April 2007 - Unexpected Turn of Events
Hi everyone! Missions week has now come and gone and we are excited to share some cool stories of what God did. Some of you know the events that “transpired” the month before we left. Because we were in the process of getting Crystal’s Green card, she was not supposed to leave the country without either her Green card (which we weren’t sure when it was coming) or a “travel document” which we had applied for last year and should have already arrived a couple of months before our trip. A month before, it had still not arrived so we requested that it be expedited. Finally, a week before the trip we received a call in which they notified us that the travel document had been denied- since on the application form we had checked off one box incorrectly!!! The lady recommended that we set up an appointment at the immigration office is Sacramento and she said “she couldn’t see why they wouldn’t be able to do something for us” as we were scheduled to leave in several days. Unfortunately the immigration officer’s response was not what we had hoped and they said that unless this trip was a “situation of life and death” they couldn’t help us (which Aaron tried to convince her that it was since we have not been apart since being married!). So…Aaron journeyed on to Japan while Crystal joined “Team Redding”. As a side note- Crystal’s Green card came in the mail just several days after Aaron left to Japan… somewhat frustrating timing but we are excited to be able to travel freely from here on out!!!
Japan (Aaron)
Hi everyone! Missions week has now come and gone and we are excited to share some cool stories of what God did. Some of you know the events that “transpired” the month before we left. Because we were in the process of getting Crystal’s Green card, she was not supposed to leave the country without either her Green card (which we weren’t sure when it was coming) or a “travel document” which we had applied for last year and should have already arrived a couple of months before our trip. A month before, it had still not arrived so we requested that it be expedited. Finally, a week before the trip we received a call in which they notified us that the travel document had been denied- since on the application form we had checked off one box incorrectly!!! The lady recommended that we set up an appointment at the immigration office is Sacramento and she said “she couldn’t see why they wouldn’t be able to do something for us” as we were scheduled to leave in several days. Unfortunately the immigration officer’s response was not what we had hoped and they said that unless this trip was a “situation of life and death” they couldn’t help us (which Aaron tried to convince her that it was since we have not been apart since being married!). So…Aaron journeyed on to Japan while Crystal joined “Team Redding”. As a side note- Crystal’s Green card came in the mail just several days after Aaron left to Japan… somewhat frustrating timing but we are excited to be able to travel freely from here on out!!!
Japan (Aaron)
-->Sushi with my host parents Kazuya & Mayumi!<--WOW, THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH for your prayers and support for this trip and while I was gone! Japan was an awesome time for our team, and the Lord was so faithful to move and bless out time there with tons of great fruit! It was a little bittersweet for me, having to be away from my AMAZING wife Crystal for the first time ever (and hopefully the last!), but it was also pretty great to be a part of some real pioneering work in a country where the Gospel has had a hard time in the past, but now is on the brink of a mighty move of God! Japanese people are VERY HUNGRY for the Kingdom, believers and pre-believers! Everyday our team of 12 broke up in 2 to 4 teams and did meetings in churches and schools all over the Osaka region (2 to 3 meetings per day, sometimes traveling up to 4 hours away) in which we did a lot of really practical teaching and impartation on the Kingdom, healing, prophecy, evangelism, and parenting. The Lord really showed up and moved in every church we went to with many people getting miracles of healing, and amazing prophetic words from God, and best of all, it was really cool to see the excitement when we had them pray for each other and people would get healed!! A couple of our team went in to the hospital with a pastor and prayed for a paralyzed lady who had a stroke and had not walked in four months. After they prayed and she started moving different body parts and eventually stood up and walked, the pastor and others who witnessed it were so excited and surprised at how simple healing is! The pastor gave the testimony to his church that night (It was a large Baptist church) and shared how he was really inspired to have healing teams at their church!! Hallelujah!! We taught at a YWAM staff conference and also hosted a 2 day “Take It To The Streets Conference” where we did some practical training and then split up the people into a bunch of teams and sent them out into downtown Osaka to do Treasure Hunts (like a scavenger hunt for people where we pray for the Lord to give us clues to Where and Who our treasure is, Descriptions of the person, any Random clues, and Problems or Needs in their life that we can pray for. Then we go were our clues take us and find the person, tell them that they are TREASURE, and pray for their problem, and they get healed and suddenly really open to Jesus!). I got to see the Japanese people on my team step out in faith and see the Lord heal several people through their hands and really be used to touch people’s lives on the streets! All the other teams had tons of great testimonies too, and the people there were so excited that we found out the week after we got back that they had already started doing treasure hunts on their own and God was totally doing miracles! Looks like the seeds we planted are growing already!! The Lord is so FAITHFUL and HE IS ON THE MOVE!!
Redding (Crystal)
At the beginning of the week I felt like Philippians 2 would be a significant passage for me during Redding Missions week. It talks about Jesus (although being God) coming to earth as a servant. I love how Jesus was all-powerful… healing the sick, raising the dead, preaching and teaching with power and authority, yet he was not “above” washing his disciples dirty feet!!! We had a lot of opportunities to serve our community in practical ways. Teams went to different businesses to help with whatever they needed help with, we had barbeques and kids activities in neighborhoods where students visit weekly and on the last day we painted a low income apartment building. While we were painting, a group of students took the kids from that building out to eat and then to Old Navy to buy them new clothes. It was so fun to see them come back and show off their new clothes. We even had a few of them help with some of the painting (a little sketchy but you could tell they felt very important so we let them be!) We finished the day off with a barbeque, worship, piñatas and face painting for the residents.
As well as “practical service” we were able to minister at a few different churches and even hold several “crusades” in which people were touched by God, healed and most importantly saved! At one service, we went forward and called people out of the crowd to share encouraging prophetic words for them. This was the first time I have done this publicly so it was a bit of a stretch but very encouraging as God put things on my heart for a couple different people. Afterwards I prayed for a lady who had intense pain in her elbow and she was healed!!
A Few Other Exciting Stories
One of the highlights of the week after missions is that all the teams come back and we spend a good chunk of time sharing testimonies of the AMAZING things God did. Our Pastor, Bill Johnson, said that there were more salvations and healings in this one mission’s week than all the years combined up till now! Here are a few stories:
**LOTS of salvation on all the trips! The team that went to South Africa was invited to speak at a school and around 1000 kids gave their lives to Jesus!
**One of the students got the chance to go into a hospital room in Mozambique and pray for the sick. ALL 8 of the people in the room were healed (including deaf ears opening up)
**13 Blind people received sight in South Africa bringing the total for all the trips to almost 30!!
** There was a “creative miracle” in Australia in which a student laid her hand on a ladies ankle and the Lord created a bone that she was missing!
**Food was multiplied in Mozambique… they just kept scooping beans out of the pot and the level did not lower until the end when all were fed!
**There was a team in Mexico that taught about the kingdom of God at a local church. A week later one of the ladies from the church shared that her husband had died and was dead for 3 hours, and when she prayed, God raised him from the dead! COME ON!!
Sounds like the book of Acts, huh?
Thanks
We just want to say a BIG thank you for all who prayed for us and supported us financially. We so appreciate you. Almost all of the money that was raised for Crystal’s portion of the trip has been put back in our Bethel account for future missions trips so we are thankful for that and excited about where that may be! Love you all!
Aaron & Crystal
PS: Please pray for us that we finish strong and get everything done as the school year is ending on May 20th, and also for good job situations this summer so we can make tons of money for school next year! BLESS YOU!
