Ready to take off for the trip of a lifetime.

Tomorrow morning we leave at 7 am, sharp. It will be about a 22 hour drive to New Mexico and in the buses it will take about two days. I'm in kind of a semi-apathetic mood. I'm excited to go but overly pumped. Which is really just my personality but I still feel a little weird about it all. Maybe it's more of surreal feeling, like "is this really about to happen?" Last night I went to a cafe called Hard Times and it's a very dark place. While I was there I could just feel the heaviness and the enemy in the room. It was very uncomfortable but then I was reminded that that feeling is going to be everywhere at the Rainbow Gathering, times ten. Physically I am not worried about these next two weeks; however, I am a little nervous about the spiritual warfare that will happen. I just have to keep in mind that I am meeting Jesus there and he will give me the strength I need. Isaiah 40:31 has been a verse I have loved for a long time and I will need to pray that verse many times throughout my time in New Mexico. Please pray for guidance and wisdom for our team. Pray we make it safely and quickly down to the gathering and we get enough rest. Pray God leads the right people to our tent so that we may have the freedom to discuss the Gospels the right way and at the right time; pray for discernment. Please pray that we show Christ's love towards people wholeheartedly and simply. Lastly, please pray that the various illnesses I have do not effect me at all for I am not taking my medicines because I truely believe God can heal me. I have been so upset by having to take so many perscriptions for so long and I'm only 20 years old. I have been healed before I know God can do it again. Please just pray for safety while I am in essence fasting from my perscriptions. Thank you for reading my updates and keeping me in your prayers. This will be the last post until I return in early July.

Peace,

Erin Freer

Day 1 of Rainbow Training School

First we all sat in a circle and held hands while we ommed.  Then we started a drum circle and danced around.  Next we passed around the hookah and enjoyed it for the whole afternoon.  Finally we realized I was a compulsive liar...(all that was a joke, including the compulsive lying part).  

Alright, last night we got together as a nearly whole group for dinner and prayer.  Every time we meet together we pray for 2 people.  I was the first to go since I was the newest member.  It was amazing how God spoke such truth into my life through these people I hardly know at all.  Many of them mentioned how they were imagining how I was an extremely special treasure that God had picked out especially for this trip.  One man in particular brought up a story about a woman who though she had nothing gave her last 2 pennies to the church offering, and just after he said that he had randomly stepped on a penny and handed it to me.  It's amazing to hear that all these people said nearly the same things to me without talking about it beforehand.  The penny thing really gets me because I've always cherished pennies, and whenever I come across a penny I pick it up and pray that I continue to trust God because that's exactly what the penny tells me to do, "In God We Trust".  One woman even told me she had a picture of me standing where it was very foggy trying to see out of a window but once I wiped away a bit of the fog on the glass it turned out to be a mirror.  She was not sure what that meant but she prayed God would show me what it means.  The next day while I was at a park praying I think I figured it out.  To my displeasure it wasn't anything very uplifting...initially.  I believe God was trying to give me brutal honesty.  Sometimes I feel like I'm not really sure who I am in Christ, not that I doubt him but that I am not too close with him many times.  I believe this is the fog part and the mirror part is referring to the passage in James where it speaks of a person who looks in a mirror and then forgets what he looks like when he turns away is fool.  I think that at times I know who I am in Christ but then sometimes it gets foggy.  So, I pray that God lifts the fog so that I can see his light and continue following him.

Aside from training I am having a great time here in Minneapolis.  We're going to leave for the gathering at 7 am on Sunday morning and will be back around July 7th.  As a team we all get along together so well.  We're all so different and from various backgrounds but we fit together like a puzzle.  It's bizarre and amazing!

Vaarwel!

Erin Freer

Today we got together at around 10 am to worship God and pray for more team members.  We then proceeded to drive to Minnehaha Falls to walk around and talk to God and then have a BBQ and our afternoon session.  I was excited because when they said Mennehaha Falls I expected it to be a trail to some small creek with a waterfall.  Oh no, how I was wrong.  It was a city park, still beautiful, but nothing what I expected.  Oh well, we still had a great time.

June 12, 2009

Yesterday a friend of the girls I'm living with came home from somewhere and we had a tea party. Even though I really didn't know anyone there it was quite fun. While at this tea party I met a few people who would be attending the gathering and learned a lot about past gatherings. Hearing all the stories I got really excited to go and I can't wait to see what happens for our trip. Afterwards I was talking to a woman named Molly and she had just returned from a seminar about Christianity and Islam. After discussing what she learned in this seminar I am highly intrigued and I want to continue learning about the relationship between Christians and Muslims. From what I have learned so far Islam is more like Christianity than I once thought. I would love to go into more depth right now but one, it would take a long time to try and explain with what little knowledge I have on the subject and two, I wish to know more so I can elaborate and what I do know now. Earlier in the afternoon I was sitting down just talking to Kristin, one of my temporary roommates, and I had the opportunity to really get to know her. She even commented how she was surprised that she was telling me some things. I thought it was a real blessing that she was comfotable enough to open up to me. I can already see that God is working here, and I'm glad that he is working first within the group I'm working with not just serving. The girls in the house are already convinced I'm going to one day move to Minneapolis, a thought I'm not opposed to right now. So far I ove the city, the ministry they have here is the reason why I came in the first place, and from the sounds of it I'm going to really enjoy the pastor's teachings. There are a few prayer requests that I have... 1. Pray that even though our team is small we can do mighty things. 2. Pray we find the right camping spot once we get to the gathering and the God really has prepared it for us. 3. Pray for our potential gathering neighbors that we may have good relations with them. 4. Even though this is a gathering of hippies pray for peace, many times the elements and others' beliefes can get in the way of truely being a peacful place.

Arrivederci!

Erin Freer

Rainbow Gathering Part I

Welp, I've arrived in Minneapolis, MN and I'm a week early for training since Steiger (my host group) pushed back the dates after I bought my plane tickets. I'm pretty much on my own for a week, but luckily Minneapolis is a big city with much to do. I'm living with a couple girls near downtown and they are really hospitable. Yesterday when I got to the house I went to lay down at about 4:30 and ended up sleeping through the night. I don't know what happened but I sure am fully rested now. I hope that God will use me this week since I'm not going to be working too much for my trip. Maybe I'll meet someone throughout the week. The group going this year isn't too big so there may be a some curve balls thrown and a few adjustmens needing to made. Please pray that though our team is small we do mighty things. Thank you for the support you've all given me these past few months and I hope to update you on our progress more often.

Ciao,

Erin Freer