Testimonies from 2022

Healing in Walmart!—September 2022

OneWe received some great evangelism training from Paul Rapley at the YWAM base.  Soon after, we spent some time in Walmart doing some outreach.  I (Candy) asked for help from a Walmart employee to find the maternity section.  (It’s always good to be a legitimate customer while doing outreach.)  

I briefly commented on how nice her shoes looked and she mentioned having some pain in her foot as she was wearing a brace.  I offered to pray for her foot, which she was open to.  She testified that her foot was feeling better and lighter and she asked me to pray for her other foot.  I did and she said it was also feeling better.  

I then asked if I could pray for her again and invited the Holy Spirit to come.  She shared with me that she felt God’s Presence right there in Walmart.  She seemed really blessed by the God encounter and gave me a hug.  God is good!

Arm Healed in the Monroe Skatepark!—September 2022: 

Jay and I went to the local park to do some outreach.  We weren’t feeling all that energetic to interact with people, but we wanted to be faithful to do our weekly outreach.  

A dog ran up to us near the skatepark and we easily started up a conversation with the two young men with the dog.  We talked with them for a while hearing some of their adventures to South America.  

Eventually, we asked if we could pray for them.  They were initially a little surprised, but one young man shared that he had injured his shoulder and elbow recently and wasn’t able to bend his elbow all the way.  

We prayed for his arm and Jay gave both of them some prophetic words of encouragement.  The first young man’s elbow was healed so he could bend it all the way and they were both blessed by the encouraging words.  It was such a fun encounter and we felt like God made it so easy for us even when we were tired!

Ministry in South Everett McDonalds—March 2022

Before we went out for outreach in South Everett, WA, we spent some time listening to the Lord for guidance.  I received, among other words, “McDonalds,” “Ricky,” and “college tuition needs.”  I went with Candy, Wes, and Justin.  It was a rainy day and we all had umbrellas, but we still had a few good encounters along the way with people as we walked to McDonalds. 

I wasn’t that excited about having lunch at McDonalds and thought maybe we’d eat somewhere else and grab coffee later at McDonalds.  As we approached the intersection near McDonalds, I prayed about that and felt the Lord say to “go to McDonalds.”  All four of us on my team were ok with it, so we went right then. 

I made small talk with one worker of the McDonalds and asked if by any chance he knew of anyone working there named “Tony.”  He said he wasn’t sure.  

There were a few baseball players in uniforms (probably 16-18 year olds) that came in while we were waiting for our food and I made a bit of small talk with them too, but no more.  Our food came and we ate, conversing together as a team.  Nothing seemed to really be happening other than good conversation amongst our team, which was a blessing.  I decided to be content with that, but open to more too, if God wanted something else.  I prayed a prayer for the McDonalds and asked God’s presence to come there.  

A few minutes later, I noticed that two other McDonalds workers were taking their lunch break and eating together a short distance away from us.  I suddenly had the thought that I should pray for one of them, but I realized it might be easier if he was not with the other worker.  Literally, right after I had that thought, the other worker got up, leaving him alone. It was God’s time and I could sense the Spirit moving! 

I went up to him and told him what we were doing.  He said he needed prayer.  He was preparing to go to college and had been accepted.  The issue was tuition money.  I showed him the “college tuition needs” word that I had written as a note in my phone.  He was surprised.  As I prayed for him, I also received some original design words of knowledge about who God created him to be (characteristics of his personality, etc).  He nodded when I shared them and I could tell they blessed him.  I think he was a bit overwhelmed, though also very thankful at the same time.  I told him I wouldn’t keep him from his work but that the source of what just happened was God.  I gave him a gospel track that explained more about how to have a relationship with God.  He gladly took it and began reading it before going back to his work. 

I returned to our group and Candy shared the three baseball players were watching what happened.  She thought I should talk to the baseball players again and share what we were doing and see if one of them was “Tony.”  So we did.  We told them what we were doing and asked if any of them were Tony.” They said, “No.” but seemed intrigued and went on to share that Tony was one of their friends (maybe a teammate?) and he had some arm injuries.  I offered to pray for him right then and did.  They were very grateful.  We offered prayer for them too, and they said there were ok but seemed intrigued by what had happened.  I told them to tell Tony that God loved him!  

Not just your average day at McDonalds for these young people….. Seeds sown through the Holy Spirit! My burger was good, too!  We left and went on to minister to a few more people on our walk back on the streets.  It was a great day and other groups also had good stories. 

Outreach in England—February 2022

Jay and I were speakers on the Holy Spirit for a DTS in Nuneaton, England. We finished off the week doing local outreach in the town of Nuneaton.  The students were bold and eager to talk with people and pray for people. 

Jay’s group ended up talking to a couple of young guys.  One of them was wearing a brown hat, which Jay had felt the Lord tell him he would meet someone wearing a brown hat, so it gave him courage and faith to approach them. 

The student from Italy really shared the Gospel with them and Jay prayed for them to experience God’s Presence. They both testified they felt heat on their hands as they received prayer! 

We were amazed at people’s receptiveness to talk with us.  Some people weren’t open to receiving prayer, but were intrigued by the offer to listen to God for them, even for someone who claimed to be an atheist.  Praise the Lord!