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Encouragement Training Sending

ARRIVAL INTO SRI LANKA!
Dee's Diary and Some Photos

• The man at the airport was picking up Mr. Dee Copem and Mr. Lorin but the sign was close enough to know it was us! The spiritual atmosphere is different here than India. The women that we’ve seen are stunningly beautiful.

• The driver took us to a very nice place, Silva's Beach Hotel in Negombo, about a 20 minute drive. There was a large population of Muslims at the hotel which was very different. A quiet air conditioner, a quiet fan overhead, only a few mosquitos in the room, a real shower (although no hot water) and a western toilet. The beach was right across the street. Oh, God is so good! I took a needed shower and hand washed some more clothes! I have a problem because none of my electrical adapters work in Sri Lanka! Help me Jesus.

Note to self – next time bring more hangers with swivel tops and clasp bottoms for hand washing things out and hanging them more easily.

Wednesday, January 31, 2007
•   Lorien finally had a good night’s sleep. Praise the Lord! We met up with Winnie Bauer and Ronnie Shockney in the restaurant at the Silva's Beach Hotel and had a cup of coffee with them. Immediately it was a delightful time!
•   They moved us to another hotel closer to where the family camp is going to be. It turns out that we don’t have to do anything tonight. They are arriving at the family camp and we’ll head over tomorrow morning. So we met together for some lunch.
•   Lorien asked around and I got to borrow an adapter that works so I can re-charge my cell phone, my computer and the camera battery. Thank you Jesus! Everything was getting low on battery.
•   This place is like an island paradise. It seems very similar to pictures of Hawaii, but I took a nap and had a warning dream which included witchcraft and demonic. I text messaged the intercessors back home to keep them alerted.
•   We had a delightful supper with Winnie and Ronnie and sat at the table and shared and talked for a long time. We’re all bonding together so this thing can really flow. It’s going to be a great couple of weeks. Winnie comes here 2 to 4 times a year. This feels like a divine set up. Some real relationship is happening here.

Thursday, February 1, 2007
•   There was evidently bad rice or bad food that I ate for that supper because I got dreadfully sick starting about 1am. At first my stomach was queasy so I took some pepto. Then my bowels turned to absolute liquid so I took some imodium but I was up all night. Lorien slept through it all. I was glad that she was getting some rest.

•   I tried to continue on because Winnie said that traveler’s diarhea usually only lasts a few hours and I was probably through it so I tried to continue on and we went to the family camp. The back roads, although paved are extremely bumpy and it was the longest car ride I have ever been on, although it was probably only about 30 minutes.
•   We walked into a glory cloud of worship. It had the same feeling as being at home. After not being in it for so many days in India, it was like a drink of cold refreshing water to Lorien and me.
•   I managed to worship some hoping that I just needed to break through this in faith and victory and I was going to feel better at any moment… but then a wave hit me and I was losing the battle. They were supposed to feed us breakfast when we came, and because our ride was late, we didn’t get anything to eat. So, sick with no sleep or nourishment, I was an accident waiting to happen. I told Lorien and Ronnie that I didn’t know what to do because I felt like I was going to pass out and we were on the front row. (Praise the Lord that I wasn’t on the platform like in India!) Ronnie came over and sat on the other side of me and that was all there was. It all went dark. At times I could hear and even start to rouse, but then I would lose it again, and darkness rolled over me again. I think I passed out 3 times. By then we thought perhaps it was something bacterial and so I took one of the medicines that the travel clinic gave us. I asked Ronnie to help me down and I laid on the ground. (Between the two of them, Lorien and Ronnie had managed to keep me in a chair through all of this.) So I layed down on the mat in front of my and threw up! So much for taking the medicine. By then, it’s coming out the Family Camp

other end as well. They managed to get me into a near by cottage and Lorien helped clean me and put me in some spare clothes that I had the foresight to bring. And I lay in the cottage and two sweet women from the church took care of me. As the Lord would have it, there was a doctor at the meeting on that day! So, they got some electrolyte solution into me, some more imodium and I rested. Then stomach pain would go in waves. I started to do better enough that they could get me back to the hotel. Lorien went back with me and stayed with me. Cleaned out my clothes, God bless her. That’s called “above and beyond armor bearing!!”

