Twins adopted into an IHOP family

Oh my goodness, how sweet are these twin girls Mercy and Anna - the ones with African American Japanese genetics!

Exotic

I had an interesting day. I went to the Healing rooms and two super old ladies prayed for me. One lady told me she would love to go to Australia, but at her age, she knew that was not a reality. She said she worries about being confined to a rocking chair in her latter days. These two mighty women prayed not only for my physical health but also for the next season of my life. They prayed for new friendships with people who are like-minded and said the next season will be exciting for me! Amen.

I was very amused by the vision received by a lady called Anita in a prophecy room today - it was of a red and green mango with orange flesh. She said it was a reflection of how the Lord saw me - as an exotic person with an exotic flair who is unique. She said that God wanted me to be comfortable with the skin I am in :-)

Then I sat in the prayer room and did some assignment questions. After the prayer room I sat in the Higher Grounds cafe with Jess and Joel and we had a nice chat. Then we shuttled to the church service and I sat with Addy for a while. Addy told me she sometimes has people assume she is part Asian or Indian, I am guessing because of her slanted eyes, but she is blonde and blue-eyed and has long curly eyelashes and a Caucasian body! She doesn't know her heritage.

I was extremely blessed by Jess and Chris Calkins who prayed mighty and encouraging prayers over me during ministry time. Thank you Lord for top notch friendships in this season.

On the way home I said g'day to Bill (an African American man) and his German Shepherd dog called Bear. They live a few houses down the street. I told them I will be returning to the other side of the earth on the 30 September. He asked if I was coming back. I said I really don't know. I am sad this season will be ending soon.

Sick

Urrrgh, I woke up this morning at 5.00am and figured I simply could not make it to our 17th praying in tongues session with Ondrea, so I texted her and cancelled. However, then at 6.30am it was like the Holy Spirit came and breathed new life into me. I suddenly felt this burst of new energy, so I leapt out of bed, got dressed and headed over to Ondrea's house with a cup of tea.

She was in bed! ... [I guess I was expecting her to be up and praying, despite my absence] but she got up and let me in, washed her face and joined me at the prayer table. I made some lemon, honey, ginger and garlic tea and consumed twelve cloves of garlic. Yuck! Anyway, we prayed for one hour, which was great.

Praise the Lord I made our 17th consecutive day! The devil is obviously trying to rob me of my voice.

G'day KC

Last night I went to Life group and Peter Lerner shared his testimony, which was absolutely amazing. He told us how his parents made the decision to migrate to Israel to embrace their Jewish heritage when he was about 12. That decision involved incredible sacrifice. They gave up everything and moved into an area filled with people who persecuted them with such animosity because they were the only white American Jews present. He personally had his skull fractured, shoulder dislocated, limbs and fingers broken, face bashed, etc... and no one in authority sought justice for them because they were Jews.

The legal and government systems were corrupt and prejudiced and crazy laws made it mandatory for him to be in school, but then if they were Jewish and in school, then the parents faced imprisonment. He and his brother and sister went through absolute nightmare experiences. As part of the Israel system, he had to serve in the military and there 25 of his Jewish friends were murdered in horrific ways. He was wounded numerous times and suffered from a burst eardrum. Oh my goodness. I was overwhelmed with the intensity of his testimony.

One thing that really touched me is how his wife had a dream in which she saw him two years before she met him and God had told her that was her husband. It reminded me of the dream I had in Track 1 where I saw a guy who i'm guessing was the guy God has chosen for me to marry. I have thought about his sweet face a lot. How long must I wait for God's timing to manifest? Could he really be back in Perth? I am not sure whether I wrote it down but days ago in my morning prayer session with Ondrea, I had this weird impression that the guy I will eventually marry is an engineer. I remember years ago thinking how cool it would be to marry an engineer.

What really impressed on me was that Peter, after all the chronic suffering and pain and loss he has endured, can smile and tell of God's goodness and favor in his life. His wife, Amy, is beautiful and has a very sweet personality. Wow, God is just amazing.

I am really grateful that I was ultimately placed in this home group as opposed to Michael's home group because the one guy I thought was so cold and unfriendly in Track 1, turned into Peter - the one guy I feel the most common ground with. We are the same age. We have equivalent qualifications (well he is a vet doctor, but we have studied a lot of the same subjects). We have both had horrific upbringings. We both look healthy and full of life and vitality, despite the horrors of our past. We both love God in a way that only someone who has endured numerous battles can do so.

