We arrived at Mauritius airport at about 6pm on 3rd August and were warmly greeted by Pastor Eric Mafat of St. Paul 's Church and several other church leaders. The winds of Mauritius refreshed my tired body as I slept little in the previous night in anticipation of the what lay ahead. Temperatures ranged from 20 to 26 degrees in Mauritius throughout our stay. We were scheduled to meet Bishop Ian Ernest of the Anglican Diocese and the rest of the clergy at his house. Dinner was served and Bro Francis addressed the everyone and set the tone for the conference. The schedule was tight and Henson, Trisha, Rachel and myself left for St. Paul Church for Praise Explosion worship practice. Finally, we checked into La Plantation Hotel at about 11pm.

The next day, Lynn, my roommate and I woke up at 5.30pm to prepare ourselves for morning devotion with the team at 6.30am at Bro Francis and Shirley's room. We had a time of worship and meditated on Matthew 7. As we closed the morning session of devotion and committed the rest of the day to Him, Hazel shared a word of knowledge and encouragement to each of the team members as the Lord had impressed on her in her time of prayer. The word released to me encouraged me and tears filled my eyes, as this had been a consistent prophecy through the years.

Renewal and Revival Conference

The Renewal and Revival Conference began with Bro Francis teaching on ‘The Promise of the Holy Spirit', Rev Wilfred teaching on the topic ‘Why Fast Unto God?' and Pastor Henry teaching on the ‘Indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit'. Rev Dr John Tay addressed the Clergy and the leaders of the church separately. He spoke on ‘The Church in Renewal' and ‘The Church in Transition and Revival'. The day ended with Praise Explosion! at St. James's Church. It was a joint effort by the Mauritian and the CVC worship teams. We sang songs of praise and worship in English, French and Creole. Bro Francis preached a message of hope and that night about 500 people gave their lives to Jesus. Hallelujah!

The next day, Friday 5th August, while walking to the breakfast table after the morning devotion, Sis Shirley spoke of spiritual warfare and the need to always walk in unity as a team on a trip like this. The Lord then reminded me of the book that I read on the plane. All of a sudden, I was overwhelmed by the presence of God. The bible said apart from Him, I could do nothing. Yet the Good Lord had provided a way for me to be part of the team and to understand that our purpose to Mauritius was to pull people out of hell. We were to ‘Populate Heaven and Plunder Hell', as often said. The revelation of heaven and hell and the reality that many were not yet saved dawned upon me once again (Jeremiah 8:20).

Teachings continued as Bro Francis taught on ‘Receiving the Holy Spirit', Pastor Henry taught on ‘The Infilling Power of the Holy Sprit', and Rev Wilfred taught on ‘The Explosive Power of Fasting'. The Lord allowed for us to address the youth in a separate Youth Track led by Bro Henson. Bro Henson taught about ‘Foundations of a Christian – Standing steady in a shifting society'. Sis Trisha also shared on ‘Challenges of a Christian – Struggling victoriously in a peer pressured society'. We could sense such a hunger in the youth. We praise and thank God for this opportunity He gave us to share to this group of Christians.

The third and final day of the conference, Saturday 6th August, saw Pastor Henry speaking on ‘Carnality to the Spirit, Rev Dr John speaking on ‘The Holy Spirit in the End Times', and Rev Wilfred ending his teaching on fasting on ‘Fasting during Times of Transition'. The Youth track also continued on the third day with Bro Henson speaking on ‘Choices of a Christian – Choosing wisely in a consumer society' and Bro Andrew ending the series with the ‘Focus of a Christian – Loving God in an individualistic society'. Bro Henson also had a time to address the music teams from various churches.

Touch Jesus, He Heals! Crusade

Every night from 5th – 7th August, we had Touch Jesus, He Heals! crusades on the grounds of St. James Church. Testimonies of how God had worked miracles since CVC's last trip to Mauritius we shared. Cancer healed, barren wombs open, bodies restored! We were amazed by God's divine hand and humbled that He used us to touch the lives of the people in Mauritius . Throngs of people queued up for prayers for physical healing. On the first night, I prayed for many people who came forward. There was a girl whom I prayed for who told me that she experienced constant pain in her eyes and doctors told her to use lotion to ease up the pain regularly and apparently there was no cure for her. She came forward to ask me to pray for her and I did accordingly. On Sunday, I went to attend the morning service with Bro Francis and Sis Shirley at St. Paul 's church. The same girl came to tell me that after I prayed, she was healed and that by faith, she has throw away her lotion and trusted God for her healing after the night meeting and not experience any pain so far. Praise be to God!

