Margaret, Martin and Maggie!

Treasure Hunting is great but as was pointed out to me the other day, it would be great to have some follow up about the healings.  Once those people who are healed walk away from us, it is up to them if they make contact with me or the church and as of yet no one has!   But whilst I was out Treasure Hunting the other day I saw a lady who we had spoken to previously and who we had prayed for about her finger which was broken and slightly bent.  As we prayed I felt the finger move and straighten and when I asked her how it was she said that the pain had completely gone and she was really amazed! The full story is here!  I approached this lady again and as soon as she saw me she gave me a big smile and I didnt really have to explain who I was as she obviously remembered me.  I asked her about her finger and she said that she hadn't had any problem with it since we prayed - thank you Father!! We offered her prayer again but she said that she was fine but this time we gave her some details of who we are and Church details as well.  I was so pleased that she was genuinely pleased to see us and gave us a beaming smile and asked us our names before we left her. I shall keep praying for her and keep my eyes open for her again.

It was a very different Treasure Hunting trip but really good.  Before we went out we prayed a lot about seeing people coming to know Jesus and to be able to pray with people for this.  We had two amazing conversations, one with a man called Martin, who was a street worker ( he was sweeping the paths in Princesshay), he had a colleague called Alan who had been going through a hard time and through reading the bible had become a Christian. He was quite intrigued about this. We had a really long conversation with him about beliefs and God and he was really interested, we talked about peace and how we could live in the peace of God even when the world is seemingly going wrong around us and I asked him if he would like to  know that peace and he politely declined.  Sad for him, but a breakthrough for me as it was the closest I have got to asking someone if they want God to impact their life.  He than began to talk about Paranormal things and how he had seen a film about a girl with a demon who had gone through deliverance.  Amazingly before we had come out I had the clue Deliverance but I hadnt written it down as I was a bit worried to do so as I wasn't sure what we were going to encounter! I should learn and always write everything down! But it opened up a whole conversation about the supernatural which was exciting.  Before we left him we gave him a 'Why Jesus' and a card with contact details on it and seeing as he works in Princesshay I shall keep my eye out for him again.

The last lady we spoke to was called Margaret and we saw her outside the Post Office, just before we saw her we saw a lady with the longest, woolliest Doctor Who Scarf on, so we knew we were on the right track.  Margaret has a pink scarf on so we stopped her to see if we could pray for her.  She looked at the clues and Alan was her Neighbour, and her brother was dying of Cancer (a clue that both me and my friend had ). We talked to her for a long time about beliefs and her beliefs and all sorts of things and she was genuinely interested in what we were saying but she said that it wasnt for her.  So as we left her we gave her a 'Why Jesus' and she said that she would definately read it. 

In some ways this doesn't sound like an amazing trip out, but for me it really was.  I love to pray for healing and to see people healed but we want them healed and saved and this seemed to be a training trip for me, and it is lessons that I am happy and excited to learn.  Next time ..... healed and saved!

Bright Yellow Coat!

I went out Treasure Hunting the other week with a girl from my Church who had only been out Treasure Hunting once before, she was really excited and keen to have a go.  It is always exciting doing it with some for the first time as you can see the amazement on their faces when they find that they have really heard from God and how he has orchestrated for all the clues to come together.  To begin with it was very slow and nobody wanted to stop to talk, we even resorted to talking to the man holding up the Subway sign as he was a bit of a captive audience and we did have a good conversation with him.  One of the clues my friend had was Yellow, not a yellow anything specific but I have found with colour clues like that you definitely know when you find them!  As soon as we started out we saw a lady in the brightest yellow coat and debated as to wether to talk to her but we decided maybe not, little did we know, more about that later! We went down Ghandi Street and there were three work men in bright yellow High Visibility jackets surrounded by bright yellow barriers - never have I seen a yellower scene! But however much we tried to be brave to approach these men, we just couldnt find it in ourselves - what put me off was that one of them looked very official and looked like their boss and I really didnt want to stop them working when their boss was there! So despite passing them 3 times in the vain hope of being brave, we bottled it each time.  Its a good job that with our Father God that we have a billion chances!

