(June 24th 2006 – Austin, TX) We met at Gateway Church this morning at 6am and drove to Reynosa, Mexico – about a 6 hour drive. There we rendezvoused David Schiff, our leader from Adventures In Missions (AIM), and did some exercises to begin listening for the promptings of the Holy Spirit in the city center for a couple hours. We then drove to our camp – ”Vamonos!” – which is very nice by mission trip standards. There is a cafeteria with ping-pong tables, guys and girls dorms, and a chapel. The most interesting thing for me this day was that in my devotional, I was to do an exercise asking God if He had a scripture for me. He immediately put one in my head. This was the first of many such experiences. Actually, it happened so fast that I discounted that it could be from God and tried to be still longer, but it kept coming back. Then, I opened my Bible to read the scripture, and it was something that spoke very powerfully to me:
John 20:22 – And with that he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit.”
Sponsors – I don’t think I sent anything out to you about what I personally was hoping to have happen during this trip. I think Gateway did so to those of you who supplied an email on the slip you sent in. But over the last month I have had an insatiable appetite for more of Holy Spirit and a miracle filled life that comes with more of Him. I went expectantly and knew He would deliver. To open my Bible (I had no idea what John 20:22 said) and find that this is what it said really blew me away and was a fantastic way to start the journey.
(January 13th, 2009 – Austin, TX) Looking back now, I feel certain that I received my baptism of the Holy Spirit on the mission trip in Reynosa, Mexico. Although I had felt the presence of God before, what happened to me and in me on this trip was so far beyond what I had previously experienced, I knew something had changed in me. The prophecy, the and healing and travail that I’ll describe in the days to come, were all new. But most present and awesome of all was the electric charge running through my body that alerted me to His overwhelming presence and the way in which I could hear His voice so much more clearly than ever before.
The amazing thing: he told me what was going to happen on the first day of the trip. Which both makes sense, and blows me away. God directly told me that He was giving me His Baptism of the Holy Spirit. Today I understand just how big this event was in my life. Big.
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