Paul Bennison

The miracles keep coming on all fronts!

Posted on July 16, 2017 by Paul Bennison Posted in Journal, Testimony, Travel 1 Comment

It was a great day Friday for Thanney and Davy at the El Abrigo Foundation – immense hard work, but with the internal walls plasterboard having arrived – and having been hoisted up 4 floors manually (58 sheets, each weighing about 25 kgs Thanney tells me!), a lot of the internal walling was put into place, making the construction really look like a habitable building. Thanney worked well into the hours of darkness to get as much done as possible, he’s got so much strength and stamina, as well as immense skill. It’s looking good…:

Plasterboarded, and looking more like home!

The financial provision miracle is coming in slowly, but it’s coming…. we still need around £3-4000 this week to make the ‘working’ week full and worthwhile, but God’s God, and he’s got it all in hand, we’re sure. A lot of the electrics are done now, too….

Friday evening, Davy came with me to one of my favourite places (! – no, not the steak restaurant, Leños and Carbon!!) – but the lovely church, Nuevo de Nacer, pastored by long-time friends Gernan and Aida Hernandez. Three great guys came to translate for us – Cesar, Santiago, and Daniel, and they’re with us for the weekend. Probably about 40 in the church for the meeting – it’s in one of the toughest and most dangerous barrios, Simon Bolivar – but Gernan and Aida are doing a wonderful job there, in a barrio heavily populated by siccarios, the teenage motorbike killers.

Davy and I reckoned we prayed for just about everyone – and, miraculously and wonderfully, what’s more – it seems that everyone was healed, many instantly, and the rest with major improvements in their condition. Davy had a plethora of back issues, and the ‘short arms and legs’ visual evidence of that provided him with opportunity to see the limbs ‘lengthen’ (it’s normally, of course, that the back and spine are getting into line and ‘equalising the length of the arms and legs – but it ‘s still an amazement to people to see a leg ‘come down’ to the same length as the other one!). He also had the opportunity to see a man set free from a long-time condition that was linked to his history as a paramilitary – which came to light when Davy had told him his OWN story of similar involvement in the past…. God’s great at putting the right people to be prayed for with the right person to pray….

That’s why I get loads of knees! A lovely lady, in her 80’s, had been hit by a motorbike, and it had done extreme damage to her right knee. It was badly miss-shapen, swollen, and she had 24/7 pain in the months since. She had many other infirmities which meant that the doctors weren’t able to operate, as it would have been too risky for her life. Her pain as she sat in front of Santiago and me, was 9/10 (10/10 when she arrived at the church, but sitting for a while had eased it a bit. It went down to 5/10 after the first prayer, 3 – and then 2/10… and I saw her as she left the church with it 1/10 and walking well….I’m sure by Saturday morning it was 0….

Nancy, in her 50’s (maybe 60’s) had had a bad fall some months ago, and done a lot of damage to her coccyx – severe bruising, inflammation, etc., and it had spread up her spine to a great deal of pain in her neck and shoulders. It was wonderful to see God heal her instantly! As I left the church, she was at the door to say she was pain-free: though the enemy had tried to transfer the pain to her head, she just told him where to go – as I’d suggested she do with her back if the pain even suggested it was going to return. We were given a lift home by a visiting pastor, Jorge – and it turned out that she was his wife, pastoring together a church – ‘Encuentra’ (Encounter) – and it seems I might have an invitation for the team to another new church in the future!

Davy and I got home late, Thanney understandably already in the land of nod. Yesterday daytime was nice and chilled, with some of Wilmar’s family over for a Colombian Ulster Fry! courtesy of Thanney – and then Thanney went to their apartment block for a swim, I took Davy gift and souvenir shopping! A report of last night’s meeting to follow, two meetings today – at the church of the lovely Jesus and Angela Mondragon this morning (it’s only 7.40 a.m. here at the moment, church is at 10.00 a.m.), and then later, at the church that used to be called ‘Today is the day of your miracle’ where, some years ago, a lady came back from the dead….more of that today please, Lord!! We’dappreciatee your prayers, please! – and for the remainder of the budget we need to make this week at the Foundation a week to remember.

God with Us (Dios con Nosotros)

Posted on July 14, 2017 by Paul Bennison Posted in Journal, Personal, Testimony, Travel 1 Comment

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….

