The Praise Report
Fall 2004

…You will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit, the promise is for you and your children... for all whom the Lord our God will call.

Acts 2:38-39

  On top of Prekestole (Preacher’s Rock) Norway’s National Monument, where you can look
two thousand sheer and awesome feet
straight
down.


We recently returned from a two-month mission trip to Scandinavia where we ministered in Sweden in the cities of Tyringe, Norköping, Gamleby and Nynäshamn, and in Norway in the cities of Oslo, Mysen, Lista, Farsund, Kvinesdal and in the prison at Troekstad. We also shared a testimony at a church in Kristiansand which turned into a major divine appointment, as well as doing a spontaneous home meeting in that city.

The Holy Spirit was poured out continually as we preached and prayed for others in dramatic ways at times, with many intense manifestations of the Spirit’s presence, especially amongst some young people; there were also 16 people who came to Christ as we ministered, as well as others who received physical and emotional healing.

Europe is now the world’s least evangelized continent as well as the 21st century’s new emerging mission field with Scandinavia being amongst the most secularized and thus in great need for the Gospel to be preached in the power of the Holy Spirit.

In Tyringe, Sweden, we ministered at a friend’s church. We “connected” with him a few years ago when we were visiting another friend in Sweden and arrived early and got stuck in the garage. While waiting in the garage a phone rang which we answered and ended up talking with this pastor. We were told later that this phone does not even work, and had not for years and thus it was a miracle the way God “connected” us supernaturally through a disconnected and nonfunctioning phone.

 

There were some young people who were touched especially powerfully at our friend’s church, which also invited another church for the weekend meetings. Some powerful manifestations of God’s presence were definitely evident. Some received confirmation of God’s purpose over their lives, with prophecies that were often confirmed right in the same meeting. During a particular ministry time, one young person was given a word by Mercedes, and then I (Bryan), knowing nothing of what just happened, came up a few minutes later and gave him the exact same word.

God moves on the youth in Gamleby, Sweden.

Divine Surf Break

Sweden is not a place that is really known for surf but it does get some waves on very rare occasions. I was hoping to go surfing, so in Sweden you not only have to pray for surf but for wind because that’s the only way to get any surf due to their very small fetch of ocean.

Well, the wind blew all night after we preached and I had personally prayed for surf. The next morning the pastor just spontaneously offered to take us down to the coast where we found some fun surf to ride. It was quite a miracle when you think about how rare it is to surf there and to “just happen” to have enough wind blow to have surf on the only free day available to make a trip to the coast. It was a testimony to the Psalm which says, “He gives the desire of the heart to those who trust in Him.”

We ministered in Norköping and Nynäshamn as well, where the churches also combined services with other congregations and the Holy Spirit was poured out in power, and where many were touched and ministered to by God’s grace and Spirit. A young guy in Nynäshamn was powerfully impacted by the ministry and felt great confirmation towards God’s call on his life as again Mercedes had given him a word and then it was confirmed a little later as I gave him the exact same word.

We also got to go skateboarding in Norköping with a friend at a half-pipe and had an opportunity to witness to some Muslim kids there. The Lord continues to keep us involved in things that can be bridges to reach out to the lost and help us keep a youth-oriented focus. Paul said: ”I have become all things to all people that I might reach as many as possible.”

Radical Outpouring in Sweden
In a home youth meeting, at a friend’s house in Gamleby, Sweden, the Holy Spirit was poured out in the most remarkable way. We shared some testimonies amongst the 25 or so kids gathered, a few kids made decisions for Christ, and we then had a ministry time, which became a glorious and intensely radical time of the Spirit being poured out and greatly impacting these young lives.

This youth meeting, which usually lasts about an hour, went on for 5 hours with these 12 to 15 year olds weeping profusely as God touched their hearts. There were many who for the first time were speaking in tongues, prophesying and praying dramatically for one another, and it went on long into the night. In the beginning of the meeting, these kids had been too shy to even pray for one another, but God sovereignly and radically came on them in intense power and the evening became a radical Holy Ghost time. Even when it got late and it was suggested by someone that it was time to go home, they ignored it and kept on praying and receiving from God.

As some parents entered the room, having come to pick up their kids, they were struck by the presence of God and brought to the floor, others broke out in Holy laughter. A couple who was on a walk that night felt drawn by God to come up and visit and they were powerfully touched by the Spirit as they entered also. Some other people unexplainably just showed up and were touched powerfully too, breaking out in holy laughter, you could hear them still laughing under the anointing as they left and walked down the street.

