Week of Prayer at South Bend First Church with Guest Speaker, Nicki Carleton! Aug 7 – Aug 14, 2010.

Saturday, Aug 7, 5pm: Learning to Hear the Voice of God.

Listening is an essential part of every one of our important relationships. God has so much He wants to share with us every day and He does not want us to miss out on the wisdom, encouragement and direction He offers. Learning to hear His voice takes practice and discernment. In this seminar you will learn some of the varieties of ways He communicates with His children, including the importance of obeying that voice and using the powerful Gift of Discernment.

Sunday, Aug 8, 7.15pm: Movie Night

We will be showing the South African Movie “Faith Like Potatoes”. A moving and powerful film exploring how an angry and broken white farmer discovers prayer and a faith that transforms his life, his family and his community. Free Popcorn. Afterwards we may have a brief discussion.

Monday, Aug 9, 7.15pm: Powerful Prayer

We will spend 15 minutes learning a few Biblical tips on how to make our prayers powerful. We will learn what intercession means and practice praying in groups. I believe that this hour of prayer will be very powerful and things on earth will be different because of these powerful prayers.

Tuesday, Aug 10, 7.15pm: Children’s Prayer Workshop

During this hour we will be using our creativity and helping see how powerful prayer can be taught even to children. We will spend time interceding for other Faiths, countries and our community and families. Parents are welcome to bring children of all ages and even if you are not a child you will enjoy this Creative Prayer Time.

Wednesday, Aug 11, 7.15pm: Healing Prayer

Healing still happens in the world today because of the incredible love of God for His children. We will share some stories of answers to prayer and then we will bring to God those people who we know that are sick; emotionally, physically or spiritually. And we will also bravely come before God ourselves asking for God to heal those places in our lives that cause us pain and separate us from the fullness of Joy he offers to us.

Thursday, Aug 12, 7.15pm: Understanding the Curses of Africa and Spiritual Warfare

Nicki has recently come back from trips to Jamaica, Kenya and in Malawi praying to free the children of Ekwendeni from the powers of witchcraft. There are a lot of misconceptions about curses and witchcraft so we will explore the difference between demonic curses and Biblical curses and how to ask God to remove them from the lives of our families by the power of His blood that was shed on the Cross.

Friday Night, Aug 13, 7.15pm - 9pm: The Blood Covenant Blessing.

You will see a symbolic re-enactment of the Hebrew Blood Covenant and we will talk about how the Marriage Covenant, the African Tribal Blood Covenant and the American Mafia use similar symbols to reveal how serious covenants are and how they can never be broken. An understanding of covenants is important when God asks us to enter into a Covenant of Love with him. We will explore what the terms are of His eternal covenant and what he offers you personally in the fine print. An understanding of the Blood Covenant answers some of those questions you may have… Why did God choose to use blood as a symbol? Why was there so much war and killing in the Old Covenant and not in the New? Why were men allowed to marry more than one wife in the Old and only one in the New? Why was circumcision so important? Why is our sexual purity so important to God? How does the enemy try to corrupt these symbols?

Saturday, Aug 14, 7pm – Aug 14, 7pm: 24 Hour Prayer Clock in the Prayer Room.

Sign up for a one hour shift to be part of this continuous prayer clock praying for our church and community for 24 hours. The Moravian Community of Herrnhut in Saxony, in 1727, commenced a round-the-clock “prayer watch” that continued nonstop for over a hundred years, that sustained the fires of evangelism and united their community with love and the power of the Holy Spirit. FACT: By 1791, 65 years after commencement of that prayer vigil, the small Moravian community had sent 300 missionaries to the ends of the earth, some even sold themselves into slavery, so great was their desire to share the good news of Jesus. This was the first group who sent missionaries overseas and was the beginning of the evangelical movement as they believed in the importance of a personal relationship with God rather than just a religious knowledge. They impacted the life of John Wesley profoundly. Read the incredible story of the Moravians and Count Zinzendorf in: The Lord of the Ring by Phil Anderson.

Saturday, Aug 14, 5pm: Quiet Reflection

This hour will be spent in a variety of ways reflecting quietly the majesty of God. God will have time in the quietness to speak to us. You will also enjoy the time in His presence enjoying a private conversation with Him. This will be the closing for our Week of Prayer. With Special Guest Artist.


THE PRAYER ROOM WILL BE OPEN DURING THESE TIMES FOR YOU TO ENJOY GOD'S PRESENCE!

Thank you for your prayers!

Church Website.

Directions: Near Ironwood Road, South Bend, Indiana. Google Maps.

I am a woman...

I am a woman.

I have been set apart, anointed, filled with the Spirit, and chosen for a very special calling in life.

To be a disciple.

To encourage others to become disciples so they can teach more disciples so more people will know the redeeming love and transforming power of God. I am an encourager and an inspirer, a teacher, a creator and a worship curator.

Therefore I have been commissioned and mandated, not by a man or by a church but by God himself to GO into all the world, to preach the good news of Jesus Christ inviting people to be baptized into the covenant of his love for eternity.

With his mighty power working through me I can do more than I could ever dare to hope or imagine. I have and expect to see more miracles when I pray to heal the sick, make the blind see, the deaf hear and the lame to walk and the dead to rise. I will pray to heal the land, to heal families and to heal communities. I will pray for those who are addicted and cursed and oppressed to be set free. I have taught children how to pray against witches and demons and am not afraid of any weapon formed against me by the enemy because I know how powerful the blood of Jesus really is. And I'm not afraid to die, to be a martyr so I will continue to live on the front lines of spiritual warfare and take great risks.

He has taught me how to hear his voice. He is my teacher, my mentor and he guides me every day. The gift of discernment, the gift of prophecy and the gifts of the spirit are available to me. I can have dreams and visions. I will claim the fruit of the spirit and allow my nature and identity to be radically transformed by the Holy Spirit each day. He will teach me how to love and how to be loved.