Incredible ‘God-thing’ that only he could ‘manufacture’! And a short video of Thanney’s amazing construction work…

Posted on July 13, 2017 by Paul Bennison Posted in Journal, Random Thoughts, Testimony, Travel 1 Comment

This trip has been fantastic, so far. It’s only going to get better as if we needed any more ‘proof’ that God has got his hand on it, and is integrally involved in it, we got it yesterday, though a lovely miraculous intervention. Not a physical healing one this time, but REALLY practical, and essential, and right on time…

The completed amazing ‘shell’ of the Children’s Refuge

We’re getting to the point where, because the construction of the Street Kids refuge is going so well – Thanney reckoned yesterday that he was about a day AHEAD of his schedule, which meant that yesterday, he was able to stop work at lunchtime (until more materials arrive this morning there was little more he could do), so he was able to have a rest, which I was happy about as he works so had, and his foot/ankle needs rest)…. Yesterday, Thanney did a short video of the whole construction: I think you’ll agree that for a building constructed so fast, with only one expert builder (Thanney), and on a shoestring sometimes non-existent budget, it’s amazing….

THE VIDEO:

https://youtu.be/bev5HgQRtd8

How did the miracle come about? Well, our budget for the construction on this trip was £25,000. Prior to leaving Northern Ireland 13 days ago, we’d reached around £16,000 (a little vague, as some promises – perhaps better to call them ‘suggestions’ – from people hadn’t materialised!). We were worried that work would grind to a halt the middle to the end of this week, still with a full week here next week). Some money came to us for some expensive materials and work Monday: by Wednesday we were ‘skint’ (broke, out of money, for non-Brits and Irish!), but Thanney needed to buy a large quantity of plasterboard… wonderfully some money came in yesterday morning, but with everything we had it wasn’t anywhere near the cost of the materials Thanney needed – 36 sheets of 8 feet by 4 feet plasterboard and the outside cladding.

In faith, he and Wilmar went shopping. At the Colombian equivalent of B&Q, they ordered some materials, to be delivered today…. and then to another building suppliers for the plasterboard. The lads sat on a big pile of the plasterboards while they talked about what to do. Thanney felt that to buy one thickness of board would be perfectly adequate rather than a slightly thicker one. The board was on offer: a discount if you bought 40 sheets, Thanney needed 36. So he worked out what he’d need for other internal walls – like the toilets, washroom, small kitchen etc, and for other rooms. He’d need 58 sheets, which meant getting the bit of discount, which of course, helped a bit….

So he counted the pile – out of dozens of piles of different thickness plasterboard in the store, some higher than others – that they were sitting on. 58 sheets. Coincidence? Not at all. So they went to pay. It came to 4,800,000 pesos (4.8 million) – about £Stg 1,400. Which they didn’t have. The store guy asked why they needed so much, so Thanney, with Wilmar translating told him. The store man, without hesitation, because of what Thanney was doing, said he’d reduce it further – to 3,600,000 pesos (around £Stg 1000) – and then said he’d knock the ‘odd'(!!) 600,000 (about £170) off, too… so, now 3,000,000 (about £840, instead of the original near – £1400!! With what came in yesterday, and some late Tuesday night, there was exactly enough…. saving around £560-600…. To us, here, right now, that’s a wonderful blessing, a wonderful miracle. THANK YOU, LORD!! It might not sound much to you, but when you’re here, and the ‘money pot’ is dry, it’s a major miracle.

The completed amazing ‘shell’ of the Children’s Refuge

Next up is to buy the external cladding – the fitter is coming Monday to fit it: so we need, by then, around 3,000,000 pesos (£840) for the cladding: 4,200,000 pesos (about £1250), plus 600,000 pesos (£175) for the horizontal bars (for the cladding, not for Thanney and Davy to train on for the Olympics… 😉 ). Our next goal is, then, £2,285…..by the end of the weekend. Please, Lord….??!!

The electrician is in, too, so cable and wires to buy: and the friends who have a business installing sound systems, will be at the site tomorrow to say what is needed to ‘bury’ the cabling in the walls, and for built-in ‘plugboards’ etc (for the church that will be planted there as soon as it’s ready, and so the kids won’t have ‘spaghetti junction’ to trip over!), and the air-conditioning people in on Monday, we’re on our knees asking God – and his people – for help!!

