The house we are living in has no power, so they are the clearest I have ever seen them.

It’s nighttime and most of my team is already asleep.

Trying to unwind, I decide to wash my feet.

As I take the wash bucket, I begin to clean off layer after layer of street dirt.

Dirt as red as Georgia clay.

It is a peaceful night and I am at rest after a very hard day of ministry.

No sleep.  Fear.  Power.  Healings.  Demons.  Muslims.  Opposition.  Freedom.  Salvations.

This month has been the hardest yet, but also the most rewarding.

As I look at the dust I begin to wonder.  Maybe the dust is not simply dust at all.  Maybe it is so much more…

As I study my feet I begin to think of all of the steps I have taken on the journe

y so far.

Step one – Ireland.  Back to Dublin.

Leaving home. Surfing.  No turning back.  Kids ministry.  Healing on the street. Danielle’s leg growing.  My team.

Step two – Romania.  Living with the Gypsies.  Painting Pape’s House.  Alex.  The Mud Village.  Caroling for Christ.  Catching a vision.  Apple Picking.  Swimming in the lake.  The Funeral.

Step three – Croatia.  Back to Hungary. Painting the church.  Prophecy over the youth.  Tasha.  ATL with Danielle and Lauren.  Train rides.  Preaching for the first time.  Communion on top of a mountain.

Step four – Turkey.  The 10/40 widow.  God calling me to the Muslim world.  Least evangelized country.  Dancing.  Ephesus.  Roof top worship.  Tea and Jesus movie.  The carpet shop.  Aydin.  Greece.  Olive grove mountain.  No one worships Artemis anymore.  Photography.

Step five – Israel.  Back for the third time.  Tirza and her beautiful children.  Desert.  Shabbat.  Hanukkah.  Leading tours.  Jerusalem.  Christmas away from home.  Petra.  The pyramids.  God growing a vision for ministry in the Middle East.  Abandonment.

Step six – Kenya.  Africa for the first time.  New Years.  Orphanage.  The street boys.  Bishop Emmanuel.  The poverty.  The children. Leading Muslims to Jesus.  The Hospital visits.  Melissa.  Worshipping on top of the mountain.  Door to door evangelism.  The VBS.  Bibles. Preaching for the first time.

The Simple Life.

Step seven – Uganda.  Intense spiritual warfare. The dark house.

Witchdoctor.  Sleepless nights.  Crusades.  Miraculous healings.  Leading.  The Bush.  Hours of hut evangelism.  Teaching in schools.  Preaching.  Deliverance.  Over 500 salvations.

And now…Four more steps.

Four more steps for God to be preached to the nations.

Four more steps until this trip is complete.

Four more steps until the next leg of my journey.

Four more steps for my feet to be covered in dust.

Four more steps for my feet to be like one man, whose feet were so covered in dust, that a woman knelt down and washed them with her tears and her hair.

The dust will be long washed off my feet, and the memories will grow dim at times, yet the impact will remain.

For I am forever covered in the dust of my Rabbi.

Spiritual Warfare.  Most Christians in the West hear that term and instantly think of crazy over-the-top charismatics, or some witchdoctor sitting in a smoke hut communing with the dead.  However, here in Africa, Spiritual Warfare is common jargon among Christians because it is something that they face literally everyday.  Here, it is more common for people to seek the help of a witchdoctor than it is to see a medical practitioner.  People face spirits everyday.  This week we have been working in Bugobi, Uganda, a small bush town.  Within a few hours of being here we learned that it is a common practice for parents to commit their newborns to the service of demons within hours of their birth.  Children wear amulets and bracelets demonstrating their pledge to evil spirits.  There are also people who practice child sacrifices in order to appease the evil spirits.  Literally everyone is walking around under spiritual oppression and the Christians are bright lights amidst a very dark environment.  The people here worship demons and believe that any health and wealth they have comes from them.  In as much as the people worship demons, they are also terrified of evil spirits.  They have many rituals and practices in order to keep the evil spirits away.  They are in such bondage and deception that they do not realize that the thing they worship is the very thing they are afraid of.

