His Victorious Right Hand

Reflections on a year that seems to escape me....

2010-07-23T22:29:00.001-07:00

Yesterday I was sparked by a conversation to ask myself a few questions. They all had to do with reflections upon my year as an intern at the Causeway Coast Vineyard Church in Northern Ireland. I started asking, what was the benefit of my time in Ireland? What did I take away? For those of you reading this who are from Norn Iron and whom I spent my time journeying out that year with, this question might seem obvious, but in retrospect I find myself stumbling to find answers.

I recently gave a little talk on my experience with Healing on the Streets to a church youth group and after that experience I started asking whether HOTS was the only thing I took away from my internship. To clarify, one of the reasons I am asking some of these questions is because of my personality where my natural inclination is to clarify, quantify, and understand things. I also think that it is a healthy thing to do, to find the meaning and value of past experiences and learn from them.

So, what did I take away, what was the benefit? -New knowledge about God and His kingdom? -An experience learning about healing and from doing HOTS? -A first hand knowledge of how to train people? -A new view of church from visiting so many different churches on my travels? -A group of friends, mentors, and people I love and respect? -Seeing what a healthy & transformative church community looks like? -A great experience?

I think the answer to most of these questions, to all of them, is yes. God did a lot and showed me an immense amount of things through those 10 months at CCV. I think that I am just wishing I could see the bigger picture of how this fits into my life and what it was all for. I admit to the position of most Americans who want to know the destination of where their going, our fascination with the future, without having to travel the road to get there. I’ve been a year removed from my second home, Northern Ireland, from my time at CCV, and I have yet to see the fruit, change, and transformation I was hoping for when I came home. I came home ruined for a reality of what can be normative in the Christian life that I have not been able to attain or see since leaving CCV. That ruining sparked a desire in me to want so much more in my life. But because at the moment I don’t see much of the fruit from my time at CCV, I feel like it was a glorified pit stop in my life. Don’t miss my heart when I say something like that, I wouldn’t trade what happened while I was in Northern Ireland and the people I know and love because of it for anything! I just find myself at in a place where I am asking, now what? Life just moves on? What about the dream for more? What happened to wanting to live out what I learned and experienced here in California? How can I do that?

While I am opening myself up to whoever reads this and letting them know where I’m at, I would also encourage anyone who would like to give me any feedback or input to please message me. I know that there is now quick fix or easy answer, but any encouragement, coaching, and outside perspective would be much appreciated.

And if there is anything you can do for me after reading this, please pray for me. Pray that God’s divine dream will be continue to be awakened in me and that He will open doors and give me ideas of how to live those dreams out, for me to give them expression and for them to find traction in my life and the lives of others. Please pray for me to find peace and grace for this season I am walking through here in California as I ask these types of questions and engage in normal life (work, school, family, etc.)
Thank you. God Bless.
-Ben

Looking Up While Moving On...

2010-01-17T11:41:00.000-08:00

My stomach twists,I feel sick,
Makes me wonder if I had ate a brick.
This feeling strange, unfamiliar, unknown,
It makes my heart ache and groan.
Or maybe the heart is the why,
The creator of these feelings that don't pass by.
They stir within me and give me no peace,
But I know that they will one day cease.
The day I return, I come back home
That day I make my heart known.
To the ones I love, the ones that I left,
We reunite without a moment bereft.
Loving, Laughing, Talking, Crying,
Every moment savored before flying.
And then the passing, it seemed to go so fast,
I am off to another land, but all the while wishing for the past.
The next step unnerving, hidden, and beyond knowing,
But is savored in the memory of my coming and going.
While looking to Him and holding tight,
Knowing Daddy's got me, even though it feels like my darkest night.
And forward I go, taking it one day at a time,
Giving my all but still remembering what I have behind.

It is beyond words. The feelings that I have for this place. The people, the church, and the things that have captured my heart.

Thank God for Northern Ireland! Thank you God for my time here... even though it was only a visit, it was the reconnection, love, fellowship, and joy that I needed. I love my coming and I hate my going. I will miss this place! I will miss my home!

Blessings upon blessings!
I love you all!
-Ben

Giving Away....

2009-11-08T22:38:00.000-08:00

Sadness courses through every vein
Losing someone who you wished to gain

Letting go of of what you never had
Running into the arms of dad

Making known the things of the heart
Can it ever give us a brand new start?

Its never easy letting go
Never wanting to watch, wait, or show

Those emotions inside that make you known,
Longing for the one you bemoan

And when its gone, all said and done
You will have given away what you wished you had won.

Saying goodbye is never easy, but it is the best thing to do sometimes. Even though you wish you had more time. You wish you would have gotten to become better friends. You wish you would have been able to share more of life's laughs, loves, and hardships together.
You want to know the other person as you know yourself. You wish the best for them while at the same time you never want them to leave.

I will miss you......

What if?

2009-07-29T23:52:00.000-07:00

Can a dream change the world. Can one person driven by passion, a desire, or an idea make a difference in this ever expanding world. Is there hope for change, is there hope for a difference, is there hope for a revolution of the world. Can there be something that burns inside of someone that is so immense that it drives them and propels them forward into life not only for themselves, but for others. Could that person be me? What if I want to be that person? What makes me better or different from others? Why not them? Why me?

