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.

Finally time for another update...

There is so much happening I don't know where to start. I'll start with Jeff. Jeff is a guy who lives in this neighbourhood. He got saved a couple months back when Lisa and Sarina (two friends who are part of my Clay Street activation) went and knocked on his door and invited him to our house church. He was at a point where he was desperate for something to happen is his life. He was very depressed and not in a good way. Anyway, he came to house church and got rocked! He said he walked in and saw wall to wall young people full of love, all wanting to pray for him and bless him and he couldn't help but get saved. I remember praying for him and he teared up and genuinely encountered God.

Since then Jeff has been set alight for Jesus! He is itching to go to church whenever he can. He would come to house church a few hours early he was so keen! He now has a Bible which he is tearing through and he is just lapping up this Bethel/Kingdom culture. He got baptized at Bethel last month with all our Clay Street family there to watch. It was an amazing time - we all went crazy. Jeff got so drunk on the presence of God - it was a great night.

Jeff is such a gift from God. He has a gift of hospitality - he's always cooking for people. He has become a Clay Street icon. Everyone loves him. He's definitely become like a Pappa to all of us here. It really is amazing to watch him embrace Jesus. I don't think I've seen anything like it - he is growing so quickly. He now has an i-pod, loaded with worship music and a big set of head phones to go with it. He's always bouncing around belting out Kim Walker songs - so awesome!

This is really what it is all about - people! Everything we've poured into Clay Street has been worth it just to see Jeff meet Jesus! Christianity is so simple. It's all about people. God cares about people. The miracles we see every week and the revelation we are hearing are amazing but it doesn't mean anything unless people are meeting and growing in relationship with Jesus and also each other. When the church began all Jesus left behind was the Holy Spirit and each other! This should be the foundation and main emphasis of the church. Love for God and love for people.

It really has been amazing to be part of this Clay Street family. There are several other people that have been saved and transformed by Jesus on this street. I really believe the model we have set up here works - building friendship in the community, sharing food, meeting together to worship God and read the Word. It really is simple. I've been so blessed to be a part of this. My leaders (Ben and Nate) have poured themselves into this community and into me and I feel like my growth has been doubled because of them.

There is a possibility that I will be able to be one of the leaders of clay Street next year which I'm very excited about. I'm praying about it and at this stage it looks like I'll be going back to Queensland to work for 3 months from June till September - aiming to be back here for 2nd year in early September. While I'm in Australia I'll hopefully be going on a ministry tour with Ben in Queensland. I'll be trusting God for a miracle to help me back here but He is good and has come through so many times before. I can't wait to see what he does!

There has been lots of other stuff going on too. I've been growing in the prophetic and in word of knowledge. God gave me someone's name the other day which was cool. I really want to grow more in the gifts though. I want to see more healings. I want everyone I pray for to get healed! Jesus made it possible and I want it - I'll just keep moving forward in faith i guess.

I have my mission trip coming up soon. I'm going to Tijuana on March 29 for a week. I'm expecting God to move powerfully. There will be 170 of us driving down. We will then split into smaller teams and go minister in churches and on the streets. In previous years God has done crazy stuff. God stopped it raining at someone's command a few years ago so that a team could set up their equipment and preach. My brother went there last year and said that almost everyone they prayed for got healed. I can't wait.

I'll tell you all about it soon...

For this blog I really felt to share my testimony of how I got to a point where I'm writing about people falling down under the power of God and miracles and other crazy stuff etc...

It wasn't that long ago that I was living for the weekend, spending all my money on alcohol and ecstasy. I used to take e's and get drunk pretty much every weekend and my life really wasn't going anywhere. I was also really physically sick with a disease that doctors were unable to diagnose. I became super anxious and depressed and thought about suicide a lot. I was so paranoid that I was scared to go to the supermarket because I thought people were talking about me. I relied on anti-depressants to get by.

As a last resort I went to see a Christian counselor who was a friend of my mums. She prayed for me and asked God to give me a vision of the root cause of my anxiety and depression. I didn't really believe it would happen but sure enough I saw a clear vision of the root cause of my problem. It was pretty crazy. I left knowing for sure that God was real.

At this point I really didn't know any Christians and didn't know what it meant to be one. I would often (when no one was around) watch Christian TV at home. One day there was a show about letting go of anger and forgiving people. I remember crying out to God to help me forgive the person who caused my anxiety and depression. Instantly I felt something lift off of me and I felt real joy for the first time. It was crazy! My anxiety and depression were completely healed. I came of my medication that day which I though would never happen.

