Following the Lord in Gordon's Bay - May 27th

Our last day here, we went to lunch at pasta place with Julie and Piet, had the best minestrone soup ever.

Then Karen and I went for a walk down the beach and also to do some shopping in the town.

Closing Remarks:
Before leaving Cindy told us:
“to whom much is given, much is required”.

We come home with much to process believing in some small way, that the oil we bring back (handed out at the conference), will begin to ignite and burn for His glory thoughout Canada and that Canada will stretch out her healing hands to the nations of the world.

The first evening of Global Day of Prayer, the scripture from Joel 2:15-16, was highlighted in the video: "Blow the Trumpet in Zion"...As these words filled the screen, they also filled our spirits. Every day the Lord orchestrated situations and requests from people to blow the shofar! Even going through the security check in Amsterdam, one of the officers asked Karen to blow the horn right in the airport security area! So be it.. we will continue!

Special Thanks to all of you for making yourself available to the Lord and partnering with us. This prayer journey is not about 2 women but rather about the wonder of the body, each finding their position, and as one pressing forward into his purposes.

Also special thanks to the world's best host families:
Beth and Lawrence
Tracey and Neville
Julie and Piet

Together may we see

and experience Joel 2:8-30

Following the Lord in Gordon's Bay - May 26th

This day Julie woke us up at 7am as we were heading out to Cape Agalus for prayer assignment – 2 hour ride.

On the way there, there were many wonderful sights! The first thing we noticed was a ring around the sun (sundog) a sign of change. We brought this to Julie’s attention as she had not seen one before..

“Open wide the gates and lift up the doors”
Here we were, we were given time and space to pray the Ring of Fire prayer, with Julie and Cindy as our rear guards! Double portion…

As we prayed, we were led to pray healing for the “heart” of Africa and that spiritually God would use South Africa as the heart of His Kingdom. We also prayed that God would position Canada as the “healing hands” in His Body globally, and that her destiny would be established here. We looked down into the water and this is what we saw:

Our prayer time continued with Julie

and the shofar sounded off.

We made our way to the Cape Agalus Lighthouse. Wow!


Our Mighty God!

Mightier than the thunders of many waters,
Mightier than the waves of the sea,
The Lord on High is Mighty
Psalm 93:4

God is always greater than all our troubles.

Hungry for God and hungry for food – lunch time! Julie had in mind a place that she regularly visits, but when we arrived it was closed..we found ourselves at a restaurant that served mediteranean food. This is how we were greeted:

Once inside we found ourselves sitting under a frame of three hearts..strange but wonderful. Truly our Father fills our mouths with laughter..


We had a marvellous lunch, the flavours and presentation were awesome! Then as we were leaving, I saw a rock that caught my attention. Guess what shape it was???

Julie noticed as we were leaving the restaurant was called Renaissance (new beginnings..hmm)

Just before we arrived back at Gordons Bay, Julie pulled over at a viewpoint, and again God took our breath away and you’ll never guess what kind of plant we found – heart clover!!

We arrived back at around 5:30 and got prepared for our time with the men at the rehab for 7pm. Our preparation was bringing 30 inspiring pictures and the scripture in John…. We left the rest to the working of the HS. He wove together the evening through:

Worship
Testimony
His word
His call
Healing
Unity

The men were hearing the Lords voice and experiencing His presence in a fresh way. The reality of God’s presence was opening them up to healing and releasing them to be sons in their true identity in the Lord. Please join us in praying for them to continue to stand in their healing and calling.

Also pray for the house mother, Poppy, who has been there for over 10 years.

Another full day, praise the Lord. Now for some more sleep - blogging will have to wait again!

Following the Lord in Gordon's Bay - May 25th

Day off! :)

We walked into Gordons Bay and took some pictures around the harbour.

This town is home to a naval base. Their ‘business’ is fighting at sea, their ‘mission’ is to win at sea, and their ‘vision’ is to be unchallenged at sea. This is a good reminder that we are in a spiritual battle.

Cathy liked the view here, and Karen especially loved the trees:

The language here is a specific one called Africanse and comes with its own humour:

Knowing that we were going to be sharing with the men in the evening, Karen and I had been in preparation mode most of the day, listening to what the Lord had in mind for our time together. This rock that we found, pretty much said it all:
[pic of karens rock]

That evening we knew we were to bring certain things:

Shofar
Heart rock [Father heart of God]
A heart of praise/worship
Invitiation for their participation

At first the men were reserved and tentative but as the Spirit began to move among us, there was a breakdown of preconceived ideas and walls – old structures and mind-sets. The night before, God had already begun something with a group of the men and they wanted to continue the momentum of the Spirit. Before we left, one of the men requested that we come back to press in with them the next evening, so we agreed and left with hugs from our new friends!

