Transformation...

So the question for this time is 'how are we, the Church going to bring transformation to the people, cities and nations around us?' What does it look like when earth looks like heaven, when the government of earth looks like the government in heaven, when the kingdom comes on earth through you and me - The Church? How do we 'bring it'? What are we going to do with our responsibility and our part?

I think about this often...

Maybe you have part of the solution...

Maybe we first need to get a good handle of what heaven really looks like, how the government system works there and how things are run...

Maybe we need to get a better understanding of how God runs His kingdom to learn how we can partner with Him to see the kingdoms of this world become the kingdom of our God...

What does it look like???

Some things I've been thinking about are how to begin at the most basic level - and for me it means I need to be personally undergoing transformation before I can 'bring it'! And for me that looks like being transformed as I hang out with God in His presence. Seeing what He's like gives me a grace to change. 'Behold and Become'.

At a macro level I've been thinking of the concept of 'discipling nations' (as opposed to people in nations) - what does it look like to transform a nation? I've been thinking about how every nation has a unique identity and a unique destiny - that each can 'bring something' to the rest of the world. Somehow there needs to be some leaders who create a government that allow the people in the country to reach their full potential and their own unique identity and destiny. This would look like a governing system that allows people to thrive, flourish and be able to access resources to live in abundance...

For instance - what if Africa's unique identity was as the continent with the greatest resources in the world and their destiny was to release wealth to the nations? What would it take to make that a reality? Leadership that allows the people to fulfill their potential - to have opportunity to release it! Don't you think it's strange that Africa has the most natural resources in the world and they seem to be the 'poorest' people. I also think that righteous leadership doesn't necessarily look like the president being a Christian - look at King Neb. and Pharoah - their nations prospered because of people like Joseph and Daniel - men with the favour of God and open doors for influence.... So what is the identity of Australia? America? and what's our part to play in bringing kingdom transformation?

So there's what I think the micro and macro level look like at this stage but what about all the bits in between?

To be continued...

___________________________________________________________________

In March, Shane and I are going on a missions/ministry trip to Cleveland Ohio to work with a church (Bethel Cleveland) who's mission is to bring transformation to the city they live in. There's various strategies they are implementing - specific help and outreach to the poorest neighbourhoods, serving the community, getting involved with local businesses and also equipping people to be excellent in their spheres of work and influence. We will be specifically involved in strategic planning on our trip, with planning for the planting of 100 churches in Cleveland and also involved in the local Bethel school's equipping and deployment program and the city's business summit.

If you would like to see a short video on some of the ways the church is doing this, click on the link http://www.bethelcleveland.com/its-time-video

If you feel you would like to partner with us financially for the mission trip or our ministry in general please give to (Australian) ANZ account 012834 509263962 (Shane and Louise Mandl)

or into our USA school account via www.ibssm.org (click on 'give to BSSM' and type one of our names in).

Thanks for your friendship, your interest in us and what we're up to, for your support and any prayers you've backed us up with :)

Love Louise (and Shane)

Texas....The land of the BIG...

A few days after Lou got back from her trip (read below if you don't know what I am talking about), I headed out for a fish in the middle of town. I was having a great time in the water and just enjoying God's creation.

I had a couple of fish on and lost them both...some things just wont surprise you though will they...lol

it was getting close to the time I had to go and I decided I would turn around and fish the other 'run of water' with a dry fly. A few moments later right before my eyes every color imaginable could be seen (yes I can hear some of you laughing...Shane the color blind guy able to see every imaginable color...). I reached for my phone and was torn between the idea of trying to capture what I was seeing and just enjoying it!!!

This is literally right in the middle of town and I was in the middle of the river taking this photo.

About 36 hours later I was on a plane for Texas, traveling with some friends to a conference and then some local churches. The staff leading the trip are brilliant guys who are really aware of God's presence being with them everywhere they go. The see some of the most crazy miracles I have ever heard of or dared to believe for. I had been really looking forward to the trip and was a little surprised when I felt God say that the greatest work I would see over the week would be what He would do in me...

I got to Sacramento Airport and realized I had grabbed Lou's documents not mine...but somehow I seemed to walk right on through (yes still through the scanners etc, but people in front and behind me were checked for extra documentation etc - Yay God...).

After a long day we arrived at our host home and were greeted by this little fella. Yes a little taste of Australiana... He squawked and shrieked like he was part of thousand strong choir perched in the Gum outside our last place in Taree!

The guy in the picture is my mate Thomas - he's a legend and challenges me way beyond my comfort zone - plus he is just good fun.

Thomas led myself and four other students the next day to a ministry school where we took a class. We gave some prophetic words, and called out some words of knowledge and saw deaf ears open up...(a goal on my "to do list"), knees, backs, shoulders, ankles and more get healed....I think it was the best day these students had experienced in a while...hahahaha

The conference was crazy! God really moved amongst all of us and there was a really deep awe and freedom - I can't say I have ever really experienced anything like it before. God showed me how I valued my dignity more than just doing whatever He was saying for me to do - AKA - fear of man... (and I thought I had dealt with that...) - needless to say that we buried that fear - If you aren't sitting you might want to...I danced!!! (and painted my face, but the dancing was hardest....lol).

The other students on the trip were so great. Every discussion was full of life and I gained insights, perspectives and an appreciation for characteristics that ordinarily I would have blown off as "un-desirable". You guys were so much fun and have totally been used by God to grow me - Thanks.