My life completely changed from this point on but I still didn't know any Christians. I used to pray for God to get me into a church and in 2007 He did. Some friends of mine were going to a Christian conference and had a spare ticket. I went along and saw some of the craziest stuff I've ever seen. People were shaking under the power of God and laughing hysterically and all kinds of stuff. It was kind of weird but I could really feel the presence of God and I really trusted the people I was with.

Anyway, to cut a long story short, I gave my life to God at the conference. Heidi Baker (one of the speakers) prayed for me afterwards and I fell down under the power of God for about 10 minutes. I woke up feeling amazing. The next night her husband Rolland Baker was preaching and during this session some people prayed for me and I ended up having an encounter with God for 2 or 3 hours where I was lying on the floor in some kind of trance, seeing things in heaven and hearing God speak to me. I got up from this encounter a different person. The things I saw were all from the Bible - I was describing them but had never even read about them in the Bible.

Since this encounter God has been so good to me. He has taken me to Mozambique twice. I have seen many, many miracles including the blind and deaf healed, demons come out of people and I've even met someone who was raised from the dead! I'm now in the US doing more ministry stuff, experiencing more of God's goodness. Honestly my life is 100 times better with God than it was before.

This all started for me when I began searching for the truth after things started to get really bad for me. I'm hear to tell you that Jesus is very real and He will reveal Himself to and accept anyone who comes to Him. One of the hindrances for me was unforgiveness. So I just want to encourage anyone who is reading this and doesn't know God that He wants a relationship with you and that there is nothing you have done that He won't forgive. Just be honest with Him, start talking to Him and forgive anyone who has ever wronged you so that you can experience His forgiveness. He will help you do this. --- His name is Jesus!

If anyone has anyone questions please get in contact with me. Facebook msg me or something.

God Bless.

Definitely time for an update... God has been doing so much I don't know where to start. I'll start with Thanksgiving break. Me and 6 other students went to my friend Kristyn's house (parents house) which is about 3 hours away near Sacramento. On the way we stopped at Subway for lunch. My friend Ben who I've mentioned in previous posts stood up and preached a short message to everyone at Subway. I liked his message but it definitely offended a few people. After he preached he asked a guy if he had pain in his back or neck, to which the guy responded "no but I've got a pain in my butt and I'm talking to him." It was pretty funny! Anyway and old farmer guy came in and we had some good words of knowledge for him. Ben had one about him having a sore hip which we prayed for and think got healed. Kristyn then had a word about his relationship with wife which touched him and I think moved him to tears.

Soon after 2 ladies came in. One was in need of some healing for her neck. We laid hands on her and she instantly got touched by the power of God. She fell to the floor laughing and I'm fairly sure she was healed. God gave us some amazing words of knowledge which really ministered to her. We then prayed for her friend and delivered some equally powerful words of knowledge which brought her to tears. Oh and I nearly forgot to mention that during this Subway visit Ben led a guy to the Lord who came in to apply for a job. Was a pretty enjoyable lunch stop!

We then made our way south to Kristyn's city and stopped by her parents office (they are the founders of Impax Word - amazing health products - check them out!). We joined in on a staff meeting that was taking place and were able to minister to some of the staff as well as be ministered to by an amazing pastor/prophet who is a good friend of Kristyn's family. Holy Spirit broke out - there were a lot of tears as well as laughter - it was a fun staff meeting! We were already drunk on the Holy Spirit when we got there (we'd been praying and worshiping the whole way down) but we left even drunker.

We spent about 5 days at Kristyn's house and had such an amazing time! We were treated like royalty - I don't think I've ever felt as blessed or honored. We spent a day fishing on her dad's boat (I caught 4 striper bass - 1 legal size!), played 8-ball, ping-pong and basketball, went Christmas tree shopping (live tree), went to Lake Tahoe and we were treated to amazing food for the entire trip. Thanksgiving dinner was amazing! Unfortunately we had to do the dishes after dinner due to Ben losing a game of 8-ball to Kristyn's dad - would love to have had Chick Filet Ben! Oh and lots of other ministry took place during the trip, including Ben freaking out 2 'Christian' ladies with a very sharp word of knowledge and causing them to back away quickly. I had such an amazing time - big thanks to the Im family - you guys are amazing!

School has been so good. I've been getting rocked by God every day. God's been pouring into me and I've been trying to pour into others. Ministry is fun! I've been finding the more I pour out the more he fills me and the drunker I get! He's used me to minister powerfully to people this week!

Press in for more! God is amazing!

