Romania April 2009
Well, it's about that time where I need to sit down and write out the trip report. Not so much I NEED to , as I GET to. What a privilege to be used by God and included in His awesome plans! As is usual on these trips when I bring a team, I ask each member to write out their own trip report. So I have already read three amazing reports from team members Tracee, Jen and Judy. I'm tempted to just post theirs here, but alas, I will write my own. It's important for me to write my own and to let you all know how truly important and vital you are to the success of our ministry in Romania. You are with us each time we go and without you, we wouldn't be able to go- so THANK YOU!

This trip, for me, for those in Romania, was extremely vital and necessary. It was also effective and fruitful. It was the kind of mission where I could hear God's voice so clear at the end saying "well done!". It was a mission accomplished. OF course I boast only in the Lord and give Him all credit for all that took place. From the very beginning to the very end - HE was in charge! That never changed.

Back in November, when our whole family was there, I already was praying and hearing form God for this next trip- the one we just completed. God was showing me who exactly needed to be on this team and what role they would serve. Not a single person was from my hometown. God gathered His team together, complete with several members back home in intercession. When it was time to go- we went confidently, knowing He was sending us. Our "objectives" were large and challenging, but our faith in God was larger!

The first day we were there we went up to the old watch towers and old city walls of the city. These walls are the original walls that used to surround the city and keep it protected from invasion. The city gates were carved out in these walls and served as "checkpoints" for anything or anyone going in or out. Of course most of the old walls are no longer standing, but we went to the section where they still remained. I felt God speaking to me that we were to go there and pray, binding the demonic principalities over the city and loosing the angelic warriors to do battle. Since I knew Tracee had far more experience in this, I asked her if she would lead us out. She did! Judy also had her shofar there and when the time was right, she blasted it until a deep resounding wake up rippled through the land. Specifically we went after the "religious spirit" and " a spirit of oppression", obviously (or maybe not so) linked very closely together. God did some amazing things that day at the wall and really went before us as the Breaker by opening and leading the way for the rest of the trip.

Here's an excerpt from Tracee's report:
"Our first prayer assignment is to climb the winding staircase of the city Clock Tower. No one confesses to any fears and none are evident as we ascend the narrow, winding path to discover a watchman’s dream of a clear view of the city, surrounding mountains and valleys.

Roxana all along the way has been sharing the history, stories and facts of life before communism, during and now after. We are now at the top and the 5 of us alone, except some cooing and watchful pigeons. We begin to pray over Sibiu. The spirit of prophecy comes forth and we speak life and destiny over God’s land.

Our journey continues and we go to different parts of this walled city. We then make our way to the watch towers, city gates and wall. We seek the Lord for direction and His heart for this moment in our prayer journey. He does not disappoint nor leave us questioning, but gives us clear, faith filled directions of decrees and prayers. Judy stands on a wall with her shofar and begins to blow. There is resistance in the spirit and she remembers that if a religious spirit is present, it is harder to blow. I lay my hands on her belly and pray, she then blows the shofar with full authority and power heard
through the heavenlies.

We then set out with the Father’s heart to pray, release and decree. At one point Eileen is compelled by Holy Spirit to lay down on the path. Waves of joy and freedom come over her as she agrees with God’s heart. Judy & Jen spin in delight with the Lord chasing away all darkness. We can feel the atmosphere changing as God, The Breaker, begins to breakthrough. We make our way to the city gate where travailing intercession comes upon Eileen and she cries out for the people of Sibiu.

We return to ready ourselves for our first meeting that evening. We are met that night by a small group of hungry, worshipping warriors not yet aware that the warrior inside them is coming forth to walk through the walls in their path. We worship, Eileen shares a message, I share a word, we all pray. It is a good night."

The next day was spent preparing for the school in the evening. Liber In Isus was finally being birthed! I was excited- I was in my element- I was ready! Jen and Judy took care of many details and administrative things that day so Tracee and I could have some time in the Word and with our teaching notes. As God would lead we would fine tune our messages to convey His heart and stay in step with His spirit. At night, the school began with about 20 students in all.

Again- let me insert here from one of the team members (Jen's) report:
"Looking back upon those that attended the school of ministry in its first weekend, and those that attended the other meetings, I realized that God cares first about our relationship with Him and secondly about our relationships with each other. I am still in awe over how God moved so powerfully over people’s hearts, bringing them to a place where they were humbled and repentant before God and then restored to one another as they shared their hungry desires for Him. Hearts and attitudes changed towards each other and it was as if God was healing, aligning and uniting because of the great call He had for this people, this remnant, as they learned more about Him for the purpose of reaching their nation for Jesus. It wasn’t a weekend just about learning, but about stepping into the truth and realities of God, where we become aligned with the Kingdom and step into a foundation of the love and purposes of God not just for ourselves, but for our neighbors and for our land. Transformation came first through the hearts and ignited a process that I am confidant God will continue to walk them through, so that with clean hands and pure hearts they shall see God, and they shall see Him use them to bring the River of Life that shall flow from Sibiu, the very heart of Romania."

