Impart to you Spiritual Gifts

Ministry in Nepal was great.  Our entire squad of 44 people were together in ministry, in our living situation and for corporate worship and study.  We worked with Tami Ministries, run by Brian Williams and his wife, Ruth.  They have many outreaches to the community including:

• Working with children in the slums

• Providing a 2 hour school, 6 days a week in the Tara slum for any children who will come

• Having a soccer and feeding program on Wednesdays for children who live on the streets

• Working with women to get them out of bars and brothels and into a learning center, so they can learn to read and write their own language or English and basic knowledge classes, making candles or learning how to be a tailor, to support the program and long term, themselves

• Helping refugees and asylum seekers by providing room and board for those who work in their ministry

Brian and his team operate by faith.  Romans 1:11-12 I long to see you so that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to make you strong-that is, that you and I may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith.  They were able to stretch and grow us by sharing their experiences with us and leading us in activities.  Some examples are Amad, Prophetic Drawing and Jewelry Making, Treasure Hunts, Prophetic Painting and weekly Shabbat Shalom.

Amad: Is spending quiet time with God.  We would spend an hour together in individual quiet time before going out to do ministry.  Making sure that we were charged up and ready to pour out to others.

Prophetic Drawing: We were asked to spend some time in prayer, specifically asking God what He wanted us to draw.  Then we were given time to draw and color, what we had heard.  Once our pictures were complete, we split into two groups and went to two different slum areas.  We were asked to pray for the Holy Spirit to direct us to who our drawing was for.  We spent time in prayer over the school building in the Tara slum and then walked around the slums, talking with people and letting the Holy Spirit direct our steps and conversations.

I felt the Spirit asking me to draw a winding path, with signs pointing different directions and to make it brightly colored.  As I was praying around the slums, I kept thinking of two sisters that worked at a favorite restaurant, many of us frequented because their food was good and fit into our budget.  I kept my drawing and went to the Yawakel Fast Food Restaurant to have dinner and see if Shabala (Shaa-ba-laa) was there.  I waited until things had quieted down in the restaurant and I gave the drawing to Shabala.   I told her that I felt Jesus wanted me to draw this picture for her and that the path with many signs was a picture of her choices.  She is in college now, studying to be a pharmacist and there are many different paths and detours she can take.  Many things in this world are trying to grab her attention.  I was able to share the Gospel with her and let her know that Jesus is calling out to her, trying to get her attention and showering His love on her as well.  Please keep Shabala in your prayers: for her education, her family and her salvation.

Jewelry Making: We prayed as a group, had Amad together and then set out to make some jewelry for women we were going out to minister to that day.  Once we made a nice bracelet or necklace, we prayed over them, asking the Holy Spirit to lead us to the women for this jewelry.  As teams, we were sent out with people from Tami to translate and they directed us to clubs, bars and restaurants that they knew to be places of prostitution.  My group was able to pray outside of some establishments but we were not able to talk with any of the women.  We did a prayer walk around the area, asking God to break the strongholds of the people, praying for redemption and freedom.

Treasure Hunts: Treasure Hunts incorporates the use of words of knowledge (clues) that you write on your Treasure Map to find Treasures (people) who need a supernatural encounter with God through an encouraging prophetic word or healing. This is not about preaching or arguing with people, but rather giving them a practical demonstration of the goodness of God. Treasure hunts are a great tool for those who have felt intimidated by witnessing to family members, friends, co-workers, and those in the community. Through this fun and easy method you become empowered with confidence and competence to bring supernatural encounters to people around you. Through treasure hunts you can become a world changer, transforming your community one encounter at a time! from ibethel.org

My team spent time praying together and one person wrote down clues as people said them.  We had a local with us to help us fit together the clues and figure out the place we should start.  We ended up three different places.  First, was a shop on the main road that had purple cloth hanging and Katie spend some time talking with the shopkeeper.  Next, we went to a different section of town where there was a temple in the middle of a pond.  As we took a break and prayed, I felt like I was hearing from the Holy Spirit to go to a restaurant that was in this part of town.  Ashley came with me and as we were walking I kept thinking about a woman in a yellow shirt.  Ashley had been to the restaurant before and I was asking her what the waiters wear and she said not yellow.  We were at the corner of the restaurant and we bumped into another team.  They were looking for a women in a purple shirt and I was wearing a purple shirt.  So, they prayed for me and we stayed together for a few minutes.  

As we walked by a travel agency that Ashley had been to about a week earlier, she saw that one of the travel agents was a woman with a bright yellow shirt.  Also, outside the entrance was a water feature and yellow marigolds, both were words that we had gotten earlier in the day.  We felt the prompting from the Spirit to go inside and talk with the woman in the yellow shirt.  It was a bit awkward at first and I jumped right in with “I feel like the Lord wanted us to come and visit you.”  She seemed surprised but kept the conversation going.  As we talked, I kept thinking of her Mom and asked her how she was.  At first she said she was good and then she shared that her Mom had been bitten by a street dog a week ago and was getting rabies shots and taking care of the bite.  We asked is she minded us praying for her and she agreed but asked us not to pray right then as she was in her work place.  I really feel like the Lord sent us there to plant a seed with her that day.  It was different and not the most comfortable situation but totally worth it.  Especially for us to follow the promptings of the Spirit and to be willing to go where we were instructed and to watch Him show up!

Prophetic Painting: Half of our group took a one day course on prophetic painting with Lisa, a woman who is apart of the beauty salon that is run by the ministry.  She walked us through using painting as a form of worship.  Here is my painting:

Shabbat Shalom: Every Friday night we would get together with all of the workers involved in the ministry of Tami and have Shabbat Shalom.  This was a time of rejoicing over what the Lord had done throughout the week.  Each team would prepare a dish to share and we would fellowship together.  One person would share a message to encourage the group and we would have some fun praising the Lord.