{Day 19}

Got up early and went to church. Brian Johnson led and Kris Vallotton spoke! Happy day! Highlights:

• Past prophetic words could very well be for what you're struggling with right now.
• You're going to eat the fruit of what you say.
• Three keys for Joshua's victory:
• the law of God was to be in his mouth
• he was to meditate {think, remember, sing, speak} on it day and night
• he would do all he was thinking
• "You cannot be tempted by something you don't have an appetite for." - Kris Vallotton
• "I am not defined by my appetites. I am defined by the choices I make concerned my appetite." - Kris Vallotton
• Your heart gives your mind parameters for how it can think.
• Your heart has a PR person - your tongue.
• Fear and anxiety are why we don't manage our thoughts.

It was a great teaching. As always, of course, but still just wonderful. :) If you have iBethel, go listen. :)

The rest of the day was spent with some food, some phone calling, some picture uploading to Facebook {nothing you haven't seen here, but at least it's all in one place}, some watching of Jenna paint a picture, and then off to church again! Getting there early so we didn't have to sit on the bleachers again.

And then we went to pre-service prayer. We had gone at TwinView during the Kingdom Culture conference and enjoyed it, gotten some prayer and prophecies. But pre-service prayer at Bethel is very different. Basically, everybody chills in the "Great Room" until about fifteen minutes before service. And then we circle and have what's basically a round-the-room fire tunnel. We pray for each other, and then the leaders go around and pray for us. Got prayed for by Danny Silk! But anyway, the pre-service prayer is where it's at. So much crazier than their fire tunnels. Pre-service prayer is where people laugh so hard they fall over. Or just fall over.

Worship was really, really good and long and spontaneous and prophetic - led by William Matthews. If you're an iBethel addict, look that one up, too. {You may actually see me in that one. Felt like the camera was staring at me a lot.} We went into some fun dancing and spontaneous worship, really cool, really fun.

Then a teaching by Eric Johnson. Also really good, though I was starting to get tired. Highlights:

• There's a season for this and a season for that, just know what season you're supposed to be in.
• The wineskin that you're building should be built in such a way that will contain future wine as well.
• Be careful you don't keep the same wineskin for new wine.
• Jesus is okay with giving you something you're not ready for.
• "The Holy Spirit is not a vending machine." - Eric Johnson
• When Jesus left his {three-year} ministry, it exploded. But when a lot of nation-going organizations found ministries, the ministries collapse when they leave.
• If you read the gospels with a mindset that salvation is only there to get us to heaven, you get a list of right and wrongs.
• There's a higher standard with grace than with the law.
• If you're insecure, you don't like to empower people. And if you do empower them, you definitely don't let them higher.
• When you stand in extreme security, you see God on other people.

Then a fire-tunnel. Yay! Danny Silk, and Sheri Silk, and Kathy Vallotton. Laughter. :)

And then a trip to In-N-Out. I was on a quest not to eat out this week, and I still am, but I was also on another quest to eat at In-N-Out before I left. So, that's accomplished. Their fries really are amazing. Cut and fried there, with 0 trans fats, if that makes anybody feel better. Definitely better than McDonalds {though Dani dislikes In-N-Out; she prefers McDonalds French fries. And there is no dissuading her.} Anyway, I'm so ready for a salad tomorrow.

And Snickerdoodle cookies. I so feel like Snickerdoodle cookies, and I have the ingredients to make them! Happy day!

{Day 5} Fire Tunnel {Day 6}

I forgot to mention yesterday (post 1, post 2) that we had a fire tunnel. It was a ton of fun {though in terms of intense and...crazy stuff...Leif Hetlund's is still #1}, and my AL roomie and I went through twice. :) Lauren, my host, was even allowed to be on the fire line, since she's a BSSM2 grad, and I think it's super cool that I'm living with her. {Jenna is also allowed to do stuff like that. She did ministry team stuff Friday night.}

Today I was able to work on my journal some more. Still not quite done - should finish tomorrow - so no picture yet! :) Then worship, led by Brian, Jenn, and Hunter. There's this epic new song that kinda rocked my song world, and I'm excited about it. I'm not 100% sure that it's a Bethel original, but it feels like it.


