SOZO

I wanted to update you on some pretty exciting happenings here at BSU!

Within the Bemidji Area School of Transformation, (BAST) of which Phil and I and 5 of our leaders are a part, we have gone through training for a prayer ministry called Sozo. The word means "saved, healed, delivered." And it has nothing to do with screaming minions and scary manifestations. We do not "filet people open." God simply shows up, and we direct. He, and the person being ministered to, does all the work.

I have seen 10 people, and counting, get free this week of life-debilitating stuff.

The training, which is available through http://www.bethelsozo.com/, (go to the site and scroll down and watch the video) has given us the tools to pray with anyone, anywhere and help them get free. The devil does not have any power in our lives except what we give him through agreement. He didn't give Eve the apple by force. She believed him and agreed with him. As do we. Anytime we do not guard our hearts against the enemy crouching at our door, we invite crap into our lives. As long as we allow it, it has a right to stay. Stuff like debilitating fears, unforgiveness, bitterness, anger, debilitating habits, addictions, hatred, judgment, wrong beliefs about God. These things can lead to all kinds of sickness and disease (dis-ease). Sometimes generational stuff can affect our lives and we don't even know it. Meddling with fear, hatred, sexual sin, and the occult can open doors in our lives to all kinds of stuff. Sometimes we build walls in our hearts to protect us from further pain or disappointment, walls that keep us from God and from those we love.

Sozo is quite literally, "taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ." It is learning to think well and rightly about yourself in relation to God and everyone around you.

We were all created uniquely and wonderfully, with innate abilities to give and receive love. These have been called our "love languages." The enemy knows what those things are for you and for me and has worked overtime in our lives to make sure we were wounded in those very areas, therefore creating lies in our lives that we believe about our God.

Those lies need to come down in order for us to experience the freedom with which Christ came to set us free. I have seen people so bound up with fear that they couldn't function and struggled with using alcohol to numb the pain get free this week. I have seen people cursed, albeit unknowingly, by their parents get free this week. I have seen vibrant God-lovers bound up with hatred and unforgiveness set free this week.

We are seeing people shed this stuff and step into the destiny God created for them. We saw it yesterday, and the day before, and the day before. Becky and I have two appointments with two more people today- people hungry to be free of pain.

So family, this is crazy amazing stuff. My hope is to provide this prayer ministry for every student who comes through Chi Alpha. We have already talked about beginning next fall, taking appointments for Sozo sessions during our Tuesday night meeting. While most of the group is worshipping, we are ministering to one or two students a week in the next room.

We have been through the basic Sozo training. Once this session of BAST is complete in July, we plan to go through the advanced training, which among other things, has seen huge success in working with disassociative issues- multiple personality disorders. This is SO EXCITING!!! God is beginning a revival in HEALING!

So much harm has been done in the name of Jesus by people who mean well but do not understand that they are acting out of their own fear or hatred or addictions. We are really excited about this tool and hope to see hundreds more captives set free!

love you family!

More SALT Pictures for you :)

I think I can say that Cody is our resident goof-ball.....along with our daughters, of course!

and here is Cody and Brett doing some more goofing around at SALT....

Phil and Brett :) We go out to dinner one night at SALT to a nice restaurant. The group decided it would be tie affair. We didn't bring a tie :)

Steph and Gabi. They're gorgeous. I love them.

Oh, here are our kids!! L-R: Anna, Abbi, Cody, Justin, Mark, Sonny, Ben. Bottom L-R: Kit & Kat, Gabi :)The BSU Dodgeball Team!! We lost!!But they sure look great!! Yaaay!!

Grace and two of her big sisters, Anna and Abbi :) We are so grateful that our kids love this too!

Amy and Kayla....two of our young ladies from the Bemidji area. Personally, they look to me like they're straight out of an English movie....lovely :)

Cody and Ilsa again, this time a little more serious. Maybe. Possibly.

Ok, forget serious. Cody & Gabi :)

Crazy Things Missionaries Eat

So this is funny. You know how we sort of joke about missionaries having to do crazy things when they are in strange cultures overseas, like eat fish-head soup & stuff like that? Well, here we are in the good old USA and our international students came over to cook for us the other day. What did they make?

Fish head soup!!!

I had to take a picture. Seriously, we ate fish head soup, and it was pretty good :)

Just thought I'd cheer up your Monday!! love you family!

And January Brings SALT!

Hi Family!!

We just returned from our Great Plains SALT conference- every year we say "it was the BEST Salt ever!" - but this year I seriously think it was :)

There were 600+ students there from 8 states. Our speaker, Sean Smith, talked about revival- what have been the indicators in the past, what happens in culture when revival is imminent, what revivals are really made of- and let me tell you, family, we are poised for one. Overdue, even! You can go to www.greatplainsxa.com, click SALT 2011, and listen to the mp3's if you like.

