"You've Set Them on Fire"

(We got a few chances this week after school to visit orphans at Heroes of the Nation- soo cute!)

These were the words spoken by Sammy- the principal of the Bible School here in Nyahururu as he was driving us home after our last day of teaching. Wow! What a week. God is so good and has been totally rocking the students here. We had a teaching time on intimacy earlier on in the week and then we had a “soaking session”- (played music and got them to rest in God and hear from him). This was the first time students had done this and they had encounters with God, saw angels, heard God’s voice, etc. Later on in the week they had an outreach time in the afternoon. We encouraged them to try something new and instead of just sharing the gospel with words, to demonstrate it by healing someone, giving someone a prophetic word, etc. Almost every group of students led someone to the Lord, healed someone, gave someone a word, etc. One group even got a word of knowledge about a man wanting to commit suicide, found him and ended up leading him to the Lord. Sammy said he has never heard testimonies like this since the school started! On the last day we actually taught on healing (even though healings had been taking place all week). Aaron called out a word of knowledge about hearing problems and a girl whose ear had been deaf from birth opened up completely before she even got prayer! COME ON JESUS!!! Many others were healed instantly by fellow students praying for them. It was a really encouraging and exciting time! We had many of the students and teachers share with us that this week they’ve started experiencing more of God and the supernatural, dreams, etc. Some shared that they feel like when they go back to their churches and ministries they will go to another level by applying what we’ve taught. We’ve so enjoyed the students at this school once again, and are sad to be leaving here in a couple of days. We loved just hanging out with them, answering their hundreds of questions and sharing life with them. We preach tomorrow at church and then we are off to Nambale on Monday (West Kenya).

Prayer requests: Our health has been good- Crystal still dealing with some allergies, but other than that we’re great. We haven’t had a lot of rest lately, so prayers for endurance would be great. Other than that, just MORE and more of the same good stuff- and even increase for the last half of our trip.

God is on the move

We are now in Nyaharuru- this is where the Heroes children's village is located and where Weston and his family live most of the time. We ended up taking a public bus here on Sunday morning and arriving at the church just in time to preach! Wow, it's so good that the Spirit helps us in our weakness because we were pretty tired that Sunday morning from traveling but God came through and did good things! Today was our second day teaching at the school of ministry here. The class is a lot bigger (50+ students). They are super hungry for the Lord and curious. They have tons of really fun and funny questions and we have a possee already that hangs around after we're done and continue to ask us questions- a lot of them are single and in the hunt for a spouse so we've been answering lots of relationship questions. We laugh as we remember that time and at the same time are thankful that the search is over for us and we can just enjoy marriage. =)

Yesterday after class I prayed for a student who's leg was hurt in a motorcycle accident and she was instantly healed. She shared the testimony in class today and we got everyone with leg and back problems to stand. Then we got the students around them to pray and there were several instant healings! The students and the principal, Sammy were totally stoked. It's so exciting to see the students get activated. We love praying for people, but we'd rather have the students see breakthrough because they are the ones who will stay here and continue to bring revival to Africa! So, we are off to a good start here in Nyaharuru and loving every minute of it.

Quick prayer request- we've been pretty healthy so far but in the last few days we've had a few funky things happening with our stomachs/diahrrea- I'll spare you the details. Also, I think I'm allergic to dust! I have been sneezing, eyes burning, itchy nose since arriving in Kenya. We've been praying and it's getting a bit better but still pretty annoying. So, prayers for continued strength and health are appreciated. Thanks!

