as cold, really windy, and pouring rain. Mark said that he felt like he was back home in Coleraine. Haha!! I was blown away with how many people were passing by second by second in the city center. We were set up in the center of 4 or 5 converging pedestrian walkways so second by second multitudes of at least 100 people walked by. It was the perfect spot. God your so good! So all the people got flyers and started handing them out. It was amazing to watch and crazy just to see how many people we had on the streets; it was perfect. From the get go all the 9 chairs we had set out were swamped with people. It slowed down close to the end, but people kept on coming for prayer. It was a beautiful act of the holy spirit to see him drawing his children from the streets of Newcastle to step out in faith and sit down in the chairs. It is crazy being Marks traveling 
partner because I am asked all these questions like I am an expert in HOTS when I am almost as fresh as most of the people who are doing it for the first time. So I walked around for a while talking to people, answering questions, and taking afew fun pictures. Then I got to pray for Richard who was this broken, grungy, old man who weeped in the chair because of the love of christ that was touching his heart. I was amazed at the people I was praying with because they had really caught it and were going for it with all their heart. They prayed their best prayer and I was blessed by the love and compassion that overflowed from them to Richard and the others they prayed for. It was true gentleness. We ended up praying for Richard and then leading him to christ. It was a beautiful and heart moving moment for me bei
ng part of leading someone to christ for the first time. That afternoon on the streets was such a glorious time. There were so many stories, testimonies, and salvations from just this one day on the streets it was so obvious seeing God's love for his children doing the stuff on the streets. It was so encouraging to the church here hearing all of the stories shared after HOTS of what God had done. It is an exciting time here in Newcastle. I feel it is an excitin
g time for the whole world. I feel that all we have to do is go to where god's heart is. On the streets...... Thank you God. You are so good. Bless you father. I love you Father.
Words to describe such a person as the man I met tonight don't exist in my vocabulary. The feelings I have for this man named Steven are almost impossible to express in any language. My heart and emotions have been moved by a man with the most amazing stories I have ever heard. Steven is a treasure for the kingdom of Heaven. A jewel that was won by the merciful hands of the Father. His story is soething I can not tell becaause it is too great to write. I have only met steven in this afternoon, but I know that I now have a friend for the rest of my life. I will see steven every day while I am here, and I hope that those are not the only days in my life that I do. I hope to know steven well into my old age even though he is well in years himself. Me being 18 and him being 64 I see the blessing I have been given by meeting Steven. I now share a special bond with a man that makes me so happy that I get to spend eternity with him. I share something with steven that I will not share with many people on this earth in my life time. It is an indescribable feeling and connection that only God can create and bring together. Thank you lord for my brother, friend, mentor, and father steven, who you have put in my life. I love you jesus. And steven, thank you for being my friend.
The clip that is of steven and Mark. Mark was modeling the Healing on the Streets model to the people of the Oslo Vineyard. And Steven was his ginny pig. Watch and see what God can do. :-)
We left on the bus from Larvik to Oslo and arived here a little after 2 in the afternoon. The vineyard pastors here are amazing men who really want to get out there and see the power of God sweep across their city. One person who they had built relationship with was the owner of an indian food restaurant/cafe named Suresh. They had been talking to him a little about God and said that he was very open to hearing what they said and they said that he had a very soft heart. When we were walking back to the church after eating lunch in a local indian food restaurant, we walked by Suresh's shop. Aslak, one of the pastors, ran into his shop to ask Suresh if he would be willing to have Mark pray for him. So Mark, Aslak, and I went into his restaurant and went into this back room away from the customers of the shop. He explained to us that from working he had hurt his knee a few years ago, but now he had pain in both of his knees. So mark had Suresh sit down in the little space we had in this back room and checked his legs. His left foot was a whole heel shorter than his other foot (about 2 1/2 inches). Mark started to pray for Suresh and God started to fall upon him. His leg started to grow and Mark continued to pray until Suresh's leg was as long as the other. Then Mark put suresh's legs down and he started to pray specifically for his knee problems. A minute of prayer went by and Aslak and I could tell from watching Suresh that something was happening. He was feeling or experiencing something. While Mark was praying for his knees he started to get figety, teary eyed, and he almost looked a little uncomfortable (as anyone would who was crying in front of a complete stranger). God didn't end up fully healing Suresh's knees, but Mark explained that God sometimes heals a little bit and then lets the person think. He said it gives the person the chance to think about what had just happened to them and then come wanting to get more on their own. It sitrs their mind, heart, and curiosity. Suresh was truly touched by God and he himself was blown away by watching his own leg grow.
