The tears have started...they're good though

Couple of highlights from this week...

On Wednesday we had our first Bible class. Boy, did I feel lost. Dann Farrelly is one of our Bible teachers and he is absolutely hilarious. (He also does video announcements that are fantastic. You can watch them on the web for free at welovethebulletin.com.) Anyway, he created this super fun-fun quiz as he called it to see what we knew about the Bible. Yep, next to nothing. Good thing it wasn't graded. This should be an excellent class though. I should learn a ton.

Wednesday afternoon, we met our revival groups. I have two leaders, John and Laura, and our intern is Candice (she's a third year student). There's about 40 people in our group I guess, maybe a little less. Most of them are young, but there's a few older people that I haven't met yet. Anyway, they made us pair up and tell three things about each other to the whole group. The best one was about this man who had formerly been a drug dealer and was sentenced to life in prison. While in prison he found Jesus and Jesus set him free from all of his addictions and prison!

Spanish is awesome. Our teacher is very energetic and really knows her stuff. She's been going to Bethel since the 60 when Bill's dad was the head guy. It's strange being in a language class where the teacher busts into prayer and we sing worship songs, but it's great.

Onto Thursday. Thursday was a good day. Tracy Cooper was our first speaker and she was great. (I'm running out of cool adjectives for these people.) First of all, she had an amazing testimony of growing up in the church, which was encouraging for me. So many of these powerful preachers have come from really negative backgrounds and I rarely hear of people who come from fairly normal, church backgrounds. I was way encouraged that God does use people who grew up in the church. I mean, I know He does, but sometimes it just seems like the ones who have been delivered from serious stuff are used more. Her best line, was that God delivered her and protected her from experiencing the horrible things of life like abuse, drugs, etc.

Later on on Thursday we had some prayer time. I don't remember who led it, but it was good. People were laughing everywhere, shaking under His glory. Not me. I just cry. I was good until the second year students started trolling the room to pray for people. I had so many students touch me. Someone even hugged me. It was like being hugged by Jesus himself. I can't explain it. That's when the tears started. (And for those of you wondering if I love hugs now, No, that hasn't happened yet.) :)

Chris Overstreet, the outreach guy, was one of our last speakers on Thursday. He's an energetic speaker, very cool. We'll be doing outreaches every Thursday afternoon, so he was there to explain our options. There are a couple of opportunities with kids so I hope I get one of those.

We closed out Thursday with a fire tunnel, which is where a bunch of people make a tunnel and they pray for you as you go through it. They get really hot because the presence of God comes, hence the name fire tunnel.

Friday was a long day. I had Spanish, then class, a revival group dinner, and then Friday night service which ended up being 3 hours. I was good until about 9:15 then I was getting really sleepy. They were doing prophecy in the service which was awesome. No words for me, but other people from our class were getting blasted. I had already cried again during worship so it's probably good they didn't have a word for me. :) Holly and I were hanging out with this guy, Josh, from Manchester, England. He's really cool and of course the accent is awesome. I was telling Josh that Holly isn't a true representative of the Cincinnati accent because she's really from Indiana and she lived in Wisconsin too long and she picked up their accent. He just kind of looked at us like we were crazy, but Holly and I were having a good time. Holly was asking him how far away Scotland is from his home and he said, "Pretty far, it's about 4 hours." We were like "What! That's nothing." We then preceded to tell him we drove 34 hours to get to Redding and he just couldn't wrap his mind around it. Apparently, in England, they don't like to drive. Then in church, there was another guy from England who's actually in my revival group. He's a Steelers fan though, so we only talked to him for a little bit. :)

And lastly, Missions is going to be my first elective so I'm super, super excited about that. Job hunting and a Feast of Tabernacles dinner today. More to post about later I'm sure...

More Cool Kid Stories...

