We have been blessed beyond measure this year with the privilege and adventure of watching God work in our lives, and in the lives of others through the Journey. He has taught us so much, and we thank each one of you for having a part in that!

May you continue to seek Jesus, who came on Christmas to give us victory, purpose, and grace, and may you enjoy the incredible blessing of God that follows all those who learn to know Him.

By the grace and love of God,
Your fellow seekers,
Joe, Liz, Abby, Adriane, and Laura.

“Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.”
Psalm 119:105

The New Year is coming, and with it the beginning of our next Journey Memorization Challenge!

For those of you who are new to this, here’s how it works.

Starting on January 1st, we announce a chapter of scripture and spend the entire month of January memorizing that chapter. In order to make it even more edifying and exciting, we post insights about each verse on a daily basis to give more depth into what we’re memorizing. At the end of the month, all the young people who have memorized the chapter will quote it to their parents, and their parents will then email us at journeytotheheart@iblp.org to let us know the names of their children that have completed the challenge.

The Journey office will be sending a small something as a reward to every one who memorized the passage and successfully quoted it to their parents as a thank you for using your time to en-graft the Word of God!

So get ready, and prepare for an amazing challenge that will kick off your year better than anything else!

Our team of fifteen left Chicago Monday morning, landed in Budapest, Hungary Tuesday morning, and drove a couple hours to Oradea which is just over the border into Romania. That evening we had dinner with about twenty-five doctors from the area, many of whom have received training at our Headquarters. We had the opportunity to visit two hospitals later in the week as result of this meeting. One of the doctors at this dinner had been plagued with depression for several years and was taking depression medication daily. It all started when her father had heart trouble and she scheduled a surgery for her father though her mother did not think it was necessary. For three nights before the surgery this woman dreamed that her father was in the hospital bed with all of the blood drained out of his body. Nevertheless, she proceeded to have her father undergo the operation and two days later a major artery ruptured and he bled to death. From that point on her mother blamed her for killing her father. The apostle Paul was guilty of murder as an accomplice yet he could not be convicted so he volunteered to be a prisoner for life of Jesus Christ. Even though this doctor did not intentionally kill her father, she violated her mother’s authority and therefore was responsible for his death. Within a few hours after committing herself to Christ as a prisoner for life, her guilt and depression were gone and she had no more need for depression medication. She has now been free for three years!

Wednesday morning we had a meeting with teachers, principles, and other education officials at the Bihor County headquarters. For years the public school system has promoted peer dependence and the classroom setting has stifled creativity. We shared about our work with the schools in Peru and the strategy to remove grade levels and establish learning teams where older students can mentor younger students and they can learn character and job skills as well as academics. We told them about our recently established Embassy University which is designed to give practical training in how to be successful as a person, provider, communicator, marriage partner, and parent.

That afternoon, we went to a town where we were honored by the mayor for the work we have done in Romania in recent years. We walked down the street to the school handing out tracts as the police blocked off traffic in front and behind. This is astounding to think that just twenty-three years ago Romania was under communist rule; churches were completely controlled by the government. Now the national police are escorting our American delegation as we pass out Gospel tracts!

The next morning we split up into teams of two and taught two 50-minute character lessons at a public high school. I taught on patience and determination while our other teams taught on creativity, forgiveness, attentiveness, wisdom, and more. Mr. Gothard then shared with about twenty religion teachers again about the myth of adolescence, the importance of character, and the need to have a passion. None of the students there, even the seniors, knew what they were going to do when they got out of high school. Very few even knew what they wanted to do. The teachers were so excited when they heard about Embassy University and the seven basic life principles God has established for everyone at all times: design, authority, responsibility, suffering, ownership, freedom, and success. As we were preparing to leave, our Romania director entered the bus astounded. He said that for eight years we have been trying to work in the schools but to no avail. Now they want us to continue teaching character and God’s principles for life in that school and if it works they want to do the same thing in every school in Bihor County!

Later that day, we went to the Caminul Felix orphan village to teach character and share the Gospel in the homes. Thinking that the children would range from babies to about sixteen years old, I was quite surprised to find nine of the ten children in the home I went to were under the age of ten. It was encouraging to hear that the father is deeply involved in teaching character to the children and even coaches a soccer team that focuses on developing godly character. Before the trip, some of the house parents for a couple of orphan villages sent a list of questions to us. We were able to meet these parents Thursday night giving answers to those questions and more along with sharing personal testimonies to confirm the answers given.

Friday consisted of three stops, the first of which was a meeting with police officials. We told them about the work we are doing with the gang leaders in Peru, how they are going through the Seminar in Basic Life Principles each week and calling us on Skype to ask questions. The police need to be the ones to reward and encourage the people in good works rather than only making arrests and giving tickets. The most effective thing they can do to cut down on crime and immorality is to allay the fear others have of the police and teach them to fear God because “…by the fear of the Lord one departs from evil.” (Prov. 16:6).

