two others from their church.  P. Chico was waiting to connect with P. Tanueki to determine our plan for the rest of the trip, to come under P. Tanueki's leadership and what was on his heart for the region.  One of the places P. Tanueki had wanted to visit with an outreach was Gile, in the northern part of Zambezia province.  He was overjoyed that we were game to go there.  After two days of driving, we arrived in Gile after dark to a crowd of church members lined up to greet us, singing and dancing.  At first they said we wouldn't do an outreach that night, so we set up tents and cooked dinner.  Then around 9:30pm they decided to do the outreach.  Some of the team were already collapsed exhausted in the tents.  Matt was game so Rollo went and they struggled to get the system going.  The movie started around 11pm I believe.  I was going to eat with the team and rest then try to bring a group over to help with ministry time.  It was one in the morning and everyone was exhausted so I left it to Matt and decided to get some rest to be ready for the seminars and ministry in the morning.  (You'll have to hear Matt's story of the evangelism!)

I

It ended up being a good idea to tag-team, and we did that a few other times. I was needed to translate for the women's seminar and again for the men's/church leaders.  (That clearly shows how DESPERATE we were for translators!)  Our main translator did the children's ministry with Lorena Wood, Rolland Baker's sister who we were very blessed to have join us as a last minute addition.  For the women's seminar, I got to work with Florinda Tanueki and Harvest schoolers Cassandra and Jenny, and it was the highlight of my trip!

The church there has no pastor, and the night before I'd connected with the woman, Feliciana Domingos, who was hosting us, to learn that she had indeed BUILT the church, most of it alone (sozinha, sozinha, SOZINHA! she made sure I knew) and she said, without food and little water for a week! She kept praying for God to send help, and He finally sent some people and they helped with the roof.  She was so grateful we had come!  It helped me overcome a little of my tiredness to see how much it meant to her that we were there.  This woman would love to go to Pemba and meet Mama Aida and attend the Bible school.  She certainly has some of the determination of 
Mama Aida.  I'm so excited that they are teaching women now!  Someone had given me a Portuguese Old and New Testament Bible before I left for outreach, and she could read Portuguese very well, so I was able to give her a Bible--the only one in the church!
 
Feliciana was a great help in facilitating the seminar, bringing up tough questions and issues the women in the church were struggling with.  (What do we do if our children don't want to come to church?  What if our husband started out in the church and now he's started drinking?  What if he leaves? What is the church's stance on ceremonial circumcision?) It turns out, as she introduced some of the women, that she had really gotten the word out and several of the women were visitors from other Christian churches in the city.  Florinda Tanueki shared about the husband being the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, and how to respect your husband and cause him to value you.  I'd been told that there wasn't much affection between husband and wife in this culture, and that became apparent as she felt it necessary to teach them and share about many specific ways to show affection...etc.etc. Jenny's ears and face were getting red, and she didn't even speak Portuguese.  :)

Then I got to help translate for the men as Fred Dykstra shared his powerful testimony and about men loving their wives and treating them with tenderness.  Pastor Chico then preached a fiery sermon, continuing the theme.  Our team came together for lunch and shared our experiences.  Two groups had gone prayer walking and ministering in the village, one group did children's ministry and two helped with the seminars.
 
It was really cool in Gile to meet a Bible student from a nearby town who KNEW Matt and I from our school!  Mariano recognized us shortly after we arrived.  It struck me what an influence the small Bible school in Pemba was having all over northern Mozambique.  Here we had driven 2 days WAY out there, and there is someone who knew us!  Then it happened again in another town with another Bible student!
 