Is it the desire? Or the need for something more? Can I even comprehend or imagine what will happen if I pursue and go after the things upon my heart?

All in time. One day at a time. One step at a time. One person at time.

An idea can change the world. Because ideas do not die like we do with time. Ideas do not feel pain or bleed. Even though we can not hold an idea or even touch it, it lives on.

A New Way Of Looking At Things

2009-07-24T12:00:00.000-07:00

To say the least, it has been hard being home. It has been huge time of transition and adjustment for me moving from N. Ireland to Southern California. I feel like I have become a bit more settled here, but there is still this feeling of mayhem. It's as if there are things that are settled around me, but not inside of me.
Since coming home I have gotten in touch with the school that I was hoping to go to and everything came together perfectly. I will now be attending Cal State Fullerton University in the Fall of 2009 for my freshmen year of college! It will be a big change and a challenging time for me getting back into school, but I know God will guide me every step of the way. Since being home and having all these things come together, I have received words about me being at school and me going to school, which has been extremely encouraging for me. It helps me become settled in my heart, knowing that this IS the place where God has brought me and that He IS in what I am doing.
So beyond school, all that I am trying to do now is get a job.

Thats whats been happening around me and with me lately, but here is what has been happening inside of me lately:

Ever since I have been home there has been a tension inside of me between what I have seen and experienced and what I am seeing and experiencing now. It is a tension between the past and the present.
In N. Ireland while I was doing my internship with CCV, everything was new and everything was a learning experience. Over the 10 months I was there I got to learn, see, experience, and grow exponitially in more things than I could have ever dreamed of. I was exposed to a culture and a way of life that has been so deeply engraved in me, that it has followed me here to California.
Before I came back to Southern California I foresaw a few things that I would be encountering and that would be a struggle for me to transition into. Now being home I have been engadging with those things and experiencing those struggles for over a month now. I have experienced times of lonliness, times of hopelessness, times where I wanted to go back to N. Ireland, and even times where I was angry and confused to why I was in So Cal. As I said at the beginning 'To say the least, it has been hard being home.'
Today I went and grabbed coffee with a friend and shared my experience and my heart that had been transformed by God in N. Ireland. I shared my struggles and some of the things that I was finding hard dealing with since being home. After sharing all the things that I had learned, grown in, and become acustomed to, my friend shared a bit of truth that I had lost in the mayhem of this past month. He opened my eyes to see things through a new lense. It has been hard for me to see what God has been doing here with me since I got home, but now I feel like I have a greater idea and purpose through what I now see.
When I was interning with the Causeway Coast Vineyard I was within a culture, a church, and around people that were very focused and driven for the purpose and the calling that God had put upon them. You know that saying, "some things are better caught than thought."? That is what I experienced in Northern Ireland. I feel like I have caught a vision and a calling that God has put on His church for the lost. And now coming back home where I am away from this environment and these people, the things that are within my heart are truly tested. My friend opened my eyes to see that some of the greatest fruit isn't during the time of learning, but it is during the time of testing; sometimes it is during those wilderness experiences that the most fruit comes. He showed me that now during the time where my heart and my mind is being tested and challenged is the time where I can see the true depth and worth of what I have recieved. That this time can be greater than the last.

That was a huge encouragement for me. It was the new perspective that I needed. It doesn't make any of the things that I am going to be facing easier, but it helps bring hope and expectancy to the journey.

Thanks for reading.

The Perfect Day

2009-06-08T09:17:00.000-07:00

The Perfect Day. You don't get many of these in northern ireland. Hahaha! It is so beautiful here, so green, but what many people don't know is that the weather rarely is as sunny as good old california. So when it gets sunny, when that big ball of fire decides to show up in the sky, we all go outside and have a party. When the sun came out a few days ago, I just had to get out of the offices and go enjoy God's beauty. This day was truly like no other. Usually in portstewart (a city right on the northern atlantic coast) there is wind, if not a gale force wind. On this special day, not only were the skies clear and the sun out, but it was extremely quiet and calm. The wind wasn't even present. Than NEVER happens, so I just had to get outside and enjoy myself. I luckily had my camera with me and had a little bit of fun. It was so beautiful, more beautiful than my camera could capture. It is so amazing being drawn and pushed back to God in my mind and my spirit as I took in these stunning sights. It is by His grace that He reveals such amazing wonders to me. Thank you jesus for my sight!

Praise you Father!

Stevenage (St. Evenage)

2009-06-08T09:15:00.000-07:00

My last trip with Mark.... :-( Sad but exciting at the same time. This weekend we are in Stevenage, England which is close to St. Albans where Samuel Lane lives and leads worship. It was a good weekend, but different at the same time. Everyone was excited, nervous, and some fearful about going out on the streets for the first time. We split the team in two because we had two separate locations where we were doing HOTS. The location I was at was a very hard location. There were a few regulations and things that the church wasn't allowed to do on the streets, like hand out leaflets, which made it a lot harder. The location I was at was tucked away in a little corner and it wasn't seen by the people walking by, so we didn't get much response from the public. God's presence was still there, but no one was sitting down. But even though people weren't sitting down at our location, people were getting prayer and sitting down at the other location. People were getting healed and touched by God's presence, love, and peace. The team was very encouraged and we got to share stories of what God had done which was faith lifting.