I will wrestle with the angel of the Lord until I receive a blessing. I will not give up, I will stay up all night praying if I have to. I will fast and pray when the Spirit leads. I will stand up for the weak and choose slave free chocolate and fair trade products as often as I can and refuse to buy into the diamond industry and help to stop human trafficking, and I will recycle. I will live simply. I will fight for injustice and not let sexual abuse, domestic violence or spiritual abuse be hidden. I will find healing and help others to heal from brokenness.

I will become a missionary and look beyond myself and the dream of a white picket fence thereby wasting my future, spending my fragrant perfume on the beautiful feet of Jesus. I will be stretched, challenged and pushed to share my resources and be generous to the needs of others. I will share my food, recycle clothes and help to shelter those who are in desperate need. I work in homeless shelters, I build clinics, hug the neglected ones and I sponsor a child and a female underground pastor in China. But I will do more.

I know what it is to live in plenty and in want and it is God who gives me the strength to get through any circumstance I face. I have faith that the small and momentary sufferings I experience will only help me realize the strength of God and see his glory at work. Not only can I trust him to look after my food, clothing and shelter but he also grants me the deep desires of my heart. He promises forgiveness when I fall, gives me perfect peace through every possible storm of life and a joy that surpasses understanding.

I am an anointed women filled with the Spirit of God, so hear my heart, hear me preach!

This is written in response to any man, woman, church or religion who does not believe that God can speak to individuals and give them a unique calling to be disciples of Jesus Christ filled with the power of the Holy Spirit. Yes, that same incredible power that created the universe and raised Jesus from the dead! The Holy Spirit will flow through anyone that asks for it, men, women and children. This is His will, for his good pleasure. We have been created to bring him joy! It is time to lift the veil to reveal the truth and freedom that is found only in Jesus Christ.

By Nicola Carleton
www.BlissfulMinistries.com

For all the women blessed to be holding the hand of God in ministry - be prepared for the most incredible adventures of your life! Pass this on to all the women you know in ministry to affirm their calling. Pray and support each other because this is not an easy path to travel.

God has not left himself without a witness in doing good -- giving you
rains from heaven and fruitful seasons, and filling you with food and
your hearts with joy. Acts 14:17

Resurrection Pageant Prayer Room

The last few months have involved a Prayer Tent at SonRise, traveling to Hawaii to dream with Kay Kuzma of writing a book and then on to Australia to visit family and friends. I am so blessed to meet people along this journey that are taking seriously the call to discipleship. Each one of you encourage me greatly.

An Interactive Prayer Tent for the 2010 SonRise Resurrection Pageant. We were so excited to get permission to create an interactive and fun prayer tent this year at SonRise 2010. Every year Southern Adventist University near Chattanooga is host to an incredible interactive walk through experience that puts you right there at the very scene of Christ's final days leading to His death and resurrection. The cast was made up of 500 people with about 15,000 visitors walking through markets, court houses and gardens with Jesus and the disciples witnessing very moving scenes from this powerful reenactment of history. Thousands of people walked through every half hour and after the final moving scene of Jesus' resurrection they came outside for free refreshments and could take time to contemplate and process the resurrection they had just witnessed, in the Prayer Tent. This beautiful sacred space was full of people all day. Families, children, costumed characters, skater kids, newly arrived immigrants, people from the community, people from other countries and from other states, all entering in to wrestle with the concept of Jesus as their Savior and how they could invite him to become their best friend, mentor and guide. It was a very diverse crowd so it was wonderful to see so many people enter into a prayer space where they could talk to God and God could talk to them. The feedback from those experiencing the prayer tent was overwhelming. The most interesting insight was from a young man who stopped by to help me pack up the tent after an exhausting day! He shared that the prayer room I created at his academy a few years ago had really impacted his life spiritually when he was at a really difficult place in his life. He wondered why there weren't more creative spaces set up like these prayer rooms in churches, schools and in the community to help those people who need different ways to connect to God by providing unique ways to help them on their spiritual journeys. I could not agree more! It is such a beautiful thing to know that rooms like these can allow God to speak powerfully into teenage boys lives (and everyone else). If teenage boys can be challenged, moved, inspired and reached spiritually through worship experiences like these, it seems that every church and community should be building them! In May, I was living in Chattanooga and writing my book called, A Pocket Guide for Travelers. One day I was asked by author Kay Kuzma to visit her in Kauai, one of the Hawaiian Islands to talk about some discipleship programs at her son's wonderful yet small struggling school at Kahili. (They need volunteers if anyone is interested?) So, as is my usual procedure before booking flights, I asked God what he thought about where I was going and when to book and for how long. I opened my Bible to the verses in Acts 28 that said, 30 "For two whole years Paul stayed there in his own rented house and welcomed all who came to see him. Boldly and without hindrance he preached the kingdom of God and taught about the Lord Jesus Christ." ...11 "After three months we put out to sea in a ship that had wintered in the island. It was an Alexandrian ship with the figurehead of the twin gods Castor and Pollux. We put in at Syracuse and stayed there three days. From there we set sail and arrived at Rhegium. The next day the south wind came up, and on the following day we reached Puteoli. There we found some brothers who invited us to spend a week with them." Since I had just spent a delightful winter in the Chattanooga area and a total of two years in the Sines house, I knew God was speaking to me through these texts and answering my questions specifically. So I knew he wanted me to spend three days in Honolulu where I had spent time last year ministering to many churches and spend a week with Kay on the island of Kauai. For all those who don't regularly ask God for help in major life decisions, I highly encourage it because who else knows all things? God definitely speaks and he will guide you with even the smallest decisions that happen every day. I used to book dates and worry about whether I was doing the right thing. Now I don't have to worry about any decision. I have complete faith and trust that God wants me there for a purpose and he will open all the doors and provide for all my needs while I am there. God has been speaking to me more and more and I am overwhelmed by his insights and revelations. I encourage you to chase after hearing the voice of God throughout your day. A great book that inspired me is: Forever Ruined for the Ordinary: The Adventure of Hearing and Obeying God's Voice by Joy Dawson. The week in Kauai with Kay was wonderful and busy but we managed to dream together and start writing a book that I am working on right now called Teaching Children to Pray Creatively. It has lots of creative ideas to make prayer fun and uses the senses to help children pray in different ways. If you have any unique ideas please let me know! I booked my ticket to Australia in order to do the Week of Prayer at Karalundi an aboriginal community school in WA. At the last minute they could not find the funds so I spent the time catching up with family and friends and encouraging and being encouraged by spiritual disciples I met along the way. More photos of the 2010 SonRise Prayer Tent. Official Photos of the SonRise Resurrection Pageant by Sherrie Williams. If you would like to volunteer as a teacher or gardener or housekeeper etc or STAY at the beautiful Kahili School and Retreat Center you are most welcome! Photos. If you would like Nicki to come to your school, conference or church to help infuse a passion for prayer please email: BlissfulMinistries@yahoo.com Books Nicki is Currently Writing. A Pocket Guide for Travelers. This book will contain Travel Tips, Cultural Awareness and a Discipleship Guide that will equip, challenge and inspire new ways of doing missions overseas. For tourists, pilgrims, and disciples. Teaching Children to Pray Creatively. 101 Creative ideas that make prayer fun! Includes prayers that are with the family, outdoor prayers, prayers that use art, how to build a prayer corner, prayer journals and prayers that use the senses. It will also teach children how to listen when God speaks.