We share the same dislike of the Forerunner Partnership Development (FPD) mentality and agree that the majority of people we are in fellowship with now who call themselves "intercessory missionaries" are not worth sowing our hard-earned finances into. It's not that we don't agree with supporting missions - it's more that we see no fruit. A lot have not applied themselves at all - they have no qualifications and are lazy and yet expect others to pay their way. I was actually quite amused when he leaned over and said something like "I study for eight years to get my qualifications. I work a hard 14hr day in a stressful environment. I have a sore back because of the work I have done and you expect me to pay for you to laze around the coffee shop at IHOP and drink coffee". Sadly, it is true. A lot of the "students" here do just that! We both feel somewhat uncomfortable sitting in a room full of people who are looking at us as potential partners when we don't believe in them or see their fruit!

There are definitely some who are worthy of sowing into, but quite honestly, I would rather sow into North Korea missions or Exodus Cry or something I can honestly say is doing something productive.

_______

Feeling really run down today. I think the early morning prayer sessions are awesome, but the lack of sleep seems to be taking it's toll on me. This morning was our 16th consecutive praying in tongues sesh.

For lunch I went home and made pasta. That made me feel better. Then when I got to the prayer room, Andrea met me and said we had the FPD meeting at 1.00pm today, instead of on Friday. No one else got the message in time so we were the only two interns that attended. During the meeting, my throat started getting sore and I could feel my body becoming ill. After the meeting I went straight home and started the recovery process. Thank God I found some antibiotics Julz gave me to bring to KC. I thought I had consumed everything she gave me, but I have one last box.

The FPD meeting today was led by Ken Mitchell and his wife also joined us. They have the most amazing home - a super pretty little cottage-like home filled with collector's item antiques presented like a display home on two levels (including the basement). They have even converted their garage into a spare room.

I was blown away with the amount of effort and care they had put into creating the most beautiful home I have seen in Kansas City. Ken shared his extremely clever strategy for acquiring and maintaining partners - he hand writes ten postcards every day and prays over every piece of correspondence he writes and receives when he goes to the prayer room. He said out of curiosity and interest he would like to exchange postcards with me once a month when I return to Australia to have the international contribution to his life. He also has people he writes to regularly in Hong Kong, New Zealand and I think he said in Thailand. I think he's come the closest out of everyone to possibly getting me to partner with him. I like his personal touch. He actually makes all his own postcards out of photos, scanned books, pictures, etc.. whatever it is he can get his hands on! What a clever old man.

Sowing seeds again

So this morning during prayer with Ondrea I had a vision of a guy in track 1 and I felt the Lord say to give him $100 and some scriptures. I know very little about him - just that he's young and married. The scriptures I got for him were:

• Psalm 3:3-4 - But You, O LORD, are a shield for me, My glory and the One who lifts up my head. I cried to the LORD with my voice, And He heard me from His holy hill.
• Psalm 4:3 - But know that the LORD has set apart for Himself him who is godly; The LORD will hear when I call to Him.
• Psalm 15:1-2 - LORD, who may abide in Your tabernacle? Who may dwell in Your holy hill? He who walks uprightly, And works righteousness, And speaks the truth in his heart.

I felt the Lord say he has been crying out to Him in prayer and that the Lord wanted him to know He loves him immensely and is delighted in him and hears His prayers. I was touched that the Lord would give such a sweet word to my brother. I felt really awkward giving it to him. He came and thanked me in the prayer room and I said to thank the Lord, not me, and he said yeah but the way I had written it was so sweet. That was nice.

I actually wrote on his note that I felt the Lord wanted to release blessings to him if he would just call out to the Lord (Romans 4:17 - calling those things that be not as though they are) and I said I would stand in faith with him as his sister in Christ.

It kind of bugs me though that every time I take cash out, the Lord tells me to give it away. I checked my pre-paid card balance today - it is getting low! Fortunately, I have some back-up cash and only a month left in USA.

Ruskin Heights

Jess and I went to help out at Ruskin Heights tonight, which is a really rough area kind of near IHOP. It's mainly a black African American population living there and they were really stoked to attend our free "cook-out" with toys for the kids and games provided. It was awesome. Jess and I had a lot of fun with the toddlers in particular. Oh i love that age.

Here we are with some precious little ones. I am not sure what the little boy's name is that Jess is posing with. The little girl in the pink outfit is Sureya and she is also two. Then the little boy in the wheelchair is Rayvin and I don't know how old he was but he is Suerya's brother. The little guy in a yellow shirt is John - he's two years old. We had such a blast. I am so glad I went along.

Birthday tea party for princess Addy

Attended Addy's birthday tea party last night. It's funny, i didn't make the initial invite list but when I saw the event on FB I really wanted to go. Then just a couple of days ago, Addy extended the invite to include me - yay! So it was fun getting dressed up and having a blast with these beautiful ladies. Addy looked amazing.

I liked the idea that we all brought a unique tea cup to share with some words from the Lord inside them. Then similar to pass the parcel, we passed the tea cups around three times until the music stopped and each girl had a different tea cup in their hand to the one they brought.