On most of my trips with Mark, after our saturday afternoon on the streets, we would go back to the place we were staying and relax and chill out for the rest of the day. This saturday evening I was invited to go with some of the team from Stevenage to a house warming party. So that evening I went to this house warming party and had such a fun time. I have always loved my travels with Mark; I love traveling and going different places and I really love meeting people. At this party I was blessed to meet some really amazing people. They were so loving and accepting to me, it really modeled such a loving community that I hope I can be able to give and show others. At the party, they were doing a BBQ and the main event of the night was watching Eurovision Contest. Eurovision is a singing contest that was created over 50 years ago who after the second world war to unite the countries of Europe. It was a hilarious time of critiquing all the performances done by each country that was in the contest. We judged each performance on 5 categories, song, lyrics, dress, and performance (dance, movement, etc). They also got extra points for special affects and key changes in their singing. It was a hilarious time and I must admit that I probably got a little too opinionated and shared too much about what I thought of each contesting countries performance.

Norway ended up winning, not on skill or performance at all. They were terrible, utterly horrible. Pish!!!!! I was appalled that they won, but I learned that Eurovision can be quite political (neighboring countries voting for each other, etc...). This trip and that night was an amazing experience and I will never forget my time here at St. Evenage (Stevenage). Hahah!

Lord bless this city. Bless everything they do out on their streets. Make your name known in this city! Use the people of the Stevenage Vineyard in huge ways. Bless them lord. May your favor be upon them. Amen.

Birmingham

2009-06-08T09:14:00.000-07:00

This past weekend in Birmingham was amazing. In total, there were just about 150 people being trained at this HOTS training event. All of those people were from about 15-20 different churches throughout Birmingham. It was great to see another city where churches are uniting under one vision and banner to get back out on the streets and bring the love of Jesus to the lost and needy.

We hit the streets on Saturday afternoon in two locations. Throughout the afternoon Mark and I visited both locations and they were both buzzing with people. The first location was at Birmingham cathedral, it was a beautiful open green area where people were walking to and from the bus stops to the city centre. From the word go, the chairs started to fill up. I got to chat with many of the youth that were hanging outside of the cathedral and had a grand time. After about 45 minutes, mark and I left to go to the other location. When we arrived there almost all of the chairs were full. The people who were praying there were very excited and God was moving in many ways. We spent the rest of our time at the second locations and throughout that time there was a good flow of people sitting down in the chairs receiving prayer. We had planned to end at 4 oclock, but because so many things were happening, people were constantly coming to receive prayer, and it was still really busy, we didn’t end till 5 oclock!! We gathered into a circle after we had packed up all the equipment and shared stories and everyone was very encouraged.

God is good!

Canterbury

2009-06-08T09:10:00.000-07:00

In total we had about 180 people being trained in Canterbury. Healing on the Streets was new to Canterbury, and it was the first time where different pastors, denominations, and churches have come together to unite under one banner and vision. There were over 10 churches who came together for the training. On the Saturday we set up 13 chairs on the corner of Best Lane and the High Street. It was bustling with people and the HOTS team numbered about 140 on the streets. It was an amazing day. Many people got healed and after our time on the streets we all met back at the church to tell stories from the day. It was very encouraging and when all was said and done we had prayed for 87 people who were from the streets of Canterbury. Praise God!

Newcastle, again!!!!

2009-05-16T10:05:00.000-07:00

The weekend in Newcastle was amazing! It was the normal teaching seminars and it was held in the New Brunswick Methodist church again. There were approximately 50 new people getting trained for HOTS, making the total number of people trained for HOTS in Newcastle upon tyne 300!!!!! On the Saturday afternoon when we were supposed to go out, we had to change locations because there was some type of show/music festival that was in the spot where we usually set up by Grey’s Monument in Newcastle’s city centre. We just went to the other location on Northumberland Street. It is just a minutes walk from the monument, and still had the same amounts of people walking by second by second. The whole time on the streets went well. I can think of only one instance where we had maybe one or two people sitting in the 9 chairs available. The rest of the time it was mayhem!! Holy and glorious mayhem. People were coming to sit down right and left and I was getting to join in with all the Newcastle team as we prayed for the people of Newcastle. God did many amazing things and the new people who had only been trained that weekend were definitely encouraged. The time flew by so quickly that people started to pack upand I looked down at my watch and discovered that it was time to go home... I wanted to stay. I personally saw god do multiple healings and it was a great encouragement to me.

The whole weekend in a nutshell was amazing. God did so much and I hope that what is happening in Newcastle continues to grow and even turn into a full blown revival.

Edinburgh

2009-03-11T16:19:00.000-07:00

Edinburgh......