Following the Lord in Gordon's Bay - May 24th

Our gracious driver, David, picked us up promptly at 9am to drive us to Gordon’s Bay (about an hours drive away). For security reasons, David wanted us to ride with him rather than have us taking the bus. As a result, he offered to match the bus prices by giving us 50% off his normal rate. On our way, David pointed out and explained some history about the townships. Mostly, these are transient communities for refugees from other surrounding countries. One area, however, is multi-layered, and has become an established and permanent township for the last 70 years or more.

Also, during our ride there, David shared with us much more personal information about himself, and his family. We told him that we would be praying for him and for those concerns and as he dropped us off for the last time, we both hugged him and thanked him for all he had done for us. He was indeed a gift from the Lord to us.

Once we arrived, Julie, our new hostess-mom, came out to greet us and had our day planned ahead of us already!! Gifted in teaching and a love of history she gave us a royal tour of the coastal area, dropped us off for lunch, and then took us inland to the mountains to her favourite winery. While she was in a meeting there, she had arranged for us to pass the time wine-tasting by a pool, overlooking the valley. Quite a contrast from the townships we had passed earlier.

Later, Julie’s husband Piet came home with their “adopted son” William from Mozambique. Peit shared about Bethel House, a rehab and recovery house for men, and then asked us to do Tuesday evening’s devotional time. This came as quite a surprise, but I guess God’s idea of holiday time is different than ours, so we agreed!

Here is a picture of our new host family:

Our first dinner that night was “real SA food” in Julie’s words. The table was full. We had a thick SA style steak, traditional sausage, boiled baby potatoes, pan fried mushroom sauce, salad, and paap (a staple, similar to cream of wheat). We also had Piets homemade chutney..yumyum. To top this off, we had real South African rooibus tea which is fabulous!

That evening, Julie talked to us about her own prayer/intercessor journey across SA. We were so intrigued as she filled us in on some of the history and prophetic actions that have taken place over the last three years. Again, we went to bed very full and wondering why we were given so much information.

Sunday May 23 - East Meets West on Global Day of Prayer

This year, it was noted that there was a convergence of traditions between the Eastern Orthodox celebration of Pentecost and the Western celebration of Pentecost. In recognition of this, Karen and I started the morning off with praying together and saying the kneeling prayers together on our knees. There were three distinct prayers that we prayed. (If you’re interested you can google “eastern orthodox kneeling prayers”.) At 9am, David picked us up and took us to Global Day Of Prayer at the Velodrome Stadium about 40 minutes from Capetown. We were one of the first people to arrive and watched it fill up gradually with more than 10,000 people.

Highlights:

Procession of the nations, each with their flag

Hearing prayer leaders from all the continents of the

world praying in their mother tongue

More than 10,000 people kneeling together

for one minute of silence

The orphaned children from India interceding for the nations

Meeting people and seeing such diversity of language, culture, and expression

People saying how much they loved our “Canadian accents”!

The diversity of music and worship from many cultures

The younger generation leading the way in worship

Meeting Joy!!!!!!!!

It was the tambourine that started everything! While Karen was toward the front taking pictures, there was a lady sitting at the end of a row, and instead of clapping, she would use her tambourine. Before leaving to go back to her seat, Karen commented to her how much she liked the tambourine. The woman immediately touched Karen’s arm and asked where she was from. After Karen said, ‘CANADA’, she became very excited and there was an immediate connection – she said her name was Joy and that she was from Nigeria. She also said that her son was in Canada going to UBC in Vancouver. Karen mentioned to her that our community of Gibsons was very close to UBC. Her response to this information was to embrace Karen and ask if she would be her son’s Canadian mother! Then Karen went back to her seat to get personal information and then scoop me up. At the end of the celebration time, we both ran over to her, and Karen introduced me as a second Canada mother and we prayed together, embraced, and exchanged email addresses. Wow, we didn’t see that one coming ;) Later, once the festivities were over, we took the shuttle home and ended up on the bus with a friend. We’d like to introduce you to Raul Sanchez, the GDOP coordinator from Chile!

At 6pm we arrived back at the house, and were invited to have dinner with our host family, Neville, Tracey and their three children. What a gracious and kind family! They opened their hearts and homes to us before even meeting us. We feel like we have made new friends!

Also, an extra delight was to meet their staff, Lulu and Nokey. It was a great day – our plates are so full, so much to process, we had to go to bed! Our blogging continues later!