Testimony of Lilliana Alvarado, September 22nd – School Outreach
It was September 22nd, and my 2nd day of school ministry. As my team and I drove into a small private school, we were met at the gate by a friendly man with a big smile, who welcomed us in and led us to the head teacher. God gave us favour with the head teacher, who gave us permission to speak to all the students. To our surprise, however, there were only 22 students in the school. This was unusual for us, as it is normal for us to speak to hundreds, even thousands of students at once. I knew that this time would be one of a kind! All the students were brought into one classroom, and we were all required to remove our shoes prior to entering. It was a very intimate setting, and I could sense the Lord was going to do something special. My coach, Gary Smith, opened the meeting, and then I began to preach the gospel. I felt the Lord urging me to preach with just as much energy and fervour as if I was standing before hundreds of thousands. I shared the gospel using a little paper boat. I passionately proclaimed how Jesus purchased us with His blood to redeem us to himself. During the altar call, nearly every person in the little room raised their hand, including the teachers. Immediately after I was finished speaking, one of the teachers took me by the hand and pulled me aside. She began telling me how she used to walk with God and be so close to him, but she had strayed so far from him recently. She began to cry, and as the tears streamed down her face, this dear teacher told me that she felt like God spoke directly to her through our presentation, and she wanted to give her heart back to Jesus. My heart swelled with joy as I prayed with her to rededicate her life to the Lord. As soon as I finished praying for her, another teacher tapped me on the shoulder and, through her tears, told me how she also wanted to return to the Lord and rededicate her life to him. As I prayed for her, I felt the passionate love of God being poured out over us. The presence of God was tangible and so sweet. Two prodigal daughters had returned home [to Father God]!! As if this wasn’t already thrilling enough, it so happened that as I was praying for these two precious teachers, my coach, Gary Smith was speaking to the man who greeted us at the gate, who was a Muslim. Gary received a word of knowledge about his back pain and prayed for him. Instantly, the man’s back was healed, and he testified that he had no more pain. Gary began to share the gospel with him, and point to the fact that Jesus loves him so much. The Holy Spirit did His wonderful work in this man’s heart, and this man, who was a Muslim when we arrived, received Jesus into his heart and was radically born-again! My team and I felt absolutely elated and overjoyed. Before we left the school, I could see the light of Jesus in his eyes. He was full of hope and smiling with such a holy brilliance. The gospel is good news and when it is preached, it happens!! Glory be to Jesus!!
Testimony of Matias Tovainen, September 22nd – Village outreach
I went to the side of the road where I noticed a Muslim woman wearing a full burka, and reading Islamic literature. I approached her and began to share the good news of the cross with her. As soon as I was finished, she took off her glasses, put her prayer book down in the dirt and began weeping in front of everyone in the middle of the market. She was so touched by the message of Jesus, that she fully surrendered her life to Christ and declared: "For 50 years I have been following the wrong way, but now you have brought me the truth, and I will always follow the right way. Thank you so much for coming to share with me!’’ It was an incredible deliverance from darkness into light, and from slavery into freedom. For a couple of hours, she was being deeply touched by God. At the end of our time together, she took off her face covering as a sign of being delivered from slavery into the arms of a God, who sees her as His child and loves her. However, it kept getting better. As I left her to go and eat lunch, another Muslim woman nearby interrupted me and said: "Don’t you go anywhere, as I need prayer also!’’ I, of course, was happy to get down in the dirt with her and pray for her injured arm and knee. Jesus healed her completely! After this, I shared with her the gospel message, to which she replied: "I will also leave Islam and follow Jesus!’’ Afterwards, I saw these now-former Muslim women, who hadn’t known each other, leaning against each other and in love, like sisters.
Testimony of Eric Dykes, September 22nd– Village Outreach
As we arrived on this very special day on September 22nd. As soon as we got out of the car, we noticed a boy that needed prayer. As we started to pray, about 40 people surrounded us. We knew it was time to "cast the net," so we preached the Gospel to them! And all of them received Jesus as their Lord and Saviour! Many were healed and delivered, but there was one very special part of this story. There was a man that was running towards the large group straight towards us. As he was running, he fell to his knees, and lifted his arms to heaven and said aloud: “I want to be free!” Hallelujah! And as he received Jesus, he did something very interesting. There was a bracelet on his wrist. And he violently took the bracelet off of his wrist and threw it away from himself. When my friend asked what that was, the man said, “it means I was a drunkard but now I am free in Jesus' Name!” Can you say Amen!
