I am now back home in Vasa together with my family after our 20 day trip to the USA. We arrived safely last week Wednesday and on Saturday I had my first meeting on home ground. I shared parts of my life and my thoughts as well as sang some songs at the local Baptist Church and it was another wonderful night.
Last time I wrote we had just arrived to Okeechobee, Florida and had our two services there that first Sunday. Today when I think back at the last week spent in the USA I could never have imagined that I would experience what we experienced. Monday after having lunch with Pastor Todd from Common Ground Vineyard Church in Fort Pierce we drove to Real Life Children's Ranch in Okeechobee and spent the afternoon and night there. How wonderful can it be? These people who work at the ranch lay down their own lives to help these children in need. The children comes from difunctional homes. They have been abused or molested and they need a safe place to be at. Real Life Children's Ranch has been doing this work since the 1950's and is still going strong and is helping many children to find peace, love and understanding. The work is based upon a Christian base and we had the privilege to see the property with the different children's homes. We met some of the house parents as well as some of the animals on the ranch. The same night we all met in the chapel at the ranch where I spoke to the children and we had some of them give their lives to Jesus. When I think about this moment I think about the scripture were Jesus said; - Let the children come to me. He loves the children so much and I thank God for the ranch and the people working there.
The following day, Tuesday we entered our first prison during this journey. I spoke to around 50 young men and told them my life story and it was a very blessed moment to hear these inmates ask questions about forgiveness and how I managed to forgive myself. It just showed that God had started to do something in their hearts. Later the same night we visited Faith Farm Ministries, just outside Okeechobee and we had a meeting for around 80 men who were there because of their problems with alcohol and drugs. Some of them were men who were released from prison and this was the last stop before freedom. The men were hungry and thirsty and when big men cry, you know the Spirit of God is in the house. I should say that close to 20 men accepted Jesus Christ into their lives for the first time that night and again I felt so small and little next to God who touched these men in need of a Lord and Savior.
The week continued with more adventures and on Wednesday we visited another Youth Prison. This was one of the most powerful experiences I had on this trip. We were only allowed to share about our own lives, not to tell the inmates what they should do and we could not give an altar call. At the end of the meeting one young inmate on the first row asked me if I remember the prayer I said the day I gave my life to Christ and of course I remembered that simple prayer. We ended up praying the sinners prayer and I told the young men that if they said the prayer for the first time in their lives and meant it with all their heart I want to hug them. At least 20 young men came up to receive a hug. It was just amazing to see how The Holy Spirit ministered to these mens hearts and how they opened up after first having a little bit of an attitude. It is as simple as this; when The Holy Spirit is present, any attitude will go away and hearts will be open for Jesus. The same night we jammed with the Praise team at my USA home church, Fountain of Life Church in Okeechobee, FL and I gave a short report about what God had done during the days we had been there.
Thursday morning we visited another prison where we had some men give their lives to Jesus and after that we had a totally different experience when we visited a prison for girls. We did not see any salvations there and to be honest I had a rough time ministering to the girls since I could tell they did not want to be there. Some girls came up and asked questions when we were done and I was so thankful to have David Ekfors with me on this trip as all of these places were new to me and to go into these places without David as support would have been difficult. After we were done at the girls prison we had a meeting at St. Lucie County Jail and the chapel was packed. More people received Christ and after this day I was ready for a day off. We had three different prisons this day and it was hard but we were very blessed.
Friday was our day off and we were taken out on an airboat ride with Eagle Bay Airboat rides. We got to see some alligators and we had a great time. I also had some time to rest this day.
Following day we drove to Fort Myers Beach where we stayed at Brother Bobby Wells house and on Sunday morning we had a meeting at Family Life Fellowship in Cape Coral. It was a great meeting and immediately after the meeting we hit the road and drove back to Okeechobee for our last night at Fountain of Life Church. This night was a celebration night for 30 men who had been on an encounter weekend in Titusville, Florida. They all were happy, blessed and filled with the Holy Spirit and they all gave their testimonies about what God had done in their lives this weekend. Also nine people got baptized this night and it is not many churches were you experience things like this. This was also a touching night for me. I did not expect it but I received my credentials as a licensed minister under Fountain of Life Church and Pastor Dave Robertson.
The next day, Monday we had lunch with Pastor Dave Robertson and after that we drove to West Palm Beach and checked in at an airport hotel preparing for our flight home the following day. This was absolutely one of the best trips ever. People got saved and people received new hope in their lives and I feel that we were at the places God wanted us to be at.
GERMANY
Now I have been at home for one week and I am currently working on editing new episodes of the Life in Him TV program as well as the first 15 episodes of the new TV program On The Road that is going to be broadcasted on Alfa TV in Finland. We are also going to start broadcasting Life in Him on Heaven TV7 Sweden with swedish subtitles so we have lots of things to do before we head out on next trip to Germany.
On the way to Germany we are going to stop in Sweden for one night at the eastern conference at Folkkyrkan in Sölvesborg and two days at the Pentecostal church in Värnamo, Sweden. I am looking forward to our dates in Germany and this upcoming journey will be a long one. The German dates are:
24.04.2014 ERF Medien e.V TV recording
Wetzlar, Germany
Wetzlar, Germany
25.04.2014 Dreamers of Freedom MC
Weiden (Oberpfalz)
26.04.2014 Sternfahrt Kulmbach
Kulmbach (with Holy Riders)
27.04.2014 ICF Stuttgart
Stuttgart
30.04.2014 Grace Live
Neuenstasdt/ Kocher
01.05.2014 Bike Meeting
Münchnerstrasse, Nürnberg
02.05.2014 Gremium MC
Bamberg
03.05.2014 Kingz MC
Bayreuth
04.05.2014 RideOn
Nürnberg
04.05.2014FeG Bamberg
Bamberg
06.05.2014Lukaskirche
Zwickau
MEN OF HOPE
When we are done with the German dates me and my son, Sebastian are driving to Warsaw, Poland where we are going to pick up Brother Michael "Bull" Roberts and the "Men of Hope" tour together with him starts at May10th and until June 18th we are going to be on the road, bringing hope to the people. We know that there is always hope in Christ.
It will be a very hectic summer and I kindly ask you to keep us in your prayers. We have managed to raise some funds for the Men of Hope Tour but we are still around 5000 euros short. IF you feel led to give donation you can do it through Pay Pal on this site or through the bank details in the right navigation bar.
What we do, we do for Jesus and again I say as Pastor Tommy; He died for us, We live for Him!
Love ya'll!
God Bless!
Pontus
