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.