Throughout the conference we saw people grow closer to God and we also had lots of chances to minister to people in the prophetic and for healing. It was lots of fun.

We broke into smaller groups for the Sunday services and Joaquin (on the Left), helped a church to really grapple with God's presence and move to a place of even greater hunger for Him. He is a really anointed guy and I learnt heaps just from being there.

The evening service was a massive celebration of God and His goodness. Hearts were set free and healed. Physical problems bowed to the name of Jesus as more deafness fled, the ability to smell returned, allergies left and pain disappeared! I am starting to dream about what the "all" in "all things are possible" might look like...hahaha - what would you like to see happen???

The picture above is Joaquin and Josh getting excited by LUNCH... we enjoyed some of the best meat Texas has to offer - Thanks Jeff.

As we were saying goodbye to some of our new friends I felt a strange little sensation in my left ankle...hahaha - i have had this before....but this was different. I felt like I was getting a word of knowledge (like a special insight from the LORD), about a problem that someone in their family had. I asked if someone in their family had a current problem with their left ankle and I was told that their Auntie had just damaged her left ankle and achilles tendon. I said that they should call her the next day because God wanted to heal her. This was the very late hours of Sunday night.

Monday we travelled home and on Tuesday I went to class like normal. When I checked my facebook during a break at school (yes it really was during a break), I had a message on my fb wall saying that the auntie had been totally healed, was struck with JOY and came home with a beaming....

I am having soooo much fun learning and growing...I am really excited for the plans that God has for Lou and I - sometimes I wish I could have a little sneak peak....hahahaha.

We love you all heaps - Shane (and Lou)

Hawaii Trip

I have been back for a week from my trip to Hawaii which was better than I ever expected!

In case you were wondering, the treasure hunt went really well! I led a team of 5 out to the streets and we found our ‘treasures’ and every one of them was interested and wanted prayer. I approached a young guy sitting down and said that I felt he was highlighted and that God led me to come and chat with him. I asked him if he wanted prayer and he said ‘Yes I would. This is the most perfect timing you could ever have had! Do you talk to everyone like this?’ He wanted prayer as he just had an interview for a job on a movie stage and was anxiously awaiting the outcome. The others in the team then had some words of knowledge and prophetic words for him and he was so excited he kept on saying ‘you would not believe how perfect your timing is’ and as soon as we finished speaking with him he

said he wanted to ring his dad to tell him about how amazing the time had been and to tell him about us and what had happened! I love seeing God rock people’s world us!

At the conference we had the opportunity to give prophetic words after

Kris Vallotton spoke in the sessions which was a real privilege! We even got to have lunch with

him and spend over 3 hours chatting to him and asking him questions! I felt a real increase in discernment and it was fun to start to see the gifts and callings that people carried!
I felt like there were some key relationships that were made there – it seemed as if God wanted me to meet a few particular

people who I think I will remain in contact with and it will be interesting to see where they fit in the big scheme of things in the future! God is very strategic and sneaky I have found!

I felt very strongly in my spirit as I was driving around that I would be back there in the future involved in ministry somehow. Who knows how long away – but I must say I’m excited! It’s an amazing place! It was great to swim in the ocean with turtles, watch the sun set at Waikiki beach and also see the stunning mountains!

Thank you so much to those who were praying for me :)

LOUISE'S FIRST EVER BLOG....YAY

IT’s a MIRACLE!...... yes Louise is finally writing a blog – yes it’s her here!! I’ve joined the blogster gang!

I got inspired 2 nights ago and thought I’d put a bit of what’s on the inside on the outside – even though that is a bit scary as I think maybe the whole cyber world can get access to it!

Lately I’ve been thinking ....thinking.... thinking

What does it take to cross the chicken line? What does it take to step out and take risk when you know you have something to give away to someone who needs it but they are a complete stranger and you don’t know how they will take you? The other day I was at a petrol station and a lady was walking around in pain and I could tell she had back pain and I felt compassion and love toward her. I knew I could go and pray for her and get rid of that pain and I knew she would be all the more happier to be pain free but all of a sudden that chicken line popped up in front of me. I knew that when Jesus had compassion it moved him but I seemed to be feeling compassion and stuck in one spot! I can do it, I can do it I thought! But did I walk over to her? No I did not!

The next stop on the road about a half hour later was for lunch and God drew my attention to a picture on the wall “We can do it!” Well I definitely couldn’t do it on my own. Holy Spirit – you’re going to have to push me along here!

Ok so I set myself a goal – at least 3 times this year I am going to go on street outreach teams or the homeless street ministry to push myself across the chicken line. Ok Holy Spirit ‘We can do it” so I decided to go on the outreach team yesterday. So I rock up at the meeting place at church, waiting, anticipating, excitement building…. 30mins later no one had turned up. I suppose it wasn’t going to happen this day! Well – maybe next time the chicken line will be crossed!

So anyway, in 4 hours time I will be getting up from my alarm and making my way down to San Fran airport to catch a plane to Honolulu for what I thought was serving at the School of the Prophets conference which is basically giving people prophetic words. But what do you know – the first thing we are doing, first day we arrive is teaching the locals how to do street evangelism ‘treasure hunts’. Yeah…. Wonderful!! Definitely should be training and equipping in this area already. We’ll see if being thrown in the deep end does it for me…. Will keep you posted…

Ministry Trips, books and more...