What an amazing place. The following weekend, Mark and I set out on another adventure to Scotland. We set out at o'dark hundred and arrived in scotland early enough to get taken out for a nice Scottish breakfast. I was also privileged enough to eat haggis in the first meal I ever ate in Scotland. :-)

On this weekend Mark and I came to train the Almond Vineyard. The pastors of the Almond Vineyard are the Dave and Liz Hart.... Gemma's Parents!!!!!! It was so good to finally meet my great friend Gemma's parents. They are really amazing people. Throughout the weekend we got to hang out with them and get to know each other better and better. I even got to watch the Ireland vs England rugby match with Dave (he is Northern Irish) so this match was a big thing.

The whole weekend went great! Spending time with the Harts and the people from their church was a treat. I got to learn a lot about what is happening in their area, their church, and their lives. It was great to be able to get to know my friends parents. I know that that sounds really weird, but I really enjoyed getting to know Gemma's parents. I will definitely come back to visit Edinburgh one day to stay with the Harts and to see the city. On my trip I wasn't able to see any of the city, but thats not what matters. What does matters is that we saw god change people's hearts and lives for his kingdom. God is really doing something with the Almond Vineyard and I really look forward to hear reports about what is happening with them because I feel, just as they feel, that they are on the edge of a breakthrough. God would you bless them and give them that breakthrough. Would you bring a new anointing upon their church. A fresh anointing and blessing.

Bicester

2009-03-11T15:12:00.000-07:00

Hey!

So..... lets catch up.

These past few weeks have flown by at light speed. I don't know where all the time went. It feels like 2009 just started and it is already march. I almost don't want to believe that it is passing so quickly.

The past few weeks have been ones that I don't ever want to forget. They have not been anything different from how my life's schedule has been lately, but what I have seen, experienced, learned, and the people I have met have made them worth while.

About 3 weeks ago Mark and I were off to Bicester, England to train up a group of churches for Healing on the Streets. The weekend was as normal as ever, but the city center, the people we stayed with, and the house we stayed at were so amazing. We usually don't stay in hotels or any type of purchased accommodation, we usually get to stay with a couple from the church that are kind enough to open up their home to total strangers. The couple we stayed with in Bicester were the sweetest people I have ever met. They lived on a farm and had turned their massive house into a little Bead and Breakfast which they called the Manor Farm B&B. Staying with

them was a blessing and such a privilege because they were some of the loveliest people to talk to and discuss the simple things of life with. I thoroughly enjoyed my stay in their home and

would love to see them again very soon. Over the weekend in Bicester we saw many people

encouraged and emboldened to push past their fears and go for it with praying for people in the streets. The town center where we did HOTS was very different in appearance than other town centers I have seen in England. I really loved the look of it because it reminded me of what I had seen on my trip to Germany the year before. On sunday, Mark got to speak at 2 different sunday services in different churches where in total 8 people raised their hands to become christians or rededicate their lives to christ!!! Amazing! Thank you jesus! It was a trip where I got to chat with people and pray with people where I really got to connect with them on a heart level. It was a beautiful and moving experience. I also had a lot of fun exploring the farm land around the Manor Farm where we were staying. I found some amazing views and and some really cool places to just go exploring where I got to climb this huge pile of hay bales.

What I am doing here in Northern Ireland

2009-02-16T15:30:00.000-08:00

For anyone who doesn't know what I do here weekly, here is a brief view into my life as an intern.

Here in Northern Ireland I am working under the missions pastor of the Causeway Coast Vineyard, so my weeks are generally spent in the church offices. It is amazing everything that the church staff and pastors do behind the scenes that doesn't get seen by the normal church goer. So during the day I am in the offices (9am - 5pm) and then I go home usually for a bit of reading and then dinner and then I shoot on to the next thing. 2 nights out of the week I go to a home group. One of them is a youth small group that I am leading with someone else from the church, and the other is a young adult group where I am learning, receiving, and being challenged in my walk with God. At the moment I am also doing a class on tuesday nights called the Father heart of God, where I am learning about God as my father, my daddy. It is such an amazing course where I am going back to the root of many hurts and problems in my life and having God come in and heal those places. My mondays are my day off from work, but on those days things have to be done around the house. Grocery shopping, cleaning the house, laundry, and a bit of down time. Usually mondays are my day where I jump on my computer and get in contact with people at home. (like right now) :-D

God blessed me immensely when I came here by opening a door for me to travel with one of the staff members here from the church (Mark). He started something here in Coleraine (the city in Northern Ireland where the church is) called Healing on the Streets. Healing on the streets is just a simple model for healing where churches can get outside of the building and offer healing and hope to a lost and needy world. Through this ministry, God has opened doors for Mark to go to other churches all over europe and teach them the Healing on the Streets model. I have been his traveling companion since october last year and I have been so blessed to be able to go places with him. By being around Mark and just doing normal life with him, I am learning more than I have ever learned in my life. It has been an amazing experience and the best is yet to come. For many of my weekends I am away, but out of the past 4 weekends I have been home for 3 of them. So all in all, I am a pretty busy guy all day all week long. It is a rare occasion where I get a chance to relax and take some time off, but it is definitely the best time of my life.

