Lindy had an invitation from Pastor Roma Bachew to speak at Faith Assembly International Church in Five Rivers Junction, Arouca at the Grand Ladies Rally. The theme of the conference was “Walking in God’s Overflowing Blessings”. 
Ellen and I went as her prayer team and to be available for dance ministry. We were met at the airport and taken to the Pastor’s house near the church to stay for the weekend. After settling in, we went to the church to pray with the dancers of the church and to meet the Ladies Planning Committee. As we came in, the dancers were rehearsing the opening piece for the Rally – the platform was full of people of all ages, which was wonderful. The three of us were able to pray with and for the dancers at the end of their rehearsal and each of us had a “section” of the prayer to give to them. I was strongly aware of the presence of the Lord during the preparatory prayer time. How beautiful is His Presence! We joined the Women’s planning meeting a little later and were able to pray with them for the Rally as well. At the end we broke into groups of two and prayed for our partner.
The next morning, we returned to the church in order to “space” the dance pieces which would be shared in the Rally that day, a smart idea if time allows when the platform has multiple levels. One dance was a “modern” dramatic piece and the other a song about Jesus always being with us through all situations. This was immediately followed by an instrumental song we had brought with us on a CD by Bob Chevalier during which we had a rich pre-rally prayer time. We flowed off the platform and Ellen and Lindy went with the flags into all sections of the sanctuary. I ended up lying on the platform steps in the spot where small signs were placed the next day: Love, Peace and Forgiveness. We returned to the house to rest, eat, and prepare for the afternoon Rally.
The Rally is a yearly event and many of them wore the color theme for their dresses, purple this year, with glitter and sparkles – it was lovely. The church was decorated and the women welcoming. The Rally opened with the dance we had seen in rehearsal the previous day and continued with many different kinds of celebration: singers, a dramatic movement processional, a full choir, singers and bands of different styles that spoke to different age groups, one singer from Venezuela who sang in Spanish. There were group dances, a dramatic movement poem by an 84 year old woman – and it all kept feeding and building us up as we praised together. Lindy’s sharing as the key speaker came at the end, and it was wonderful- She was so animated and funny, and “reachable”. She shared from her heart and you knew she cared about you as she spoke. There were several penetrating moments where I felt she had reached through into our hearts- by sharing her experiences and relating them in a way that we could learn from. She led into the dance about Jesus being with us through all things and then we went into the instrumental song by Bob, which went into prayer and personal ministry time in front of the platform where, Praise God, many came forward for prayer. For me, it felt like we were in “eternity moments” and the Lord was loving on them as we stood together in prayer. O Lord! For Your Glory and Your Fame, cause all these prayers to come to the Full Harvest Potential that You see possible for these women.
Sunday morning we went to the 7a.m. service, which is the main service! We were able to participate with dance during worship and Lindy shared an incredible piece from the platform which had the words “There is no way to hold back His mercy, there is no way to hold back His grace”. The dance shows a progression of learning as she stops resisting God’s leading and learns to embrace wholeheartedly His path. Nellia Rodriguez , the singer from Venezuela sang and Pastor KK Bachew shared a message. In the second service, Nellia’s father-in-law, a Pastor, shared a message in Spanish about God’s love, and his son translated.
Sunday evening they had a “cafe” feel to the foyer and cleared some chairs out of the center and put the worship band there. They had us break into four teams and cheer each other on as we had a “game show” series of questions and events for about an hour. It was very fun and built team spirit. Once in awhile the leader would have us all cheer for Jesus. A young man shared briefly on having a child –like spirit, which was perfect as I was going into the Poeme Rhema dance right after that. The leader did an altar call immediately after the dance, and we all cheered wildly as people came down to receive the Lord. After that, we had communion and went back into Praise & Worship – there were around 270 people there and there was great freedom to worship– it was exhilarating and people were pouring out their hearts with praise. After the service, they fed us in the cafe foyer (oh, how well they took care of us on this trip!). We were able to encourage a couple of the young men who came to us to speak of being stirred by the power and the passion of the dance worship they had seen that weekend.