Highlights from Nairobi

We recently finished up our week in Nairobi and are now in Nyaharuru. Had a GREAT rest of our week in Nairobi. We were teaching all day at the school and then preaching in the afternoons at John's (the school principals) church- sometimes evenings we'd hang out with the students or do other things- so it was a full week. It was really great having a small class because we were able to really get to know the students and interact with them a lot. We had some good worship/soaking times where students had visions and encountered God. When we were activating them to give prophetic words we had a student that we were prophesying over and they were being shy at first so Aaron said, "it's ok if it's simple. It could just be one word". As soon as he said that, a student said, "I hear the word laughter". Immediately, the student we were prophesying over got filled with joy and began laughing super hard... she continued to laugh for half an hour. Afterwards she told me that she had recently been through a really hard situation and while she was laughing the Lord totally healed her heart and released her from the sadness she was carrying from the situation! On Friday the students shared what spoke to them from the week and what they had learned. It was really encouraging to hear that they really were getting what we were teaching and so many of them shared how they are really excited to put what they've learned into practice and impact the community around them. One student accompanied us downtown to the church we were preaching at and got totally rocked just by watching the way Aaron interacted with people along the way. That same student has already texted us telling us how much he misses us. We definitely felt so loved by them. The last day we were in Nairobi, we went for a walk through the neighborhood and ended up praying for a lady who had had pain and burning in her leg for 2 years and she was instantly healed!!! She was so surprised and excited that she asked us, "where do you pray, so that i can go and pray there and continue to see miracles?! I know so many people that need miracles"... people are so hungry for the Kingdom when it touches their lives! God is good.

Here is our "Class Photo" from the school in Nairobi!

Crystal is the BEST PREACHER EVER!

Here is Crystal Teaching on a Culture of Honor with Pastor John Translating at the Destiny Bible College. She also preached at an afternoon service today in Johns Church in Downtown Nairobi. She has absolutely been ripping it up. I so blessed to have such an amazing preacher for a wife!! Maybe I should podcast her messeges! HA!

Please continue to pray for thses students to really encounter the love and presence of the Lord and that we would really learn to be more and more sensitive to His leading and have wisdom on how best to create an atmosphere for Him to come and bring His Glory that we would be transformed!

Another quick prayer request, please pray for this teenage boy named
Teddy who we prayed for today in downtown Nairobi that God would heal his leg that He hurt badly in an accident. We are going to meet him tomorrow and take him to our afternoon service and pray for him some more, but hopefully he will already be Healed! ThanKs so much for praying! We really feel the grace you are releasing!

Loving Life in Nairobi!

Pastor John (overseer of Bible School in Nairobi, us and Wisdom (worship leader at John's church)

Although we've only been here a few days it feels like months! (In a good way). We've experienced so much in a short time. We have felt so ALIVE here! Teaching at the Bible School these last couple days (and preaching at John's church) has been totally amazing. We are in love with the students and are already wishing we had more time with them before moving onto the next school. It's been exciting to see on their faces while we are teaching that they are really GETTING IT and that it's going deep. I had one girl pull me aside after I taught today and with tears in her eyes she told me that it was exactly what she needed to hear and that she felt like I was speaking right to her. Our desire is that these students would really be transformed- not just get more head knowledge and we've really felt a grace for that as we're teaching. It feels like what we're speaking about is being released as the words come out of our mouth! The amount of time we have in each school feels like so little, but we know that God can multiply the little that we have and make the impact great, so please continue to pray for that! The school overseer, John, has been pouring out a lot, so it's nice to be able to give him a break as well - and he's told us that he's really blessed to just be able to receive this week.

We are still not totally adjusted to the time change, as we've been getting up at 3:30-5:00 in the morning and not able to fall back asleep! The beautiful thing is that we've been having the best times with the Lord- and often we get out of bed and don't try to keep sleeping because God is speaking to us so much as we lie there that we just want to get up and write it down! Although we prepared quite a bit before we came, we've been getting a lot of downloads since being here in the early hours. God's speaking to us a lot about cultural transformation and about creating a container for kingdom culture.

Well, the early rising is making my eyes want to shut right now, so I should probably get to bed. Thanks so much for your prayers. We really feel so much grace!!! And, like so many of you spoke over us before we left, it's been easy AND fun! We love you!

PS- I have to brag on my husband. He's been doing amazing and I love hearing him preach. His struggle in our 3rd year "preachmasters" class is always keeping his messages to 6 minutes but now he doesn't have to worry about that so he is thriving!!! He makes friends everywhere we go! Africans love him. We've enjoyed living in a community where we are the only "whities" and taking public transportation (which, let me tell you can be downright SCARY!)- it allows us to mingle a lot more with people and experience the culture- very fun. =)

Alive & Well in Kenya

Us with Weston, Violet, Sammy & Joy!