So we went on looking, we were coming back through Princesshay and there in front of us was the same lady we had initially seen - there was no mistaking the yellow coat!  So we stopped her and she was lovely and looked at our clues.  Lots of the names meant something to her, Hilary was her Sister In Law, Adam was her Nephew and Fiona was her Niece.  We had the clues of Knees and hips and she had athritus in both of them but her knees were the worst and most painful. We offered to pray and she accepted and she was amazed and there was a big improvement in the pain, we prayed again and it improved again but not gone completely.  She then asked us about our Church and we told her where we met and she was amazed as she knew a couple who went there and they were her neighbours.  We asked who they were and she said Jon and Fi - I was blown away as not only did we know them but also that Fi/Fiona had been a clue!  It is such a small world when God is involved!

So many Plaits!!!

It seemed a very different experience Treasure Hunting today, not sure if it was just because it was freezing and nobody wanted to stop, or just that God was showing us new things!

One of my clues was Cowboy Hat! I really didn't think we would find it and just thought I had gone a bit loopy! But as we stood outside the Travel Agents and contemplated whether we should talk to the man in the green coat next to us, a man went steaming past us with a cowboy hat on !!!!  We had to run after him as he was going so fast, but we caught up with him in the end and he stopped to chat.  Lizzie and I both had Steve on our maps and he had known a Steve who had committed suicide a few years ago,  but nothing else matched up with him particularly so we offered to pray for him and he accepted, but then his bus appeared and he was gone! I was still amazed by the hat though!! A great clue - thank you Father!

Lizzie and I also both had plaits on our maps, Lizzie felt they would be red and I had blonde but both of them plaits.  When we first started Treasure Hunting Lizzie had had Plaits a couple of times and we had never found them on either occasion so we were both a bit dubious about putting them down again but never the less we did and after much searching and thinking we would never find this illusive hairstyle, along walked a girl with blondish hair with red highlights and low and behold a PLAIT!!! She and her friend were going at some pace again but we began to go after her and as we did another girl walked past us with two brown plaits! We were so amazed that we went to follow after her, but changed our minds and went back to the first girl but they were then busy trying on Boots in the warm, we lingered for a while but it didn't look like they were coming out.  We went back to where we had seen both girls and as we looked there was yet another girl with Plaits!  But again she was walking so quick and went into a shop and was intently looking at clothes.  Again we lingered but she wasn't leaving the shop so we went back again to 'Plait Corner' and as we looked, we nearly fell over, there was yet another girl with plaits coming towards us.  I cant remember why we didn't stop this 'plait' lady, maybe shock :-).  It was like a Plait blessing from God, I expect he was laughing in heaven as our amazement grew at each person! Perseverance really does pay off!

We stopped a couple of people who didn't seem to be on the maps, one man who, thinking about it now, had on a green jacket.  We asked him if there was anything we could pray about for him and he told us that he had a prosthetic leg and the bit of his leg which went into it was very sore, it was at the knee.  He was really pleased that we prayed for him and he said that he knew it would get better now.  I was really thrilled to talk to him as one of my dreams is to see a leg grow out from a stump. I didnt feel that I could offer to pray for that quite yet, but there will come a day and this just felt like God giving me a gentle nudge and a smile of encouragement.

The other lady we stopped who wasn't on our maps was a lady in a wheelchair, we offered to pray for her and she said that we could but it would probably do us more good than her and she sped off. Lizzie had begun to ask her before she left why it was she was in the wheelchair and she shouted over her shoulder 'Polio!'.  Lizzie looked shocked as she was going to put Polio down on her map but had thought that nobody had Polio these days so hadn't written it down!  What a shame - but a lesson learnt for us.  Always write things down, even if they are as odd as Mr Bloddy, and Sherlock Holmes which we didn't find today - there's always next time!

Oh yes and I saw yet another girl with Plaits on the way home! Amazing!!

Look who we found!!!

