Long Time No See

Thank you for your patience regarding our update.  We have had an eventful couple of months since you last head from us.  Let’s start with the Elav conference.

ELAV Opening Ceremony

As you are well aware we had the Elav conference in August.  We can legitimately say that God kissed this three day gathering, no question about it.  Being now fully involved with Succat Hallel makes us also fully involved with Elav.  As you know we were located in Haifa, home of the falling fire.  The land mark on which the Prophet Elijah prayed and the fire came, in which event, the false Gods were exposed and the people were once again drawn to the Lord.  With that in mind we had some understanding of what God wanted for this year.  It was a time filled with surprises from Heaven.  Apart from just playing with bands, I (Stefan) also had the opportunity to share about the breaking off of the victim spirit off of Isaac and Ishmael.  I shared after an Arab brother from Bethlehem had the opportunity to share.  At the end of that session, a sister from Iran who had been with us at Succat Hallel joined us on stage and a wave of joy broke out as God began to bind Arabs and Jews together.  This was emphasized every year, but this year God seemed to highlight this point a lot more than before.  The entire conference came to a crescendo on the last evening after a time of Arab and Hebrew worship, when some leaders from Haifa stood up to cry out for their city.  That even as in the days of Elijah, the fire that brought the people back to God would fall again and bring a generation to Him.  We stayed an extra night in Haifa, realizing how much strain it would put on us if we were to travel with two kids back to Jerusalem the evening the conference ended.  That gave us more time to be able to wind down and a little before traveling back home.  The Tuesday we got home something happened that took us all by surprise.

Stefan sharing.

Late in the evening we received an emergency email for prayer.  A beloved brother named Steve, who served in Jericho, fell ill that evening earlier and was rushed to the hospital with a ruptured aorta.  Before we could take the moment to actually intercede, another email came across informing us of his passing into eternity.  Not an hour after the time of death, we got a call from our friend Jon and the event that started with a dying friend turned into something much bigger.  They were arranging a team to go to the hospital and resurrect Steve.  It was simple; in the last three days at the conference did we not ask for the Spirit of Elijah to fall on us? Is healing not the children’s bread? Did He not command us among the instructions He gave us when He left earth to raise the dead? Do we absolutely have to know what will happen at the end in order to obey Him? Needles to say, I (Stefan) joined the group that night and, surprise, surprise, the doors were opened for us non family members to go all the way down to the morgue where Steve’s body was laid.  We knew instantly that God was opening the doors for us because unless you are family of the deceased you do not get to go down there.  Not only that, the orderly, on learning what we came for got excited and said we absolutely should press in for this!  By the way, the orderly is not a believer.  So we went in to the small cold room, they brought Steve’s body out and, yes, we laid our bare hands on him and commanded him to come back.   The astonishing thing is that there was nothing creepy about this.  We were for once doing what was ordered before Jesus left the earth.  Whether we would see him rise or not did not matter.  We were there because He said this is what we were to do after He left.  Nothing happened that evening, but it was not over.  We came back the next morning bringing his clothes with us, so he would have what to wear when he woke up.  Again, all doors were open to us.  This grace with the hospital lasted for a week.  At the end Steve stayed where he was and we praise the Lord for His final decision on whether He would send him back or not.  What was left with us at the end of this was a passion to see this happen in our life time.  We did not see Steve come back, but this doesn't mean we’re quitting.  The Lord had made it very clear to us the direction we are moving in.  With every opportunity we have if this should occur again in any place or time, whether we are close to the scenario or not, we know without a shadow of a doubt that calling Lazarus forth is our first priority.  So we are pressing by laying hands on the sick to see them healed and laying hands on the dead to see them raised.

Praying for Steve to come back, and for the hearts of the father's to return to their sons and the heart's of the sons to return to their fathers.

Then came the Feast of Tabernacles, know in Hebrew as Succot.  I (Stefan) was involved with a team of musicians for a conference that took place in the Hinnom Valley to release a sound of worship.  The valley is located right below Succat Hallel.  It was a blessing to release a sound of worship and life in the valley where so many babies were burnt to the false god Molech over 2000 years ago, to declare in the valley that where innocent blood was shed in the name of false gods, His blood speaks life.  Succat Hallel had cried out over this valley for years, and it is so interesting that this year, right before we move to our new location, Succat Hallel staff would be involved in the yearly Succot worship time in the valley. 