I started the day off with a walk down by the river. That's the best little trail. I spent a lot of it praying (I never seem to remember my iPOD anymore) and I actually went down to the river today, not just by it. It's an absolute gorgeous river. It bubbles up at this one spot by this tree out in the middle. The the current moves pretty swiftly towards the sunrise, but on the banks the water gently folds in. This description doesn't even do it justice.

Fast forward to school. It was kind of a duller day than any of the ones last week. My senses were on overdrive too so every little pen click, gum chewer, and typist were driving me crazy. I decided to go stand in the back for the last speaker, Ben. Let's just say he was the highlight of the day. He came out dressed in a full Scottish deal because apparently that's his heritage. Anyway, he was all fired up preaching about some good stuff. The kid stories are what get me though. Here we go...

His oldest child is an 8 year old boy. When this child was 5, Ben was saying goodnight to him before he went out for a night outreach. The son asked his dad where he was going and he told him he was going to hang out with the homeless. The little boy said, "Dad, where do they sleep?" Ben proceeded to tell his son that they sleep on the ground, sometimes on the concrete and it can be very cold. The little boy said, "That doesn't sound very comfortable. Dad, you take my mattress because they need it more than I do and you can buy me another one anyway." Ben was moved by his son's heart and was being taught by God the Father through his son. God always has enough.

Story #2. Ben has a daughter who is 5 and she came home the other day and said, "Dad, I was playing with the Holy Spirit on the playground today." Ben of course asked what they were playing. The little girl said, "I was on the slide and I asked Him if he would come and push me so I could go fast like lightning and He did! I felt Him push me fast like lightning and then we went up and did it again . We were playing and He made me go fast, but He was protecting me so I didn't fall."

Story #3. Ben also has a 3 year old. Sometimes when they're in the car they have soak time. On one particular drive they hadn't said that it was soak time, but the 3 year old got lost in worship. All of the sudden, she said, "Mommy." The mom said what. The little one said, "Mommy, I saw God." The mom said, "What did He look like?" "He was beautiful."

Ahhhhhh. These stories are so cool. There are so many young families raising kids like this too and it's so exciting!

Spanish starts tomorrow. More fun to add to the mix. :D

Week-end

Mom has requested an update. :)

On Saturday, Holly and I drove down to Chico which is about an hour away. It's a cute little college town with little shops and delis. It also had a fun antique store-25,000 square feet. I didn't find anything, but Holly did. It was kind of rainy and chilly, so we didn't do a whole lot. Apparently, they have some nice parks, but those remain to be seen.

Sunday we had church. I have the first service this month and Holly has second. It was good, but I was extremely tired on Sunday for some reason so I came home did some reading, actually took a nap, then watched some football.

Today was pretty uneventful as well. I interviewed with Kohl's (they're opening a new store here), but I'm pretty sure I'm going to get a Dear John letter. They open the week of Thanksgiving and I'll be back in Cincinnati. I gave my resume to a family too who was looking for some childcare, but they never called. I was kind of getting a weird vibe there though, so I'm okay with no call back there.

I finished another book report today too. That feels fantastic. It wasn't due until next week, but I start Spanish this week and I'm not sure if I'll have additional homework, so I wanted to get ahead. I actually own the next book they're going to give us, so I may start reading that too.

Week 2 starts tomorrow...

Buckle up...this is probably going to be long

First week down, lots more good stuff to come. Let me fill you in on my favorites from today.

Pastor Bill spoke to us today (3rd time this week, which is rare, but good for us). His main message today was prosperity of soul. The best way to be healthy in mind, soul and body is to focus on what God has done and is doing and not on what he hasn't done. Anyway, at Bethel's staff meetings they always take 1.5-2 hours to talk about testimonies and the miracles they have seen in the last week. Pastor Bill had been at a conference in Texas where he had seen 82 people with deafness healed in about five minutes. There were many other miracles as well, but the 82 deaf people was the highlight. One man even had some kind of nerve that was completey severed be completey healed. Pastor Bill's oldest son, Eric, who is also on staff at Bethel is 85% deaf in both ears. He prays for people with deafness all the time and they are healed, but his condition remains. Pastor Bill said that he looked at his son during the staff meeting after he had mentioned the deafness being healed for the umpteenth time and Eric looked back at him and said "We're one day closer, Dad." Now, that's focus on what God is doing. Gave me chills.

