Rest at Virginia Beach

Week Monday 23 January to 29 January

A taxi took us early on Monday a short distance to the Greyhound bus terminal. We could have walked but just as well we ordered the taxi the night before because it was raining. We left Toronto at 9.15 am heading towards Virginia Beach. This bus trip would take us over 26 hours to get to our destination. Quite a bit of the travel was at night time so we did not get to see sizable parts of the country side. Not all that time was spent in the bus. There were times when we had stopovers, and transfers onto other buses – 4 different buses in all.
We would certainly recommend this way of travel. It was a fraction of the cost of flying, and flights with connections were going to take us a minimum of 8 hours anyway. Greyhound bus was well equipped with free wireless internet and power points for recharging electronic equipment, so we were even able to email as we travelled. Greyhound also takes you into the centre of the town.

We went through the border into USA at Buffalo – surprisingly straight forward compared with going through an airport. To add to the drama, right when we had just handed our passports over, an alarm went off!! As it turned out, it had nothing to do with us – a young child had flipped the fire alarm switch.

We had several other little “events” along the way to make things a little bit more interesting. We arrived to the sleezy atmosphere of the New York bus station at 10:00pm. Because it is so large, the place for arrivals is in a completely different place from the departures. You have to go up a storey, and then back down again in a different place – on an escalator – with all your luggage... Rod went on ahead to try to find the departure gate, leaving Karen to mind the luggage. When close to locating it, he was met by a well-dressed, very helpful man who looked like an official. Having shown him the correct gate, he requested a tip. Rod opened his wallet and handed him a $5 note. This man saw a $20 note in Rod’s wallet and demanded the $20 instead. Rod objected and the noise levels started to rise. Instead of making a scene he reluctantly handed over the $20. Once bitten, twice shy, as another similar character insisted on helping us on the escalators with our luggage…

On the next leg, Karen wanted to go to the toilet. The Greyhound bus was equipped with a toilet. We had noted that every once in a while, we experienced a whiff of stale urine. When Karen went to the toilet at the back of the bus, she found out where the smell was coming from. However, it was dark, and she could not find the light switch, nor did the door seem to close. Fortunately she had taken a torch with her and checked the seat. She found that the toilet does not use water to flush, and there was no water to wash her hands – only sanitiser. Just a few minutes later the bus arrived at a pit stop! Lesson: go at every stop!

On the very last ride, we went through a tunnel which went under water – preparation for the English Channel crossing?

Boardwalk with Motels

We arrived in Virginia Beach on Tuesday and crashed into bed in the motel. We are so glad to come to a warmer place. Toronto was so cold. The first week here has been almost all clear blue skies, a little bit of wind (usually with a little cold nip in it) but temperature wise overall very like our mild winters in Whangarei, New Zealand (minus the rain!). The motel in which we are staying is just across the road from the beach which is golden sands, straight, and about 4 miles long. We are on the 3rd floor up at the end facing the beach, in a lovely private position, even have views of the sea in between two hotels on the front.

Painting in Progress

Life is a little different from Toronto in that here we have to feed ourselves, but the motel is so conveniently placed. Subway is just across the road, and a good supermarket is just one block away.

We have come to Virginia Beach for several reasons. This first is that we want to attend another conference here in 3 weeks time. This is a Catch the Fire conference with John and Carol Arnott, Bill and Beni Johnson, and Pat and Gordon Robertson.

The second reason is that we want to process all that we have been receiving from Toronto. We have begun this and getting so much more out of it.

The third is to have a break. This would be the first holiday we have had since school broke up at the beginning of December. Virginia Beach, as it turns out, is a lovely spot for this. It is their off-season, and extremely quiet. In fact, a lot of the shops close to the beachfront are closed through lack of custom. So are some of the motels, which means that those that are open are offering cheap accommodation to attract custom.

On the Beachfront

There is a wide concrete boardwalk all the way along the beach frontage. We have been making the most of this and going for walks each day, breathing in the Atlantic sea air.  Virtually all the 4 mile beach frontage is high rise motels. There must hundreds and hundreds of them.

The Pink Fish

Trying to Catch the Fire

At the Train Station

On Sunday we attended New Life Virginia Beach. Because at this stage we have not hired a car (will later when the conference is on), we chose to use the bus to go there. Unfortunately not many buses are running on Sunday, so the bus trip took over an hour (stopping every couple of minutes), and then we had to walk for around 20-25 minutes to get to our destination. It was well worth it! There was a lovely sense of God’s presence there, and the Holy Spirit ministered life. Because we had bought a one day pass ($3.50 each), we set out to take the train to Norfolk, the main shopping area – another 15 minutes. We spent a couple of hours walking around Norfolk and returned by train and then bus to our motel. This was our first outing away from the beach area.

