From snow to sun!

This year has gone so quickly! So much has been happening, I'm bound to forget to tell you about something!

Snow in February? Even for Redding it was a rare and special occurrence. To have snow covering your backyard and street was quite a novelty. We enjoyed a day or two playing in the snow. Bit hard to believe now that we are in 40 degree heat!

Dave's second year of school ended in May - with quite the surprise! Dave was awarded the M.Earl Johnson award. This award is for the person who has the lifestyle of a revivalist. It's considered (probably cause it's really the only award) the highest award of the class. There were many people in Dave's class that could have received this award, so it was a real honour (and surprise) for him to have been chosen.

June saw us traveling north once again to cross the border (and take a little vacation) on Vancouver Island, Canada. Thankfully, due to being given 5 years visas last year, we didn't have to make a visit to the consulate :). It was just a matter of crossing and re-entering. We travelled with our good friends, and fellow Aussie family, the van Tinterens, and stayed on Vancouver Island for about 5 days. The kids explored the rock pools along the coast, catching crabs and other sea creatures! As for the adults - we spent as much time as possible reading and relaxing by the fire, taking shifts for arvo naps! We toured around the island a bit, and ventured into the city of Victoria. Beautiful place, but glad to have only spent 2 nights there. On our journey home we travelled along the Oregon border. It reminded me a bit of the Great Ocean Road. Not as windy or famous, but still very beautiful. We stayed a night right on the beach before landing back in Redding. After sleeping 4 of us in small hotel rooms, it was quite relaxing to return home where we had lots of space! Our housemate at the time had also cleaned my house for me! What a bonus!

Unfortunately during our time away (and for a few weeks after) Dave was suffering from shingles, and I had slight morning sickness! Thankfully we both weren't sick for long, so we have been able to enjoy the hot dry summer here. The weather is very similar to Bendigo - perhaps a little hotter! Again we've spent the summer in our gracious neighbours pool, and ventured out to the beautiful Whiskeytown Lake a few times also. Our wonderful neighbours also bought a pontoon boat and have taken us out a couple of times - once for my birthday dinner. So amazing! I've never seen so many stars! We still continually brag about and thank God for our amazing neighbours. They have been such a blessing to us and become great friends of ours.

Dave has been picking up the pace a bit with his internship. He is privileged to be interning with Steve Thompson. Some of you will know him from Morning Star church (Rick Joiner) and some may even know his book, 'You All May Prophecy'. They are developing some new things with Steve - but I'm going to have to get Dave to expand on this himself. He'll be able to tell you what it is they are doing! I can tell you that this past weekend he has been in Portland, Oregon, ministering with Steve at a local church. The church treated them like kings! Even though Dave had to give out, I think he'll be returning quite refreshed. :)

Recently we found out that our little baby is another little boy! He will be born in January - and yes, he'll be born in the USA and be an American citizen. We will have to pay to register him as a dual citizen with Australia. Lots of advantages for this little man to have dual citizenship! We are very excited and feel very honoured to be given the privilege of raising 3 godly men! When I think of all boy families I think of the Harvey's (of course), the Geerlings, the Bergins, and the Chuds (I'm sure there are others but just the ones that come to mind now). I think of the men in these families and pray that we too can raise our boys to be just as amazing for the Kingdom as these men are.

Our other exciting news is that in just 30 days we'll be leaving to visit Australia!!! I am totally excited about seeing everyone - especially our family. Two years is a long time between hugs with your dad :). We are counting down the days til we leave (gotta love calendars and stickers!) and planning for some quality time with people we love and miss. We're still finalizing our plans as we have to work around Dave's ministry time with Steve Thompson while we are there.

So Australia - we'll see you soon!!!

"Your Destiny is Found in Nicaragua"

It was January, and months earlier I had chosen Mexico City as my main missions trip. I wanted to see the power of God and crazy miracles! However ever since I'd booked it, God had been whispering in my heart "Nicaragua" "Nicaragua" but I wasn't sure why He was saying it... I knew He was a good Father, and wasn't angry at me choosing Mexico... I just knew there must be something special about Nicaragua!

