MIRACLES ABOUND IN RIOHACHA, COLOMBIA

“This trip has changed my life forever. God has blessed me in ways I could never have imagined and I am more excited about my future than I would have imagined.” Sandy B.

Yes, the trip to Riohacha, Colombia was life changing — not only for the team who went with us – but for the countless precious people whose lives were so mightily touched by God.

Another team member said it this way, “The greatest part of the trip was the greatest miracle of all, the salvations and the ones that we will see in heaven because you were so faithful. The healings were beyond description…so many without pain. Many can speak and hear, walk and Praise God for what he has done.” Jim T.

A HISTORIC EVENT

“Nothing like this has ever happened in Riohacha. This is a historic event”, Pastor Loren said about the outdoor evangelistic meetings held on the main street by the beach. The police actually blocked off the street to accommodate the crowd of people! The place was electric with the presence of God as people came with great expectations. The local television station covered the event as well as the newspaper. The whole town was abuzz.

The first night attendance was somewhere between 1,500 and 2,000. The next night conservatively between 4,000 and 5,000 showed up. Amazingly, there are only 18 protestant churches in Riohacha (population — 169,000) with about 2,000 believers total! So a lot of non-believers showed up and hundreds responded and gave their lives to Jesus. We’ll only know for sure the total number when we get to heaven. By the way, the Police Chief was saved the first night and two more police officers were saved the next night.

On the last night, the event was celebrated with a massive fireworks display that could be seen for miles around. The crowd was screaming with delight. What a memorable experience!

PRISON & ORPHANAGES

In addition to ministering to the pastors and leaders in morning sessions, our team visited three orphanages. What a delight to minister the love of God to such precious children.

Some of our team went to a local prison and ministered to the inmates. At least 30 of them gave their hearts to Jesus!

THE TEAM DIVIDES

On Thursday and Friday evenings our team divided up to minister in different churches led by Rafaela Silveira (Missions Director for Gary Oates Ministries) and Krister and Sanna Turoy who are interns of GOM. The Holy Spirit was present to “confirm the word by the signs that followed,” (Mark 16:20). The response to the salvation call was outstanding as we watched 50% of the people present in the church rush to the altar to give their lives to Jesus.

The meeting on Friday evening was followed by remarkable healings as a woman testified that eight small cysts in her breasts had disappeared after a word of knowledge. Shortly after that the room was filled with an anointing to dissolve cysts and other people testified that their cysts had disappeared from their bodies.

That same night in another church, Krister prayed for 10 people with poor vision. All 10 were healed and could see perfectly! During the week there was a total of 25 people who were blind or vision impaired that received healing and can now see!

DEAF AND DUMB FROM BIRTH HEALED!

On the first night of the outdoor crusade, two deaf and dumb from birth were healed. The word spread and the next night five more came and were healed! Our team saw a total of 9 people born deaf and dumb healed! (A team member, Dawn I., prayed with 7 of them!) One girl was about 10 years old, the rest were from 21 to 44 years old! It emptied out the local deaf school! In addition to them, 9 more hearing impaired were healed, for a grand total of 18!

THE LAME WALK

A three-year-old boy was in an accident when he was 6 months old and was not able to walk with out braces. After prayer, his mom took the braces off and his legs were straighter. After more prayer, the boy was healed and ran into his mom’s arms.

A security guard was shot in the leg. The bullet went down the main artery of his right leg doing much damage. He had several surgeries but they could not restore his mobility. It was as though his leg died from the knee down. He was scheduled for another surgery in three days. The power of God came on him, he jumped up and ran to the front to testify and demonstrated his healing by twisting, bending, and dancing around. After the meeting a man interviewed him getting all the details for the local newspaper.

An eight-year-old girl with malformed feet from birth who found it very painful to walk was healed. She started jumping!

In all, 15 people who were lame or had difficulty walking were healed!

PARALYSIS HEALED

A worship leader who played the keyboard was healed of three paralyzed fingers.