(I was taking a walk with the idea of sitting and reading somewhere and looked up - clearly I thought it was worthy of capturing). All the other pictures are from our Anniversary down in San Diego.

Hello again,

So I said that we would be more regular with our updates... but... enough with the excuses, forgive me and read on...lol

We have my younger sister Bec and a friend from Sth Africa living with us this year which has been great. We met Lizanne through a mutual friend and she totally fits with us all - I kept on asking Lou when she was going to advertise the extra room and she kept saying that God had said wait... as time went by I became a little nervous and then Lou's faith was well rewarded. From "left-field" God connected us with Lizanne. We sent a few emails back n forth and we picked her up the from the airport the day she started school - and she went!

We are absolutely loving second year. The class size is significantly smaller and much more intimate. We have continued to make many new friends and have gone even deeper with those that we connected to last year.

This year we spend much more time breaking into electives and intentionally learning and growing in those areas that really interest us. I am doing one elective on Kingdom finances, another on student development (think life coaching), and another on deploying people to utilse their gifts in areas that they are passionate about (in and out of the 4 walls of the church).

Lou is doing one on inner healing, preaching, and another which we couldn't really summerize and the title of which doesn't really give that great an idea... actually I have already forgotten what it is...lol

We have read a few books already and they are coming at us really fast - I got 2 new ones last week. Each one has been really good. I have always found church history a slow subject...but the book I just finished made it fairly easy to digest.

Lou's younger brother Chris, is in Holland at the moment - he was asked to lead worship at a conference over there. He gets back late this week. It's been really nice to have him and Bec around.

We went on a ministry trip to Oregon and then Washington a few weeks back. It was an amazing time. We saw so many people get healed from physical and emotional problems. One guy badly injured his ankle 35 years ago in a ski racing accident and he lived in pain every day. He stood up and moved around with absolutely no pain at all.

We went on the trip thinking that we would really get to bless a lot of people (and we did), but upon our return we were talking about how so many people had blessed us. People were genuinely thankful for our visit and the ministry that we did. We received many encouraging words.

In October, Lou and I celebrated our 10 wedding anniversary. We went to San Diego and thanks to American Express had free accommodation for 5 nights. We walked the city, the foreshore, ate out at cafe's and restaurants and generally just had a really nice time away together. The picture on the right is of a killer whale at Sea World.

We both have some ministry trips coming up. Lou will be going to Honolulu in a few weeks time. It's a fantastic opportunity and God got her onto the team in a "back-door" way. She had been praying some weeks earlier and God had said to her that she would get to go, but then when the team was selected she wasn't on it as she had already travelled with Kris V. (the staff member that the team would be traveling with). She remained confident that she would be going and simply said that if someone couldn't go she would still like to. She was told that there were many people before her and that she really wouldn't be going. Well like the story above where she remained full of faith...she got an email just last week saying she was now on the team... once again she jumped around the room...lol

I am going on a trip to Palestine, Texas in the beginning of December with some guys who see the most amazing miracles and regularly! I can't wait. I am also hoping to be on a team to Sth America early in the new year.

Both of us felt led to apply to go to Cleveland for our mission trip and we were both accepted. We connected with the senior pastor a few days after we found out that we were on the team and we are really excited by what they are doing in Cleveland and how we will get to participate.

At this stage we are unsure of what next year (post June), will look like for us. When we know we will pass it on. What we do know is that our finances will not cover a third year (from a natural perspective). We would like to be here and are checking out some possibilities of how that might be able to happen.

Thanks once again for all your love,

Shane and Lou

School has started

Hey everyone,

we have been back at school now for just over 2 weeks and we are thoroughly loving it. We came home after the first few days and knew that we are entering into a really special season in our lives. We eagerly anticipate each day and are really taking our time processing all that we are hearing, seeing and experiencing.

We have spent some time with some of our Aussie friends over the last few weeks deliberately doing stuff which "feels" wrong in Australia - we have talked about our own strengths, and dreams. We have shared our hopes and even risked sharing some of our weaknesses (though this seems to easy for our culture). I make mention of this because it was generally really hard for us to say anything good about ourselves - I really feel like this is a monkey (demonic spirit), that we have to get off of our backs - we will never step into being all that God has called into if we are too worried about seeming arrogant to actually state our strengths.

Bill reasonably often says "I can't afford to think anything of myself that God doesn't think" - I never really understood how powerful this comment is. The other day I (shane), was sitting with a friend and they asked me what I thought my biggest constraint was. I suddenly remembered a time when I was 18 and training and I was essentially told that I was too young to contribute to a particular conversation - my biggest constraint...is probably that I didn't really think I could contribute anything still (I'm still not old enough, or wise enough, or smart enough etc etc) - this question helped me to see a lie that I have been believing for far to long. I decided to operate in direct opposition to the lie - wow, it's been amazing!

Lou and I have applied

to be a part of several ministry trips and it seems as though we will be going to Oregon late in October. There are heaps of others that we are looking at as well.

I have done some preliminary training to be a 'coach' which is really exciting. I really like the philosphy behind coaching. It really drawers out the abilities that are within a person - it teaches and empowers at the same time - I really enjoy it.

On other fronts, Lou's parents have returned back to Oz, and her brother is all set up at the place he is living at. The picture on the Left is of Lou with Chris, at an ice-cream place in town. My sister is renting one of our spare rooms and a boarder (Lizanne), is renting our other spare room.