On Sunday, we had our church meeting at Carmen's home. This was a big deal and one that I relied heavily on the Lord to guide and advise me on. He did not disappoint. By Sunday morning, so many things that needed to be "Set right" had indeed come into alignment and we had the green light form God to go ahead and commission Carmen as the leader of New Beginnings House of Prayer with The Truth ministry giving apostolic oversight (at their request and God's leading). This new church will meet at her home and currently has about 14 members. As I prayed over her I also read Hebrews 12 as a base for their growth and encouraged them all to read it throughout the days ahead. We spent most of the morning on "abiding" (John 15) and even took a "field trip" outside to see how the branches abide in the vine (there are grape vines everywhere). They don't strive, they don't groan and push and rally for position, they just "hang", they just abide, and in a few months they will be filled with luscious leaves and beautiful grapes.

Sunday morning was also a time where I needed to say some things. Let me insert part of Judy's report here as I much prefer posting someone else's insight on it all than mine:

"You have such a passion for the Romanian people and have built a very special relationship with them these last five years and it clearly showed. They truly love and respect you. You had some very hard words for them, but they received them gracefully and truly listened to what the LORD had to say to them through you. The timing of this trip I believe was just what should have been. With Carmen and Mommy, and many others leaving Stinca Church, they really needed to have the teaching, training and equipping to help get them through to the next place. They needed to learn how to finish the old with excellence and begin the new with heightened awareness of what the enemy will do to try to divide them and keep them from moving forward into that place of abiding in His presence. They were taught how to talk to one another about problems, even with the issue of the pizza. I’m believing God allowed it to happen to give them a living example of how to handle situations like that in the future and/or how to prevent them from happening again. They were shown by you how they are to communicate better with one another by talking things out; confronting one another gently when problems arise, how to forgive one another when they have stepped out of line, or hurt someone or did something wrong, weather they meant to or not. They were taught and equipped to see how the enemy can come after them to try to divide with the Religious Spirit, how it manifests in themselves, and others and what to do when it rises up. I saw how they needed to stop negative talk about themselves, be encouraged with the words God would have for them and not what they or others thought of them, but to also be in check about pride getting in the way of correction. They were being vulnerable, open and intimate with one another by Monday because they have such desire to follow God and not fear man.

The Sunday morning people are obviously that remnant that will have to pull on one another’s gifting and learn to flow with each other and Holy Spirit. That is the other thing I thought you did well was to help build up the core group to keep them whole, by asking them all to make a decision on where they will go to church on Sunday so that they won’t “be a bull in a China shop” for them to keep the flow of Holy Spirit. I just see God doing a work in each of them. What tender hearts they have.

I saw their relationships building with one another even when they may have had frustrations. God showed them how they can love each other and their strengths and how to apologize and forgive one another. Perhaps they knew before, but I saw that tension on Thursday and by Sunday, there was such a shift in them all. They were shown how to pull on their strengths and how to comfort and help those others keep from being stuck in their weaknesses and how to pull them out of their pity party in a loving, but firm way. You showed them that."

On Monday Tracee and Jen headed back home and Judy and I had one meeting left at night. I spoke on hiding God's word in your heart and led them thru memorizing Psalm 1. We had such fun and laughter as we memorized it by giving each person a section and moving around the circle in turn. If someone messed up, they had to start again! It was so fun to see everyone smiling and laughing while still learning God's word! It was on this night that my favorite "Comment of the trip" was made. I had been speaking about strongholds of the enemy and the lies that we have believed our whole lives to be truth, but when we hold them against scripture, they cannot stand. I talked about how scripture helps us to brick by brick dismantle the enemy's tower and brick by brick build up the Lord's strong tower- and then THAT is the tower we can run to- that becomes our hiding place, our place of immunity. It was after all of this that Elena, a 70-something year old woman (who had previously confessed to wanting to already die and be taken home with God) said to me in complete awe and purity "How could I have left without knowing this?" Our eyes locked as we both knew the depth of what she was saying, the revelation that had come to her...her eyes teared up as did mine....it was good.

We had a special night on Monday- sort of a meeting after the meeting and during this time many prophetic words and actions came forth. One precious event was when they anointed me with oil- nearly the whole bottle- and spoke God's word over me for this new season. It was extremely precious and personal and was a beautiful ending to a
wonderful trip.