In spite of previous talks of staying in each place two nights, the pastors really wanted to minister in a village about 50 minutes back the way we came, so instead of back-tracking we decided to move camp.  There was no established Iris church in Uape, but they had a Catholic influence so they had at least heard the name of Jesus.  We set up the film outside of the main part of town, in an open soccer field right in front of the house where we made camp under the cashew trees.   As often surprises me, people come out of the wood-work and we had a decent sized crowd.  Our group worshipped and prayed during the film (after enjoying the most amazing lightening storm out over the valley!) and then a few of us gave testimonies.  During ministry time, I was surprised that the healings weren't coming very quickly.  I'm not used to having to pray two, three, four times and call in reinforcements just for a fever or stomach ache!  We prayed a long time for a mute girl who did not begin to speak.

However, a large majority of the crowd wanted to receive Jesus!

I was able to see the fruit of it the next morning.  Our plan was to wake up early, pack up, grab some breakfast and be off because we had a long drive back to Nampula province.  We did the first part as planned, but then plans changed a little.  Thirty-six people had returned the next morning to write down their names because they had received Jesus and wanted to be discipled!  They wanted a church in their town.  It was a mixed crowd: men, women, teenaged boys and girls, and even children.  The pastors spent awhile talking with them, and then Cassandra did a great summarized teaching about the work of the Holy Spirit and we prayed over them to be baptized in the Holy Spirit!  We gave money to P. Tanueki for the construction of a small church, and loaded up and were off by about 8:15am!  We rode along the bumpy dirt road, laughing and singing and praising God for the Fruit.  I couldn't believe all the Lord had done in that short time.  :)  Pray that God raises up a pastor to come to Pemba for training for that new congregation in Uape!

When we arrived in the next place to minister in the area of Niamoto, we were pleased to see more shady areas for camping, and to learn after 4 days of dusty traveling that there is a nearby "river" to clean up in!  The river ended up being just a hole surrounded by tall grasses, but we had quite a little adventure as the local woman bathed us! :)  Then the guys had a chance.

I had a great conversation with a critical member of our team as dusk fell which proved to be a huge turning point in him and in the week.  He shared how God had convicted him for his "funk" and he really opened up to everyone and became an active participant in the group.  I had just before this been pretty fed up and had it in my heart to just get through it and somehow "deal" with him.  But God broke in and showed me again that He is not content for us to just tolerate each other, but to love each other and to go out of our way again and again if necessary to tear down walls and be reconciled and partner with each other.  I'm so grateful for this breakthrough because as he stepped up a lot of pressure came off of Matt and I.

We were blessed to have the Tanueki's teenaged children to lead the worship for the evening evangelism, and their nephew and church friend to lead very vigorous dancing.  I swear these guys had come across a Richard Simmons "Sweatin' with the Oldies" video somewhere.  The crowd at the film seemed pretty lively, but as Angie G. and Krista shared testimonies, all eyes were on them.  Angie's story of personal healing in comparison with the woman with the issue of blood who pressed to Jesus for healing seemed to tangibly raise the faith and expectation level of the whole crowd.  Krista shared about being involved with witchcraft and the whole crowd admitted going to the witch doctor before she shared about the power and freedom in Jesus.  We had an amazing ministry time!  Countless people received Jesus and the majority pressed forward for prayer.  The healings came quickly and joy on their faces was obvious as they were healed (which is not always the case.)


The next day we had a women's seminar again, as well as children's ministry. The men had dispersed by afternoon so we didn't get a chance for a men's seminar, but at least there is a church and pastor already established there.

The next night we went to show the film down the road.  Lorena had helped throw together a play of the story of Jesus birth, which we acted with narration before it became dark.  The equipment malfuctioned and we were not able to show the film, so the crowd began to disperse.  Our team pressed the pastors to have ministry anyway, and finally as several people gave testimonies and preached, the people came back and there was some powerful ministry.  We had a blast praising God on the way back to camp...."In the highways, in the hedges...I'll be somewhere, a-workin' for my LOOOORRRDDD..."

This brings me to one of the more spectacular things which happened on our trip.  We had FOOD MULTIPLY at least THREE TIMES!!!