On Sunday we were saddened by the news that John Schoone had gone to be with the Lord. John has been a friend and fellow elder for many years and we have walked many a path together. Our condolensces go to Phyllis and her sons at this time.

Toronto Week 3

Week Monday 16 January to 22 January

Week 3 in the school started with Ivan and Isabel Allum ministering, whose prophetic ministry is recognised around the world. It focusses on the Father's love bringing healing. They ministered on many aspects of moving in the prophetic.

Outside Catch the Fire Cafeteria

They were extremely effective in activation of the prophetic in the group, and many were blessed as we ministered to each other.

Ivan and Isabel also blessed us with individual prophecies that we recorded and were able to take away with us.

Our school essentially came to an end on the Wednesday. It had been a wonderful time and we are so glad we have done what we did in going to Toronto first (despite the cold). The Leader’s School was really foundational stuff – love of the Father, and soaking in His Presence. We have met some wonderful people, from all over Europe, some from the States , and some from Canada. There was even an Aussie there. It has been such a privilege to have been able to do this.
Below is the group photo. Unfortunately some were not able to be part of this.

LSOM January 2012

At the end of the Leaders’ School, there was another conference that we were able to join in. This conference just added the icing on the cake. Speakers included John and Carol Arnott who just ooze the love of God; Mark Stibbe from England (Father’s House Trust) –who grew up as an orphan, but now ministers strongly in the Father’s love to the fatherless; Andrew White (“Bishop of Baghdad”) who shared although in the midst of terrible trials where he is in Iraq, his congregation (4000) over there is the most joyful congregation he has ever had - because the glory of God is tangible there – they see the glory cloud, angels every day, almost 100% healings, great joy and love. He himself has had MS, though he received some healing at Bethel in Bill Johnson’s church.

To prove his point, he rang his daughter who had come over with him, but was staying in Chicago (she was in bed due to time difference).He held his cellphone up to the mike as he asked her was she happy in Chicago – she said no, she wanted to go back to Baghdad. He asked her why, and she said because of the presence of Jesus was so strong there.

Another speaker who greatly impacted us was Patricia Bootsma, who though a home-schooling mother of 6, had the Lord challenge her to tithe her time to Him (=2.4 hours per day waiting on Him) She shared some powerful testimonies, and took a workshop on “Harnessing the Power of Intercession”. Part of her own testimony is that she was at Church strongly experiencing the presence of God when she went into labour with her 3rd child, was taken to hospital, and had the baby with no pain - the attending nurse said it was the strangest birth she'd ever witnessed. The last 3 births were similar.
Each night at the conference in Toronto there was prayer and laying on of hands – one person had a vision of a large angel at the back of the auditorium.  John and Carol also shared some of their history as it was the 18th anniversary of the beginning of the outpouring there. There is a strong sense of expectancy of something breaking out again in the first half of this year. John shared that the Lord had said to him earlier “I’m going easy on you now so you won’t be terrified when the real power breaks out”. Things have been hotting up ever since they increased their level of intercession and prayer – they have a prayer house operating IHOP style, though not 24/7 yet. They have been preparing for growth by expanding throughout the whole organisation, including admin areas. We were exposed to so much but we know we have received impartation through this time.

Suddenly it all had come to an end. On the Saturday morning we had to be out of our rooms by 10 am, because other students were returning from outreach that day and our rooms needed to be cleaned before they would occupy them. There were pangs in our hearts as we farewelled others from the school. It was amazing that even though we had only spent 3 weeks together, we had got so close that it felt like family.

Our next step was to make our way into Central Toronto, where we had booked a room in a hostel close to the Greyhound Bus terminal. We planned to take the Greyhound bus down to Virginia Beach where we would be staying for 3-4 weeks.

Toronto Hostel Room

We were blessed by one of the fellow students, Adriana, from the school who transported us well over 20 miles to our hostel. The hostel in which we stayed 2 nights in down town Toronto was adequate, but the room was too small to swing a cat in! (The bed took up most of the space - see photo!) They also clearly had mice problems, as there were mouse traps just outside our bedroom door, and when we were checking under the bed to make sure we did not leave anything behind, Rod found poisoned wheat.....

We did a little bit of exploring whilst we were there. Our hostel was on the edges of what they call Chinatown, and there were shops everywhere with signs in Chinese. It was a challenge to find food we could recognise.

On Sunday night, we attended the Central campus of Catch the Fire, some 700 metres from the hostel. They only hold an evening service, have mainly young people attending it. It is held in a night club’s premises. It was a great time with a strong sense of God’s presence there.

Toronto Week 2

Week Monday 09 January to 15 January

Peter and Heather Jackson continued to minister over Monday - Wednesday mornings, covering different aspects of grace (forgiveness , acceptance, favour, gratitude) and of honour.
We gained so much from the testimonies they shared. It was almost like we were imbibing the heart of the Father as they shared one testimony after another to illustrate points in their teaching.