I am so thankful to all of you and to the wonderful women who went with me on this mission. Thank You for saying yes to God in whatever way He asked you to be a part of this. It is our desire to keep going, we pray you will continue to keep sending us! In all things let God's will come forth! And if there's one word I could give all of you for this season, it is to find your right alignment (not even intending that to be a joke form my chiropractic self!) God has a role for you to play, make sure you are aligned properly for that role to be free to come forth!

All our love to you!

Please check out our blog at www.thetruthministry.blogspot.com. for more trip report details and photos.

To sow into this ministry and the continued work in Romania, click on "make a donation" or make checks payable to:

The Truth Ministry
427 Shelley Drive
Racine, WI 53405.

Romania 2007
We've just returned from another wonderful and fruitful trip to Romania. It was also a difficult trip- filled with warfare and challenges- but as always, God's purposes prevail and we have seen the victory! To be honest- I'm quite tired. We arrived home only hours before we had to pack up and leave again for our annual church retreat. I guess I shouldn't say "before we had to"...I should say "before we got to" ...because the weekend retreat was also an amazing time in the Lord and with His Body. It was also a great time for our immediate family to just be together and enjoy each other! I so love my family and was happy for all of us to be together and enjoying the beauty of God's creation together!

This year there were some definite highlights to share with you all. On Thursday night we held a parenting conference at the request of the pastor and his wife. There were about 40-50 in attendance and I brought a message on LOVE (which you will soon see is a common theme). Specifically, that if they are here at a parenting conference, one thing is for sure, they love their children. And that God will honor that and bless that and work with that because God is love and when we love, it reveals Him to others. During the message I also had Christy share about her experiences growing up and also had KC do the same. This way, there was a "child's perspective" too, which really helped to drive home the importance of raising kids in an environment of love, encouragemnt, safety, acceptance, etc.

One young woman really touched my heart as she caught me afterwards and basically began to thank me for what I shared. She continued to tell me how she hasn't been living in love, how she blames everyone else, how she has hated parenting her 11 month old and how she quit coming to church or going out and has just isolated herself. But how through what I just taught, she saw that this was wrong, that she didn't want to live that way anymore....and she continued on. I was just awe struck to be honest. I knew she had gotten revelation of a greater truth but I still couldn't pinpoint exactly what was happening in front of me. And then it hit me- this is REPENTANCE. And I just melted to her. Two days later she came back for the women's conference looking completely different and wonderfully beautiful. The next day she came to church with her son and I was able to pray over both of them. Yeah- really good stuff- really precious stuff.

On Friday, we ventured out into a small village and began a mission of "small beginnings" in distributing food and school supplies to the local kids. We did this as a direct result of God's word to us (Mike and I) and I must say- I was completely tearful and caught up in God's love and aware of how much this little "natural" act would produce in the "spiritual" realm. KC taught the 42 children about the Fruits of the Spirit with posters she had made herself. Christy then shared the gospel message and about 6-7 older children raised their hands to receive Christ. We used Trefor's (from Living Light) "sorry, please, thank you" model as it was perfectly simple and easy for the kids to follow! After that, we were able to individually and personally pray for each of the 42 kids, blessing them and calling forth their destiny in Christ. THIS WAS POWERFUL and exciting and all done hidden away in some village in the hills and trees of Central Romania. BUT EMMANUEL!!!!!! They also then received a bag of small food treats and school supplies given to them in the name of Jesus.

Friday evening was spent leading the prayer meeting for about 20 or so people at Carmen's home. We usually do this once each time we go, but this year we had two meetings scheduled as the group was hungry and eager for more teaching on the Holy Spirit and victory in Christ. I did not know what I was going ot teach on until about 10 minutes ahead of the meeting. I ended up speaking about "taking every thought captive" and explaining with a simple drawing that God gave me how we are composed of Body, Soul and Spirit. And how, in Christ, our spirit is always and will be immune from the evil one. But that Satan can and does attack and roam in the areas of our body and mind. I spoke about the battle line being drawn between the spirit (where he can't roam) and the body and soul (where he can) and how we can push that battle line further and further to TAKE BACK control of our soul (mind, will, emotions) and our body. It turned out to be a really relevant message and when I was done, no one wanted to leave. They wanted more. So we then did another "prophetic activation" like we did last year and had them pray for some of our ministry friends and supporters. Many of them participated freely and I was able to bring home words of encouragement and love for people they have never even met! Saturday was filled with our "annual" women's meeting. This time instead of a weekend camp, we had one day event at Carmen's church. Women from both of the local chruches that we work with attended. It was exciting that this year- one of my "goals" was fulfilled and in all seriousness was probably THE HIGHLIGHT of my trip. Carmen delivered the morning message and we also had a LOCAL worship team leading worship! My heart in going is always to raise up the giftings and leadership in the nationals, so this was very exciting and wonderful for me to see! We also began to lay out all the eye glasses that we brought with us and MANY MANY MANY found glasses that worked for them! Praise God!