Being internationals, Jess and I just borrowed her housemates tea cups and swapped with eachother and then returned them when they were done. We felt a bit cheap! Hahaha ... but seriously, we are both leaving the country soon and a fragile tea cup is just not a practical thing to pack in your suitcase or hand luggage. I was very amused that the tea cup Jess borrowed for me matched my dress! That's important :-)

Another fun thing was everyone had to write a "deep" question on a piece of paper and then everyone pulled one out at random and had to answer it to get to know eachother. I got "what was the best prophetic word given to you?". Awesome! I said it was the one that said i ould travel to many nations speaking and praying the Word of God to bring clarity, peace and unity to different people groups..... cos that has been activated!

Rapid fire for KC

Father God we pray You will pour out Your spirit on the Church in KC. Lord, we pray for divine protection for them. We pray that no weapon formed against them would prosper, that any tongue raised against them in judgement be condemned. We pray that You would give them a revelation of the height, the width, the depth, the breadth of your unfailing love for them, that it would conquer all their fear.

Praying to end human trafficking in Ukraine

Lord we thank You that You are a God of many miracles, a God through whom absolutely NOTHING is impossible. We thank You that You are Elohim, Almighty Creator. Lord, You created each perpetrator. They are Your workmanship, made in Your image. So Lord, we pray that You would rend the heavens and come down and meet with these men. We pray You will lift the veil from their eyes and soften their hearts. We pray you will break the bonds of wickedness in their lives. We pray that You will grant them repentance so that they would know the truth and the truth would set them free.

Birthday of a Korean intern

One of my friends, MaryGrace, baked a lovely cake for LeeHyun, a lovely Korean girl who lives with Jess and is doing the Korean Intro to IHOP-KC track.

At the public library in Grandview, KC

With my favourite brother from Brazil, Joshue

Serenity

Ondrea took me on a walk behind our road and into this beautiful serene place this morning. Oh I cannot believe this place was right near me all this time and now I only have six weeks left!

Sowing into the Kingdom of God

Last Wednesday morning, God told me to give Joshue some money. Joshue is a fellow international student from Brazil. He is a musician and an amazing brother. I resisted Him, but then Joshue came and blessed me with a brand new transparent pink cover for my Macbook. He had ordered it for his wife, but the company sent the wrong size, which happened to fit my Macbook but not hers. So Joshue said I was the first person he thought to bless with it. I went home at lunch time and dug up the $40 cash God said to give him. How funny that was. God really is amazing. Why was I so unwilling to bless such a precious brother straight up?

Then on Thursday, God told me to sow $300 into Chris Truby's (aka "Truby") adoption, so I went up to him and told him. I found it a bit frustrating that he said he had no paypal account, but instead to deposit it into Chris Ferguson's (aka "Fergy") account. I don't like that I had to involve a third person. Oh well, so I obeyed the Lord and did it. I asked Fergy if he could help Truby set up a paypal account and he said he already did, but he doesn't use it. He mustn't be that familiar with technology. He didn't reply to my FB message either.

I suppose it really is God's money, not mine, so I should let go of frustrations. I'm just being a faithful steward. This is him with his wife and two boys. I'm not sure when they will be completing their adoption, but the fact they are committing to rescue a precious child and bring them into IHOP really should be commended.

Well I guess those little sacrifices are what released me into a new job back home in Perth. I had an unexpected FB message from my previous boss saying she was willing to place me in a job temporarily and then it would be advertised permanently. Now that is a HUGE blessing, even to get temporary work. God is good.

One encounter with Jesus

Well today I felt grieved with the news about Julz, so I purposed in my heart to intercede for her. As soon as I got to the prayer room, I knelt down at the front and poured out my heart to God. I felt His presence - His sweet, gentle, beautiful presence. God is the only one who really understands and knows how my heart breaks. I prayed in the Spirit and in the understanding, interchangeably.

After weeping in His presence for about two hours, I felt the Lord say to tell Him every little thing that was concerning me, so I did one by one. As I was telling Him, I saw a vision of little white pieces of paper and each one contained handwritten notes of what I was telling Him. Then He said to hold out my hands in front of me, as though I was holding all the concerns in my hands. Then I felt His big hands cup my hands. I wept knowing He was gazing at me with eyes of compassion while holding my hands in His. Then I saw a vision of a small brown square box and inside were all the pieces of paper.

Then I watched as He held the box and threw the contents up into the air. The notes turned into white doves and I could see a big waterfall, which the doves flew up to. Suddenly, I could feel the water from the waterfall on my face.... but then I was conscious of the tears pouring out of my eyes and His sweet anointing all around me. Somehow He lifted my burdens today.

I spent about 2.5 hours kneeling and weeping in His presence. How can I ever explain to anyone what happened to me in the prayer room today? It was supernatural. There is another realm of intimacy with Jesus that we, as Christians, our able to step into. I never knew that before coming to the International House of Prayer in Kansas City.