As Christians, we have to daily put on the armor of God.  We are in the middle of a battle here, and at times we can literally feel the enemy at our heals.  The first night in Uganda, we knew something was wrong.  Many of us were plagued by the spirit of fear and were oppressed at night.  Last week I slept a total of about five hours.  We could hear people screaming at night, and their chants drifted in with the wind.  The enemy was fighting very hard to get us to leave.  However, we are not children of the darkness, but children of the Light. (1 John 1).  We don’t have to walk in fear because there is no fear in Christ Jesus.  I never thought I would become one of “those” Christians, but I constantly find myself rebuking the spirit of fear.  Yesterday I found myself casting the spirit of infirmity off of my teammate who was feeling sick.  It is common for me to begin a praying for someone on the street, “I rebuke every spirit of witchcraft on this person, you have no power here.”  In Africa, everything is spiritual.  Illnesses are very rarely just illnesses, depression is very rarely just because some one is having a bad day.  Oppressive spirits run rampant here and we can see as people walk around plagued by them.  It makes me wonder how much of the Western world is under a different sort of spirit.  Here, things are so active because the people are used to that culture.  In the West, it seems as though people are perfectly content under their lethargy and spiritual dryness.

As much as it kills my skeptical, Western spirit to admit it – Spiritual Warfare is alive and well…both in the bush of Africa, and in the business world in America.  Though we are battling different spirits, evil forces are at work all over the world.  Jesus even says, “If you are not for me, you are against me.”  People all over the world are buying into the lies of the enemy and following evil spirits rather than the Truth and Light.  As Christians, it is vital for us to not only be equipped for battle, but to actually fight.  God says that he has given us the keys to the kingdom, and he has dressed us for battle.  The battle is his, and he has put us on the front lines.

Whether we are casting out demons in Africa or battling spiritual deadness in America…the battle is alive and well.
It is time for the Church to rise up and fight.

At the end, Eric asked Rachel if she wanted Jesus to come into her heart, and she said yes!  I was awestruck.  Could it really be that simple?

At the next house, I was all prepared to watch as someone else shared, but after sitting down Tim turned right to me and asked me to talk.  Evalyn and Mary had never been to church before or heard about Jesus.  Where do I possible start with someone who has never heard before?  How could I begin to make them understand the greatness of God and Christ’s incredible sacrifice on the cross?  How could I convey the amazing celebration that is the resurrection?  I was lost.  So, not knowing where else to begin, I started with creation.  I spoke about how God created a perfect world, and put us in it to have a relationship with him.  I spoke about how sin entered the world and how all of us have sinned.  I tried to outline the Gospel as best I could.  I told them how Jesus defeated the enemy on the Cross, and how his resurrection gave us all eternal life if we believe in him.  I shared with them from Romans 8 that nothing they could ever do could possibly separate them from the love of God.  I told them that God spent special time creating them, and that they were made for a purpose.  I was sure I was missing the major points and that I was doing terrible trying to talk about an incomprehensible God.  However, when I was finished, Eric told us that both Evalyn and Mary wanted to accept Jesus in their heart!  Can it be that simple?

At the end of the day, the Gospel is salvation.  It doesn’t matter how poorly it is preached, it is not my calling to save the people.  But Christ did mandate that we “preach the Gospel to all creation” (Mark 16:15).  Our job is to respond in obedience and to tell those who do not know about Jesus.  As we speak about God, we release it to Him, and place the results in God’s hands.  But we are called to speak.  Paul implores Timothy, “Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season.” (2 Timothy 4:2). But really, is it that simple?

“How then can they call on the one why have not believed in?  And how can they believe in the one whom they have not heard?  And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?”  (Romans 10:14).

It does not matter if we have a perfect sermon prepared; regardless of our experience or knowledge, “I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields!  They are ripe for the harvest!”  (John 4:35).

Fields are ripe.

People are ready.

Hearts are open.

It’s just that simple.

I love that phrase – Reckless Abandonment.  I can just feel the freedom saturating those words.  In order to abandon things, truly abandon them, there is a wild passion behind it.  It is the type of passion that drives crazy people to do the impossible.  It is the type of passion that makes people believe that dreams are possible, and that Kingdom can truly come.  I have been learning this month, that to truly go to the deeper places of God, we must because people of Reckless Abandonment.  There are so many things in this world that are holding us back from the dynamic things of God.  How tightly do I hold on to things, and am I willing to break everything at Jesus’ feet in order to follow him.  As much as I don’t want to admit it, abandonment is the message of the Gospels.  Every person that Jesus called to follow him had to completely abandon their old life.  They didn’t just have to leave their past mistakes behind, they were even called to abandon the good, God-given things.  This is the place that God has been calling me to this month.  A few days ago, I felt God calling me to abandon even more than I already have.  At first I was resistant.  I kept praying, “God I’ve given up my family, my home, my bed, what else do you want me to give up?”  And yet he called me deeper.  I began breaking the things that he was asking me at his feet in a sign of submission and abandonment.  Even though it is hard to break the things that you love, it is also the most freeing thing in the world.