Extending the Kingdom of Heaven on earth….

Posted on July 12, 2017 by Paul Bennison Posted in Journal, Personal, Random Thoughts, Testimony, Travel Leave a comment

Extending the Kingdom – in a very practical way…. three months ago, the wonderful ministry that is the El Abrigo children’s Foundation, needed more space. It also looked as though it needed something on top of it, so Thanney, in his mind’s eye, could see what needed doing. Here’s how it looked then:

3 months ago, the El Abrigo foundation minus a spectacular new extension…

In what effectively amounted to a week’s solid hard graft (two weeks were lost to heavy rain, storms, and putting right what other people hadn’t done right), this is how the Foundation looked early in April when we left Cali to return to Northern Ireland:

2 months ago, the end of the last visit to Cali…

And, with two weeks still to go of this visit, with one week completed, here’s how it looked yesterday evening:

Today was a bit of an ‘odd’ day – 50% of it lost waiting to see a doctor and then get scanned – Thanney has a damaged ligament in his left foot & ankle, and I felt it was a good idea to get it looked at, even if to know what to pray for specifically: and my injuries to my legs tearing muscles back home slipping off one step, and falling down the length of my stairs back home. It was a morning of waiting – fruitlessly, it turned out, as when we finally got to our turn, we thanked God for the National Health Service back home in the United Kingdom – and left the hospital without x-rays or scans, just a prescription for pain-killers! – as the scan the doctor wanted Thanney to have was going to cost 800,000 pesos – a good bit over £200! – and my x-rays around £80…. we’ve got better things to do with near-£300, like materials for the foundation building! So if you’d ESPECIALLY pray for Thanney’s foot and ankle, that would be a blessing. It really gives him gyp when the day’s over, and on and off during the day, too. But he’s a determined geezer, and won’t give up, bless him….

As you can see, it hasn’t stopped him working wonders on the building in 4½ full working days. Just to ask for your prayers again, as the construction is going SO well, that we’re likely to run out money soon, as we came here some £8,000 short of the budget needed for this trip, to house 150 rescued street kids in that huge extension. Materials are so expensive here, and there’s a lot that can’t be seen in the bottom photo – like the ‘in-construction’ long staircase (not one for me to fall down this time!) to replace a rickety spiral outside staircase…. It’d be tragic to run out of money and have Davy and Thanney, and the willing helpers from Cali, twiddling their thumbs for days next week. I think the lads would be like bears with sore heads…..!

God-inspired time with ‘old’friends in Iglesia Misionera Estableciendo Su Reino

Posted on July 10, 2017 by Paul Bennison Posted in Journal, Personal, Testimony, Travel 1 Comment

Ater probably 17 years since seeing Wilson Acevedo Pulido and Daniela Stelea, it was so good to be with them in a church I had no idea they planted and pastor a church – Iglesia Misionera Estableciendo Su Reino (Missionary Church Establishing His Kingdom) – in Cali! The last time I think I saw them was on the island Boca Chica (it means small mouth! – yes, really!!), off the Colombian coast from Cartagena, in the Caribbean. Idyllic in some ways, hard work in many more poverty stricken (then – guess it still is). It was made famous by having part of ‘Romancing the Stone’ filmed there (with Michael Douglas and Kathleen Turner).

Iglesia Misionera Estableciendo Su Reino

Seven years ago, they moved to Cali, to establish work with kids in a troubled town just south of Cali, Hormiguero. They have a fabulous work there, teaching the kids everything from English to sewing to the Bible. When I met Daniela first time, it was a bit of a shock, finding a Romanian on a Colombian island! – I’d been going to Romania for some years then, and it was high on my list of countries I love – maybe just below Colombia! Perhaps it’s because their flags are the same colours, though different design – so bright and outstanding. It was a great meeting, and God was there big-time to heal and transform and deliver. Wilson & Daniela have a big vision, coming into being, to establish many Christian schools in this region, and nationally in Colombia…. fancy a visit, Graham Coyle????

Davy shared well – Wilson only had one or two ‘accent’ needs for me to ‘translate into English so he could translate into Spanish!! –

and set the tone for Thanney to share well again. Wilson’s a great translator, so easy to be alongside, I’ll forgive him for Texan English!

