Newsletter July 2012

Hello!

I don’t even know where to start; the past 6 months have been absolutely crazy! If you don’t know I have been doing a DTS (Discipleship Training School) in Los Angeles. It started in January with lecture phase. Lecture phase was incredible. I learned so much about my relationship with God. We had topics like hearing Gods voice, the father heart of God and the Holy Spirit. I learned stuff like prophesying and asking God for an encouraging word for someone. There is so much more to a relationship with God than I had known before.

After 3 months of lecture phase I went on outreach! I went with a team of 17 people to Japan and Thailand. We were in Japan for 3 weeks. There we met a Pastor who let us stay at his church and gave us some ministry opportunities. We mostly did street evangelism, prayer walks and worship all over the city and a lot of intercession. We were told that Japan was going to be very closed off to the gospel. Less than 4% of Japan is Christian and Japan is known as the “Missionary Graveyard”. We weren’t expecting any salvations from the trip; we saw it more as paving the road through

prayer for future missionaries. By the end of the trip we saw 17 salvations!! This was just through street evangelism, and we were able to get them connected into the church we were staying at.

We arrived in Bangkok, Thailand April 17th and went on a 7 hour bus ride up to Mae Sod right on the border of Burma. There we worked with Pastor Michael a former Buddhist Monk doing open air evangelism. We put big speakers on the back of a pickup and parked in front of a market or in a Burmese refuge village and had worship, drama, testimonies and presented the gospel. During one of the open airs we were in a Muslim village and we felt like we were supposed to have an invitation for people to receive healing. We saw 2 Muslims get completely healed one from hip problem and the other from blindness after that they both prayed to receive Jesus. In addition to the open air’s, we also visited orphanages and youth hostels. We went to a garbage dump where there is literally a village of people living and working right there on the garbage dump. It was heartbreaking seeing kids without shoes walking around through heaps of trash and sewage in their backyard. At the garbage dump we had the opportunity to wash the feet of those who lived there and give them fresh fruit.

After 3 weeks in Mae Sod we headed up to the mountains of Chiang Mai to Silah Home. Silah Home is a kid’s home which currently houses 43 at-risk kids from the ages of 3 to 19. During our time at Silah Home we were able to build relationships with the kids and give them the attention and love that the five staff there just were not able to give enough of. Every night we played games and performed dramas for them and during the day while they were at school we were able to build a much needed driveway and garage for them and various manual labor jobs. We were also able to paint the outside of the home; we painted the gospel from creation, fall of man, the flood, Jesus and heaven.

Kids at the garbage dump

Washing feet at the garbage dump

Leading worship in Shibuya, Tokyo

During one of our last night’s there we were able to do a prayer tunnel for all of the kids, by the end of it every single kid had been touched by God. Even though they did not understand anything we were praying, more than half of the kids were so moved that they began to cry. This really showed our entire team how much God is not limited by language barriers which is something God taught us throughout the entire outreach.

Our last location was a 24 hour bus ride south to Phucket. There we worked with an organization called SHE which works to help prostitutes get out of the bars and helps them find other jobs. Our team was split into two groups. While one group was out at the bars the other group was back at the house interceding. Going into the bars and talking to prostitutes was crazy weird. I had never in my life imagined that I would be doing something like that. It’s so sad how hurting and hopeless the girls are. Most of them are there to support their families. They go down to Phuket to find work in a hotel, but they don’t know any English so they end up in the bars. We were able to build relationships with several different girls and pray for them. By the end of our time there we actually saw one girl come out of the bars, and we trust that more girls will follow through our work there.

When we came back to L.A we got the chance to be a part of Circuit Riders which was a two week revival training school. We did a lot of training and intercession for L.A as well as going into the city and doing street evangelism. One of the days a group of 20 people went into Burbank and saw 42 people healed saved and delivered, and there are many more testimonies like that from the two weeks.

So what’s next? In September of this year I will be attending the Elevate School of Worship in Kona, Hawaii at the University of the Nations. There some of the lecture phase topics are: Biblical and Historical Basis for Worship, Prophetic aspects of Worship, Worship, Intercession and Spiritual Warfare, The Character and Lifestyle of the Worshiper, Worship Leading and Teamwork and more. The goal of this school is to raise up a generation who prioritize a lifestyle centered on God's presence in worship and intercession as the basis for reaching the lost. They aim to train and release these gifted worshipers to be firstly, lovers of Jesus, then grounded in the Word of God, and skilled in the craft of music, songwriting and worship leading.

I am so excited for what’s coming, and I am so blessed to be a part of it! I would love for you to partner with me and be a part of what God is doing. I need a lot of prayer and support going into this next season of my life. Financially I am going to need to raise about $5,000 for the fall, please pray that I am able to raise the finances. I trust that God is faithful! If you would want to sow into my ministry financially you can donate using PayPal or credit card online via my blog: http://rajensen.blogspot.com/.

If you would like to hear more about what has happened in the past 6 months and about my vision for the future I would love to talk with you! I will try to keep my blog updated as much as possible, you can also check out the YWAM Kona website for more information the school of worship and the Kona base: http://uofnkona.edu.

Moses, one of the kids at Silah Home