Hey friends! We are finally here- after months of anticipation and hours of traveling. We start preaching and teaching tomorrow. Up till now we've just had a fun time connecting with Weston & Violet and their kids (they oversee the Heroes of the Nation Children's Village and Bible Schools). We also have been able to meet some of the students we'll be hanging out with this week as well as John (the overseer of the school in Nairobi). We're loving the people- and LOVE being able to communicate as pretty much everyone speaks great English. We're getting to know some of our neighbors- we're living in an appartment high-rise community that has little shops where you can pretty much get everything you need- and several internet cafes- definitely feels a little different than the more remote parts of Africa that we are used to... though we did have a funny experience of walking down a sidewalk today on a main road and seeing a herd of cattle coming our way- we jumped across the ditch as to not get in the way- so, in spite of being in a more modern city, we are definitely still in Africa. We love you all and appreciate your prayers as we go into a full week pretty quick here!

Our schedule has changed a little bit from the last one we posted... here it is:
Sunday, Jan 18- preach at pastor John's church in Nairobi
Monday- Friday Jan 19-23- teach at Nairobi Bible School
Saturday, Jan 24- travel to Nyaharuru
Sunday, Jan 25- preach at Weston's church in Nyaharuru
Monday-Friday, Jan 26-30- teach at Nyahuru Bible School
Sunday, Feb 1- preach at Heroes High School Church
Monday, Feb 2- travel to Nambale
Tuesday-Thursday, Feb 3-5- teach in Nambale Bible School
Friday, Feb 6- travel to Uganda & teach in afternoon
Saturday-Sunday, Feb 7-8- teach at school in Uganda
Monday, Feb 9- travel to Kigali, Rwanda
Tuesday- Feb 10-13- teach at Bible School in Rwanda
Tuesday- Feb 13- fly home in afternoon!

January 09 Update --> Back to Africa!

Hey Everybody!
I hope you are all doing amazing and enjoying the GOODNESS of the Lord today! Aren’t these great times to be alive and serving the Lord?! God is pouring out more of His Spirit than he has ever done before, and miracles are happening everywhere we go! As these are days of uncertainty in the economy, the world seems to have so many questions, and we have a great chance to BE the answer ⇒ Christ in US, the HOPE OF GLORY! Come on JESUS!

WHATS UP:
As many of You know, Crystal and I are doing Internships at Bethel Church (Redding, CA) this year, and we feel extremely privileged to be a part of the family here! Crystal is interning with the missions department and is super excited to be part of a mission’s staff that has very similar passions and dreams as hers. The missions team has been wanting to start doing more with micro loans and micro enterprises overseas (basically giving out small loans to help the poor start small businesses) so she has been working on helping develop what that will look like at Bethel, as well as many other projects and tasks, many having to do with the huge feat of sending out almost 1,000 students to 40 different locations around the world for missions trips in the spring!
I (Aaron) am interning with Chris Overstreet the Outreach Pastor, who is one of the most powerfully anointed evangelists I’ve ever seen, and probably the boldest person on the planet. Not only that, but the outreach team I get to work with is absolutely incredible. I am overseeing the adopt-a-block ministry for the church where we send almost 300 people into the neighborhoods to serve practical needs and build relationships and just love on people. I am super excited, knowing that the Lord is going to touch, save, and disciple many people in our city through this outreach! Please pray for the transformation of Redding!

BACK TO AFRICA!!
Amidst all the good things going on already, we have been approached with some crazy amazing opportunities!!! Bethel wants to send us to Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda in January to teach at 4 of their ministry schools there for a total of about 1 month, about one week in each school. It will just be the two of us going, and as we think about all the other hundreds of amazing people they could have picked to go, we feel extremely honored that they picked US! We will be flying to Nairobi, Kenya on the 13th of January, and will be teaching at a 2 different schools in 2 cities, one of which is where the Heroes of the Nation orphanage is. We will then be driving through Uganda to teach there and then to Rwanda to another school, and then flying home from there on Valentines day. I’m sure the long flight back will be a date we will never forget. =) It is going to be a pretty intense schedule, packed with lots of teaching and preaching, but we are soooooo excited! The main focus of what we will be teaching on is developing a culture of Honor and also living a Kingdom Supernatural Lifestyle. We could really use a ton of prayer right now as we prepare all our messages, that God will give us some fresh words and that we would find ways to creatively communicate to their cultures!!

