Spokane and back to Redding

Week Monday 02 April to 08 April
We left Redding for Spokane around 11.30 pm on the Greyhound and headed towards Portland in the dark, so missed on some of the wonderful scenery. As we were approaching Portland, there was heavy rain. When we started heading inland to Spokane, rain ceased and we saw the wonderful scenery bordering the Columbia River.

Dam on Columbia River

 

More windmills

Upon arriving in Spokane, made our way to the motel by bus, and rested after our 16-17 hour journey. The next morning we were greeted by snow, apparently quite rare at this time of the year. It continued to snow in the afternoon.

Snow outside motel in morning

Kelly's Car, coated in about an hour

 

Our niece, Kelly, came with her two children Jalen and Derek, and took us around to her place and we had  lovely day with them, her sister Jenel, and two of her children, Rachel and Nichole. We met up with Rick, Jenel's husband, later in the day.

Relations

 The following day, back on the bus, this time for over 20 hours via Seattle and the long haul back to Redding. It was this last trip that made the prospect of flying back to the east coast rather than greyhounding for another week, look very attractive! For a start, the bus was an hour late starting, which meant food or toilet stops were reduced, and we ended up at what was supposed to be our tea break running from one bus to transfer to another, only just getting there in time. Stomach cramp, discomfort from lengthy periods of sitting, overpowering fumes from an over-full chemical toilet at the back of the bus where the only available seats remained,  topped off by the fact that the air vents weren’t working! (Preparation for wilder adventures ahead??)

We did, however, see some wonderful scenary - a lake snowed over in the mountains.

Lake largely covered in snow

Spent the weekend at Redding. Went to the Friday night service, and saw in small measure the glory cloud that we had heard about. This occurred during an intense time of worship, and we saw it first-hand and now know its reality.

Sporty Fiat 500

On Saturday, we went to the healing rooms, and were just taken aback by the huge number of people who had come for prayer, the huge number of volunteers, the sensitivity and efficiency in which it was administered. We spent extra time there, having coffee in the “HeBrews” cafe and then went to one of the classes that they hold for those who have been prayed for. We were really impressed by the heart of those who tutored. There was such a consistent heartbeat, believing in the goodness of God, believing that His heart is for people to be healed.
Went to the early Sunday morning service, and even though we arrived well before the service started, the only seats we could find were the “BleaChairs”, very narrow, hard plastic tiered seats on the back wall. The people are so keen to get to church that they must come real early. There was also not much room left in the car park when we arrived. On leaving we saw the cars backed up possibly over half a mile up the road, waiting to come into the second service!

Traffic congestion getting to church!!

And it kept going and going!

On Sunday afternoon, our hosts invited 20 or so friends over for a barbeque. Wow! We were so mightily blessed by this, and some of these ones had prophetic words over us. They did not know us, but their words were so accurate and encouraging. We even met a man, Rick Larson, about whom we had heard Bill Johnson testify, who had been miraculously healed of stage 4 oesophageal cancer. He has since been mightily used by the Lord in healing. His testimony can be viewed on http://www.ibethel.tv/watch/969/esophageal-cancer-healed/2011/01/31
Other testimonies from Bethel can be found at http://www.ibethel.tv/channel/5/testimonies