Vineyard Winter Youth Retreat: Freedom, New Hampshire

I was all set to go at 6:30 AM, as we were asked to be prepared by that time. Unfortunately, one of the two van drivers mistakenly filled up our van with regular gas instead of diesel, so we had to wait for some time for a siphon to empty the tank. Many of the people that were supposed to ride in our van fit into the other one, but I was one of the 'select few' that was asked to stay behind. Naturally I was somewhat annoyed with getting up so early on a Saturday morning only to be told to wait.

There was an increasing amount of trouble with the van, so finally we elected to take an intern's truck and a leader's small car to transport the remaining 6 of us to Freedom, New Hampshire, where the retreat was about to begin.

Until we got there, I had no idea that the retreat was actually at a summer camp! Cody looks exactly like an authentic summer camp should, but of course winterized. Sporting fields and recreation areas are abundant, and most of the cabins are very close to Lake Ossipee. Cody has been around for most of the 20th century as a summer camp exclusively for boys.

Camp Cody's cafeteria and Lake Ossipee

We arrived around lunch time, but much of the food publicly available in the cafeteria was already eaten. There was grilled cheese sandwiches and salad left, of which I gratefully partook. I usually don't have grilled cheese, but it was actually surprisingly good. I'm finding more and more that as I eat stuff that I used to hate or merely said I hated, I actually end up liking it!

In the afternoon us interns were split up into several teams to do different workshops - I was in the prophetic ministry workshop. Basically what we did for the youth was briefly explain some foundational concepts for prophetic ministry, what God's voice can be, and some stuff to do and stuff to avoid in prophetic ministry. Each group we had was very receptive and posed little to no problems at all.

With each of our workshop groups we split them all off into groups and had them play a game called 'The Revelatory Wheel'. Half of the people in a group stand in an inner circle, and the other half surround that inner circle in a circle of their own. People on the outside 'listen' for a word, symbol, picture or feeling for the person they're facing on the inside, and then relay it to them. The teens were naturals - all we really did was explain some of the more odd symbology for them. In one case, one guy prophesying to another guy in the middle saw footprints on the ground, and then someone else walking in those footprints; I explained that the guy in the middle is a leader in the kingdom of God, and what he has walked through in his life will be of valuable assistance to others who encounter similar experiences in their lifetimes.

After finishing the workshops, we headed back to the cafeteria to grab dinner. In the parking lot, I saw Aaron from the Wakefield Massachusetts trip last month - he walked up to me with a grin on his face and gave me a big hug. It was so good to see him again, especially seeing how he's already grown as a person in one month. We caught up as I ate a heaping plate of Chicken Penne Alfredo - possibly one of the best meals God ever allowed to be invented! If it weren't so fattening, I'd quite possibly eat it every day...

Aaron showing his skillz

Upon dinner's completion we headed over to the main gym, as that was where the evening worship service and message was going to be preached. I kicked a soccer ball around with Aaron before the service, accomplishing my mission of finding another way to relate to him. How he enjoyed himself!

We were all set to do prophetic ministry at the altar call at the end of the service. Unfortunately we were never called upon by the camp leadership, despite having made previous plans with them. Slightly disappointed at that twist of events, we packed up and returned to the cafeteria to grab some dessert before leaving. I ran into Aaron one more time in there, where he asked if I was staying for the talent show the teens were all involved in. I was really sad to not be able to stay to watch, especially because Aaron said he and some others were going to be dancing, and I really wanted to see Aaron's artistic gifting in action. I gave him one more great big ol' hug, and then gathered with the other interns to leave Cody. It was so hard to leave him behind!

Next Saturday we'll be going to minister at the Olive Branch bookstore in Northborough Massachusetts, and then on Sunday to a church called MetroWest, about 20 minutes outside of Boston in Natick Massachusetts. There's one other cool part about next weekend, though - on Saturday I turn 21!

Worship in the gym

Sweet Dreams: Salem, Massachusetts

We were given some interesting news this past week: as of now, we'll be going on an outreach and/or ministry trip every weekend until the end of the trimester. Because of that, I'll try to update every weekend with what we've done and what's going on.

Our event this past weekend took us to one of Streams' most beloved cities to visit: Salem.

Although Salem was originally known "The City of Peace" (Salem means peace), it is today nicknamed "The Witch City" - this is because of the infamous Salem Witch Trials that occurred there in 1692, resulting in the hanging of 19 people. Random factoid: the term witch encompasses both men and women - the occultic community does not refer to male witches as warlocks, as warlock was a term originally coined by witch hunters to differentiate, and the word warlock literally translates to "traitor".

Usually Streams Academy interns come down to Salem during Halloween to set up a dream interpretation tent on the streets. People are attracted because it is free, as we don't charge money like the witches and occultists do. This time we came down during a chocolate and wine tasting festival, and due to the cold, we weren't going to work outside.