On Saturday's evening, the second night of the rally, Bro Francis had a sore throat. While he was preaching I began to pray in the spirit and spoke words of restoration for his voice and throat. Gradually, I saw God healed him in the service. When came to the time of ministry, I prayed that God would anoint me with His power and use my lips and hands for His glory. God was ever faithful in answering my prayer. As I laid my hands on those who came forward, I felt the anointing of the power of the Holy Spirit flowing out of me and several that I prayed for fell under the anointing. There was a man who came to me and told me that he felt God was very far away. He felt that he was gradually drifting away from his faith. I started sharing with him that a relationship with God is not about feeling but believing the word of God to be true. What the devil does is to distract him and cause him to fall out of the race. After counselling for a short while, I suggested that we pray together and as I laid my hands on his head, he fell under the spirit. Two catchers have to hold him because he was a tall and strong man. After a while, he got up on his feet and his heart and my heart were filled with joy as the Sovereign Lord has assured him that He was with him and had never left him. There was another woman who came to me for prayer for pain in her back. As I laid my hands on her forehead and prayed, she too fell under the anointing. Oh, the joy in my heart was inexpressible as God had assured me that the power of the Holy Spirit is available to anyone who asks.

On the third day of the evangelistic service, I again asked God to fill me with His power and I thought how nice if everyone that came forward simply fell under the anointing and I didn't have to pray in words. But God's thoughts are always higher than our thoughts. A young girl who came forward told me that she had suicidal thoughts because of many problems in the family. I started counselling her to release her cares to the Lord for the Good Shepherd cares for her. I said I would pray for her. As I anointed her with oil and laid my hands on her, she started shaking vigorously and refusing the name of the Lord when she heard the name “Jesus”. Two counsellors came to hold her. I used to be quite frightened when dealing with manifestations as I was afraid that the unclean spirits were come on me when I cast them out of the seekers. However, that day a spirit of boldness came on me as I commanded the unclean spirits out of this girl. He that is in me is greater than he that is in the world. Each time, I called on the name of the Lord, this girl began to scream and yell and afterwards go quiet. When she had calmed down, I asked her to say “Jesus is my Lord' and “Jesus is my Savior” and she would follow after me. But when I started praying in tongues, she would deny the name of the Lord and shaked vigorously again. It went on like this for about ten minutes, and I told the counsellors that she would need proper counselling as there first had to be a renewing of her mind.

Next came another woman who wanted prayer for her back pain. I anointed her with oil and started praying in tongues. As I prayed, she too manifested by swinging herself left and right vigorously. This time, Sis Shirley and Sis Hazel came round and supported me with prayer (as I found out later). Four catchers came to hold her. As I continue to pray in tongues, this woman fell on the ground and tossed left and right, screaming. I remembered from the bible that God has given us the authority over every evil spirit. I knew there were a few evil spirits dwelling in her but I could not discern exactly what. I knew those who need deliverance had to go through a series of counselling and this was not possible for an evangelistic meeting like this. In view of the situation, I command her to keep quiet so that she would not distract others and she did. After a long while, she got up and one of the counsellors took her to a corner and counselled her. Truly, God was present at the meetings and I thank God for giving me the opportunity to be an ambassador for Him in Mauritius .

God looks after His sheep

God truly looks after those that serve Him. The night before I left for the trip, I jokingly told my mum that I would miss her home cook food for a week. Never did I expect that I would have home cook food in Mauritius . Jennifer Chan-Too and several others dished out popular Hakka food with love every day and night after the teaching sessions and evangelistic rallies. I don't recall ever eating traditional Hakka food. Words cannot express my appreciation to members of St. Paul 's church for their warm hospitality.

In thanks…

The above were the strong impressions of my trip to Mauritius . It is not possible to pen all that has happened but I want to thank God for Sis Shirley who planned the trip even to the tiniest of details. She arranged a wonderful roommate for me, Lynn Loke, who was considerate and thoughtful. She wiped the bathroom dry for my use after every shower so that I would not slip and fall as there were no shower curtains (strangely the French do not use shower curtains). I thank God for everyone who has contributed jokes in one-way or another that made the whole journey memorable. For example, Pastor Eric asked me how I found the fish balls in the soup in the thanksgiving dinner host by St. Paul 's church. I said they were good but Dean John Tay said I should have answered ‘I found them in the bowl'. Thank God for a sound mind! Finally, I want to thank God for Bro James and Bro Marcius Yew who fervently captured every moment of my thoughts and feelings in film and video.

Truly, God is able to do exceedingly, abundantly, above all we could ever ask or imagine! I pray that God will seal what He had done in Mauritius and continue to pour His love and anointing onto this island that is so hungry for Him.