This has been a pretty crazy week. Two weeks ago Michael and myself, plus two other friends, were door knocking and inviting people to come to our house church. We got to talking to one of our neighbors who was busy that night but ended up coming the next week. He was a bit weirded out by the worship but enjoyed it overall. So this past Wednesday he came on our weekly prayer walk where we walk the streets claiming them for Jesus. He started getting involved in the prayers and seemed to be really enjoying himself. He ended up coming to house church the following night. The message that night was about forgiveness and he felt it was meant directly for him. He ended up forgiving him mum for some stuff and accepting Jesus! We then surrounded him and prayed for him to be filled with the Holy Spirit. He dropped to his knees under the power of God and could feel Holy Spirit pulsing through him. It was so amazing. Here is his Facebook status from that night:

"The most amazing thing happened to me tonight, something i thought would never happen. I accepted Jesus into my life, this is no joke. I went to house church tonight with my new friends, and i had a revelation in my life. i got things out of my heart that was ailing me. it was the most amazing feeling, everyone put their hands me and put the holy ghost in me. i literally feel to my knees, my whole body was tingling and it was a feeling unlike anything i have ever experienced. Tonight is the first night of the rest of my life."

I just wanted to share one more testimony. The other day some students went treasure hunting, which is where you pray for God to give you details about people and then go out and find the people and pray for them. God gave a girl from school a clue about blonde, frizzy hair and the first person she saw was a lady with blonde, frizzy hair. The only problem was that she was in a wheelchair - she had been paralyzed in a car accident. Long story short, she went and prayed for her to be healed. The lady ended up standing up out of her wheelchair and then walking. She was completely healed! She ended up walking home, leaving her wheelchair behind for someone who needed it! Here is the link to the testimony:

http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=10150296589655487

As you can see Bethel is an amazing place. There is so much going on all the time - hundreds of testimonies every week. One of the things coming up is missions week. I just found out I'm going to Tijuana. I wanted to include Bethel's vision for missions to give you more of an idea of Bethel's heart: Our heart and passion here at Bethel International is to raise up a generation of world changers that will be known simply for their reckless abandonment to see that Jesus is Lord in all the nations. As we are building relationships with various regions around the world one of the main goals that we have is to make the nations look like geniuses. Our strategy is go to and raise up influencers in their own nations so they begin to run with the inheritance that God has given them to transform their nation. All of our Bethel School of Supernatural Ministry trips are partnered with Bethel International’s vision for transforming nations.

Unfortunately I can't work while I'm over here so I need to raise the money to go in other ways. I wanted to give anyone who feels led the opportunity to partner with me in my mission trip or to help support me during my time in the US. If you are interested please contact me at james.temme@gmail.com or Facebook msg. You can also donate here: https://www.ibssm.org/?action=donate_search

Thank you all for you love and support - don't stop praying for me!

James

So here goes my second blog. Quite a bit has happened since last time I blogged. I guess I'll start by telling you more about school. I'm not sure if I mentioned last time but there are 800 students in first year and we pack out the Bethel Sanctuary. It's more of a conference feel than a classroom. I'm on the team that sets up chairs everyday which means I get seating preference and am always up the front which is nice. I think we have worship like 3 time a week which is awesome. 800 people on fire for God worshiping at Bethel is a great scene and the presence of God is always intense. About 2 or 3 weeks ago a guy behind me had a lot of oil pouring out of his hands - I anointed myself with some - it was very fragrent. Gold dust has showed up on a few people in class too. Actually there is a girl who lives on my street who has 2 gold teeth which God gave her (before she got to Redding) so I'm definitely living in a realm of miracles. Speaking of which, we received some text books the other day (which were supposedly brand new) but mine had the name of the guy (Nathan K) who first told me about Bethel and was largely responsible for getting me saved written on the inside cover. He had been at Bethel 2 years before me and had lost the book at the start of the year and somehow the book skipped a year and got distributed to my class and out of 800 books it happened to come to me. For me it was confirmation that God wants me here at this time.

God has really been speaking to me in dreams. I have had 2 of the most intense God dreams in my life recently. In one, a guy who I have given permission to speak into my life came into my dream and ministered to me and I had a powerful supernatural encounter before waking up knowing that what had just happened was real. I don't normally remember my dreams but I remembered every detail of this one. The next day I told the guy who was in my dream about it and he said he was actually praying for me at that time - crazy! He said he has actually appeared in the dreams of his friends previously. I really feel like there is an open heaven over Bethel and Redding where the real of the supernatural is more easily accessed. It's a great place to be!

