USA March 2013

It has been a long time since I wrote, last time I wrote I had performed my first baptism at my church and I was on my way for a short tour of USA. While writing this I am sitting in an Airbus A380, 11.000 meters over the Atlantic Ocean on my way from Houston, Texas to Frankfurt, Germany and from there to the final destination; home. It is always wonderful to leave and to be on the road but there is nothing like going back home. I miss my family and friends while I am away.

Monday March 4th me and Ambassador David Ekfors flew from Vasa to West Palm Beach and that journey took us 26 hours. It felt wonderful to check in at a local hotel that night and lay down. From West Palm Beach we headed north towards Port St. Lucie were we hooked up with Brother Mighty Mike, Brother Bill Merkel with his family and Brother Smokey. That was the first American BBQ we had on this trip. David fell immediately in love with the baby back ribs. From there we continued to Lakeland, Florida and we checked in at our hotel late at night, March 5th.

The following day Ambassador and regional Director for Michigan, Mike Eicher joined our team and we had lunch with Pastor Stephen Strader as well as we did an interview with him for the Life in Him TV show. The same night I ministered at Ignited Church and it was a wonderful night. Returning to Lakeland feels like coming home and I really feel at home at Ignited Church and around Pastor Strader. We also got to see some of the old Carpenters Church history that belonged to his Father, Carl Strader and it was interesting to listen what had taken place during the years. Lakeland is a very Christian area and there is still a spirit of revival in the air.

The following day we hooked up with legendary Christian blues man, Larry Howard at his studio and it just felt awesome meeting him. I remember back in 1990 when my band mate J.J Nybergh gave me one of his cd:s and I used to laugh to the first song when we sang: "Look at the sky, Jesus is coming". To me it felt funny that someone that talented sang about Jesus as back then I thought all Christianity and religion were nonsense. Now 23 years later I am sitting with this man is his studio and we have one thing in common; Jesus. Larry gave his testimony for Life in Him and this will be an awesome testimony that will touch many souls. I know that it was not a coincidence that we hooked up with Larry Howard as we are already speaking about doing something in Finland and Sweden together in the future. That was another day when I met a soul mate and brother that will remain in my heart forever.

From Lakeland we drove to the west coast of Florida and to Fort Myers. We checked in at the hotel and were taken out to dinner with Brother Tom from Messiahs Messengers motorcycle ministry that we were going to work with during our stay in Fort Myers. The following night I shared and preached at Central Foursquare Church and it was amazing to see the power of God touching people in the after meeting. Brothers Mike and David prayed for people and we have at least two verified miracles from that night. A bad back was healed and the back braces were left at church. Also a bad knee that had been hurting for the last four years was healed. Glory to God! There is power in the name of Jesus.

Saturday night we were ministering downtown Fort Myers and I was playing my music on the side walk at Fort Myers Bike Night where around 10 000 motorcycles attended. To me it all felt like Sodom and Gomorra and there were a spirit of death over the entire place. We had a witch try to come and curse us that night and she was smart, but The Holy Spirit is always smarter and she was exposed. No matter what kind of witches or witchdoctors tries to curse us with, it will not work as we are marked by the blood of Jesus. To me it was a sign that we were on the right place that night. We had some good talks with people and seeds were sown. We also did an interview and fellowshipped with Brother Bobby Wells who was the one who had put everything together for our visit in Fort Myers. We will sure be back during the November Mission America 2013 tour.

Sunday morning we got up early and drove to Okeechobee. I had met Pastor David Robertson at Central Assembly of God in Vero Beach when I visited them in November last year and now it was time to visit his church. A wonderful church with a fresh spirit. I could tell that God has something in store for that church. It was an awesome Sunday service and the church was packed. We have received letters of praise reports from this day and people have entered the Kingdom of God. Glory to God.

From Okeechobee we drove up to Daytona Beach well prepared for one week at Daytona Bike Week 2013. We checked in at our motel in Ormond Beach and I guess we all were excited about being there for Bike Week. The following day we had a day off and we went and checked out the different locations we were going to be ministering at during the week. Something that touched my heart was that I got to hold a real tiger, not a big one, she was only 8 weeks old but still a tiger. Always had a passion for animals, especially big cats. We hooked up with Brother Rock Hartley of Calvary Christian Riders and got parts of our schedule. We also met Brother Don Overbey for the first time in person. I had stayed in contact with him on e-mail and Facebook earlier. He and his wife are running Overbey Ministries who are doing the "Music for the soul" stage at the major rallies in USA. Another man of God that got his own place in my heart.

Tuesday I did my first set at the Music For The Soul stage and it was great fun. People were still coming in to Daytona Beach so it was quiet but we also got to do some more Life in Him interviews. The next two days I spent at the International Speedway track together with our Brothers and Sisters from Heaven's Saints Motorcycle Ministry. Two days singing and playing guitar in the sunshine gave me a nice Florida sun tan but after I took off my head wrap and my sunglasses I looked like a red and white panda in my face. We had an awesome time of fellowship and ministering to people at the race track and we saw people give their lives to Jesus. 

Thursday morning we hooked up with Brother Rock Hartley, Sam "Machine Gun Preacher" Childers, Lil Wolf, Pastor Flathead Tom and Big Al Aceves and we did a 40 minute long thing together for the Radio Station Love 91.5 FM WAPN. It was a time of testimonies and promotion for Broken Chains Biker Church coming up Saturday night. It was nice to meet Lil Wolf and Big Al again. Both men of God that I highly respect. Sam Childers was a new connection and it was awesome to listen to and hang out with this man of God. He has lots of wisdom and if you ask me about my opinion about Machine Gun Preacher I would say that he is the real deal. His ministry has four orphanages in Africa and they are feeding 4000 meals of food per day, seven days a week.

