May Update
Dear Friends,
This may be the last update that I give before I come back to
Korea and so much has happened, so I hope you're all ready!
Irvine
In April, Our group was able to connect with New Song Church in
Irvine, through a former YWAMer Karis Gibbons, whose father is
the pastor of New Song. They invited our team and other
former YWAMers to stay at their house and pray over Southern
California. Karis' former DTS leader Jeff Reid led the time
of seeking God's heart and we ended up worshipping and
praying. After that, God had us go to the Spectrum in
Irvine, CA to do ministry on the Saturday evening.
The Spectrum
Irvine city is one of the richest cities in the US (7th richest
according to Wikipedia) and the Spectrum shopping center is a
good representation of the wealth there. We went there not
knowing what to expect, but that God was there and was surely
going to move. The first thing that we saw when our YWAM
van pulled into the parking lot was a lady who was crying and
sitting in the parking lot. Two of our team members went to
her and asked what was wrong. She said that she had broken
up with her boyfriend and that he had hit her. Our
teammates then continued talking to her and found out that she
needed a ride home. They spoke life into her and told her
about her original design in Jesus. She later said that if
those two girls hadn't talked with her she would probably had
killed herself. She asked them if they were angels!
So, that was how the night started.
We all got together in front of the Red Robin restaurant and
prayed and then split up. I was able to talk to a few
people directly about Jesus. I would just go up to them and
say something like, "Excuse me, I was just wondering if you know
about Jesus." I was rejected once, but for everyone else
(around 6-7 people) I was able to just share about Jesus.
My teammates and I received specific words from God about people
and we were able to pray for everyone. I really felt that God had
already been working in all these people's hearts so I felt the
grace to not beat around the bush and talk to them directly about
Jesus. I was also able to share with two Muslim people and
they were very receptive.
After we met back up we debriefed with the whole group. I
felt like how the disciples may have felt when they came back and
reported to Jesus. There were reports of people giving
their lives to Jesus and also physical healings! As we were
debriefing, a 19-year-old not from our group got up on the
fountain and started preaching old school style. A crowd
started gathering around him and our leaders then told us to go
and support him. After he boldly preached the gospel he
asked if anyone wanted to get baptized. A kid came up and
the preacher was about to baptize him in the fountain, but then
the security came and asked them to stop. They escorted the
preacher away and then one of our team members went up and told
the crowd that us YWAMers were available if anyone had any
questions or wanted receive prayer. As soon as that
happened, people literally came up to us and gave us permission
to speak to them about Jesus! This was just a foreshadow of what
God has in store for the entire West Coast of America!
Corvallis, Oregon
After LA, we stopped by Redding California and dropped by Bethel
Church were we spent the weekend. Pastor Bill Johnson
preached a powerful message about Gideon's 300 men, which was one
of the words that was given by Andy Byrd, one of our DTS leaders,
about the whole Kona base this quarter!
In Corvallis, we connected with some amazing young people who had
started a prayer house and missional-community across from Oregon
State University. We basically did lots of eating and
hanging out and also prayer and worship. The fruit that
flowed from that was that we went out onto the campus and began
to just ask God who we were supposed to talk to. Of course,
God showed up in amazing ways as we just allowed Him to work
through us!
Seattle, Washington
I'm here now in Seattle and it's been amazing to be so close to
my hometown, Vancouver. Every morning, we've been just
going after God's heart through worship and intercession and then
we go out in the afternoons to do ministry. A lot of what
we have been doing here is praying into our leader, Alex's vision
to start a house of prayer, coffee shop, and community here in
Seattle. So far, we've seen God continue to work in and
challenge our team. There have been an abnormal amount of
illness during this time. However, we see that God is
bringing us into new levels of intimacy with Him and also the
power that comes with that. We've also linked up with a
house-church out here and have seen firsthand how authentic
community in the presence of God looks like.
Finishing strong
I still have a little more than two weeks before I return to
Korea and I'm at the point where I'm looking forward to sharing
with all you guys what God's been imparting. Most of all, I
can't wait to see all you guys and personally thank you for being
on this amazing God journey with me.
Please continue to pray that I finish strong and that I get all
that God has in store for me on this outreach.
Blessings to you all and see you soon!
Victor