Hello and welcome. Thank you so much for tuning in today. My name is Tina with KGM Studio, and it's wonderful to be back on here. Today I want to share with you my experience on a mission trip to Africa that I just returned from. It was an incredible two-week journey that included a three-day conference, visits to villages and churches, opportunities to minister, and the privilege of getting to know the people and learn about their culture and history. This trip was truly eye-opening for me. It was such a blessing to meet the people, hear their stories, experience their culture, and even learn about places connected to biblical history. I'm excited to share some of the things God did during this trip. We began a three-day conference where we had the opportunity to minister to and train people from different churches. Our team consisted of 13 members from the US, the Philippines, the Middle East, Africa, and other African countries. It was phenomenal getting to know everyone and spending two weeks together. One of the experiences that really stands out to me happened late one night during our three-day conference. I was coming out of my bedroom where I was sharing a room with two other ladies. I had told one of them, Would you like some ice cream? I'll run to the store and get some, I'll be right back. But before I went to the store, I decided to pray for one of our team members. It was around 10 o'clock at night when I asked her, Can I pray for you? She said yes, so I prayed for her. Afterward, I came out of the room and saw another team member who had been talking about experiencing pain in his body. I asked him, Hey, would you like me to pray for you? He said yes. And because we were standing in the hallway, we decided to go outside to pray. As I began praying for him, we suddenly saw people coming toward us. They began asking, Can you pray for us after you're finished? I thought, oh my goodness, we need an interpreter. One of the men said, Wait, let me go get an interpreter for you. And amazingly, that interpreter ended up becoming our interpreter for the rest of the two-week trip. Before long, we had people lining up asking for prayer. Probably around 20 to 25 people. Excuse me. I would pray for them and also encourage them, sharing what I felt the Holy Spirit was putting on my heart. A majority of them would respond, that's confirmation. That's exactly how God has been speaking to me. It was absolutely amazing to watch how God was orchestrating everything. Jesus said in Matthew 9, 37, 38, The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. And that night I felt like I was seeing the scripture come alive before my eyes. People were hungry for prayer, encouragement, and the presence of God. Then suddenly the lights turned off. We thought, oh no, I guess it's time to go to bed. We had no idea how late it had gone. One of the pastor's daughter, whose father was hosting us, came up to us and said, I need prayer. So she became the last person we prayed for that night. The funny moments during our prayer time was when the father of the church was passing by and checking to see what we were doing because the lights had already been turned off and it looked like the um we were just out there and talking, but he noticed we were actually praying for one another. So we just decided to probably end the prayer because it was really getting late. So we told everyone that we would continue again the next day, but there were still about five or six people waiting to receive prayer. When I asked one of them what time it was, they said 2 a.m. I said, Oh my gosh, I forgot to buy my roommate ice cream and the store is already closed. So that was definitely an interesting and funny moment during our prayer time. So after that, we traveled to one of the cities about four or five hours away. Um, we were constantly traveling by bus, going from city to city and ministering in different villages and churches. Everywhere we went, the people welcomed us so warmly. At one of the churches, I had the opportunity to preach. I had spent a couple hours preparing my message because I thought I was going to preach about identity in Christ. But as we know, sometimes the Holy Spirit has a completely different plan, which he does to me all the time when I preach in different countries. Before I preach, I noticed a white feather. I had been reading a book about angels, and the author shared how she recognizes the presence of angels when she sees white feathers. That really caught my attention because I felt that there were ministering angels in that church. It was beautiful. Before I shared the word, I told the congregation that your worship song is so beautiful, but I don't understand the language, so I so can I sing a song over you? And so they said yes, and I began singing a song about the Holy Spirit over them, and I can feel the Holy Spirit ushering into the room and setting the atmosphere. Then I began my sharing my testimony, my history, how God called me and how he led me to write my book. I told him I'm gonna share with you about identity in Christ. My interpreter began interpreting for me, and then I looked down at my notes. Suddenly I couldn't understand my notes anymore. It was kind of like a blur. I thought, oh great, the Holy Spirit is changing my message, and that's exactly I felt what was happening. There are moments when you prepare a message, but then the Holy Spirit takes over and begins speaking directly to your heart about what the people in front of you need to hear. God has also given me the gift of praying and speaking in my heavenly language, and in those moments I knew I needed to allow the Holy Spirit to lead me. So while my interpreter was speaking in their language, I would pray silently and speak in my heavenly language, and when it was time for me to speak in English, I would continue sharing what I felt God was putting on my heart. I also learned something very important about the people there. They love stories. Stories connect with people, they allow people to understand where you're coming from. They can see your struggles, your journey, and your testimony. They realize that you're human just like they are. So I shared my story, then I began talking about the importance of reading the Bible and knowing the word of God. That's when I discovered that some of them couldn't read and some couldn't afford to buy a Bible. Many of them were simply reading the scriptures from the projector screen at church. That really touched my heart. I remember thinking, God, I want to bless these people with Bibles. I want to bless them with books so they can have the word of God for themselves. I felt the Holy Spirit impressed upon my heart to tell them that there is power in the Word of God. We have been given authority through Christ. Jesus said that we have authority to tread upon serpents and scorpions and over all the power of the enemy. So I began encouraging them. When you pray, use the word of God, stand on scripture, declare it, decree it, pray it with faith and authority. God hears our prayers, God will come through, God is faithful. As I looked out at the congregation, I could see their eyes fixed on me. They were listening, they were soaking it in. I could see that the message was resonating in their spirits, all because of the Holy Spirit ushering them in to just be still and listen in. And that was such a blessing to me. But one of the first things I noticed when I walked into the church made me laugh. Um, I saw three air conditioners on the wall and thought, oh yes, thank you, God, for favor. Because let me tell you, it was hot in that country. I knew I needed to preach in that heat, and God knew I needed some air conditioning, so I considered those three air conditioners a little reminder of God's favor. God says, ask and you shall receive, but I wasn't expecting it, but God knew I needed the air conditioned. We continued traveling to different cities, visiting other churches, museums, and historical sites. Some of the churches and museums we visited were connected to the history of Joseph, Mary, and Jesus. We were able to see places where tradition says they hid in caves, and we even saw one of the caves. It was absolutely beautiful. This was also the first time I had experienced and I had experienced so many tours and historical sites during a mission trip. We traveled by boat, visited the Citadel fortress, saw the pyramids, visited museums, and so much more about the history and culture. And learned so much more about the history and culture. It was an incredible experience. One of the biggest highlights for me was seeing that cave that had been transformed into an auditorium church. I remember looking around and thinking, God, I would love to come back here one day and preach in this place. Maybe one day when the time is right, I would even love to host a women's conference there and see the move of God in that beautiful place. That experience changed something inside of me. It created an even greater desire in my heart to work with women internationally. I saw the need, I saw the hunger, I saw women who need encouragement, discipleship, healing, and transformation. And I felt in my spirit that God is calling me to help women discover who He created them to be. I want to see women transform into everything God has called them to become. So this trip was more than just a mission trip for me. It was an encounter. It was a reminder that God can take us places we never imagined, speak through us in ways we never planned, and use our testimony to reach people we may never have expected to reach. Praise the Lord. When we surrender our plans to the Holy Spirit, He can change the message, just like He did at that where I preached at that church. And He changed the atmosphere and He changed lives. Thank you so much for tuning in and being part of this journey with me. God bless you, and I pray that you continue to seek Him, know His word, and walk boldly in the authority and calling He has placed on your life. God bless you.