Lizzie and I decided to Treasure Hunt in the Cowick Street area. It was a very different feel to Treasure Hunting in town - there weren't so many people and those who were there, were definately about their business and didn't want to stop to talk (probably because you only get 2 hours in the carpark and also people are there just before School pick up time, so time is limited.) But saying that we still found Treasure and had an amazing experience.
We had a clue of the Park near the river so we headed over to it, as we were nearing the park we saw someone walking towards us with Sunglasses on! We stopped her and explained what we were doing, but none of the clues seemed to fit with her until she looked at the Ailment clues and one of the clues was Muscle Weakness and she immediately said that was her and that she had just been to the Osteopath (could have been Physio, I cant remember) as she had got a problem in her shoulder which was causing her pain and poor movement. She said that the muscles and tendons were weak, so we offered to pray and she accepted. We prayed and afterwards we encouraged her to test out her shoulder. So she lifted her arm out to the side and looked amazed and said that she was able to lift it alot higher than before. She could still only lift her arm to shoulder height so I offered to pray again and she readily accepted. We prayed and again asked her to test her shoulder out and this time much to her amazement she could lift her arm right up! We thanked God for what he had done and told the lady how much she was loved by God. She went on her way a much happier and more mobile person! What an awesome God he is!
One of the things which is amazing us at the moment as well, is how many Christians we are stopping and talking to! We are lead to believe by the Media that Christians are few and far between and that we live in a country where nobody goes to Church any more, or believes in God. I think this is far from the truth. We stopped 6 people on this Treasure Hunt and 2 of them were 'Born Again' Christians - that's a third of the people we stopped! God's people are alive and well in Exeter! It is still great to find Treasure who already know God - I would love to be on somebodies Treasure Map one day :-).
Thursday 18 November 2010
Monday 15 November 2010
Its a Small World!
This was the second training and practical session for Treasure Hunting which I have run, and this time I was in a team with two lovely ladies, one who had been out once and it was the first time for the other one. They were great and their clues were brilliant! There were three prominent Treasures in the morning, the first one was a lady called Phylis who had a Purple Coat and a black fur lined hat, Joyce and Vanessa were friends of hers and she suffered with Insomnia. She was the most lovely lady and we were able to chat to her for a bit and then we offered to pray for her, she accepted but then her family turned up and she had to go, so it ended up being just a quick prayer for peace for her to be able to sleep. But it was a real encouragement to the two with me who hadn't done a lot of Treasure Hunting.
The second person who stood out from the morning was a lady called Barbara who was wearing a Purple Coat and was outside Boots. We started a conversation with her only to find that her Husband was an Evangelist and that she was a Christian. So we asked if there was anything we could pray for her about and to begin with she said no, but after a little while she told us about a situation with her Son which we were able to pray into and ask for wisdom for her. We chatted for a little while longer and she said something about living in Lapford and the lady in my team who was taking the lead in talking to the lady said that she lived in Lapford as well! As the conversation went on they found that they knew loads of the same people and that Barbara also knew the church leaders of the church which my team member went to! Its a small world when you are Treasure Hunting.
The third person was a real character of a man. I had spotted him coming up the High Street and thought, before we had even seen if he matched our appearance clues, that he looked like Treasure and sure enough he was! One of my team members smiled at the man and he stopped immediately which slightly took us aback and then we noticed that he had a thick gold chain around his neck. He was so smiley and kind, with the most amazing teeth - it is strange the things you notice when you are talking to someone! We chatted to him for a while and found that he was Polish and that he hadn't been in Exeter long, but was there because his Wife had died and his Daughter and Grand Daughter lived here. We went through the clues with him and he said that he suffered with depression at times, and that's when the misunderstanding began. We asked him if we could pray for that and he said 'Why would you want to?' which we thought was a bit of a strange response, especially as he had told us that he loved God and knew that Jesus had died on the cross for his sins. He went on to say that he was OK really and then I noticed that he had hearing aids in both ears and I mentioned them and again offered to pray for them. He gave us the same response again and said 'Why would you want to, I use the NHS?', it was then that I realise that he thought we had said PAY and not PRAY! Whoops - our accents let us down! When he realised we meant pray and not pay he accepted, even though he wasn't sure it would do any good. We prayed, but he wasn't keen to take out his hearing aids to test his ears but I hope he was surprised when he took them out when he went to bed.
Well done you new Treasure Hunters - we had great fun with our Daddy God today and spoke his love to people.