One kid who was quite wild and rebellious during the time we were sharing, was unexpectedly and dramatically hammered by the Holy Spirit with radical manifestations of shaking and weeping and being knocked to the ground and not being able to get up for quite a while; he was the last one you’d expect of this and yet he was touched in the most dramatic way. The way the power of God moved on him happened to others too. The kingdom of God was visibly manifest. A couple of days later, we received a number of reports of changed lives amongst those kids.
God Moves in Norway
God moved in power as we ministered in Norway as well, in the cities of Oslo, Mysen, Troekstad, Kristiansand, Lista, Farsund, and Kvinesdal.

In Oslo we did a meeting at a church which decided to add an extra meeting in a home. There we experienced God moving in grace and power, filling and anointing people with an overwhelming touch of His presence.
  The Holy Ghost empowers a young woman in Norway.
We spoke at a prison in Troekestad. As we began to speak there were some men there who had quite hard and wore a disinterested looks on their faces. As I saw them, I felt led to completely change what I had planned to say at the last moment, and the Holy Spirit broke through the walls they had set up in their hearts; some guys who had seemed completely closed in the beginning were listening with rapt attention near the end, some even with tears in their eyes.

Six men made decisions to receive Christ and many others had eternal seeds planted in their hearts as we preached and prayed for them. Some young Muslim men came up and talked with us afterwards and we were able to share the reality of who Christ is with them also, and some, who were visibly touched by our testimonies, had tears in their eyes.

We next ministered in Mysen, where a young Muslim woman who had just recently come to Christ was also radically touched, knocked to the ground by the Spirit and deeply ministered to as we prayed for her. Many others were powerfully ministered to, amongst them another new Christian who was filled with the Spirit for the first time, as we ministered in the church and at a home meeting there.

We shared a testimony at a church in Kristiansand, which ended up becoming a major divine appointment. A guy there had been resisting God’s call to ministry but had come to the point where he knew it was time to turn around. He said he had been waiting for some months for the right person to come to his church so he could be prayed for and when I finished speaking he said he made a beeline to the front. When I finally got to come over and pray for him, it looked like he had been struck by 10,000 volts of electricity, as he was knocked to the ground shaking. He shared how he had a vision of being placed under a waterfall and being cleansed and anointed for God’s call to ministry.

A Mid-Summer party in Kristiansand turned into a spontaneous home meeting later, where the Spirit of God moved gloriously and another young Muslim woman who had recently been saved was powerfully touched as were many others, by the presence of the Holy Spirit, who turned the party into a Holy Ghost happening time.
More Holy Ghost Surf Stories
On the previous mission trip to Europe we had gone surfing with some friends in Norway in a place called Lista. I thought it was a really cool place and so I prayed a prayer, not thinking much about it at the time, “that it would be cool to minister here someday”. It would turn out that God would answer that little prayer in a much more dramatic way than expected with some exciting results. We were surprised when planning this trip to find out that our friend was serving as a pastor in Lista and had set up quite a bit of ministry there for us, which was an unexpected answer to that prayer I had prayed after surfing in this area before.

A poster from one of our meetings in the South of Norway.
We ministered in our friend's church there in Lista as well as in another in a town right next to it called Farsund, and in another church in a town called Kvinesdal, which is right next to where the well known evangelist Aril Edvarson has his base.

We had moves of God each time we ministered and many young people were touched powerfully as we preached and prayed. A woman told of improvement in her liver condition after we prayed for her. The Holy Spirit truly moved with fire, igniting passion in many—this is the very thing needed in Europe due to the current spiritual condition of things—so we rejoiced to see the Lord doing this as well as being blessed by the many good times of fellowship we had in each place with the people we connected with in those areas.

One of the most incredible things happened after a service in Lista where God had just poured out His Spirit. I went down to use the restroom right after the service and heard voices coming from a room next door. I opened the door to look and see what was going on and was surprised to see about thirty teenagers hanging out in a recreational room playing ping pong, talking, and doing other activities. I immediately felt a burden to speak to them. I went and spoke to Terje, our pastor friend, who told me that it was a “Kids Club” and and most didn't go to church. I told him I felt a strong burden to speak to them. We went down and had a spontaneous meeting, asking them to all gather around so I could share some wild stories with them for a moment. I had nothing prepared but felt led to share some “Holy Ghost Surf Stories” and then took a bold step and gave them an opportunity to receive the real and living Christ in their hearts right there and then.