The meeting, which I guess normally ends after an hour and half or so, lasted 3½ hours (!) – so many people to pray for afterward, so many people set free and healed. A young lad Thanney prayed for, had constant seizures, and told him of a ‘blackness’ that consumed him when the seizure arrived. Thanney knew it sounded demonic, he tried to get the lad to look him in the eyes, but he wouldn’t/ couldn’t, which confirmed the demonic presence. After about 15 minutes, he did look at Thanney, was prayed for, and knew he was free…. Thanney and Davy had a few oppressed/ possessed people: all went away free. I had all physical problems – one lady with extensive arm, shoulder, and knee pain (yeah, I know!!) was healed instantly – her face was an absolute picture! A lady with back and spinal pain had the pain drop to almost nothing immediately…. just told her to thank God for her total healing and the little residue would go. A lady with severe blood circulation problems, causing ulcerated legs, felt instant ease, and felt coldness go through her as she was prayed for. I guess you put ice on swollen and inflamed parts of the body, so cold coming from the Holy Spirit will do fine!

Praying for Manuel, recently diagnosed with lung cancer

Lovely Wilson Acevedo Pulido, translating for the man whose size prevents being kidnapped… 😉

Wilson was prayed for by Davy – seems he had one leg 2½ cms / 1 inch shorter than the other…. it’s become one of Davy’s specialities to see the back straighten and the leg grow out – in Wilson’s case it grew more than it was shorter than the other, so Davy got the other to lengthen, too….

With Daniela Stelea – good to be able to say ‘Buna Diminiata’ rather than ‘Buenos Dias’ to her! My watch strap is the colours of both flags…. : Daniela is from Călărași, between Bucuresti and Constanța, I preached there in about 1991-2. Small world!

A lovely church: wonderful to be with Wilson and Daniela, odd Romanian words popping into my memory from time to time fell out of my mouth 😉 – and then to go with them as they took us for lunch. Thank you for that, guys!! There were lots more testimonies, maybe some more will appear in a future blog, but this one’s been pretty long already!

Thanney the magician!

Posted on July 8, 2017 by Paul Bennison Posted in Journal, Personal, Random Thoughts, Travel, Uncategorized Leave a comment

Working huge practical miracles every day, Thanney and two or three volunteer helpers, are making incredible progress with the construction of the kids centre. The walls are nearly completed now, and next week Thanney will begin the work inside, everything from plaster boarding to plumbing to electrics to air conditioning (absolutely essential here!). He’s very happy with how it’s going, especially as, on the last trip in March/April, it seemed that the first two weeks were ‘wasted’, even though his miracle hands completed everything he wanted in the third week.

Yesterday afternoon… 3 days work this week…

It IS presenting us with a bit of a logistical problem – very practical! – in that last time, because the construction went slowly, we were able to manage financially with a shortfall in the budgeted figure. This time, because it is going full steam ahead, the shortfall (£6000/ Euros 6800/ US$ 7750/AU$10,500) in the amount we’ve managed to raise is going to become a ‘stop’ point probably by the end of next week 🙁 and we still have two full building weeks here – if you’re able to pray, we’d appreciate it!

It’s such a thrill to be part of it, and to have Thanney explain to me what has been done, what is to do the next day: more, to know what it is ultimately going to achieve for a whole load of kids, AND to provide facilities for a new church to begin in the building…. God’s purpose is going to be fulfilled here….

Please pray for Thanney, as he has torn a ligament in his left foot/ankle: it is agony, and he’s pretty much working through the pain, just an occasional sit down for a few moments to let the pin subside.

An Oasis of Restoration – a miracle story…

Posted on July 8, 2017 by Paul Bennison Posted in Journal, Testimony, Travel 1 Comment

Los Lagos is a very tough area of the quarter of Cali known as Agua Blanca. One of the loveliest churches is there, pastored by an amazing couple, Wilson Monroy Gaitan and his wife, Luz-Eneth Hernandez. They are among the ‘prime movers’ of the current move of the Holy Spirit in this whole region of Colombia, let alone Cali, or Los Lagos. They have experienced some incredible enemy attacks, but their faith just grows and grows, their influence and significance in the region increases: they are bold visionaries. They used to meet in a building that, outside, was floor to ceiling iron bars, but the surroundings didn’t matter to them, except that they were limited to numbers in that place, and for some, it was, maybe, slightly too dangerous to go to church there….