Thank you lord for the opportunity to watch this occurance. Thank you for blessing me with this learning experience.
Today was my first missions trip out of northern ireland. I thought that northern ireland was beautiful, but norway is freakin gorgeous!! I can not explain the awe and stunned feeling that I experienced coming in for landing into Oslo Norway. As I watched the land pass beneath me I was filled with the beautiful fear of the lord. The awe of standing on the mountain top and taking in the breath stealing sight of God's beautiful creation. It was something I had only seen in programs like Planet Earth. As we flew in, I saw Norway in all its splendor. The land was covered in little lakes that dotted the hilly landscape. There was the constant flow of color from the changing season that was taking its affect on the trees. It was like God had just dropped huge granite rocks upon the ground that made these glorious hills and mountains. Everywhere else where people hadn't touched and plowed the land, God has placed these beautiful never ending forests. Seeing these trees let the truth of the oncoming fall season settle into my heart.
We arrived here in Norway a day earlier than we had originally planned, so the vineyard church had us go and preach in another vineyard. We had a little dinner when we got there and then Mark did a very simple teaching on HOTS. It was so amazing to watch again and hear everything that stole my fear away from healing. The simplicity and the gentleness of the model that God has given Mark is one of the most amazing things I could have ever been a part of. I love being around Mark and it is amazing to see God move in him and through him. The people of the Larvik Vineyard were great people. The group totaled probably 15 and everyone was eager and hungry for God and His power. I met these people from this vineyard who had been to lakeland, and they were full of fire from there, and they were very fun to talk to. They told me about everything that had happened to them in lakeland and it was amazing seeing God come upon them this night and heal both the husband and wife from back and neck problems. They both had their legs grow and I had some really fun conversations with them. They told me that Heidi Baker and John Arnot and some other people were coming to do a conference in Oslo the next weekend through fresh fire ministries and I wished that I could stay for the whole week to see them speak and experience everything that God pours out through those people.
Now we are staying at this amazing english ladies house who has lived here in Norway for many years. Her house from the outside looks like a little like a trailer park home, but from the inside is amazing. There is more space in this house than I could have ever thought was possible. Her house, plain and simple, is amazing!!! Her house has more space in it that the house I am living in with the interns and that house it huge!! Victoria was very nice to us and I hope to come back to Larvik to see her again someday.
The more and more I stay here I see that not only is it the place that God wants me to be, but it is the place that I want to be. A little prayer and dream that I have always asked God for was to meet John Wimber in a dream or something. I had no memory of John from when I grew up in the vineyard and I always wanted to meet him and just talk to him about what God did in the vineyard so many years ago. That dream that I asked for has never come and I have never gotten to speak with John, but now I see that God is fulfilling the true desire behind my want. He has put me here at the Causeway Coast Vineyard where I am seeing things that I would have imagined happened at Anaheim many years ago. Just listening to how specific the prophetic words are that Allen Scott gives out to the congregation reminds me of all of the stories of how specific John Wimber's prophetic words were. Also just from hearing Allen's message I can see that these are exciting times and it is a time where the church is about to step into something huge. It is the lady at the well who is asking Jesus if He wanted a drink, but we need to see that it is us who should be asking Jesus for a drink because His drink is just waiting for us. We need to be aware of what is being offered to us. What is just waiting for us only if we would ask for it. These are exciting times!!
As you have already read God has been blessing me so much in my 3 weeks here and He is opening doors that I could have never dreamed of.