We are currently doing a marriage course "Love after Marriage" - it's been soooo good. We think we have always had an amazing marriage (and we have), and that's really because of me...lol - Nah we decided before we even got married that we would always try to have a marriage that was growing stronger and part of that meant that we would do stuff to actively improve our marriage. It's been lot's of fun and we have found the material to be really great. I think the course is available in audio and DVD with manuals etc - if anyone is interested I totally recommend it.

I went fishing the other day and finally caught some fish - actually it was heaps of fun and really refreshing. I was with a mate in the most pristine place and I just marveled at the splendor of God's handiwork - especially the one's on the end of my line...lol (below is some proof that i actually did catch something....lol).

Anyway this is just another brief update - keep your eyes out though because the updates will start coming thick and fast...

Please feel free to ask us any questions you might have and to let us know what is happening for you - it's always lots of fun to know what's happening back home.

love us

LONG OVERDUE....LOL

Hello all our awesome family and friends...

I am writing this from our living room back in Redding, we have been here for 3 weeks now and finally feel as though we are getting ourselves sorted out. it took a little longer to find a place than we had anticipated (sound like last year...), and the same is true for getting everything we need to set the house up. It's very basic but comfortable for another year.

Before I talk to much about what is happening here let me do a quick overview of our time in Australia.

We flew into Sydney on the June 12th and were greeted by lots of our family. (some of our friends from Taree were going to come down ti

ll they established that we landed at 6am - i can't believe they even thought about it). We spent the first week just hanging out with family.

our first night was very relaxed and lots of fun - our sister's knee got healed and she had an awesome encounter with God.

(pic on right is Lou with her 2 brothers and Mum)

We then headed up to Taree to spend some time with our friends from our Taree Baptist days. It was great, we caught up with so many friends, God did some amazing stuff in peoples' lives and we got to partner with Him - such a priviledge. We spoke at a few churches and our time at Wingham Baps went off - they'd experienced nothing like it but the leadership there are so hungry and so sensitive of leading the people gently that it went really well. So many people had major God encounters. There was heaps of inner healing ministry, the leadership team were actively giving prophetic words, and several people experienced physical healing.

(pic - 2 great friends caught lots of fish - let's just say that I took lots of photos...)

We then spent some back with family in Sydney. We spoke at the church Louise grew up in, and got to go to Dayspring with some awesome friends (shout out to Brad n Claire). We got all our visa and consulate stuff organised and tried to take that week a little slower....

We had the chance to speak at New Vine Baps in Newcastle and that was lots of fun. My Mum and step Dad came along which was cool. God gave some really clear words of knowledge (but people didn't come forward till the end of the service - I guess we have some work to do to help people feel safe and comfortable enough to actually respond to stuff in the moment - just a thought?). Lou received a prophetic word for one of the pastors and the church which was awesome - they really were encouraged. At the end of the night people had come to faith, dedicated themselves to chasing after God with everything and invited God to break into their worlds with signs and wonders. Again we just had soooo much fun.

so this is getting long....let me be quick!

We spent a week up in QLD with Lou's parents - it was great fun, very chilled and lots of time to relax (though i could have done this better - i spent too much time trying to organise stuff ready for our return - in the end it was all pointless...lol). I was "pressured" by Dad to go on rides that I don't think I would ever have done - like dropping 119m for fun....

From the Gold Coast, Lou and I went to our friends place - felt more like an international 5 star resort - just homely! We stayed there and went along to a conference that our senior pastor "BIll Johnson" was running in Brisbane. We, along with several other students were part of a ministry team and it was lots of fun. people were healed in every way. Physical, spiritual and emotional healing was an every session norm...the best part of this is that it's not about any of us, but about God and His tender heart for each person.

From there we spent a final few days with our families and then flew back to the US. We thoroughly enjoyed our time in Australia. We think that God is moving in our country in mighty and powerful ways and that the church in Australia is ready for a mighty outpouring of the Holy Spirit. We are really excited about it and praying into it as well.

When we arrived back in Redding we crashed at our friends place for a week whilst we were looking around. We have such great friends! We eventually found a house to rent in a really nice area and at a price we could afford (with 2 boarders). We've pained, fixed things left right and centre and started to get furniture that we didn't need last year as we lived with the most awesome family who already had everything.

(pic - our new home - at least for the next 10 months...)

Lou's parents and brother arrived just as we painted the last wall etc and then we had some great times with them checking out local forests, dams, lakes etc. Chris, Lou's youngest brother is staying to do 1st year. My younger sister arrived a few days after Lou's family to join in all the fun - she too is doing first year at Bethel.

Lou and I have been busy getting ourselves ready for school to start - just a few days now and we will be plunging into it.

- NEWS FLASH - one of our great friends back in Oz just sent us a message speaking about God's goodness and the way that He is revealing Himself to her - when we were together a few weeks back a feather floated down as we were talking about Him and His goodness. She was just doing some study and God was showing all sorts of stuff and then....you guessed it, a feather that you don't need faith to see, falls right down in front of her. Is it about the feather...Heck NO, it's about God giving little signs to show that He is near! what an awesome God we have!

Now I must go - keep your eyes out for more updates - i promise not to leave it sooo long...

love Lou n Shane

Australia Bound

Well it's been a few weeks since we last updated.

We have said farewell to many friends who wont be returning for another year of school (primarily due to finances), we've said goodbye to the family that we have lived with for the last 9 months and we have packed up all our stuff.

