The Good the Great and the Gathering

This past weekend all the interns and leaders went on an outreach to the Haunted Happenings in Salem Massachusetts to give spiritual readings to the people attending the event. Haunted Happenings is an annual event that starts somewhere in mid October near the end and runs until the 31st. Our group is going back to Salem this weekend and then again for the day on the 31st.

Our group waiting to start in the morning in Salem, our white tents to the left.

On Saturday I did some hosting of the tent, which comprised of asking people if they wanted a spiritual reading or a dream interpretation and then writing there name down if there was a wait. Also to check on the teams to see how they were doing, if they needed more prayer, a team member needed a break or if they needed anything else. Later when I was done my shift of hosting I was on my first team with team leader Sharon Felder and another intern to give 'spiritual readings' ( a non-christianese title for prophetic words). After giving a some words to a few different people that had come into out tent and left happy, a lady and her friend came in for a dream interpretation, she told us her reoccurring dream and was hoping we could make it stop from coming back again. Our team tried to interpret the dream but the lady didn't seem to be very open to receive anything we said, after she left I was feeling very discouraged for I was having a hard time hearing God clearly. When on a team for a while it tends to drain you for you are always giving and not receiving, so we took a break and I was able to get refreshed by God through prayer. Also I was feeling a burden to pray for our group while we were there, so I felt a bit more emotionally vulnerable.

Jesse Matthews (Kelowna BC) Tom Schwabe (Los Angeles CA,) and Diane Armenio (Boston MAS,) Resting after finishing a shift.

Later that night I was on another team with another intern, Matthew Howard (England), and John, another fellow from The Gathering, Matthew was leading and this time the words that God gave me seemed effortless. After people had come and gone and I was feeling much more encouraged for they were receiving what we had to give them, I ended up leading our team for the last few people. When the night was over I soooo encouraged and happy for God lifted my spirits by giving us people who received everything we had for them, and some how we also ended up with a few dreams to interpret even though non of us are really trained to interpret dreams, but from what we knew the people were totally blessed.

Everyone left Salem a different person than when they came, for God showed up in so many different ways and never ceased to amaze us in how He wanted to use us for His purposes. So many lives were touched and changed just because a group of people were obedient to what He asked, including us.

That is just one of my stories, every single intern and leader has so many more stories of their own of how God changed people's lives through them. It was one amazing weekend and we are going to be heading out for another this weekend.