A man’s paralyzed arm looked deformed. After prayer, he could move his arm as mobility was restored.

RIOHACHA WILL NEVER BE THE SAME!

This sleepy little beach town in the extreme northern part of Colombia will never be the same. The local pastors and leaders were overwhelmed by all that God did…and so was our team. They blessed us with an incredible display of love and hospitality. We look forward to ministering again in Riohacha next year!

On our stopover in Bogotá on the way home, we ministered in a church near the airport. That night 17 people came forward accepting Jesus into their hearts. There were many healings and deliverances. Several with hearing loss were healed, and one lady left the meeting carrying her crutches over her shoulder after being healed of an ankle injury.

These are some of the highlights that only scrape the surface of what God did in Colombia. What an AMAZING trip!

RIOHACHA, COLOMBIA MISSION TRIP REPORT
by Jim Tomlinson

Our team arrived at the Atlanta airport on January 20. We introduced ourselves to each other and waited to board our flight to Bogota. After boarding we enjoyed our 5 hour fight to Colombia. We had great anticipation as to what God was going to do through us. We are only vessels for him to work through.

After arriving at Bogota we had a snack and then we prayed over our rooms and went to sleep for the night. In the morning we had to be at the airport by 10 am. We arrived at our hotel in Riohacha around 12 pm. During our lunch we were briefed on what to do and what not to do. Gary then had a prayer of impartation for each of the team members.

Riohache is in the northern part of Colombia. Andy who is a friend and interpreter for Gary said it was also the most forgotten part of Colombia. It was around 80 degrees fahrenheit and the humidity was high. To the east is Venezuela and to the north is Panama. Our hotel was next to the Atlantic Ocean.

Wednesday night a 6:30 pm we had our first meeting in one of the churches. The pastor of this church was the lady that stepped out in faith and organized Riohacha for this week of meetings. On this night one of our team members prayed for a young girl that could not hear or speak since her birth. Our Lord Jesus healed her as the tears rolled down her face. Thank you Jesus. There were a total of 8 people that were deaf and mute from birth that were healed on this trip. God also did many other miraculous healing on our first night in Riohacha.

Gary had a couple of sessions of teachings for the Pastors and the church leaders of the city. He said that we need to seek the face of God and enjoy his presence daily to be effective as leaders. He said that as the leaders of the church go, so goes the church. People in the church know if the leaders are really doing what God wants and leaders need to be real. It is not what we say, but it is what we do that counts. Everything we do needs to line up with the Word of God.

Some of the team members went to the Prison in Riohacha. A man who had worked in the prison for 5 years, 3 times a week to bring the prisoners to Christ was the person that helped us with this visit. It has been very hard work for him. Around 30 prisoners received Jesus this day. Praise be to God.

We had the privilege of visiting 3 orphanages. Some young Indian girls and an Indian boy did a traditional Indian dance for us. One of the team members had brought some stuffed toy lions. The kids fell in love with these. Jesus loves each boy and girl. We pray that each one may reach the potential for which they were created.

A service goes as follows. Gary gives a teaching on the word of God. We then have words of knowledge and Gary then prayers for the people that stand up for these words of knowledge. Next the people that are healed give testimony as to what God did for them. Gary then comes to the most important part of the service. Those that want salvation are asked to come forward. The local pastor then leads them in the prayer of Salvation. Then team members are available for pray for individual needs.

God worked greatly while we were in Riohacha and one night in a Bogota church. There were many inner healings, many physical healings and much deliverance. There were many salvations, which is the greatest miracle. The miracle of salvation is also an eternal work of God. We were a small team that God put together. Each team member was different and gifted differently. However, we all wanted to see God work and he did. Praise, honor, and glory be to the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. Only to God does the Glory go.

All the team members thank Gary and his staff for there help and humbleness. We also thank the people in Colombia that organized all the details and prayed. Then there are the other believers and the people of these cities that were so hungry for God. We thank and love every one of them. Alleluia.