On Sunday we headed to church under the impression that we would be sharing a quick hello to the body and then Christy would sing and share a testimony. DURING WORSHIP, the pastor came over and let Carmen know that he was giving me the time to preach the message again. This was huge becasue last year I was the first and only woman allowed to preach in the church. No one has done it since and again he was giving me the whole time to preach again. Of course I DIDN'T HAVE A MESSAGE PREPARED (smile)....but aren't we always prepared in Christ?!!!! I found one page of a message that I had taught about 3 years ago and began to skim it- I found one core sentence that sprung up in my spirit and ran with it. I spent the remainder of worship time just jotting small notes on a paper and then brought God's word forth. I spoke about the purity of God's love. How I believe the world has so tainted and perverted and twisted the real meaning of love. How we as Christians have only scratched the surface of understanding the purity and power of this love and how God is revealed through it. So that was cool. And once again the pastor was very pleased! Thank you Jesus! Christy did an amazing job singing "At the Cross" and sharing a testimony about God's faithfulness. She actually got to do an "encore" of the song as the pastor's wife and many of the congregation wanted her to sing it again with the Romanian words on the screen behind her (they hadn't been able to get them up the first time). So that was really awesome too to see the crowd "demand" a repeat so they could gain full understanding and worship along! Sunday night we went to the other church (Speranta church) and KC and Christy sang two songs, shared a testimony and I had brought a small greeting and summary of what God has spoken to me over the past 4 trips and the purposes in them all and this knitting together of us all. When we were done, the pastor had still given us more time and Carmen asked me if I was going to speak. I said "no- I'm good"...and then realized...."you tell me, am I?" So I got up and began to bring the same message I had brought in the morning- again- unexpectedly. When I was done the pastor elaborated on it for a good 5-10 minutes which brought much peace to my somewhat "anxious" soul- (once again, we were in a place where women did not preach and clearly I was just preaching). The Speranta church was much more lively and "full" then it had been only 3 years earlier. It was great to hear their choir, join in worship with them and hear the passion with which the pastor spoke (even if I didn't know all that he was saying). On Monday we had a day to relax, see some sights and enjoy relationship. I spent the day alone with Carmen and Roxana took KC and Christy around the shopping area and hisorical district. It was great for Carmen and I to have the one on one time to really connect and talk about the challenges of leadership, growth, etc. It is wonderful to have her as our "Romania Truth Ministry contact" an for us to be on the same page with what God is wanting to do and what He has already been establishing and how we will approach the increase in teams, etc... Monday night Carmen and I took the pastors and their wives out for dinner. We had pizza- which was a huge treat for them I guess, so we were happy to do that. It was fantastic time of just hanging out together, getting to know each other and also hearing their vision and heart for their churches and the community. I feel now that I'm not just "visiting their churches" but that I KNOW them and again, look forward to what God will do in the future. It was also net because in conversation I was able to tell them about our church back home and the School of Worship and this is great because we know that Sergiu (one of their members) wants to come to SOW in 2008. Tuesday we had the "mega prayer group"- prayed and prophesied over each person for a little over 6 hours total. We were wiped physically, but energized by the Holy Spirit. Some highlights of this time were seeing the giftings that were lying somewhat dormant come to the surface and bless the Body! Christy sang this amazing spontaneous prophetic love song over one of the young women. It was just wonderful! KC was prophesying with such accuracy and boldness it just made me sort of shake my head, laugh and think "wow". Roxana- who we had brought here for a month to grow in her prophetic giftings (among other things) was prophesying right beside us the whole time. Carmen aslo was flowing in prophecy in between translating for us! Even a few of the other prayer group members who were sitting and watching and waiting would occasionally join in with a word. THIS DELIGHTS MY HEART!!!!!!! This is what TO US (Mike and I) Matthew 28:19-20 is all about- GOING, DISCIPLING, TEACHING and seeing the fruit! THANK YOU TO ALL OF YOU WHO HELPED MAKE ALL OF THIS POSSIBLE!!!!! WE GIVE GOD ALL THE GLORY!!!!!! God gave me a "motto" this year that I wrote in my Bible right away..."Boldly going...Humbly bowing". That pretty much sums it up. Please continue to pray for God's abundant fruit to come forth. Also, if you made it this far through all of this- there's a good chance you should be on the team next year! Think about it- better yet- PRAY about it :)

Please check out our blog at www.thetruthministry.blogspot.com. for more trip report details and photos.

Previous Romania trips

Please check out the archives on our blog for past trip reports. Visit www.thetruthministry.blogspot.com.