The first morning in Niamoto I'd bought some extra food items, thanks to Lorena's prompting, to make breakfast a little more of a treat: 50 hard-boiled eggs and a few huge pineapples that were really inexpensive, as well as enough rolls for 2 each since they were rather small.  The 35 in our group all ate an egg sandwich and some pineapple slices.  Then Ernesto, one of Heidi's adopted sons from the original bunch in Maputo, cut the remaining 15 eggs in half and began to distribute egg and bread to the groups of village children, women, and men who had gathered around our camp.  EVERYONE ate.

I got to be honest, I was thinking, "what are you starting Ernesto when you can clearly see that there will not be enough for everyone," but thankfully, I just stayed out of it.

I'd bought a pig the neighbors had butchered (with loud squeals at 4am!) for lunch and again first we all ate and then we fed the villagers.  Zito, the Pemba youth who served as our chefe de cozinha, told me later, "There shouldn't have been enough because the people just kept coming, but I looked and the rice just didn't go down and there was always more meat."  (And I have to say, that was the best pork I've ever eaten in my entire life!)

The next day I just thought, well, we'll have to pack up camp and then drive for awhile until we reach a town where we can buy some bread for matarbichu, breakfast.  Clearly, we won't have enough bread if any.  I had bought 140 rolls, enough for 2 each person for 2 mornings, and I'd seen Ernesto and the others hand out rolls to all the villagers the day before.  To be honest, I was just hoping everyone would have good attitudes about starting the day with a delayed breakfast because that had been a bit of an issue in Uape amongst some of the Pemba Mozambicans.

And yet there was a bag of bread and surprisingly full!  We each ate a roll and again handed out rolls to the village children, women, and men.

At the time I was too preoccupied to make sense of what had happened these three meals.  It really wasn't until the leaders were sitting together in Nampula a few days later talking about the week when Ernesto and I were talking and I put some math with what we had seen.  It was really convicting--it doesn't matter what awesome stuff God does, it takes eyes to see and ears to hear to really recognize His hand.  At that time Ernesto said, "we should feed the Nampula church after service tomorrow."  My initial thought of course was, how are we going to have enough?  And then I laughed.  How silly.  God's heart is clearly to feed the hungry, and how do we see His provision unless we are willing to go out on a limb?

We also built a latrina at this church since there wasn't one in the area, and then we had a great public health address given by our lovely nurse Mandy, with the aid of Garrett's amazing graphic drawings, and Eric was only to happy to provide further visuals, acting out how to USE said latrine. :)

So we had a great service at the Tanueki's big church in Nampula city on Sunday morning, and after an hour of vigorous dancing showed the Christmas drama again.  Pastor Chico preached.  Finally it was time for lunch.  As I looked at the crowd and the two pots of arroz e feijão I thought, we'll serve the church but I think our group may have to fast until dinner...and OF COURSE, EVERYONE ate, first the church and then us, and at the end village kids kept coming in off the streets to eat, and women were taking tons of leftovers home wrapped up in whatever they could find.  God is always better than I give Him credit for.

A mighty rainstorm pelted the tin roofed church for a long time before Matt and our camion of supply shoppers returned to the church.  It was just as well, it was better to be in the shelter of the church than back at the chicken farm.  

When we returned, several tents were flooded out, but God blessed us again through the owner of the farm as he graciously opened his home to about six people for the night, and also gave us use of two HOT-WATER showers!  Yes, at this point clearly the most difficult parts of our 10 day were in the past. :)  After the heat of Gile, we camped in the shade for the rest of the trip, and when clouds rolled in Thursday night from Friday on through to our last night, Tuesday, the weather was in the beautiful 70s, even dipping into the 60s.

I had prophesied in one of our prep prayer meetings that this trip would be like ministering in the cool of the day as opposed to the heat of the battle (like Matt's difficult color group outreach when it was horribly hot and people were dropping like flies). I have to say the second morning when we woke up in Gile and it was so hot, I was like, huh? Maybe got that one wrong.  But after that morning we didn't wake up hot for the rest of the trip, which is quite a small miracle in itself.  God was so gracious to us.  (Niassa/Tete groups, please don't hate us!)

