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.