Friday, February 2, 2007
•   Although still pretty weak, I pressed through the next morning, we went to the family camp and I praised some to break through to the victory. Given the shape that I was in the day before, I must have looked like I was resurrected from the dead.
•   I preached on High Praise and Dance, Worship & the Glory and we went into the most wonderful praise and dancing after that with the musicians. In the anointing, I came up to the task.
•   They were doing extended morning meetings and the afternoons free, so then I sat because I was pretty weak and taught on the Lord wanting a nation of priests. The Family Camp was called “Tabernacle of David” so it felt good to come in alignment with what they had named it and Winnie said that he hadn’t said anything about it the day before. I taught on Levites and Priests and the symbols of the duties of the priests and how the duties of the Levites changed under David and how they brought the arc into Jerusalem. It was more line upon line teaching but they were very receptive.
•   I ate a little something that the mommas here would let me eat, again, they took me to the same cottage and I slept for a few hours.
Ranil & George released to God

•   Winnie spoke that night on the apostolic church and told the two churches that they they needed to release their pastors to go and none of them wanted to do it! Evidently there was some confusion. They thought that Winnie was asking to let them go and even though he was telling them to release them to God, it was a concept that they couldn’t grasp. But, they did rally around and they lifted both Pastor George and Pastor Ranil up on mats over their heads to the Lord. The pictures are too dark to see it clearly, but it was an amazing moment. The Lord ministered to the two men powerfully!
•   There was a bonfire afterwards lit by fireworks, one after another going towards the bonfire. They had skits around the bonfire and we stayed for a while but it was late and we were all tired.

Saturday, February 3, 2007
•   Winnie had asked me if I had anything for the next day, so while Lorien packed up our bag since we were leaving the hotel, I hurriedly put together some notes on the apostolic church and moving in transition.
•   Saturday morning was the last day of the family camp and they were to break down camp after lunch. It was clear that there was confusion and hurt over what had happened the night before. Winnie again tried to clear things up a little more and then he turned the long session over to me.
•   During praise Pastor Ranil started to sing and prophesy about breakthrough and it was a very similar anointing that was at the Mt. Snow event. It felt like somehow the Break through angel had appeared with us here, so when I got the microphone, I shared that with them.
•   I told them about the apostolic anointing of Jehovah Nike. Humor in different cultures sometimes doesn’t translate well, but they appreciated the Nike “just do it” anointing in the backside and had a good laugh. I said, so they sent in the pastor to clean up things after the apostolic anointing.
Dee preaching Family Camp

•   So, I taught about apostolic teams that go out, establish and follow up, and the relationships that develop between the sending church and the local church. Then I still had some more time, so I taught about transition and going from revelation, through confrontation to transformation and manifestation. I noticed a lot of folks taking notes and I had folks come up and tell me how much they appreciated the teaching and how it made sense for the season that they were in.
•   We prayed for folks and we had a blast. The joy kept hitting and at times, my catchers were falling out and people were trying to catch the catchers, the person that I was ministering to and me!! We were laughing and people were having a good time watching the antics of the Holy Ghost. There was one who had a cough up a critter moment in my group of folks, but for the most part if was filled with love and power and joy.
•   We hung around while they tore things down and then they brought us back to Negombo to the Silva’s Beach Hotel and we went back into the same room that we had before. We had a long time sitting around Silva’s gorgeous house in back of the hotel chatting with two couples and again explaining about apostolic sending churches and the five fold ministries.
•   The four of us ate supper at the restaurant afterwards and turned in. The wonderful team and bonding that has happened between the four of us has been phenomenal. It is amazing to me that God can take the four of us and fit us together so perfectly. Winnie and the Americans. It’s quite a hoot.
Ranil's Church

Sunday, February 4, 2007
•   We got up early this morning and had breakfast down in the restaurant at 7:30 and we were picked up for church at 8:15. When we arrived a little before 8:30 they were already worshipping. Winnie taught on the apostolic church.
•   A Buddhist monk had gotten saved the week before and was at church still in his Buddhist robes. Winnie prayed for him. (I can't put his photo on the web page because it would be too dangerous.)
•   We ministered to the people again and again there were a few more critters. Deliverance is easy here, but physical healing doesn’t seem to come quite as easily, although, I was praying for a lady with asthma and I could feel her rattling as I laid hands on her back. I prayed for a few minutes and I realized that I couldn’t feel the rattling anymore, so I told her to take a deep breath, and she took a few breaths about half way. I told her to breath deeper and she did, taking big deep breaths filling up her whole lung capacity. She seemed a little stunned but I could tell it was a lot better. So, I said, praise the Lord! And she did!
•   On our way back to the Hotel they stopped to grab King Coconuts to drink. They have these little stands by the side of the road. They stop their cars and a man takes a machete to the top of an orange coconut and you drink the milk inside. It doesn’t have much flavor, but it does rejuvenate your body.
•   We went back to the Hotel and we grabbed some lunch at the restaurant. The rest of them ate curry, but I just had some soup and toast. It was just what the doctor ordered for me. Then they took a walk and went shopping and I went to my room. I was just totally fatigued. I fell asleep immediately.
food, food, food

