Lakeland Week 1

Week Monday 05 March to 11 March
Monday we rested, then walked to Walmart for food supplies (approximately 1 mile away). We were later to find that there is an excellent food market a lot closer, about a third of the distance away, with much cheaper food. In fact, some things have been so cheap that we have been dining like kings – salmon fillets, turkey bacon, vanilla bean icecream, (which Rod made short work of)!!

Breakfast - Turkey Bacon and Eggs

Salmon Fillet for Dinner

And it's 100% natural!

We essentially came to Lakeland for two things. The first is a prophetic equipping school, and the second was another Catch the Fire conference. They were to be next week, and just a little over a week before, our attempts to register for these online fell flat. On arriving, another attempt was made to register, only to find that neither of the two things that we were looking forward to going to were happening. In their place there appears to be three evenings when Revival Meetings will be taking place. It looked as though it is going to be more of a rest than we had anticipated. However, we have plenty to do, and plan to look at some of the wonderful resources we purchased, before posting them back to NZ. We have been accumulating them as we have travelled and the best thing we can do to save taking them everywhere is to post them back.  

We had another major cull of luggage – the second since we began our travels, and both of us got rid of our large suitcases. It’s amazing how little clothing one really needs. We just wish we hadn’t brought so much. From now on, we should be able to use public transport from the Greyhound stations rather than having to rely on taxis. We were able to drop off our suitcases and surplus clothes at a charity organisation down the road.

On the weekend, we hired a car, and took the opportunity on the Saturday to go out for nostalgic reasons to where the revival was being held in 2008. This time brought back many memories of what we saw God do back then. However, things had changed somewhat. The place where the two very large revival tents stood has now a large building for training pilots. The fountain of life that we experienced has been replaced with a water fountain. It took a second trip out to this spot to procure a photo, as the first time the camera wouldn’t work (thought the battery was flat, but later realised it was on the wrong setting…guess who’s mistake!!)

Site of 2008 Revival

Building where the tents were

Revival site

On Sunday daylight saving kicked in, so we had an hour’s less sleep. That morning we headed off to Tampa. Many years ago a seed was planted in Rod’s heart as he watched a video of Rodney Howard-Browne. In God’s providence, Rodney, in his busy schedule, just happened to be sharing at his home church in Tampa, the very Sunday which we were free to go. We were extremely impressed with what God is doing at that church. There was a wide range of ethnic groups, and a wide range of age groups in attendance. The sense of the presence of God was strong there also.

Alligator Hunter

Found One - well the skin of one anyway

We had also just heard that Rebecca Pullman had returned to the States, so we took the opportunity whilst we had the car to travel on to St Petersburg to visit her and her son Rory. We had a lovely time with them, before heading back to the evening service at the River Church. Ted Shuttlesworth was ministering and we saw several notable healings taking place.

Fort Lauderdale

Week Monday 27 February to 04 March
Headed off from Orlando to Fort Lauderdale on Monday. Taxi picked us up to take us to the Greyhound bus depot. When we arrived there was a heated “discussion” going on between a security officer and another person outside the door. There was tension in the air. Going in, there was even more tension, with another security officer checking luggage. Our luggage had to be searched, and the metal detecting wand passed over us before we could even get to the counter to arrange our tickets. This is the first time that we have had to undergo such a search at a Greyhound bus station. In the process, our two sharp steak knives were confiscated, even though we had packed them in the baggage that would be stored in the cargo area of the bus. We were to find that our adventures were just beginning!
The trip to Fort Lauderdale was nearly 4 hours non-stop on the bus. Upon arriving, we got a taxi to take us to the motel that had been booked. We could not find the motel, so the taxi driver took us to the motel he thought it should have been – which it was not. We booked in there anyway – it was very up-market and costly! As it transpired, the motel that I had booked was not in Fort Lauderdale, but in Stuart some 75 miles away! This arose because the same street name and the street numbers exist in both Stuart and in Fort Lauderdale!
There was much higher humidity in Fort Lauderdale than in Orlando.

