From March 29 till April I went on a Bethel mission trip to Tijuana. There were 170 of us and we all drove from Redding to the border of Mexico in cars. We left our cars at the border and caught buses to a base in east Tijuana - about an hours drive. The accommodation was fairly basic with lots of us crammed into a few rooms. It wasn't too bad though - a lot better than sleeping in tents.
The whole first day was spent at the base just hanging out and worshiping God. There was a big hill behind the base that a lot of people climbed to spend time with God. It was a good day to recover and get to know everyone. That night we had a church service on the base - it was crazy! 170 people worshiping God flat out - the atmosphere was amazing. Almost everyone got super drunk on the great Holy Ghost! So much fun! I personally was super drunk and went to bed in a very good mood excited about what God would do during our ministry time tomorrow.
The next day after worship (worship was a priority every day!) we were broken into smaller teams that would be our teams for the week. I knew some of the people on my team but there were some new people too which was good. We found out our team would be ministering near our base - open air evangelism from the back of a truck. We literally ministered a block away from the base. We had a truck parked on the side of the road with a sound system and worship stuff. We also had balloon animal stuff to attract kids - which it did. Kids came from running from everywhere.
Before we started the service, some of us went around the neighbourhood praying for people and inviting them to come. During this time I saw several people get touched by God. Pain left people's bodies and I think I saw 3 people's legs grow out - this is where 1 leg is shorter than the other and God evens them out. One older lady was especially impacted by God. The people were very open to prayer but none of them came to the service.
The side of the road service ended up being attended by mostly kids. I got to preach to them and shared the basic gospel message with my friend Gabe translating. It was fun to preach, even if it was mainly to kids. I wasn't really nervous at all which just shows how much God has done in me - I used to be terrified of public speaking. It was a good night!
The next day we did our usual get drunk and worship God during the day before heading out to churches across Tijuana. I believe some of the bus drivers were healed of various issues on this day! -- My team went to a small church of about 40 people. I was on the kids ministry team and spent most of my time with the kids outside the church making balloon animals etc. The service went well inside. Initially the people were very timid but they were lively by the end, getting right amongst a fire tunnel we had going. -- I just have to add that the bus ride home was amazing. We had a mini-rave going on. There were red lights on the bus and a fairly loud sound system. Satch and Barry were tearing it up - so much fun!
The next day (this is what I've been waiting to write about) was a Saturday. In the morning we headed to Rosarito Beach for some free time. Myself, Gabey, Ian (the big Saffa), Jordan and some others just wanted to pray for people and didn't really care about seeing the sights. I was super drunk by the time we got there which made me a lot bolder. Almost as soon as we got off the base we prayed for a guy who had back pain. He got completely healed and his face lit up. Right next to him was a guy on a bench who also had back pain. I grabbed his legs to see if one was shorter than the other and sure enough one was about half and inch shorter than the other. Gabe went to get some people to come and watch God do a miracle but God grew his leg out before Gabe got back.
We then went to a coffee shop just up the road and i got the worker to stick his hands out so he could feel the presence of God. He did so and got rocked. Right then the first guy who got healed came and shared his testimony with the guy working at the coffee shop and he then wanted to know how he could get saved. Gabe and Ian shared the gospel with him. We then went a shop or two up and started talking to a guy working there. He ended up having his back pain healed and getting saved (nice work Ian). Right next door was a candy shop and we were ministering to an American guy there who loved us. He told us to pick whatever we wanted and he'd buy it for us - so we got free candy!
We then went outside and the guy who bought us candy's friend was sitting in a car. We told him about God and the miracles we had just seen. He said he was hungover so we prayed and God healed his hangover! He said he was happy with his life and didn't want to get saved so we moved on to a restaurant across the street. There was a 16 year old boy there with a brace on his knee. Both his knees were messed up from sports and he also had a sore finger. We prayed and everything got healed. We then prayed for him to receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit and he stared shaking under the power of God. He said he could feel God moving up his arm to his head. It turns out he was soon to be leaving for a mission trip which he was going to be leading. He was now equipped with the baptism of the Holy Spirit and also healing! It also turns out that the kids grandmother was the owner of the restaurant and she invited to eat there for free. So we got a free lunch!
Right after lunch I prayed for a kid who had a scar on his arm. That didn't get healed but his neck pain did. I also prayed for him to encounter the Holy Spirit and he said he felt energy going through him. He got rocked as well! I nearly forgot - I had a word of knowledge that he had a girlfriend that wasn't saved who needed to be so hopefully she got saved too after he told her what happened.
There was other stuff that happened at the beach too. I won't include all of it but I will tell you about a guy called Freddy that we prayed for. He was working for a club selling tickets and promoting it. His dad was actually a pastor and as we prayed and prophesied over him he seemed to get convicted that he might not be doing the right thing. He was so impacted that he started crying and when we left him he said he was thinking about leaving work and going home for the day!
We went from the beach to Revolution street - which is a night club district. Our team set up a night of dramas, worship, preaching and ministry in the middle of this area. Many people got saved and touched by God. One of the highlights for me was speaking to a restaurant worker who had just been healed of an issue with his hand through some other Bethel students. His friend had also been healed of an ankle issue. They brought another worker to me who had an abscess in his mouth. I prayed for him and he said he felt heat and that it was getting better. I was then taken into the restaurant and allowed to pray for the other workers (Satch and Nate S were with me). We prayed for a guys thumb which got healed - he said he could feel heat. We also prayed for a guy's knee and he got healed and said he could feel fire up his whole leg. God's presence was very tangible there. I had the workers stick their hands out in receive mode to encounter Holy Spirit. They all got rocked! It was so much fun!
Another highlight from that night happened was when I was with a girl (Jana) from the team who spoke Arabic. She heard 2 guys speaking Arabic which is unusual in TJ. She started speaking to them and found out one of them had lower back pain. Long story short, we found a chair, sat him down, discovered one leg was longer than the other, told his friend to "watch this", command the leg to grow in Jesus' name and watched it grow out instantly. We also had sharp words of knowledge for both of them. I gave one guy a word about business and it turns out he owns 3 businesses in TJ and Jana gave the other guy a word about architecture and it turns out he had actually studied architecture. The both got rocked by Jesus! Oh, and they bought us a packet of chips and a coke each!
There is so much other stuff that happened on the trip but I feel like I've written too much already. I will say that Bethel's model of getting so full of holy Spirit that you just go for stuff works. It was the most fun I've ever had on a mission trip as well as being super fruitful. I had an amazing time and can't wait to do another trip.