{I apologize now for the terrible audio quality. I was mainly trying to get a guideline for doing the song in the future.}

But the worship wasn't over:



This was pretty awesome. Again, sorry for the audio quality. And yeah, there's not much to look at because I was aiming for sound. {I should have set it to record just audio, but, yeah...}

Gabriel Wilson, Bethel School of Worship 2010 grad and worship leader at a church south of Redding, spoke. Best. Main. Session. Ever. So far. Which is kinda what I've said about all of them, but this one was insanely good. If you were waiting for a recommendation of what to download off of iBethel, this is it. Highlights:

• "Cool is only cool for as long as cool as cool." - Gabriel Wilson
• "Because cool changes." - Gabriel Wilson
• What does it mean to move the heart of God? What does it take for our generation to be a generation that moves His heart?
• "You being who you are in the wake of who He is is everything." - Gabriel Wilson
• "Let the Lord validate you." - Gabriel Wilson

I realize that these notes, compared to the other one-liners I've posted, seem pretty lame. It's the sort of talk you have to listen to the whole thing for. The topic of discussion was all about ministering to God's heart. And it was just incredible.

Then lunch. I ate with two girls from Norway, a girl from London, and a guy from South Africa. I actually had a short conversation with the South African guy: I was speaking Spanish, and he was speaking Italian. And we understood each other. {He did speak English quite well, though with a crazy thick accent. We were just trying out our highschool languages.} Anyway, I thought that was funny, the American girl having a Spanish conversation with a South African guy speaking Italian.

And then I arrived at the room designated for Kim Walker's first talk...and they were turning people away. They're hoping to have a night class for it later, but I was sad. I glanced over someone's list and decided to go to Gabriel's workshop on visual media in worship. It was quite good, and I'm glad I went, though later I discovered that a class of Ian's that I'd wanted had been going on, also: the role of a keyboardist in a worship band. It was the one of Ian's that I most wanted to go to, and I'd been going to miss it because of Kim Walker.

So now I'm a bit confused and asking God why it was so important that I attend the visual media class. I mean, it was good and everything, but it wasn't epically life-changing or anything like that. But I was a hair late for Kim's class, and I totally blanked on Ian's, both of which are weird, and so I'm trying to figure out why I was there.

But I did get to go to Kim's second class, all about women in worship ministry. It was really, really good. She's so awesome and adorable, and has such wisdom. And she gave us chocolate.

you can kinda see my hair

Chris Quilala & William Matthews

Came home and got ready for the rollerskating party hosted by Chris Quilala and William Matthews. Special guest DJs: Kim Walker-Smith, Banning Liebscher, and Jenn Johnson. I got some video, but, I mean, once you've seen one roller rink, you've seen 'em all. But I bet you haven't seen that. -->

Now I'm ridiculously sweaty, or salty, rather, and am sosososososo sore. Tomorrow's hills are already laughing at me.

got that lovely thing from a fall against the carpet-covered wall, yep, yep

{P.S. If you're reading this via email, you aren't seeing the videos I'm posting. Just FYI. Also...um, yes, well, there was something else, but I can't remember it. Must not have been too important.}

Day 12

Raymond went to the evening service at Bethel.

Fire tunnel again. I could tell when I talked to him on the phone because he was in an unprecedented and unusual good mood. I asked, "Was there a fire tunnel?"

"Yeah. How'd you know?"

Day 11 Summary

[as told to and remembered by Melody]

On Friday, Raymond experienced his first fire tunnel (known by other names). There was a long line, and he found himself in front of a phlegmatic/melancholy man who asked if it was his first time.

"Yes," said Raymond. He was a little nervous.

"Well," said the man, "people who go through for their first time tend to be strongly affected." (Or something as educated.)

Raymond took his turn through. There were about 10-12 people on either side, and it was about 30-40 yards long (unknown how that was accomplished). The people forming the tunnel were all well-trained by Bethel in the supernatural etc... They laid their hands on shoulders/stomachs/etc... (depending on gender) and prayed for a filling of the Holy Spirit.

When he reached the end, he was smiling ridiculously wide. He said it was the happiest he's been in a very long time. His friends (assume: housemates) found him and were like, "Let's go again!"


So they went again. I talked to him that evening after they had returned, and he sounded very upbeat and happy. (He had been sounding rather down.)


He went to the Healing Rooms again yesterday. Either I haven't heard the stuff that occurred there, or nothing crazy happened.


More than once, Raymond has said, "If you ever get the chance to go through a fire tunnel, don't dismiss it." He's quite adamant about that. So take his advice and never overlook a fire tunnel.