I had often wondered whether we would find Treasure and it would be somebody that I knew, well it happened the other day! My friend and I were round the back of WH Smiths next to the big Columns there, when out of a coffee shop came a couple from our church! We went up to say hello and I was joking about them being treasure, but as we looked we realised that they were actually Treasure.  The man was carrying a Green Bag, they were by the Columns and by a jewellery shop which had Diamonds in it!  One of my friends Ailments was Mental Illness but as we talked she said that actually she had seen a brain and something wrong with the brain so had assumed it was mental illness, but it wasn't.  The Treasure we had found had recently had a stroke and still has a brain clot in his brain which is inoperable.  He said that his life had come to a stand still as he isnt able to drive and he is worried that it the clot move again and cause another stroke.  So we offered to pray for him which he readily accepted.  I have prayed for him a couple of times before and I quite clearly see the clot breaking down little by little as it is bombarded with prayer, so I was happy to give it another good hammering! He gets tested in the middle of February so we wait to hear what the Docs say.  The lovely thing about this Treasure was that all the clues were on my friends map who didnt know this couple at all, so it was really encouraging for her and for the Treasure.

We spent a lot of time looking for purple shoes and really didn't think we were going to find them at all when all of a sudden a girl in the purplest shoes ever walked past us.  I didn't hesitate and approached her straight away.  She was with her Gran whose name was Sandra (another name - yippeeeeeee), and she was suffering with weakness due to just finishing chemotherapy for breast cancer.  We offered to pray and she jumped at the chance, she was getting her results early February and wanted them to be clear.  So we prayed against the cancer and for strength to return to her body after the Chemo.  Her Granddaughter was really pleased that the clue that we had stopped them for had been her purple shoes as it was her Gran, who we had just prayed for, who had bought her the shoes - she was really touched!

Wahoooooo we got a name! (and Wolf Jacket AGAIN!)

I have been praying recently for more specific clues and for them being spot on so that the person cannot deny that it is them and that God has spoken.  I went out a few days ago with lizzie and I had the name Jackie on my map, we also had white trousers, and pink scarf.  We were walking up the High Street and I looked behind me and there were two ladies walking towards us, one with white trousers and the other with a pink scarf! We stopped them and explained what we were doing and when they looked at the maps they both gasped as Jackie was the lady with the pink scarf.  She then looked at the Ailments and she was having problems with Toothache.  I was able to tell her about two people in our church who had been prayed for with toothache and both had been healed.  Sadly she declined prayer and went off with her toothache - but I was still thrilled to have got the name and all the other clues as well!

One of the most interesting Treasures on that day was a person wearing combat trousers, a baseball cap (I had blue, but his was black but we wont worry about that!) and, can you believe it, a wolf jacket again!  Now the Wolf Jacket wasn't on our maps but it was a clue that we had about a month ago and never found and on our last Treasure Hunt, Lizzie and I had an amazing encounter with a lady with a Wolf Jacket on (we think we may have the Wolf Jacket anointing!)  We thought we were approaching a man, but when we got up to him we found this wasn't quite the case.  He was fully made up and wearing diamond jewellery, I then recognised him as a man I had seen a few times walking around town in women's clothes. I completely amazed myself as I didn't bat an eyelid at all - and I felt completely accepting off him! He looked at our lists and said sort of apologetically that he was Trans Gender and that he was going through a sex change - we said that it wasn't a problem and asked him to look at the ailments. The lady told us that she had fallen over in the snow and chipped the bone in her knee.  We offered to pray and she accepted.  She wasn't healed at that point but we were able to have a conversation with her about her beliefs and her life and it was an amazing encounter.  It turned out that she read the bible and would like to go to church but due to work wasn't really able to and that she believed in God.  We told her how much God really loved her and after a while she went on her way, I don't know what will come of that for her, but it was amazing and she went away feeling accepted and loved by God. 

'Its the Wolf jacket!'

A while ago, Lizzie and I were out Treasure Hunting and we both had two very similar clues. One was somebody wearing a jacket with a horse on it and mine was somebody wearing one of those fleecy jackets with wolves on it. We both felt very strongly about them and they were also the last clues we both wrote down, but we didn't find either clue on that day and we were a little perplexed about it at the time!

