Hope and pray that you are all well and close to the Spirit of the Living God. My wife Chris is in America right now, in that heavenly place of spending time with our children and grandchildren. Normally we can't afford a trip like this mid-year, but our adult children were so generous as to purchase a ticket for mom to come for a visit. She is loving it. I am here holding down the fort, and God is definitely on the move here.....
The Day Chris flew out was not a very easy day for me, not just emotionally, but physically as well. We had stayed at some dear friends in Port the night before. But I had not felt well for several weeks. I had a parasite that I affectionately named Olivia, (because the actual medical term sounded a lot like that). I was on my second round of strong antibiotics, and I wasn't too sure which was worse, Olivia or the meds. Olivia was not happy... I was also suffering from the burning and itching of a rash that had taken over most of my skin. This was greatly exacerbated by the heat and sweat that is just part of daily life in Haiti. After dropping of Chris and saying our good by's at the airport, I ran several errands in the heat and extreme traffic of Port-Au-Prince. I Then drove to Acahaie to preach in the "Big Church" of Pastor Jeremiah for a crusade that they were having there. Their church is fairly conservative compared to ours, but they like to hear "The white guy" preach the gospel message.
As I was sitting up on the big stage, trying to mentally and spiritually prepare myself for this message, I was also trying to keep track of my 5 children in the audience of almost 2,000 people. I was also just informed that my translator was sick and might not be showing up. My skin felt like it was literally on fire and itching at the same time. As a result of being on the road all day, I had not been able to shower before changing clothes, so I felt soaking wet and sticky with sweat. My stomach felt like a thunderstorm was going on in it, and I was fairly convinced that the minute I stood up to preach there would be diarrhea all over the stage. I prayed for God's help and felt that this was a huge test of my will and my body, and I resolved to myself and God to preach this message, no matter what happened, I would continue as if everything was fine.
I received a real peace from God, that He would be carrying me through this test. As I was preaching I could feel God's presence, and His voice speaking through me. I felt His power in me. When I finished over 100 people rushed to the stage to receive prayer. Pastor Nathan came to the stage and led an amazing time of worship and ministry, the Holy Spirit revealed Himself in powerful ways. The whole thing was nearly overwhelming for me. As I drove the 2 hours home late that night, the kids were all asleep in the back seat, and I could feel the complete peace and comfort of my God....
The Spirit has been moving very powerfully here at home as well. We have been celebrating a special "50 days of prayer" in Pass Rien. The crowd seams to get bigger every night. I preached on Tuesday and Friday night to a large crowd of people who were very hungry for the "Good news." In the first 15 days we have seen 29 salvations, 6 deliverences, and 2 witch doctors come out of the slavery of darkness and into the light of eternal life......Amen
About 100 of us gathered for a time of prayer at 4:00am on Tuesday morning. As we were praying Nathan felt that we should go the the big Mapoo tree in the village. Under a Mapoo tree is the traditional place where many of the witch doctors practice their ceremonies and cast spells. When we arrived we saw lots of very bad voodoo stuff and we saw the names of many of our people nailed to the tree. We saw the name of one lady who had been warned by her pastor not to attend our "50 days of prayer". Her name was written on a piece of wood, with barbed wire wrapped around it. We prayed to break these spells off the people and bring freedom. The Lord reminded us that having our names written in "the lambs book of life" is the most important thing for us....
Blessings to you all. Please continue to pray for us as God is pushing back the darkness of Haiti, and bringing the "good news" to the desperate souls who are calling upon His name.... Thank You
Mike
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