We set our things down and jumped straight into worship, dancing, clapping and jumping as we often do. After worship Ken, one of the trip leaders, got up and spoke. What I loved about Ken's talk was that he didn't have a plan. It was obvious he was following the Holy Spirit. I began to get a little more hopeful. He had our team walk around and lay hands on people and pray for them. At one point he got a word about someone with hearing problems in their right ear. For a moment no one said anything. Then, a woman sitting at the back stood up and raised her hand. She said she was partially deaf in her right ear. A few of our team went back to pray for her, and minutes later, she was totally healed! She came up to testify, and she grabbed the microphone and began to preach her heart out. Her name was Eugenia, and we all immediately loved her spark.
People who needed healing stood up and we began to pray for them. One woman came forward that had back pain. We checked to see if her legs were different lengths, which is often the culprit of back pain, and one was about a half inch shorter. I was standing in front of her holding her ankles and Aaron said, "left leg, come out." Her leg began to grow and it actually passed up the other leg by about 2 inches! Aaron said, "left leg stop. Right leg, match the left leg." Sure enough, the right leg came out until they were both the same length. She stood up, and all of her back pain had left! Two other women had legs grow out, many had pain healed, and to be honest, I don't even know all of the healings that took place because I was praying while people were giving their testimonies.
Cynthia was the person on this trip that I was to pray for and encourage, and I knew that she was likely going to speak at the conference. Before we had arrived I prophesied over her that her joy and child-likeness would release something in the room. After Ken, she got up to speak. Cynthia's topic was simple: the goodness of God. She talked about how God is good all the time, regardless of our circumstances. She said if t.v. reporters were living in Jesus' day, when he healed the crippled man, the t.v. reporters wouldn't be interviewing him, but interviewing everyone who didn't get healed. "How does it feel that Jesus didn't heal you? Are you still in pain? Jesus must not be very good is he?" Meanwhile, a formerly crippled man is jumping wildly up and down shouting, "I'm healed! Jesus healed me! I can walk!" Her point was simple: stop looking at what God hasn't done...yet, and look at what he is doing and what he has done! Her message was very powerful, and you could feel something happen in the room as she spoke. I began to feel even more hopeful about what God was doing in that place.
We took a break at noon and went out the the bus to eat lunch. Ryan had gone to Crown Bakery and gotten us sandwiches and wraps that we had pre-ordered. I ate a steak fajita burrito, and let me tell you, it was delicious! After lunch we went back inside where everyone was waiting for us. Ken got up again and had our team come to the front to prophesy. One by one we would call people out from the audience and give them words over the microphone. I looked out at the crowd of about 80 people and many had the same sour/annoyed expression on their faces. Definitely not encouraging. I'm not sure if they were skeptical about prophecy, or if they expected negative things, or if they were simply annoyed that they hadn't been picked. At any rate, I decided to find the people with the most annoyed expression and get a word for them. I wish I could remember everyone's prophecy, but there were simply too many to recall, so I'll describe some of the highlights.
The first woman who caught my attention was sitting by the window with an indignant expression on her face. I asked God to give me a word for her. The impression I got was that she had an anointing to minister to children and to bring them into their destinies. So I grabbed the mic and had her stand up. I told her what God had put on my heart for her, and she began to smile. After I gave her the word I turned to get back in line when she waved her hands in the air and shouted, "I have a testimony!" She ran down to the front and grabbed the microphone. "Everything she said about me is true!" She said. "I am a children's pastor at my church, and God has given me a heart to encourage them in their dreams and to help them find their purpose!" Everyone began to clap and shout. I smiled, feeling much more encouraged.
The next person who grabbed my attention was a large man in a suit and tie who had his arms crossed and the biggest scowl on his face. I thought, "Lord, if you give me a word for him, it's gotta be good, cause he makes me nervous." I waited and waited, but the only thing that came to mind was the phrase "medical community". I dismissed it over and over again. I argued with God that everyone at that conference was a pastor, not a doctor. If I prophesied medical community over him, they'd think I was an idiot. Finally, I bargained with God. I told him I needed another word, so that when I got that one wrong, I'd at least have something else that was better. I felt the Lord show me that he had a calling to bridge the gap between generations, and that he would also bridge the gap between medical healing and supernatural healing.
