THE LAST BIG YEAR TEAM REPORT

SORRY - it's not been easy to get internet access this time so I have waited until today to finish the story!

MONDAY 31st
We all made it safely back to Heathrow at 7:00 this morning and are either soaking in bathtubs or washing the red dust of Africa out of our clothing. It has been an amazing two weeks and the verse that kept coming to me last night on the flight home was from Mark 16:20 - ‘And the disciples went everywhere and preached, and the Lord worked with them, confirming what they said by many miraculous signs’.
The team’s confidence grew each day as we saw how open people were to hear about Jesus and to receive him into their lives – even in the departure lounge just before we flew home!

THANK YOU FOR SUPPORTING US WITH YOUR PRAYERS

SUNDAY 30th
Our last day in Freetown was full of sad farewells to all the friends we have made - especially our new friends at Iris Ministries and at the Tity Hotel. Life at the hotel will never be the same again as almost all the staff has become Christians and many were filled with the Holy Spirit.
In the morning the students led and spoke at a united service in a very dark old warehouse and once again many people responded publicly for salvation, baptism and healing. The young handicapped man, Saidu, who we met on the beach earlier in the week came to the service with his friend Elijah whose hand was severed during the war. They were both baptised on the beach after the service with about twenty others.
After a late lunch and packing we boarded the water taxi to the airport.

SATURDAY 29th
We spent Saturday relaxing with the Iris Team with more beach time and a celebration meal in the evening - THAT’S ALL I’M SAYING IN CASE YOU ALL GET JEALOUS!

FRIDAY 28th
The team divided again and swapped locations with more clinic and jail visits. It’s such a privilege to pray with such needy and desperately poor people.
After lunch we travelled to the Presidential Lodge for a meeting with the First Lady – Her Excellency Madame Sia Koroma. She was so welcoming. Di and Vicky introduced the team and Terry presented her with a book of collected writings of John G Lake. Then we were able to have a conversation with her and she allowed us to pray and bring her some prophetic words. When we asked what we could pray for the nation she said just one word ‘REVIVAL’!
WHAT A PRIVILEGE!

THURSDAY 27th
In the morning the team were divided into two teams – one went to a clinic / hospital and the other visited Lumley Police Station to visit the prisoners in the lockup. It wasn’t difficult to share Jesus with them. In the afternoon we had some more beach time! On the beach we met Saidu, a 21 year old man with a bad deformity of his left leg – it was very short because his mother fell when she was pregnant. We were able to pray for him and help him buy some roof covering for his shack to protect him from the rain. He began to move his leg a bit more and the pain seemed to be going. The Iris Team will follow him up.

MORE NEWS

WEDNESDAY 26th

In the morning we encouraged each other as a team by sharing stories of what we had seen God do – too many to write here!

After a DIY snack lunch at the hotel we went to book a meal at a local restaurant for Saturday night. We discovered that the restaurant run a very smart 20 seater water taxi to the airport so that will make a change from the helicopter! After an hour at the craft market in the afternoon learning how to barter we spent the evening praying and prophesying over the Iris Ministries Team at their base. It was so great to be able to bless them after all that Andrew and Angella Sesay and their team have done for us.

PLEASE KEEP PRAYING
Most people have had some kind of stomach bug – nothing too serious though

STOP PRESS
As far as we know (as Terry keeps on saying!) tomorrow afternoon (Friday) we will be meeting the wife of the President for a time of prayer and worship – what an honour. We will be presenting her with a hardback copy of the writings of John G Lake.

Also Terry has heard that his friends Sheka and Rose Tarawalie will be joining us at the Saturday night meal. Sheka is the President’s Press Secretary.

SORRY - We are not able to put any more pictures on the blog – it just takes too long!