After this, we had a two hour conference followed by lunch with about 150 pastors of various denominations from the county. The most important thing we could share with them was the tremendous importance of achieving and maintaining one accord in the church. We as Christians don’t understand the power God gives when we are in one accord with God’s Spirit or how fragile it is. The nation of Israel was in one accord when they crossed over the Jordon River, one accord marching around Jericho, and one accord when they took the city. But then one man committed a secret sin breaking the one accord and Israel was soundly defeated in their next battle against the small city of Ai. We told the pastors about the 10-men power teams we are starting and the primary goal to come to one accord with God’s Spirit by learning what it truly means to love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. One of the pastors became so excited about this that he wants to start a power team in his church with his eleven elders! I can’t wait to hear how God is going to use that church to demonstrate His great power around the world.

For the rest of the afternoon we visited a Gypsy church where we sang, played music, shared testimonies, and told stories. The Gypsies are a people group that emigrated from Northern India several centuries ago and are known for a life of prostitution and theft. Consequently, they are despised by the Romanian people. I heard of a Romanian preacher who passed by Gypsy villages for forty years before he finally realized that God can changes the lives of Gypsies and use them to advance His kingdom just as much as He uses Romanians. No matter who we are God doesn’t use us in spite of our past but because of our past to show His great love and power to the world.

Saturday morning presented a surprise that I don’t think I fully comprehend the significance of. At the first of two hospitals we visited, one of the patients, an older woman, had undergone stomach surgery just a few days earlier. She was scheduled to have another surgery because of complications, but she was not strong enough to have the surgery performed. Immediately we recognized that her stomach problem was likely the result of bitterness so we asked her if she had any painful memories. She told us about the death of her eighteen year old daughter many years ago. When she was able to thank God for the years she had with her daughter and clear up her bitterness toward God, her bleeding stopped, and she no longer needs another surgery! This is just one example of what happens when stresses are resolved and the body can then heal itself.

At the second hospital, we visited the emergency room and the intensive care unit. While we were at the hospital, the Minister of Health for all of Romania had a meeting there. By God’s grace we spent a few minutes with the Minister of Health and shared with him of our new work in the hospitals of Peru. Through this miraculous meeting, we now have the potential to work with all of the hospitals in Romania focusing on identifying and resolving stress. This was a tremendous answer to prayer!

That evening we went to another Gypsy village to talk to over thirty teenagers, most of them guys and almost all Christians. As Mr. Gothard explained the basic life principles God has set up, some of us shared testimonies of God’s power in our lives as we applied these principles. Three of the young men received Christ and all of them want to view the Basic Seminar.

We left for the airport at 3 AM Sunday morning and arrived back in Chicago that night after some delays. Thank you so much for your prayers during the week. Please, please, please keep praying for Romania, for the director and his family, and for Bihor County President Radu Tirle. Pray for all of the people we met and for the continuing development of the new training center. As a king, use the power and authority God has given each of you to bind the evil powers from Romania. “Having disarmed principalities and power, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it” (Colossians 2:15).

Servant of Christ,
Ian Boyes

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Do you have more pictures from the Journey? Please send them to us!

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Do you have more pictures from the Journey? Please send them to us!

So many girls, and so many changes in each life! Our Lord revealed His awesome power on this August Journey! Hard hearts were replaced with openness towards God, and many broken relationships were restored. Thank you for your prayers, and please continue to intercede for these girls in the following weeks and months!

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Do you have more pictures from the Journey? Please send them to us!

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Do you have more pictures from the Journey? Please send them to us!

God did an amazing work at the Journey Reunion! Each attendee came to seek the Lord with all their heart, creating a beautiful spirit of unity throughout the weekend – and as He promises, He richly rewarded us! (Heb. 11:6)

Journey Reunion 2011 Slideshow from JourneyReunion on Vimeo.

Testimonies:

"Just got back from the Journey Reunion yesterday. It was totally led by God!!! I cannot think of a more spiritually uplifting, life changing, amazingly fun time! I was so blessed by this weekend it is hard to put it into words. There was just an awesome spirit of one-accord there."

"The Lord became more real, more personal to me. He helped me to trust Him more. I was challenged to press on in spiritual battles. The Lord convicted me of burdens I was holding and needed to give to Him."

"I was encouraged…to keep persevering, to keep waging the daily war; I was highly challenged and convicted to live a life of abandon to God and to stop settling for mediocre, but to press on, regardless of the sacrifices required."

"God rekindled my passion to pray and to never give up praying and encouraged me to look more intently for rhemas and to keep better track of them."

"I really enjoyed and treasure the quiet times I had…I met God there. Thank you for allowing me to spend that precious time with my Father. God brought comfort to my hurting heart and answered my prayers. It was wonderful to reflect on what God has done in my life over the past four years since my Journey."

"I was challenged to have a deeper passion and love for Christ, His Word, and to live for Him no matter the cost!"

"The speakers shared a common passion for keeping young people on fire for God. They truly showed care and compassion for us. The Lord challenged me to take Him at His Word 100% of the time and live in His power."

"He used this time to refresh and restore me…it is far too easy to allow the ‘good’ things to choke out the ‘best’, and the ‘business’ of life to steal our joyful enthusiasm in Christ."

"It was good to get away and have some time to be with the Lord and be encouraged, motivated, fellowship…I was reminded again about living for what is important."

Praise the LORD for all He did! May we be doers of the Word and press on to higher ground with Him.

More pictures…