On Wednesday evening, I went to speak – always a privilege and a blessing – in a beautiful new (for them) building, that had been decorated very well, and was well-equipped. It had been owned and refurbished by a man who wanted to make it into a good-quality bar. It didn’t quite work out like that, as there were some murders in the bar (during opening hours), and he had to close it down. In December, Wilson had a dream about it: went to find the owner, to ask if they could use it as a church. He was rebuffed initially out of hand. They prayed, interceded, the church too: and four months ago, against all the odds, they moved in. The church has grown and grown, and they have a constant stream of people visit, who knew the history of the building, and are intrigued that a church should be there. I prayed for a few of them on Wednesday night!! A story of redemption and restoration….

In November, Thanney and I went to the old building to preach, had a great time, and afterward (the church always provide us with a lovely supper) we had the opportunity to pray for Wilson and Luz Eneth’s son, Samuel. Long story short: he’d been born with an eye condition, including a lazy eye, and chronically flat feet. Consequently, he’d not been able to do the sports he’d wanted as he grew up. Thanney hadn’t seen flat feet ‘form’ arches instantly in front of his eyes – until that night! – it was fantastic to see Samuel’s feet change shape. We didn’t see the eye straighten up – but I heard on Wednesday that his feet AND his eyes are perfect, and he’s now a missionary in Ecuador….

I could list lots of miracles from Wednesday night, but I sense that a lot of readers have become bored with them, judging by the numbers who read the blog now 🙁 – so I’ll just tell some briefly – Ana, a lady who cooked the wonderful supper for us, chronic pain in shoulders, arms, legs, was instantly pain free, moving freely, and over the moon with what Jesus had done for her. A young lady Erica, from Bogota, with eye trouble and significantly thick glasses, felt her eyes on fire, and they began to clear…. an elderly lady with Parkinson’s disease, shaking considerably, stopped shaking immediately, and her whole body felt transformed. Lots of pain went from people, which is always marvellous – as I’m experiencing extreme pain again since my dry ski run (without skis or snowboard!) down my stairs! I know only too well – stomach issues went, a lady with severe loss of movement caused by a mosquito bite, which gave her a disease pretty ‘peculiar’ to Colombia, chickunguña…. I could go on!! All in all, a wonderful night. We finally left the church at 11.30 p.m!

Transformation – or was it, back then?

Posted on July 7, 2017 by Paul Bennison Posted in Journal, Personal, Random Thoughts, Testimony, Travel 1 Comment

Back in 1999, an American-produced video, Transformations, shook the Christian world, with stories of how God was revolutionising four very different parts of the globe. Kiambu, Kenya: Hemet, California: Almalonga, Guatemala: and Cali, Colombia. I’d been coming to Cali for a few years before the video hit the world (and it WAS a video, too, VHS: remember them??!!) – when I came to Cali after its release, I was asked ‘Have you seen it?’ and ‘What do you think of it?’.

The stories were thrilling: if you haven’t ever seen it, it’s worth watching, you’ll find it on YouTube, as I doubt it’s available commercially now. The section of the video is here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBvxWl7jXr0

My answers to the questions seemed to be the right answers for the ‘locals’ – ‘yes, I’ve seen it’, and (sorry to my American friends!) ‘I feel it’s very American and it struck me as being overstated’…. there was a huge sigh of relief from the local Christians, who, of course, were involved in what God was doing, and what had been filmed… It gave the impression that Cali was in full-blown revival, that – across the board – the crime rate had dropped by half. It did drop amazingly – for the weekends that the stadium prayer meetings were being held. Crime rose again after the weekends…. What WAS happening wasn’t -yet – revival, but the foundations of revival were being laid with the unity of more than 300 pastors.

It also gave the impression that Julio Ruibal, the ‘trigger’ pastor for the unifying of hundreds of pastors, was ‘assassinated’ because of the ‘revival’. He wasn’t. It seems it was over a parking dispute with neighbours of his church, and one took out a contract on him as people from the church kept parking on his land.

Why am I writing this? Well, after the video came out, some pastors became ‘famous’ in the western world, and were invited to the USA, Europe, Australia…. some came back here with pockets loaded with cash, church bank accounts full to overflowing – and no longer needed the same level of unity as they could build big new churches, take on more staff, and so on…. and the revival never had a chance to ‘explode’ and transform the city. The rising move of the Holy Spirit began to wane. For a time, I wondered if it signalled the end of my time here, as the stadium meetings petered out to two a year, then one… and the wonderful growth in the churches slowed, as well as a demise of the pastor’s group.