Testimony of Joe Franklin, September 24th – School Outreach
“September 24th, 2020. Everyone say it with me: September 24th, 2020. This is the day of your salvation. Never forget today!,” encouraged Gary Smith, our team coach for the day. I stood in shock. I was amazed! We had just shared the gospel and delivered the free gift of the Holy Spirit to over 4,000 kids! The courtyard was electric with the presence of God. The dust from the feet running to the field was palpable. But let’s go back to the beginning. It all started with us seeing a school that we did not originally see on the map. We went in and talked to the Head Madem, who was delighted to have us speak. She had the students assemble in the courtyard. They kept coming and coming until the whole courtyard was full of 4,000 students. Construction was happening in the middle where we were standing, but the students didn’t seem to care as they crowded in. The construction men stopped their work. We had a concrete stage to stand on that started out large, but got smaller as time went on. We set up the speakers and waited for the "thumbs up" to start. To me, it was so nerve-racking preaching the gospel to that many children! The children hung on every word, receiving it with an open heart. Jesus was knocking on the door of every heart! The students began to crowd around the stage with every part of the story, which is when the stage shrunk! By the time it came for the children to receive Holy Spirit, the stage was a 1-foot circle. Children crowded around. Some began to push, and as our time was running short, we had everyone close their eyes and pray! The Holy Spirit began to come like He always does. Students we saved, healed and delivered. Many received the Holy Spirit with power. Coach Gary closed it out by saying “Remember today, the day of your salvation! September 24th, 2020.” That was the day that 7,956 kids had the opportunity to come to know Jesus, and to be filled with the Holy Spirit! Four thousand students at one school! It was breathtaking and so humbling to watch so many open their hearts to Jesus. And then, to even open their arms wide to receive the Holy Spirit! I will never forget September 24th, 2020, the day so many received Jesus.
2 Corinthians 6:1 “...Today is the day of salvation...”
Testimony of Lauren Clark, September 27th – Village Outreach
A lady called us over and asked us to pray for her feet, knees and back. After praying, she got up and walked! Then, two Maasai men asked us to pray for their knees, which we did. Afterwards, they said that they were healed also. People started coming over from a nearby meeting, asking prayer for feet and knees, etc. All but one lady said she was healed. As we were, attempting to leave, some people stopped me. They pointed to an elderly man, who had come who was blind in one eye. His left eye actually was shut. He could only see out of his right eye. I laid hands on his eye and prayed, and Jesus opened his eye! He opened it physically, as well as restoring his sight! He shared with us that he had gone to the largest hospital in Kilimanjaro, where the doctors told him he was blind and there was nothing that could be done. That he would never see out of that eye again. But Jesus said differently and caused the blind to see. Praise God! It was glorious! We tested the miracle. He held his hand over his good eye, and I held up fingers and he was able to tell how many fingers I was holding up. We kept moving further back, away from him at different distances, and he was able to see. Hallelujah!! It was Glorious. Jesus heals today! He is alive!!
Testimony of Devin Barrett, September 27th – Village outreach
One day while we were holding multiple meetings in an area, we looked for a new spot to share the gospel. After almost 2 hours of searching for a spot, we ended up back where we began. There was already a new crowd there in this market to preach to. With the smell of smoke and people dancing to the music, there was a man who was very distracting and acting crazy. Our leader Paul took him aside, however, the man saw me and wanted to talk to me. I pulled him aside to try to listen to him with the translator, however, the translator said he made no sense. But the man did have a note that said that he needed to find a church. Now, I have to say, it is not unusual for there to be a distracting man at these truck meetings in the marketplace. There is always someone who seems to show up and be a distraction there. And as always, I usually prayed over them, although generally not much happened. So I asked this man if I could pray for him, just like I would to any other distracting person. He said yes. So I prayed a very simple prayer that didn’t cause me to feel extra spiritual in any way. I prayed, Jesus come. Holy Spirit come." As a result, he opened his eyes and started to cry! He began to say “I remember now. I remember my name, I remember my kids, I remember my house.” He said, "I felt something leave my mind when you prayed." He then gave his life to Jesus, and after that, invited the Holy Spirit to live in him. The meeting was going on in the background as I continued to minister to this man. At the end of the meeting, he looked at me and said, “I am free.” I blessed him, and he went in his way. This is just one of the amazing miracles that we see on the trucks, and it’s beautiful to be a part of what God is doing here. The gospel truck ministry is hard at times. There’s a ton of dusty, many distractions, and the people’s hearts can be hard. But wherever we go the gospel is preached, people are saved, healed delivered. In Jesus' name!