Preparing for worship at The Gathering

On one of the historic streets in Salem there is a church called The Gathering. It was founded in a building that used to be occupied by a bank, built in 1803. Inside you can clearly see the vault where money and other valuables were once held and safely locked away. Something I like a lot about The Gathering is its slogan: "Short on rules, long on relationships." Their emphasis is very similar to Streams' doctrine: focus on loving people like Christ does, and let it go from there. Their pastor, Phil, originally came from California as he felt lead to be there. This is particularly significant, as Salem's official witch (Laurie Cabot) came from the west coast as well, a while before Phil. Phil has been plowing ground by loving people and winning them over to a relationship with God.

We briefly took time to set up inside, and then prepared to start ministering to people for the next 5 hours. I was surprised as Mandy Wise (one of the Academy leaders) pulled me aside and asked me to be an intercessor instead of a dream interpreter for a while. I've long struggled with engaging in my own prayer life, much less prayer for others. This, I would find out, was my lesson from God for the weekend. Praying for the people coming in and for those who were getting dream interpretations and/or prophetic ministry was admittedly quite awkward for the first while. However, I began to realize that intercession, and thereby prayer, could be just as much 'casual conversation' as any conversation I could have with other people. That was the way I began to pray, and then it became easier.

During the last hour of ministry time, I was assigned to a dream team with John Harding (an Academy leader) and Sharayah Lee Quinn, one of the other female interns. We only got to minister to several people due to our late formation, but one particular story for us stood out. We had a woman come in who appeared very afflicted. John asked her if she had a dream she would like interpreted. She was hesitant, so John mentioned that we also give 'spiritual readings' (our street terminology for prophetic ministry), to which she responded "To hell with my dream, I want some of that!" We were able to give her some very accurate prophetic words, which then made her more comfortable to share her dream. In this case, she actually had 2 dreams, both of which were recurring. Something that we know from our dream courses is that recurring dreams are a message of great significance from God, so we were eager to hear what she had dreamt about. In her first dream, she said that she was at a campground with a good friend from her childhood named Ken. In her other dream, she said she went to a college from her hometown to take a Criminal Justice program. As she was relaying dream details, I couldn't help but chuckle. John asked her what Ken signified to her, to which she said "He was the only one I could trust," and that made me chuckle even more. John turned to me, knowing I had the interpretation and asked me to share it with her. In her first dream, God was showing her that He is like Ken, wanting to take her to a place of rest and letting her just trust in Him. In her second dream, God was showing her that she was about to go through a time of spiritual training/education, where she would be tapping fully into the justice that God has for her, and for her to provide to other people who need it. She was absolutely blown away, and wanted to know more. John started to share with her about God, prayer and how to connect with Him, which she eagerly took in. When she continued to press in, John took an even bigger step and asked her if she would like to go through a prayer with him to 'spiritually cleanse' herself. She wasn't quite ready for that, but she said that she did have a lot to go home with and was clearly quite relieved upon leaving.

During the evening time of sharing stories, we heard a story about a woman who came in with a dream she had recurring over 20 years. In her dream, she dreamed about holding different babies and caring for them. Her interpreters shared with her that 'the Creator' wants to use her to assist in birthing new things, to which she cried tears of joy. Before sharing her dream and getting its interpretation, she had just been prophetically declared as a woman of great compassion and love for people.

The original Salem Harbor Lighthouse, built in 1671

The next morning I got up early to see the Atlantic Ocean, as I've never been within walking distance of it. Although I've seen an ocean before (having previously lived on the West Coast for 12 years), it was really cool to see the 'other side' of North America. On the way back to The Gathering, I passed by the Salem Witch Trials Memorial, where various pleas from the people that were hanged are engraved in stone in the ground.

The church service was one of the best I've ever recalled being in - the last song we sang was an oldie - Fly Away (by Albert Brumley). I just couldn't help but dance to it! After the service, we got to prophetically minister to people of the church (as opposed to people off the street from the day before). It's completely different prophetically ministering to believers - for less experienced dream interpreters, prophetic ministry to believers can be difficult, because believers tend to have much more complex and vivid dreams. For this reason, I currently prefer working with people during events like Sweet Dreams.

Although we didn't participate in the wine or chocolate tasting, we did get to take pictures of the various ice sculptures set up on the historic streets of Salem. It was amazing how good they all were - there were fishes, seals, an ice castle, even an ice piano! I don't know how they do it, but what a gift. Speaking of gifts, I was introduced by a fellow intern to a cafe called Kushco's - they have the most amazing wraps and milkshakes! Upon my return to Salem, I know where I'm going for lunch...

One of the many ice sculptures