As I am sitting here thinking about what to write, the song “It is Well” by Kristin DiMarco is playing in the background. The sun is shining here in London and it’s actually warm enough to wear a short sleeve shirt! Combine the weather today and the things God has done this past month and I can confidently say – It is Well with my soul!
At the end of my letter last month I asked you to pray for a Women’s meeting that I would be speaking at and a Ten Days Mission to Sweden.
The Women’s Meeting was actually organised by a 21 year old Ghanaian young lady. She had a passion to get women together to worship and pray. She doesn’t go to our church but God connected us and she asked me to come and speak at the meeting. The people she was inviting were from an African or West Indies background and she wanted to expose them to a different style of teaching that they were used to and felt led to have me teach them about worship.
It was a wonderful evening and I believe that many people heard what worship is for the first time. It’s not just singing – but a response to who God is and we do it because He is Worthy.
On the 14 September I boarded a plane to Sundsvall, Sweden to join a team of 11 people from America. The original plan of our Ten Day Mission was to help Ronja who has started an Every Nation Campus society on MidSweden University.
We were going to be on campus every day doing the God Test, building relationships with students and inviting them to events we had planned during the week. Upon our arrival though, Ronja got word from the new student body president that he did not want us doing anything we had planned to do on the campus. In the past, this had not been an issue.
We were all discouraged at first but our leader had wisdom and quickly made a new plan. This wasn’t a surprise to God so it was still going to be a successful trip! She decided to put 4 of our team who looked like students on campus to just blend in and try to start conversations with students over the week. The rest of us would be sent to the town square to do the God Test and connect with anyone that we could.
Well………, out of all of the weeks in the year to be in the square – this was the week that they were having an international food festival! Every day the whole town would come to the square to eat food throughout the day. Teens, University students, families and people of all ages! How amazing Is God?!
Because our team was international we didn’t stick out and it actually looked like we were supposed to be there! We ended up doing over 250 God Tests and had many good conversations getting people to think about what they believe about God for the first time. The majority of the people we spoke to did not believe in God. One of our team members said it felt like we took most people from a -10 to believing in God to a -2. This was a success for us! We planted loads of seeds and we are expectant of what God is going to do there in the coming months.
One thing that really impacted us was that at the end of the mission our team leader and I flew out later than the rest of the team and we went into the square where thousands of people had passed through the week before. We were in the square at the same time it had been full the week before and not one person was there in the middle of the day! Look at the before and after below. God’s perfect timing!
Ronja, the Christian students from MidSweden University and the church Ronja attends were so blessed by the fact that people from across the globe would come to share the Gospel in their city. They have been praying for breakthrough in their city for years. We only had one salvation during our time there but out of the hundreds of people that we spoke to – we know God is doing a lot of work behind the scenes and can’t wait to hear stories about it!
Here are more pictures of me doing the God Test with people and another picture of part of our team. Thank you so much for your prayers and support!!!
Lots of Love
Traci
I am continuing to love Summer here in London. One of my favourite things about Summer is our Youth Camp. This year the theme was Truth & Dare as we took 32 teens from all different backgrounds away for a week to share the Truth of Jesus and put forth a few Dares to believe in Him and to share Him with others.
I haven’t been able to come on camp
the last two years so I was especially
excited to co-lead a group of our
younger boys and to also be the final
speaker on the week.
Every day was filled with activities of fun and games as well as a teaching
session and special group times. Each
day was like a puzzle piece building a picture of who Jesus is and what He has done and who He has created them to be.
On the final day of camp, our desire was to see the teens actually have a heartfelt response to everything we had shared on camp. I had the privilege of speaking the last message and when I said my closing prayer and said Amen I think all of our leaders were blown away by the response!
I had “dared” the teens before I prayed that if any of them wanted to have prayer to become a Christian, to rededicate their lives or if they wanted boldness to share the Gospel - to come up for prayer when I said Amen. Almost all of them immediately got out of their seats and went forward for prayer! We had salvations, re-dedications and prayer for boldness! God is so good!
Needless to say, it was an amazing camp!
Also, exciting this month, was our moving house after being in the same in place for 9 years. Christilene, has moved into a studio flat and Dina and I have moved into a flat about 10 minutes away from her. It’s been a big adjustment for the 3 of us and we are still settling in but we all felt like this was God’s timing and that it is a new season.
Thank you for praying for camp and for our move! I have needed it and have felt your prayers. Please continue praying for me. I am speaking at a Women’s Conference on 1 September and I will be heading to Sweden for a Ten Days Campus Mission on 14 September!
Lots of Love
Traci
I am loving Summer! We are having a heat wave in London at the moment and most people who are from England feel like they are dying and praying for the cool weather again but I am secretly praying it will last at least another month!
This past month
has been busy but so good. At the end of June we had a Connect Group
Leaders Training. I
oversee the small
groups in our church and we have 21 groups meeting across London on a weekly basis that
are community/ family to each other. They are a
mixture of mum's, men’s, ladies, and student groups that are focused on growing in their relationship with Christ as well as being an open door to the lost.
Then at the beginning of July I headed to Marseille with one of our campus ministers and 5 of our student leaders to our annual ENC Student Leaders Camp. We had 37 student leaders and campus workers from 9 European nations join us for a week of training and a bit of fun! I had the privilege of teaching 3 sessions during the week. One was my favourite – Practical Discipleship tips, as well as Small Group training and a session on Faith, Obedience and Trust – Not a Normal Life (Hebrews 11).
Below are some photos from the week:
Finally, thank you so much for your prayers this past month. You have no idea how much they have helped. I have had to not only speak at our Connect Leaders meeting and 3 times in Marseille but I have also taught twice at our Follow Course this past month, so your prayers have helped me so much in all of my preparation. Remember, everything I do – you have a part in it. You are touching people’s lives in so many different places!
My housemates and I move this next week, so please pray for our move and everything involved.
You are an amazing blessing!
Lots of Love
Traci