One thing that I have always desired with God is a deep intimacy. I have seen it in people and heard it come through the messages I have heard spoken by pastors, missionaries, and evangelists. I have longed for intimacy for a long time that I have seen in people like Heidi Baker and Brother Yun. That place of talking back and forth with God and sharing life together as I was created to do with my Father, is something that I have seen and desired for a long time. It is something that I feel that has been out of my reach for a long time and it feels like it is something I have never understood, grasped, had, or whatever you want to call it. Leslee Morton was an amazing spiritual mother to me who I could tell about this desire and talk to her about it because I saw such an intimacy within her. She was a great help to me in my struggle with this and helped me even more with the last words she said to me before she stepped on the plane to leave northern ireland. She told me to stay close to Mark Marx. She said that he was a man of deep intimacy and that he was deeper and farther in intimacy than even she was with the Lord. I had already talked to Matt Yeoman about Mark and how much of an amazing man he was and about how Matt could really feel a presence of God and authority on that man. So when I came back to Coleraine all I could think about was a way to ask Mark to teach me about intimacy.
The first week I was alone and without the anaheim team I was doing Shine. Everyday I got to spend 2 hours with Mark praying for people at HOTS, so during those times I would think of a way that I could ask him to teach me about intimacy with God. I almost asked him a couple of times, but on friday Mark asked me a question that was a blessing I hadn't even asked for from God. Mark asked me if I wanted to be his traveling partner. Mark is the founder/ starter of the Healing on the Streets ministry here at the Causeway Coast Vineyard. He has lately been getting contacted by churches all over Europe to come and train them in how to do HOTS and to help them launch their own ministry in their town. So right now Mark is booked all the way up until christmas with churches and places to go. So when Mark asked me if I wanted to be his traveling partner, it ment that I would be traveling with him all over the world being able to watch and learn from him in countless situations and that I would be able to ask the question I have been wanting to ask him. It also means that I will have access to a man who I specifically wanted to learn from in many areas of my walk with God and the coolest thing all about it is that he picked me.
This was something I couldn't have dreamed of for myself in a million years and I am so excited that I get to be a part of God's amazing plan. Thank you Lord for your blessings!!! Thank you God that you are so good to me!!! I love you Jesus!!! Amen!!!
Just to let you guys know, God is growing legs left and right here and it is so much fun to watch a healing happen right in front of your eyes as you pray. On thursday of Shine at HOTS (Healing On The Streets) God did some amazing things. Right from the beginning I got to pray and see God touch people. The Slovakians and I got to pray for this old lady who had bad circulation in her legs coupled with arthritis which made it a pain staking task for her to walk. So we started praying for her and then Martina, the Slovakian pastor's wife, asked her if she was feeling anything and she said that she was feeling tingling up and down both of her legs. I know that God was touching her and so we had her walk around and she said that it felt better!! Then Allie and I got to pray for Janel who is the canadian who is here serving with her husband at the Causeway Coast Vineyard. She was having bad headaches and her sight was blurry giving her some nausea. So we prayed for her sight and it cleared up right as we prayed, but the headache was still there so I asked her if we could pray again and she said yes so quickly that I thought that she was really hoping one of us would ask her that. So we prayed and the headache left!!! It was so amazing. Then she told us about her back and neck pains that she thinks came from the bad bed she was sleeping in. So we did a leg check on her and one of her legs was shorter so we prayed for her leg to grow and sure enough, slowly but surely her leg grew. It was so much fun and exciting getting to pray for her and bless her just as she has blessed us with her service.
Right after that, I walked over to Mark who was praying for a girl who had a whole group of friends around her watching what was happening. I missed the first girl who mark had already prayed for who had scoliosis and other back problems, and her and her friends all saw her leg grow a significant 2 to 3 inches. When I walked over, the second girl from the group had already sat down and Mark had just started to pray for her back problems. Her leg grew also about 1 1/2 inches and her, her friends, and I were all freaking out. The girl who had just got healed just sat in the chair looking at all her friends speechless. Her friends were all cursing up a storm at how crazy of a thing was happening right in front of their eyes. After this girl Mark prayed for another girl from the group who was standing in proxy for her grandfather who had a bad heart. Mark put his hand on her head and started praying and immediately this girl could feel the Holy Spirit going up and down her spine. She was freaking out slowly talking a step backwards as she looked from one friend to the other saying that she didn't like the feeling. All in all, the girls were all blown away from what had just happened and I got to chat with them for about the next hour and we became friends. All of them were really touched by God and I can tell that they all now have some questions and thoughts about Jesus that will be a seed that I hope will bloom one day. I loved meeting all of them and I hope I get to be here when they come to Christ.