The second person who stood out from the morning was a lady called Barbara who was wearing a Purple Coat and was outside Boots. We started a conversation with her only to find that her Husband was an Evangelist and that she was a Christian. So we asked if there was anything we could pray for her about and to begin with she said no, but after a little while she told us about a situation with her Son which we were able to pray into and ask for wisdom for her. We chatted for a little while longer and she said something about living in Lapford and the lady in my team who was taking the lead in talking to the lady said that she lived in Lapford as well! As the conversation went on they found that they knew loads of the same people and that Barbara also knew the church leaders of the church which my team member went to! Its a small world when you are Treasure Hunting.
The third person was a real character of a man. I had spotted him coming up the High Street and thought, before we had even seen if he matched our appearance clues, that he looked like Treasure and sure enough he was! One of my team members smiled at the man and he stopped immediately which slightly took us aback and then we noticed that he had a thick gold chain around his neck. He was so smiley and kind, with the most amazing teeth - it is strange the things you notice when you are talking to someone! We chatted to him for a while and found that he was Polish and that he hadn't been in Exeter long, but was there because his Wife had died and his Daughter and Grand Daughter lived here. We went through the clues with him and he said that he suffered with depression at times, and that's when the misunderstanding began. We asked him if we could pray for that and he said 'Why would you want to?' which we thought was a bit of a strange response, especially as he had told us that he loved God and knew that Jesus had died on the cross for his sins. He went on to say that he was OK really and then I noticed that he had hearing aids in both ears and I mentioned them and again offered to pray for them. He gave us the same response again and said 'Why would you want to, I use the NHS?', it was then that I realise that he thought we had said PAY and not PRAY! Whoops - our accents let us down! When he realised we meant pray and not pay he accepted, even though he wasn't sure it would do any good. We prayed, but he wasn't keen to take out his hearing aids to test his ears but I hope he was surprised when he took them out when he went to bed.
Well done you new Treasure Hunters - we had great fun with our Daddy God today and spoke his love to people.
Tuesday 2 November 2010
3 People healed!!
I have been Treasure Hunting twice in the last 5 days and have seen 3 people receive healing! They have been such exciting experiences and so encouraging. I went out on Friday with a fellow Treasure Hunter and we found lots of treasure. I had a clue of Red Coat, well I think God was having a bit of a laugh as I have never seen so many red coats! So we tried to be selective in who we approached, else we could have been there all day! We also had Red Scarf which proved to about as popular as the red coat! We stopped one lady who had on a Red Coat outside of Burtons. We explained what we were doing and asked if she would look at our maps, there weren't many clues which matched up with her, but I had a clue of arm pain. I thought it was lower arm but it turned out to be upper arm! She said that she was just on her way to the Doctors as she had a lot of pain in her upper arms and restricted movement but she had no idea what it was, hence going to the Docs! So we offered to pray and she said yes. We prayed and when we had finished she went to go and thanked us, but I encouraged her to test out her arms and to see what God had done. The expectation in people for God to heal is so low, a lot of the time they just think you are praying to be kind but God loves to heal and my expectation is very high so we didn't let her leave to quickly. She was a little surprised but put her shopping down and began to move her arm. The look on her face was one of complete surprise, as she was able to move her arm right back which she hadn't been able to do before we had prayed! She was so thrilled, we chatted to her for a while but then she had to go.
Another Treasure on this day that really encouraged me was a lady we stopped in a bright red coat and who's friend had a red scarf on. As soon as I began speaking I knew that they didn't speak English, or at least the friend didn't - the blank look somewhat gave it away. One of the things I had always wondered about was how can you get foreign names as clues if you aren't even aware of what the names could be. I know God could definitely tell you them, but it is hard to hear a word that you don't even know exists! On my map was the name Simone, so we had explained to these two ladies what we were doing and the lady in the red coat was translating for her friend. They then looked at our maps and began looking at the names and none of them meant anything until I said Simone and the lady said that she was called Simoy! I know they aren't the same name but they sound pretty close to me, especially considering the name was Turkish. We then found that Simoy had a problem with her Knee, so we offered to pray. It was only afterwards we found out that they were Muslim, and the lady who didn't speak English was asking questions through her friend about what we were doing. It was a great experience.