•   For supper we went over to the Silva’s house and they spread a feast like I have never seen before, rice noodles, pasta noodles, rice, potatoes, and dish after dish of meat, fish, and every thing else to put on it. We had a wonderful time with the pastor and two other leadership couples. At the end of the evening, we prayed over all three families. It was a very good night.

Monday, February 5, 2007
•   We don’t have to do any ministry today until tonight. Soruban called and he’s going to come get us today in the afternoon. I hope that we can introduce Winnie and Soruban.
•   Soruban picked us up and we had a great afternoon. He and a friend took us into Columbo and he thought it would be great fun for us to eat at McDonalds. So I can now say that I’ve eaten at a McDonalds in SriLanka! Soruban

•   We toured around Columbo and I was surprised to see the number of soldiers everywhere and the number of check points. All they had to do was see my white face though and they waved us on. It was interesting to think that white middle aged women are so seen as not dangerous in the natural that we could be a huge army for the Lord in dark skinned places.
•   The shipping port in Columbo is huge, the biggest that I have ever seen. Of course, most everything needs to be shipped in and shipped off the island.
•   We met Soruban’s dad, sister and brother. It feels like the war and losing his churches up north has taken a toll on Soruban’s dad, but the young people are all full of life. We saw videos of their youth camp and of the ministry and it all seemed very good. Soruban's sister is working with the children of Muslim converts. The brother plays guitar and leads worship. He also had some good technical skills with his computer and made me copies of the DVD's.
•   We ran back to Negombo, but got lost on the way back to the hotel, and so we just missed our ride to church, so we had to try to find directions to the church, got lost again, but eventually managed to get to the evening meeting. Winnie stayed on the teaching on the apostolic church and the five fold ministries.

Tuesday, February 6, 2007
Church Leaders Meeting

•   We had an awesome leaders meeting with Ranil’s leaders in the morning. It was a long meeting but time well spent. I think that they are very excited to go to the next level of the apostolic church.
•   We spent the afternoon shopping a little and had another evening meeting. During the evening meeting a lady came up and said that there was someone there who was asking for me, and it was our friend Newton from India and his wife. Soruban had talked to Newton and told him how to connect with me. It was wonderful to see them and they stayed for the evening meeting.
•   At the end of the evening Winnie had them separate out based on the callings that they have on their hearts. So, I prayed for those with a shepherd’s heart, Lorien and Winnie prayed for the prophetic folks and Ronnie prayed for the release of the evangelistic anointing. Every time I looked at my line, it didn’t get any shorter. I think Ranil has a flock of shepherds! It must mean that the church has much growing to do!

Going up 6,200 feet

Wednesday, February 7, 2007
•   We got up and had breakfast together. Some of the leaders came and hung out and said good bye to us. We were on the road about 10:30am. We knew that we were going up into the mountains but we had no idea what that meant.
•   We went higher and higher and higher, with many switch backs and just curve after curve after curve. My stomach had been a little queasy in the morning, so they put me in the front seat by the driver. Well, everyone else had a very rough time with the drive.
•   We stopped at a very nice, upscale tea room for lunch, but we also had to stop along the way by the side of the road because Winnie was so sick to his stomach. Ronnie wasn’t doing much better. Lorien had to keep her eyes closed to keep going which was too bad because the scenery was stunning. So, I switched places with Winnie and gave him the front seat, because I was actually feeling pretty good and the back windows gave me better photo opps as well.
•   About the time that we switched though, the road was in pretty bad shape, so we ended up going much slower after that. There were many portions where the roads had dirt piled up on them from being washed away in the storms of last month. Then we reached a part that hadn’t been widened and paved, so it was slow going. tea plantations

•   The hillside was straight down on one side and up on the other side in some places. The hills and greenery were stunning as well as the waterfalls. And the road just kept curving and doing switchbacks over and over as we went up in elevation.
•   The tea plantations were everywhere, including small garden beds and flower beds everywhere. There are many, many shops. Everyone is in an entrepreneur. They either have little mini-marts, garden bedding plants, produce markets or something outside their homes.
•   We arrived at our guest house. Like the whole region it has a European flair. This house was built by a ministry couple and the wife was Swedish. Evidently it is still owned by them and they use the revenue for their ministry. It is comfortable and two Sri Lankan cook for us.