BUT, then…an increasing number of pastors from smaller churches began to work together, and the rising influence of the Holy Spirit began to take prominence. There are some wonderful pastors who are shepherding the move of God here, including some of the bigger pastors. For me, it’s a real thrill to be involved a tiny bit in the ongoing surge of God’s move and presence in this previously devastated troubled city, the be here under the open heaven, for me – and those who come here with me – is a huge privilege. Pastors like William Castaño, Wilson Monroy, Jefferson Herrera, Mauricio Naspiran, Angela Mondragon, Diego Ordoñez, and so many more.

Far from cutting back the number of visits to Cali, I’m thinking of increasing them…. and praying about renting a ‘permanent’ apartment for my times here and for the teams that come with me. For many years I’ve rented short term, and the short-term rentals are getting more and more expensive as Cali, with it’s ‘ambience’ changing for the good visit upon visit, is getting more and more tourists now. The completion of a fantastic new international airport terminal happened a couple of months ago, so more and more visitors will be here. Short-term rentals are necessary as it is important to have the team together as much as possible, as to have them spread out around homes means maybe a 2 hour drive in the morning to pick them up with the traffic here being terrible, and the same to drop off: then pick up for the evening meetings…it can easily be 6 hours a day in a car just to collect and drop people off! It also means that as a team, we can really BE a team, working together more, praying together, sharing testimonies and problems, too. The average rental for a 5/6 berth apartment is around £800, sometimes even upwards of £1000 a week now – it used to be about £300 5-6 years back. It seems that there’s an apartment coming available in time for the October/November trip when I’ll be bringing a team (might need two apartments for that one, as there could be a dozen or so coming!), when Thanney will complete the construction of the street kids’ refuge and all the ‘cosmetic’ work will be finished: then it’ll be handed over to Mision El Abrigo Internacional. The apartment that will be available will be perfect in many ways – it’s directly above the apartment of Wilmar & Marlene and their family, so they’ll keep an eye on it when I’m not there! And for month, it’s only 35% of the weekly cost of a short-term rental. I have lots of people who are telling me that they want to come here, so to have somewhere as a base seems right: and that it’s just above Wilmar – where apartments are very hard to come by, seems like a God-thing.

Wednesday’s meeting blog to follow!!

Why….?

Posted on July 5, 2017 by Paul Bennison Posted in Journal, Personal, Random Thoughts, Travel Leave a comment

Much of the time I’ve been travelling, doing what I do now – way more than 30 years – it’s been to countries at the poorer end of the spectrum, a lot third world, some creeping into the ‘developing world’ category. I couldn’t even begin to quantify how many people I’ve met, been infinitely more blessed by than they have by me, the vast majority of them so poor that the blessing they’ve been to me is exponentially multiplied.

I learned something vital early on in this journey I’m on. Don’t make promises you can’t – won’t – don’t actually have any intention – of keeping. I’ve met countless people in Africa, India, South America, China, Eastern Europe (I could go on with the geography lesson!!) who themselves met people from western world nations, who made promises to help them – and never did. It’s devastating to them. As someone who (and those who know me know I hate this expression, but it’s the only one available) ‘lives by faith’, I know what it’s like to have promises made, and then have them never materialise. I made a decision back in 1987 that I would never promise what I wasn’t sure that I could come up with. Over the years, I’ve had people with me who have done it: and they’ve never been with me again (my choice), because it is so painful to be promised, to hope – and then have that hope deferred, which makes the heart sick….

This trip, we’re a bit short of our vital budget for the construction of the refuge house for street kids. Thanney and I have had some promises – maybe some are more ‘hints’ than promises of money to come towards the project, and then it never happened. We’re not talking ‘poor’ people here: not people whose circumstances would change so radically that they can’t do what they promise. In fact, those folk are the ones who TELL you that they’re so sorry, but things have changed, and they can’t do it….

I’ve got a question I don’t really know the answer to: perhaps you can help me with an answer? WHY? Why do people do that? Is it to ‘look/sound good’ at the time? Truth is, they look infinitely worse after the event….