I stood up and grabbed the mic. I decided I'd try out the second word first, and see how I felt after that. He stood up and I told him the word I got about generations. I explained that I saw him holding a torch and lighting the torch of the next generation. The scowl never left his face. I thought, "Here goes nothing..." "I'm going to take a risk. I really feel like God has given you tremendous favor with the medical community, and that he's going to use you to bridge the gap between medical healing and supernatural healing." His scowl transformed into a wide grin. To my surprise his hands shot into the air and he shouted, "I have a testimony!" They ran the mic over to him and he explained that his wife is a nurse, and that because of her, he has spent a lot of time at the hospital. Over time he gained favor there and he even became an overseer for multiple programs at the hospital! Everyone began shouting and clapping.
Mollie got up and prophesied over this man that he was anointed for business, and that the Lord had given him strategy to prosper in business. "I'm also going to take a risk," she said. "I don't know if you know that man next to you, but I feel like you have a David and Jonathan alliance. I feel like the Lord brought you two together for a purpose." They both stood up and shouted, "We're business partners! We own a business together!" By this time, people began to celebrate everyone else's prophecies, which was a big change from when we first started.
One woman was sitting in the first row dressed in military clothes. Someone prophesied over her that she was a freedom fighter, bringing other people into freedom. Sharon saw another woman who needed freedom and brought the first woman up and asked if she would pray for freedom. This was too much...everyone exploded in cheers. It was extremely meaningful, because now a Sierra Leonian was doing what we were doing.
Cynthia prophesied over a woman whose eyes were downcast the entire time. Lindsay grabbed the mic when Cynthia finished as began singing a spontaneous song over her. I don't know how to describe what happened, but immediately when she began to sing, goosebumps broke out all over my body, 4 girls on our team along with that woman burst into tears. It was an absolutely tangible shift that everyone could feel. The woman fell to her knees weeping and praising God.
At one point, Lindsay felt the Lord highlighting the two oldest men in the room. She felt we were to honor them in front of everyone. She called them to the front and everyone gave them a full minute standing ovation. After we finished, she asked them to give us a father's blessing. They both prayed over the congregation, and again, you could physically feel something powerful happen as they prayed. We wrapped it up after that, and I realized we'd been prophesying for two and half hours straight, and we still hadn't gotten to everyone! It's hard to describe what that experience was like, but it was by far my favorite experience in Sierra Leone. This was not the same building that we had entered that morning. Everyone was so visibly different. In fact, when we finished prophesying, they played some worship music and everyone was dancing, jumping, clapping and shouting with a freedom I have rarely seen or experienced.
We ended with a fire tunnel, which is where our team lined up in two lines and had everyone walk through as we laid hands on them and asked the Holy Spirit to fill them up.
We got back to the hotel at about 4pm. John showed up about 20 minutes later and asked Ryan if I could spend the night at John and Kaysie's house. He said that would be okay.
It was about an hour drive out to the compound where they live. It's more located on the outside of the city in a kind of suburb. I made John pull over so that I could capture the sun going down...it was bright red because of a layer of dust in the air. Unfortunately, all I could do was enjoy it, as I couldn't capture it well on camera.
As I was getting back in the car, someone who was selling something on the side of the road shouted something to me. I thought he was trying to sell me something, so I smiled and shouted, "No thank you!" I climbed in to see John cracking up laughing. "He asked you for money, Amy." I laughed too. "Sometimes it's nice to be able to play the foreigner card," he remarked.
I arrived at the house just in time for dinner. Because my visit was deemed a special occasion, Kaysie and Robin (they live with another missionary couple with 3 kids) made Mexican food. It was great to finally meet Chad and Robin and their kids...I'd heard so much about them. Emily, another missionary friend was there, and another girl from Canada named Amy ate with us as well. Amy had been part of a team that visited, and she had decided to stay for a little while longer. Dinner was delicious and the conversation was even better. I forgot how funny John and Kaysie are, and how much fun they are to joke around with.
We called my mom from Skype since I didn't have reliable internet at the hotel, and we all went to bed incredibly exhausted.
yay!!! You can come have dinner at our place ANYTIME! Great prophecy stories!
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