Shireli worshiping with banners

And now to the big move; we are now in the middle of the moving spree, dismantling the old room and moving things over to the new place.  We have no doubt God is moving us to a new place for a new assignment.  The new location has a similar view of the city walls, only this time we have a clear view of the Temple Mount.  It is ever so clear that God is saying to us that as Succat Hallel has witnessed a garbage dump of a valley turn into a flourishing valley that is green and healthy as a result of worship and prayer being released in that geographical region, that now He is calling us to be witnesses with our eyes towards the Temple Mount, to witness the things He is about to do in that geographical location towards His return as we labor together with Him in prayer, fasting and a deep place of worship.

Finally came the Day of Intercession against Abortion.  We had heard about it and wanted to go.  We found out I (Stefan) was wanted on the worship team.  Originally we were going to go just to be there with our family but once Jon was asked to put together a worship team for the day it was obvious that I would be involved with helping with that.  Despite the fact that we did not get much time to practice, our team flowed well and worship was sweet.  It as well ended up being in Haifa.  It was amazing to see leaders from all over Israel join together to repent for the sin of abortion that started with child sacrifice to the god Molech in the Hinnom Valley.  We repented and then prayed for specific areas, men to have integrity, doctors and nurses to stop performing abortions, women to choose life, ect.  Probably the most amazing thing that day was that God revealed to us the plans of the enemy and handed us our assignment.  That morning an article came out in the news paper with the announcement that the government would pay for any woman at any term of pregnancy to have an abortion if she so desired it, since the costs for an abortion are so high that not all of them can afford it.  So God had made it very clear to us what we were coming up against, and the enemy He wanted defeated through our prayers joined in with heaven.  It was a good day and God even provided help for us with the kids. That was a good unexpected surprise.

So as you see it has been a productive two and a half months.  We are still in the process of planning our trip to the USA in spring 2014.  Please pray that we hear God clearly on the dates to travel and the time to purchase the tickets so we can get the best price.  We are looking at flying in to MN sometime in April and coming back home sometime June.  We want and need to visit CA and are planning on going to TX.  God seems to be very clear with us about touching new areas in Texas.  If you are interested in having us visit and share with your church or congregation, small group or home group, or friends please let us know.  And please keep the trip covered in prayer.

Love and blessing from Jerusalem, Israel,

Stefan, Samantha, Shirel, and Aaron

P.S.  Please also keep in prayer the exchange rate.  For every $1000 we change we get about $200 less than we did a year ago.

July Update

Dear Family and Friends,
Let me recap what happened at the beginning of the month. On July first I started Ulpan (Hebrew classes). It is going amazing I am learning a ton everyday. However, it is getting hard to keep my motivation up right now. But I know this is something I need to do and I have a break in a week and a half so that should help.
The first weekend was the ELAV Conference for Youth and Young Adults hosted by Succat Hallel. It was great. We keep hearing reports of how young people’s lives were changed. You can now download or listen to the messages online at www.jerusalempraise.com under pod casts. It is very honoring to be a part of something that changes people lives.
After the conference we had our appointment at the Ministry of Interiors. It went well. It was an interview appointment for them to check and see if we are really a married couple. The lady we interviewed with said that we should just come in when we get the last paper and move forward with the next step. Hopefully we should be receiving that paper in the next week.
We went to a BBQ for staff of all four houses of prayer up on the Mount of Olives, hosted by Tom Hess. It was a time of fellowship, worshipping together, and Tom sharing.
Later that week we had a thank you dinner at Succat Hallel for helping with the Elav Conference
Then started the ELAV 24/7 House of Prayer Intensive. Jon Mark, who we minister with at Succat Hallel, has a desire to raise up an army of youth and young adults into the house of prayer. The intensive is designed to teach them about the house of prayer and then to train them in either prayer leading or spontaneous singing and to then do a watch in the prayer room with them and also to take worship to the streets. We are half way through the intensive and it seems to be going well. There is a good strong group that keeps coming and has a real desire to grow deeper. Thursday when we went out into the city we simply sat in a park and worshipped. It was very strategic because earlier that day the Gay Pride Parade walked through town. So we felt it was very important to go out and change the atmosphere over Jerusalem. As we worshipped 2 guys came and stood on the edge and listened. Some of the youth went up to the guys and introduced themselves. One guy was interested and is keeping in touch, the other guy didn't want to talk but I feel he was changed a little because he fought through his friends to be able to listen. Then there was a third guy who showed up who had been drinking way too much that night. We freely let him stay and join us. Whether he was touched by the Lord or not only He knows, our pray is that he will remember this experience in the Lord’s presence.
Then this weekend we had our Holy Spirit weekend. Four youth showed up, which was the number we planned for but it was not all the people we thought would be there. Nevertheless God had His own plan. We soaked, spent time with God, let Him fill us, we had times of prophecy break out, we had a time of prophetic art happen. The youth were happy with what happened. Stefan and I were hoping for more but for our first time, it was good. God showed up and I think that is what matters most.
Then after all of that craziness we had a birthday party for Stefan at a friend’s house Saturday night. We had a bonfire and roasted hotdogs (on the hottest day in history. And we are still in the middle of an insane heat wave.) We prayed over him and blessed him, we ate cake, and had a good time with friends.
Right now we’re in the process of looking for a new apartment. We have already had our hearts broken twice over losing some good places that were available and it is hard. Nevertheless He has the perfect place for us for this season so if those places fell through we believe it is because the Lord has something better for us. We believe He will come through. We have until the end of August to find a place. We simply want to find the place the Lord has for us.
We are also trying to get things ready for coming to the States in November. We are planning on ministering in Mexico and then around churches in CA. If you as a pastor would like us to come visit please let us know. If you would like to meet us or know someone else who would be interested please let us know. What we need prayer for is that God will arrange this trip. That we will speak where he wants us to and that we will receive the finance to move into full time ministry.
Blessings from Jerusalem,
Stefan and Samantha