The following day, we made our way to another motel, that was much closer to the church where the Glory Breakthrough conference was being held. This started that same night. Because of the proximity to the conference, we decided to walk only to find that the position of the church according to Google maps was not where it was supposed to be. Consequently, we walked much further than we needed to. We  arrived somewhat tired and hot – the high humidity did not help.
As the first meeting was getting ready to start, we notice a dear person whom we had spent some precious time with in Orlando - Maxine. Unknown to us before, she actually lives in Fort Lauderdale, and she told us that we had been very much on her heart as she came to the conference – what a divine setup!
We were to have some really precious times with Maxine in the days to come. It has been amazing how God has brought special people across our paths along the way.

Maxine

It is not only people that have come across our path. On returning to the motel one night, we were greeted by a 2foot long black thing that was slithering along the path almost outside our door. We didn’t stop to ask anyone what sort of snake it was. Fortunately it seemed more scared of us than we were of it.

The conference at Fort Lauderdale was organised by Georgian Banov, an ex-rock musician who fled from his homeland of Bulgaria after persecution from the Communists. The Communists did not take kindly to the influence he had over his fans so he fled to USA, where he then became a follower of Christ. Georgian is of “Bullfrogs and Butterflies” and “Music Machine” fame and has been in ministry for many years.

The people ministering in this conference were about as diverse as you could get. For a start, it was held in a Black church called “Redeeming Word Christian Center International”.

Inside the RWCCI Auditorium

Another view inside

The speakers included Georgian himself (a Bulgarian musician), Julie Meyer (a worship leader with IHOP), Patricia King (Prophetic), Will Matthews (a young healing evangelist), Heidi Baker (Missionary in Mozambique), Lance Wallnou (organizational and personality trainer) and Guillermo Maldonado (an apostolic leader, who founded the largest Hispanic church in the USA). We were particularly impressed by some of the experiences shared by  Patricia King and Heidi Baker.

Patricia King shared one of her experiences in Cambodia, where she and her team actually rescued one little boy from the border guards in the latter part of last year. The young boy (around 9 or 10 years of age) had been captured the night before. He and a girl around the same age had fled from the traffickers in Thailand and were trying to escape back into Cambodia when the boy was caught and the girl continued to run. At the border, there have been incidences where some of the guards use the children for their own sexual pleasure and then sell them back to the traffickers for a bribe. The traffickers bring them across the borders to sell to brothels for the sex trade, and do not need documents for the children in order to get them across. In many cases, they only need bribe money.
Initially the guards were intimidated by the cameras that the team had, but then freely shared about the little boy that was in their custody asking Patricia’s team if they wanted to take him, so they did. The boy was terrified, wanting to run, hiding under the table. He had been drugged and there was evidence of needle marks between his thumb and finger. Sometimes the young boys are given injections of horse hormones in order to create erections. Sometimes the children are drugged to sleep so they will not cry out for help. When he was captured at the border, he even had a #18 label glued into his back.
His whole being was traumatized. As he was taken away by the team he sat in the back seat, silent, watchful, and fearful. He had no trust, not in anyone. He was looking for a way to escape. When they arrived at Safe Haven, (the compound which holds several children’s homes, a school, and a counselling and recovery centre), the other children came out to greet him. Fear continued to grip him, and attempted to run through the gates. Apparently this response was typical when the children come to Safe Haven. All the children there have been rescued out of risk and trafficking situations. They did not know what safety was, but now they are all happy, peaceful, little children. Patricia’s ministry built their first children's home there a few years ago and are building another one because the needs are great. So many children need rescue, shelter, protection and love. 
The little boy would not talk and they could not get his name out of him. They therefore called him Johnny (Beloved of God). After they put him in his room for the night, he broke down and cried. This was a good thing, as he had probably held the tears within him for so long with no freedom to release. Soon after, he ate some rice and drank some water. The guards at the border had told them that he refused drink and food so they knew that he had digested nothing for at least 24 hours before coming to Safe Haven.
He has now settled in and is happy in his new home. A video link with some of the work that they are doing in Piopet can be found at http://www.xpmedia.com/vl2ap02d0IWA

From hot steamy Fort Lauderdale, we arrived in Lakeland on Sunday afternoon. The weather in Lakeland is just beautiful, warm and sunny, but without that dreadful humidity. Arriving here brought back some special memories, from when we were here 4 years ago for the Revival with Todd Bentley. We are even staying in the same motel as back then!
Having attended three conferences in the last three weeks, it is time for a little relaxing, so we will be staying here for the next couple of weeks before heading off across the States to the west coast.