I hope you enjoyed a look into the life of Ben. Crazy, full, but because God has been in the center of it the whole time.... it has all been worth while.

Places I am going!

2009-02-16T09:07:00.000-08:00

Here are a list of places that I am going. Please pray for me on these trips that God will keep me safe, that he will bless me, and that I will not miss any of His leadings on these trips. And as I meet people please pray that God will place more wisdom in me, that He will humble my heart, and that He would expand my character so that I might be loving and encouraging to everyone I meet in every situation.

February 20 - 22 Bichester, England. Healing on the Streets with Mark.

February 27 - March 2 Edinburgh, Scotland. I will be going to Gemma's parent's church!!!!! Healing on the streets with Mark.

March 6 - 8 Aylesbury, England. Healing on the Streets with Mark.

March 13 - 15 Glasgow, Scotland. Healing on the Streets with Mark.

March 21 - 28 Morocco. Trip with Sydney and Ricky Wright (the missions pastor) to morocco to meet underground missionaries and pastors who are evangelizing in a muslim dominated society where it is illegal to be christian.

April 17 - 18 Newcastle, England. Healing on the Streets with Mark.

April 24 - 26 Colchester, England. Healing on the Streets with Mark.

May 1 - 3 Birmingham, England. Healing on the Streets with Mark.

May 8 - 9 Canterbury, England. Healing on the Streets with Mark.

May 15 - 17 Stevenage, England. Healing on the Streets with Mark.

May 19 - 31 South Africa missions trip. Sydney and I will be leading a missions trip to south africa for 11 days.

The past month!

2009-02-16T08:14:00.000-08:00

Its crazy to think of all the things that I have done in the past month. January of 2009 is already gone, and it seems like it had just began. I had a more of a relaxed schedule this past month than normal. I had 3 weekends home which was really nice. But 2 weekends I went on trips with Mark and another I went back to Newcastle, england to visit some friends. My trips with Mark are always amazing and eventful. I wish I could truly describe the excitement and the atmosphere of what it is like being around mark and learning from him. He is an amazing guy who's heart is so humble. In January I went with Mark to Stanmore and Plymouth, england. Both of the trips went great and I saw God touch a lot of people. I had so much fun on the plymouth trip chatting with teenagers and inviting them to come and take a seat for prayer. It was amazing watching the routiest and craziest teenager become totally calm and tranquil as they sat in the chair and received prayer and were told that God loved them. I remember being amongst a group of boys when one of their friends who just got prayer came from the chair to rejoin the group. She had gotten prayer for her back and all her friends immediately asked her how she was doing. She said that all the pain in her back was gone. She was all smiles and kept on telling her friends over and over that she felt a lot better. She then made the hilarious comment that she was thinking about going all religious. Haha!

In Newcastle, I met two of my friends I had made on my first trip with Mark Marx for Healing on the Streets. Over the weekend I spent every minute with them and every second I was there I was learning things. These guys were both radically saved and came from rough and extremely hard backgrounds. Both of them had amazing stories and amazing a huge passion and fire for God. Just spending a weekend with them I was challenged and stretched in my thinking and faith. I walked away from Newcastle with so many stories, it would be too hard to tell you just one of them. So to sum it all up, in Newcastle God did amazing things and my friends taught me inadvertently about living a passionate sold out life for christ. It was flippin awesome!

Since coming home, I have also finally settled into a home group. It was hard for me deciding on where to go and which home group to choose, but I finally chose one and I know that it is the family that I need here. The people in the house group are an amazing bunch of new and old christians and we have a lot of fun journeying our walk in christ together. Thank you Jesus!

As a small group and just as friends getting together to have some fun, we have all gone to the movies, thrown a surprise party, and watched a rugby match.

For any of you who have never seen a game of rugby... you are sorely missing out. It is the most amazing sport ever invented. I am definitely going to join a league when I get home. We watched the 6 Nations rugby match on sunday where it was Ireland vs Italy. The game was played in Rome, so the nerves were blaring and we were all a bit on edge. But as the fighting Irish always do, we kicked some italian ass and won 35-17!!!!! I love rugby.

Thank you god for putting me here

2009-02-02T09:46:00.000-08:00

Thank you God for letting me be a part of your story. Thank you for letting me be a part of what you are doing here. Thank you for this church and all the people here. As I look around at all the leaders and all the amazing people you have here, God my heart is moved to tears of joy. Thank you for putting me here Jesus. A teenager from California living in Northern Ireland I am. What an adventure!!! What a blessing! What a time of learning and change! Thank you for what you have included me to do here in Northern ireland and abroad. Greater things are yet to come. Greater things are still to be done here. I am so happy to be home, to be back at church. Thank you for what you are going to do this year. The best is yet to come.

(this is what I wrote in my journal the first sunday I was back since going home to california for christmas)

Holiday......

2009-01-22T11:34:00.000-08:00

Going home......

It is an experience for any person who has moved away and then returned to their land of childhood, their place of safety and city of friends and all things familiar.

My time home was an amazing one. I got to do everything I wanted to do while I was there and more. I had so much fun hanging out with friends and family. I loved being home for christmas and new years where I got to share life with so many old friends and family.