Thank you to all those who are supporting this powerful ministry - I could not do this without you. I would love to find people who would become monthly sponsors and/or, intercessors - praying for my protection from spiritual attacks, praying for my financial needs and praying for God to work and speak and create through me to touch the lives of those I minister to. Please email me to be on the prayer list at blissfulministries@yahoo.com. If you would like to support this ministry financially (either with a one-time gift or monthly support) please contact me (donations are tax-deductible in the USA). Checks can be made out to FLASH Ministries (the non-profit 501c3 that is sponsoring my ministry). Please include 'Prayer Ministries' on the subject line and send it to Flash Ministries PO Box 495 Ooltewah, TN, 37363 USA. Those in Australia or overseas can email BlissfulMinistries@yahoo.com for bank account details. Thank you for blessing this ministry and helping to change the culture of prayer. Blessings, Nicki Carleton I believe! Blissful Ministries

Prayer Rooms Update If you are in the location of a prayer room and would like to help or participate in an upcoming conference or mission please contact me. JUNE: Southbend, Indiana and Atlanta GC. JULY: Southbend, Indiana. Future Missions possibly to Nunavut Arctic Circle to build a Prayer Room and India to do prayer ministry. (These are still in the dreaming stages and still need funding.)

Adventure to Kenya

I was so blessed to be sponsored to speak at and build a prayer room for the Women of Faith and Excellence Retreat and Safari In Kenya a few months ago. Spending time in Africa was life changing and I fell completely in love with Africa. To see such happiness yet such poverty, such beauty yet such brokenness is heart wrenching. Africa is different to other places. Very different.

Masai Mara is Africa's greatest wildlife reserve and as we climbed up the escarpment we looked out over the plains scattered with thousands of wildebeest. The animals were waiting to migrate to the Serengeti when the rains came. But the rains had not come! The roads were sadly littered with the bodies of the dead cows from the nomadic Masai who had trekked up to 300 miles looking for grass to feed their livelihood. The Mara was very dry and the cows were very skinny, even the wild animals looked hungry, except the lions!

Mara West is a safari retreat center with wonderful views overlooking the 'Out of Africa' valley where individuals and groups come not only to see the animals but to give back to the Masai community. We were welcomed into a community Boma and gave out soap, toothbrushes and clothes. We ran some health clinics and donated bibles, mosquito nets and washable pads. I have mentioned before these incredible life changing gifts to girls so they don't have to miss school and drop out. While we were there we helped Iris paint a clinic with bright animals and helped out some of the local schools. At the Olopikidong'oe Masai village school two girls shared with me how scared they were and asked me if there was female circumcision in Australia. I said 'no' but I knew that some people in western countries still performed it on their young girls illegally because of these traditions.

In different communities Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) takes different forms and is highly painful, unhygienic and causes problems for them for the rest of their lives as well as for their husbands and marriage. The girls were scared to go home during the cold December break as this is the time when most girls (12-14) are circumcised and a few weeks later married off for a dowry because the parents can not afford school or to keep girls around. I realized that for all the girls in this area it was an issue they had to learn about from a young age. The school does an incredible job in empowering them and they performed for some poems about how proud they were to be Masai. Poems on Youtube: The Story of the Masai and Masai Girl.

Two of the girls Trelline and Jane, wrote and recited this poem.

We have been doomed, doomed, doomed and indicated that our work is -
One - taking care of animals
Two - looking after young kids
Three - hooking milk and
Four - fetching water and firewood
Back at home parents take us as investment making us to suffer and boys too benefit.
We rebuke this idea and say YES WE CAN.
Now in our offices we lead, lead and others follows? Why?
Professors and doctors - ah 100%, teachers and pilots - ah 100%, engineers and trainers - ah 100%
We now rebuke, rebuke and rebuke
One - female circumcision
Two - unequal opportunity
Three - early marriages
We now say when the going gets tough - the tough get going.
Bravo, girl, bravo.

The girls are taught they can say 'no' and some are brave enough to run away if they are forced. Some of the girls are needing sponsorship to stay in school so they avoid circumcision and early marriage. When they return home they are warmly welcomed and their families are proud they have received an education and encourage other girls to be like them. It is sad to see beautiful traditions in unique cultures slowly change due to the influence of the western world around them but luckily the Masai have resisted and retained much of their original cultural ways. The good thing is a negative tradition like FGM can be changed in a healthy way that improves the lives of everyone in the village.

This tradition started in the not too distant past - by Muslim men possibly, who wanted to keep their wives faithful while they went to war and it then spread throughout parts of Africa. Yet why is FGM now encouraged to continue and performed by women? Because women in Africa do most of the work - they build the houses, get firewood and water, care for the house, cook and care for children. They find little else in their lives they are able to control. The answer lies with the empowerment of women so they can make better decisions for their lives and their families. It is a wonderful opportunity for the churches to become places of healing, teaching and empowerment especially for the women. Yet there are some churches in Africa where FGM is not talked about and even some pastors are giving in to the cultural norms and sending their girls out to be circumcised. Circumcision for girls can also be seen as a spiritual attack by the enemy to attempt to destroy lives, physical and emotional health and marriage, the beautiful symbol of God's love.