We forgot about it as each Treasure Hunt is new and different, but whilst out this week we were walking along looking for clues when I said 'Look at that lady with the fleecy jacket with dogs on, its a shame it isn't wolves!' and at that instant Lizzie pointed right next to the lady and said 'What! Like that one!' Walking in front of us was a lady with the exact same jacket on that I had seen a few weeks before, so we quickly decided to stop her. We later realised that she was outside WH Smith which was a clue for this hunt. She was moving at some speed but we caught up with her and explained the best we could that she was a clue from a previous Treasure Hunt and could we pray for her about anything. She said that she had heart problems and had been depressed for a couple of years. She told us about her heart (it is always good to find out exactly what is wrong, so you can speak specifically to it). Amazingly, her heart problem was exactly the same as somebody elses in our church who had been prayed for that Sunday, and when he went for the tests the next day he had no signs of any problems at all and was completely healed! So I was able to testify to her about this and build her faith and then we prayed! Both conditions would be difficult to tell right away if things had changed but she had tears in her eyes as she thanked us for praying for her and she was obviously touched by God. We may never know what happened, but she was God's Treasure and he showed his love for her on that rainy day outside WH Smiths in her Wolf jacket!

We stopped quite a few people that day and they were all amazing and special, but the other one which stands out was a Big Issue Seller who was wearing a High Vis Waistcoat, stood outside Boots, When he looked at our maps and we started to go through the names the connections were incredible - Shelly was his Sister, Heather was his Aunt, Fiona was another Aunt, Keith was his Uncle and married to Fiona, Ryan was the son of Keith and Fiona, and Josie was a worker at his Hostel! It was nearly every name on the list! Then he looked at the ailments and he had a cough, Sinus problems, and problems with his eyes! We told him that he was definitely God's Treasure and asked if we could pray for him and he said yes. We prayed for him but were so blown away by all the clues matching up that neither of us remembered to ask how he was feeling afterwards - whoops, good job we have a billion chances with our Father!

Shoulder Healed!!

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 :-).

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.

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.

Seven new Treasure Hunters and lots of treasure!

On Saturday I ran my first training session on Treasure Hunting along with some time out on the street putting what had been learnt into practice. I had seven people come who had never done any Treasure Hunting before but were very excited, and nervous, to give it a go and see what God would do through them! I spoke for a while and then we separated into smaller groups and began to get our clues. It was so amazing to see God speaking to everybody really clearly, one group of three all got the clue Rainbow which I thought was fantastic and real confirmation to them that they were hearing from God, and the other group of three all got clues about Army/Soldiers, so they knew what they were looking out for and my fellow Hunter for the morning and I both had the clue John so we set out!

We came back after an hour and the stories of treasure they had found were amazing and really thrilled my heart to listen to. Here are a selection of them :-

One group had the clues Army/Soldiers so they headed to the Army Surplus Store which was nearby and as they came to the shop they saw a man walking towards them with an Australian Hat on (not the one with corks, but a leather bush style hat - if you know what I mean!), they stopped them to have a chat and they offered to pray for the man but he asked if they could pray for his wife instead, who was with him. They didnt want to say what was wrong but just that she was ill, so they prayed and the lady began to cry. The man said that they used to go to church in South Africa (they were here on holiday) and after this encounter they were going to go back to church as soon as they returned home. It is so amazing that they have travelled half way across the world and they had a God encounter on the street of Exeter, when they were least expecting it.

Another Treasure which was found was a lady who was wearing black boots, a beige bag with brown trim, and had a blue back pack on, she was walking past the Army Surplus Store as the team were returning to the office after thinking they had finished their Treasure Hunt. She was really steaming up the hill, so they had to run to catch her up, when they finally caught up with her and they began to show her the clues and how they applied to her, she was completely blown away! She was so excited because she is attending an Alpha Course at a local church and she just knew that the whole thing was God. The team had words from God for her and she couldn't believe it and couldn't wait to go to Alpha to tell her group about what had happened. What a confirmation for her - I would love to know what happens to this Treasure, maybe we will.


