Hola Amigos!
My time in Mexico so far has been great :) Ministering mainly in and around the town of Actopan, I have seen Jesus at work in the hearts and lives of the people here, setting them free and transferring them from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of light.
Our Team is currently taking a few rest days here on the coast where we can see the lights of Veracruz City just down the shoreline. The drug cartels have been taking over the city and apparently it is now one of the most dangerous places in Mexico. There are a lot of people getting killed and bodies dumped in the streets. It is so peaceful here and hard to imagine that just ½ hr to 45 mins away there is such strife. We release the peace of Heaven to Veracruz in Jesus’ Name!
October 2-4th, 2011 // Mexico City and beyond
I arrived at the airport on Sunday where Christian and Rowan picked me up. We headed to the RV park where a few of the team were staying, and the rest joined us later from Mexico City where they had been ministering in the dumps for a few days. It was so great to see Jesse, Tanya and Zoe again who I had travelled with earlier this year in Asia. Also Christian and Katherine who were part of the Iris Thailand team, and Ted, Caitlin, Melissa and Liz who were from my school in Mozambique. Altogether we are a team of 21 Iris Alumni plus baby Zoe, from the United States, Canada, New Zealand, England, South Africa and Australia.
Monday, we packed up the campers and set out for Actopan. After a few run‐ins with the police, we decided to stop behind a gas station for the night, worship and soak for a bit and start again in the morning. That time was so needed and it was so great to take communion together and hear everyone’s hearts on their time so far. We drove for another 8 hours the next day, travelling through beautiful mountains and at one point through thick fog for a good stretch of road. We passed two snow‐capped mountains, one which was smoking as it is an active volcano.
October 4th-7th, 2011 // Actopan, Mexico
We stayed at one family’s home, parking the campers in their driveway and the motor homes on the road. The believers here were very hospitable, feeding us a great range of Mexican cuisine and letting us all use their (cold) shower!
We visited two different villages the first day, splitting into teams to cover the whole area going house to house, talking with and praying for the people and inviting them to a “program especial” later in the day. The second village was a village where they said there were “African” people, so we were quite excited, as we had all done school in Mozambique and missed Africans! We got there and could tell some had some African blood in them, being darker skinned and some definitely had African facial features and tight curly hair.
Jesus was lifted high in those villages as individuals burnt their witchcraft, were healed and set free and gave themselves to the only One who can ever fulfil and satisfy their hearts. One team member reported to us later of praying for one blind man and not seeing him healed. He walked away frustrated and determined to contend to see the Lord’s healing break through. So he found another man who had one blind eye and one seeing eye. He prayed for him and prayed again and prayed again… and watched as the man’s eye went from white to brown! Praise Jesus! He then went and found another man with the same situation: one blind eye. He and the Mexican pastor who was with him watched as under their hands this man’s eye went brown as well!! This pastor was encouraged (as equally was our team member!) to continue praying and believing for the Kingdom of Heaven on earth!
We prayed for many during the services later and the Holy Spirit touched them powerfully, laying them out on the ground and encountering them. At one point there was an altar call where the people came up for healing, on the right of the speaker and the others came up for the baptism of the Holy Spirit, on the left. There was one lady in an orange dress who came up to support her friend who seemed to be having trouble walking. I felt the Holy Spirit nudging me to pray for her, instead of the friend. So I laid one hand on her shoulder and started praying. As I prayed I felt specifically to release an encounter for her with Daddy God, that she would have a revelation of His heart for her and how special she was to him… I felt that she needed deep heart healing, as opposed to physical healing. As I prayed, tears started to run down her face and the Lord touched her beautifully. I am finding that often the Lord asks me to pray for a long time and stay with someone, soaking them in His love and presence rather than going from person to person. As I obey he often does a deep work in their hearts. He started training me in this during my time at IHOP and now I am seeing it was to prepare me for Latin America as well!
The same happened the next night as we served in a church service run in the actual town of Actopan. There were a few older ladies there who I had the privilege of loving on… It’s amazing how much can be communicated even with just “pocito pocito espanol!” (very little Spanish). There seemed to be a few mothers here whose children went off either to Guatamela or the States and they have not heard from them for years. The Holy Spirit is the best comforter. We prayed that their children would encounter the Lord wherever they are and that they would in turn come back into contact with their parents. God is in the business of turning the hearts of the Fathers to their children and the children to their fathers.
That night quite a few of the team were tired and were free to leave back to the campers as they felt to.
However I stayed to the end and as I did the presence of God just came thicker and thicker, and we saw Him do more and more in the hearts of the many teenagers and adults there. There was one teenage boy who was resistant to responding to the message. He was on drugs and alcohol, and as one of the team guys went over to pray for him he started to throw up slime as demons left him. Thank you JESUS for this boy’s freedom! Towards the end of the service, we laid hands on and prayed for the pastors and leaders of the church. They also blessed and prayed over us.