Praise

Just a short praise I wanted to share with you.

Late last night Stefan and I and a friend were walking to the bus stop. Our friend was a little worried that she might not make her last bus from town, which we had to take a bus to get to town. So when we at the bus stop I prayed, "Ok God we are at the bus stop you can send a bus now." Or something like that. I kid you not less then 60 seconds later a bus came. And our friend got the bus stop 10 min ahead of time. God is so good.

March started with a youth weekend. The youth worship team got together for a team weekend of bonding and practice. We shared our hearts with each other and then worked on music.

The month seemed to fly by and yet non the less we were very busy.

The second weekend we were able to bless a couple's union before they went to Cyprus to get married. The following weekend I was sick at home. I remained sick the whole following week and yet it Stefan made sure as much as possible that I still made it to Succat Hallel where a team from Bethel Church in Redding, CA was ministering. We got some good teaching and a good time with the Lord. That weekend I also attended a women's retreat with King of Kings. God opened the door for me to be able to go. I had been unable to afford it but someone paid my way. It was a great time with the Lord and an amazing time of fellowship. I got back just in time to relax an hour before congregation. Then after congregation we held a viewing of "Furious Love" for local Israeli youth and young adults. It is Passover/Pesach an amazing documentary/movie about God's love and about putting it to the test in the darkest places of the world. We highly recommend it. Afterwards a time of prophesy and prayer broke out.

Then at the end of the month came Passover/Pesach. We made a run for Tel Aviv for me to get some paper work done for my visa and we stayed and enjoyed the Passover Seder with Stefan's family. It was interesting to sit with secular Jews, who will still follow the traditional holidays. It was the fastest I had ever gone through the Haggadah (the book that goes through the dinner). Then came food, food and more food. I really enjoyed that we were able to be with family.

Pesach continued for a whole week afterwards. Through these days work places and stores were only open half days. And with all that came April.

The beginning of the month was hard, Stefan's paycheck was late and yet out of lack, God provided. We had a handful of dinners with friends, a good time of catching up and of encouraging each other in the Lord. We had come to a dinner feeling really down and through the whole evening we just kept sharing stories of what God had done in our lives or families and by the time we left we felt some much better knowing that God would take care of us. Speaking of encouraging dinners, one in particular was with a friend who is now helping us set up a real website. We will let you know when it is up and running. We are looking forward to all the things we can share with you through it.

The next holiday was Holocaust Memorial Day and it was quite a sight to see. Imagine this; you are on a bus in a city. There are cars driving by and people walking everywhere. Then out of the blue, at 10am a chilling siren goes off and everything stops. Buses stop, cars stop, people walking stop. Everyone in the car gets out and stands by the car. Everyone in the bus stands up. Then after a minute, life continues. It is one way Israel shows respect for the 6 million who lost their lives in the Nazi death camps. Now take this amazing sight and apply it to the whole country. Yes, 10am and the whole entire country of approximately six million Israelis stop for one minute! Definitely an amazing sight.