School was to finish soon, and I hadn't been on a Bill Johnson or Kris Vallotton trip the whole year! I only had a small window to get on a trip, but it wasn't looking good. Then I got accepted on a 10 day Kris Vallotton trip to Mexico and Ecuador! I was soo pumped! This was Friday and I only had to find $2400 US by Monday!

Then I had a dream. In the dream Eric Johnson picked me up in a 4WD and said "Come on, I'm going to help you find your destiny." I jumped into the 4WD and cruised around with him, up highways, then off road into jungle tracks. We stopped at village markets. He would pick up clothes and other articles and say "Is this it?" (meaning my destiny) and I said "ummm nope that's not it." So we would keep going, and then I eventually "found my destiny". Then I woke up.

The next day I was riding with some friends, and they began talking about a trip that Eric Johnson was leading to Nicaragua. I got excited and told them that God had been calling me to Nicaragua, but I wasn't sure how it would work. They told me the trip team was already picked, which meant it was pretty much impossible to get on. I looked at the dates of the Nicaragua trip and it overlapped the end of the Kris V trip... which meant I would have to choose one or the other!

I wasn't sure what to do, and then Monday morning, as I opened my eyes, straight away I heard God say "Your destiny is found in Nicaragua with Eric Johnson!" I had never heard God so clearly and consistently! I had to make some phone calls!

So I called my amazing revival group pastor Kate Eifert and she told me to get to school early Tuesday to chat to Eric. She also told me she would go into bat for me!

So Taff dropped me off at school early Tuesday morning, however Eric was no-where to be seen! Then I found out He was on Jury duty! This wouldn't have been too much of an issue, it was just that today 11am was the cut off, for accepting Kris V's trip or not. I called his secretary and shared with her what was happening... she gave me another 30minutes.

I remember walking outside to the front of our school, and as I stood there pondering what to do next right in front of me was Kris Vallottons Lexus convertable parked right next to the exact 4WD that I saw in my dream about Eric! It was like I was prophetically standing at a cross road, a choice between the two trips and God's plan or my plan.

I thought to myself "there is no way in the natural that I am going to get onto this Eric Trip, but I can't do anything but choose it and say no to the Kris trip... after all that God has been saying!" Faith rose in my heart and I called Kris' PA cancelling my spot on the trip. Now God had to come through with Nicaragua!

Later that day Eric came to school, so I walked up the back during a session and asked to chat to him! I was very nervous, because I had never spoken to him before now. Eric was lovely and heard my story and request to come. He told me that he would speak to Ben the trip leader with him.

Sure enough, within 30minutes, Ben came to school and spoke with Eric. But it didn't go to plan. Ben came to me and said that there is no way that I could get on the trip, because I had been on too many trips already! My heart sank a bit... I had cancelled Kris' trip for nothing. Just as I was about to give up hope, Kate Eifert walked up and said "Davo! Hows it going what is happening?" I told her that Ben had just said "it wasn't going to happen"... but she eyeballed Ben and said "No, No, Dave has to get on that trip." So she went directly to Eric.

I sweated that night... not sure of what was going to happen, but fully knowing that I had done my best and that my daddy in Heaven was better than I thought and could pull off anything!

The next morning Ben texted me, Eric had decided to let me on the trip!!!

Miracles in Mexico City 2011

This trip would have to be one of the greatest trips of my life! I have never seen Jesus heal so many people!

From the time we landed, we were go go go! On the first day (Sunday) we had over 8hrs of ministry over 3 meetings, during this time, we saw over 80% of people healed! I had the honor of praying for a little boy named Chris who had a genetic defect. While I was praying the pastor walked past said he had kidney issues. I looked into his eyes and he said he felt fire all over his belly! I also prayed for a lady who had stomach issues. Fire came on her stomach then God started tickling her! Then her husband came and he got hit with the joy too! All her pain left. During the night meeting a lady with severe nausea from hospital was brought to us, doctors couldn't help her. As we prayed for her pain left her stomach. My friend Michael then took her for a walk. As she came back, the Holy Spirit said "forgiveness". We asked her to ask Holy Spirit if she needed to forgive anyone...and He said Yes...so she forgave and then was completely healed of nausea and vommiting!

