I know it feels like all your Christmas's have come at once as I am writing yet another blog post. When it rains it pours I guess!
I am busily trying to get myself organised to go on a mission's trip to Argentina in just two days time. I haven't even started packing yet, haha! Although I will attempt to try and start tonight.
I am leaving on the 29th of March and returning on the 9th of April. I am so looking forward to it, and at the same time have absolutely no grid to filter through all the things that I know I will be seeing on this trip.
We will be driving from Redding for about 2 hours down to Sacramento, and then flying 3.5 hrs to Houston Texas. Then a 10.5 hr flight to the capital of Argentina, Buenos Aires. We will be landing on the Friday morning and having the rest of the day off to recover and see some sights and then it's down to some serious work.
We have 3 services to attend at Pastor Claudio Friedzon's 20,000 member church on the Saturday, and 5 services on the Sunday. After the night service on Sunday we are jumping on a bus and travelling another 15 hrs to a very poor region of Argentina up near the Chilean border called La Roija. Here, we will be ministering as part of this Church drive to reach the whole country of Argentina by meeting real needs in a practical way, by providing food, medical supplies, clothes, water etc. But also releasing supernatural provision, by ministering through telling people the Gospel, praying for healing and deliverance, and prophesying over them.
We are up at 5am every morning, and loading the buses with provisions for the people and then praying together and leaving by around 7am and ministering till early afternoon. Then coming back to the very basic army barracks where we will be sleeping, to have a siesta and going back out around 7pm till 10pm or after. We will be loving and ministering to people but also inviting them to a revival meeting on the Friday night which Claudio Friedzon will be running, where they are hoping for 10,000 people or more to show up, to here the Gospel with their ears and see it demonstrated with their eyes. So we then have our meal after around 10pm. We debrief etc after that so I wouldn't imaging getting to bed till around 12 every night which is fine but then we are getting up at 5 every morning. Haha, least having small kids has gotten me used to living on minimal sleep.
After this big evangelistic crusade meeting on the Friday night, which will probably go til around 11pm, we are again jumping on the bus for the return 15 hr bus ride to Buenos Aires. Please be praying for me, as I have had in the past a lot of trouble with sleeping whilst travelling, on both planes or buses. Not because I am not tired but due to a condition called restless legs and trying to sleep sitting up really triggers it which can make it virtually impossible to sleep. So as you can see I am really going to need my sleep on these times of travel to make sure I have enough sleep in the bank, to be fully functioning and bringing the best that I have to offer these beautiful people of Argentina.
So we return to Buenos Aries on the Saturday and 1.5 hrs after getting in we are back at Church for the first of three services. We then do 3 services up to late afternoon when we load up the buses to go to the aiport to return to the good ol' USofA!! Man I feel tired just writing this let alone living it out in the very near future.
I really am so looking forward to it though. It has always been a dream of mine ever since I started reading books on revivals and revival history since my mid teens to go to South America, particularly Argentina and Brazil and feel so blessed to have been personally chosen for this trip. This trip was organised at the last minute and wasn't one of the trips offered. I was accepted to go on a different trip which I had applied for and was fully expecting to go. And then out of the blue, I was personally asked by one of the leaders of this trip if I wanted to go with him to Argentina. I absolutely jumped at this once in a lifetime opportunity. Argentina has been in varying states of revival since 1992 when God used Claudio and Carlos Annocondia and others to really begin to touch their land with the power of the Gospel. So to be able to be ministering in his church and on his outreach is a massive honour. And we are hoping to have some personal time with him for some prayer and impartation which I really hope comes to pass.
You can probably tell I am excited and I am, but I am also a little freaked out too. Ha! I'll be going into another culture, of which I don't speak the language, and trying to witness and minister through an interpreter. We will be having to really rough it physically and I am wondering how I will be affected by seeing such poverty and brokeness. Knowing we are going to be so busy and sleep deprived, with almost 60 hours of travel just makes me realize I need to encounter and carry the presence of God on me at all times on this trip. So I could really use your prayer, for all the things I just mentioned but also that this trip would change my life forever. That I would encounter the raw power of God, that I would be so deeply impacted by seeing and touching the poorest of the poor with the love of God, and the compassion of man. That we as a team would really catch God's heart and follow His Spirit with such accuracy that Argentina and us as individuals would never be the same. That I would be so marked with revival, and touched with revival fire that I would bring it back to my own home land, and see Australia touched with a great move of God.
Also, Jo and I have never been apart for this long ever in our marriage, and I know that it is going to be so hard for me and hopefully she misses me too haha! At least a little bit. But praise God for my amazing mother in law, Margie Mount who is flying over to be with my wife and kids during this time. Her presence with my family puts my heart at ease. However, if you could please be praying for Jo and the kids that would be so appreciated. That Jo would have such a grace on her, a strength to remain steadfast in love and compassion when it gets tough when Dad's not around.
Finally, I'd like to say such a big 'Thankyou!' to all of you who have supported me financially or with prayer to get me on this trip, I am eternally thankful, and I can't wait to give you a rundown of the spoils of this trip in a few weeks time.
Adios Amigos!!
P.S. Above I have added a short video from the host church in Buenos Aires about the mission I am going on. Haha! it is in Spanish so you might not understand a word but it really does show you the kind of thing I will be doing, and the actual area I will be going into. Enjoy it. Please be praying for Argentina!
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