The Elijah Challenge Basic Training II in Seattle, Washington
Latter Rain Conference | May 2010
Other Elijah Challenge events with Vietnamese churches
Held at Thien An Vietnamese Baptist Church
The 2010 Latter Rain Conference was hosted by Pastor Trang Nguyen
Basic Training IIDuring the Training the Lord touched those with physical infirmities as the disciples laid hands on them.
Bill (left) and Ryan minister to gentleman with pain in his armpits and knee. The pains leave completely.
Long-term pain in Renee's right foot disappears
Long & Ryan lay hands on man with irregular heartbeat.
The man checks his pulse for the irregular heartbeat
He testifies that he can find no more trace of the
irregular heartbeat
There was also a 63-year-old Vietnamese sister at the Training named Christine. The Lord had called this fiery woman to heal the sick and preach the gospel, but she had not been trained how to do it. On Saturday during the Training, Christine ministered to Sister Ilona who suffered from complete deafness in her right ear as a result of a needle being inserted into the ear when she was a young girl. Christine ministered to her three times, but there was no improvement at all in Ilona's hearing. But read on to find out what happened later in the evening.
Christine (left) trying vainly to open up Ilona's deaf ear in Christ's name
The evangelistic healing service on Saturday eveningLater that Saturday evening after the Training, Christine was ready for war at the evangelistic healing meeting. She ministered to Ilona again, and this time the Lord opened up her ear and she could hear Christine whispering into her right ear. Another woman testified of experiencing God's healing power come upon her as Christine laid hands on her. See the photos below.
At the evangelistic healing service, a determined Christine refuses to admit defeat and ministers to Ilona again for healing from deafness
This time Ilona's ear is opened and she can hear Christine whispering
into her deaf ear
A woman feels God's healing power over her as Christine lays hands on her. Both ladies are overjoyed in the Lord.
Amazing miracles: two deaf & mute women healedOn Sunday evening the following day, Christine ministered to two women who were both deaf and mute, the older woman completely so since birth. The Lord healed them both. It was amazing for me and the crowd to hear someone deaf and mute since birth repeating words after Christine. She could not contain herself and was screaming and dancing around after the Lord used her so powerfully. [Photos to be added soon]
Christine is now making plans to heal the sick and preach the gospel openly at a shopping mall, and even to make announcements on the radio offering "free healing." Christine was just one of many of the Lord's disciples who was trained during that weekend to heal the sick and preach the gospel as Jesus commanded his disciples two thousand years ago.
Photos of the evangelistic healing service
Trained disciples prepare to heal the sick to confirm the gospel
Crystal (left) ministers healing in Christ's name
The testimonies of healing below confirmed the gospel of Jesus Christ to the lost and brought glory to God.
A total of fourteen people accepted Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior over the weekend as they witnessed the miraculous healings which demonstrated that Jesus Christ is the Messiah with authority to forgive sin. Without a doubt Christ is the only way to the Father in heaven.
[Photos and testimonies from the 2nd evangelistic service will be added soon]
The Elijah Challenge Alumni Club has been established to provide follow-up and evangelistic healing opportunities in public places for the newly-trained disciples. We hope that this Alumni Club will eventually organize mission trips to Vietnam and other countries where they will apply and teach The Elijah Challenge.
Associate Pastor Ho The Vu
Testimonies from Seattle in the aftermath of the Training"There have been many opportunities to share what you taught us... with family, friends, small groups of people God has placed me around. One in particular happened Sunday evening. We had some friends over (a couple). I was telling them all about the weekend... the teaching, the actual praying. They were very excited... hadn't heard anything like it before. Then the young man said, "Um, I did something to my neck yesterday, and it's been getting sorer and sorer all the time. You can even see how it's bulging right here where it hurts. Would you be willing to pray for it, Renee?"
All those ingrained things came flooding back! "What if I pray and nothing happens?" "Is this Your will, Father?" "Scared to step out!" All those thoughts came pouring in. And I said, "Yes. Yes I will." (: I thought, "I know this is mainly for unsaved groups of people, and not just for our personal well-being, but I just shared some very exciting things about how big You are and what you did and can do. So I'm going to pray... to help them understand Who you are, too!"