Some traditions can certainly be changed with the beauty of their culture staying in tact so their identities still remain strong. God celebrates each unique culture, and they in turn worship and glorify God in their own unique way. Churches have changed culture and traditions for years; this is both a blessing and a tragedy. People are transformed when they decide to follow Jesus and are filled with the Holy Spirit. Yet they still glorify God with their culture. We must be very careful how we as missionaries start to influence and change people's traditions and culture. For centuries we have devastated cultures through either our ignorance or ethnnocentricity. Are we replacing their old traditions with our (just as old) western traditions like wearing suits and ties and singing 18th Century English hymns? Imagine if we told the Masai to stop dancing and to stop wearing beads? What a tragedy. Here is a short video of Masai Church. It brings both sadness to me and joy that they still worship with the beauty of their culture yet you can see the influence of western church practices that are not necessarily even biblical. An interesting discussion raised in the book I am writing on discipleship speaks to the question of what church should look like in different communities around the world.

Mara West is a beautiful camp where you live in tents and are surrounded each night by wild animals and a gazillion stars while being protected from the lions, elephants and leopards who wander through camp by a Masai Moran Warrior. Some mornings I would watch the sunrise down over the Mara from the porch of the 24-7 Prayer Room. The tent was surrounded by zebras, wildebeest, antelope grazing and monkeys playing. The prayer room was based on the illustration of the Blood Covenant to reveal the love of God for us from the Old Covenant to the New Covenant. Livingstone first described the African Tribal Blood Covenant as never being broken (it was an agreement for life) and is almost identical to the Hebrew Blood Covenant as found between David and Jonathan and Abraham and God. The prayer room showed how the marriage vows/covenant of today is symbolically identical to the African and Hebrew Blood Covenants. When we believe in the New Covenant which is symbolized by the marriage of Christ to the church it reveals the incredible love God has for us because he will never break this covenant. The benefits of agreeing/believing in this covenant are incredible and the promises are profound. For more information visit my website www.BlissfulMinistries.com.

I danced with the Masai, kissed a giraffe, visited an elephant orphanage, crossed the equator at an altitude of 9100 chilly feet, saw and learned about Africa's largest slum Kibera and visited Kendu Hosptial where I fell in love with baby Douglas who is HIV+ but hopefully in two years with the right nutrition will be HIV-. We spent a day in Lake Nakuru National Reserve where we saw rare Rothschild's giraffe, white rhinos and flamingos. Then off to spend time with the kids at Mary and Ivan Budilica's Mission in Action orphanage. It was so beautiful to hear as we put them to bed 'can you please pray with me' and 'me too', 'me too'. I had the opportunity to preach at Maxwell Academy in Nairobi on Hearing the Voice of God and inspired them to build a permanent prayer room in the girls dormitory which they love.

Unforgettable.

Whats Coming Up?

For those who would like to go on safari there is another expedition run by Bob and Joy Butler that is going for 11 days from March 30 to April 11 2010. My mom is going! Enjoy!

If you would like to donate to any of the above causes please email me.

If you would like to see 1st album pictures of the trip to schools and hospital in Kenya or pictures of the 2nd album 24-7 Prayer Room, Art of Kenya, and the Animals on Safari click here.


Please Pray:

• For FGM to cease and also the other attacks of the enemy through blood, cutting, witchcraft and the destruction of marriage and family.For more girls to receive sponsorship to go to school in Africa.
• For the slums (estimated worldwide that 600 million children slum dwellers by 2015) for programs for missionaries and for help for the kids.
  
• For Christians to stand for peace when violence erupts in their communities and for war to end in African countries. Some directly caused by the sale of diamonds.
• Pray that Christians will choose not to buy into this corrupt industry. For the communities in Africa to openly talk about issues such as HIV, sexual abuse, battery, multiple wives, wife inheritance, the empowerment of women, for poverty to end, for people to learn how to pray and hear God's voice and that true discipleship will become a way of life.

Nicki has just been interviewed on a worldwide radio station called Crossroads (www.3abnradio.org) It will be scheduled at various times in the coming months. It is an hour long! Please pray people will be listening, challenged and inspired! She is talking about prayer rooms, hearing God's voice, her Africa experiences and discipleship.

Nicki is also needing to raise support for 2010. She continues to live her life as a disciple, listening to God's voice and following him to the ends of the earth sharing the gospel and setting people free through prayer and the power of the Holy Spirit. She needs the help of the Body of Christ to do this as she lives only on donations. If you would like to donate with direct deposit or send a check please visit her website at www.BlissfulMinistries.com

She is currently writing a book titled: A Pocket Guide for Travelers - Everything I Wished I Knew Before My First Mission Trip. It mixes travel tips and cultural awareness with discipleship guides. It challenges the way mission trips are currently done and calls for Biblical discipleship to be the way we evangelize and do missions overseas. Please pray for wisdom and discernment as she writes.

I look forward to the coming adventures of 2010 and I pray you do too! Have a life changing year, drawing closer to God every day, listening to his voice and being abundantly blessed by a God who adores you.

Nicki Carleton
I Believe!

Witchcraft and Satanism in Malawi November 2009

I knew something big to do with spiritual warfare would happen on this trip after the training I received in Hawaii! But I had no expectations. I had no idea what I was going to do while in Malawi but trusted God had a plan. A friend Tania had invited me on this trip so with minimal preparation we found ourselves privileged and blessed to be experiencing real life in Africa. I was allowing the Holy Spirit to lead as I knew without a shadow of a doubt that I was supposed to be here.

Day 1: It is so hot, we are driving past villages and every house seems to have a mud brick works in their front yard! The landscape has some trees and the brown dirt is being hoed into ridges in preparation for the rainy season which could be here in a few weeks, with this comes the growing of corn maize and, unfortunately Malaria. Every house has white corn meal drying on mats outside which I had seen from the airplane and wondered about. This is the staple food - Nsema - we eat with our hands. As we pass each village there is usually a well with women and children lined up with brightly colored containers to carry back to their homes on their heads. We stop briefly at Lake Malawi and see a hippopotamus.

