Hello friends,
We are into our final week of school!! It’s
so hard to believe we are on the final stretch, it feels like its gone so fast
but at the same time it feels like we’ve been here forever and it’s truly
become home. We are sad to be leaving this amazing place and especially leaving
all the people we’ve become so close to over the last 9 months but at the same
time we are so looking forward to seeing you all at home and sharing all we’ve
experienced and seen this year.
This year has truly been life changing in
so many ways. We came here primarily to get more activated in the supernatural,
to grow in our gifts and get more prepared for ministry but God’s vision for
this year was so much bigger than ours. We did get all we came for but we also
got a lot, lot more. I think one of the biggest things that has happened this
year is the transformation of how we see ourselves. We have both grown in our
identity as a son/daughter of God and what that actually means. We have had new
revelation of the father’s love for us and our identity as children, that he
loves and accepts us 100% all the time and we never have to strive, perform or
try to earn his love and acceptance. There is so much freedom in truly, truly
knowing that and that’s what we have and still are experiencing. We’ve come to
see ourselves as heirs of God which means we are royalty, not merely sinners
saved by Grace as so much of the church have called themselves for years. God
has a much higher opinion of us than that and it’s time to start seeing
ourselves as He does and living from that place of royalty and sonship- it’s a
lot more fun and a lot easier.
Another major thing that has happened in
us this year and that Bethel is so good at is that we’ve really learnt how to
do life well. By this I mean we’ve learnt how to live in a healthy way with
healthy relationships with each other and with others, where we get our needs met. This is so important and not
many churches teach on it or even acknowledge it. God has given us emotional
and relational needs, not only spiritual needs and its so important we get
healthy in these areas in order to live well. We’ve learnt a lot of tools in
this area to do with communication, having healthy boundaries, doing healthy confrontation and more, that are all
vital for successful living and to have a successful ministry.
These are just some of the things that
God has done in us this year, there is too much to write it all down but to me
they are probably some of the most important. We need to know who we are and
how to do life well in order to be able to minister effectively to people. We
need to know that we have the kingdom of God living inside of us so we can
release it to others and see them saved, healed delivered. So thank you for
supporting us both financially and prayerfully this year, it has been so
beneficial and such an incredible experience.
So what’s next for us?
As some of you know, we have
been praying about going to Brazil after the school. We have been in touch with
churches and different people about that and everyone is really excited about
us moving over, it’s pretty set that we will be going and working with my
parent’s church.
There we’ll be leading the youth and
getting involved in different social and evangelistic projects (such as
outreaches to homeless, street kids, poor neighborhoods and working and
ministering to prostitutes and transvestites). Another big thing in our hearts that we will be doing there is to start classes to teach and activate people
into the prophetic, healing, evangelism and into this culture of Love and Honor that we have been
learning here at Bethel Church, and eventually develop and plant a school of
ministry over there, which takes us to my next point.
Bethel School of Ministry’s 2nd
year is a lot more focused on leadership; the program is designed for us to keep
growing and learning but also to equip us to take this culture outside Redding
as leaders. During second year we get to lead 1st year students at
different outreaches and mission trips, and get to be a lot more involved with
the church. We also get to travel more with Bethel Church leaders (like Bill
Johnson, Kris Vallotton and others) in ministries trips around the US and the
world, which is such a blessing and honour.
Also, in 2nd year we get more
specific teachings in the areas that we feel called to, such as, Christine and
I get to take a class on school planting with the person who oversees all BSSM
around the world, which is pretty amazing, We get to see how they do things on
day to day bases, how they deal with everything and also get to receive a lot
of their wisdom just by being with them.
We feel that personally and ministry-wise that 2nd
year would be really beneficial for us, not only for everything that we could
get out of it, but also to go deeper in relationships we've made here and for building life
long partnership in this place, which we think will be essential for us in the
future. We also feel that there’s still so much we could and want to get from
doing life in this environment and culture.
Partnering with us.
So there’s a few ways you can partner with
us for the next part of our journey:
One of the ways is prayer.You could keep us in prayer. Pray that God
would continue to open doors for us to walk in the fullness of our destiny, for
Him to keep bringing people that will pour into our lives as well as people
that we would be pouring into, for relationship and partnership that will bless
and help us to keep growing, for our families and more, whatever you feel like
God is saying over us, declare it and pray. We highly appreciate your prayers.
You can also partner with us financially.
Having shared the great stuff about second year, we still have one challenge,
it costs just as much as the 1st year of school, $4200 each.
During the summer Christine and I
will be working to save up for the year ahead, and if you would like to partner
with us financially, you could donate online on www.ibssm.org,
by clicking on the ‘Give Online’ and then ‘Give to Tuition - Make
a donation to a student's tuition.’ Then just put one of our names in and
donate.
Also feel free to contact us for any
information on other ways you could support us.
We 100% believe in what God has been
giving us, and in what He’s gonna do in and through us in Brazil and other
places where we’re getting involved, and for that I believe that your
partnership with us, whether through prayer, financial or in any other way is
reaching and affecting more than just our lives, but it is an investment in the expanse of His
Kingdom. We have had so much favour and grace during this season here at Bethel,
we think this has created momentum for so much more, which makes us excited
about all that God will do next year.
So this is it for now, can’t wait to
see some of you guys in Ireland soon, and please get in touch if you want to
spend some time together, we’re looking forward to it.
Love and Blessings
Daniel and Christine Oliveira
No comments:
Post a Comment