The next day was Monday, and we went sightseeing, taking a bus into Mexico City. Some of the highlights were, toilets that we had to pay for! (I shouted all my friends!) and just the beauty of the City of Mexico, like the new high-rise buildings everywhere and the fresh gardens being planted. These were some things that I didn't expect.

While we were out, we visited one of the biggest Catholic churches I'd ever seen!

In there I saw my first deaf ear healed!

I was walking along and was asking God "i really want to pray for someone" . Then a lady was highlighted to me who was looking at the dead bones of an old saint. She walked away, so i grabbed an interpreter and my mate Nathan Anderson. We asked her if she had anything wrong with her and if she would like prayer. She said she was partially deaf in her left ear. So we prayed once and then asked her if it changed. She said no. Then we prayed again, this time i walked further and further away asking her to repeat my words. I only got 5 m away and she couldn't hear. So we git her to thank God for what was happening, and prayed again. Again i walked away... This time getting 15m away and she could hear me! I told her to look around and she was amazed!!! She was healed!

Then we prayed for her missing gall bladder and she felt heat on the area! She wanted to know about church and exchanged numbers. We also prayed for a new job for her. She left totally rocked! The interpreter then went on with Nath and saw another lady completely healed of neck problems and knee problems!!! He was totally rocked too!!!

The next day we had outreach, which involved me leading a team and us being dropped off outside a school and market. So we divided up with Mexican interpretors and went for it! Jesus performed many many miracles and salvations! One highlight for me was how, we would pray for people, Jesus would heal them just with a few words like "Jesus heals you", and then they would go away and bring their family and friends to be healed! Before long we were ministering non-stop, seeing everyone healed for over 2hrs! A memorable one for me, was an old grandmother who had severe stomach pain and was instantly healed. Later she came back to me with her two grandchildren wanting me to pray for them, explaining "Red Pepper Red Pepper!!" I thought she was still having pain, but the interpreter told me that she had eaten 2 Red Peppers and was completely healed! I laughed! Another memorable miracle was two little girls who had conjunctivitis in their eyes. I prayed for them to feel the 'fire of God' in their hands - and they did! Then I got them to put their hands over their eyes and their eyes began to clear up! Then their mother explained she wanted to feel the fire of God too! They all had a massive encounter with Jesus that day!

On the Wednesday I led a team to a church plant over 50minutes away from the main church. It was in an area where "if you go outside you will get knifed!"... so we stayed inside! Our first meeting was with the women of the church... and it went for over 5 hrs! We began by calling out words of knowledge and healing began to fall on the people! We go them to pray for each other and 95% them were healed instantly! Then I gave a prophecy about a new wave falling on the church... and a spirit of joy fell on the whole group! It was amazing! I was blown over on the stage by the presence of God! And even our interpreter Betsa, was knocked out under the power of God and unable to interpret for some time

The night meeting in this church was awesome too! We activated the whole church in hearing the voice of God and prophecying over each other. There were also some crazy miracles like metal dissolving in a ladies hand and wrist! She came up moving her wrist backwards and forwards and making a fist exclaiming that she was completely healed! As she shouldn't be able to do that!

On the next day Thursday I saw some of the greatest miracles! We arrived at a school and I walked up to 4 older teenagers who didn't know Jesus and told them to follow me, because they were about to see Jesus perform a healing miracle! We walked across the street to a man on crutches, who'd had 3 knee operations and pain in his hip and other knee. I got one of the boys to pray "Jesus heals you!" over the man and touch his knee! All pain left his knee and then he pointed to his hip! I got another boy to join in and all pain left his hip! He got completely healed through the prayers of some boys who didn't know Jesus yet! Then all 5 of them gave their lives to Jesus!!!