MORE BIG YEAR TEAM NEWS

TUESDAY 25th

In the morning we had planned a relaxing ‘tem time’ in the hotel but it turned into a Holy Spirit revival session! We were praying for each other in a small lounge and many of the staff who heard us came to join in. We prayed for them and they all had an encounter with God. It all ended with a ‘fire tunnel’ (jargon for two lines of people praying for you while you walk down the middle). It was prophesied over the team before we left that we would carry an epidemic of joy and it certainly happened that morning!

In the afternoon we went back to the big shed at King Jimmy for more worship and ministry with the beggars, prostitutes and kids living on the streets. After a time of worship and a short message from one of us we began to pray for people again. There were countless headache, and stomach ache healings. Their appreciation really melted our hearts. \there was a group of mainly men and some women with crutches or wheelchairs. Some of them were receiving a measure of healing after we prayed. We had lots of opportunities to hug many of the children and it seemed that they were experiencing some kind of healing through this. Back home in Maidenhead a prophetic teacher from Canada – Jim Paul – had prophesied over the team that we would do this and people would be healed.

MORE BIG YEAR TEAM NEWS

SUNDAY
We were picked up around 9:30 and distributed around four churches. This was a great opportunity for the team members to share some of the things that God have given them as they prepared back home. YOU CAN BE PROUD OF THEM ALL – THEY ARE AN OUTSTANDING TEAM!

One of the young men from close by the hotel who received Jesus on Thursday came along to the central church and really enjoyed it. Next Sunday, all the Iris congregations will meet together for a celebration.

Back at the hotel we changed for the beach and ate rolls and fruit on the bus. Burah beach is an amazing tropical paradise but I better not say too much or you will all want your money back.

MONDAY
We had a rest time at the hotel this morning – so far five of the team have had to take time out with tummy upsets – however hard we try to prevent it there are always some bugs that get through. Most are recovering well after a day’s rest.

At 12:00 we left for a snack lunch at the base and then we travelled into the King Jimmy area of the city which is one of the poorest. Iris are partnering with a lady (Christiana) who works with the beggars and commercial sex workers. We met in a large shed with no doors or windows – just holes. In the shed there were people working on sewing machines and a pig running around. Andrew’s team led some worship and a couple of our team members spoke. At the end 49 people came forward to receive Jesus - the team members took all their names for follow up – IT WAS AMAZING!
Almost everyone came out for prayer for healing – they all have some kind of sickness.

A group of men and women with crutches and wheelchairs had come along and one of the men with crutches was very excited after prayer to be able to walk without his crutches. He was still walking with a limp but much faster. HE WAS VERY HAPPY!

Back at the hotel Andrew had arranged for a hot meal to be brought so we dined on chicken ground nut stew with rice, then more pineapple and mango, followed by England v Mexico on a big screen TV – LUXURY!

This afternoon we go back to the shed for a ‘Banquet’ with the beggars and prostitutes.

KEEP LOGGING ON AND PRAYING – WE LOVE YOU
THE BIG YEAR TEAM

BIG YEAR TEAM NEWS

SATURDAY 21st
Today was our first ‘village’ day and the team are gradually getting used to never doing anything on time or in the order we had planned it. What might have been a 2 to 3 hour drive took us 4 hours because of heavy weekend traffic in the city centre. Andrew was travelling in a smaller minibus and never made it because the engine oil ran out. The change from city to rural is quite sudden. When we arrived, there was the usual reception committee of enthusiastic children hanging off our arms. We made our own lunch of bread rolls and fillings finished off with pineapple and mango. We dined in a round mud hut.

After lunch Andrew’s assistant Moses showed us the secondary school they are building – the carpenters are finishing the roof. Kids from the village walk over two hours to the nearest school at the moment. Then we split up into teams of four and went through the village praying for the sick and sharing Jesus. It’s not always easy to know exactly what has happened but some were obviously healed from headaches and some prayed to receive Jesus. Candy’s team went into a hut where a woman had given birth to a baby about half an hour earlier. The baby is now called Candy!

Then we all got back on the bus for the drive home which only took three hours! BUT IT WAS WORTH IT.