Week 1: We are here for three weeks and the village know we have come to pray for them so there are a lot of requests! House after house we hear the tragedy and heartache of different families and their needs. This little village of Ekwendeni near Muzuzu has it's problems with drunks and prostitution, some of the men take another wife secretly - even the Christian men - which causes untold problems within the families. Life is very hard for the women if they do not have a husband, as they are harassed by other men and find it very difficult to survive. They work so hard, walking up to 15 km to find firewood once a week, with the water also carried on their heads. The electricity and water get turned off at random times. We bathe out of a bucket. The houses are simple and clean, people walk everywhere, there are very few cars. Everything is done by hand. The children run around in tattered clothes and some have extended bellies. The weather has been so hot and there is so much dust. One day we all suffered from dehydration so that even our local interpreter Peter ended up in hospital - I am drinking 5 liters of boiled water a day.

We started by praying for a young man who was the son of a Presbyterian Reverend. The young man was rebelling and stealing, drinking, smoking, etc. The pastor gave him a challenge and he repented with tears. He gathered all the inappropriate items in his house and he burned them. It was beautiful to see the reconciliation and forgiveness between mother and father and son. He then came and joined our Bible worker team for a while. The second family we prayed for had five children, two of his children were taken by witches at night and reported being turned into animals. Soon all the neighbor children were gathered into the house also praying for repentance. It is not their choice to be taken and they do not like it.

A witch lives only a few doors up the road. The witches often demand that the children curse or kill their parents and are punished if they do not. One of the children admitted to cursing the father and he could no longer walk properly. So many people seem to be under a spiritual curse here. We pray for hundreds of people. Day after day. I write a prayer list out in my diary for each person. I also ask God for specific texts for each person and He is giving me texts that describe why they are sick and what to pray for with lots of promises to encourage. Each person is so grateful and find Bibles afterward to study these scriptures.

For three weeks a local evangelist Golden Lapani and a team of dedicated Bible workers are running a Jesus campaign. There are songs, classes for the children and families, the Jesus Movie is a great hit in their local language and then Golden speaks powerful messages, seven nights a week. Some of the people were asking if it could go for another month! We have put on events for the orphans, and widows giving out food, soap and toothbrushes. One family chose to stop brewing beer and broke all their pots. During the day Tania and I go out with the Bible workers and pray for people in their homes, then each night we pray for people at the meetings. This has been a powerful time of spiritual warfare with many muslims coming to the meetings and enjoying them.

I am shocked to find that 90% of the children under 10 in Ekwendeni are taken by witches every night. Even the children of Christians. They are afraid to go home to sleep each night. Some of the local church leaders of different denominations are not really aware of the situation or do not believe in witchcraft and wonder why we keep praying for people involved in witchcraft and satanism. I think the same thing happens in America. A lot of Christians don't believe in voodoo or spells or curses or demonic activity. The truth is we do not have to be afraid of it because demons run and every curse can be broken with Jesus' name. There is spiritual warfare in every country in the world. A friend from Florida had a history of demons coming to him at night sometimes trying to choke him. He was a Christian. Unfortunately no one had taught him how to pray in this situation and the power that was available to him.

The next few weeks were challenging with spiritual attacks on my health but we still saw the most incredible answers to prayer. Every time we prayed for children they would no longer have witches come and take them during the night. We broke a lot of curses off families that had a history of involvement in witchcraft or sexual immorality that had opened doors to demonic activity. We anointed people for healing and their houses. The most powerful thing I was involved in was teaching the children how to pray in the name of Jesus - to say 'No. In the name of Jesus Christ - GO AWAY! I am covered by the blood of Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit lives in me, God's angels are protecting me and Jesus is my friend!'

Week Three: Yesterday a lady walking on the road near our evangelistic meeting was killed by a falling tree. She was on her way to a funeral after having attended another funeral. Such a tragedy... So much blood has been spilled in this town. Many people have abortions, affairs, second marriages, prostitution, HIV, diseases, many visit witch doctors for healing that make scars, people put curses on each other, many are involved in satanism or witchcraft and drink blood. There is a lot of poverty here and a lot of demonic bondage, witchcraft and cursings.

I can see clearly the attempt by the devil to pollute and destroy the Blood Covenant here. We continued to encourage people to pray that the many witches living in the village would be either converted or leave. If the people keep praying we will see a transformation in their spiritual lives, their physical lives and even the ground would be changed. "If my people who are called by my name, will humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land. Now my eyes will be open and my ears attentive to the prayers offered in this place." 2 Chron 7.14

One day the pastor brought Tapiwa who was an Adventist Christian to us to continue praying for. She was an 18 year old girl who had been heavily involved in satanism. She had killed her 16 year old brother who had just received a scholarship to a school in Japan. For the last few months she could not talk, or swallow properly or move her body. She was locked up inside. Her eyes were piercing and she looked very dark yet we knew that she wanted to be free. She repented and broke off the curses over her life and God gave me these texts for her: Ez 16.53-63, 2 Chron 21.12-15, Psalm 49.13-17, Ez 33.15-16, Hab 1.5, Luke 11.13 and Is 35. The second session she was smiling, had more movements, her thoughts were clearer and she was singing and brighter. When she was baptized she ran out of the font. Her mother and father were also baptized and they report a complete transformation in her life, Praise God.

One night we anointed so many people, I could not count. A few people were healed immediately. On the last day about 60 people were baptized and I taught over a hundred children how to pray against the witches. It was an incredible three weeks of ministry. I saw the value in praying for people and teaching them how to pray. Discernment is the most valuable tool we can teach people. I believe that real discipleship continues after the famous preacher and foreigners go home and the meetings stop. It was such an incredible time to teach our interpreter Peter how to pray. His passion and dedication is amazing. I called him on the phone a couple of months after we left and he said that there have been more people healed returning to work, but some of the children were taken and whipped by the witches for repenting. He reports that every time he teaches a child how to pray powerfully in Jesus name, the witches do not come back. He also said that one witch has left the village. Please keep praying for the freedom of Ekwendeni. If you would like a prayer list please email me.

