September 19 -- Reprise 3 -- Kraków

Good Morning,  I am sitting in the midst of The Sweet Life !  This is a wonderful coffee shop with fresh baked cup cakes and muffins, et cetera.  It is operated by some wonderful Jesus centered folks.  And they have a good wifi.  I have a cup of latte and just finished devouring a Peach Cheesecake Muffin that was fabulous !  YUM !

On Tuesday morning and evening Holy Spirit focused us on pouring out Papa's love for His people and on His call for them to develop intimate relationships.  We shared prophetic words with many of the folks.  These themes of ministry continued through out the week with several different groups.

During the days, between messages we were making trips to the hospital and struggling to ensure Bruno and his family were supported.  We also were teaching in the car to the two young men that Bruno had assigned to drive and support us.  We also were meeting with families and individuals to minister deliverance from sorcery and witchcraft curses and from other demons.  So as torturous and far as the drive was to get to the hotel, when we finally got there in the nights we were grateful to fall into the beds and sleep the sleep of the exhausted.

One day when things were moving fast around us our drivers needed to meet with some of their colleagues.  We stopped just a few minutes from the hospital at the Ibis Hotel for the meeting.  I have used Ibis Hotels all over the world.  It occurred to me to ask why do we need to be at that other hotel instead of at the Ibis.  Well it is close to Bruno's new home.  Yes it is but neither Bruno nor his family are at that house.  But Bruno wants you to see the house and pray over it.  Great let's do that today and move to the Ibis.  We did.  Ken and I estimate that the move gave us about 10 additional man hours of ministry time every day after the move.  That was a good decision.  And we were much more comfortable and eating more healthy food.

One morning I awoke with a fever, achy muscles and all the signs of a viral infection.  Prayer plus ibuprofen relieved the symptoms and we continued as usual except I was careful to give myself a bit of rest time during the hottest part of the afternoons.  Within three days I was completely back to normal.  But I was reminded clearly by the Lord that we all need to do a better job of guarding our days of rest and the health of our immune systems when we are traveling in Africa.  Once again I am appreciative of all of you who have been so faithful to pray for our team as we serve.

Our second week in Cotonou was only 4 days, Monday through Thursday.  But it did not seem short by any means.  Monday and Wednesday Mornings we were scheduled to serve a group led by a delightful Saint whom I have known in ministry for at least 15 years, Ernest.  The group was composed of leaders from among his wide ranging contacts in the Cotonou area.  Each morning we taught for about 3 hours.  Our focus was on the nature of the transition that Holy Spirit is bringing to the Bride.  We talked about the importance of serving the purposes of God for our generation instead of the purposes of past generations.

We would have gone to the same group on Tuesday morning but that day we had a commitment to go to the local television station.  The television station cancelled at the last minute so instead we were ministering deliverance and peace to a toddler who was having bad dreams as a result of a sorcerer's curse.   

On Monday through Wednesday evenings we were with a lovely group of folks led by Austin and Mary.  During the 3 evenings we did a compressed version of the complete Overview of Disciple Making Seminar.  In addition we shared a prophetic word with each of the attendees.  There was one very fascinating difference about ministering to this group.

During the morning meetings we were warmly introduced and endorsed by the leadership so the reception by the people was open and easy to serve them.  However, during these evening meetings, it became apparent that these were a people who knew that they were loved.  And the apostle who loved them deeply introduced us, endorsed us, and he explained to them that what we were presenting was exactly what God wanted them to receive.  During these meetings it was like ministry was being sucked out of us with a vacuum pump.  This was the clearest demonstration I have seen in years of the importance of people being prepared to receive the Lord when He comes.

We thought that on our last day in country we would enjoy a relaxed day of preparation for our evening flight to Turkey and connections onward.  Alas, it was not to be.  At the last minute we were informed that the television station had called and they wanted us to come to the station this the morning of our last day.  We arrived at the station to discover they expected us to record a half hour teaching program.  So, we did.  Well that went so well would we be willing to record a second one.  Yes, we recorded a second one.  Well, now our driver's daughter needed more ministry could we meet her and minister to her on the way to the airport.  Well, yes, of course we would.  So then we could all have lunch together on the way to the airport.  Finally we were safe behind security at the airport where we could breathe a few minutes before boarding our over night flight to Istanbul, Turkey.

His, thus Yours,

  Stuart