I’m long but trust me, you to want to read me. If nothing else read my story at the end.

Wow. Where do I even begin? What a week it’s been. The speaker this week was just incredible. Really funny chap, must be in his fifties – he started off the week by introducing himself and saying, “I’ve come here to talk to you all about the Father-heart of God. I could tell you about how my Dad left me when I was nine. I could tell you about how I was first arrested for armed robbery when I was thirteen, I could tell you about how I was arrested again when I was fifteen for drug dealing in my school. I could tell you all about how, when I was seventeen, I had too much to drink and drove a van straight into a brick wall, killing seven of my school friends and only just escaping with my life. (At this point we all had our hands over our mouths). I could tell you all of this but none of it would be true!” Ha, that got us all! And then he said the funny thing was that we were all thinking “Wow, this guys going to be good – he’s killed!” Ha, so true!

So that was a good introduction to the week but that was only the beginning – it just kept getting better. The amazing thing about this guy was that he got involved. All the speakers so far have taught us but no more. This guy joined the community. He announced we were all going out for pizza on him Tuesday night, he spent time just chill-caking with us, really took an interest in us. I was amazed – he had so much passion to see us draw closer to each other and God and yet he travels the world speaking at DTS’ – I don’t know how he keeps it up!

I haven’t really talked about the teaching all that much but this week I can’t not talk about it! It was amazingly intense – I came out of almost every meeting feeling emotionally drained but in a good way – so much of what he was saying made so much sense. He talked for the first three days and then on Thursday and Friday he got us to each pray about a new name we felt God was giving us and then to come and up to the front and tell everyone what it was and what you wanted God to do for you. And then everyone else gathered round and prayed for you. And wow – did God get to work! Thursday was intense – people were crying and being set free from stuff all over the shop! I was really reluctant to go forward though, and in fact I never did make that decision – just before lunch on Friday Rich (our speaker) made it for me when said he felt I had something weighing on my heart and that he wanted me to come forward – spot on the money! I told everyone about my two names (I couldn’t decide on one!) – Trusting and Passionate. Trusting because of all the issues I’ve had over the years trusting fully in Jesus. I told them how I’ve struggled believing in everything, and even before coming here I was still struggling – I find it really difficult trusting something I can’t see, hear, touch or smell! And then passionate because I get more passionate about worldly things (mainly girls if I’m honest), than I do about God and I wanted that to change. Everyone gathered round me and started praying for me and it happened slowly but I felt my hands and legs start tingling, and as they carried on praying it got more and more intense until my hands were just kinda burning with the tingling sensation. And then my hands went sorta numb and I couldn’t stretch them out properly – they were just kinda stuck! It’s so difficult to explain but it was amazing – felt so good! My breathing went crazy too – I was just breathing really deeply really quickly – apparently I was in danger of hyper-ventilating! It was unreal though – felt so good – I think that’s what’s called being filled with the Holy Spirit! I remember saying, “Oh my hell” at one point – I think that’s looked upon as swearing round here so probably wasn’t the best move but I had to say something – it was incredible! I’ve really struggled with the evidence for God in the past, I think the evidence for God is pretty strong to be honest but I’ve had difficulties just accepting that. There’s no way yesterday could have happened without God though, I don’t want to hear any arguments about how it was psychological – I know what I felt and it wasn’t natural! Just wish I had it on video. Oh well.

What else has been going on? We had a crazy water fight on Tuesday, Samuel (our crazy leader) got Rich to come out of his accommodation and then three of us just jumped on him with buckets! Poor chap. Rich got his own back yesterday though – after he had finished praying for all of us he said, “I have a word for you Samuel – I think God would like to lead you into fresh pastures, give you new land...” and Samuel was nodding along, all excited as Rich got him to stand outside and put his hands out as he started to pray over him. The rest of us ran round the side of the building, got seven buckets of water and absolutely soaked him mid-prayer! Classic.

Another thing about the speaker that amazed me – we were all praying over Jess on Thursday and then Rich was like, “Jess, I just feel like I need to give you this...” and he took off his wedding ring and put it on her finger! His actual wedding ring! He said he felt as he woke up that morning that he needed to give it away today and then that feeling was confirmed by one of the other leaders so he gave it to her and then announced that he would be the one to marry off Jess and that she could give it back then! Wow – I wonder what his wife said to that! The awful thing was that it didn’t quite fit (obviously was on the large size) and later on that evening Jess suddenly realised that it was no longer on her finger! Ah, I can’t even begin to imagine how awful she must have felt! We sent out the search team to try and recover it and thankfully, after much scouring of the ground, we found it! Phew for that.

Enough? Is that what you’re thinking? Let me just finish with a story that Rich shared during the week. One of the things I love about this place is that all the speakers who come are normal guys and yet they all have amazing stories to tell of how God’s been working in their lives. Not their friends, not some famous Pastor, but in their lives. Rich told of how he went to a conference to speak on hearing God’s voice. One guy came up to him at the end – Andy – and challenged him, saying he doesn’t actually believe that God can speak these days. They discussed it briefly but then soon after they found themselves going to a shopping mall together. Andy turned to Rich as they were entering and said, “So, if God really does speak, ask him to show you someone in here that needs him”. So Rich just prays for God to show him someone and they enter. Before they’ve gone any distance at all Rich sees a young lady working at a card stall, just by the side of the mall, and as soon as he sees her he feels that she’s the one – they need to go speak to her. Rich is horrified – “No Lord, please not now. Too soon, too soon. Later, later” But as they get further through the Mall Rich realises... God’s already shown him the person they need to talk to so he really shouldn’t be expecting anyone else! He explains that they need to turn around and a slightly bemused Andy trails behind Rich as they traipse back through the Mall toward the card lady. They see her standing where she was before and Rich walks straight up and taps her on the shoulder. It’s only as she turns round to him that he has no idea what he’s going to say – he didn’t even give it a thought! He said a quick prayer and then said the first thing that came into his mind – something he’d never said before and has never said since; “I’m a servant of God!” and then he said, “The Lord has seen the tears on your pillow as you sleep and as you wake up. The prayers of your Grandmother have gone before you.” And just like that the young lady before him burst into tears! Andy was standing there gobsmacked as the lady sat there and sobbed for an hour in the Mall! It materialised eventually that she leaves work each evening, picks up her two kids from her mum’s house, takes them home, feeds them and then returns them to her mum before getting changed and walking the streets as a prostitute, just to make ends-meet. When she finally gets home she cries herself to sleep each night and she can still feel the dampness from the tears on her pillow as she wakes up each morning. She also receives a letter from her Grandmother each day, which she always signs off “I remember you in my prayers...” but this particular day she said instead, “I pray the Lord sends you a servant of God...” WOW. Check that out for a testimony on hearing the voice of God. And it’s not been passed from person to person either, this was just a story from Rich’s own life. Needless to say this lady became a Christian and is now happily married to a widowed elder at her local church. Pretty cool huh? Yeah, I thought so too. Put that in your pipe and smoke it Andy.

Alright, that’s all. Sorry it was so long this week – maybe I won’t write next week to make up for it; give you all a chance to catch up. Cheers folks.
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