To our surprise 5 teenage boys responded, in spite of their unsaved friends looking on, to come to Christ, and prayed with us right there and then. We were blown away because it had been such a spontaneous thing, but the youth pastor was even more blown away than we were because he had been reaching out to these kids for a while and hadn’t seen anyone come to the Lord except for a few girls roughly a year ago. Glory to God!!! All this birthed through a little prayer about wanting to minister in this area while surfing there on our last trip. We got some fun surf there with some of our friends again this time and rejoiced in all that God did through a little prayer while surfing.

Sometimes we need to be willing to take risks, as the Spirit leads, to see things happen. You will never know if someone could be saved or healed or filled unless you take the risk to speak, or pray, or share with them.
Another Holy Ghost Surf Story
One day while we were in Stavanger, Norway, taking a break after all the ministry we'd done, we went on a surf hunt on bikes that took us on a 40 kilometer excursion (25 miles) with all the extra twists and turns we took trying to find our way. That was with a surfboard under my arm by the way. After riding 25 miles we arrived at the surf in Bore. It was a bit on the small side and we were blessed to meet a few Norwegians who were cool enough to loan us their board, which was more suited to the surf that day. (Boy, I just carried my own board 25 miles to not even ride it!)   Bike riding on the way to the surf in Stavanger, Norway.

After surfing, we had the chance to witness to them and share some divine appointment "Holy Ghost Surf Stories" with these Norwegian kids. They responded quite openly but you could tell they thought Americans are such strange creatures who do such crazy things like ride so far on bikes to go surfing! Nevertheless, we got to plant eternal seeds in their hearts and they supplied the need for the right board. It was the beginning of a day of divine appointments.

While taking a shower after surfing, I slipped and banged my knee and this led to more divine appointments. A guy saw my knee and gave us a ride in his pickup truck (an uncommon vehicle there), carrying all our stuff in the back; bikes, boards, etc. to the train station about 10 miles away. It was getting very
late so this was really a blessing, and we also got to witness to this guy and his girlfriend.

We then took the train back to Stavanger, which was much more expensive than we were expecting, (nothing's cheap in Norway). We didn't have much cash on us but the conductor gave us a discount because of his sympathy for my bleeding knee, which he actually also bandaged up for me. We didn’t know it, but this discount would turn out to be more divine providence than first thought.

We arrived back in Stavanger at almost 11 at night, which was bright as midday, and we were starving and low on cash—we just had a little change left on us after the train ride--and there weren't many options for food at that hour. God is always in control: a young man on the street just walked up to us out of the blue and out of nowhere handed us some money as he made a prayer sign with his hands and said some words in Norwegian (he didn't speak English) and walked away! WOW!

We had just a little change left from the train. The money the guy on the street just gave us combined with our left-over change from the discount on the train turned out to be the exact amount we needed to buy three much needed hamburgers at the only place still open in town!!! WOW!!! Glory to God!!! Quite a miracle when you think about it, and all the glory goes to God!

More Divine Appointments
We had another remarkable divine appointment when we were taking a short trip up to Norway’s famous natural monument called Prekestole (Preacher’s Rock.) You need to take a ferry across the bay in Stavanger to get over to the road that takes you to the place where you can make the 3-mile hike up the steep and rocky mountain trail to the top. As we were crossing on the ferry we noticed a familiar face, a friend from California whom we had ministered to and prayed for some years ago. We were all flabbergasted to see each other not only in Norway but on the same boat, on the same day, going to the same place.
  Divine appointment on the ferry on the way to visit Prekestole. Imagine running into a friend on a boat on the other side of the world!
We not only had a great time fellowshipping on the boat, but also hanging out on the top of Prekestole overlooking one of Norway’s most famous fjords.

Mariana and her friends turned out to be a big help for us on the top of the treacherous lookout spot, helping to watch Patrick so we could enjoy a little time taking in the breathtaking scenery. We got to share some encouraging stories with her from our trip and she blessed us by helping out with Patrick there in a treacherous place that God knew we definitely could use the help in order to enjoy the view.