Today I was brought to another level of abandonment.  Our squad leaders have been praying for a while what the next step for our squad was.  They felt like the Lord was calling us all to a level of abandonment.  They heard the Lord asking us to fast all technology as we spend December in Israel.  This means that we will not have any Internet access, and will not use our computers, iPods, or anything else electronic. So this month, I will not be able to communicate with all of you who I love so much.  But please know that you are in my prayers constantly and that I miss you more than I can describe over the internet.   Even though I am very sad that I will not be able to talk to my family on Christmas, I am excited that God loves us enough to challenge us.  I am really looking forward to spending more time with Him and just sitting at the Lord’s feet in worship.  We are leaving for Israel in less than 8 hours and I could not be more excited!!  It is the perfect place for me to get still before the Lord, and show Jesus’ love to those who have not experienced it yet.  That’s the thing about abandonment, God doesn’t just call us to hard places so that we can suffer – it’s because he has so much more good for us!  He wants to shower us with his love, his blessings and his anointing. Sometimes those things can only come when we are at a place of complete brokenness.  And the quickest was to brokenness is through abandonment, reckless abandonment.  Is God calling you to lay some things down at his feet?  Are you ready to respond in reckless abandonment and completely break the jar instead?  You see, I just keep getting this whisper in my ear that abandonment is the key to blessing.   It’s the key to a deeper relationship with Jesus.  It the start of a different kind of life – a world changing kind of life.

So may we have the strength to take our most precious alabaster jar and use it to anoint the precious Lamb of God.

May we have the courage to hear the Lord’s voice as he calls us to deeper places with him.  And may we have the obedience to walk down that path.

May we truly be people of reckless abandonment.

This week we got the chance to go to Ephesus, Turkey.  Yes, Ephesus, like the book of Ephesians, Ephesus.  Don’t worry; I had no idea it was in Turkey either.  Anyway, today I had two of the most powerful revelations that I have had on the trip thus far.  The first began when my team did one of the coolest things I have ever done.  We were sitting in the ruins of the main theater in Ephesus and decided to read the book of Ephesians out loud.  We were the only ones in the theater; so we decided to each take a turn reading a chapter out loud.  And I was up first.  To be honest, I was a little nervous.  I was scared that someone would see us and we would get kicked out.  Even though Turkey is not a closed country, it is still very unpopular to be Christian and to preach about Jesus.  I feared getting in trouble with the authorities; and that was my problem, I feared man.  Timidly, I stepped down from the theater seats onto the main stage. 

Hands slightly shaking I turned to Ephesians 1 and began to preach.  It was an incredible moment for me.  Thoughts of Paul standing on the same spot preaching to the Ephesians thousands of years ago flooded my mind as I read.  I envisioned the theater seats full of Jews and Gentiles, listening on the edge of their seats as they heard the good news of Jesus Christ for the first time.  As we each took our turn on the stage, various tour groups made their way through the theater, each silently listening to the words being spoken.  We got to preach where so many spiritual giants had stood before us.  The best part is, we just did what we wanted to do in that moment.  We didn’t set out to preach on the street corner.  We didn’t go searching for converts or beating people with the Bible.  The moment was truly organic.  Who knows how many seeds were planted that day.  I was amazed that people actually sat, listened, and some even applauded as the Gospel was read out loud in a 99.7% Muslim country.  I learned that day to never fear the acts of man.  Instead, my calling is to just fall more in love with the Lord daily and allow him to move me when he wants me to move, and for me to rest and be when he wants to love on me.  It truly is wonderful that the Lord is calling us to just be still and know that He is God.

While we were sitting in the theater I began thinking about Paul’s visit to Ephesus as recorded in Acts.  Acts 19 says that while he was there, Paul basically went in front of the temple of Artemis and declared that “gods made my human hands are no gods at all”.  It angered the people so much that they all gathered in the theater and for 2 hours yelled, “Great is Artemis, god of the Ephesians!”

Let me provide a little background…During this time, Ephesus was one of the biggest cities in the world.  It was a port city, and was therefore was home to many different types of people.  Artemis, their god was one of the most worshiped gods in all of Asia, as well as the rest of the world.  The influence of the Ephesians stretched far indeed.  The temple built for Artemis is one of the ancient wonders of the world today.  This town was completely devoted to their god.  Paul and his companions caused such an uproar that the crowd was ready to kill him.

Paul’s friends prevented him from going into the theater, for fear of his life, but they stood boldly before the crowd.

This story really stuck me hard.  Paul and his friends basically, in today’s equivalent, walked up to the Hagia Sofia and yelled that Allah is no god at all and that Jesus is the only true God.  If they did that today, they would probably be killed instantly…but that thought never worried the Early Church.

I wonder if today we hold on too dearly to our own safety.