One of the thing I would definitely say about my trip home was that it was an experience. It was a holiday, a vacation, a time to relax and enjoy home, but I was thrown into a new experience and eye opening change. As I came home I expected things to be changed. People grow, change, and move on from the point when I left for Ireland. But when I got home that was not the thing that I noticed the most that had changed. I noticed that I had changed.

Things were different. I had seen a new world and experienced a new way of life and going back to the previous one was an eye opener. By no means am I saying that things at home were bad or worse than the new life that God has blessed me with in Northern Ireland. I just had changed so much and had my whole way of thinking and perceiving life altered that I noticed many different things than what I thought I would notice. I felt like I was now seeing clearly and so many things are being revealed to me. It was a good and fresh experience to have at home and something that God is using to shape me and mold me. To be totally honest, it wasn't an easy experience because I am such an internal person. I think about things too much and the only way I can describe it is, I kill myself with my thoughts. I turn it over again and again in my head and in the situations at home where I can't do anything with the things I was seeing, I just got stressed out and discouraged. Loosing my hope and my passion.

But God is good! He holds me in His hands and takes all my worries. He will do it in his time and will fulfill the dreams of my heart in His perfectly laid out plan. I don't have to worry about it or give it a second thought until the time comes.

So coming back to Northern Ireland I had a lot to think about and had a lot of questions I wanted to ask. I also felt like I saw more of the ways God is changing and molding me. He continues to show me how amazing He is. My eyes are opened more each day (a spirit of wisdom and revelation) and I have this new love and passion for the Streets. To get out among the lost, God's people, and live the life of the kingdom. I see a new boldness within myself. I see God's plan for my life coming together, I feel like God has given me the biggest gift by letting me see His plan for my future and now I get to watch him work and move things into place as I walk in obedience and partnership with him; it is so much fun.

Since coming back, I have had a refreshment of the pure excitement that gripped my heart when I started my internship back in August of 2008. Everything in me is just rearing for the next adventure and the next thing God is going to be teaching me. Even if that thing is hard, tough, stretching, challenging, and goes against my comfort zone I want to learn it. I feel that there is still lots of learning for me to do and many ways for me to grow.

I just want to say thank you for all my friends and family at home who love me and support me. You made my trip home a very fun and memorable one. You also have made my life one worth living. You have made me the most blessed man on this earth with your kind words, your thoughtful actions, your time spent hanging out, your prayers, and most of all you love. I am a blessed man indeed.

God Bless you all!

ps. for those who want me to write more because you want to know more of what is going on here, don't worry, I will be writing more very soon. :-D

Filling in the gaps.....

2009-01-05T12:49:00.000-08:00

It has been a long time since I wrote anything..... I apologize. I will try to fill in the gaps with all the places I have been and with some new and current things that have been happening with me and that have been put on my heart.

Traveling around with Mark Marx has been the most amazing ongoing experience of my life. I have been learning so much from this man, that in all honesty is epitomized by what Mr. Briscoe said one day at lunch "he is what I imagine jesus would look like today." Mark is such an amazing man and I am truly blessed to be in a friendship with him and on this journey

traveling place to place as he teaches Healing on the Streets.

We went to Jersey, which is a small island in the british commonwealth that is a vacation spot, and had a great time teaching some very open and enthusiastic people. We didn't end up going out into the streets with that group of people because they didn't have all of the right equipment ready, but meeting the people there was a very encouraging experience indeed. I had a lot of fun there and would love to go back one day.

After Jersey mark and I went to denmark where I got to meet some really cool people and chill with some fellow americans from South Carolina. The house I was staying at while I was

in Denmark had 5 people living in it, but when I got there it was filled with teenagers. The residence of the house had opened their home up for the local teenagers of the area. The city they were living in was a commuter city and had no businesses or public shops, so the teenagers of the city didn't have much to do.

They were welcomed by the people living in the house with open arms 6 months ago when they opened their house for the local teenagers. Many of the kids who came to hang out at the house had no affiliation or connection with the church and many

of the kids in the youth group of the church never came to hang out at the house. The people I stayed with were really cool guys and I got to hang out with some of the teenagers who they liked to call Little Gangsters. That night I got to experience the first snowfall. It was so amazing. I loved it. I took a walk through the snow and got covered in snow flakes. As I was walking I experienced the most beautiful thing. It was true and utter silence. So much peace and safety in that moment. I have never had a moment like I had, walking in the middle of the street at

night, while it was snowing in Denmark. I will never forget that. It was a picturesque moment that no camera could capture. We had a good time in Denmark and it was sad to say goodbye to another beautiful country.