More and MORE of Jesus for you! I pray that the heavens open with everything you need today – even what you don’t realise that you need! Lord do whatever you want in their lives today!
Lots of love and hugs, Serena xo
My time in Mexico so far has been great :) Ministering mainly in and around the town of Actopan, I have seen Jesus at work in the hearts and lives of the people here, setting them free and transferring them from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of light.
Our Team is currently taking a few rest days here on the coast where we can see the lights of Veracruz City just down the shoreline. The drug cartels have been taking over the city and apparently it is now one of the most dangerous places in Mexico. There are a lot of people getting killed and bodies dumped in the streets. It is so peaceful here and hard to imagine that just ½ hr to 45 mins away there is such strife. We release the peace of Heaven to Veracruz in Jesus’ Name!
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| Camped out at the beach for some REST time! As Mama Heidi says, "When you're tired, SIT DOWN!" |
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| A gem found at the home of one of the couples who hosted us. It was found there the day we were originally meant to arrive! |
October 2-4th, 2011 // Mexico City and beyond
I arrived at the airport on Sunday where Christian and Rowan picked me up. We headed to the RV park where a few of the team were staying, and the rest joined us later from Mexico City where they had been ministering in the dumps for a few days. It was so great to see Jesse, Tanya and Zoe again who I had travelled with earlier this year in Asia. Also Christian and Katherine who were part of the Iris Thailand team, and Ted, Caitlin, Melissa and Liz who were from my school in Mozambique. Altogether we are a team of 21 Iris Alumni plus baby Zoe, from the United States, Canada, New Zealand, England, South Africa and Australia.
Monday, we packed up the campers and set out for Actopan. After a few run‐ins with the police, we decided to stop behind a gas station for the night, worship and soak for a bit and start again in the morning. That time was so needed and it was so great to take communion together and hear everyone’s hearts on their time so far. We drove for another 8 hours the next day, travelling through beautiful mountains and at one point through thick fog for a good stretch of road. We passed two snow‐capped mountains, one which was smoking as it is an active volcano.
October 4th-7th, 2011 // Actopan, Mexico
We stayed at one family’s home, parking the campers in their driveway and the motor homes on the road. The believers here were very hospitable, feeding us a great range of Mexican cuisine and letting us all use their (cold) shower!
We visited two different villages the first day, splitting into teams to cover the whole area going house to house, talking with and praying for the people and inviting them to a “program especial” later in the day. The second village was a village where they said there were “African” people, so we were quite excited, as we had all done school in Mozambique and missed Africans! We got there and could tell some had some African blood in them, being darker skinned and some definitely had African facial features and tight curly hair.
We prayed for many during the services later and the Holy Spirit touched them powerfully, laying them out on the ground and encountering them. At one point there was an altar call where the people came up for healing, on the right of the speaker and the others came up for the baptism of the Holy Spirit, on the left. There was one lady in an orange dress who came up to support her friend who seemed to be having trouble walking. I felt the Holy Spirit nudging me to pray for her, instead of the friend. So I laid one hand on her shoulder and started praying. As I prayed I felt specifically to release an encounter for her with Daddy God, that she would have a revelation of His heart for her and how special she was to him… I felt that she needed deep heart healing, as opposed to physical healing. As I prayed, tears started to run down her face and the Lord touched her beautifully. I am finding that often the Lord asks me to pray for a long time and stay with someone, soaking them in His love and presence rather than going from person to person. As I obey he often does a deep work in their hearts. He started training me in this during my time at IHOP and now I am seeing it was to prepare me for Latin America as well!
The same happened the next night as we served in a church service run in the actual town of Actopan. There were a few older ladies there who I had the privilege of loving on… It’s amazing how much can be communicated even with just “pocito pocito espanol!” (very little Spanish). There seemed to be a few mothers here whose children went off either to Guatamela or the States and they have not heard from them for years. The Holy Spirit is the best comforter. We prayed that their children would encounter the Lord wherever they are and that they would in turn come back into contact with their parents. God is in the business of turning the hearts of the Fathers to their children and the children to their fathers.
That night quite a few of the team were tired and were free to leave back to the campers as they felt to.
However I stayed to the end and as I did the presence of God just came thicker and thicker, and we saw Him do more and more in the hearts of the many teenagers and adults there. There was one teenage boy who was resistant to responding to the message. He was on drugs and alcohol, and as one of the team guys went over to pray for him he started to throw up slime as demons left him. Thank you JESUS for this boy’s freedom! Towards the end of the service, we laid hands on and prayed for the pastors and leaders of the church. They also blessed and prayed over us.
More and MORE of Jesus for you! I pray that the heavens open with everything you need today – even what you don’t realise that you need! Lord do whatever you want in their lives today!
Lots of love and hugs, Serena xo
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