The best part was walking back to the van and seeing the man back at work at his food stand, crutches leaning up against his van, no longer needed! He yelled out to us "Gracious! Gracious! Gracious!" Jesus is soo good!

The miracles continued throughout the rest of the trip! I saw 100% healing down the street that night! and a girls deaf ear opened in under 2minutes!!! An old lady with a deaf daughter met me as I was running to get on the bus to leave...I had to go, so I said "ok we have to be quick", I grabbed another lady and said you pray and heal! So together we quickly prayed "Jesus heals you!" check it out...she shook her head and said "no". So we prayed quickly again... "Jesus heals you" and she let out a sound and smiled as we tested it out! She was healed! Jesus opened her ear!!!

On the Outreach of Friday night I saw a lady with cancer, have all pain from her body leave her completely after a little boy Alex prayed for her! I saw a picture in my mind of a sperm entering her heart, and so I said "Gods seed is entering you now!" She then replied "yes I feel it! All pain is leaving my body!"

I also saw a lady with stomach pain get prayed for by two non Christian teens! All pain left her instantly and the boys decided to get saved!!! They then went home and grabbed their parents who all got encountered by Jesus!

A beautiful little girl and her brother were brought to us on the street at the end of the night... The little girl had a cold and sore chest, her brother flat feet. I got the brother to touch her hands and say "Jesus heals you" and her face lit up, as the sickness and pain left her! Then she touched her brothers feet, saying the same, and his face lit up as pain left his feet. Then the little girl stood up, white like a ghost, motioning with her hands that Jesus had created new arches in her brothers feet!! Gloria a Dios!!!

At one of our last meetings, we prayed with blind man who had something like cataracts for over 2hrs... We watched in awe as God began to create a new blue IRIS in his left eye! And he began to see shapes and images! He didn't get fully healed then and there...but during it he said he "felt like a cloth got taken off his face" (which his wife told us later that she'd had a dream about a cloth being removed from his eyes years earlier!) He also felt a whole lot of baggage lift off of him when he forgave tonnes of people!!! The best part for me though, was his tears of joy as he also got re-connected to Father God and could feel his love!!!

This trip totally changed my life! I am going to have to make this an annual event!

Thanks to everyone who contributed financially and through prayer for this trip! Together we all changed many many peoples lives!

The little things matter

We've told you many stories of how God has provided for all our needs while we've been here. And he continues to do so! We are so thankful to everyone who has supported us while we've been here. We couldn't have done it without you! We have had people support us week to week, and many one off donations. One of our prayer requests in an earlier post was for our travel insurance to be covered. We had people give us $1500 which was more than enough to cover our insurance. We've had people donate money towards Dave's school fees (which are paid off :) ) and donations towards his ministry and missions trips. We also had unexpected money come in just before Christmas - perfect timing!

But today we want to tell you about how God has also blessed us with the little things (actually they are more 'wants' rather than little things :) ).

Firstly, when we came to the USA my GHD hair straightener was an older model, so didn't convert to US power. So I bought a cheaper straightener here (every girl needs a straightener :) ). Well, it lasted a year. We were telling some people about it and how I wanted to save up for another GHD. The next week, we had some friends present me with a jar to start my savings! However, they had put a cheque inside the jar which was enough to cover the whole GHD! Not only that, they had a friend who could get one at wholesale. So now I have my new hair straightener and I love it! It will work anywhere in the world too!

Not long after that, I said to Dave that I would love to get away for a couple of nights without the kids. We worked out that there was 1 weekend that we could do it, or it possibly wouldn't happen for a long time. We waited until the night before to book our accommodation. We had been praying about it and felt that God would provide for it. We had lined up people to come and stay to help look after the kids - Tim and Anna needed somewhere to stay for a few nights while someone else was using their house. It worked perfectly. Within minutes of booking our accommodation, I received an email from someone saying that they had just put money in our account! The money was to go towards Dave's tuition, then on a holiday or whatever we chose for the remainder! We were able to finish paying for his school fees, and cover our trip away! How blessed are we! We spent 2 nights in San Fran in a room with wall to ceiling windows with views of Bay Bridge and the city. And we had the most beautiful weather (which is a rare thing!).

