Now it’s 2 months down, 7 months left to go! My friends and I had this specific revelation this this week, and it was indeed a shock for all of us. We thought the first month was hectic, but goodness! This month was even more intense! Here are just some of the stuff we tackled this month:
I DID ALL THIS IN JUST FOUR WEEKS?!
The 1st week of October we had a Prayer Walk, where we made small groups and walked through the streets of Redding and prayed for breakthroughs and revival to take place.
My Revival Group also had their first City Service. Our task was to clean up Rivercrest Park (a children’s playground) by mowing the grass, picking up the leaves, cleaning out the trash, etc. It was an extremely hot day (over 30 degrees) but we got the job done!
The 2nd week our AMT/Track classes were launched. These are smaller classes that we attend on a Tuesday afternoon, and my class is called Cultivating the Presence (I’ll share more on that).
Our Small Groups were also launched. These groups consists of a maximum of 5 people per group, and we meet together every week and share what’s going on in our spiritual lives. My group consists of Bethany (Canada), Doris & Carina (Germany), and Hannie (Netherlands).
The 3rd week was Evangelism Week. Chris Overstreet was our guest speaker for the week, and we did practical exercises on how to share the gospel. Evangelism is actually so easy, yet it’s the greatest miracle that can ever take place in every person’s lives.
The 4th week was the much anticipated School of the Prophets Week. Kris Vallotton was the speaker, and he shared powerful revelations on why we are the prophets of the future, and also why prophecy is so important to God. We as believers have been called to hear God’s voice and it’s our responsibility to call out the treasure in other people’s lives.
In-between all this I started with weekly Dance Classes. I also attended my first ever weekly Writer’s Group, and as always, I had to catch up on loads of homework (Kingdom Foundations, Evangelism Supernaturally, Experiencing Father’s Embrace, daily Bible Reading, Grasping God’s Word, etc).
HOLY SPIRIT MANIFESTATIONS
When I look back on the past eight weeks, my highlights so far has definitely been the manifestations that I’ve experienced personally. It’s been so unexpected, yet it is just like God to surprise me with these little nuggets of gifts. It is proof that God is still alive and working powerfully around us, as well as in our lives. We tend to underestimate Him. We think that the God of the Bible is a different God, but it’s still the same God and He wants to reveal Himself to us in tangible ways, ways that we can’t explain, yet we know that it was not our imagination. I’m very excited to share these experiences with you:
Holy Fragrance: The first time our Revival Group came together (September 19th), we had a worship session. While 65 of us were worshipping, I smelled this fruity, candy-like scent filling the room. I opened my eyes and looked around, trying to find the source. Turns out, that source was the Holy Spirit itself!! It was truly an incredible blessing to have experienced something like that for the first time ever… It went on for about 15 minutes, just this soft overflowing, like a breeze of a citrusy scent. It was also my housemate Lisa’s first experience. This experience manifested itself again during the second night of our Revival Group Retreat (September 26th) at the JH Ranch. The exact same smell filled the room, and this time it lingered for much longer, about 45-60 minutes!
Holy Glitter: We had a Prophetic Morning at Bethel Church (September 28th), where prophecies and confirmations were spoken over us (I’ll share all my prophetic words that I’ve gotten so far in next month’s newsletter). During worship I felt compelled to look at my hands, and there it was: glitter ALL OVER BOTH MY HANDS. I double checked: It wasn’t make up, lotion, the lighting or even sweat. I couldn’t get it off – it was underneath my skin and it was all over my hands! I was so shocked. I had never seen or heard of anything like this before. After the service I went for dinner, and it was still on my hands! This manifestation has occurred numerous times since then. It is almost after every time when I’ve finished worshipping God. I took a video and you can view it on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/vicki.fourie.5/videos/10154201798184545/
Cultivating the Presence: This AMT Class that I have every Tuesday is hosted by Joaquin Evans and his team. Joaquin was the developer and director of Healing Rooms at Bethel Church for 6 years. This class focuses on ‘how to recognize and partner with the presence of God’. This class has been perfect for me because I have to admit that when I first came here, I was a bit wary of all the manifestations that were taking place around me: people laughing, people shaking, people walking around ‘drunk’, etc. It’s been all brand new to me, even though I grew up in the charismatic church…! In this class I’m learning how to let go of my inhibitions and stepping into God’s presence with boldness. Where the Spirit of the Lord is there is freedom, and I’m starting to experience freedom more and more.