It took me many years before I understood the need for a proper understanding of the Blood Covenant. I didn't quite understand why blood was used as a sign of God's love and power, why circumcision was a symbol then and not now, why people married more than one wife in the Old Covenant but the New Covenant it was just one and how marriage vows today are a parallel with the Hebrew Blood Covenant. Basically I did not understand why Jesus had to die or why his blood was so important. If you would like to know more information about the Blood Covenant or breaking curses through prayer please contact me or see my website:

www.BlissfulMinistries.com or sign up for free Bible Studies.

If you would like to see pictures or stories of more adventures go to:

Pictures or Facebook

Whats Coming Up?

Nicki has just been interviewed on a worldwide radio station called Crossroads which will be aired on Feb 10 at 9am and 11pm USA Central time. If you do not have the radio then you can listen here on-line. It is an hour long!

Nicki is also needing to raise support for 2010. She continues to live her life as a disciple, listening to God's voice and following him to the ends of the earth sharing the gospel and setting people free through prayer. She needs the help of the Body of Christ to do this as she lives only on donations. Would you be willing to sponsor her $20 a month? Her US Tax 2009 Income: $4000 including cash donations.

Her next mission trip is to India and to different churches in the USA to help change their culture of prayer.

She is currently writing a book titled: A Pocket Guide for Travelers - Everything I wished I Knew Before My First Mission Trip. It mixes travel tips and cultural awareness with discipleship guides. It challenges the way mission trips are currently done and calls for Biblical discipleship to be the way we evangelize overseas.

A similar report from a YWAM Discipleship School in Nigeria. The team courageously prayed for and disarmed 900 Taliban-trained militants armed with the latest weapons. One leaders testimony reveals: "My job was to kidnap white people." He smiled. But he said, "I wasn't rehabilitated, I was transformed by the power of God." Prayer can change countries! Click here for full story.

I look forward to the coming adventures of 2010 and I pray you do too! Have a life changing year, drawing closer to God every day, listening to his voice and being abundantly blessed by a God who adores you.

Nicki Carleton
I Believe!

The picture above is of me and Rajab at our open air meeting in Ekwendeni. Rajab stole my heart. He was a tiny boy with an extended stomach and he was always hungry. He was seven years old but the size of a five year old. He was a Muslim but loved Jesus. When the Jesus Movie was playing the scene where Jesus died, he exclaimed, 'but don't worry it's going to be OK because Jesus wakes up!'

* Please pray for Ethiopia in a horrifying situation similar to 1984. Starvation is facing 6.4 million people after a drought wiped out the harvest. www.cbmus.org
* January 2010 is Slavery and Human Traficking Prevention Month. Pray how you can help bring justice into our world. Stop the Traffik.

Bizarre Gift Ideas and a Short Update of 2009!

Coming back to the US has been quite a shock after experiencing life in Africa. In Malawi both running water and electricity were infrequent, and it amazed me how incredibly hard the women work - walking up to 15km to find wood and working long hours to cook and clean. The children were so friendly, but sadly 90% of them reported being taken by witches at night. We saw the children repenting and taught them how to pray. After we had prayed for them the witches no longer came! The reason we were in the town of Ekwendeni was to pray - so every day for three weeks we visited homes and prayed for the people. An 18 year old Satanist who could not move well or talk for four months repented and was healed before our eyes. We were blessed to see 60 baptisms on the last weekend. I was amazed at how God spoke through me and allowed the Holy Spirit to break curses, heal people, bless the families, protect the children and teach them how to pray. If you would like to hear some of the amazing stories from this trip you can sign up to this email newsletter that I send out every few months reporting on more of the crazy adventures God takes me on or share it with others. (click here). It has been the adventure of my life spending the last five years in full time ministry. I remember the first prayer room I created in Florida Hospital in 2005 starting me out on this very unique journey to help inspire people to enjoy praying with power and spending time in His presence. I have continued to live by listening to God's directions and by faith for his provision and am amazed at how he provides. This year especially has been an intense time of learning, travel and ministry. I have only spent five weeks at my home out of the past entire year! Many churches have been blessed and many students have spent time in prayer rooms listening to God's voice and praying in new and creative ways. The year started in New Mexico with two children's prayer rooms for a children's ministry conference, then I produced a huge prayer room at Avondale School near Sydney that was one of the most spiritual rooms I have ever created. I was then blessed to see my beautiful family in Australia while I recovered from a small operation. Hawaii was the next stop with a four week prayer room at Hawaiian Mission Academy, where lots of students heard the voice of God for the first time, a prayer tree journey at a summer camp, a children's prayer tent at a worship festival, and preaching in