The next Sunday we went into the Ministry of Interiors for my visa renewal, or so we thought. When we went in were given an appointment for June 28th to move onto the next step in the visa process. That was a miracle. By then I should have all the papers they have asked for.

The next holiday to come was Fallen Soldier Memorial day with another siren, this one at 11am. As that day came to a close however, Independence Day started. On Monday night the 20th and Tuesday the 21st Israel celebrated it's 62nd birthday. It was a blast to take part in the celebrations. Monday night we went down town and ran into friends. The streets were packed with cheerful Israelis and many vendors ready to sell whatever they could with the national flag attached to basically anything. There was much popcorn and cotton candy to be seen(and eaten!), as well as party foam cans spraying everywhere and inflatable hammers and baseball bats again with the national flag imprinted on them. I don't know why but Israelis love to spray each other with white foam on Independence Day as well as hit random strangers and friends on the head with the inflatable toys. National pride! There were live concerts, dj's, traditional circle dances to be seen all around town. And there were even 2 small fireworks shows. The following day, Tuesday, was a day spent again with family and friends but this time in the park grilling and picnicking. It was a wonderful 62nd birthday.

The month came to a winding end with a trip to Tel Aviv with the Youth band from Succat Hallel, Elav 24/7. We were invited to play at the Gospel Cafe in Tel Aviv for a worship night. It was good time of worship and a fun time to get to know the youth better.

Our needs focus right now...
· We our selves need people to commit to intercede for us daily. (please respond if you have not yet to let us know)
· We need faithful monthly financial supporters.
· The CD Project (Stefan and friends are working on producing 2 cds, we've mentioned before)
· We need prayer coverage! They started meeting with people this week and I was supposed to babysit but I got sick and then the 3 other babysitters either got sick the day of or their kids got sick. Needless to say, it was no coincidence. The enemy comes to steal, kill and destroy and especially when we're hitting something right on target for the Lord.
· Finances; if anyone is interested in sowing into this project or know of someone who would be interested please pass the word on.

Thanks again for your time. Have a great month.

Checks can be made out to Hearts in Mexico with a note for Stefan and Samantha and mailed to Hearts in Mexico
7727 Eisenhower Street
Ventura, CA 93003
USA