Hand Injection: During one specific class (October 18th) one of the team members came to pray for me. My hands were laid out open, and she simply touched my left hand with two of her fingers. As soon as she did that, my hand went completely numb. I couldn’t move it at all! Soon the sensation spread from my hand to my arm, and it was completely dead for about 20 minutes. After about 20 minutes my hand and arm felt hot, like a fire was spreading across it. Then it went away.
Holy Wave: One week ago (October 23rd) I had the privilege of attending a Bethel service at Twin View. Abi Stumvoll was the guest speaker, and her topic was ‘How to Work Through Emotions.’ She said that our emotions are not meant to be shut down, nor is it meant to control us. She showed an example in Psalms where David was in torment with God, but still he would always end up praising God. She shared:
‘I used to be so tormented. I could not laugh. Then I started having emotional encounters with God. Now I laugh all the time.’
She also said:
‘Taking your heart to God is the safest place you can put it. That’s why David was so crazy about it! Sometimes we can’t feel God with our hearts because we’ve shut it off a long time ago.’
Abi did a couple of practical exercises with us to help us let our emotions come out, and then we had the ever famous ‘fire tunnel’. This is where I experienced a major breakthrough. A fire tunnel is where the leaders – in this case, the 2 nd and 3rd year BSSM Students – all stand in lines and form a tunnel for you to walk through. As you go through, they lay hands on you and impart the Holy Spirit’s presence on you. When I went through the tunnel, my body started shaking lightly and my stomach was making contractions. When I got to the end of the tunnel, I suddenly felt this powerful wave hit me from the side and it threw me completely off balance! I was down on my knees at once, crawling to the side of the room. I also felt this pain pierce through my heart. After about 10 minutes I managed to get on my feet again, but the pain and the contractions continued for 20 minutes after. Most of my housemates also experienced manifestations in the fire tunnel that night, and we all walked out of the building laughing and shaking and walking out of balance. It looked like we had come from a party where we became drunk – drunk with the Holy Spirit, that is!
ON A LIGHTER NOTE
I attended my first ever Canadian Thanksgiving on Sunday the 9th of October, and I had such fun! Of course, we had turkey for dinner! Fun fact: The Canadians celebrated Thanksgiving for 43 years before the Americans adopted it as their tradition as well.
I will also get to experience an American Thanksgiving on the 24th of November. A lovely couple and wonderful friends of mine, Gary & Louise, have invited me to go to Oregon and spend that weekend with their family. Looking forward to it!
I have to mention that here in the American culture, you have to do basically everything yourself: Fill up your car with petrol, wash the car windows (this photo is proof!), clean your house/room yourself, take off your shoes when you go into people’s houses (maids are super expensive here), as well as swipe in your groceries and put them in plastic bags at Walmart (this one is optional). Living here has made me realize how spoilt we are in South Africa…
Rest assured, I have not forgotten about my people, nor have I given up my own culture. The South African BSSM students had a real open air braai (barbeque) on Saturday evening (October 22nd). The food was divine. It felt like I was back home. I had lamb chops, salad and garlic bread. A true South African meal! After we finished eating, we prayed for our beloved country as well as did some prophetic exercises on each other.
COMING UP: MISSIONS TRIP
Does anyone agree with me that this postcard looks A LOT like Cape Town, South Africa…? This is not CT but Santa Barbara in Southern California. This is where I’m going in 2017 for my Missions Trip! This trip will take place from the 30th of March 2017 till the 3rd of April 2017. The total costs for this trip is $550, and I have to make my first payment in December 2016. If you would like to donate towards this trip, it would be so wonderful and I would truly appreciate the blessing!
Thank you to everyone who responded on my previous newsletter. I loved the feedback and I appreciate the words of encouragements and prophecies. A special thank you once again to those that are sponsoring me financially. I know that it is sacrifice on your side, especially now that the Rand/Dollar exchange has gone up even higher. I truly appreciate the blessing. May the Lord bless you abundantly.
Till next month,
Vicki Fourie
