Our Time In Europe! Awesome devine appointments!!

• Subscribe
• Share
• Past Issues
• RSS
• Translate

Hello everyone! Well, we got back from Europe a few weeks ago…and we realized—its time for us to do an update! So first of all, here is a little summary of our trip to Europe: As we mentioned before, we traveled to Norway to attend 2 weddings – both couples were people that we have closely mentored in Australia. They both tied the knot in the small little town of Tonsberg – 2 weeks apart! Pretty cool! In between these 2 weddings we had the awesome opportunity to travel around Europe a little bit.  First, we flew to Paris.  Now, we always pray that God would hook us up with divine appointments…either people that need to know about Him or just need encouragement, whatever. Well, we haven’t even gotten out of the airport in Paris when we run into our friend Allie who we know from Santa Barbara! She was visiting some friends just outside Paris but she had some time to kill before she linked up with them, so we got to hang out for most of the day! She had some stuff on her heart that she really needed prayer for and we were able to chat with her and pray for her. Boom!   Bethany and I got a nice little 1 star hotel right in the center of the city (classy)…and then did what we’ve always wanted to do – got some wine and cheese and sat on the grass in front of the Eiffel Tower! It was awesome…not bad for a first date in Europe! Then, we got to visit our close friend Fleur who was on DTS staff with us for a long time in Oz. She is on the verge of moving to India long-term to make God known there. It was so good to connect. Then we got to hang out and have her show us all around her awesome city…it was sweet. From there we took a bus into Switzerland to see a TON of YWAM friends! We stayed with several former students…one of whom has been trying to bait us to come visit him for over a year with promises of delicious cheese and chocolate haha! Then we flew to Italy. I (Luke) had been praying for years for an opportunity to go to Europe, Italy in particular…something I’ve always wanted to do and more recently I had been praying for God to open up some kind of marriage get-away for Bethany and I. I realized that we hadn’t been on a vacation (that wasn’t a missions trip) since our honeymoon – 7 years ago! When God began speaking to us about this trip, we just knew that Italy was not going to be about meeting with people but was going to be just the two of us. But I don’t think we realized how much of a second honeymoon it was going to be! God blessed us so much! We went to Venice, Florence, and Rome but I think Florence was the highlight of the whole trip. Eleven years ago, Bethany studied abroad in Florence for 3 months so it was really special to be able to visit a place that was so significant in her life. Let me just say this: In Florence, you’d really have to try hard to have a bad date. Everywhere you go there is the most delicious food, wine, beer, and gelato you’ve ever tasted. As you wander the streets its not strange to waltz into a piazza, surrounded by thousand year old cathedrals where a full orchestra is just playing (for free) as you stroll along, holding hands and the warm August air is blowing through your hair…amazing. Seriously, it was super romantic and really refreshing – we loved it!   We prayed for DEVINE APPOINTMENTS and we got ‘em! Here are just a few… EPIC WHEINHART! At the airport in Amsterdam we met this guy named Epic…yep that was his name…and God really highlighted him to us. We walked by him once and just waved and said hello but then when we saw each other again and we knew we had to talk to him! He looked like the type of people we often see in Byron Bay, Australia…long hair, long beard, hippie clothes etc. So we started chatting and he seemed so excited that we wanted to talk to him. He was from Austria but he spoke great English. Finally he told us where he lived now – Byron Bay, Australia! Haha! Bethany got a word of knowledge that he had a daughter and that the relationship between them was broken. She shared it with him and he did! He said he hadn’t talked to her in a really long time. We asked if we could pray for him. So we laid our hands on his shoulder and he began to cry as the presence of God fell on Him. Afterwards we shared with him about Jesus - that He was the only way to true freedom and restored relationships. We had brought 3 Bibles with us on our trip to give away to whomever God told us to…we knew right then that he was one of them. His plane was about to leave so we gave him a hug, gave him a Bible and said goodbye. Thank you Jesus! PRAYING FOR STRANGERS Another day, I was walking and I look over on the other side of the street and I see this couple walking…really slowly. I stop and notice that the guy is helping his girl walk and that she has a huge red, swollen ankle. I hear the Lord say “go pray for her”. At first I was like “aaaah should I? or should I keep walking?” But I felt I would regret it if I didn’t obey. So I go over and ask her what happened. She said she hurt it playing soccer and that she was really struggling to get around. Her and her husband were both from England and on a holiday. I told her Jesus could heal her and asked if I could pray for her. A little shocked at first, they agreed to let me pray. I pray once. Nothing happens. I pray again. Still nothing. So I’m like ok this is awkward. But then we started talking and they were actually kind of stoked. They both had never been to church before but that day (Sunday) they decided to go to church together. They had been seeing all the amazing Cathedrals and paintings of Jesus as they were traveling around and they said it was hard not to think of God…so they figured they’d better go to church. They were like “It is so interesting that you are praying for us right now”. Yeew! I got to speak into their lives and tell them about God’s love for them and His pursuit of them and then pray for them! I love the Lord! HIT BY THE PRESENCE OF GOD In Rome we went to go check out the Pantheon but unfortunately it was closed. However, there was a huge line of people waiting to look through a crack in the doors to catch a glimpse inside the building. While we were waiting, I just picked out a guy who kind of looked American and asked if you could actually see anything. Well, he turned out to be American…and from Santa Barbara of all places ha ha! We started talking to him and the German girl that he was dating and we just had a ton to talk about. The girl seemed quite cold and closed while we were talking but when they finally asked what we do in Australia the conversation began to shift towards God. We told them about DTS and when Bethany spoke the name “Jesus” you could feel the power of God go out. The girl’s face instantly changed, it was crazy. We didn’t talk too much after that because they had to get going but… then the craziest thing happened. Bethany and I sat down and leaned against the pillars that support the front of the Pantheon and I don’t know how to explain it but we could just feel God moving so powerfully in us both! We literally couldn’t move for almost 20 minutes! It’s like our spirits were interceding for that couple with groans too deep for words. Get ‘em Lord!   Europe was amazing, God blessed us SO much! We feel so refreshed and ready for this next busy season with DTS. Here we are below back in the action with our Sep DTS staff team getting ready for the school to start. We love what we get to do and feel the love of the Father all over us as we begin! Thank you for all of your love and encouraging messages during this time. We felt so loved! Bless you all! Luke and Bethany