Day 5 – Miracles, Power & More

Yesterday was packed with new and exciting things! We started the day as usual with a delicious breakfast and headed to the work site, where it’s safe to say I devoured 4 mangoes from the mango tree in the yard… We finished the house and gathered together in prayer, asking the Lord to fill the home with the presence of the Holy Spirit. Finally we presented the woman with the keys to her new home!
To celebrate, Pastor Ron took the whole team to Cayo for authentic Belizian “fast food,” nothing like American fast food, which consisted of Salbutes and ice cream!
Finally, we gathered for the fourth night of church, hungry for The Lord and excited for what he had in store for the congregation and our team. The night before was filled with many miracles of healing; our expectations were set high. Pastor Tom’s message was on the Baptism of the Holy Spirit. For me, this was my first time ever hearing anything on this topic. I had no idea this had anything to do with speaking in tongues. I of course had heard of speaking and praying in tongues, there were just many things about it that were unclear to me. Pastor Tom explained that speaking in tongues was a gift for ANYONE who has excepted Christ to receive that wanted it, not a reward that you had to work for; this surprised me! He also said scripture talks about praying in the spirit edifying you, in other words, charging you up! I knew that this is something I wanted and needed to have in my life. At the end of the message Pastor Tom called those up who were wanting to receive this gift. To my surprise it was the majority of the congregation and the team. I was uneasy about the whole thing and I wasn’t really sure if I was going to receive the gift or not, but I was so thirsty for what God had for me and wanted this as a weapon in my walk with Christ. Those who already had a prayer language prayed over those who wanted one and Pastor Tom told us to try it; to focus our mind on the Spirit and try and speak a few syllables. It was not really flowing for me… I was getting frustrated to say the least, finally, the Lord helped me to break through my thoughts of it being “weird” or a little frightening. The Holy Spirit began to move through me and speak though me and so many others! It was such an empowering feeling! The Spirit of The Lord made himself real to so many people last night. It was truly amazing.

Erika Peterson