More Rainbow Adventures

So that evening when Brian was still shopping, even though it was raining we got into the hot tub. It was all nice and warm, even though it was difficult to get in. I am glad I did it. I had on what looked like a gym outfit and so it caused bubbles in the water. I have a picture of people in the hot tub, but its not me.

So the next day, Tom and Anita the people we were staying with, had a  prayer meeting. While we were praying, I experienced something I've never experienced before. Anita said we were to find a boy who lost his way, and needs to come home. We also prayed for all the people that we would minister to. So we headed out the campsite was about an hour away. Anita said that I could use her walking stick, but it was too big and bulky.

When we got to the campsite we were met there by a group of about 15 people. They were a group known as nomads land from Gadsden Alabama. They would be helping us as we were to serve other people. It was weird because they were living out of two buses and all we had were scrawny little tents.

It took me about a day to adjust to everything. The next day it poured down rain. Of the five girls that went we all stay together in one tent. We were lucky it did not rain in our tent. A couple that went with us Amanda and Cody, their tent was flooded. I felt so bad for them this is the second day and we were just getting settled in.

Let me explain a little bit. The Rainbow Gathering is where a bunch of hippies come together. It is supposed to be about love and peace and harmony but really it's not. These people are hurting and need hope. There is a lot of drinking and drugs and violence. We were there to feed the people breakfast lunch and dinner.

A typical day went like this

Breakfast was around 10 a.m. But we didn't have any clocks to go by.
There would be a cook assigned to cook the food and also a helper if needed to chop up things. When the meal was prepared we would all gather around the campfire, pray, and then yell FREE FOOD IN THE WOODS!!!!!

After breakfast we would have a short devotional. I usually sit around the campfire especially when it was raining. The third day we were there Brian built stadium seats out of wood planks. There would be people assigned to go get fresh water from the water buffalo. ( yes every time I thought of it I thought of that silly Veggie Tales song) People assigned to wash dishes, which was usually me.

We had a very musical group when we weren't working we were singing and playing music. There was someone who played the banjo, guitar, and 3 or 4 sets of drums. Sometimes my friend Anastasia would play the violin.

After dinner was the best time for music. While the people from outside were still eating, we would sing and also tell testimonies. There were lots of things that went on in this time that I can explain, accept it was the power of God. I saw one guy get healed from drug overdose. A guy in our group got his leg lengthened. There was a guy who got cured of his headache.

I had never believed and healing before. I knew that God could heal but had never seen the Holy Spirit move in that way before.

Then there was a guy from the Alabama group whose nickname is Lost Boy. He asked on one of the last days if he could go back with us to Jesus People. So we ended up bringing back the lost boy just like Anita said.

Some of these days run together so Im trying to write as I remember. I will write more for you later. Thank you, my family and friends for your prayers for me on that trip.

Chrissy

Rainbow Trip in Ocala. This maybe Part 1 of several parts

This might be one of a few posts now that I have something to write about. I have never seen God move so profoundly as he did in the Rainbow Gathering. I feel so flooded with the Holy Spirit, now and I definitely don't want to forget these memories.

This is the big group of us that were actually at the Gathering. This was taken the last day that  we were there actually the campsite right before we left....but let me start off with when we first left.

We all met in our building, yep, all 16 of us. Two of the guys in our class chose to stay behind because they felt like they were called to stay back and help. I felt at first like this was going to be such a bad trip. Not because of the difficulties I might face, but because  of what we experienced the first day of the trip.

We actually got out of the door on time. Brian (our teacher or leader or coordinator for the trip) and the guys loaded up the van, trailer (which was attached to the 14 passenger van), and the suburu (with the heated seats). They had loaded the food earlier, then they loaded the tents and tarps, and then  last but not least they loaded up the luggage, sleeping bags and instruments we had. Yes, there were lots of instruments.

When we first headed out, or even before we headed out. Me and a few other people got into the suburu. Brian, who was the first person to drive the van, couldn't start the van so we had to get it jumped. When we got it jumped, everything went smoothly until we hit the snowy weather on the way to Tennessee. We were stopping the night at some guy's house who knew Brian. We stopped at Subway for lunch and Little Caesars for dinner. By the time dinner was over, I was really tired of fast food. I was thinking that once we get down to Florida I'm not going to want to go into the woods for a week because I will be so exhausted. 

Weather wise, we hit a lot of patches of snow and then more towards Tennessee more areas of intense storming and fog. At times it was really scary, but we made it to the guy's house. This man was really nice. He had a guest house that we were staying in. Everything looked nice until we got to the bedrooms. The guys were lucky. They got to take the sofa and living room furniture to sleep on. The girls got the bedrooms. It looked more like a play room than a bedroom. Ugh! I don't know if I was the only one thinking this, but the rooms smelled. The guy told us he had a pipe burst not too long ago and he just got it cleaned up. The room had a very bad smell, you could walk in there and just tell by the smell something was off. I thought to myself one night is all I have to deal with, I can do this. 

The morning we got up and were going to head out at 8 or so. The man cooked us breakfast. He used eggs from his own chicken, which  was surprising that lead several of  us to talk about sustainable living. He owned his own farm, land and I think he said he had a creek that he filled and fished in. He told us how he bucket farmed sometimes and how it would be easy to do at jpusa. As soon as the dishes were washed, and we got our picture taken we were off to Florida.

This is just our group. When we got in the suburu, I turned on my heated seat. Ah...a heated seat feels great even in 40 degree Tennessee weather. Then we headed down to Florida. We even went through Georgia. I kinda wished we could stop along the way so I could see my family. When that sign comes up that says however many miles to the next few cities, I saw my hometown on there and I just wished I could go see them. 

Anyways, there was a thermometer thing in the car that told how warm (or cold) it is outside. I remember getting into the car in Chicago and the gauge saying 20 something. It read 40 in  Tennessee. Now it was getting to 50. It was funny. My buddy Triumph, who is the second person on the left said that when it got to 50, he would yell out of the sun roof. And he did. Actually, everyone took a turn yelling out of the sun roof, except for me. I wasn't sure if I could do it because of my balance. It was funny, we were cruising the radio and heard the song Here Comes the Sun by the Beatles. It's kinda funny since we just came into Florida. We got into Florida not too long after dark. The couple who let us use their house said we could sleep and get in the hot tub that next day. 

The reason we stayed at their house for a full day before going to rainbow was so that Brian and the guy Tom who's house we were at.  They were going shopping for more groceries. Well that's all for now, Part two comes later