The first week of outreach

The first week of outreach has been awesome! The first day was spent driving to Kelowna, which was a lot of fun in the van. (We only had one child freak out and say that he wanted to go home about two hours in. It’s all good.) Arriving in Kelowna, we were met by a Korean man named Daniel and he guided us to the place where we would be staying at for the night. We drove to a beautiful house atop a hill that is owned by an awesome Korean couple. In the morning we spent some time praying for the couple in there house and speaking prophetic words over them and the city of Kelowna. It was a really awesome time.
I had an interesting word there for them and the city. I saw our group in the spirit gather up something like snow balls and throw them out onto the city and I also saw the couple speaking life into the city from there house in the mornings.
After our time in Kelowna we journeyed onward to Vancouver. We arrived in Vancouver on Tuesday night and stopped at our place of residence for the next few days- the Full Gospel Assembly church in Burnaby. We are guided to our room which is the church nursery, not bad.
That night we found out that there was a prayer meeting going on with the Zion church. Our base leader John Knoch told us that it would be beneficial to us if we went there and it was. We arrived with a little help if a GPS. Going upstairs to a small room filled with a diverse group of people praying, we are introduced to the group and given an opportunity to share. The pray time there was phenomenal and we had many encouraging words spoken over us. One of the highlights for me was meeting the Russian missionary that was a guest to the Zion church. We struck up conversation and I began to tell him about where we were planning on going. I told him that I was hoping to get to Seattle for church on Sunday and he asked me what church we were going to. I told him that I was hoping to go to Mars Hill. He said “oh yeah, Mark Driscoll, I like him.” He began to tell me that he watches the pod casts in at his home in Russia. It was so awesome to meet some one from Russia who was stoked on reformed theology.
For the next few days we had the opportunity to minister at Union Gospel Mission. UGM is a shelter for the homeless, but it is not your every day shelter. This place packed with a highly energetic clientele of about 120-130 homeless people from all different experiences and backgrounds, and seven crazy staff that we had lots of time to get to know and encourage. There are probably too many highlights to share but I think the number one was the time Barbie and I got to spend with Bill Wong. He is the manager of the UGM. We spent a large portion of the day with Bill running around the city picking up donations and talking. We really connected with Bill and had an awesome time of fellowship with him. It’s truly amazing to hear stories of the lives that have been changed by the mission and we were blessed to have been there.
Next up for us we are headed to Seattle. We need Prayer, today (Saturday) our van decided to break down, I guess the fuel pump and the fuel relay were on the last legs and decided to throw in the towel. So we are now in a holding pattern. Praise the Lord. We are being obedient.
Saturday night we got to relax and hang out with Dan & Arielle (Barbie’s bro & his GF). We had a really nice visit and had some delicious Indonesian curry. (made from scratch! Thank you!) It was a fun time, and as always, ended too soon.

Today is Sunday, the seventh day of outreach. WE are hoping to leave today for Seattle, but alas the van is in the shop still. We went to church at the Full Gospel Assembly this morning. The New Waves team performed a couple of their dances and the Hauka. The church was very culturally diverse. We had a lot of fun and were very blessed by the congregation. WE got to pray for many people after the sermon and the youth rocked it out. We had lunch with them after and it was a really cool time.

So here we are, not sure what is ahead, but we are confident in what the Lord has told us and are excited for the next seven weeks!

Outreach-Day 1

Up this morning, 4 am. In the van and on the road, leaving Cypress Hills, Alberta, 5:30am.

Arrive in Kelowna, BC, 9:30pm.

One day down and we are well aware that a good attitude can change everything.

Jesus is Lord!

Jesus is Lord

Thank you for your prayers.
We are headed on the road in approximately 6.5 hours. We are both really excited!

There is something about the not knowing which both is thrilling and terrifying.

The greatest thing about life, though, is the absolute knowing that Jesus is Lord in all circumstances (though there is still the trusting part)

The life of a christian is one of constant repentance and obedience. I am glad that I will never know all there is to know about the Lord; Those deep secret things of God, we will spend eternity learning of...

A vision

So, the other day (Wednesday January 7, 2009) Barbie and I called Crossroads Church to see how much support had come in for us during the month of December; With the outreach phase of the DTS approaching quickly and the lack of finances we had, we were starting to get a little concerned. After talking to the church accountant, we were slightly taken aback at the news that the month of December had brought in zero dollars.
There has always been a part of me that has not wanted to do this outreach, for reasons other than finances, so this seemed like a bigger reason not to go.
Feeling really confused and anxious, Barbie and I decided to fast from dinner that night to seek God about what we were supposed to do. We stayed in our room and put on some worship music and began to seek the Lord.
About thirty minutes had passed, I was laying on the bed face down praying, when I started to have a vision.
In this vision I was laying face down in a desert that was dry and the ground was cracked up. Suddenly I was picked up by a figure, that I think was a demon; He picked me up and began slapping me in the face over and over. Then it seemed to zoom out from that place and that whole scenario became a thought in the form of an arrow that bounced off the armor that I was now wearing. Then the vision went back to the start and I was lying there on the cracked ground again. The same thing happened. Again the figure came and picked me up. I knew it was going to start slapping me, so when it went to take the first hit, I blocked it and punched the demon in the face. My punch was like a super punch and it sent the thing flying and I mean like flying! Then I went and walked to where the demon landed, and there was another one! As it came at me, I punched it also, and it flew off a huge cliff that was close to me. Then I walked up to the cliff and looked over it; It was a huge chasm. As I looked, I felt another attack coming from behind. I looked back just in time to see something dive at me to try and take me over the cliff. I ducked and the thing flew over the cliff. Returning to my feet I began looking around, and as I looked I saw on the horizon a throne on a hill. As soon as I saw the throne I began running toward it. As I ran I noticed that there were figures lining the trail. I was running so fast that I was knocking them over. When I arrived at the throne I was met by Jesus, but I could only see his legs for he was so HUGE! All I could see were his feet and lower legs. Then he reached down and picked me up and embraced me in his arms. I felt so small in the arms of Jesus even though in this vision I was a big guy. I then heard Jesus say to me “Well done, good and faithful servant.” He hugged me and then lowered me to the ground again. After he released me, I started walking down some stairs. Then, out of nowhere, a door appeared before me and I knew that I was suppose to walk through it. As I got closer to the door I noticed that on the door a word was written; It said “OUTREACH”.

Praise God for speaking!
I am totally convinced that we are supposed to do this outreach regardless of finances. God WILL provide. We are called to obedience and I want to do what God wants us to do regardless of what it looks like in the natural. Jesus is Lord.

Zero dollars

Well as it stands right now we have zero dollars for outreach. It’s totally crazy. God has totally provided for us durring the lecture phase and we have been able to go through lectures debt free. Praise God. At this point we are trying to decide if this is an attack on us, or if we are not supposed to go? Yeah we are praying and pressing into God to find the answers to these questions. I would invite you at this time to pray for us as we are seeking to be obedient to God and his leadings and I ask, beg, plead you to pray. If you have any sensing from the Lord please let us know.
Thank you for your prayer support at this time,
We love you all.

Blessings,

Luke and Barbie