Back at base we were served with a wonderful hot meal followed by another amazing time of worship led by Andrew and his team. Then back to the hotel for some rest. We need your prayers for team members who are finding it difficult to sleep and one or two who are going down with tummy upsets – nothing too serious

BIG YEAR TEAM NEWS - SATURDAY 22nd MAY

It will be IMPOSSIBLE to explain in this blog what an amazing time we are all having here in Freetown!
We arrived safely on Wednesday night and Andrew our host had arranged for a friend to assist us through customs and immigration to the helicopter. It has never been so EASY! The first surprise was that the Helcopter crew are all Romanian so one of our team members (Lina) who is Romanian was able to chat with them and tell them all about our mission – she was so excited. Yesterday Lina and Tom visited them and they were really interested in her ‘story’!
THURSDAY
We had a briefing session with Andrew then our ‘transport’ – a really good 30 seater bus – took us into Freetown for our first experience of the stresses of city life. Our plans were to visit the museum and market, have a snack lunch, then on to the beach. In the heat, humidity and chaos, all we could manage was to get some lunch. I couldn’t have set up a better exercise for the team to be exposed to the frustrations of life here in Sierra Leone! After a short rest at the hotel we went to Andrew’s base for snapper (a local fish) and chips followed by an absolutely wonderful time of worship.
FRIDAY
After breakfast we went out in teams of 4 plus a member of Andrew’s team to offere to pray for people living around the hotel – God had told Andrew that we should start in our ‘Jerusalem’. What happened was the beginning of the fulfilment of the prophecies we had been given – a time of harvesting – catching many fish – an anointing for ‘breakthrough’. IT WAS AMAZING!
After only 2 hours every team came back with stories of healing and people receiving Christ.
JUST ONE OR TWO HIGHLIGHTS
In a shack next to the hotel an elderly man with cloudy eyes had his sight restored and was able read to the amazement of his family – he then prayed to receive Christ, followed by his grandson and some other members of his family. A builder with a stomach ulcer felt some thing changing inside as we prayed – he went on to receive Christ. Andre believes he can now plant a church here! We will tell you more when we get home. We estimate that at least 9 people prayed to receive Christ on the streets.
After lunch at the hotel we spent a couple of hours on the beach (SORRY) then back to the hotel for a rest followed by supper at the base and another time of worship and sharing about the amazing time we had in the morning.
TODAY
After breakfast we will take a 2 hour drive to a village where Andrew is already working to do more of the same – WE CAN’T WAIT!

All the team are well and working hard – HONESTLY!
On Sunday we will send the team out to local churches where Di, Vicky, Tom and Terry will lead the team members in sharing their stories
Please keep up the prayer

LATEST FOR BIG YEAR TEAM

HI EVERYONE

TEAM MEMBERS
The latest information from Terminal 1 and BMI is that our flight will leave on time
See you @ Heathrow 11:30
It's going to be a great day!

For everyone else who is praying for us - THANK YOU
In case I have problems logging on in Freetown our schedule for the next few days is as follows:
THURSDAY - Orientation and meeting the Iris Team during the day and a talk on the history and culture of Sierra Leone in the evening
FRIDAY and SATURDAY - up to Andrew but we are likely to be doing visits to prisons / hospitals / clinics
SUNDAY - the team will be sent out to some of the local churches to speak / share testimony / pray for people
In the afternoon and evening it's beach barbecue time!
MONDAY - Andrew has planned a "Street Banquet" when we will be feeding "around 500 beggars - amputees - prostitutes and sex slaves" (Andrews words)
Iris Ministries are working on the streets all the time with these people so we will be following up something they are already doing - AMAZING
The rest of the week is not yet clear apart from a daytime Pastors Conference and evening Evangelistic Meetings from May 26th to 29th
SO WE'RE GONNA BE BUSY
OUR LOVE TO YOU ALL - DI / VICKY / TERRY / AND THE TEAM