Jesus called his twelve disciples to him and gave them authority to drive out evil spirits, and to heal every disease and sickness. These are the names of the twelve apostles: first, Tara (who is called T) and Cherise; Jessica and Jenessa; John and Kyle; K.C. and Brittney; Kathleen and Tara M.; Nadia and Alison. These twelve Jesus sent out with the following instructions: "Do not go among the Mzungus or any town of the Americans. Go rather to the lost sheep of Africa. As you go, proclaim this message: ‘The kingdom of heaven has come near.' Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you have received, freely give". (Matthew 10:1-8; slightly modified for coolness affect).

We are the twelve disciples and our last two weeks of ministry can be best described with this passage. We have spent these last two weeks living just as the disciples did; we were welcomed into someone's home for a week at a time, slept in tents outside the house, spent our time visiting homes and hospitals in the community, prayed for people to be healed and to know the love of God, spread the love of Jesus in the slums and took part in the feast of a freshly slaughtered goat (a great honor P.S.). It was exhausting, filling every second of our days with ministry but I can honestly say that if I did not know the power of God before, I know it now. I literally saw a demon cast out of a woman, another woman healed by faith from internal bleeding, a man's family restored through God's hidden messages shared through a simple house visit, and hope coming into the eyes of a man who had only known Jesus as a religion but who heard the message of the true God and His love. It is hard to believe sometimes that things such as these are capable of happening, and it is even harder to believe that it is by our hands that God made these things happen. I often question the statement "[Jesus] gave them authority to drive out evil spirits and to heal every disease and sickness" (Matt. 10:1), but by faith it is real and true that the Holy Spirit is in us and gives us the authority to perform miracles. All it takes is faith; faith in yourself and faith in the power of God. Sometimes we have to look beyond our own understanding of things to find God's truth and the reality of God's presence and work in our lives; for beyond the confines of our own wisdom is a world of infinite possibilities and life in truth. "Your faith, then, does not rest on human wisdom but on God's power" (1 Corinthians 2:5). There is only so much we as humans can understand and there is a limit on the things that we do and the power that we have. As a result it is often hard to believe that there is more than what we can see with our eyes or what we can understand with our minds. But God is greater than all things and with Him nothing is impossible and He has given us His spirit which must mean that that same power is within us. Its powerful and its truth; open up your hearts and minds to receive it and it will rock your world.