The next weekend after that I was blessed with some time off from traveling with

mark (which can be tiring after a while) but then decided to go and fly to bristol to hang out with my friend Ben Lucas. Ben is a friend of mine from Brazil and we met up in Taunton (right next to bristol) where he is doing an internship with the taunton vineyard. It was so good to catchup with him and hang out with him for the weekend. He is an amazing guy who has a passionate heart for God who loves to worship him. And, I might add, is an amazing worship leader... in english or portuguese. I was also blessed to accidentally meet up with some other friends who live in Taunton and go to the vineyard there, Andy and Jemima Malam. We hung out with them a lot while I was there and had a grand time. :-)

The weekend after that I went with Mark to Bath, England to do another training. If you ever get the chance to go to Bath.... DO IT!!! It is such a beautiful city and I can't wait to go back there. I loved it and I really want to go back to visit the friends I made there. Everything went well over the weekend training and on saturday we hit the streets of Bath and set up for Healing on the Streets right outside of Bath Abby. It was such a cool place and location t

o do Healing on the Streets. God did a lot in Bath and I can't wait to hear all the reports that are coming out of that place. While we were there Mark and I both separately got to have a very prophetic lady within the church pray for us. She is one of those prophetic people who goes on for so long that she records what she is saying and then gives you the tape because sometimes it is 20 minutes long. I was blessed beyond my wildest dreams by the things she was saying. Everything that she said rang true with my heart and my desires that had been within me for many years. I am so grateful for her praying for me. She was the sweetest and most kind person ever. I know that I have to way everything that she said to me, but but the things that she said to me are so true with what is in my heart that I hope each one of them comes true. :-)

The next weekend Mark and I only had to drive down to Belfast to do the training at the belfast city vineyard. I was able to reconnect with some friends who I had stayed with right when I had arrived in ireland and it was good to see them again and catch up. The people in belfast were really receptive to the teaching and the whole lot of them numbered more than 50, so it was really cool to see everyone hit the streets. We set up Healing on the Streets in Victoria Square, which on saturdays is thronged with people. It was an amazing time to see people sit on the chairs and get healed. I loved doing it and had so much fun partnering with God with what he was doing.

Then after that I came home and the rest is history. :-) I came home for christmas and had an amazing time it was so good to see my friends and family. Christmas and New Years were both great and loved seeing friends and doing fun stuff like bonfires at the beach, going out to dinner, having jacuzzi nights where me and the guys smokes some cigars, and just hanging out and playing cards. I loved being home and am so thankful that I have a huge family at home that loves and cares for me.

I have only been in Northern Ireland for a couple of days now and I already miss everyone. I am glad to be home and I love it here, but I miss California already. I love you all and may everyone who reads this be blessed. God Bless,

Ben

Places God is taking me

2008-10-25T13:50:00.000-07:00

Here is a list of places that I will be going in the coming weekends and if you could pray for me and Mark, the pastor who I am traveling with, that God would bless us, bless the church we are going to, and most of all bless the people on the streets in each town as we go out, I would really appreciate it.

Place/City/Country: Date we will be there:

Salford, England Oct 31 - Nov 3

Jersey, (island in Nov 14 - 16

the english common wealth)

Denmark Nov 21 - 23

Bath, England Dec 5 - 7

Belfast, N. Ireland Dec 12 & 13

If you feel it in your heart to pray for these trips please do. We need all the prayer we can get. Thank you so much for your prayers. God Bless. -Ben

2008-10-25T13:44:00.000-07:00

It is crazy to be here in Oxford. I am in Oxford. God brought me to Oxford. I can't get over that I am in Oxford. It isn't like Oxford is some special place compared to the other places that God is taking me. It is just crazy to take a step back and see what God is doing. I see little old me in Oxford doing the things on God's heart. To just think that God has brought me here. That coming to Oxford wasn't my doing, it was all God. He has brought me around the world and has taken me to Oxford to do things that are on His heart. It is crazy for me to think about and it brings me to tears of joy and thankfulness for all the blessings God is giving me. We saw the presence of God come to the streets of Oxford today. It was amazing to see and even more fun to think about what God is going to keep doing. People were saying how hard of a city Oxford is with all its intellectuals and stuff. But when those people they were talking about sat down in the chairs, all those things melted away because in the chairs it is only them and jesus. What a sweet time we had in Oxford today. :-) More lord!! Praise you Lord for what you did today on the streets.

Life in Northern Ireland!!

2008-10-21T03:03:00.000-07:00

Here is a little bit about what I have been feeling about being here and my thoughts on the church, my internship, my friends, and my weekend missions trips. I just emailed a friend all this and thought that everyone might want to know this stuff. So here it is :

Everything over here is really great!

The internship is really starting to pick up now when I am here at the church offices during the week. Sydney and I have a full plate of things to do as mission interns and it will be pretty crazy all the way up until christmas. :-( The weekend mission trips (if you want to call them that) are amazing. God has blessed me so so much by giving me the opportunity to travel with mark. To maybe put it into perspective for you on how much of a blessing it is to be around, to travel with, to talk to, and just to hang out with Mark, it would be as if I was traveling with Heidi Baker and being her traveling partner and hanging out with her all the time. I am learning so much from traveling with him and he is an immense encouragement to me in my life and walk with God. I am learning so much and growing outward in so many directions, i would have a hard time listing them all. :-)

The Church here is one of the most amazing things to be a part of. The staff here at the church are the most amazing people I have ever met. They are all gifted and they are all perfect for their jobs as pastors of missions, children, youth, worship, etc. They are all passionate about God and have a shared vision of the church which is seen in their separate ways of pushing that vision out in the community. It is amazing working and living around these people who are on fire for God and are living their dream.

