News-Update: Brazil & USA – December 2013

Dear Friends

A word for the last stretch of the year:

Break the Tape

Here we are in the final 20-plus days of 2013. You have gone the distance this year. By God’s grace you have invested a massive amount of time, energy, effort, sacrifice and dedication to put yourself here in this position. But it will be this last leg that will determine if your entire year ends strong as a success or as you hobble across the finish line at the back of the pack.

That difference will be determined NOW, right now in this moment. Lose another week or two and you will be too far behind to recover. Will you dig deep, double down and put in that last kick to finish strong and achieve your goals?

To do so here is what you want to fixate on: Breaking the Tape

Lessons about the race:

The race is won or lost in the final push. All your hard work all year can get flushed down the drain in the last few weeks. 

During that final push focus only one thing: breaking the tape.

Don’t let the crowd, the circumstance or the critics at your back fracture your focus. Your body will follow your eyes. Keep your focus on breaking the tape.


Philippians 3 : 13 – 14

Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward.

We just returned from an amazing trip in Brazil. We started our tour in Recife. Where we were invited to speak at the SPP Conference, a conference that brought businessmen and women, influential people and politicians for a market place conference. It was a glorious time. I taught on the subjects: Kingdom Revenues, Winning with Money and Investment Strategies. So many were blessed, stirred and excited about Kingdom finances. One of the congressmen who attended the conference said: “This is what our nation needs!” and he invited us to come do something with the government next year.  Many people testified about their lives being changed. Our time of ministry in Recife also included church services. Ilke ministered in 2 services and I also had 3 miracle services. Many were healed!

We were blessed to meet a lot of wonderful people in Recife. Special thanks to Pastors Valter, Aleksandre and Freddy and Michelle.

From Recife we traveled to Sao Paulo. We love Sao Paulo. It was exciting to see some of our old friends.

Our ministry included a trip to a very remote and poor region in Brazil. We went to the house of one of the leaders and they received us with so much love and kindness.  The pastor's wife told us about their many encounters with dangerous snakes, dangerous spiders, poisonous ants,... It was so good to be with them. It was the first time they ever received an international guest. Jesus touched and healed many during the service including an 11-year-old girl that had damaged ears since she was a baby. It was so touching. It was so good to see so many pastors of the region coming together. We had to drive quite a long distance to get there, but it was worth wile.

We also ministered at a 31-year church anniversary celebration.  The atmosphere was charged, there was a great move of the Holy Spirit, and many were touched. We were blessed to be introduced by a congressman who is also the leader of this ministry. We appreciate Arthur for his help with our ministry in Sao Paulo over the years. Great friend, great blessing!

On the day of our departure we still ministered at a COGIC church. The people were so excited and passionate about the Lord. We enjoyed our time in this church.

Brazil is a nation that is really open for the Gospel and there’s a lot of hunger. Many young people are on fire for God.

Thankful

After Brazil we were blessed to be home for 2 days.  My wife and I celebrated Thanksgiving in Dallas. We are so thankful for all the Lord has done this year and the previous years. We have seen such growth and increase of the ministry worldwide. We have seen lots of miracles, people being saved, pastors being encouraged, lives being transformed,… everywhere we go. We are so thankful for all our financial partners. We could have not have done this without you. You have helped us so far reach 108 nations. Together we can do more! Thanks for all the prayers and support. We love and appreciate you!  We have received so many prophetic words concerning the future of the ministry saying that we have seen nothing yet compared to what the Lord is going to do. We are very excited and look forward to the future with great anticipation.

We just finished an amazing weekend in Connecticut. Wonderful friends; great fellowship. Ilke did a special ladies event that she has been doing here the last few years. There were so many testimonies of ladies being touched by God’s power. It’s a blessing to see Word Alive grow over the years.

Before going to Brazil we had a wonderful time in Sanford, Michigan. We enjoyed our time with the Carsten family. Amazing, sweet people of God! Many were touched and healed in the services.

We are excited to be home! We have had a very busy year and have hardly been at home spending most of our fruitful time on the mission field. We are excited to focus the next few days on our annual board meeting and also continuing to write and hopefully finish our new book.

We pray y’all have a very blessed last month of the year.

Love and blessings

Guy & Ilke