God has been doing some really wonderful things here through Causeway Coast Vineyard's healing on the streets ministry. We had a small team for the second week of shine so instead of splitting the teams and doing two different things like, street evangelism and street reach, we all did the same thing every day. We did kids club in the morning, healing on the streets in the afternoon, and then in the evenings we did treasure hunts. On wednesday and thursday at HOTS God did some very amazing things. Both of these days were really eventful and the chairs weren't always full, but there were never dull moments throughout the day. Right from the get go on Wednesday we prayed for this old lady named Mary, and God touched her legs and she could walk again without the squishy feeling that she described to us that she would get only after walking a few steps. So seeing her touched and changed and just so thankful towards us was so encouraging and awesome. Then later we prayed for this Irish Australian guy, who lived and worked in Australia but was back home for holiday, who had a couple of pains here and there. So me and some of the slovakians started praying and we just continued to bless and love on the guy and he was really experiencing Holy Spirit. We prayed for his leg to grow b/c it was a little bit shorter than the other and it surely did. This guy was a christian and it was a really cool experience seeing him be touched and blessed by Holy Spirit and just walk away full and energized and feelin good!!! After that and for the rest of HOTS on wednesday I talked to this really sweet old lady named Ann. She had a mustache that she needed to shave, but I have noticed that most of the old people here have the same problem. Hahaha!!! She was so kind and it was really fun talking to her and getting to know her. She said that she had met Penny in Starbucks the week before and said that she loved talking to kids our age because we are such good listeners. She said that talking to kids like me was where she was called and where she found some of the most joy in her life. She really blessed me when she said that she could see great joy in me. It was so nice chatting with her and I hope that I get to again soon.
This next stuff I am about to write is something that happened right after I left HOTS on wednesday because I was carrying a load of stuff back to the church, so I wasn't there, but we share in our experiences at Shine!!! So they had put everything away because it was time to pack up and they were finishing praying for a lady in the last chair that was still set up, when three moms walked up with all their kids. The first mom sits down and she has back problems. So Mark has her sit all the way back in the chair and then they check her legs. There is about a 3 inch difference in her legs so Mark calls over the other moms to watch what is about to happen. So all the moms and kids are around the mom who is sitting and getting prayer when mark starts to pray for healing. Then the fireworks start flying. The leg starts to grow. It is slow but everyone who is watching is freaking out. The air was blue with expletives, people were walking away because they were freaked out only to return because it was too crazy to miss, and there was just an presence of holy chaos in the air. So now that everyone is amazed and the mom is totally healed, the next mom sits down in the chair. In the end all three of the moms ended up getting prayer for various reasons and all of them getting healed. But the coolest thing happened next. All of the moms and their kids gave their lives to Jesus!!! We praise you Lord!!! I love this story and it still makes me smile thinking about what God did here. Jesus, you are amazing!!!
Today was amazing!!! God did so many things and it was so amazing to be a part of something that was bigger than myself. Yesterday was hard when everyone left and I had a very sad day when I was alone, but I got some really good time talking to Jemma and Megan who are interns who are about to finish and be done with their internship. They really helped me and I am so glad that we are friends b/c they are both great girls. So, yesterday was pretty hard and I had a great time of crying and balling my eyes out because I am going to miss the people I love from the bottom of my heart who left me and are at home, but today was a different story. It all started out with an amazing kids club where all the kids were great and we had some super fun games and involvement from kids who regularly sit off and watch. Then after lunch we hit the streets for HOTS and God really came on powerful and amazing ways. We saw legs grow and I saw multiple people I prayed for be blessed by God's healing and by his amazing presence. It was so glorious. Thank you Lord!! I bless Your name!!! And then for the evening we went on a treasure hunt like the people from Bethel in Redding do, and God really pulled all of our words together on the team of 5 people I was on. I got a lot of random things that all combined was a location in Portstewart and we met this guy named Clive and we got to pray and minister God's love to him and let him know how much he was loved even though he seemed a little drunk. I really feel that this place is where I belong and even though I am so sad that I am not around my home family that is so good to me and amazing, these people have really accepted me and surounded me as a family. It is awesome and I feel like its is a home I can live in. Thank you for all or your prayers from at home and I will look foreward to seeing you all in due time. God Bless you all,
Ben