Jan Feb Newsletter

Dear Family and Friends,

January was a hard month financially, due to the holidays and ministry trips. January started off in Tel Aviv with youth and young adults with the plan to worship in the New Year. Near the end of January we went up to Nazareth with the youth worship team from Succat Hallel. We joined with a House of Prayer in Nazareth (H.O.P.E.) and some Arab Christian youth from there. It was a great weekend. Worship the first night was amazing. It took a while but fortunately some brave youth from both groups were willing to come out of their shells. The next day we went and saw the Church of the Annunciation and then to the Synagogue believed to be where Yeshua read the scripture from Isaiah. Then we went to Mount Precipice, where it’s believed to be where Yeshua walked through the crowd that was trying to throw him off the mount. Then we worshiped up there and had an amazing teaching. Everyone who took part in the event was very touched and changed.
As well, in January Stefan started meeting weekly with friends who are working on producing a CD with him. They have been working on lyrics and arrangements to make sure that the lyrics were biblical and that the songs didn’t all sound too similar. They are hoping to start recording two CDs this month: one in Hebrew, for the youth and young adults in the land and an English one to bring awareness around the world of Israel and the Messianic body.
February started off as if things had slowed down but it wasn’t like that in the least. Stefan shared at the first Tuesday Youth Night at Succat Hallel. His desire was to simply share what he has seen the Lord do in and around him, to help draw the youth into a deeper place with God, into a deeper relationship with the Holy Spirit. He hardly got halfway through his message when the Spirit of God came down and rested in the place. The watch ended up running late and still the youth stayed in the intimate place with God that He had drawn them into. That group of kids is usually hard to keep in one place for more than 20 minutes but God had their attention that night.
After the youth heard Stefan share he had the opportunity to talk with some of them and they shared their desire for more deeper things of God. As a result more Israeli youth are now coming to Soaking at our house on Monday Nights. Also the last week of every month we are starting to do a bigger focused activity, so the last two months we have done prophetic painting. It is amazing to see the talent the Lord has given everyone and amazing to see what the Lord wants to share with everyone.
Thursday night the 11th we went to Tel Aviv. Some friends had been trying for months to get Stefan out there to play at Dugit Outreach Center; it’s a free coffee shop. He was supposed to start around 8 but there weren’t enough people there. When he finally started most of the people there were old friends who wanted to hear him play again. Also the group we thought would be one of young people ended up being in their 40s and higher. Stefan played his set and the Spirit of the Lord fell. There was one old man who was sitting next to me. One of Stefan’s new songs, which had straight scripture in it, had this man singing with him in no time at all. At the end the old man went up and talked with Stefan and said, “What you said and sang moved my heart greatly.” The man is not a believer but he wanted to try to connect us with his orthodox son here in Jerusalem.
As of Valentines Day we are now full time staff at Succat Hallel. There isn’t a lot of change in what we do. It is still non-paid but we are now invited to Staff events. It all came about because a couple that we work with at Succat Hallel talked with the leaders and told them that we put in enough hours which should make us staff. The leaders agreed. So because we were able to get the application in that weekend we were able to go to the 10-year anniversary Staff Dinner. We are apart of the young adult watch, the youth watch and the healing watch. I lead a dance watch and also join in on one or two other watches.
And if this month wasn’t busy enough as of the last week of February I was put in charge of the Children’s Ministry of King of Kings for the next three months. I had already been helping the Children’s Pastor so when a few things came up and the Pastor had to leave for a while I willingly stepped in. So the first thing I did was a Purim Carnival. The last Sunday of February was the Feast of Esther, Purim. During service the kids came out to the foyer and played games, received prizes, had popcorn and had a good old time. It was definitely stressful but they all enjoyed themselves. The carnival was a success.
Now in order to be able to continue in these areas where we know the Lord has called us we need your support. We would greatly appreciate it if you are willing to pray for us on a daily basis. Please respond to themihaescus@gmail.com and let us know so we can put together a list of our intercessors to which we can send short emails of items to pray for. The warfare here is very real. We have just entered into a Third Intifada. We need spiritual protection as well as Holy Spirit discernment to know where and when to go places. We are not worried. It is simply not smart to do things without the Lord’s covering.
Secondly we need your financial support. As of right now we just barely make ends meet. We are in need of a consistent monthly support, not just a onetime gift. As we are sure many of you understand, we don’t even know how we make ends meet at the end of the month but God always comes through. Even though we know many of you are in a tight spot right now financially would you ask the Lord if He would desire you to sow into our work here in Israel. We are planning on coming back to the States to speak and we can only do that if we have the money for the flights. We both feel strongly that I need to start Ulpan, Hebrew lessons, come June and that is $200 a month. As well as to buy supplies for Monday night Soaking. We also need money to be able to sow into the youth during special times like their birthdays or ministry events, i.e. Nazareth trip.
If you would like to donate please make checks payable to Hearts in Mexico. Do not put our names on the check but simply put a note in with the check that it is for us. You can mail that to:
Hearts in Mexico
7727 Eisenhower St
Ventura CA 93003
It is a tax-deductible donation. If you are willing to support us monthly which is what we need please email us at themihaescus@gmail.com and let us know so we can keep track of how much we can expect each month.

God bless and Shalom,
Stefan and Samantha Mihaescu

King of Kings www.kkcj.org
Succat Hallel www.jerusalempraise.com
H.O.P.E. www.hope-nazareth.org

Many changes have gone on and I am sure there will be many more to come. Life in Israel is an always on yor toes kind of place. Right now Stefan and I are hoping that the craziness stops or at least slows down. We would both enjoy feeling like are feet are on the ground for more then 5 mins.

By the way there will be changes to this blog. It will nowbe about the 2 of us not just myself.

Have a blessed day.

RAIN!!!!

WE GOT RAIN!!!

So two Saturdays ago during service Mike prayed for the nation. And his prayer was for rain. (If you don't know the land is in desperate need of rain. It is almost critical.) Later that evening if poured. I think Mike needs to pray more often. :-)

Then yesterday, which was election day, it poured. It rained all afternoon and evening and it even rained some today. But the fun part was in the late evening it hailed. Little pebble size hail but it covered the ground and it looked like snow. My friend has pictures and I will show you when I get them. But it was such a blessing from the Lord. Plus, it seemed like a cleansing rain as Israel was choosing her new leader.