We don't know where we will live when we return but we are ready to move in when that becomes known.

We are about to hop on a flight to LA and then overnight it before hopping onto the qantas a380 for our flight home tomorrow night.

In the last few weeks we have done heaps. We helped some friends with some home renovations (this was pretty much full time for the week), we also were involved in several ministry opportunities.

I went into town as normal and we saw God love on people in amazing ways with people being healed physically and emotionally.

Anyway, I guess for most of you, we will catch up sometime over the next 2 months. We are looking forward to being back in Australia and to catching up with you our family and friends.

love Shane n Lou.

End of School

Hey guys,

well school has finished. We had an amazing last week of school - lots of fun, reflecting and lots of commisioning elements. It really was a great week to end on.

On the morning of the last day, I went into town with some of my friends and there was a huge festival on with thousands of people in attendance. We just walked around and listened to the clues that God had for us as we went around. We were walking along and felt like a worker stood out to us and when we said "hello" he responded but kept on walking.

About 15 mins later after we had gone to a different area, we saw this guy again and we went up to him and started talking. this time my mate asked him if he had 2 young children - he did! what about car problems? he did! My mate had some other stuff that he felt the Lord wanted him to say and the guy was completely blown away.

I then asked him if he had problems with his knees - he was dumbfounded and simply said that he lived in constant pain. We prayed for no more than 10 seconds and asked him to test them out - they were totally healed - pain free but also strong.

We blessed him and went on our way. At the end of our time, one of the other groups said they were talking to this guys who was sharing with his friends what God had just done for him - turns out that our new friend went straight to all of his mates and started testifying - our other friends overheard and then started joining in with the group.

The other day we saw backs healed, lots of emotional healing and were able to really encourage lots of young ladies attending cosmotology school. It was a really good time.

Yesterday we were just hanging out and one of my friends was in lots of pain after a skateboard accident and another from a skiing injury. One was completey healed and the other was almost totally healed - from not being able to put weight on the foot and move it around to having complete mobility but just a little bit of tenderness in 2 spots.

We are getting ourselves organised for coming home - there is lots already on our calendar...looks kinda busy, but it will be lots of fun. We will be going up to Brisbane to be part of a ministry team early in August, and then we will most likely depart for the US about the 7th or 8th.

The pics in this post are from graduation and the after party. The video is from the knighting service - a commissioning service but sent out as sons and daughters of the KING!

The photo at the top is of one of our pastoral team - Alison - she is an amazing young lady. The photo mid way down is of Lou and I before we left for the grad. service.

Next week we will go to San Fran to spend some time with some friends of ours who live in Florida - we haven't seen them in more than 10 years, so it will be great to finally catch up. Then we come back to Redding for another week. We leave here on the 9th and then fly out of LA on the 10th. We arrive back in Oz on the 12th.

We are really looking forward to catching up with you all.

Love us

ps - stay tuned - i am sure there will be really exciting stuff to add over the next couple of weeks. like for example - I have a really cool video of our mission trip to Mexico City that will be available - i just need to find a site to host it.

Prophecy night

Hey guys,

I mentioned that we would be doing another "Skype prophecy" night. The date for the next one will be May 15th (USA) which will mean that roughly midday AEST Sunday 16th May. If you would like to receive some prophetic words from some of our friends then let us know and we will make the arrangements.

If you would like to participate then you will need to have Skype (free download), and then contact me. you can send either of us an email or a Skype message. Shane's Skype address is:

shane.lou.mandl

What you would expect if you joined in would be to be encouraged and blessed. If you would like more info please feel free to send me a message.

Bless you heaps

Shane

QUICK NOTE

I have 2 "quick updates"

1 - Louise and I have been approved to continue on and do second year of school - that means we will be back in Aus around mid June and then back in the US around 10th Aug.

2 - In Mexico City as you would have read (if you follow our blogs with any regularity), we saw hundreds and hundreds of healing miracles. There was one young guy, about 12 years old who was 100% deaf. We prayed for him and he started to hear little bits n pieces - he could hear that music was on and if i clicked my fingers he could tell me how many times I had clicked. He received about 10% of his hearing.

I was gutted by this young guy - he was such an awesome little fella, and my heart was totally wounded by the fact that he wasn't totally healed. I spent heaps of time with him and really felt God's love for him.

long story short...I received a Facebook message today from the daughter of the pastor (she acted as our interpreter whilst we were with this particular church). She said that she had caught up with the little guy yesterday and that his hearing had improved to roughly 65%. (I am not sure if he had been to an audiologist or not - that is to establish that it is at 65% - but needless to say that it is obviously noticeably different for them to make such a claim). I don't have a biblical basis for progressive healing but that is what is happening with this young guy.

YAY GOD - continue your great and mighty work, and we will tell your stories and give you glory.

catch you soon

love us.

10 days to go…

School only has 10 days left and we are trying to squeeze out every last drop. We continue to learn so much and are really enjoying ourselves – your prayers are being answered…

Last Saturday night we got together with lots of the other Aussie students and prophesied over our friends and family back in Australia on Skype. We had 5 computers set up around the house and the 15-20 of us just drifted around from “station” to station, as we felt led.

