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!

Saturday 9th May


Can our lives get even more amazing?
God set up some incredible coincidences yesterday. There are 6 billion people on this planet but God determines who we will meet each day.

Terry was working on his laptop and needed extra time to finish so we were 15 minutes late leaving the guesthouse. Just as we were leaving a 4x4 stopped and a very excited young man, Julian, who Terry had met briefly in the UK, jumped out of the vehicle and gave him a big sweaty hug. He was from Terry & Mo’s previous church in Tonbridge and is married to a childhood friend of their daughter Seanna. We spent some time together later in the afternoon with Julian, his wife and also Peter West, a good friend of Mission Direct from the UK. How amazing is that?

The conference continues to be well attended and the sessions are much appreciated by the delegates some of whom have travelled up to 8 hours on buses to be here. Andrew spoke at one of the sessions.

The third night of the crusade went well with about 800 attending and a few more musical contributions, including the most popular Sierra Leonian female Gospel singer – Vic Fornah. It was quite late by the time Dave began speaking but he did really well on his first ‘preach’ in West Africa. Around 40 people responded to become Christians or to rededicate themselves to Christ. There were plenty of opportunities for the UK team to pray for people. Many of these new converts have been caught up in black magic and have been under the control of witch doctors – many of them were set free last night as we prayed!

Today is the last day of the conference with Terry and Andrew speaking. Tonight Terry is the preacher. We have heard that the President’s Press Secretary – Sheka and his wife Rose will be at the crusade – in the UK they were members of the Newfrontiers church in Oldham. Please pray for a mighty move of God on this nation. The President has recently asked the whole nation to repent, fast and pray during the next three months to see a turn around in Sierra Leone’s plight as the poorest nation on earth. Our whole team is fasting today.

PLEASE KEEP PRAYING

Friday 8th May


What an amazing day yesterday!
It started with three good sessions at the conference where Dave spoke powerfully on ‘Feeding the 5000’, then Terry taught two sessions on taking healing and prophecy out on the streets.
At the end we were able to give out about 100 copies of Greg Haslam’s ‘Preach The Word’ training manual for preachers. The were so excited!

In the afternoon we met up with the rest of the team for some relaxation. They travel back to the UK tonight and have done an amazing job. They made a visit to the worst slum in West Africa (Crew Bay) yesterday with an army escort. Mission Direct may be able to help an Army Chaplain with a project in this poorest of poor communities.

The second evening of the crusade was incredible! Andrew preached to a crowd of around 800 and we saw about 60 respond to the Gospel. Then around 200 people responded to receive physical healing or to be set free from demons and the control of black magic. It was obvious that many had been healed and set free. The sense of God’s presence over the field was powerful. God has told us to change the name of the field from ‘Grassfield’ to ‘Gracefield’. David will be preaching tonight and Terry will preach on Saturday night.

Heidi Baker’s team (Iris Ministries) are fully involved with us in all we are doing and we plan to spend some time with them on Monday/Tuesday.

PLEASE KEEP PRAYING

Thursday 7th May

We have joined up with the rest of the team for some relaxation and everyone is fine.

Most of the team are heading back for the UK tomorrow but Mo, Terry, Joelle a couple of guys from Suffolk (Andrew & Dave) will be staying on until next Wednesday.

Last night was a good start to the crusade with a crowd of about 500-600. The response was mainly for healing as most were already Christians. We prayed for about 40 with toothache/dental problems and about half said they had experienced some healing

There were others (about 200) who showed they had been healed of a whole range of sicknesses by the end of the evening. The usual pattern is for more to come each night so please pray that the numbers will grow.

Wednesday 6th May


The team of five are now safely settled in The Grand Regency Guest House in Lumley while the rest of the team continue on the project work for The City of Rest.

Last night the Lumley Team had supper with some leaders who are helping with the conference. We enjoyed barbecued snapper – a delicious local fish – with chips and salad. It was wonderful to meet up again with old friends. A young man – Andrew Sesay – who was saved and baptised as a result of our very first team visit in 1994, now leads the work of Iris Ministries (Heidi Baker) in Sierra Leone. After supper as our guests were about to leave the Holy Spirit came powerfully on a young American couple (Isaac & Brittany) so they could hardly stand up. Brittany had some amazing words for Mo about how she had rarely seen the love of Jesus so clearly present in someone. As we prayed together Mo was deeply affected by what was happening.

The conference starts today with Terry and Andrew taking the first two sessions and Terry will speak at the crusade tonight. The rest of the team will be joining us for the evening.

PLEASE KEEP PRAYING

Monday 4th May

This past week has gone so quickly and apart from a few tummy upsets the whole team have done really well. We have made good progress at the Grafton site for new centre for The City of Rest Drug Rehab. The base for the generator house has been laid and the walls are nearly complete. Dave Seddon & Will McCanna have spent most of their time down a hole in the ground helping to dig a well – now 15ft deep!
We have visited 7 of the Mission Direct projects and taken over £2,000 of Aid Goods that some of you gave us before we left – they are so grateful.
On Sunday morning we went to one of the local churches where Terry preached and Joelle visited the youth and children’s work. There was a good response with about a dozen people with poor eyesight were prayed for and about half said they could see better. Three people responded to the Gospel at the end of the service.
After the service we spent the rest of the day on a beautiful tropical beach swimming, tanning and eating barracuda, rice, mango and pineapple – well someone has to do it!
Today (Monday) most of the team will work on the Grafton site while Terry, Mo and Joelle go into Freetown for meetings with the Fire Chief of Sierra Leone and the head of the Sierra Leone Army Chaplains. They both want to talk to Terry about ‘trauma support’.
Tomorrow five of the team including Terry, Mo and Joelle travel to Lumley for the Pastors Conference and Crusade Meetings. On Tuesday evening they will have supper with the Conference organisers and the Iris Ministries team – the amazing work started by Heidi Baker.

I hope to refresh this blog every day now – SO PLEASE KEEP PRAYING