My friends here are amazing. I already have some really good friends here and all of the fears that were placed in my mind by the enemy about being lonely here during the internship to make me insecure have been broken. I am leading a small group with a girl from church named Colleen who is a really great girl and I have connections to her family because her brother stayed at my house in California 2 years ago. It is crazy how small of a world it is. :-)

So pretty much all in all I am loving it here in northern ireland. God is doing amazing stuff here and I am learning so much. I don't know where life will lead me next, but I can't wait to go there.

Newcastle

2008-10-06T03:09:00.000-07:00

Today was a fantastic day here in Newcastle. We hit the streets with a group of 150 people in the city center right next to this massive and beautiful monument pillar/statue. It was normal weather for Mark and I because it was 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 being 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 exciting 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.

2008-10-06T03:00:00.000-07:00

During Mark's teaching here in Newcastle he introduced me and told the audience who I was and after the teaching was over I got stopped by these two young adult guys. After they stopped me I heard the greatest sentence I could have ever heard spoken to me in England. I had only ever heard this sentence said in movies like green street hooligans. So, these two guys got my attention as I was walking past them and I turned to the one closest to me and he utters these words..... "So your the Yank!!??" It was hilarious!! I just burst out laughing. :-)

2008-10-06T02:29:00.000-07:00

Last weekend I was off to beautiful Norway where I met my beloved friend steven and this weekend I am off again to Newcastle. What a crazy life I now have with all the things God has blessed me with. I am traveling all over Europe with Mark and we are booked almost every weekend from now until christmas. What a calling I must live up to. To live a life worthy of my calling. I have just begun striving to be more like a child. I need to be like a child in my relationship with God and with how I follow His leading. To let my heart fun free and unhindered by the boundaries of this grown up world that is covered in fear. I am longing for more and more intimacy with God. I also now see that I must seek after the intimacy within the bible, God's diary. The bible is a diary of God's where I can learn his deepest thoughts, desires, and get to know Him on a personal level.

I have been living with Sydney and Katja for a week now and am getting use to having female house mates. They are both really fun and I know that we will get along great this year. I had a hard week this last week because I feel a little down and out with not doing things in Coleraine on the weekends. With me being Marks traveling partner I wont be in Coleraine for the weekends which makes me unable to do street evang, Face to Face outreach, HOTS, and go to church on sundays. Don't get me wrong, I am so blessed that it over takes my emotions sometimes by how much God has blessed me with being Mark's traveling partner. It was just hard this week when Ricky was going over everything Sydney and I were going to be doing this year as mission interns and it discouraged me that I wasn't able to do many of them because of being gone on weekends. I was also feeling a little bit of competition with Sydney which I should have expected, but I don't want any of that. Having another person from home here is great, but at the same time I feel that bit of insecurity within me being rattled with the idea that Sydney may be more liked, successful, and better than me amongst friends and in the internship. I need to drop all my fears cares and turn to what God thinks about me. His opinion is the only one that matters and is the one I should draw my strength upon. Otherwise I falter and crumble in fear of man. Thank you for freedom from fear God. Victory!!

Prayer Requests:

-If you could pray for me for peace in my situation of being a little discouraged about not being able to do things in Coleraine pertaining to my missions internship

-If you could pray for me for intimacy and my journey into relationship with God

-Also if you could pray for increased sensitivity to His leading and voice

The Chef from Brooklyn

2008-09-29T05:08:00.000-07:00

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. :-)

Suresh's Healing

2008-09-29T04:47:00.000-07:00

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.

2008-09-26T15:24:00.000-07:00

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.

2008-09-16T02:10:00.000-07:00

I had an experience today. It was an experience that I needed above all experiences. I was humbled.

I was shown my true colors by reading bree nordstrom's blog. I am so prideful. I am full of myself, thinking that I am great and good. That I am so amazing. What a thought! What pride!! I have seen my unworthyness to even think a prideful thought. I am unworthy of all that He is, has, and has given to me. I see my pride, my impurity, my unworthyness, and I see my faults. I see pride in my dreams of life. I see all my prideful thoughts and notions about God and my life. About where I am going and where I want to go. How I have always wanted to be called out by the big preacher. How I have always wanted to be seen by all of my peers.

But after reading Bree's blog, I wish anything but that. I am a little humbler now, and I ask and plead with you God to take it all from me. That I will be one with your heart. Than none of me will be living apart from what you have given me. That true life that I find in You is all that I want.

Make me clean. Forgive me for my pride! Help me surrender all! I want to surrender all of it and all of me. Take me to a place where all I have is you. Where I am the weakest thing and there is no other answer but you. Help me...

Exciting Times

2008-09-01T06:23:00.000-07:00

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!!

Mark's Traveling Partner

2008-09-01T06:09:00.000-07:00

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!!!

Thursday HOTS - Shine

2008-09-01T06:03:00.000-07:00

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.

Wednesday HOTS - Shine

2008-08-29T04:23:00.000-07:00

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!!!

God and Family in Northern Ireland

2008-08-23T08:25:00.000-07:00

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