It was an amazing time and God really loved on people. We have some basic guidelines when it comes to prophesy. God is in a good mood and therefore He wants to communicate good stuff to love on and encourage people (people mostly already know the stuff in their life that isn’t so good…we don’t need to do this). We don’t speak into dates, mates or babies – we choose this because there is already too much misunderstanding about prophecy in the wider church and lots of it revolves around these. I think prophecy occurs in lots of Aussie churches however we don’t use that language due to our Old Testament hang-ups with the word.

We have had feedback from lots of people who can’t believe how God used the time. I was speaking to one lady whom I have never met and whom I knew nothing about. I spoke about her being creative, especially with fabric, I spoke of new opportunities and her work being “on display” and lots of other stuff. It turns out that she is an interior decorator, who has just started a new direction with some web-based stuff and her first job is going live online (for Telstra) sometime this week (don’t quote the date…lol).

There is literally story after story of this. My sister, mum and brother in-law, all were a part of the night. It was amazing for each of them and has given them lots of clarity and peace about directions that they had been planning and concepts that had been brewing in their hearts.

If you feel “bummed” because you missed out, I have some good news – yes Jesus loves you…lol, we are planning another prophecy night due to the demand. If you would like to participate in this, ensure you have Skype and let me know. I don’t have the date yet, you will have to stay tuned.

I finally got to go out fishing again - I went with 2 mates and we got about 50 fish between us (we only kept 8 - enough for dinner for the crowd of people). i am really enjoying some different fishing.

Unless something comes up, we will be back in Australia on the 12^th June. We look forward to catching up with you all at some stage.

Love us.

A day in the life of a Bethel student...(actually a couple of hours on a Friday morning)

Okay sorry it's been a little long. We have had an action packed 2 weeks.

Firstly we found out that we wont be able to go to Canada for a quick holiday - it would present a possible problem getting back into the USA. When we found out we started trying to see if we could come back early in order to minister with some staff from here, but unfortunately that doesn't seem as though it will work.

We are checking out some more options now...lol and don't anticipate getting home any earlier that mid June.

The pictures in this update are of our "spring" break - we took a few nights to check out the coastline south of San Fran - we went to a place called Monterey. It was pretty cool and worth the visit. Lou found some "cotton candy" (aka - fairyfloss) and couldn't help herself. She also found a little eatery that shared her name and so she couldn't let the opportunity pass. Me...i'm just a poser....

I (Shane), have had lots of fun the last 2 weeks. I have enjoyed God's presence in tangible ways and have gone out to the pubs and bars of the city as well as the normal outreaches that I am a part of.

Last Friday I was out with a mate and we started talking to a young guy - he's catholic and thought that would be an issue till I said "great" - then I asked him if he wanted to feel God's presence. He was stunned at the question and asked "how, that was going to happen?" I explained that I was going to pray and that he would feel God in very specific ways. as I prayed I saw his face go to a confused look as he experienced what I had said, then i called out some more and he started to experience more. the young mans face became filled with excitement - he had met with God. unfortunately he had to get on an intercity bus, so we encouraged him to use the time to talk with God and to ask him for more experiences.

We said goodbye to him and walked along. we were passing a couple and I said hello but they didn't really acknowledge. my mate, who is kinda like a dog at a bone, turned and asked if they had something on their mind that we could pray about. the couple stopped and shared that they were worried about several things. We spent a few minutes praying for them on the footpath of the city and then my mate had a word of knowledge for back pain up between their shoulder blades.

The guy was like yeah I do. so we prayed for him and asked him to test it out. He tested it and it was like 70% better. so we prayed again and he was totally healed. he bent over and touched his toes and his wife said "I have never seen him do that, he can't do that" - I laughed and asked him to prove it by doing it again. so he bent down and put his whole hand down flat on the ground - he was stunned and kept doing it. We asked if he wanted to be filled with the Holy Spirit and he said "yes" - we prayed for him and within seconds he was flat on the concrete. he fell out under the power of the Holy Spirit in the middle of the city - I was stunned, and admittedly looked around and wondered what people would be thinking. The funny thing was that there were some paramedics where 70 odd meters away and they started coming over to see if he was okay. as they were getting really close the guy just sat up and started laughing - "I feel great, I feel soooooo good".

He got up and we asked him to pray for his wife who said she had a sore lower back. He prayed for a moment and i asked her to test it. she said "oh wow, i feel fantastic, no pain anywhere". I asked her what she meant and she talked about how she normally has ankle pain etc. made worse by lots of movement - I asked her to walk and move around heaps in the ways that would induce pain. she did this and was astonished because she had no pain anywhere... God was having some fun!!!

Somehow as we were about to leave them to their day we found out that the lady was deaf in one ear...was is the operative word...we prayed for her and then did a test to see if it was healed - it was...yay....!!!

It was a really powerful time and we spent some more time with them about God's love and acceptance of them. They were so touched and left literally praising God!!!

Thanks so much for praying for us and loving us. we really feel it. We have just over 3 weeks to go of school for this school year. At this stage we will be back in Australia mid June and then we are planning to be back in the USA about the 10th of August. We will be up in Taree for a few weeks in that time.

We will be speaking at a church in Sydney on the 13th of July and Lou will be speaking at a women's event in that week as well. we anticipate being part of a ministry trip in the beginning of august as well. we will keep you informed.

We look forward to seeing you all soon

love Shane and Lou

PS - like always if you have any questions or comments feel free to email them to us or post them here.

Mexico City

WOW!!!!