Thursday, February 8, 2007
•   There’s a shower and HOT water at the guest house! Oh my gosh. What a gift. The guest house was built by a Swedish missionary and it had a lot of European touches.
•   We taught the ministry school during the day. Winnie taught on the kingdom and I taught on sonship versus the orphan spirit. Then we ministered to the leaders after lunch. It’s harder going than down at Negombo, but I’m pretty sure we’re doing the business that needs to be done for the region.
•   We went into town after the session. They have little stalls and businesses every where. One alley way was filled with stalls of clothing particularly jackets and fleece. Landslide

•   We had a quiet night around the supper table and we were in our bedrooms early. I worked on a message on poverty/prosperity. It’s very much an issue here. They see themselves as poor and just receive from the western world. Winnie is paying for everything including rent on the church building that we’re using and for food to feed the pastors and workers who are at the event! They don’t have to pay even a minimal amount to attend the School of Ministry or give any kind of offering to the training.
•   Winnie has a cold and he’s really not feeling so well. It is very chilly up here in mountains.

Friday, February 9, 2007
•   Again we taught during the day. I talked about poverty/prosperity and Winnie added some things on faith. Then the next session I talked about Praise, Worship and the Glory and we tried to get them to rest in the Lord some. It’s very hard. It’s hard to understand the difference in the Tamil culture compared to the Sinhalese. They look the same, but the culture is very different. Anyway, they didn’t comprehend receiving and resting in the Lord at all. To get them to be quiet was a huge deal. They only knew intense intercession that sounded like an auctioneer. I managed to break through to a certain degree and they were receiving visions almost immediately. God is so good.
•   After the afternoon session, instead of staying in the guest house another night, we packed up and went back down the mountains. Back through all those switchbacks, but it was easier going down than it was up. No one got sick, although I got a bit of a headache for a while, I think from the altitude change. There was a place on the side of the mountain where a landslide and left a huge rock on the road. Evidently 5 cars were crushed and 17 people died when it came down. Boys Home

•   We arrived at a home in Gambola (I believe is the name) where they have 11 boys that they take care of. They fed us and treated us very well. Although they do this work by faith, evidently they receive their support from Europe so the house is quite nice. The boys seem to range in age from 5 to about 10 and are delightful.
•   The plans continue to change as we go along and Pastor George in Kandy has asked if I would be willing to work with the worship team in the morning at 8:30am, so we need to leave this place by 8am.

Saturday, February 10, 2007
•   We went to George Jacob’s church in the morning and I taught on the practicals of worship. Then we practiced with them for a bit and Lorien helped me. We weren’t sure if we really had made much of an impact, but it did seem better.
Elephant & Lorien

• We worked with them until 10:30 and then they had another class so we went off to the Elephant Orphanage. The ride was long and bumpy and I was wondering if it could possibly be worth it, but it was so worth it! In fact, I can’t imagine anything so enjoyable. We went shopping for a while at the shops that lead down to the river, then we had lunch right on the river until the elephants come down. It was wild. You could go right down to them. We got into the water and put water on them, patted them! Looking into their eyes and having their trunks come around at you. It’s a little scary because they’re big and you have a momma right there and you’re patting her baby. But, it was so much fun! We were with a momma elephant that was 22 months pregnant. We were with a baby elephant that was only a month old.
• We came back to George Jacob’s house for tea and supper and we went to see the girl’s home that they have about half finished. They are believing that it will be for 20 girls. So far, it’s very nice! They’ve had to stop because the price has increased so much and they need another $50,000 to complete it. The 8 girls that they have with them all seem to be very sweet and well taken care of. Lorien and I gave them some money towards the home. Winnie had also brought some money from Germany, but of course, it was just a drop in the bucket. But little by little, I believe that they’ll see it. It’s such an act of faith, certainly God will breathe on it!
Dee preaching Sunday morning