The last two nights we set out from the chicken farm to towns 70 or 80 km away.  Again, spiritually hungry, hungry people were fed.  The second night the sound messed up again and Ernesto actually narrated the film as people watched it.  In our weakness He is glorified!

One of the most powerful moments of the week was our goodbye service in Nampula church just before setting off back to Pemba.  First Pastor Tanueki and then Florinda shared at how touched they were by our group.  They said over and over how thankful they were to have food and water, to feel a spirit of unity with our group, that we were willing to go wherever they felt called to minister, even as far as Gile, and that they were treated with respect.  They were very emotional and near tears as they mentioned past groups of internationals and Mozambicans from Pemba who did not supply them with water, and made them eat last and even comments that made them feel worse than slaves.  Apparently there are some more deep seated issues between the Makua from Cabo Delgado and those in Nampula, that the northern people thinks of the Nampula people as lower than themselves.  The humility and acceptance and love which they had treated us with from the beginning of the trip was magnified as I realized how they had set aside their feelings in agreeing to partner with us on this trip when they had such hurt from past experiences.   All week we had no idea.  As they spoke there 20 year old son began weeping with wrenching sobs.  We prayed over all of them as they wept.  God really used this trip to begin tearing down walls between Pemba believers and Nampula believers as well as missionaries.

It wasn't until we were riding home when God brought back to mind my spiritual encounter the night before.  I had even mentioned it to Randy that morning before we left the camp in case his group had any nightmares or any encounters.

I was sleeping in my tent when I felt the presence of terrible evil over me.  It was strong and fearful, like I've never felt before.  I had a sense that it was two principalities over the area.  (I don't know how I knew this.)  I knew all I had to do was say the name of Jesus, but it was like I couldn't even talk.  Finally, I told myself to just whisper, and I whispered, "Yesu, Yesu, Yesu" a little easier each time, and as I said His name, the heaviness lifted off of me and moved a little back toward my feet.  And suddenly I said, "I bind the spirit of rejection!  I bind the spirit of rejection! In the name of Jesus" and then it tried to come back and I said "In the name of Jesus" a few times "I bind the spirit of rejection" and it went away.  I lay in my tent, I don't think I opened my eyes the whole time, and just prayed for the peace of God so that I could fall back asleep, and I felt safe and fell right asleep.

When this came to mind the next day as we were leaving camp, I was like, "Wow.  What was that? That was freaky."  "Full-on" you might say, Sarah.  I'd never experienced anything like that.  And I don't know why I bound the spirit of REJECTION.  It seemed pretty random.  But later on the way home, God connected it with what took place in the church.  He wants to bring healing to the spirit of rejection the Nampula Makua are living under, and it begins in the church.

Then I was just thankful God let me participate in a new way and have greater insight into the spiritual warfare that is going on in the region.

Our trip may have gotten to a rocky start, but the camion roof ripped all the way down as the sun was beginning to set, and we took it off in Alua just in time for the spectacular African sunset behind the magnificent iselbergs!  It was like a gift from our Papa.  We worshipped God and we were all full of the Spirit for hours as the camion made its way under the stars to Pemba.  What a way to bring it home!

******************************************

For my part, I think the trip was God's tailer-made plan for me called "How to Kill Angie Softly in 10 Days".  He surely revealed my weakness to me in a new depth, as well as His strength.  He showed me how much I need Him, in order to show the simplest kindness to anyone.  That it is from Him and not from any goodness of my own.  Thank you, Matt, for being patient with me when I was crabby and just wanted to throw myself on the ground like a baby who just spilled Kool-aide all over itself and have a good cry.  God also brought ministering angels to me in the persons of some members of the team just when I needed them!  Thank you, you know who you are.  :)