Favorite story #2. Pastor Kris did a question and answer session today and at one point he was addressing someone's question on prophecy with a testimony. So good. In the middle of the service he had a word for this man in the very back row, so he gave it to him in front of the whole church. He told him he was a "Holy Man of God" and went on and on. Four years later this guy comes up to Kris and says "Do you remember me?" Kris needed a little reminding, but then he did. Apparently this guy had been a heroin addict since he was 13 in and out of rehab and jails (he was around 40 when this prophecy happened) and he told Kris that the minute he told him he was a Holy Man of God he was delivered from his addiction! Not only that, but he took his girlfriend up for prayer (who was also in a halfway house) because she had Hepatitis C. When she went to the doctor they couldn't find any evidence of the disease anywhere. (Apparently, even if you're cured of Hepatits C, you can still trace it in your body.) Amazing! God is so good!

So Holly and I were both assigned to Friday night service, so we came home grabbed some grub and headed right back to Bethel. There was a guest worshipper, Suzi Yarzei, I think was her name. She was crazy wild and it was really good. Then her husband got up to preach. Yep, he used to be a Shiite Muslim and now he's radical for Jesus. He has had so many God encounters and he's only been a believer for 7 years. His whole family has now been saved as well. His brother has only been saved for 9 months and he's been to Heaven. It was an awesome testimony.

Then we're walking out and we see these two little boys in the lobby. The younger brother is praying for his older brother. Try to picture this. The older brother, probably no more than 6 has his Batman pajamas on and he's sprawled out on the couch shaking under the glory. His younger brother, maybe 4 also in pjs, has his hands on his brother's eyes and he's babbling something and giggling. When he lifted his hands his brother would stop shaking, when he put them back on he would shake again. It was the coolest thing ever. A whole group of BSSM students stopped to watch. Oh, to have childlike faith...Speaking of childlike faith, one more quick story.

Pastor Bill was telling us about his grandchildren today and how they have prophesied about their siblings. His one grandson pointed at his mom and said mom "You're going to have a girl and you shall call her Bella." The mother had not told anyone that her and her husband had decided that if they were ever to have a girl they would call her Isabella. The mom took a pregnancy test and sure enough she was pregnant. One of Bill's granddaughter's had a similar experience. The Johnson sons so far had all girls and they were hoping for someone to have a boy so they could carry on the name. So little Haley comes in and says, "Don't worry, I talked to God and told him we want a boy, so that's what we're going to have." So, the mom goes to the doctor and finds out they're having a boy. Haley said, "See, I told you." Kids are so great!

I've got some great new favorite worship songs too. Everything is great. :) x10

2nd Day

Okay, so I'm not sure that I'll write everyday, but then again maybe I will. :) The second day of school was even more intense than the first. And when I say intense I mean your brain hurts because it's being expanded so much. It's crazy good in an exhaustive kind of way.

I began the day with what they call Prayer Encounter. It's 45 minutes of prayer before school starts. I get in there and Joaquin starts talking about praying from the third heaven. Just jumping right in and going for it from there. I'm still not completely sure what he was talking about, but I have some idea. I felt God's presence and everything, but I suppose I'm just not as charismatic as some people because it was crazy in there. When he asked us to brush anxiety off our neighbor's shoulders we did and then he starts yelling "Stop!" He didn't just yell it once either. He went onto explain that we had switched activities and gears. We had to start again only this time we were not to switch gears. When we switched activities we had to keep our hearts in the same place, the same gear. It was a very interesting learning experience. Crazy good.