So we are working to be ready here- to steward this coming revival. We are working to foster a culture of honor, train these young ones up to do what they're gifted to do- and preach the Kingdom of God as they do it: heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, and set the captives free. Our Bemidji Area School of Transformation begins next Saturday the 22nd, and we are ready & excited!

At SALT we had two young ladies- the ones in pink in the photo with Ruth- receive water baptism, and several receive baptism in the Holy Spirit. It felt like Salt was a great big fire that poured life and revival and hope into all of our students and the staff as well. One student posted pictures on her facebook with the caption, "I've been changed: Salt 2011"

We're just grateful that God is so faithful, bringing students in, healing guys in Phil's Man Clan group, starting the school, changing lives at Salt and on Friday nights....even though we're technically part time right now and not on campus like we'd like to be. God is still at work- using us where we're at. We appreciate your prayers...please continue to keep us in your prayers - for life and energy and health and everything we need to do this work. God is so faithful!

Thank you so much to all of you who sent Christmas letter, pictures, and financial gifts :) It is so good to see all your kids grow!! You are on our fridge! :)

I have some videos I want to post, but I need my techie daughter to convert them first. I'll send you emails when they're ready. Bless you family....we love you!

Ps - new movie alert: you gotta see Despicable Me. We laughed ALL THE WAY THROUGH!! It's wonderful!!

Love you!

So Much Good Stuff!

Merry Christmas Family!

May your new year be full of the goodness of God! He is so good! He is in a GOOD MOOD!!! He's not mad at you!

What a crazy season we've had. My part time job (Michelle) has it's busy season Oct-Dec. So I've pretty much been working like a mad woman, and got myself a nice case of bronchitis. I'm feeling better - this week is rest and rest and then a little more rest. The good news is that the tithe from my job goes to help get our students to our SALT conference in January. We had students over helping us pack toys many nights in December. It made it fun! We also raised a chunk selling cookies at First Assembly in December- thanks to everyone who bought them!

We spent our Christmas in Winona with my family, and the week before, Phil's sister and her family were here. It's been great, reconnecting with family. After this week of rest, Phil goes back to work and the kids back to school. Next Thursday, Jan 6, we load up and head to Sioux Falls for a long weekend. The SALT conference has always been a highlight in our year- we are really looking forward to it! Pray for good weather!

After SALT, BSU resumes classes for Spring semester. We continue with Tuesday and Friday nights, Phil's men's group on Thursdays, and International students hang-outs. We are also hosting a new event this spring- the Bemidji Area School of Transformation (BAST). This school is a dream realized for our dear friends and board members, Brad & Becky Fossand, but also for us. Phil and I have seen the need for emotional and spiritual health and the transforming of our minds for people to be healthy and free to influence their world, but we also have known that Phil and I are not enough to see this realized. Brad & Becky have had this dream as well for many years, and this fall, we felt the "now is the time" from the Lord. Registrations are coming in, and this first session of BAST will be meeting in our great room on Sunday and Wednesday nights, along with 1-2 Saturday afternoons a month. We are using the curriculum from Bethel church in Redding, CA- the curriculum they use and have developed over the last twelve years for their School of Supernatural Ministry (BSSM). You can contact r.fossand@gmail.com for more info.

And I will keep you updated, of course :) Our intent is to pour into these leaders this spring, and be trained at a deeper level ourselves. So exciting!

In the meantime, Ruth is heading up Tuesday nights on campus. What a blessing to have her here. She has been really connected with the school and students, and then she brings them here so Phil and I and our kids can connect with them. For now, while we're working and can't be on campus full time, this is amazing. God is so good to just bring what we need!

So family, this is our plate. Isn't it lovely? Please keep us in your prayers, and your financial gifts are always so appreciated! The "donate" link on this blog makes it easier than ever :)

We think of you often, have your faces on our fridge, and love you tons. We've loved getting all your letters and pictures this Christmas- keep 'em coming! YOU are more a part of all this than you know!!

xoxoxoxo

your Thooft clan

A Whirlwind Fall!

Happy Thanksgiving Family!

I've been thinking of you and thought I would post a quick note. We are having a whirlwind time here in Bemidji. With Ruth here & living with us, it's a party all the time. And we love it! Several nights a week there are groups of young adults hanging out at our house -often until 1 or 2 in the morning! Whether it's Wii dancing or studying or worshipping or talking by the fire, there always seems to be a crowd.

We have been seeing God transform lives. It's amazing to see a young man with an anger problem start to take responsibility for his words and his actions, and be deeply repentant about the people he's hurt. Or another super liberal young man who doesn't seem to have an ounce of conscience start to realize that honoring people around him is a socially responsible thing to do, that forgiveness isn't just a Christian reality. And in turn, starts to think that choosing to live as a Christian is a good thing. Or the young Democrat who realizes that he will not be blacklisted, but loved, at Chi Alpha for who he is even if his ideas are different. Or the young woman who has spent her life believing that life happens to her start to understand that she gets to choose how she lives- that Christ has come to set her free. These have been amazing.