Sunday, February 11, 2007
•   George wanted to have a long service so I preached and then Winnie preached. We started around 9am got done around 12:30 by the time that we prayed for people. I preached on what I had been receiving for them. It was hard because it was more prophetic and what I had been receiving rather than a teaching. But I was faithful to deliver what I had been given. They give you no response so it’s hard to know what they took in and what they didn’t.
•   We had some lunch with the Jacobs and then got in the van around 3pm and went to the market to buy spices. What an experience that was! They remember Winnie and we were treated like kings. Quite fun.
•   Then we started back on the long, bumpy road to Negombo. It definitely seemed longer than the four hours. The traffic and bumps, the near misses. Oh my gosh.
•   We arrived back at Silva’s Beach Hotel and it was like arriving back home. We got one room for us and we dropped off our luggage. We had a wonderful supper at the restaurant and loads of our friends from the church kept stopping by and seeing us and visiting with us.
•   Winnie and Ronnie used our room to take a shower while we waited downstairs in the lobby. We had a swarm of mosquitos around us while we sat and waited for them. I thought the grace must be lifting!
•   We said goodbye to Winnie and Ronnie about 11pm. It had been a wonderful team. What an experience! I'd go anywhere in the world on a team with Winnie. He's really delightful, funny, honest and real. And Ronnie was like being with one of the Cafe folks. Although Ronnie and his family live in France, he's from Indiana originally, so we had a lot in common. It was really a treat to be with them both. God is so amazing. One of the men from the church Raycheve (sp?) took them to the airport. We went up to our room and there was hot water, so we thought we’d take a quick one while we had the hot water. We were really sweaty from the journey.

Monday, February 12, 2007
•   We had a good night’s sleep. It was the first night that we slept under mosquito neeting though. There were quite a few in our room. And we had hot water for our shower when we woke up! We must be His favorites!
•   I had a dream that two statues were toppled over – and that seemed like a good sign that some work got done while we were in Sri Lanka.
Beach from our balcony

•   We had breakfast and waited for Newton for a while, then we went down the street and did a little more shopping. Then we crossed the street and went over to the beach. I hadn’t had a chance to get over to it and it was a very nice beach. Winnie had spoken so poorly of it, I hadn’t crossed the road to go over. Although there had been very little time and when I first got here I was still in pretty poor health. Of course, you do get hit with all the enterprising people trying to make some money. It does get a little exhausting.
•   Everyone thinks that we’re Germans, Australians or Swedes. I guess that they’re not as used to having Americans around as they are Europeans. Either that, or Americans don’t walk.
•   We had a wonderful lunch at the restaurant at the hotel. The manager said that they had just picked up some white fish this morning and so we had that. It was incredible.
•   Raycheve picked us up around 3:30pm and took us to the Columbo airport. We got through customs and ticketing. People were cutting in front of us like we weren’t there and then they changed our line from Chennai while we were in line. Then we had to go start standing in another line.
•   The flight was fine, we landed in Chennai and got our luggage but we couldn’t get into the terminal until 3 hours before our flight, so we were sitting in a waiting area, kind of no man’s land. We weren’t out on the street, but we’re not in the terminal yet either. At least there was a toilet and a place that sells water. We were there for a couple hours. Chennai is a very busy place.
•   When it was 3 hours before our flight, we got through security. We actually got upgraded to business class for the trip from Chennai India to Frankfort Germany. Thank you Father! What a blessing!
•   We met up with Irving after customs and got the whole story about his two weeks in India. He had a great time out in the villages. And they actually met up with Randy Clark and his team who were also in Andre Pradesh!

Tuesday, February 13, 2007
•   The trip went well. We were in Frankfort for three hours, but it was just enough to get off, find our gate, get through security. I did a quick wipe down in the bathroom and changed a few clothes. Irving found an outlet for me, so I got to plug in my computer and downloaded some e-mail quickly. The first time in three weeks! It wasn’t too bad as far as quantity.
•   I just set my watch back first to time in Germany and then to time at home. Lorien kept her watch on SriLanka time. It took us 34 hours to get home!
•   The flights were great. We managed to get through the United States customs with ease and Tom was waiting for us to take us home. I was glad he brought my coat! I mostly slept in the car on the way home. Came home fell asleep on the sofa. Slept through most of the night as well!

Wednesday, February 14, 2007
•   Got home just before a blizzard! Wow! Thank you Lord! We didn’t have to try to land in this! Still pretty discombobulated. This is home, but everything requires thought! What are those passwords? I haven’t driven a car in three weeks and I’ve been on the other side of the road!

• I got e-mail from Winnie that they had delays on their trip but he made it home. And I also heard from Ebeneazer, one of our young guys who helped us out the first night in Chennai.

MORE PHOTOS BELOW!

That's it until the next adventure.