A brief recap of a crazy day of EnCounTerS and the rest..

I decided not to share the specifics of what happened on Saturday because it may be a little too intense, but if you really want to know you can ask me and I would be happy to share.

Basically, my family and I first went to this awesome utdoors store where we hung out for a little bit before we went to the movies. As a family including my relatives from LA we went to watch Prince Caspian. Wow! That movie is crazy. I was really moved by the movie. It really convicted me of a lot of things and I was moved my the deep symbolism and the underlying storyline of God's love and redemption.

But anyhoo, after the movie my family ended up standed at the movie theatre because the battery in one of our cars died. We waved down a security guard, and he went to get a machine to try to jumpstart it. But it didn't work. Eventually, a friend from the church came down in a big purple van and jumped the car for us. After that, he invited us all to his house for his step-daughters graduation party. Our family wasn't planning on going to this party, but God definitely wanted us to because this is where all the good stuff begins.

Like I said earlier, I can't share everything with you but I'll briefly recap it. One of the leaders of the church came up to me and we started talking about evangelism. Then another leader came up and said she wanted to introduce me to Pastor Bob before I left. I was about to leave, but first I waas introduced to Pastor Bob. My family was going to leave, but I decided on the fly that I would just stay and finish my conversation. I'm glad I did. Pastor Bob and I talked for a while about his ministry in the Philippines and the crazy experiences he had with healings, revival, and the power of the Holy Spirit. There are some crazy stories that I could tell you about.

Anyhoo, we talked for a pretty long time. I wasn't even supposed to go to this party, but God really wanted me to go. Before he left, he and his wife wanted to pray for me. We prayed together with some of the leaders of the church, and he basically blessed me on my trip to Japan and anointed me with some fire. Basically, long story short. I was knocked down three times by the Holy Spirit. Crazy.

After that, I had another conversation with one of the leaders of the church, and she really encouraged me in my prayer life and in growing in the things of the Spirit. One of the things that really sticks out to me is when she told me about excuses. She told me to stop making excuses about things God was leading us to do. When we make excuses, we don't do the things God wants us to do. She told me to stop thinking, and just do what God is calling me to do. Another thing that I also go talking from her was that I needed to stop worrying so much about the future and the big picture sometimes and just trust God. Basically what happened was that I started telling her of my visions and ideas, and she just stopped me and said something like yes, ideally thats what our church would look like, but until God opens the hearts of the leaders of the church to prayer, those ideas can't happen. Basically, she told me to pray for the leaders of the church to be committed to prayer. Stop worrying about the picture and let God take care of it. Pray for God to open the hearts of his people and let him do the work that He has started.

Another thing she challenged me to do is start discipling and be an accountability with my brother. She really challenged me to stop making excuses and just go for what God is calling me to do. It was awesome to talk to the leaders of my church and be challenged and encouraged by them. God is good.

Oh and on the way home, I drove with my cousin who I prayed with the other day, and he ended up giving me some cds 0f different visions people have had of heaven and hell and told me to listen to them. They are pretty intense. So basically, Saturday was crazy. A day full of crazy encounters. God was definitely on the move.

So today (Sunday) some pretty cool stuff happened too. I went to church early with my brother, and we went to the prayer room in my church because the I was really challenged to go the night before. And while were there, it was really awesome to read the Word, meditate, and pray for the church. It was really cool to see people come in periodically through the hour and cry out to God. God is definitely doing awesome stuff in the church. I was reminded of a lot things during that time. Godreally reminded me to be patient. I really think that the revival that happens in the church will stem from what happens at ASU and what what happens at our church will overflow into the city. Pretty sweet how some students in my church like my bro are gonna be at ASU this semster. God is on the move.

At the church service, the worship was especially vibrant and alive and the message was awesome. The church recognized the graduates in my church. Graduates of kindergarten, 8th grade, and highschool. These students in a sense are all going to be the class of 2012. A lot of them were new to the church, but I get the sense, that like my brother who was up there, they would truly be fireseeds of revival in their highschools and on their campuses. So good!

Anyhoo, my pastor also preached an awesome message about plans. Basically, what it boiled down to was that we need to make plans in our life, but ultimately we must realize that God has the final say. We must have the right attitude and we must be open and willing to follow wherever he leads us.

I think the most exciting thing that happened today was just a couple of hours ago. My brother and I were playing basketball tonight (he ended up beating me in a close game - boo on him - haha jk), and while he was shooting around after we were finished playing he fell wrong and sprained his ankle. He couldn't walk on it, and he was in a lot of pain. We went to say bye to our cousins who were leaving for the Philippines, and he couldn't even put any weight on his foot. So when we got home, I told him I would pray for his ankle. I started praying for it, and at first not much happened. But i just kept on praying. Not too much was happenign at first. But I kept praying over it. All of a sudden after I prayed once, I looked at his foot and the veins that were popped otu before had gone down and the swelling seemed to subside. My brother actually got up and started walking on it -he couldn't even put weight on it earlier! I prayed over it somemore. It still was hurting him, but he could actually walk on it again. He iced it afterwards, and he said that it was feeling a lot better.

So I dont know. That was the first real experience I had in healing prayer. It was cool because the night before Pastor Bob touched my right thumb and anointed it with healing. I didn't really know what I was doing, it wasn't like I felt anyting either. But I just took it in faith, and I know that God started healing my brother's foot. So I just pray that I may continue to grow in this anointing and do awesome things for God.

But anyhoo, it's been a journey - a crazy rollercoaster of a ride this past weekend. I don't even know if I am making any sense at this point. I wasn't even planning on continuing to write, but I did. And so here I am, It's Sunday night/ Monday morning, I'm exhausted and I just wanna go sleep. I have to teach tomorrow morning. But it's been nice to reflect on what God has been doing. I don't even know if I got across the things that God has been showing me this weekend. There is still so much in my mind, and I am just scratching the surface in my giving my supposedly "brief" recap....but you know how that goes.