Thursday night I returned to the Music For The Soul Stage and I did most of the Friday there as well since one of the bands had cancelled their gig. Friday night I jumped in with The Full Throttle Band and I had an awesome time together with guitarist Eric Turner with wife and Pastor Fred Z from Bikers For Christ. After the gig at Rock Church together with The Full Throttle Band we drove to the Broken Spokes Saloon to check out Molly Hatchet. Actually we did not go there to listen to them but to hook up with my old band mate Dave Hlubek. It was nice to meet him and the rest of the band again. Tim Lindsey was still the same gentleman as he was when I first met him on a tour in Europe together with Artimus Pyle Band back in 1999. We had some words about the time we spent together back in the day and we got to pray for three of the members before they went on stage. We saw some of the show but as we had been going from early morning we left in the middle of the show and got ourselves a good night sleep.

Saturday took off with another gig with The Full Throttle Band at The Music For The Soul stage. After that it was time for this years Broken Chains Biker Church at Calvary Christian Center and it was an awesome night with music, testimonies by Lil Wolf, Big Al and myself. I got to play a couple of songs with Eric Turner as well. Machine Gun Preacher, Sam Childers closed the meeting with a powerful message about being serious with God.

Sunday morning it was time to leave Daytona and we got up early and drove to the airport in Orlando where we jumped on United Airlines flight to Houston, Texas. Sister Teresa Sutherland picked us up at the airport and of course we had a nice mexican dinner the same night. Monday we run some errands and hooked up with some other of the Ambassadors For Jesus Christ in Houston and Monday night I got to sing and ministered to the homeless together with 1000 Hills Ministries who serves food for the homeless twice a day, seven days a week. It felt good to speak hope and faith over these people as they were people in real need of a Godly miracle. So many wounded people but many of them had their strength in the Lord. Sometimes when you see the disaster like the homeless in Houston and the ghettos you just realize how good you have it and that makes me not only thankful but also humble.

Tuesday we worked on the Less is More record for the Wednesday night record release at Family Church of Houston. We also attended a home based bible study group in the morning and had some good conversations and shared our thoughts about the word of God. Tuesday night it was time for the Texas Roadhouse experience and it was Brother Davids first and only real Texas steak during this trip. We had a wonderful night with good food and fellowship and discussions around the word of God. 

Wednesday was a hectic day and finally it was time to release the Less is More album that we recorded in Karperö, Finland together with Martin Kantola and Teresa Sutherland last summer. It was an awesome night and before the meeting Branch Leader Victor Flores from the East Gate Ambassadors For Jesus Christ Branch handed me my certificate of license as one who has given evidence of a calling as an evangelist for Sword of The Spirit Church in Texas by Founder and Pastor Joe Guebara. Pastor Joe could not be present himself and the short sermon that I did not expect brought both me and Brother Victors to tears. I still have a hard time to realize that I now am an ordained minister of the Gospel in USA. This just confirms the calling I have been told I have to minister and preach the word of God in The United States of America. What an honor and what a privilege.

The concert went really good. Me and Teresa sang some songs from the album as well as we ministered between the songs. The Holy Spirit showed up in a very powerful way and I believe that nobody left the church that night without being touched by God. After the meeting it was time for the "last supper" for this time with some of the Ambassadors and we are around 20 people having fellowship and a good meal last night. The days in Texas were awesome. I just would like to thank all the Ambassadors for all their support and especially Mike and Teresa Sutherland for opening up their home for us as well as Brother Dogman Sanchez who let us use his truck during our stay.

Today Sister Teresa took us to the airport in Houston and right now we are somewhere over the Atlantic Ocean as I wrote earlier. I am tired and I am a bit sick. I guess I have a sinus infection that has been bothering me for the last coupe of days but so far the flight has been good even if this big aircraft is packed with people. Thinking back on the weeks spent in the USA I feel blessed! God has done awesome things and again I have had the privilege to meet new people and new doors are open for the future. It will be nice to return home to my family.

Next week I will be doing two meetings in Turku, Finland, Wednesday and Thursday. I will spend most of the time at home with my family as April 1st I am flying out again. This time to Manchester, UK where I will be ministering for one week together with CMA and some churches. The doors are open to two prisons and I am excited going in there. One is a young offenders prison and the other one a high security prison. People use to ask me what the point is to visit these prisoners and criminals as they "deserve to be locked in". Well, they might be but we can not forget that there is no sin that Jesus cant forgive and that when He forgives He also washes the sins away so the sin does no longer exist. The only place where the forgiven sin exist is in our own memory.

I am looking forward to the coming months. This year will be busy. After UK the spring is coming and for the 6th year in a row we are going to be at the Ostrobothnia Expo in Vasa where we give away Biker Bibles and meet and talk with people. After that the summer starts and it is time for all kinds of missions in Finland and Sweden on the bike. This year I will not be on two wheels since I am turning my old bike into a trike. It will be way easier to ride, especially when you have a trailer with equipment following the bike. In August I will return to USA. This time to Michigan and I am also going to do some meetings in Canada. The year is almost fully booked and it will be a busy year. Last year we did 133 events and this year will be more. I do not complain, I thank God for all the opportunities to get out on the highways and byways to preach the simple Gospel about Salvation and about Jesus Christ.

During this trip we did a new videoblog every single day and you can check out our mission trip day by day by clicking HERE!

May God bless you all!

Love You All!

In Christ!

Pontus