City Church International, Hong Kong !!!!!!!!!!!!

O.K., I've been sitting on this one for quite some time and I have to spill the beans now, with Dan's permission. We are leaving on Thursday for a very long trip, driving from Moncton to Newark NJ with our 3 kids (about 12 hrs driving),spending the night there with Aaron's parents who will be taking the kids to their place while we're gone, and then driving to JFK in New York City to fly out on Friday to arrive the following day in HONG KONG. That's right, I believe this will be my 3rd time on a plane... so you can see I haven't done much travelling, well, I've done a lot of driving!

Anyway, of course we'll be going to City Church International on Sunday morning, and Joshua and Janet Mills will be there on Sunday and Monday night. Then we'll hit a prayer meeting on Thursday night and have high hopes of getting to spend a little time with Rob and Glenda Rufus, and Ryan and Kylie Rufus, people who of course we've never met but have been listening to over the internet, talked to on the phone a little, and exchanged a few e-mails along the way. I hope they can handle me, ha! I'm hoping for many things actually!

If you recall I mentioned not too long ago that we don't really have any money so you're probably wondering how we can afford a trip like this. Maybe you're not wondering but I'm going to assume you are anyway. Well, we still don't , not to say God is not providing basics right now...Aaron's job is going well and sales are beginning to pick up, but we certainly don't have money for something like this!

So going back to the beginning, a few months ago Aaron and I had the following conversation (witnessed by my mother):

Julie: We haven't gone away without the kids for more than a few days since I was pregnant with Eva (our first child, now 7)

Aaron: Well we won't be going anywhere for a long time either

Julie: No, except Hong Kong

Aaron: We're not going to Hong Kong, we can't even afford a house. It's impossible (obviously in Aaron's defense he said this before the Invading the Impossible series...haha)

Julie: Well, you can stay here if you want but I'm going to Hong Kong this year.

Aaron: We don't have any money.

Julie: Well, I'm going into heaven and taking what I need, but I'm going this year whether you want to or not! ( notice the quiet gentle submissive spirit here, I said this very very impulsively without any thought whatsoever...)

Well, that's the general idea of how it happened anyway...Of course this was not a bad conversation, I can see how it might read as a fight or disagreement but it really wasn't. These conversations are not really unusual and neither of us thought much about it.

That night I couldn't sleep and I was annoyed and finally got up and went out to the computer to check my e-mail. To my great surprise, there was an e-mail from Dan (a very good friend of ours who we met through blogging, we've never actually met!) Now considering the timing of all this, I do not think this was a coincidence. Here's a bit of the e-mail:

...You may have noticed from the Rob Rufus website that the next "Glory and Grace Conference" has been announced! Alas, alas it is at the end of March and so far too soon for me to be able to make it.

Would you two be able to go for the week if it was not a question of money? Can you free up the time to make sure you are there?

This isn't to be a loan or anything like that. It's a gift. I want you to be at that conference so it can be your turn to receive the impartation of God's glory. I think it's essential beyond words for the spreading of the glory in Canada. You won't "owe" me anything ...

That is just a little bit of it. I sat and read and re-read that e-mail crying, I couldn't believe it! There was no hope of sleeping after that! It was the beginning of corresponding back and forth figuring out what God was doing in all of this. Obviously, we didn't go to Australia for the Grace and Glory Conference in the end of March. For various reasons, we felt God had other plans. Long story short, we're going to Hong Kong instead, in just a few days!!!

Dan has been such a blessing to us, not just because of money, but because he's forever sending us encouraging words and prophecies and we are so aware of his prayers for us. He is a true brother and we know some day we'll actually get to meet him! It will be an amazing meeting for sure. He is so gifted in writing and editing material in a way that makes it accessible to many many people, and making it all available for free, he is definitely a gift from God to the church worldwide. We're so excited to watch the transformation the grace message has and is making in his life, he's truly a bold preacher of the Gospel. Thank-you thank-you Dan for being such an expression of God's grace and blessing to us! Thank-you thank-you God for your amazing lavish goodness to us!

I'm pretty excited at this point. I'll be taking pictures and notes (or Aaron will) and be sharing everything when I get back, if I don't have computer access there. Make sure to keep an eye on the Rob Rufus Grace and Glory blog as well. In theory I'm a contributor there though I've never posted yet, but this time I'll have to!

Please keep us in your prayers for a safe trip and for us to embrace God's will in everything that will be happening. I don't know if that's the best way to word that, but I think you understand what I'm trying to say. I really feel that God has promised us some significant things in all this and I can't even imagine how glorious the fulfillment of those promises might be!