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THE SUSPENSE THRILLER OF PAUL'S VISA

Three hours before we left for the airport, Paul was handed his visa - by the consul himself who stayed after everyone else had gone home to do Paul's visa himself. All the Malian embassy personnel was blown away by that. What a miracle! It was obvious that God wanted Paul in the US; I had heard God speak to me in May to take him with me, had purchased the tickets by faith, and now the last obstacle was also removed. The excitement was great!

THE PRIMARY PURPOSE

The primary purpose for Paul's trip was his deteriorating health that concerned me a lot. It soon became obvious that that was only one of God's purposes. Paul had been vomiting for months, and alternating between diarrhea and constipation, and hardly been eating at all, and it was getting worse. I knew that the stress and challenges he had gone through had probably a lot to do with it, and I also knew that he would be healed at the clinic in Wichita where my own health was restored in January.

So Paul got to spend two weeks there, and God provided in an amazing way for part of the costs there. I interviewed him to let him speak with his own words:

"We were on our way to the clinic, and this wonderful man Andrew told Claudia that he wants to find a way to pay for the clinic. So he found a way to pay for the treatments. That was really, it really went beyond all my imagination, my expectations that he would do that for us, and I thank him very much, with all my heart."

After Paul's first treatment, the constipation was gone, and by the end of the second week, all the symptoms were gone (except for his forgetfulness ;-)), and his appetite had very obviously returned.

On the weekend between the two weeks of treatments, we were in Kansas City. On the first night of being at World Revival Church, God touched Paul powerfully.

"I was deeply touched by the presence of God. It was also there that I was healed. I had a vision of being taken up to heaven [by three angels] and God Himself, with His own hand, did something to my body and healed me."

The three angels took him back to earth. That night he emailed the doctor in Wichita, telling him he was healed, and to check for the viruses and parasites again - a result that had really upset Paul. When he did the following week, he couldn't find the upsetting viruses he had seen the previous week. What a miracle!

MORE DOCTORS

Another item high on our list was to get Paul to an eye doctor. He had been refused a driver's license in Mali, because of his bad eye sight, and was told about an operation that could be done in the West. God ordered our steps in an amazing way and opened the door for Paul to see a very good, Christian, eye doctor who ended up doing everything for free, and even paying the best possible glasses for Paul. We were both blown away! With those bifocal transition glasses, Paul is able to read much better and see a little better in the distance.

The disappointing news was that nothing can be done to improve Paul's eye-sight, as a certain part of the eye does not develop in Albinos. I saw how bad Paul's vision is, and it saddens me that he's never going to see more (unless God does a creative miracle).

It was also determined that Paul has a pterygium on his eye - a growth caused by sunlight - that should be removed as it will eventually affect his vision. That will have to wait for another trip.

And we didn't make it to a dermatologist either. Paul's carelessness when it comes to wearing a hat and sunscreen has caused him the development of many spots on his face and neck - dead skin cells that could develop into cancer. They should also be looked at at some point.

SPIRITUAL TRANSFORMATION

Paul's life was very impacted during his three weeks in the US, truly changing him forever. I asked him whether his expectations for this trip were met.

"More than met. I did not expect all this... I expected maybe a fourth of it, so my expectations were exceeded by far."

Our trip started with a pastors' conference in Albany, OR.

"I was amazed about the conference, to be touched by God, with Bobby Conner. I really enjoyed listening to Bobby Conner, Kris [Vallotton], and the pastor of the church [Denny Cline]. It was really amazing to me. God touched me deeply; He gave me more love for Him. It was really good. I felt a change in my spiritual life. People prophesied over me, it was wonderful. And those prophetic words encouraged me a lot, touched me a lot."

From Oregon we went to Harrisburg, PA, to visit Charles Stock's church; Charles is coming to Mali in November for our 5th church anniversary. Paul had never been in a big church like that and was very impacted. He was amazed at the joy and freedom, and danced in front of the Lord, as you can see in this video clip:

Click here to watch if the video above is not working.

