February.20.09
Here is a slightly abridged edition of testimonies sent in from Third-year intern, Erica Gismegian, of the recent BSSM mission trip to Quito, Ecuador, led by Pastor Kevin Dedmon:
Estimated fruit of the seven-day trip:
Healings: 2,000 Salvations or Re-dedications: 500 People activated in healing: 6,000
We worked and fell in love with local missionaries that have been building in Ecuador for over thirty years. We concentrated on the Verbo churches, which are the largest network of spirit-filled churches in Latin and South America. The president of Verbo Latin America and the President of Verbo South America spent the week with us so even though we didn"t leave Quito, we sent shock waves throughout all of Latin and South America via the Verbo churches.
Even the plane rides were rides full of God"s Glory! On the way to Ecuador, the flight attendants were on God"s radar. When one walked by me, I saw a vision of the Lord giving him a baby in a basket and he was so overjoyed because he had lost his baby and he and his wife were devastated because they were older and didn"t think they could have another child. He broke down in tears, and I prayed for his wife"s womb to open up. The flight attendants followed us off the plane to thank us. They had been so touched by our prophetic words and love that they needed to say thank you one last time. We equipped them with many books and Bethel"s website.
Just after that, Farra gave a word for a lady working in a cart stand at the airport. He told her that the Lord was restoring her child that was causing her grief. The women broke down in tears because last week her daughter did drugs for the first time and almost died, and the night before this women gave her life to Jesus and asked Him to send help!!! We prayed for the women and her daughter and we were honored to be the help that the Lord sent!
Some of the students on our trip had never seen healing miracles from their hands and by the end of the trip they saw and felt tumors dissolve, blurred vision healed, partial blindness healed, lots of deafness healed, stomach problems healed, diabetes healed, paralysis from the waste down healed, crossed and droopy eyes, lots of asthma and breathing problems healed, all sorts of aches and pains, bone problems, headaches, migraines and new bones miraculously form before their eyes!
Chelsea prayed for a baby's head that was mostly soft, and by the time she and Farra finished praying, they could feel that the Lord had formed the baby a new skull. The woman was so happy that she is going to name her little girl "Chelsea" so she can always remember the girl who prayed for her baby to be healed. God was moving so powerfully that there were times that people would get healed just waiting for us to pray for them. Time after time they would be searching for their pain in amazement before I was even able to pray for them!
We saw lots of miracles with children and infants. One night I prayed for a baby who had a breathing obstruction and by the third breath the baby took in my arms, he was completely healed and able to breath normally. But when I prayed for the next baby with a breathing problem, I didn"t get any breakthrough. So I had the baby who was healed pray for the baby who wasn"t healed, and the baby was healed instantly. I did this many times throughout the night. These babies were newborns all the way up to one year, so I would have them lay hands on other babies and on adults and God used them mightily to heal! It was such a powerful statement that if a baby can be used by God to heal, then anyone can definitely be used. And that was the theme for the week.
A main focus of Kevin's was to activate the church in healing and that we did! Everywhere we went, the congregation prayed for each other. In fact, towards the end of the week I saw zero people get healed from my hands! We had activated the church so much that we didn"t have to pray for anyone; they prayed for each other! I never thought I would live to see the day that I would be excited that I saw zero people get healed. Now that is my new theme in life: to see zero get healed because I have empowered everyone around me!
Because of the late nights and early morning start times, they scheduled for us to have daily siestas where the team could nap, shop or just hang out. Many of the team would go out in the community around the hotel and pray for everyone in sight. They would see so many miracles and sometimes as many as 20 salvations as a result of God moving on their time off. One night, the team went out to bring revival to the party scene of Ecuador. The team formed a prayer tunnel and imparted to drunk partiers while they walked through our team"s tunnel with their six packs of beer in their hands. People sobered up while walking through the tunnel, experienced God for the first time and many were saved and healed that night.
Most teams who did treasure hunts saw several people saved and healed. There was radical fruit that took place in two hours when we let the Ecuadorians loose on the streets with the new revelation of what they carry. Victor led two men to the Lord who were drug lords that ran a prostitution house! Yea God!
The last day was a scheduled fun day to shop at the Indian market in the mountains. Caleb prayed for a shop owner who was healed, and I asked the shop owner next to his shop if he needed prayer as well. Excited about what was happening, he placed my and Farra"s hands on his ears and after awhile of pressing in, he was completely healed of deafness! He took us to his mother who needed several things healed and then she took us to another women who needed several things healed and deliverance. One person after another got healed, but I only had 40 minutes left to purchase all of my belated Christmas presents so I excused myself from the revival and Farra and I went shopping. The Lord wouldn"t let up; everywhere I went, I would get words of knowledge for people. I was there for scarves and God was there to set His people free. So every time we would purchase something or even walk by a stand, the shop owners would get healed. I think I am going to write a book called the supernatural shopper...ha, ha, ha.
Another day I was out shopping and Farra and I asked a man if we could pray for him because he was completely lame. He had been crippled since birth, and his legs were twisted beneath him. Farra and I stood there for 10 minutes trying to figure out how to say, "Can we pray for you in Spanish?" and then I asked a man who was walking by to translate. The man obliged and was very bold and compassionate. He was a Christian who happened to be an English teacher! God set us up! The lame man allowed us to pray for him, but we didn"t see any physical breakthrough. His friend came up and was asking us about our friends who apparently had prayed for his arm the day before and it was feeling much better. He had been in an accident and he had tremendous scarring and intense pain. We prayed for him and all of the pain left but the scarring was still there. Later we went back to the team and they were excited to know that the man they prayed for the day before was asking about them and had felt better as a result of their prayers. The team had also tried to pray for the lame man the day before, but he was closed off so we were happy that God had done something in his heart because he let us pray over him and minister to him for a long time. The Christian man who translated for us needed prayer for his wife who had miscarried. They were older and devastated that they would not be able to have another child. We prayed and broke off trauma and depression and he felt so much better. We imparted healing into his hands and told him to go home and pray for his wife.
We had the opportunity to visit a convalescent home operated by nuns. We saw many miracles that day, listened to a lot of stories and blessed many people with joy and love. A few of us, including Kevin, went to the infirmary and saw many healings. Kevin saw about 20 healings in about 30 minutes. At one point, he called out a word of knowledge for hurt shoulders and around 7 young men who were working there stood in line and Kevin barely touched each of their shoulders and they were all healed instantly. Kevin released me to stay behind and minister to each of them. Caleb, Betsa and I taught them about healing, encouraged them to start praying for healing and imparted a healing anointing. We prophesied over each of them, and they were so blessed. They asked us for the info for the school and said that they are going to come to Bethel. Yea God! On my way out the Lord gave me a word of knowledge for the nun that was supervising the room. I asked her if I could pray for her stomach pains and she said yes as long as I prayed for her leg as well. She wasn"t in pain at the moment , so there was no way to test out her healing but she was very open to the move of the Spirit! Jesus, use her to lead a revival in that convalescent home!
Half of the team had the opportunity to visit a non-contagious leper colony. Many people were touched by the presence of God and a lot of people were healed from their pain. Kevin was in the infirmary with the terminal patients and people started to feel so much better that they actually got out of their sick beds and were walking around!
