Mission Trip to Venezuela

I had the privilege of going to Valencia, Venezuela and the surrounding area to minister for almost 2 weeks.  It was a phenomenal experience.  My team & I were obedient in what God directed us to do and because of that He really used us to touch peoples lives.  So much happened in such a short amount of time that there is no way I can write about it all.  But I will attempt to tell you about some of the highlights.  When I arrived in Caracas the first thing I noticed was how welcomed & loved I was.  The people there had so much love for others.  The family that let me stay with them would have given me the shirt off their back!  I now have a family I call my own in Venezuela & I love them so much.   

The first weekend I was there we taught church leaders about a prayer ministry tool called Wellsprings.  
wellspring-ministries.org  I have used and been through many different types of counseling and ministry sessions and I have by far experienced the most success with this.  I believe that's because it is all about praying and completely depending on God (not man) for healing and freedom. Another thing I love about Wellsprings is that it gives you the prayer 
tools to use for your own upkeep. :)  I taught on self bitterness and the occult at the church because I had a lot of experience with these in my past.  After we were done with teaching we offered people to come up if they'd like to receive prayer. Many people came up and God spoke to them.  Lots of people were saved and received the Holy Spirit.  Many of them fell out under the power of God.  I noticed while we were praying that more people were coming into the church to receive prayer.  I realized that the people who had gotten prayer were calling others to come because of the amazing way God was moving.  By the time we had finished praying the number of people had tripled.  It was amazing- but even more amazing to see their faith. 
We went to many prayer meetings, dinners, and other get together while we were there.  Each time God showed Himself.  
The second weekend I was there we went to a youth camp in the mountains.  It was so beautiful! The youth that we spent time with were so on fire for God.  I shared my testimony first.  I let them know the more I compromised the things of God in my life the less I recognized myself until I had completely changed into something horrible. I felt like I had chains holding me back every time I would try to change for the better.  At the end of my testimony most of the kids came up and wanted prayer afterward to have the chains that held them back broken off.  The presence of God was so strong!
The next day I taught them not to befriend the ways of the World but to stand firm in who God created them to be.  At the end one of the worker at the camp asked if I would pray for him.  As I prayed God told me that the man had back pain so I asked him if I could pray for that.  He was surprised but said yes.  As another guy from our team & I prayed for him we literally felt his backbone straighten!!! It was so crazy.  After his healing the worker received Jesus and the Holy Spirit.  We gave him a Bible and put him in contact with a leader from the church there.  He was so excited that his back had no pain that he told the other workers in the camp.  I noticed that they would all come and watch through the windows anytime we worshiped or had a teaching.  
The next day Nick the other guy in our ministry team shared his testimony.  It was so powerful and all of the kids really connected with what he shared.  Afterward many of them came up and asked for pray to help them forgive people that had hurt them in their past.  Some of the horrible things that these kids had gone through & wanted prayer for tore at my heart.  Many of them were broken before the Lord and received healing.  One guy had broken his toe that day playing games.  God told me to pray for him and when I was done I asked him if it felt better and he said not really.  As I began to walk away I heard commotion behind me and turned to see the boy unwrapping his foot and crying loudly.  He jumped up and ran over to me hugging me and crying for a long time.  When he let go all I could do was point up to God and give Him all the glory.
The last day of the camp we got to hear many of the youth share their revelations from God about certain scriptures. At that point I knew that they had truly gotten what God had sent us there to share.  We just encouraged them to take what they had learned with them and not leave it at the camp.  I can tell you that everything I received from Venezuela will always be with me.  As I watered I was also watered.  It was a life changing experienced!!!