Jess Mott - Intern

Claremont Chili Cook-Off

Last weekend was our first outreach event; we went to a chili cook-off in Claremont, New Hampshire to do free dream interpretations and spiritual readings.

We got there at around 8am to set up our tents, have a quick coffee and a walk-around, just in time for the first people to come in. I’m not sure what I was expecting, but I was surprised how open and interested the people of Claremont were to receive an “encouraging word” and to let us speak words of life into their lives.

We were all split into groups of three, with one staff member in each team for the spiritual readings/ dream interpretations. If we were not on a “dream team” we were either intercessing or being “gatherers”. Being a gatherer means that you walk around and pray for people that you see and tell them about what we are doing and to generally chat to them and show love toward them.

The fist group I was in was with Dustin Zupancic (Abbotsford, B.C) and Matt Howard (England). When the first person sat down with us for a spiritual reading, I found that by God’s grace, it was fairly easy to hear from Him about was He was saying and how we could show that person His love. It put into practice what we had been taught about how God is always talking to all of us, but it’s just a case of whether we choose to take the time to listen to what He is saying. It also helped me to realize how much God truly loves everyone and wants to pour His love upon them with any chance He can get. I already knew this in my head, but sometimes it takes something more for things to settle into our hearts.

As the afternoon progressed, a huge variety of people came though our doors, with many different needs. It was awesome to see God touch each person and give them exactly what they needed for that time in their lives and how faithful He was to keep giving us the words to speak to bless others.

Overall, I had an awesome time and although I was a little nervous to begin with, I feel so honored to have the experience of being on a Dream Team and I can’t wait to see what God does at Salem in a few weeks time!