The most recent surprise we've had....well, Dave's birthday was Christmas eve, and I cashed in on his birthday gifts! Dave and I were both given iPhone 4's!!! We were astounded! We had been looking into them as a possibility, comparing the prices of what we were spending on phones to what it would cost. One day Dave was sitting in a cafe and was trying to research them. None of the websites would work for him. He felt God say that he would give him one. Sure enough, we got 2! They are linked with some other people on a family plan which makes it cheaper, so we're not paying much more than we already were for our phones. They are really handy - especially to record all the prophetic words that people speak over you! (Not to mention accessing skype and facebook when away from the computer :) ).

I think it's just amazing that God not only cares about what we need, but the things that aren't such a necessity. We have been blown away by God's favour on our lives. His grace is for all areas of our lives! His love is abundant and his generosity unending! We live in the Kings house and have access to all that is His! What an inheritance (more on this another time :) ).

Just a few months ago...

So, we've been a little slack with the updates! Apologies to anyone who might happen to check this :).

What's been happening? Some of the fun things we've had is having friends and family from Australia come to visit! We've had a ball showing people our life here in Redding. Back in early September, Colleen & Mason Thomson came to visit. We enjoyed the end of summer with them hiking, swimming and eating lots of food! Colleen came with a group of ladies to do the Trees Of Life conference. Mason came along for the journey and he's been convinced that this would be a great place to come to very soon.

For the month of November we had some of our closest friends staying with us. Jase, Rach, Judah, and Kahlan spent 5 weeks in the US, most of it spent with us. The house was definitely full but we really valued this time with them. There is something special about being able to share your 'new life' with 'old friends'. During their time here, we spend 4 nights in Yosemite National Park. It was the most beautiful winter wonderland I've ever seen. Absolutely spectacular! We also had a special Thanksgiving dinner (one of three that were hosted at our house :) ). A good friend of ours loves to cook...and I love to have people in the house. So we made a deal - I'll open the house and she could cook the food! Far deal to me :).

During December, I (Taff) was asked to play for the Choir for their Christmas events. I also had the opportunity to sing a couple of songs, including one of my own Christmas songs. I had so much fun playing piano for them! Also during this time, I was asked to play & sing at a community outreach event. While I was playing, I watch a man get healed as people were praying for him right in front of me. His leg grew out, his back and knee were healed, then later than night he went to the house church in the neighbourhood and was filled with the Holy Spirit! Wow! Come on Jesus! His life has been radically changed. What a privilege to be a part of what God was doing.

I've been surprised at how much I play and sing these days! I have hardly done it in the past, but felt that I had to practice....and now everywhere I sing, I play also. I'm really enjoying. I'm still leading worship for the parenting group I'm involved in, home group at our house every wednesday, and I co-lead once a month at Healing Rooms. I'm continually being stretched, and I'm excited about what I'm going to learn this year.

Just before Christmas, my sister was on a business trip to the US but I wasn't going to be able to catch up with her. While she was here, she ended up having to change her flight home. In order to get the cheaper flight, it meant that she had to stay a week longer in the US - so guess where she spent the week! With me! I was so excited to have her here, especially around Christmas time.

Our house was full of people again on Christmas day. It was a really nice relaxed, 'family' day. There were 8 kids that were beautifully behaved, and about 16 adults. So nice to be able to celebrate with friends that have become our family here.

We had a very relaxed New Years Eve - for once we didn't host anything which was really nice! We spent the night with a few friends...and were totally excited when it began snowing at 11pm! It was amazing! We stood outside watching the snow and the fireworks...counting down about 10 times...weren't sure of the actual time :). I was most excited when our yard was still covered in snow in the morning! It was such a beautiful experience (when you haven't had many snow adventures). The memories (with the help of photos) will stay in my mind forever!