I wonder if we think quantity is greater than quality and that we will be able to “reach more people” if we keep on living.

I wonder what would have happened if Jesus thought that way?

I think sometimes we wait and do not do radical things like Paul because we don’t “get a vision from God” to do it.  So we keep on waiting for an absolution that may never come.  Hasn’t he already told us in his word that we will be persecuted on account of his name?

Scripture tells us that the Ephesians believed they were the guardian of the temple of one of the greatest gods in all of Asia.  Artemis was the most powerful and most worshiped god.  They loved their god so dearly that they yelled adoration for Artemis for two hours. That seems like an impenetrable religion.  Yet Paul kept tilling the hard ground.  He may never have seen any results….

And yet, No one worships Artemis anymore….

I wonder if during the riots Paul saw any hearts changed.

I wonder if he was concerned with his ruining his witness in those moments.

I wonder if he was worried about offending people.

It seems as though he merely preached the Word and let God do the rest.  Too often I think I am scared to speak about Jesus because I fear it will hinder the fragile relationship that I am building with non-Christians.

But who am I to get in the way of God?

If He is passionately pursuing hearts like I think he is, I doubt I am going to be able to prevent it.  Maybe God is just waiting for me to boldly tell people about him, and then he will move in hearts.  John 6 says that the Father draws people to Jesus.

So are we called today to till the ground through consistent friendships?

Or are we still called to preach boldly everywhere we go like the Early Church did?

The whisper still remains…

No one worships Artemis anymore.

This month has been one of the most trying months for me so far.   It has been wonderful, yet very tough at the same time.  This month our teams were given the assignment of Asking The Lord (ATL) about which country we should go to next.  We were supposed to be in Egypt this month, however, we were not able to get our whole squad to the Middle East until December.  So Petra Asked the Lord and we felt him calling us to Croatia.  We went with Kingdom Unity and arrived in Osijek, Croatia with no place to stay and no contacts.  We were blessed to find a church that was willing to house us for a night, so we all packed into their youth center.  The next day we learned that another church about 3 hours away was in need of a small team for a week.  So Petra and Kingdom Unity decided to merge and then split up again, so I was with Tim, Liz and Lauren from Petra and Matt, Heather and Lauren Williamson from Kingdom Unity.  We worked at a small church for the most wonderful old couple who are so in love with God.  It was wonderful to get to paint, cook and serve them.  It was a great week for us.

We went back to Osijek and joined up with the others who had been doing youth ministry for the week.  We all went to Pula next, a beautiful coastal city on the Adriatic Sea.  Even though our teams were in the same location, the squad leaders felt that we should continue to be separated.  So I ended up the same team, but Liz and Tim were traded for Tamica and Joel.  So we had our new teams, and then set out to find contacts and build relationships with the people of Pula.   This part of the month was hardest for me because I did not have a tangible ministry to work on.  Each day we were not sure about what we were doing until we were actually doing it.

The first expectation I learned to lay down was my expectations of having the same 6 people around me for a year.  Petra had just begun to act like a family, and then we were all separated.  Being apart from them helped me see how much I was relying on them for support and comfort.  I was blessed with so many new and wonderful relationships because of the separation, and I am so thankful that we were able to do that.  I learned a lot about leaning on those around me, whether they are on my official team or not.  I also learned to lay down my expectation of the race in general.  Coming on the race I thought I would either have a clear ministry objective for the day, or would be given an entire day free to ask the Lord what he wanted us to do for the day and then do it.  This month was neither, and it was hard for me to adjust to that.  Instead, I learned to be very flexible and stay in the Spirit at all times.  We had to be ready at a moments notice to give testimonies, pray, or speak life into someone.  There were not many moments that we had “off” (as if Christians ever really have an off day).  Because of this, I learned how to draw my strength from God alone and how to submit my will and all of my desires to him, no matter what.

While this month was a difficult transition for me, I am thankful for it and excited about the next steps!  Right now I am on a train back to Osijek then on to a smaller city.  They split our teams up again and I am with Danielle and Lauren Williamson is our leader.  Our entire objective for the next 5 days is simply Ask the Lord and follow his leading.  I am really looking forward to what he is going to lead us in!  I am so thankful for the hard lessons that I learned this month, and I look forward to our next step of ministry.

May we all continue to lay our expectations down, and in return allow the Lord to move freely in our lives.

~ Jennifer .

Oh, and, speaking of expectations, I guess I should have laid down my expectation of only going to 11 countries a long time ago.  It’s only month 3 and we’ve already been to 6 countries (Ireland, Northern Ireland, Romania, Hungary, Croatia and Serbia for those who are counting).  We had the opportunity to go to Serbia for a day, and here are some highlights from our trip.  You can view the whole album HERE.