I went out today with another fellow Hunter and we had an amazing time as well. I felt really excited about going out and what God was going to do. The first person we spoke to was a lady in a Pink coat, in the Cathedral Area. We began going through the maps and nothing seemed to match up with the lady in the coat but when we went through the ailments the lady who was with her said that ankle pain was her. Well it really turned out to be her Knee/Hamstring, but she has said it was her ankle to begin with. She had fallen over a while ago but was still undergoing treatment for the injured Hamstring. So we offered to pray and she was very enthusiastic about us doing so. Once we had prayed we asked her to check it out and she did and the look on her face was one of amazement! She told us that the aching had gone and she was thrilled! She had a bit of a walk around and she confirmed that the pain and aching had gone! She had to go off and do something so we didn't get much chance to speak to her, she was definitely touched by God though and who knows what will come off that.
The other Treasure which stands out from the morning was a lady who was wearing a Pink Coat, outside the Apple Store with a walking stick. She was a lovely lady and was very willing to stand and chat, we showed her the maps and Louise was her Grand Daughter, but nothing else matched up. So I asked her why she had the walking stick and she told us that she had a new knee and the operation had been three weeks ago - today was her first trip out since the Op! So I offered to pray for a speedy recovery from the operation and she jumped at the chance. She then told us that on Sunday she had begun to experience a new pain in that knee which she was a bit worried about. So we prayed and as I took my hand away I asked her how it felt she said that something was happening. She grabbed my hand and put it back on her knee and told me to do it again! So I did and after the second time of praying she tested her knee and she had much more freedom in her knee joint and a lot more movement which she hadn't had before! It was amazing! She was so excited and gave us big kisses and went on her way! It was only as I was walking home I felt a bit bad that she had kissed us, as the praise and glory was God's, so I apologised to God and felt very relieved that with our Father we have a billion chances - and he knows my heart as well.
Another Treasure on this day that really encouraged me was a lady we stopped in a bright red coat and who's friend had a red scarf on. As soon as I began speaking I knew that they didn't speak English, or at least the friend didn't - the blank look somewhat gave it away. One of the things I had always wondered about was how can you get foreign names as clues if you aren't even aware of what the names could be. I know God could definitely tell you them, but it is hard to hear a word that you don't even know exists! On my map was the name Simone, so we had explained to these two ladies what we were doing and the lady in the red coat was translating for her friend. They then looked at our maps and began looking at the names and none of them meant anything until I said Simone and the lady said that she was called Simoy! I know they aren't the same name but they sound pretty close to me, especially considering the name was Turkish. We then found that Simoy had a problem with her Knee, so we offered to pray. It was only afterwards we found out that they were Muslim, and the lady who didn't speak English was asking questions through her friend about what we were doing. It was a great experience.
I went out today with another fellow Hunter and we had an amazing time as well. I felt really excited about going out and what God was going to do. The first person we spoke to was a lady in a Pink coat, in the Cathedral Area. We began going through the maps and nothing seemed to match up with the lady in the coat but when we went through the ailments the lady who was with her said that ankle pain was her. Well it really turned out to be her Knee/Hamstring, but she has said it was her ankle to begin with. She had fallen over a while ago but was still undergoing treatment for the injured Hamstring. So we offered to pray and she was very enthusiastic about us doing so. Once we had prayed we asked her to check it out and she did and the look on her face was one of amazement! She told us that the aching had gone and she was thrilled! She had a bit of a walk around and she confirmed that the pain and aching had gone! She had to go off and do something so we didn't get much chance to speak to her, she was definitely touched by God though and who knows what will come off that.
The other Treasure which stands out from the morning was a lady who was wearing a Pink Coat, outside the Apple Store with a walking stick. She was a lovely lady and was very willing to stand and chat, we showed her the maps and Louise was her Grand Daughter, but nothing else matched up. So I asked her why she had the walking stick and she told us that she had a new knee and the operation had been three weeks ago - today was her first trip out since the Op! So I offered to pray for a speedy recovery from the operation and she jumped at the chance. She then told us that on Sunday she had begun to experience a new pain in that knee which she was a bit worried about. So we prayed and as I took my hand away I asked her how it felt she said that something was happening. She grabbed my hand and put it back on her knee and told me to do it again! So I did and after the second time of praying she tested her knee and she had much more freedom in her knee joint and a lot more movement which she hadn't had before! It was amazing! She was so excited and gave us big kisses and went on her way! It was only as I was walking home I felt a bit bad that she had kissed us, as the praise and glory was God's, so I apologised to God and felt very relieved that with our Father we have a billion chances - and he knows my heart as well.
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