Nothing you read in this post will do justice to what God did in the last 8 days in Mexico City. OUR world has been slightly messed up....(and we are pretty happy about it).

we had great expectations for this trip, and they were all exceeded (bar 1). The 1 being that as a team we had talked about seeing 4000 miracles of healing. we didn't quite see that number reached. The most conservative estimate would be 3000 and i'd personally be happy to say 3500 - needless to say that it's only about 2990-3490 more than i have seen in my life (this stat doesn't include salvations as i am only talking about miracles of healing...)

We saw things that no amount of science or logic can explain. we felt things (physical healing taking place), that defies all intellectualism!

Mexico, Thanks so much for hosting us and for teaching us sooooooo much!

We were part of an amazing team, with people who spurred us on in every situation. we had plenty of opportunities for growth and grabbed them with both hands. Thanks to our leaders Josh and Kris for all that they led us into and through.

Aside from the many healings we saw hundreds and hundreds come to faith. many touched by their healing immediately asked Jesus to be their Lord and then plugged into other activities that we or the church were running.

This is a pic of Lou leading couples at a marriage seminar that we were involved with at a satellite church that we and another couple worked with while we were in Mexico.

We learnt heaps from the culture of the Mexican people. They practice honor in really simple and significant ways. Lou and I were very blessed with an amazing host family who didn't just host us but invited us into their lives. We celebrated with them and cried with them all in the same week.

I don't know that i want any more tacos of any description for a while, but i am sure that will change in time...lol - the picture above was taken at our hosts birthday dinner - our host "Carlos" is seated opposite me (shane).

The picture beside is of a young lady who 3 days earlier had come to our leaders (in the pic she is with Kris), and she came because her grandfather had just had a stroke. He had paralysis down his entire right side and the doctors were giving very bad news. our leaders prayed and said that he would be out of hospital in 3 days without any affects from the stroke. She came to find them to let them know that he had just come out of hospital (the 3rd day), and that he was 100% fine.

Lou is planning a post sometime soon...

love us!

So this pic is a little old now, but what the heck - I like it! It was just before

Christmas and we went out scoping some cool light shows.

We have been a little more busy this week, some extra homework and some running around to get some stuff sorted out like insurance and some car repairs (no accidents, just changed insurance, and got the car serviced - always something...).

We also realised that our trip to Mexico City is coming up super fast and that we needed to get some extra work done in order to have it all in before we go away. We have a couple of team meetings left. last year this trip went off. Lou and I have been growing in confidence more and more - the other day (Sunday night), Lou prayed for a lady with arthritis in her hand and immediately all the pain left. We then prayed for her ankles and she experienced the same thing. It was lots of fun - we don't delight so much in the miracle but rather what we see the miracle do in the lives of those touched. This lady, had tears as the love of God was realised in a more powerful way in her life.

A few days earlier I was out with a couple of mates and one of my mates introduced himself to this lady standing in a carpark. About 5 mins earlier I had a sudden chest pain and I knew that God was giving me a word of knowledge for someone.... after introducing himself, my friend turned to me (I was about 5 meters away), and introduced me. I went over and said hello and then asked if she knew anyone that was having some serious chest pain. The ladies response was a classic "no one else aside from me..."

The lady shared that she was scheduled for surgery in a couple of weeks time as her esophagus was destroyed from reflux and that she now had some tumors in her throat as well. She said that she had woken up at 5.30am that morning in excruciating pain and had cried out to God for some help....

As we were talking to her (10.15am), she was still in a great deal of pain. we prayed a really simple prayer, something like "thanks Jesus that you want to heal ".....", we command all pain to go, and ask that you'd give her a new throat and esophagus" - we asked her what she felt, and her face was beaming! She had no pain! We will be catching up with her sometime during the next week or so, and checking on the doctors reports about whether or not she still requires surgery. Yay God!!! We talked to her for some time after this and she is wanting us to visit this sick person, and that one...she is keen to get along to a church service and re-establish her relationship with God.

The small group that I lead has been going great - all the guys are awesome and are really growing heaps (me too...).

Lou has taken a preaching class, we have both sensed that this was something that God has been calling her into. She put her name down as a potential to preach to the class, and well yes, you have probably guessed it, she will be doing so.

We are planning a couple of "get-aways", one for the "spring break" (Easter), we are thinking of catching up with some of Lou's family down in LA or Vegas to help us celebrate Lou's birthday (11th April).

The other trip, after graduation in May up into Canada, via Seattle and Oregon. Whilst up in British Columbia, we will spend some time in Vancouver, and get over to Banff and Lake Louise.

Unfortunately I haven't been fishing for a bit...and we didn't get to go up the mountain this week because we had the car in for a service (in prep for all the MILES we will be doing on the trips mentioned above).

This pic is of Lou, about to carve it up - we have both improved soooo much, but then we have probably done more skiing in the past couple of months than we have in the 5 years we were in Taree.

I have heard from some that you are having difficulties in making comments - I have made this easier by removing the restrictions. anyone can now make a comment though it wont be published until I authorise it.

We'd love to hear from you. If you have any questions, this is a great way to ask as well.

Blessings

Shane n Lou

lighter things...

so this week has been a lighter week for us...

the school hours and work isn't overly demanding for us, however the processing is substantial and each week we need lots of time to work through that which we have heard and then establishing what that means for us...

it has been a huge week for processing, and we have been hanging out with some friends and discussing stuff in small groups - it's been really productive.

we have had less time commitments this week which has been nice - we have had a chance to play some tennis, get to the gym (i think i forgot how to do most of the exercises...) and get in front with our studies...a nice and all to new sensation...DOH!!!