If that wasn’t cool enough, Bethel also has asked us to lead a trip to Mozambique for the school of ministry to work with Tracy!! This is also a huge honor! We will be going in early April, but we have already met with our team (16 radical revivalists!) and started planning. We will again be teaching in the prison “Bible school”, working with Churches in the bush, encouraging and serving the full time missionaries, ministering in an unreached muslim villiage, doing some water-filtration work and other practical work, ministering to widowed mothers who have AIDS, and whatever else we can do to serve.

Create Freedom
We have been dreaming, talking and working on developing a business called “Create Freedom”- where the sole purpose is using creativity to bring freedom to people’s lives. At this moment, Crystal has been making jewelry and other crafts, and selling them, giving a portion to ministries that are fighting poverty and injustice. Our vision, though is to use the business to create employment for women overseas, pay them a fair wage and also use the business as a way to be self supported so that we can devote ourselves to this more full time. The Lord has really laid it on our heart to see whole nations discipled and transformed by the Love and Power of God, and to see His Kingdom invade every sphere of influence of society and culture. On Earth As It IS In Heaven!! Pray for us as we work on this – that God would inspire our ideas and open up the doors that need to be opened. Also, we’re excited to announce that we finally have a web page where you can purchase jewelry, magnets and handbags that we’ve made. We are just getting it up and running right now, so keep checking back for more items. The address is: www.creativefreedom.etsy.com.

FAMILY
One of the things we are most excited about this year is that most of Aaron’s family has moved here and have joined us at the School of Ministry! His parents, Bryan and Debbie, and also his brother Eric and his family have recently moved down from Oregon and are in First Year. Josh is now in Second Year and he has seen more people healed of crazy stuff than just about anybody we know! He has seen hundreds of people healed in the last 8 or 9 months! Deaf ears are opening! Backs with scoliosis are straitening. People are getting saved! WOW! Come on JESUS! We are all so excited that we can grow and minister together and really pumped about what He has in store for us as a family team! YEA GOD! The only one left of our immediate family to come to school is Jesse so pray that God would work it out for him to be able to come next fall. Another exciting family event is that on Crystal’s side of the family, her brother and sister-in-law Luke and Janell are pregnant (finally after 10 years of marriage). This is a historic event as it is the first grandchild for Crystal’s parents Don and Marilyn. Yea God for the miracle of children!

COOL TESTIMONIES
Remember in one of our previous updates how we told you about the girl, Erin, who we prayed for and was given a “supernatural root canal?” Well, she committed her life to the Lord several months ago and has already gone on a mission trip to Brazil and already wants to go back. It really is the KINDNESS of God that leads people to repentance! She is totally being transformed- it’s amazing!!! Also, we recently got a report that at least a couple of ladies that Aaron and the team prayed for when they were on a ministry trip in Canada were completely healed from liver cancer. COME ON JESUS!!! If that doesn’t make you happy, then you probably need to make sure you are getting enough oxygen!

Thank you all so much for your dedication to intercede for us and your generosity to sow into our ministry financially. Without your partnership we wouldn’t be where we are and getting to do the things we are doing, and we have really experienced your prayers moving Heaven on our behalf. We love you all and hope you are doing AMAZINGLY well! Please let us know what’s up in your lives and how we can pray for you, and of course, if you are passing through Redding, let us know so that we can catch up!!! May God pour out His abundant Joy and goodness on you today!

Aaron & Crystal Stevens

PS- We’re not big fans of asking for money or even bringing up the subject but we know some of you guys are really excited to bless our ministry and our trips and partner with us that way, and actually we could really use it! We still need about $2500 between the two trips to Africa, and would love your help. For tax deductions you can make the check out to Bethel Church and leave the memo line blank, and send it to our address at 18848 Country Hills Dr., Cottonwood, CA 96022.

Daily Prayer Points:
Sun: Preparation for Messages we will Speak
Mon: Favor for Cheap Tickets and Smooth Traveling
Tues: Unity and Synergy for our Team Sat.: Good Health and Safety
Wed: A Spirit of Wisdom and Revelation to be on us
Thurs: Transformational Teaching Times
Fri: Power For Healing and Miracles

Our email addresses are: aaronstevensis@gmail.com & crystalstevensis@gmail.com so email us if you want E-updates from the field.