Today, may we be open and willing vessels and when we feel the rustling of the Spirit,
may we do everything in our power to catch the vision.

I also have some exciting news! Our original race route had us going to Egypt next, however that is not going to work out.  So as of right now we are Asking the Lord for our next month of ministry.  Each team is spending the next two weeks searching after the Lord’s will and listening for his voice.  AIM has a few contacts that we may meet up with, but many of us will be praying and following the Lord’s leading completely.  I am very excited about this next step!  All we know is that we will be in Eastern Europe somewhere.  From there we were supposed to go to Jordan in November, but it’s looking we will be headed to Turkey instead!  From there we will hopefully still be heading to Israel in December! I hope that this is the case!!  Please be in prayer for us this month as we learn in to God’s voice.

Also a quick update about support, I still have about $4,000 left to raise.  My next deadline is November 1st, for which I need $1000 more and then the finial deadline is January 1st for the rest of the amount.  I thank you all so much for all of your wonderful help and sacrifices in getting me on the field.  I am SOOO excited about the ministry God is doing here and through all of your gifts.  Be blessed knowing that He is up to great things.  Ok, without any further delay, I present a snapshot of my life in Romania so far:

Well, this has been quite a week to be sure. I still can’t quite wrap my mind around everything that has happened. To begin this week, we did a children’s ministry at the Causeway Coast Vineyard. The ministry was wonderful! The children’s pastor, Dave, is a great man of faith. He challenged us to look at this week’s ministry, not as a babysitting opportunity, but as a divine appointment for these children. He taught us that there is no Junior Holy Spirit and that God wants to touch each of these kids just like he is touching us. So we went into this week expecting great things. Every game that we played, every hug that we gave with filled with our prayers for the children. I am excited to tell ya’ll that bout 8 children stood up and asked Jesus into their heart this week! Praise the Lord!! Then about 10 more asked the Holy Spirit to filled them and be dynamic in their life. I guess I have always seen children’s ministry as a means to watch the kids while the parents spent time with the Lord, however, this week completely changed my perspective.

During the afternoons we have also been doing acts of service in the community in Coleraine. We go into businesses and wash their windows, scrub their toilets, and show them the love of Christ in a practical way. We are also doing surveys on the street, and through that another person came to know the Lord! It really is amazing to see what happens when we step out in faith. I must be honest, I was a big skeptic of just talking to people in businesses or on the street, I thought that they would reject us because we were interrupting their daily life. However, people can’t deny love in a practical way. When we first show them the love of Christ, they want to hear more. It’s about acting first then talking. On Saturday we showed God’s love in a way that I have never experienced before.

Every Saturday the Vineyard goes out to the town square and sets up chairs and a banner that says “Healing”, they pray, and then they wait. We watched as person after person in the community came and sat down in those chairs and were miraculously healed. I’m not kidding ya’ll, I watched people healed this week! It was absolutely crazy, people in the streets, non-Christians, experiencing the love and power of Christ for the first time in their life! What I love about the Vineyard is that their goal is never the miracle, it’s God and his love. So they always go back to how much God loves that person and wants to be in relationship with them. I also loved that it wasn’t a huge ordeal, literally the people of the church talked about Gods love to the community and shared how much they are loved and then just said “Be healed” and commanded the sicknesses to leave. There was no big show or anything, and I loved that! God is a God of peace, and every person who sat down felt God’s peace. I am seriously so excited to share everything I have learned about healing with ya’ll this week! One of the main leaders of the ministry, Mark Marcs offered his time to us and came to teach us what he has learned in 20 years of ministry. His talks were awesome, and I can’t wait to share with you what happened at the end! But I’ll save that for later this week Until then, I want each of you to be encouraged that God’s power is inside each of us. Don’t be afraid to ask for the miraculous and expect it in our lives. We don’t need “more” of God, or a special anointing, we are all filled with God’s Spirit, the same Spirit that filled Christ, and we are ready – Just respond in faith at the Lord’s leading.

I’ll leave you with some pictures of this week (It’s ok to doubt, I’ll be the first to admit that I was a Thomas for sure until I saw it with my own eyes). I took the pictures below myself on my iphone camera. The first is of my friend Mike’s legs begin shorter than the other, look at the heals and you can really see it. The second is a few seconds later after Mike experienced God’s love. My friend Daina video taped this amazing moment, and the video is real and unedited I promise, be sure to watch the arms be realigned too

I love you all and miss you tons. I can’t wait to hear the stories of what you are doing in America!

Healing on the Streets from Daina Norusis on Vimeo.