Lou came with a mate and i on a community outreach the other day. it was great to see her in action. she is so confident and has a great ability to connect with a broad range of people and make them feel really safe and confident - she credits some of this to her last job at CRS. With one guy, who i will call Bob (original i know), she was so good. she really encouraged him, spoke prophetically into his life and called out the greatness in him - he was totally encouraged and made it clear that he felt loved - this by the fact that he said he was keen to see us again!

it's just good fun seeing people who are ordinarily considered as "outcasts", lighting up and beaming just because some people cared enough to show some love in an honest and empowering way. we prayed for him, blessed him and just enjoyed who he was.

today, while we were at our friends place processing, a person came to the door selling some cleaning products. after a few minutes the young lady was sitting inside and sharing some of her life with us. we had the chance to pray for her and prophesy over her too. she was stoked - she came thinking she might get a sale, and she left getting sooo much more.

if you feel inclined to pray for us, you could pray about:

- our trip to Mexico City (leaving mid March)

- our movements whilst back in Australia (Jun - August) - there are a mix of ministry opportunities plus we just want to hang out with our family and friends.

- that the stuff that God is teaching us would go deep within us.

next update is sure to be soon - keep checking back

love Shane n Lou

PS - the pics are of some of the local scenery (not us the landscapes...lol - one is of whiskey town lake and the other of Mount Lassen) - both places are naturally spectacular!

Neck & Back along with Rotator Cuff testimony.

Shane says:

so yesterday (being Thursday for us), we have an outreach slot - 2.5hrs of just going out into a specific area of the community (that is we are all in small groups and go to the same area each week). Lou and I are in separate groups and are both in really poor areas.

a couple of weeks back a few of us were just knocking on doors to see if we could help or bless the people in any way, and one lady had 3 of us come in for an hour or so. she has some difficulties that she is working through and we just encouraged her etc. as we were leaving she mentioned that she was stiff and sore from a car accident some 4 weeks earlier. we prayed for her and she was completely healed - total freedom in her neck and back and NO pain - we were stoked!

so back to yesterday..., we went to visit her again but there was no answer (collective sigh...), so as we are walking back to meet up with other members of our group, we see a man, woman and little guy in a stroller just sitting out the front of a physio's. we walked over and introduced ourselves and they have had some contact with students from Bethel before. we asked if we could pray for them for anything and they kinda laugh and say yes because they are standing in front of the physio's because she had torn her rotator cuff and couldn't mover her right arm.

they have little cash and the physio had just come out to them and said "this community is a real blessing to me, i will see you for free in 2 weeks time as a way to bless you". the couple were stoked. we asked her to show us how much movement she had before the pain got intense - she could only move her arm about 10-15cm (measured from her elbow as she tried to extend her arm out to the side). we pray for her, and ask her what she feels, she didn't feel anything in her arm but felt encouraged, so we asked her to see if she could mover her arm more. she slowly raised her arm up and the blood drained from her face - she was a little shocked. then she is throwing her arms around in big circles and putting resistance against her arm as she tried to raise it - completely healed in JESUS name!

we talked to them for a little longer and blessed them and then said goodbye. i stopped and looked back and as they were walking off i saw her just spinning her arms around and around - she was still in shock...

God is in a good mood! (ALWAYS). if you have a sore shoulder check it out right now!

till next time,

love the Mandl's

an Attempt at something New...

Okay, so we are trying something new (thanks Harvey's).

we want to keep you all informed of how we are going and what we have been up to but to be honest it was just getting really hard to speak to people individually. this way you can catch what we have been up too and you can ask questions etc.

we are behaving ourselves and are quite the model students (even if i do say so myself - shane speaking)... we have both really enjoyed our classes and have grown heaps and in so many different ways.

in just over 4 weeks we head off to Mexico City for a ministry trip - it will be amazing! we didn't plan on being on the same trip, actually Lou doesn't know (humanly speaking), how she got onto this team, but she is and we are both excited to know that God has us both going together and smack in the middle of His will. Lou was as surprised as the team leaders as she didn't put Mexico City down in any of her choices at all.

Lou is more prepared for the trip than I am, she has undertaken some spanish lessons and can stutter out enough to have the very basic conversations - i however am limited to some silly phrases i have learnt from various movies (thanks encino man - i hope the phrase - "the cheese is old and moldy" is not required.).

socially we have found some awesome Aussie couples (i wont mention any names just in case they check this page out and get swollen around the shoulders), who have kept living in the US real and enjoyable. we have got together on a few occasions to celebrate Australia Day, and pray and prophesy over our great country.

about a month ago i felt as though i was to invite my little sister and Lou's little brother to consider coming and doing school here starting later this year. they have both put applications in and i will keep you informed as to how this all works out.

if you are keen to pray for us, please pray that we would drawer closer to God, that we would see an increase in effectiveness as we take the love of God out onto the streets (we have so many cool stories already, of people who have experienced God and have begun being transformed by these encounters). you could also pray about the mission trip mentioned above - the team that went last year saw just under 2000 miracles take place, and hundreds of people gave their lives to Jesus and got connected to local churches - we are pushing for an increase this year.

please feel free to add your comments, we really want to stay in touch.

love Shane n Lou