The conversations with young Hindus- watching God touch them physically during a Friday night worship- is just a wonderful thing. Having kids feel like they have a family, that they're not alone- watching them text people they don't even know to encourage them that taking their life is not a good option- wow, family, it's been quite a month!

Wow.

But today, I have to make a turkey :) So it's a quick update!! Love you all- have a wonderful week!

Phil & Michelle & clan

a little personal revelation

Hey family


this post isn't really an update- it's more of a journal for me. I think better while writing, and I figure maybe some of you will get some revelation for your own life by me sharing mine :)


We have a really full life. We just seem to do better that way. Things get too quiet around here and we start sort of moping. I have less to think about, less to pray about, less to write about. I tend to get bored and unmotivated, if I don't have a lot to do.


The opposite is true, too, of course. We've been trying to listen- and rest when we need to, say no when we need to. Focus on our calling here and not try to do all the good things. Which probably makes some people unhappy, but there are so many hours in a day!


So some of you know, about three or four years back, we took a series of gigantic hits from inside. Meaning those who we serve wronged us. I really don't want to get into all of it, and apologies have been made, mostly, and we truly feel like we have forgiven and moved on. We have our hearts back and we have our love back, and students are coming around again.


Can I just say that - for those of you who stuck with us during that hard time when we were down to six students....thank you. thank you so much.


Anyway, it really blindsided us. And then all the financial stuff came then, too. We sold our house & moved twice and moved a house and built a house and wow, it was a whirlwind. I seriously used to just disappear in the woods across from our house and cry. I knew no one would hear me there exept the deer and wolves :) We didn't realize how much those hits hurt us- we had begun declaring forgiveness & blessing almost immediately, but we struggled when it seemed to keep coming, from several sources. It took three years to be where we are now- honestly knowing it's over in our minds, we've forgiven, we're moving on, we're blessing. I can look at the faces of these people and not feel pain and anger.


But all that to say- now that things are hopping again- students are flocking to our family, chi alpha....I find myself afraid, sometimes. I've experienced burnout now. I've experienced lack of love and resentment and anger. I SO DO NOT ever want to go back there.


We have all these kids.....looking to us for love and truth and God. They say things like "I feel peace at your house." "You seem to be an exra-amazing person and I want to spend more time with you." "You have no idea how much of a blessing it is to spend time with you and your family...thank you so much." "Chi Alpha seems to have this family thing going on.....and there is so much life!!" "I came here to America alone and now I have a family." Most times- I am so blessed, honored, and encouraged by these things. God is moving!! But sometimes, I hear these things, and I think, "Oh, God- what if I fail and hurt these people?!"


And yet every day God gives me what I need to keep up this schedule of both of us working full time and working chi alpha. Having people around almost all the time. Feeding dozens. Sometimes I get tired, but surprisingly, not as much as I thought I would.


I have been afraid I am not enough to keep this up. (like it depends on me!) And I have been afraid that this loving Mom that all these kids tell me I am (I am speaking for myself. Phil always seems to have a handle on this stuff. He's a rock :) -will fail. I have been afraid that I am a phony. That this loving person all these kids see isn't really me. That one of these days, the resentful and angry person I was the last few years is going to come out and surprise everyone, and it will hurt them all.


This all sounds so silly now that I'm writing it. It sounds so weird on paper. But it's truly what I have been struggling with, inside. Kind of this nagging thing. Like "you are so setting yourself up to fail, here. Quit inviting more kids in. You don't have enough love for them all." One of my family members once said, with a sneer, I might add: "Michelle, you're not their mom." Sometimes that haunts me.


And yet, they call me Mom. :) Even the son I gave up twenty years ago calls me Mama. (How good is God- seriously?!?)


So, to combat this thing, I will do what I do best. Expose myself to the world in my writing. That way, I figure, it's out in the light. And the enemy can't use this lie anymore.


And God has been helping me see that He will never lead me where He will not sustain me. That I am not who I used to be- I am his daughter, I am a lover, I am a Mom that loves her kids. It's about what HE does, and is doing, in me.


I am beginning to know and really believe who I am in Christ. Who He has made me, who He is making me. He must be doing a lot, 'cause the overflow has been amazing. I am so grateful. I am being transformed.


He is bringing the children. He is providing the food to feed them. He has given us the space to give them a safe place. When they walk in the door, I love them and enjoy them, I just do and I can't explain why - and that is Him living in me. So I just need to trust that, trust Him, and rest- knowing I have what it takes to "keep up this pace." I have Him, and all of His kingdom at my disposal: all his riches and his storehouses of peace & joy & strength & life & love & provision & wisdom- all at my disposal.


this sort of blows me away.


So family, all that to say: if you're struggling with a fear or two- say it out loud. Name the thing. And our faithful God will show you, that most likely, the opposite is true about you. Or at least- the opposite is meant to be true about you. It's a destiny thing. Then the overflow of His love and light in your life will feed the multitudes.

:)


ok, gotta get my kids up now. Love you. thanks again for loving us. :)