One particular personal testimony on the power of forgiveness had a significant impact. They shared about a woman who was injured when another person fell on her during a meeting that  Peter was conducting. This woman proceeded to sue him. She evidently saw that by suing him, she and her husband could finance a missions trip on which they desired to go. Peter said that he had prayed for, but not touched the person who fell.
The case dragged on and on, with Peter’s defence lawyer advising him to continue to fight, viewing the case as a “David vs Goliath” situation. After the case had gone on for around 7 years, during which time the on-going stress was taking its toll on Peter, his wife Heather, and their children, a woman, a lawyer came to Peter. She had been greatly helped by Peter’s ministry several years earlier, and was now wanting to offer her help to him. After carefully studying the case, she counselled him to quit defending himself and settle, which meant he would need to sell his house to cover the payment. He sought God, and agreed to quit the case. This second lawyer did not let Peter know initially  that what she had felt  God was telling her to do,  was to cover the costs if Peter was prepared to quit the case. Subsequently this is what she did. Peter shared how now he and Heather have a lovely home, which they appreciate very much, but he said that his children are all the more delighted, having seen God vindicate and bless their parents through it all.

In the ministry time on the Monday, Rod got the giggles.

We had Wednesday afternoon off so we went for 7-8 km walk to buy some fruit etc for snacking. No supermarkets close to Catch the Fire.

On Thursday and Friday Gordon and Cathy Harris ministered on varous asects of healing life's hurts. This couple are the Directors of the School of Ministry at Catch the Fire.

We were both particularly struck with Cathy’s presentation and teaching on the core issue of shame and the outcome on all the decisions we make.

On Saturday we had a reasonably restful morning, catching up on emails etc.
In the afternoon, we decided to go for a walk. Went out in what we thought would have been adequate clothing. Temperature was -6 degrees even though the sun was shining. Over the week had been some further light falls of snow. When headed out had a tail wind and it was cold on our legs. Having walked about 1 km, decided best to go back as we were getting extremely cold. Little did we know that walking into the wind would be far worse than having it as a tail. The most significant impact was on our faces. Had to walk along with a hand over our mouth/nose to make it a little bit bearable. Coldest weather that we have been in. The wind has a significant impact on temperature.

On Sunday afternoon, since sun shining, and no wind, we ventured out again to get a little bit of exercise. Managed to walk to Tim Hortons and get a coffee. Certainly much more bearable with no wind.

Toronto First Week

02/01/12 Monday

Today we arrived in Toronto. We were met with what the weather people referred to as the first extreme winter blast for the season. Although the air temperature was supposed to be -15^oC, the cold northerly would through a chill factor bring this to -35^oC. The cold temperatures hit us as we stepped out of the Toronto Airport.  Having come from summer in NZ, this was a little bit of a shock to the system. Although we had a shortened day through the time zones, we were tired and standing in this cold chill at 5pm waiting for the hotel shuttle to come and pick us up. Arriving at the hotel, we decided to settle in and go without dinner rather than face the cold blast and walk to the nearby centre for a feed. The picture of Karen standing beside the car was taken after two days of sunshine which had no impact on the snow.

03/01/12 Tuesday

This morning we took a taxi to the Catch the Fire site and registered in the Leaders School of Ministry that we have been looking forward for several years to do. There would be around 30 people doing this course, from a wide variety of nations, and probably around half in transition, not knowing where their next step is likely to take them.
We chose to take the package where accommodation and meals are provided on site. The rooms are bunk rooms, with single bunks to provide accommodation for singles. We have secured a whole bunkroom to ourselves, so we have placed two mattresses on the floor.

By 10 am we were into it, starting with teaching from Mark Virkler on learning to hear the voice of God. Jesus walked in the dynamic of doing only what He saw the Father doing, and saying only what He heard the Father saying. We too can walk in that dynamic because as the Father sent Jesus, so Jesus now sends us.

This teaching provides a good basis for learning to hear God’s voice and to hunger to learn more from Him. He sets the foundation that all our positive thoughts that we have are from God (the Holy Spirit is the Comforter); all our negative thoughts are from the devil (who is the accuser). There is a need to embrace the positive and reject the negative. He highlighted the need to listen to the spontaneous positive thoughts rather than relying upon our reasoning and analytical thinking. The spontaneity is more likely to be sourced from the Holy Spirit, whereas the reasoning from our own thoughts.

Mark was with us for 2 days of intensive teaching, and by the end of it our minds were on overload, but our hearts were invigorated.

