July 2 – July 17, 2008
After a somewhat last-minute decision, eight youth from TACF along with Carolyn Sawvelle were on their way to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The team consisted of Josh, Jasmine, Hannah, Julia, Zoë, Kristy, Travis, Lanae, and Simeon. The journey began on July 2nd and the team arrived home on the 17th – full of fire and renewed passion and love for others.
During the first phase training started early in the morning. Will Hart, Jaimee Galloway, Jason Westerfield, and Tracee Loosle poured into us foundations for living naturally supernatural lives filled with signs and wonders. When evening came, we traveled with these speakers to four different churches around the city, rotating churches and speakers each night. We pretty much had revival services each night! We would worship until the presence of the Lord came, the speaker would preach, and then we became the ministry team who prayed for people at the end of each meeting. Many people came for physical healing and many of them were healed! It was awesome! The people’s faith was incredible, and it was amazing to see how God honored it. Lame people got up and walked before our eyes, deaf ears were opened, vision was restored, cancer left, people were being set free from demons—all in the holy name of Christ! We saw the true gospel of Jesus!
Travis recorded the following account of one of his prayer encounters: “There was someone who came to me with AIDS that wanted prayer. By this time, I had no doubt that anything is possible with God. As I was praying for him he said he felt an intense heat, like a fire all over his body. I recognized this from experience as the healing touch of God, who is an all-consuming fire. God had compassion, reached down and I believe healed him! Haha! It makes me joyful just thinking about it. Someone with AIDS healed! I have always wanted to see that.” Another awesome testimony was of a man who hobbled up to the front with a cane to received salvation, but he not only received a healing in his spirit, but also his body. After getting saved he set his cane aside, started to walk by himself for the first time in years, then he started to jog around and go up and down the steps. The whole church erupted in praise. Yay God!
After the first phase and all the training, we were ready to do it ourselves. All the main speakers went home, thus passing the torch on to us. Travis and Simeon received personal training in preaching and running the evening meetings, while Hannah and Lanae were equipped to teach during the afternoon sessions. Then at night we would have an outreach revival meeting. In addition, during two of the afternoons, the teams did outreach to the streets to encourage the people, pray for them, and invite them to the evening meetings. Carolyn was the adult leader in one team that consisted of Simeon, Hannah, Zoe, Jasmine, and some other friends that we met during the first week. Travis, Lanae, and Julia formed the core of a second team, with Kristy and Josh joining other teams. Every night we saw multiple people healed of physical conditions, some of them quite major like cancer or paralysis; and every night we saw people saved
and delivered, touched powerfully by the Spirit of God. It was amazing.
Also during the second phase we did a local service outreach. We went to one of the slums to clean up all the trash, help paint houses, and perform various other activities. While we were showing the love of Christ through simple acts of service, we were also showing the love of Christ by praying for people, telling them about Jesus, and even seeing some of them get healed and saved right there in the streets.
Everyone on the trip this summer saw God’s hand move. It is not a cliché to say that this trip was life altering. As we left each place, the Brazilians told us again and again how blessed they were by our presence. The youth who attended this trip finally began to grasp that as Christians we should change the atmosphere wherever we go because the God of the universe is inside us!! Lanae shares that, “during one outreach time four of us were walking along the street and we went into an open bar to see if anyone wanted prayer. A few people responded, and after praying for several of them the owner said we brought such a peace to his store. Everyone agreed that our presence had completely changed the atmosphere of the place. It was such an awesome experience!”
July 4 – July 19, 2007
July 4th to the 19th TACF’s youth group plunged into world missions with a life-changing trip to Sao Paulo and Campinas, Brazil. Accompanied by Pastors Bob and Carolyn, and Glenn and Moira, the team of Noelle Bozoich, Joel and Taryn Crocco, Rebecca Crocker, Joel and Jasmine Pielemeier, Hannah Sawvelle, Julia and Zoe Wristen, and Tracee Loosle’s daughter, Tawnee (who met us in Dallas), joined Randy Clark for Youth Power Invasion 2007.
Expectations ran high among the adult Invasion participants. However, for most of the youth this was their first venture into a ‘signs and wonders’ mission trip. “To tell you the truth, I didn’t even want to go at first,” admitted Joel C. In Rebecca’s words, “I just pretty much expected it to be like any other trip. You know, go to church, pray for a couple people, MAYBE get a salvation or two.” While Julia expected to see miracles, “I am not sure if I actually thought that somebody could be healed because I had prayed for them. I was a little doubtful because nothing like that had happened when I prayed for someone before.”
The Invasion began with inspiring teaching and impartation from Randy Clark, Bill Johnson, Davi Silva, and other members of the Global Awakening team. The team received new revelation of God’s love for them, and of the fullness of Christ’s sacrifice on the Cross. Through the first week the team visited a different church each evening to pray for the sick. Many team members stepped out for the first time with words of knowledge, and all saw God move in power in answer to their prayers. “God was using ME, a 13 year old, to perform all these miracles!” remarked Rebecca in amazement. Taryn tells this story:
I prayed for this woman with cataracts, and only for like, two minutes. As soon as she opened her eyes she started shouting in Portuguese, "I can read! I can read that sign! I can read!!" Then she began to read the sign aloud. Ha ha! There is absolutely no feeling in the world that can compare to having people crying in your arms, thanking you for changing their lives. It made the entire trip worth it.
Week two saw the team travel to Campinas, Brazil. In Campinas, small “attack forces” of 12-14 people launched out across Campinas and nearby co
mmunities to exercise and establish their new levels of faith and confidence in the power of God. Each team member reveled in God’s willingness to demonstrate His power through them. Two of our TACF youth had highlighted roles in the Campinas attack forces. Noelle boldly taught on words of knowledge for Glenn’s attack force, while on Bob’s attack force, Tawnee released new levels of revelation with her teaching on the prophetic. Said Noelle: “The greatest miracle I saw was God using little ol' me to teach words of knowledge to total strangers and them receiving something from it. It wasn't going over their heads; God was causing it to penetrate their hearts.”
Tales of rice and beans, of endless lines, and of endless portions of beef at the Churrascuria, pale next to the testimonies of God’s love and power poured out on this trip. The team returned to Tucson fired-up and ready to take the fire to the city! “This trip has changed my life forever!” “Amazing trip!” “Amazing encounters with God!” “Life changing experience!” “That was awesome!” To this we proclaim loudly, “Mais fogo, Senor!” “More fire, Lord!”
Our Final Statistics (for entire Global team):
Estimated Attendance: 31,521
Physical Healings: 4,783
Of these:
Blind or mostly blind healed: 118
Deaf ears opened: 94
Tumors disappeared: 89
Lame walking: 23
Emotional, Inner Healing, Deliverances: 1,660
Blasted (overwhelmed by the Spirit of God): 1,095
Rededications, Salvations, Called into Ministry: 631
Selected TACF team testimonies are available on the “Testimonies” page of this Website (click here). Even more testimonies from Youth Power Invasion 2007 can be viewed at Global Awakening’s Website (click here).