"It was so amazing, with Charles who is an extraordinary man. I also met this amazing preacher man [Georgian Banov] and his wife who has such an incredible joy anointing. Worship was so wonderful that the people even came forward to worship, so it was really amazing. The presence of God was strong."

That same day we went to Rockville, MD, where we shared in a new church, and then in a youth meeting.

"We did an amazing meeting there with the young people. The presence of God, the Spirit of God was poured out there."

And Paul received prophetic prayer ministry that really impacted him.

Week 2 and 3 were spent traveling back and forth between Kansas City, Wichita and Topeka. We had the opportunity to participate in 4 services at World Revival Church where I went to school for two years. On the first night there, Paul was deeply impacted. Pastor Steve shared about his hope being restored before revival hit, and those words penetrated Paul and restored his hope; he spent the whole service with the Lord on the floor.

"When I think of Kansas City, I have to first speak about World Revival Church. It was there that I was deeply touched by the presence of God. Our last night there, pastor Steve gave us mic to share our testimony from the front, and it was powerful. He prayed for me again, and I really want to take this revival to my country. I'm really excited to return to Mali and to see the same revival there."

I asked Paul how he has changed over the past three weeks.

"I've seen the sides of me that are not good, where I have to change by necessity. God touched me deeply with His presence, and strengthened me spiritually. Thirdly, I'm more excited about revival, I want to see it. Fourthly, I really want to even see our children change more and more. I want to help, invest myself into that; I'm more motivated, and my heart is softer now to do it. I really want to do it with more love than before.

And spiritually, I believe that I've really been strengthened a lot and blessed with prophetic words that will also encourage me in the future. I'm really excited about Mali. I have a whole list of things to do in my head; what to do, how to do it, how to tell others about the US on a spiritual level, how to help people to have that hunger to honor Jesus in our church, etc."

PREACHER PAUL

Every time I had the opportunity to hand the mic to Paul, I was blown away by the anointing on him to share and preach. During this trip, I've seen more of who Paul is in the Lord than ever before, and I'm so very proud of him. I told him, I'd be traveling with HIM as HIS assistant :-)

His first opportunity to share was in Harrisburg, where we had the privilege to share in two services. You can watch us sharing in the second service by clicking on THIS LINK. It was powerful!

"It was so incredible for me to have the mic for the first time, to speak in front of such a big number of people. That really touched my heart. God poured out His anointing on me, it was strong. After the service, people were really interested. So many people came to talk to me, it was awesome."

At the youth meeting in Rockville, I first shared, and then Paul told his life story, and everyone was glued to his words.

"There were so happy, so excited to listen to me; it was really special for me as well. It was really wonderful for me to share with those young people that were about my age. God touched them and gave me prophetic words for them. It was great. "

In Topeka, we were invited to do a home group meeting. I gave all the available time to Paul, and were all blown away. You can listen to him by clicking on THIS LINK.

"It was very touching... that I was given the word to share with the people there. I felt somewhat unworthy of that. But when I started talking, I felt such a great unity among the people of this church, really a wonderful family. I felt the anointing of God, the presence of God came down, and He gave me prophetic words for the people. And I really loved the pastor. You can sense in his eyes the love of a real pastor, and that also touched me."

At World Revival Church in Kansas City, we had the opportunity to testify in the last service. I shared about how God sent me to Kansas City to equip me for Mali, and what God is doing to Mali today. Then I gave the mic to Paul. This video clip only shows a fraction of what we were saying:

Click here to watch if the video above is not working.

FRIENDS & FUN

This being Paul's first trip to the Western world, you can imagine how everything was new and strange, and I had the joy of coaching him so he'd know how to navigate through this new world. It was fun to watch him, and if you'd like to have part in his adventures, I invite you to read my daily blogs starting July 6th.

Paul has a very good friend in Topeka - Matt, who spent one month with us in Mali last year. Both of them were very much looking forward to spending as much time together as possible. I even put Paul on a Greyhound bus to go to Topeka and stay over night with Matt there.