05/01/12 Thursday
Peter and Heather Jackson started today sharing on the Father Heart of God. Unlike the teaching of Mark Virkler this has been more a time of just imbibing and taking in with very few notes as they shared many testimonies, including their own, of the wonderful love that the Father has for us. These testimonies were absolute treasures, and moved our hearts so that we become more aware of the Father’s heart towards us personally.
Heather shared how she came out of a life of abuse, including rape, and her healing came when the Lord called her to go into a prison to minister on the love of the Father where the majority of the prisoners were sexual offenders. 
The Jacksons have learnt much of their heart stuff through the experience of adopting a teenager from an extremely abusive background. Many of the facets of this testimony were extremely touching, and analogies were drawn which gave rise to a glimpse of the our relationship with the Father.
Thursday also brought the Heavy Rain Conference, specifically a conference for youth. As part of the LSOM we were able to attend the evening meetings on Thursday and Friday.

06/01/12 Friday
The Jacksons continued to minister on the Father’s heart in the morning. The key thing that we got out of what they shared this morning was some of the basic attitudes of a shame based culture. They outlined 7 points and we were both challenged by these points. Many are reasonably typical of Kiwi culture.   

07/01/12 Saturday

We were able to sit in on the Heavy Rain Conference today. The guest speaker for the morning was Kris Vallotton speaking on wholeness. Both of us enjoyed and were touched particularly by one of the testimonies that he shared.

The testimony is as follows: Kris was tired, and wanted to get the prayer line over and done with as quick as possible. At the end of a prayer line was a woman who had come up with crippling arthritis. Kris just wanted do a quick prayer, but the Holy Spirit told him to tell her that her healing would come through her husband praying for her. Her response showed that this was not a welcomed suggestion. She was asked if her husband was there, and yes, he was sitting right at the back. Kris sent the wife to get him and observed unfavourable interaction between the two. He reluctantly came up and when asked to lay hands on his wife and to pray for her he responded praying wasn’t his thing. Finally Kris got him to do what he asked, and to everyone’s utter amazement, his wife was totally healed despite none of them having faith for it. Later Kris asked the Lord why He wanted the husband to pray. The Lord responded that the husband broke her, so he had to fix her. The husband had had an adulterous relationship many years before. He had asked her for forgiveness but she had never trusted him. She had become bitter, and so had he. By having her husband pray for her, it not only would heal her physically, but it would heal the relationship between the husband and the wife.

In the afternoon, we decided with three others to go for a longer walk (probably about 8 km) to one of the local malls. We ended up coming back in the dark, ending up in a large truck yard, following what appeared to be a road on the Google may on a phone! We slept well that night.

08/01/12 Sunday
As we stepped out of the School of Ministry building to go to the café for breakfast, we were greeted with a light dusting of snow on the ground. This soon melted as the sun rose, but we managed to get a couple of pictures before it did.

 Below is the School of Ministry Building where are living and having the school










Today has been quite a relaxed day. We attended the Church Service in the morning (they didn’t have an evening service) and spent some of the afternoon catching up on sleep.
The sense of the God’s Presence has been strong during all our times of worship. We begin each day with a time of praise and worship in the school. The worship during the conference meetings and the Sunday Church services also was very good. The focus of Catch the Fire for 2012 is cultivating and atmosphere of the Presence of God.

Auckland to Toronto

30/12/11 Friday 7:30pm we left Auckland ( NZ time), and arrived in San Francisco after a 12 hr flight, on Friday 10:00am (California time)

31/12/11 Saturday

San Francisco

Offending Edifice

Today we decided to do the tourist thing, so joined a tour of the city. We arrived by shuttle down town by the wharf early with an hour to fill in, and first on our agenda was to find a toilet to set us in good frame for the rest of the day ….finally with great relief, we spotted a likely building.  Rod was the brave one to try it out first. Initially, all was well, but then I attempted to take my turn. First challenge was the fact that the door now seemed to have a mind of its own, and kept trying to open. I yelled to Rod, who valiantly attempted to keep it shut so that I could complete what I had started. Well, if that was all, it would have been a tolerable situation, but next thing there came a sound like a rushing mighty waterfall, and a great stream of water started pouring very fast across the floor towards me. It was all that I could do to grab my bag (which thankfully was untouched) and flee. When I looked behind me, the toilet seat had flipped up and folded into the wall, and an LED screen kindly offered the explanation that cleaning was in progress. From that point on, we decided it was a much better idea to find a McDonalds …

R&K at Golden Gate

Our tour was well worth it. The days before had been very foggy, which apparently is typical of San Francisco in the summer not winter. Today was an absolutely beautiful day. The guide was a mine of historical information, and took us to several sights around the city, including the Fisherman’s Wharf area, the Golden Gate bridge, the Golden Gate park, Chinatown, Twin Peaks which is a lookout from which we had fabulous views over the city including the prisoner fort of Alcatraz on the island.

Downtown SF from Twin Peaks

Alcatraz

Downtown SF from Golden Gate