United with Dan on a Mission

Chapter 7 Inverness Outreach

On the 22^nd of October I departed with the Kingdom DTS for the outreach to Inverness. I was rather excited to go to Inverness as it had been on my bucket list, and the routine at base had started to grow a little dull. I was eager to go where the winds blew me. The trip was incredible, the scenery was just breathtaking, with hidden gems appearing every little while, some only visible for a fleeting moment, but they left one with a similar feeling to a boxer getting in a good shot.

The hostel experience was a first, there was very little space for anybody. The 9 of us shared a room with 1 other, but despite all this I was quite content. The 23^rd dawned and we were asked whether or not we noticed any change in the atmosphere. Most people did, although I wasn’t aware of anything besides that I was no longer in the ‘shrine upon a hill’, making it harder to get still and communicate with God.  Later that afternoon we went out to ‘acclimatise’ ourselves with the surroundings. [Zie] spoke about possibly doing a treasure hunting exercise; we broke into groups and prayed for direction.  It was then that I got an image of a white bridge, and the house numbers 44 and 47. I laughed at myself, and decided to share it anyway for the laughs. But [Zie] insisted that’s how a treasure hunt works and that we should try anyway. So we departed and then…

it was 44 and 47 was two door to the right!

The next few days we went out in pairs and talked to strangers, made connections, shared all kinds of things, showed compassion and made friends. During this time I met a Taylor and Cameron with whom I made friends; met James who is a referee for Rugby Scotland, and after sharing a bit, gave me connections to Cricket Scotland saying that they will snatch me up really quickly if I still have a passion for umpiring and coaching. (I plan to at least investigate it while I am here.) I also met Dennis, who was playing violin at one of the squares; he said he did it for fun. He is a retired pastor from the Free Church of Scotland. I spoke with him for quite a while about all kinds of things, but just before he left, he gave me a donation for the work I was doing and blessed me. It was a great experience, and the amount he gave me was exactly that which I had given to the poor man outside Burger King just weeks before. Co-incidence…? For some reason I doubt it, and have found myself becoming really sceptical of co-incidences!

After a few days we turned up the heat and went out with the purpose to give people words from God, or pray for healing. During this time I prayed and had God highlight someone to me, who was wearing a dark green beanie; I asked God for more and I got the words: Green, Life, Leaves / Trees, Earth. Then my partner [Kat] pointed out that there was a ‘flat Earth gentlemen’ (An activist proclaiming that the earth is flat) with a dark green beanie on, behind me. So we went to talk to, and pray for him. It was the first time I had experienced anything like it. In many ways he was the laughing stock of everyone going by, an object of mockery and humour. Apparently talking to him earnestly really made his day, and I came to realise and be grateful that while I may be getting rejected ever so often when mentioning Jesus, I wasn’t nearly suffering the harassment / hardship that that flat earth guy was. I also felt great peace as I realised that my God is 100% real – it gave what I was out there doing so much more weight and significance, than what I had given it prior. I also met Capt. Murray who served on something similar to a mercy ship, and lived most of his life at sea. He had many stories to tell, and motivated me to investigate the mercy ships myself. While I gave words to some people and prayed for healing for some, I didn’t see anything significant happen, and I got told off and rejected more often than not. It was really frustrating, but the connections I did make were good ones.

At the hostel I met many people and had many fantastic conversations with people from all over the world. Amongst other things, I’ve found myself somewhat of a side hobby – learning Swedish. A lot of the language is like halfway between English and Afrikaans, thus I’m making fantastic progress it seems. I also had an off-day on Sunday, during which we as a group hired a car and travelled around Loch Ness and finally off to the Talisker on the Isle of Skye. I got to touch and play with snow for the first time, had a snow fight etc, had a whale of time, and the sights were just so so beautiful. God’s work in Scotland is just so amazing. We were also fortunate to have had fantastic weather that day.

The day after I returned from the outreach to Inverness, I went to another light and life evening in Glasgow. Once again I joined the healing team with a local named Lorraine. It was a fantastic evening. First off we prayed for someone named Gordon, who was feeling stomach pains and inflammation and stuff; after the first round of prayer, he said that it had lightened, so I prayed again, following which he declared that all pain was gone and that he was feeling fine. That was my first ‘healing’ experience… It was really exciting. I also met and prayed for an elderly woman, named Grace, who didn’t seem to know what she wanted prayer for, so I let God direct me. This brought a joyful tear to her eye and she was delighted thereafter. It was good! Then came a young girl named Rohan who desired prophecy. It was a wonderful opportunity to pray for her and receive prophecy about her and then bless her. She didn’t speak much, so it was hard to tell, but one of the other groups reported that she had spoken to them too and that the response was good. At least 12 people gave their lives to Jesus that night. It was wonderful.

Now it’s back to lecture weeks and prep for the long term outreach to India.

Thanks for reading and be blessed.