"I think I'll never forget this wonderful man Matt who hardly has any money at all, and God provided for him. He wanted to do all kinds of things with me, go eat, bowling - which was so amazing for me - and watch a movie in a theater, go to the rose gardens, see the beautiful nature. Then we went to a store. All he wanted to buy me really touched my heart, the coffee, etc. I really don't know how to expresse my gratefulness to him, because he really has hardly money at all, but he wanted to spend all his money on me, to bring joy to me, and always wanted to be with me. That really touched me."

In Kansas City, I took Matt and Paul to a water park to have fun together.

"Claudia was watching our stuff, she set herself aside so we could have fun. We had an amazing time. That's the place I loved the most, the water slides, it was so amazing, so wonderful."

On his last day, Steve took Paul on a boat ride.

"It was my very first time on a boat, and then to steer a boat. It was so wonderful, I can't even tell you how happy I was to be on this boat on the lake."

Paul met a lot of people - some he only had little time with, others he had more time with. He totally adored our hosts in Wichita.

"This amazing woman Karen and her husband Tom who cooked us very good corn with those amazing steaks every night and who is very, very nice. She always wants to help, always wants to do things for me, really, my heart was very deeply touched. When we left there, it was hard. I didn't know how to thank her for her good heart."

I asked Paul what it was like to travel with me, and what he would like to tell others about me.

"I was really blessed by her. Most of all, this trip has allowed me to see who she is in the Lord especially. I've seen what she left behind here, this good Western life, to go to Mali. She left her friends behind, beautiful restaurants where she could have spend time with them. She left all that to go to Mali, to do the Lord's work, alone, no friends even - that also touched my heart. So I would like people to know that she's one of the amazing hidden women who has such a big heart to help people, especially spiritually, to reach their spiritual destinies in the Lord. She wants to do everything in a hidden way. She gives her heart for people's sake, especially the really rejected ones who have no other means. That also really touched my heart. So, she's one of the hidden heros."

In conclusion I asked him what he would like to say to Americans.

"I would like to tell them that they are really blessed to live here in America. They should be very happy to live in the US, very content. It's a blessing for them to live here. They have to hold on to it. They need to always stay attached to God because it's God who has blessed them. Do not abandon the Lord so that the blessings continue to flow and prosper."

If you would like to read the whole interview with Paul, a link will be posted on the homepage of my website in the days to come.

QUICK NEWS

•        Christian School - My children failed the exam to be accepted into the Christian school. So at this point we have no choice but to leave them at the Malian school where the teachers beat them - there just isn't an alternative until we have our own school up and running. As inconvenient as it is to have our kids in different schools, our three little ones are accepted into the kindergarten at the Christian school which is great. As for handicapped Hama, it's totally unclear at this point if and where he'll go to school next year.

•        Staff - We need a new day guard, and a new driver. Please pray for the right people to join us. Pray also for Western workers to come help us out.

•        Summer Camps - Three of our kids were supposed to go to Ivory Coast for a two-week outreach with YWAM. However, we could not overcome the bureaucratic hurdle to get the necessary papers for them to travel outside Mali. There is also a 3-week tour of the YWAM kids dance group through Mali; I had three kids in that. Only one of those children are now still with me.

•        Broken-Down Vehicles - The two cars can be repaired for about $1000 - thank God. As for the motorcycle, we don't know yet whether it's repairable. Also, it is unclear what all is missing or broken in my house; I will only find out when I return myself.

•        Perpetrators - Our day-guard Moussa and one of my children have left together after what they've done, but I cannot stop thinking of them and wondering how they are doing. Please pray for them. Pray also for Firmin who damaged the cars. Pray for wisdom for us to know the right balance between justice and mercy. Pray for deep repentance on everyone on our base. Pray also for the first service Paul is doing since his return this coming Saturday. He's inviting everyone, expecting God to come down in power.

But you will not leave in haste or go in flight; for the LORD will go before you, the God of Israel will be your rear guard. (Isa 52:12)

All HIS,

Claudia