different churches. Next stop was taking the gospel to the remote colorful Tarahumara in the Copper Canyon in Mexico dodging the drug lords. I flew in to stopover in Ireland and the UK to attend the 24-7 Prayer Leadership Gathering. This was a very inspiring time spending time with people that have sold out their lives to live like the disciples and spread the passion for prayer all over the world. (Free talks here from 24-7). The www.24-7prayer.com is now the largest prayer movement in history so it is incredible to work alongside these Spirit-filled people who live purely by faith inspiring other people to catch the passion for a Christ-centered life. I was then on my way to Kenya to the Masai Mara where I built a prayer room on the blood covenant at a women's retreat, mission and safari. Each morning the prayer room was surrounded by zebras and other animals. The needs in Africa are so great. The most touching conversation I had was with a young girl at a school. She was scared of going home for the holidays. Girls between the ages of 12-15 traditionally get circumcised and married in the Masai culture. If they can stay at boarding school they receive an education instead and have much healthier and happier lives, therefore positively impacting the whole village. It has been such a privilege and an honor to work for God for the past five years. Thank you to all those who have traveled with me and prayed me through sometimes difficult situations. The enemy has been working very hard to stop this ministry so those that support through encouragement, prayers and donations are appreciated more than words can say. There are so many needs in countries like these and I thought it might be a good time of year to share some unique gift ideas that may change someone's life or community forever. (See below!) As you know my ministry relies solely on the donations of generous people like you. So far this year I have only raised $4000 in the US for my taxable wage including cash donations. This has been used to pay for most of my travel, bills and living expenses so thank you for those who partnered with me in the US and in Australia. I spend most of my money on travel so I live simply and with minimal possessions. If you would like to continue to sponsor this full time missionary (Nicki Carleton) for the next year there are some options below! If you would like to see pictures or stories of more adventures go to: Pictures or Blog or Facebook Visit my beautiful new website www.blissfulministries.com Just a note: 'Nicki is an incredible resource to all those who are wanting to create prayer rooms in their churches or schools, facilitate creative interactive worships that engage the senses, who need to change the culture of prayer in their churches, for those who are interested in the 24-7 prayer movement and for those who desire to live radically like the disciples. She thanks you for your support and prayers'. Unique Life Changing Christmas Gift Ideas Save a beautiful Kenyan Masai girl from Female Genital Mutilation (FGM). Sponsorships at Olopikidong'oe are $350US and will pay a girl's schooling for one year, including a safe refuge at the school during term breaks. Those payments can be made to AMS at www.africamissionservices.com; Paypal button on the How You Can Help page, just include a note on the payment that it's for a sponsorship at Olopikidong'oe, and another girl will be able to safely finish her education! The Southern Africa Community Empowerment Cook-stove Project. To protect from deforestation and CO2 emissions and help empower women these Echo Stoves are only $340US and use only a few little sticks instead of charcoal. Go to www.echocookstoves.com At risk girls from the Nairobi slums will be beneficiaries of reusable washable menstrual products called www.lunapads.com - many girls drop out of school because they miss classes every month. You can change women's lives by making and taking these on mission trips. $30.00US per pack can be sent to Nicki. Sports equipment for primary schools - $50 can be sent to Nicki. Also there is a need for toilets in Malawi and all of Africa. One school had 1200 students with only 10 teachers and NO toilets. Please pray for this basic need and think about a mission trip to help. Sponsor Nicki for $1 a day for a year. $365 Sponsor Nicki for a month to go to a church to change the culture of prayer. $2500 Sponsor Nicki for a mission trip. $2500 OPPORTUNITY FOR NEXT YEAR She has been given the offer to teach at a discipleship and leadership school for one year. This position will be mentoring junior college students as they do their classes on line while boarding on the island of Kauai. There will also be a mission trip to the pacific islands. This is an incredible opportunity so for those interested please contact her. It comes with no salary so if you would like to sponsor her salary for one year she would be delighted. The term starts Aug 2010 to May 2011. Her clothes are also in need of replacement. Some have been going strong for many years but now are falling apart. She needs a travel wardrobe of culturally appropriate clothing. She hopes to raise $1000 for this purpose. She loves second hand clothing too. If you would like to support this ministry financially (either with a one-time gift or monthly support) please contact Nicki. Donations are tax-deductible in the USA. Checks can be made out to FLASH Ministries (a non-profit 501c3). Please include 'Prayer Ministries' on the subject line and send it to PO Box 495 Ooltewah, TN, 37363 USA. Have a life changing New Year, draw closer to God every day, listen to his voice and be abundantly blessed by a God who adores you. Nicki Carleton