I’m so grateful for the wonderful people who support me, regularly or one-off. But I’ve had a few of the others over the years…. What do you think? Am I being unreasonable, when promises come, and they’re not kept?

An array of wonderful and very different miracles

Posted on July 5, 2017 by Paul Bennison Posted in Journal, Personal, Random Thoughts, Testimony, Travel Leave a comment

It’s easy to tell that I’m in Cali because everything to do with the internet is playing silly games! Virtually no signal from the internet in the apartment (same as the last visit!), incredible thunderstorms with torrential rain that took out all the electricity, and even Word Press (this programme that I use for the website and the blog, deciding it didn’t/doesn’t want to post to Facebook/Twitter/LinkedIn…so here goes at another attempt to post the first blog from Colombia…

It was a good journey here, a little shorter than often, thanks to a good tail wind, but next to no sleep for either Thanney or me on the long haul flight. It was such a blessing to see Wilmar’s happy smiling face at arrivals in Cali airport – it really lifts your spirit to see him. We didn’t have a meeting Saturday, thankfully, so we kicked off at Wilmar & Marlene’s church, Mision El Abrigo Internacional. It’s always so good there: and so many really good friends after more than 18 years visiting the church. Thanney spoke really well from Job: it was so good I thought I could cut back what I had to say and not speak for long! I wanted to get to the ministry time, anyway…

I’ll just pick out some of the lovely testimonies that came from the meeting: Dora had been suffering extreme pain in her head neck, and shoulders – no known diagnosis, painkillers didn’t touch it, but God did, and she was healed instantly. Maria had torn muscle from bone in her shoulder and had very limited movement of her right arm, and a lot of pain. Lovely God healed her immediately, too. A lady with a serious stomach problem received instant relief from the discomfort and pain….

Cristian and Angelica came and sat with me – Cristian had been suffering from a virus, and as they are moving house this week, he rather wanted that healed. It was. They are a couple with an amazing testimony – the fact that they are moving – buying their own house with a mortgage – is a miracle. Two years or so ago, Peter McAvoy who was with me, got to pray for Angelica, who was in massive debt, and under 24-hour pressure from the bank to repay 24 million Colombian pesos – about £6000, US$7300, 7000 euros, AU$9000. That, to people here, is an impossible amount. Angelica had 2 million she offered the bank – if you know banks, they’re hardly likely to accept 8% of a debt in full payment! And they didn’t. Sunday, Pete prayed for her: Monday she had to come up with the whole amount.

Monday, ‘out of the blue’, the bank called her on the phone. Yes, they’d accept the 2 million pesos, and write off the remaining 22 million… As a result, 2 years on, no longer in debt, they qualified for a mortgage – and this week they move into their own home. Such a lovely miracle, and blessing from God.

A year ago, I posted a video interview with Olivia, and her daughter, Maria Jose. Olivia is one of Wilmar’s sisters: I’d had the joy of praying with her and Maria Jose 3-4 years ago, when Maria had been diagnosed with a very large and life-threatening brain tumour. It had affected many vital functions, from sight to speech to hearing to walking. She was 7 years old then. If you want to, check out the video from 11 months back ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LNHmpmmQWPA ), and then look at the video I’ll put a link to in a minute, taken on Sunday. The transformation is incredible. 3 years back, after receiving prayer, Maria was due to go for surgery: she never had it, because the tumour had gone. Various faculties started to return, and on Sunday, It was lovely to be able to talk with Maria Jose and Olivia – I asked Maria what she wanted God to do for her next, and she wants to jump and run better than she can at the moment…. It’s such a wonderful testimony of God’s redeeming and ongoing miraculous power.

Here’s the video link: it’s on my YouTube page, too: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8O1s9zAw-QM

Thanney and Wilmar have been doing the rounds of builder’s merchants and suppliers yesterday and today, with a real blitz on the construction of the street kids refuge beginning tomorrow. Please pray that there will be a few volunteers from the church to help Thanney, that the rain will keep away, and that he’ll not only keep fit, but multiply what he can do, with God’s help!

If you have time in your praying, I’d really appreciate your prayer, as – yes, I’m back in Cali – the enemy doesn’t like it, and the damage I did to the muscles in my legs 5 weeks ago, is being seriously assaulted by him! We’re also a fair bit short of our budget for this trip, if you’re willing to pray for God’s provision for the construction. Thank you, bless you.

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