It encouraged us that the Lord was certainly bearing witness that His divine hand was upon our every step even when taking a little break after the end of ministering. Ministry never really stops though when you walk in the Spirit!
New Videos
We recently have completed some new videos: “John Knox and The Reformation in Scotland.” John Knox is known as the thundering Scot whose dynamic preaching inspired the Protestants in Scotland to endure against staggering oppression from the institutionalized church until reform was instituted.
Our other latest video titled “The Need for Reform” explains the gross errors the institutionalized church fell into, even instituting torture as an official practice, and explains why the Reformation was and remains necessary. As Luther said “Let the Reformation Continue!”
You can receive one of these or any other video for a donation of any size, the suggested amount shown on our catalog is just that – suggested. If you can’t afford a donation you can still receive a video and if you want to give more than the suggested amount that is definitely welcome too. Enjoying the scenery with friends in Southern Norway.
Travel Battles and More
There is always heavy spiritual warfare surrounding Spirit-filled ministry; Satan truly hates the work of the Holy Spirit. It’s too bad so much of the church joins him in his deceived attitude.

Just getting home from this trip was an exhausting nightmare, as we experienced delays, getting bumped twice and stuck waiting to get on a flight. Then we couldn’t even get into Southern California and we had to opt for landing in Las Vegas and then driving over 5 hours in a rental car just to make it home. Talk about having to do exhausting stuff when you’re already totally exhausted. Satan seeks to wear us down but those who wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength!
Bird-Watching Miracle
After being home a short time I took Patrick on a bike ride, one that would be a perilously close call. While riding in the Back Bay bike trail that runs next to a road I noticed an unusual Argentine-looking parrot sitting next to the road so I stopped to take a look at it. Because it was such an unusual sight, it caused me to stop where I normally would not have. A few moments later, right in the spot I would be if I wouldn't have stopped, an SUV came flying around a corner, going extremely fast and way out of control crossing over the bike lane and smashing into a wall. I rushed over to see if anyone was hurt and with a deranged look on her face the driver peeled out of there with a look of manic rage glaring at me. I realized a moment afterward that God has just used a bird to spare our lives!

I don’t ever remember stopping while bike ridding to look at a bird before, but this bird really stood out because of seeing ones like it in Argentina, and it’s an extreme rarity here. Well, God obviously put it there to protect us and I never realized before that bird watching could be so exciting and rewarding! Hallelujah for His protection given in such strange and wondrous ways.
Ghana Preparations and Yet Another Holy Ghost Surf Story
For a few years now we have been receiving invitations to Ghana, Africa to come and preach in a large conference that the Assemblies of God does in the Upper West region there. We haven’t responded positively before because of the high expense of traveling to Africa and all the undertaking it involves. However we received an invitation a few months ago that we immediately felt God wanted us to respond to.
Preachin at Fildadelfia Mysen in Norway.
After confirming that we would come this December to preach and do outreaches there, I began to feel overwhelmed by the whole prospect. But God is able to confirm His will in the most dramatic of ways.

One Monday morning I was taking a little surf break after preaching the day before, and as I was just about to enter the water in Newport Beach a very wild thing happened. I noticed a black man in full dress clothes out of the corner of my eye over a ways walking in circles. The next thing I knew he was running over to me. He came up to me and shook my hand and introduced himself to me. We began to talk and he then shared that he was from Ghana. He told me that the Holy Spirit had just told him to come talk to me when he saw me standing there ready to go surfing.

We were both awestruck and then he said let’s pray and as he began to pray he said: “The Lord says, ‘I am sending you to Ghana…’ ” It was quite mind-blowing but a definite confirmation of the fact that this step of faith we are undertaking is clearly God’s will.

We can definitely use your prayers and financial support as we are still paying some bills from our last trip and this is a big financial step for us.

We believe God will move on many hearts however. Although this and other trips and ministry we undertake are always a sacrifice for us, we like Paul, say: “We do it all for the sake of the Gospel, that we may share in it’s blessings.”

Your financial gifts are always appreciated and are also tax deductible when made out to Grace World Mission.

Many blessings to you from
Bryan, Mercedes
and Patrick Marleaux
E-mail: gracewm@flash.net
Web page: www.graceworldmission.org
Toll-free phone: 877-gracewm (orders) or (949) 723-6316
Address: Grace World Mission
2521 1/2 First Avenue
Corona del Mar, CA 92625
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