Mission Trip to Tarahumara Mexico.

Mission Trip to Tarahumara

In my travels I meet some fascinating people which included recently the artist Bill Baker. His amazing pastels are a beautiful record of some of the most remote traditional cultures around the world. So when he invited me on an extreme mission trip to Mexico I knew the Holy Spirit was planning another adventure.

My mission trip to Mexico was a little dangerous. The day we were to travel, the front page of my Yahoo had an article on the drug wars in Juarez, stating that 4,000 people had been killed recently and a total of 13,000 in the last three years in Mexico. We had to travel through Juarez twice for this trip and as stated in the article - one of the most dangerous cities in the world. We prayed that our car would be invisible! I was in Albuquerque, New Mexico, one of my favorite states. Bill Baker and myself, with our interpreter, Eva, stopped off along the way to pick bags full of apples to take. I saw a Roadrunner (the state bird) run along an adobe wall and I was very excited. I took this as a sign of blessing from God as the mission trip we were on was for Roadrunner Ministries International. We drove through to El Paso, Texas and stayed the night on the border. In the morning we crossed Juarez and got our visas - Bill finally got his visa approved and we prayed our way to Chihuahua City. We then prayed our way through several thunderstorms and watched them move to our side. In the evening we made it into the Copper Canyon and Creel - a small town that reminds me remotely of a ski resort town. It snows here in winter but the weather was lovely this time of year. Bill told us that last year the entire police force in this town were killed by the drug lords. Hmmm more prayer! The next morning we drove into the Copper Canyon and found small villages along the way to minister to. We gave out CD's with the gospel in Tarahumara. The CD's had testimonies, the Gospel and some worship songs in their native tongue. All who received them were grateful and some had tears in their eyes, as this was the first time they had received such a gift. Some of these CD's will be played over and over and over and shared with their extended families. We continued through incredibly beautiful landscape - enormous rocks, fir trees and fields of bright green corn. We passed through many rivers and past log cabin villages. We decided to go to a remote town deep in the canyon. We took the 4WD up incredibly steep roads on mountain ridges till we thought we were lost on an old logging trail. Finally we came down into a valley where we could see houses. We had made it! We found a place to stay in the dormitory of the school. I played basketball with the kids and 'hide-and-go-seek' with some of the local boys around the huge magnificent boulders out the back. I had bought school supplies to give out and bubbles. The next morning we walked to each house taking photos and giving out CD's. The reason we took photos was because Bill Baker is an incredibly talented artist and he takes these photos back home and then paints with pastels beautiful scenes of these people to raise money for more trips. Bill has been to over 50 countries sometimes hiking for days to find the most remote people to share the gospel. He has many amazing stories of God's provision and protection from his travels to the ends of the earth! The Tarahumara are an incredibly colorful but rather shy people. They wear sandals made from old tires called huaraches and are known for their stamina as they can run for days chasing a deer until it drops from exhaustion. They are the fastest endurance runners in the world. They live in the valleys of the Copper Canyon, four times the size of the Grand Canyon. They evaded the Conquistadors for the most part, yet still attend a Catholic service every Sunday and hold festivals mixed between Christianity and their own religion. When ministering to a different culture it is important to consider the impact you may be making. Doing aid work, even being generous like giving a candy or a dollar to the children, can be very damaging to an entire community as they may not have dental services. Children may not go to school when they can earn more than the average daily wage by begging from tourists. Native people around the world are always in danger of losing their traditional culture and we as missionaries need to think 'in what ways will I be impacting and influencing this area'. The traditional dress of these villages is slowly disappearing with the men no longer wearing their "zapetas" (loincloths). The Mexican government is planning to bring hotels into the Copper Canyon to bring the tourists. This will increase employment in the tourist industry and the desire and ability to purchase western products. Coca Cola bottles and cans already littered the road on the way to these remote villages but Coca Cola built the dormitory and the beautiful school where we stayed. When entering these villages it holds a sense of sadness for what is to come. The young people are already out of control with drunken violence. They are poor yet with television are starting to see an outside world full of material goods and temporary relationships. What can we bring to them as Christ's followers that will not damage their unique identity and culture but treasure and strengthen it and bring them new life, freedom and joy. Will it be a western form of religion that tells them to worship in an 19th Century European style that isn't really working even for our young people? How often have we built churches with pews and given them some hymns in their language and suits and ties to wear and told them this is the true and only acceptable way to worship? Is this what we should continue to do? When will we start to think outside the box and see church as not a building or a set of behaviors but as a group of broken people living in community. The Tarahumara already have a Catholic form of religious worship yet have no real understanding of the gospel. The devastating tragedy of the first missionaries to Mexico and the Native Americans brought the threat of conversion to Catholicism or "we will chop off your hand"! How will we bring in the simple life changing power of the pure gospel of Jesus Christ, who bought liberation from bondage and healed people physically, spiritually and emotionally? How will we teach the power of a personal relationship with Jesus, to receive the Holy Spirit and learn how to hear the voice of God, to learn the power of prayer and how to love extravagantly, in families and in communities? I have been a missionary in the past and have seen the danger in being untrained in social anthropology (or another's culture) and even untrained in the basic gospel of Jesus. I could have done a lot of damage (I didn't do any good) and I felt that I had accomplished almost nothing except taught some people English and had fun in an exotic country. A few years later I attended a Discipleship Training School which changed my life forever, and I realised I had missed out on some essential training. Before I had been doing it in my own strength without any understanding of my true power in Jesus Christ, without an understanding of spiritual warfare or the importance of hearing God's voice. There are different ways of positively impacting different cultures, that don't detract from their God-given uniqueness, around the world and even cultures in our own countries. We need to be very aware of the impact we are making, the assumptions we make about what is good and evil in another culture, and we need to open our eyes to see where the real spiritual warfare is. Lets start to think about how to treasure the uniqueness of other people's cultures and help them deal with modernity that will help maintain their identity in God. Religion, church and Christianity doesn't need to look the same in every culture. Why do we think the way we do it is the way it should be done for everyone else? Maybe we should stop building church buildings that open one hour a week and start building community centers or discipling the Church as the group of sinners called the Body of Christ and think outside the box? Does anyone know any good books or articles suggesting a new form of missional approach to bring the power of God through discipleship to other cultures without the baggage of religious structured tradition? If you would like to discuss this article and give suggestions please comment at the end of this article. More photos of the beautiful Raramuri/Tarahumara in the Sierra Tarahumara/Madre of Mexico. For more information about Discipleship Training Schools around the world check out this video. If you would like Nicki to come to your school, conference or church to help infuse a passion for prayer please email: BlissfulMinistries@yahoo.com

I am currently in the UK meeting some incredible people and attending some alternative worship events. I am preparing to join the European leaders of the 24-7 Prayer movement in Amsterdam for a conference before heading off to create prayer rooms in Kenya and Malawi. I am currently needing over $3000 to cover the airfare and other expenses so if you would like to be part of this incredible mission opportunity by sponsoring me I would be so grateful. I am looking for monthly sponsors so if you would like to partner with Blissful Ministries and become part of this creative ministry sharing the passion for prayer, it would be a great blessing. Because of the spiritual warfare in these countries I need a solid covering of prayer. I invite you to become a prayer warrior and whenever the Spirit prompts you to pray for the work I will be doing, for protection in mind, body and spirit and for adequate financial resources. I am grateful that God has provided for my needs and even for the desires of my heart, I am constantly amazed by his provision. He is a God who spoils and gives above and beyond. I have not regretted living this lifestyle with the adventures and faith and dependence it is teaching me. For a while it may seem easy and possible to live on almost no income but for the long term there definitely needs to be money coming in for bills and health insurance. If you would like to support this ministry financially (either with a one-time gift or monthly support) please contact me (donations are tax-deductible in the USA). Checks can be made out to FLASH Ministries (the non-profit 501c3 that is sponsoring my ministry). Please include 'Prayer Ministries' on the subject line and send it PO Box 495 Ooltewah, TN, 37363 USA. Donations by credit card are also accepted. Those in Australia or overseas can email BlissfulMinistries@yahoo.com for further details. Thank you for blessing this ministry and helping to change the culture of prayer. Blessings, Nicki Carleton I believe! Blissful Ministries PS. The above photo has been selected by Bill Baker to paint and I am very honored. If you would like to bid on the finished product please let me know! This church in Cusarrure looks after all the poor children in the community and these two precious girls are sitting at the foot of the cross in the church yard.

Prayer Rooms Update If you are in the location of a prayer room and would like to help or participate in a conference or mission please contact me. NOVEMBER: Malawi, Africa Three week Prayer Room and helping at an evangelistic meeting. OCTOBER: Amsterdam, Kenya Women's Mission and Safari, Masai Mara, Kenya October 9-15 Building a 24-7 Prayer Room Attending the International Gathering for 24-7 Prayer Leaders Europe October 1-4 SEPTEMBER: Ireland, UK, sharing at Newbold College. AUGUST: New Mexico, USA Mission trip to the remote Tarahumara People in the Copper Canyon Mexico. Sharing the gospel.