Wednesday 13th May

Today is departure day!

YESTERDAY - after a breakfast of scrambled eggs Terry and Mo went into Lumley with Joelle. Sadly the Internet Café was not open so there was a lot of waiting around for things to happen again. Joelle did a supermarket shop for our packed lunches.

Terry and Mo spent the rest of the morning with the Iris Team at The Good Shepherd Clinic in Lumley. They go there every week to pray for the patients. Yet again God was doing some amazing things. We prayed for a man with his arm in a sling (a dislocated shoulder) as he was waiting to be seen. He was totally healed with full movement and went home a happy man! Others on hospital beds were also touched. A woman with very painful knee joints – completely healed. A very thin woman with low blood pressure who could hardly speak regained her strength and was up and out of bed straight after we had prayed. IT’S JUST AMAZING!

Andrew, Dave and Joelle were escorted to Kroo Bay by the Sierra Leone army Chaplain, Moses Kargbo, in the afternoon. Moses was passionate about his commitment to try to help the people of Kroo Bay. The place is on the coast of Freetown, and is a corrugated tin land of shacks quickly built with narrow passageways filled with silty mud. The land was previously used as a rice field. Pigs, chickens, dogs and goats all share the pathways and their excrement is mixed with the peoples and the huge volumes of rubbish washed down towards the sea. The previous night’s heavy rain had made the area was worse than ever. The “school” meets in a small building with several classes crammed into a tiny area, insufficient for the number of children there. The children don’t pay except for uniform, the teachers therefore are working for next to nothing and really just doing it for God.

In a couple of hours we will have our final meeting and farewells to the Pastors and after some beachside relaxation we will board the hovercraft for Lunghi airport. Our flight takes off at 11:50 and we should be back at Heathrow by 7:30am.

THANKS FOR ALL YOUR PRAYERS – WE NEEDED THEM!

Tues 12th May

Yesterday you couldn’t go anywhere without hearing a Bob Marley track wafting across the streets. “Let’s get together and feel alright” – “No woman no cry” – it was Bob Marley Day!

With two extra days available due to non-availability of seats on flights, we have been able to make some extra plans. After a breakfast of fried eggs and frankfurters we made our way down into Lumley to change some money and for Terry to do his ‘blogging’. While we were waiting for our money Andrew, Dave and Joelle had a guided tour around the school that operates at the JEEs church buildings. Then we were picked up in the Iris Ministries bus to spend the rest of the morning with their team. They are such great people!
We got to see Andrew & Angella Sesay’s two week old baby Heidi. Terry made a video of the Iris team to give to Heidi Baker when he and Mo meet her next weekend in Tonbridge. Then we worshipped together. Terry shared some encouragement from the book of Esther and we prayed for one another.

After a snack lunch at our guest house, it was time for a rest before supper. Then we decided to hit the nightspots – we were expecting the whole town to be partying to the sounds of the Marley Man, but frankly everything was a bit quiet. After a couple of hair-raising taxi rides and a mixture of local drinks and ice creams, we crawled into our beds at about 10:30!

Unfortunately we were awakened at about 5:00am to the sound of heavy rain. We are hoping it doesn’t spoil the plans for our final full day in Freetown. Terry and Mo will go and visit a hospital to pray for the sick with the ‘Iris’ team. The others will meet up with the army Chaplain – Major Moses – for a conducted visit to Crew Bay, the worst slum in West Africa.

Then I guess that we will have to pack tonight ready for our departure for the airport courtesy of a former Isle of Wight hovercraft !

There may be one more blog tomorrow .

LOVE FROM THE TEAM

Monday 11th May

Apparently today is celebrated in Sierra Leone as ‘Bob Marley Day’. So it will be very interesting to see if we come across any festivities.

Yesterday began with Terry and Mo making unsuccessful attempts to send the blog at an Internet Café. One was closed and the other one was too slow to be any use. As they say here ‘TIA’ – this is Africa!

The morning service at JEEs Ministries was packed with around 500 men women and children. Terry says it was the best he has ever seen it. The people were worshipping with all their hearts – you could see the presence of God on their faces. Most of the senior Pastors of JEEs churches were there and it was so moving to see them worship and dance together. It is so clear that they are the very best of friends and the churches are in good heart and continuing to grow. The church is so full of JOY!

One of the Pastors was very upset on Saturday when he dropped his cellphone and it smashed. Before Terry preached he asked the congregation to take up another offering to replace the phone. They gave the equivalent of roughly one month’s wages – amazing!

Terry preached applying the book of Esther to the current situation in Sierra Leone, and at the end another 12 people responded for salvation and baptism. There were a couple of healing testimonies from the night before. One lady spoke of a painful tumour that had been on her back for about 15 years. As she was prayed for, the lump disappeared instantly. Another woman had eyes that were constantly discharging tears and she could not see to read or work. As she was prayed for, the fluid dried up immediately and she could see perfectly. At the end of the service, the team were all given gifts of African clothing.

After the service there were 24 new believers baptised on the beach and then we managed a couple of hour’s relaxation at the Atlantic Hotel. Joelle and Dave played pool !

After a supper of chicken and pasta with salad, followed by mango we were collected by the Iris Ministries bus and attended their evening service. They now have 13 small congregations planted around the city. We were deeply moved with the simplicity and power of the worship ‘There’s no one, there’s no one like Jesus’. The message was given by a children’s worker sent out by St Aldate’s – Oxford. At the end he asked all the children to pray for the adults. It was incredibly moving and powerful. There was even a 2 year old laying hands on people. We were so privileged to be there. Today we plan to spend some more time at Iris.

Not long to go now – so PLEASE KEEP PRAYING

Sunday 10th May

Yesterday, the last day of the conference and crusade, was very busy.
We arrived at the Church early so that Joelle could set up for a session with the children and Terry went op post the blog at the Internet Café.

The three conference sessions went well. It was great to Hear Andrew Sesay of Iris Ministries tell of up to a hundred in Mozambique who had been raised from the dead through their teams. We hope to spend some more time with his team on Monday or Tuesday. At the end of the morning we gave out around 150 certificates to the delegates.

Joelle had an amazing time with the children. At first we had arranged for her to go in and ‘observe’, but they wanted her to do a session. What a star! She taught them songs – sorted out a colouring sheet and crayons – went out and bought squash, biscuits and lollies and all for nearly 200 children. She now has a bunch of kids following her everywhere and calling her ‘Auntie Joelle’.

It’s very difficult to know what was going on at the crusade last night. There were no more responses for salvation and the crowd was a bit small but some powerful things were happening. Terry invited everyone to kneel in the dust and experience the strong presence of God over the field. Then he invited people with cancer and eyesight problems to come forward for healing. We know that something was happening because around a dozen people – some in tears – shared that lumps or pain had disappeared and eyesight had been restored. We will try to get some more specific information.

At the end about 40 people came out to receive the Holy Spirit baptism and others to request water baptism. Later today the local pastors will baptise them on the beach.

It was good to renew our friendship with Sheka Tarawalie (The President’s Press Secretary). He came to the crusade and we hope to see him and his wife again before we leave on Wednesday night.

Terry is preaching at the host church this morning so please keep praying as we are all beginning to feel a bit tired!