One encounter with Jesus leaves every part of you craving for more of Him. When can I meet with Him again. I am lovesick for this compassionate, gracious man.

Breakthrough

My sister's friend just messaged me to say Julz is not in a good state. Apparently Grunde has been seeing prostitutes. Oh how tragic for my beautiful nice and nephew. I guess it's not really that big a shock given all the things around their home and the dysfunctional living arrangements. Such sad news. I really hope he does leave....but unless my sister repents and gets right with God, the cycle will continue. Oh Lord, I pray you will grant her repentance and meet the needs of her two beautiful children and her.

Maybe that's why the Lord has me now committed to 5.45am praying in the Spirit with Ondrea, a fellow intern who lives down the road. Today was our fifth consecutive morning and because it is Sunday and we are not expected to be in the prayer room until noon, we prayed a bit longer. I did 2 hrs 20 minutes.

Personal day #5

I went to class this morning, but after having a later night than expected, I was really tired so I took the rest of the day off and slept.

Michael shared his testimony. His childhood was horrific. His older brother Bob used to smash his head against a wall and push him down concrete stairs, leading him into a season of drug addiction and insanity!

Praise the Lord for delivering him. What a radical transformation. I was impressed with his ability to pray and retain scripture and amused when he pulled out some prayer cards with 30 peoples names on them. Mine was on one and he has prayed a scripture over me every day since our first home group meeting. Wow!

Rapid fire prayer to end human trafficking

Resolved

Well today we seemed to have resolved yet another conflict, but really this time I need to be wiser in having limited contact with this guy from now on.

This morning I met with Ondrea before class and we prayed in tongues together in the basement under my house for one hour. I had already prayed for 30 minutes because she was late. Then today in the prayer room, I felt led to pray for two hours in tongues on my knees and another 30 minutes one the chair while my knees recovered. That made four hours in tongues in total! Wow, that's a lot for a day. I was exhausted by the time I got home around 3.30pm, so I went to bed!

We have home group tonight, so I'm hoping I will be riding with Sherita.

Personal day #4

Today was a really emotional day after receiving some really cold, abrupt texts last night from this guy. Urrrgh, why are some people so insensitive? So anyway, my emotions got the better of me and I had tears streaming down my face all morning. They wouldn't seem to dry up. At the news that we had to deliver prophetic ministry in the arvo and my failed attempt to get this girl in my group to trade her community work shift for my prophetic ministry shift, I stayed home all arvo and had to make it a personal day. What a shame. I could have been really productive in someone's garden!

So instead I spent the arvo weeping in prayer over my family and various friends, and also this frustrating guy. Bless those who hurt your heart. One thing I did do that I have been wanting to do for a week now, is write a response to Julz' email to mum, which she forwarded to me for my information. Her email was a very sweet message to mum saying sorry for not appreciating all that mum had done for her. In it she told mum that she and Angel pray for her every night.

I have been wanting to confront Julz about her living arrangements for years and this email presented an opportunity, after much prayer, to finally let her know what's been on my heart. It has never seemed like the right time to tell her. I guess now I am on the other side of the earth, it is easier. I needed to tell her that it is not ok to live with someone before you're married, especially if you want to profess Christianity to everyone. I gave a testimony of my own life and how God had spoken to me the following scriptures (not that I lived with a guy or had kids out of wedlock):

• If I had cherished sin in my heart, He would not have listened to my prayers (Psalm 66:18).
• He later defined sin for me as where I knew to do good, but didn’t do it (James 4:17).
• He also said that if I had remained sexually immoral (any form of intimacy outside of marriage), then I would not go to Heaven (1 Corinthians 6:9-10 - do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor men who have sex with men nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God).
• He said that if I simply confessed my sin (and changed my lifestyle), then He would be faithful and just to forgive me and cleanse me from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:7).

I told her blatantly that she needs to make a choice about either getting married or moving out or there would be consequences, the most dramatic being that she would not be going to Heaven. I also copied and pasted Deuteronomy 28 describing the blessings or curses for obeying or disobeying God, respectively. I prayed that the spirit of conviction would hit her and she would be granted repentance so that she would know the truth and the truth would set her free. I prayed that her eyes would be opened and that righteousness would break forth in areas where she struggles. I prayed that though sin abounds, that God's grace would abound so much more.

Now it is really up to God. I have finally released what I have needed to say for so many years.

Prayer

Today I prayed for the church in America, that God would pour out His Spirit on the church, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord. I prayed that in God's presence the Church would be liberated and set free from fear and confusion and that a revelation of God's love, would lead it to repentance and a deeper level of intimacy.

I just put a globe of the world in this photo of three American guys in my internship for fun and posted it on Sam's wall with the Psalm 2:8 verse - "Ask of me and I will give you nations for your inheritance, the ends of the earth for your possession".