We are starting a community church on my street and I am doing community outreach as one of my practical ministry options. I'm very excited and we feel like God is going to start an outpouring in our neighbourhood amongst the drug-dealers and down-and-outs. The other night 40 of us got together and did a prayer walk in the area. People were sensing God and coming to us asking for prayer. In one instance a guy who looked like he was on his way to buy drugs said "You guys are worshiping the Lord right?" he then jumped of his bike and ran to us for prayer! Another person that was prayed for got hit by the power of God and fell down on the sidewalk laughing under the anointing. I think someone got healed of MS too but I'm not 100% sure. Oh and as we were releasing God's joy a guy (I think he was a dealer) came out and said "it feels like there is a river of joy running through this street". It was an amazing night and only the first time we have done a prayer walk so I'm very excited for what God has in-store for this area. If you guys are looking for something to pray for pray for Clay Street or 'Pray for Clay'.

At school we have now split up into revival groups which meet a couple times a week and which meet in smaller groups within these meetings. I'm really enjoying this - getting to know people more intimately and being accountable to each other. I haven't really done much of this in the past - I really like being able to be completely open in a safe environment where people want the best for you. Bethel's heart is really to prefer others and call out the gold in people. It really is an amazing, safe place, full of love and encouragement.

Things are going well at my house. My roomies are great and I love my neighbourhood which is full of Bethelites. There isn't anywhere else I'd rather be at the moment. Oh and I also wanted to mention that I have chosen Tijuana as my first preference for a mission trip coming up in a few months. My 2nd and 3rd options are other Mexican cities but I should get my first - please pray!

Bless y'all,

James

So here goes my second blog. Quite a bit has happened since last time I blogged. I guess I'll start by telling you more about school. I'm not sure if I mentioned last time but there are 800 students in first year and we pack out the Bethel Sanctuary. It's more of a conference feel than a classroom. I'm on the team that sets up chairs everyday which means I get seating preference and am always up the front which is nice. I think we have worship like 3 time a week which is awesome. 800 people on fire for God worshiping at Bethel is a great scene and the presence of God is always intense. About 2 or 3 weeks ago a guy behind me had a lot of oil pouring out of his hands - I anointed myself with some - it was very fragrent. Gold dust has showed up on a few people in class too. Actually there is a girl who lives on my street who has 2 gold teeth which God gave her (before she got to Redding) so I'm definitely living in a realm of miracles. Speaking of which, we received some text books the other day (which were supposedly brand new) but mine had the name of the guy (Nathan K) who first told me about Bethel and was largely responsible for getting me saved written on the inside cover. He had been at Bethel 2 years before me and had lost the book at the start of the year and somehow the book skipped a year and got distributed to my class and out of 800 books it happened to come to me. For me it was confirmation that God wants me here at this time.

God has really been speaking to me in dreams. I have had 2 of the most intense God dreams in my life recently. In one, a guy who I have given permission to speak into my life came into my dream and ministered to me and I had a powerful supernatural encounter before waking up knowing that what had just happened was real. I don't normally remember my dreams but I remembered every detail of this one. The next day I told the guy who was in my dream about it and he said he was actually praying for me at that time - crazy! He said he has actually appeared in the dreams of his friends previously. I really feel like there is an open heaven over Bethel and Redding where the real of the supernatural is more easily accessed. It's a great place to be!

We are starting a community church on my street and I am doing community outreach as one of my practical ministry options. I'm very excited and we feel like God is going to start an outpouring in our neighbourhood amongst the drug-dealers and down-and-outs. The other night 40 of us got together and did a prayer walk in the area. People were sensing God and coming to us asking for prayer. In one instance a guy who looked like he was on his way to buy drugs said "You guys are worshiping the Lord right?" he then jumped of his bike and ran to us for prayer! Another person that was prayed for got hit by the power of God and fell down on the sidewalk laughing under the anointing. I think someone got healed of MS too but I'm not 100% sure. Oh and as we were releasing God's joy a guy (I think he was a dealer) came out and said "it feels like there is a river of joy running through this street". It was an amazing night and only the first time we have done a prayer walk so I'm very excited for what God has in-store for this area. If you guys are looking for something to pray for pray for Clay Street or 'Pray for Clay'.

At school we have now split up into revival groups which meet a couple times a week and which meet in smaller groups within these meetings. I'm really enjoying this - getting to know people more intimately and being accountable to each other. I haven't really done much of this in the past - I really like being able to be completely open in a safe environment where people want the best for you. Bethel's heart is really to prefer others and call out the gold in people. It really is an amazing, safe place, full of love and encouragement.

Things are going well at my house. My roomies are great and I love my neighbourhood which is full of Bethelites. There isn't anywhere else I'd rather be at the moment. Oh and I also wanted to mention that I have chosen Tijuana as my first preference for a mission trip coming up in a few months. My 2nd and 3rd options are other Mexican cities but I should get my first - please pray!

Bless y'all,

James