We had the clue head to toe in cream, we really didn't know how this was going to look, until we saw it! Coming towards us as we walked towards the High Street was a little old lady in a cream rain coat that came down to her toes! She was definately head to toe in cream, so we stopped her and another clue was crooked and this lady was bent over. We chatted to her for a while and she told us she was a Christian and that she went to a local church, and we offered to pray for her neck, she said yes. I would love to say that she straightened right up, but she didn't at that instance, but she said that it had been a privilege to have met us and who knows what happened as she walked away. We thought we were done with the head to toe in cream, but God hadn't finished with that clue. We headed to the back of M&S, and there was another little old lady walking towards us all dressed in cream to some description. She was also carrying a black leather bag, so we approached her and she was lovely! We chatted for a while and we asked her if any of the clues meant anything to her and she said she had a problem with her eyes. She told us that the Doctors didn't know what it was, but the retina in one of her eyes had dropped so they had filled her eye with oil and now everything was blurry. So we offered to pray and she happily accepted. We sat on the wall and we prayed for her and as I watched her, eyes began to water for no reason. We asked her if there was any change and she said she didn't think that there was, but she didn't know why her eyes were watering, I offered to pray again but she said no. She was another Christian lady and we were able to share some words from God for her.

The team with Rainbow found their treasure, but she didn't want to talk, she was outside McDonalds and had a Rainbow jumper on. She was definitely Treasure and it is disappointing when you know you have found the person God wants you to talk to, and they don't want to talk to you. But we have no idea what she may have got from the encounter or if she may be treasure again. All we can do is get clues and go and find the people and see what happens from there. I still think it was great that all three of them had Rainbow as their clue.

There were lots of other stories but maybe that is enough for now :-)

I am going to be running another training/practical Treasure Hunt on the 13th November and then regularly each month from then onwards, on the second Saturday of the month. Come and join us - never before has street evangelism been so much fun and so rewarding!

A Treasure Revisited

Whilst Treasure Hunting today we had an amazing experience! We had found a few lovely Treasures but we still had lots of clues that we hadn't found, so we kept going.  One of our clues was Golden Hair, which we didn't really know what that would look like, till we saw it.  So we were outside the back of WH Smiths, when a lady with what can only be described as Golden Hair,  walked past us.  She was moving at some pace so rather than racing after her we just followed her for a while, as sometimes people can lead you to other clues along the way.  We followed her to the front of WH Smiths and then she went off, we discussed how we were surprised we hadn't found a Silver Bag which was another clue, so we decided to go to Primark where they would sell that sort of thing, as we got close to Primark we passed a market stall which sold bags and right on the corner was a very large and prominent Silver Bag,  we stopped and looked around and realised that we were also outside a Key cutting shop!  We knew we were in the right place and as we turned back round next to the silver bag was a lady with Golden Hair!  We were so excited, so we approached the lady and her husband.  She was a little confused by what we were doing but the name Craig meant something to her and we had the name Georgina and they said they knew a Georgia so we went with that, I had obviously misheard! We went through the ailments and she said that none of them related, but her Husband pointed out she had a Bunion and I had the clue Toe.  I don't know why we didn't offer to pray,  I think I felt she was a little embarrassed, but I really should have done - thankfully with God there are a billion chances so we shall just chalk that one up to experience.  But as we started to walk away I noticed that the man sat on the bench next to them was some one who had been Treasure on a previous Treasure Hunt.  We moved away a little and I told my friend this as she hadn't been on the Treasure Hunt when we had found him the first time, and we decided we would approach him again and this time give him a leaflet.  He is an elderly man and he didn't recognise me to begin with, but when I reminded him that we had prayed for him about his wife, he remembered the encounter.  We had a bit of a chat and I asked him his name again (names are not my strong point at all!) and he said Ken and on my friends map was the name Ken!  How amazing is that! We went through the ailments with him and he said that he was fine but he kept having trouble hearing us so I knew he had some Deafness.  I asked him about it and he said that he was a little deaf in one ear and that his dog had eaten his hearing aid.  His dog, a Staffordshire Bull Terrior called Lassie, was with him and was getting increasingly fractious the more we spoke to him and sadly the dog got the better of me, as yet again we didn't offer to pray because I thought I might lose my hand in the dogs mouth! I feel a bit bad about it but we did give him a leaflet with the church details on and amazingly he even remembered where the Church met from our last conversation.  I am so amazed that he was Treasure again, maybe this isn't the last time either and next time his dog will be a little calmer and we will get to pray for him again. 