We finally got to the rules and regulations on day 2. Those were not so fun. We have to park in the dirt, which there really isn't enough of so I'm not sure how that's supposed to work. So much for a clean car. :) We were assigned services as well. Not so fun either, but there's 500 of us and then all the normal church people. Bethel has never had a class this big. They had to order 5 trailers just to accommodate the other activities they have going on and the maintenace crew had to do some serious work on the plumbing after day 1 because the toilets were going crazy.

Pastor Kris also spoke yesterday and it was so good, again. I don't know how they do it. It was mainly about honor and how it has almost ceased to exist in our culture. Definitely changed my view on a few things. He was relating it back to laying on of hands too. I'll have to get my notes out and post about it, it was good stuff.

Last night, I decided to go to this prayer and worship thing at Breaking New Grounds. It's a Christian owned Coffee House that opens up to the Awakening 20 Ministry on Wednesday nights so we can have prayer and worship. I met some great people and the worship time was out of this world. I even met a girl from Columbus, OH, but I can't remember her name. oops. I hate small talk and going to places where I know no one, but I survived. :) This one girl even asked to pray for me as soon as she met me. That was good. Everything's good.

And lastly, I won my first item on ebay. Very exciting.

First Day

First day of school was glorious. :) They never did give us a head count of how many people are attending, but we filled the entire room where they have Sunday service. Pastor Bill said it was like a whole separate church landed in Redding on one day. Anyway, Mark Brookes got up to do the intro and he's so funny to listen to. He kind of draws everything out that he's saying, but he's trying to give this hyped up speech to get us all ready. You had to be there. We had about an hour and 15 minutes of worship to start the day off, which was phenomenal. Then Kris Vallotton got up to introduce the first year staff. BSSM has this tradition where you get up and clap to welcome each teacher to the stage. Let's just say I got up and down so many times that I shouldn't have to do squats for a few days. Next, Pastor Bill came out and taught. It was excellent stuff as usual. I think my favorite part of his talk was a story about a leader's conference he recently had...

There were about 800 leaders at this conference and they don't even advertise this particular event because so many leaders want to attend. Anyway, Pastor Bill through out the question one day of "How many of you saw miracles consistently every week 10 years ago?" About 3 hands went up. Then he rephrased the question, "How many of you saw miracles consistently every week 5 years ago?" 11 hands went up. Lastly, he asked, "How many of you have seen miracles consistently every week in the past year?" Almost every hand in the room shot up! Pastor Bill said that pastors who wouldn't even talk to him about miracles several years ago were now starting to experience them in their congregations whether they liked it or not. We are certainly living in exciting times.

One more favorite...Pastor Bill was teaching at some conference when all of the sudden this lady screamed in the middle of the message. When he looked over at her she kind of shrunk down in embarrassment. So, he sent his assistant over to see what had happened. Apparently, this woman had been very involved in drugs, but had been radically saved by Jesus. Over time though, her teeth had rotted and fallen out. In the middle of the message, one of her teeth had instantly regrown in her mouth and she was so shocked that she screamed. Over the course of the meeting God also healed many of her other teeth that were missing and/or rotting. Cool.

There were so many other good points as well. Kris Vallotton closed out the day and he was hilarious. There wasn't one particular story, he's just very funny.

It's still a little surreal that Holly and I are here, but we're excited. Pastor Kris asked who was anxious in the room and almost all the hands in the room went up, but he prayed and then assured us that in two weeks we'd be just fine. :) More adventures to come I'm sure...for now it's the adventure of having to write a book report, something I haven't done in a loooonng time. Thanks for all of your prayers!

Sunset

We had a pretty sunset last night. I couldn't really see the whole thing because of the mountains, but the sky was pretty.

Went for a walk down by the river this morning, that was fun. There's a good hill to get down to it, so I was feelin' the burn on the way back up. :)

School starts tomorrow! I'm beyond excited at this point, can't wait. :D