I know I often say it, but I love church names outside of the ‘west’. ‘God with Us’ says so much more than ‘Little Dribbling Christian Fellowship’ (thank you, Bill Bryson, for ‘Little Dribbling’!) – for the churches here, it is statement of fact: so often the church names are the vision of that church or a theological statement of where they’re at. Like shops in Africa, India, and so many places – ‘The God has done it beauty Parlour’, ‘Holy Spirit Wines and Beers’ (yes, really…. Ghana!). The church I relate to most here, as many of you know, is the one planted by and pastored for many years by my dear, dear friends, Hein & Teija Hoere, missionaries here for 30 yeara (Hein from The Netherlands, Teija from Finland), now led by by equally dear, dear friends, locals! – husband and wife Wilmar Gomez and Marlene Rojas Gallego. It is now shortened to ‘El Abrigo’ (The Shelter/Shadow) from its original name, El Abrigo y El Altissimo, The Shadow of the Most High. I love it….both names….

God with Us is a super church, one I’d consider ‘home’, pastored by the lovely Rafael; great atmosphere, lovely worship (but not done to excess with smoke and flashing lights). Always, there people are healed. Wednesday was no different. Thanney, Davy, and I all shared, and then, of course, all prayed. Thanney had a number of oppressed people last night: a lady with breast cancer who had told no-one (not even God, though I think he probably knew…), who couldn’t bring herself to face it. Thanney told us how he handled it: it was brilliant, not praying, but just chatting together with God in a group of 3 with them. She exploded in tears, and when the tears began to slow, he asked her if she could still feel the tumour. She couldn’t, it had gone. That’s the sort of thing I mean by there being an open heaven over this city. Davy had some bad backs, so short arms and legs stood no chance with him around!  – people not like me, with two legs short, but one leg or arm shorter than the other! I’m waiting for the day when God decides to lengthen both legs by about 12 inches (30 cms), and I can be 6 feet 7 inches tall!!

I had a variety of diseases and people: but four of the people all said that when I was there last time, they’d had prayer from me, and been healed, and it sparked them to respond for prayer for other issues. The things healed included damaged spines, osteoarthritic knees (yes, I know!), gastritis, and more…. it’s a lovely way to start to pray for someone to have them tell you that last time – and times before – a veriety of things were healed last night, including severe spinal pain, shoulder and backbone wear, a lady with what looked like eczema or psoriasis covering the palms of her hands, though she said didn’t know what it was, had a lot of the inflammation and cracks go…. everyone prayed for was either healed, or began the process, which is such a blessing to people like me!

Yesterday, at the Foundation, the plasterboard arrived, and will start to go up in earnest tomorrow, and hopefully, the electrics will get done tomorrow: Thanney’s not 100% sure about that yet. It’s all going so well, so fast this trip: Thanney’s a happy bunny when he gets back home after the day’s work, even if exhausted with his foot, ankle, and lower shin hurting a lot….

We’d value your prayers, as our budget for the building for this trip is £25,000 / 30,000 euros / US$32,500 / AU$55,250. I was so blessed to raise around £16,000 before we came, and another £4,000  between us, since: we hoped, with the ‘history’ of the last trip, and a budget shortfall, that as the work was slow for various reasons (storms, rain, etc) that we’d get by with the reduced budget. But Thanney, with Davy’s and Orlando’s wonderful assistant, has worked miracles again, and we’re likely to run out of money early next week, with a week still here in Colombia, when so much can be done to the building. Your prayer – and practical, if you’re able – support will be much appreciated….