Digging For Treasure

I said in a previous Blog that each Treasure Hunting experience is totally different and our latest Hunt was definately a case in point! Before we started our Treasure Hunt, we were praying and just asking God's presence to come as that is the most important thing, so that we are able to release God's presence whilst we are walking around.  I had a clear picture of a golden spade - it was really big and I wasnt sure if it was a clue for the Hunt or a picture for us.  To cover both basis I put it as a clue but also discussed it with Lizzie, I thought it might be about digging foundations in our church for Prophetic Evangelism and Lizzie said maybe it was to do with us having to dig for Treasure!  Little did we know!

We looked at our clues and decided on the route that they seemed to be taking us on so we went through the Cathedral Green, past the Pasty Shop, and up the high street towards the Odeon.  We took a slow walk up the street expecting to see some of the clues we had for appearances, but we didn't see anybody at all, which is really unusual but undeterred we carried on.  We carried on up towards the Odeon, and began to realise that we were passing lots of clues but they weren't people, they were things in shop windows or other shops on our list.  We walked past a Flower shop, Sainsburys, an Orange jumper, and Dominoes.  Everything seemed to be leading us to the Odeon and I really felt that when we got there somebody would be outside and they would be our Treasure.  But no!  We got to the Odeon and there wasn't anybody around at all, it was really quite odd because normally we would stop a few people and then strike gold but nobody we had seen had fitted any of our clues, not even slightly! I suggested that we walked back down the same way we had come up seeing as all the clues were on the same side of the road, and revisit them.  We got a little way down when we suddenly saw her - she had crutches and was wearing a yellow top.  We squealed a little with excitement as we knew this was God's Treasure.  The lady disappeared into a shop for ages so we had to hang around outside and look a bit like stalkers, but it all comes with the territory.  After a while she came out of the shop and Lizzie approached her and explained who we were and that we had prayed before we came out and God had given us the clue of a person with crutches and a yellow top.  We explained a bit more that all our other clues had lead us to her and that we knew we had been sent to come and speak to her today as she was God's Treasure.  She was blown away!  We offered to pray for her leg and she readily agreed, so we found a bench to sit down.  She began to talk and she told how much pain she was in and how last night she had been in bed crying out with all her heart to God for the pain to go, and also to forgive her of things she had done wrong in her past and that she wanted to turn to him - that sure sounds like a Salvation prayer to me! We prayed for her leg and she said the pain was less, so we offered to pray again and she agreed but it stayed the same but she looked at us and said 'This is a miracle, God really heard me last night.' and we agreed.  She said she had always wanted to be a follower of Jesus and that now she was.  I asked her if she wanted to know God and she said she felt she already did, so I gave her a copy of the New Testament, a Why Jesus and a leaflet about Treasure Hunting with our church contact details on it.  She left us, a new women, knowing that Father God had heard her cry and that he loved her so much that he sent us the next day to find her to reaffirm to her what she had prayed alone in her bedroom the night before.  Amazing!

I think the spade was definitely about us really digging in for treasure that day, we could have given up at many points (even before we started as I wasn't feeling too well), we could have given up whilst we walked up the high street and didn't see one person to stop, we could have given up when we got to the Odeon and there wasn't anybody there, we could also have given up whilst we waited outside the shop for the lady as she was in there for ages.  But we didn't and kept digging and we definitely found Treasure.  God loves perseverance!

Baseball hat off to the side

Each time we Treasure Hunt, the technique is the same but the results and how God uses the clues are so different.  It keeps your mind active and also makes you realise how varied he is and how literal we are! We had some odd clues this time, one of the team had stilts, white, another had  plank of wood, and I had famous amongst others. We had no idea how we would see these but we did in various ways. I had also been asking God for more specific clues and I had the clue Baseball cap off to the side. So we started our hunt.