So I prayed outloud that God would have the freedom to work through me... would show how close He is to us... and how BIG He is... how much He cares for us. Then I opened my eyes and started commanding with authority. I then asked how his neck was... then "rolled up my sleeves" and commanded some more! And a third time. All of a sudden the young man said, "Wow! Something just happened (as he was moving his head back and forth, with a big smile on his face)... God definitely did something!" It was like a big exclamation point to everything we were just talking about! So cool!
Afterward I told the young man that it was as much for me as for him. As soon as the young man asked if I would pray for him, I felt like God had "turned His head" to look right at me to say, "Yes, WILL you pray for him??"
Another cool thing that happened took place between the end of our training and the evening service on Saturday. Crystal had gone up for prayer for her back during the "practice" session, and she had also gone up to pray for someone. Nothing seemed to happen in either instance, and she was feeling discouraged. As we were walking around the neighborhood, she said, "I don't know if I should be up there tonight (for the service)... I don't really know what I'm feeling right now." Ryan [Crystal's husband] started encouraging her... telling her that it was just the enemy's way to stop her from doing what God was asking her to do. I shared an experience with her, also, of a time when I had absolutely nothing to give of my own, and how, because of my obedience, God was able to move through me (and everything said/prayed was Him and Him alone!).So when the service started and you asked us all to come up, Crystal popped right up and started walking forward. She and I were both ministering to someone else when the people came forward for healing ministry. Right near the end, we ended up praying over a particular older woman. She didn't speak any English, but pointed to where it hurt. I prayed over this woman's wrist... three times... and all of a sudden her eyes went big and she smiled as she was moving and twisting her wrist all over the place. Crystal had been praying over both her knees, and the woman indicated that only one still hurt. So I got down with Crystal, and we started praying together over the same thing. Another young Vietnamese girl came and joined us. After we had ministered together another three times, the older woman had us get up... then help her get up and down a few times... holding onto my arm as she was twisting her knee one way, then the other... again, with a big smile on her face. The younger Vietnamese girl asked the older lady how she felt, and the older woman indicated that she felt healed.
Then the younger girl asked if she would like to give her life to Jesus, and the older woman smiled and firmly nodded up and down... yes, she WOULD! Crystal and I watched with such joy in our hearts, as the older woman went up on the stage and gave her life to Jesus! As someone was getting information from her over to the side, Crystal and I couldn't stand it any longer... and went over to give her big hugs. You can say a lot without words, huh? (:
We went back to our seats, and as soon as we sat down, we each felt a hand on our shoulder. We turned around to see a younger woman behind us. She said, "I'm crying inside right now. That (pointing the older woman we had been praying for) is my mother! She has been in pain for so long. We have taken her to many doctors, who could not help her. I never thought my Mother would give her life to God! I can't tell you thank you enough! I can't tell you!"
Crystal and I told her welcome, and isn't God amazing. Then we turned back around, with BIG smiles on our faces and wonder in our hearts... that God would use us in such a special way! I turned to Crystal and said, "I think it is so sweet... that you chose to be obedient, no matter what you were feeling. And because you did, there is a new life in the Kingdom of God!" Crystal had a HUGE smile on her face! She said, "I KNOW, Mom!!"---Sister Renee B.
"Free Healing Prayer" at Seattle's Pike Place Market"[My wife] Crystal and I tried out the free healing prayer idea. We made a large sign with that message in several languages and went to Pike Place Market in Seattle yesterday. We set up our sign next to the market from about 5pm to 7pm, but only a handful of people seemed interested, and only two asked for healing. We healed a man who had an injured ACL (torn knee ligament), and a woman who had a head and back injury. There were about 30 people passing us per minute until the market closed at 6pm. By around 6:30, there were about 22-25 people passing us per minute. We could tell almost everyone read our sign as they walked by, but few stopped. What would you recommend we do to be more effective?
Also, the man we healed was with about 4 friends, and one asked us what we thought about other religions, like Buddhism. I told him about there being only one God and everything, and that we would like to go head to head with these Buddhists to prove our point. He asked me what I would think if they were also able to heal. I know evil powers can sometimes heal to, so what do I say to prove that God is more powerful? Would God simply stop our competition from being successful in this scenario?
Overall, it was a good night and we were able to minister to a few people, but we would like to learn how to increase our effectiveness. It was amazing to see how much more powerful the healing is outside the church than inside---the man was healed after laying hands on him only once."
---Ryan