We went to Neros which was one of our locations but didn't see anything so headed a little way up the high street and there leaning against a wall were 2 shortish planks of wood which fulfulled both the clues of stilts and plank of wood in one go! I know they weren't strictly stilts but the lady who had the clue said that they were what she had seen, but had assumed they were stilts! Just as we saw the planks, we saw a lady with bright yellow shoes go steaming past us on the phone, so fast that we couldnt stop her.  By then we knew we were in the right place for some treasure.  As we looked across the street there were two young guys walking down the high street and one was wearing his baseball hat off to the side without hesitation we approached them.  We showed them the maps and all the names on one of the team members map meant something to one of the men, the names were Alun, Tim, Rosemary, James and Tom!  We were amazed! They looked at the ailments and the other guy saw migraines and said that he suffered with them so I offered to pray. I really didnt think he would take us up on the offer at all but he said yes and let me put my hand on his shoulder.  After I prayer he said thanks and they went on their way.  This treasure taught me a few things, firstly never assume that just because the people you approach are young and male that they won't want to be prayed for and secondly that God has as much fun as we do Treasure Hunting by whispering the most random clues in our ears and then helping us find them!

Another Treasure that stood out to me was a young girl we stopped who had blonde hair in a pony tail and was wearing a white top, we showed her the maps and the ailments back pain and fatigue applied to her.  She was pregnant so they were understandable ailments.  I offered to pray for her and also for God to bless her baby, she was really touched that we would do that and accepted.  I prayed and she said a heartfelt thank you and went on her way. As we looked back to the spot where we had seen the girl, the shop front we were outside was really  white.  It stood out from the rest of the shops on the high street.  Just a minute before stopping the young girl we had walked past the Calender shop which has just opened and all the calenders in the window were of famous people, my rather random clue!

It was only at the end of the hunt when I realised that my specific clue of the baseball hat was just that, really specific, as we had only seen one person wearing his hat like that all morning! There is no coincidence with God, he is amazing!

Blue Hair

We were Treasure Hunting a couple of weeks ago and one of our oddest clues was blue hair. I was determined to find it but it was coming to the end of the hour we had planned to be out and we hadn't had any joy. I was beginning to think that I hadn't heard very well as I was quite tired or that my eyes weren't very alert, but we kept going and we headed to WH Smiths (it may have been a clue, but I cant remember!), there was a man with an Orange T- Shirt coming out of superdrug at some pace! So we followed him but other than running after the guy we weren't going to catch him, as he disappeared into the distance I turned and saw a girl with what looked like blue/black hair. I tried to work out if that could be classed as blue hair, but by the time I had thought it could be, she had gone. I said to Nick (my fellow Treasure Hunter) that I thought we had just missed our blue hair, he immediately said we should follow her, so we did, but she had also disappeared! But as we came out onto the High Street and looked across the road there, standing on the opposite side of the road was a lady with the bluest hair ever!! I couldn't believe it! We crossed the road and approached her, she was willing to stop and talk and we showed her the clues we had. Up until then, none of the people we had talked to that morning had any of the ailments on our maps. She looked at the names and none of them meant anything to her but when she looked at the ailments she said that all of them related to her, the clues were Pregnancy, Digestive problems and weight loss/gain, she said she had Poly-cystic Ovaries and Endometriosis, and had been told she wouldn't be able to get pregnant, but she informed me that if she isn't able to get pregnant she will adopt babies from China, the Poly-cystic Ovaries gave her IBS and this subsequently caused weight gain. We were all amazed!!!! She then asked me if I had anything on our maps about dogs, so I looked and was astounded to see that I had dog as a clue under unusual on my map and China which she had previously mentioned when talking about adopting babies! I was blown away and so was she! She told us that she did Angel Reading and that she had been talking to the angels about this yesterday so we talked a bit about our beliefs of angels and she was really open to talk. I offered to pray for the ailments she had and she accepted. I was so excited and overwhelmed by the Treasure we had found that I forgot to ask her if she felt anything, but I will remember for next time. We told her about our church and gave her the website address to find out more about it, she was genuinely amazed by the experience as were Nick and I!

The lesson I learnt from this is that you have to keep going and God will lead you to the right places to meet his Treasure.