Singapore, China, and Tibet Tour 2015

Singapore, China, and Tibet Tour 2015

Thursday, November 12th

The travelers started out with a breakfast time of prayer, praise and worship, and Marilyn continuing her teaching on identity. They then headed out for Potala Palace, home of the Tibetan Dalai Lama. Once there, they prayer-walked around the complex, and then the more stout-hearted among them walked the many steps up to the palace for a guided tour within the palace. Of course, Marilyn made it to the top! More details about Potala to come!

After lunch, our tour director arranged for us to go to a carpet factory to see the procedure of making carpets from sheared sheep wool to the finished beautiful carpet. That’s great, but that’s not really the treat – He also arranged with the Buddhist owner of the factory to let our people pray and lay hands on the factory workers and their families. Remember, this nation, under China’s rule, does not allow any proselytizing. Once there, we went through the factory tour and ended up in the warehouse with the workers. The owner said that we were NOT to lay hands on them because they are Buddhist. So everyone started just walking, praying in tongues, and the factory workers, all young ladies, were so receptive that some of our travelers started laying hands on them and they were quite welcoming and visibly touched and warm to our prayers. When the buses were ready to leave, the workers all left their looms and came out smiling and vigorously waving goodbye. Our tour guide later said he could see in their eyes how touched they were by our presence and prayers. Hallelujah to our King for however he will use this time to affect their eternal destinies!

Our tour guide also mentioned something else that can only be attributed to another miracle of God. In his vast experience, when groups apply for Tibetan visas, usually a small percentage of the people in the group get denied. With our group, every single one of the visas processed got accepted!

Wednesday, November 11th

The travelers woke up in the wee hours to catch our two flights to Tibet, and everyone arrived safely. Some luggage was missing, but reappeared in the next two days, so all were happy. Many of the travelers were battling spiritual warfare manifesting in headaches, coughing, and other minor physical maladies. Even those used to high altitudes had to fight against the sickness that can come with being in an elevation of almost 12,000 feet high. We also had two falls but both are recovering and they are refusing to let this get them down. Everyone was encouraged to relax as much as possible after settling in so that they will have energy when the touring starts the next day

Monday-November 9th

This day was the travelers last day in Singapore and the morning breakfast time included a teaching by MH on identity. She shared that everyone has a divine destiny, and gave numerous examples of the devil trying to steal identities, and how God gave them back – Adam and Eve, Rahab, Esther, the woman at the well, and more. She emphasized that our identity is in Him and it’s His Name that brings the miraculous.

Next the group went on a “Singapore Past, Present, and Future” tour. This comprised of a city tour and a museum tour. Singapore is only 50 years young, and it is a marvel to see what all has been accomplished in such a short time! Singapore is about half the size of Los Angeles, or approximately the size of New York City. It holds 5.5 million people, so out of necessity, they build up, and skyscrapers abound. The climate was very warm, humid, and rainy this was the ‘cooler’ season! Twenty percent of the land has receded in 50 years, so the government has made huge strides to reclaim it, mostly by bringing in tons of sand from neighboring Indonesia in the early 2000s.

Then the group went to Marina Barrage where a huge dam sits. This is where Singapore has invented the process of turning the sea water into fresh water, so they won’t need to be dependent on Malaysia for their water supply. Some interesting facts – as many skyscrapers as there are, there are also lots of trees and foliage around because of a government law that whenever a developer builds a building that displaces trees, they must replant an equal number of trees. This is why you see lots of trees sitting on various levels of the tall buildings – sometimes the only room to plant trees is on the buildings themselves.

The group traveled to Chongqing, China to overnight then…next stop—Tibet!

Sunday, November 8th

On Sunday morning Sarah spoke at the two morning services at Trinity Christian Centre. Over 900 people were in attendance for these two services. She shared about Faith and how it is essential in our relationship with God. Those who wanted an increase in faith and community were invited to come forward and pray.

After these services, Sarah signed copies of her Jesus Chicks book.

The next morning the travelers were up early and at breakfast they were joined by Sarah, who shared a teaching nugget about being keenly aware of the Holy Spirit’s working in our lives. We are to be more like sponges, soaking in the Holy Spirit and leaking Him out along the way, than like cups who keep the Spirit contained. After that, we had powerful prayer led by a traveler who has been with us for decades, Leonard Dawkins, and then great praise and worship again led by Shirley.

They then traveled to New Creation Church, and were awed by the incredible, dynamic, alive worship in the church and the number of members is amazing – over 35,000 attend services every Sunday – this count is pretty accurate since the members are asked to only come once each Sunday. NCC has multiple locations, but our travelers were at the Star PAC (Performing Arts Center) where 5,000 seats are filled up for 4 services every Sunday. The first two are live, and then the better of the two live services are broadcast to a packed crowd in each of the next two services. Each traveler was blessed with a gift bag filled with NCC products!

Marilyn spoke at both live services, and all the travelers went to the 11:30 service to see her. Everything is extremely high tech, and so beautiful. The travelers normally get the opportunity to pray for and lay hands on the believers, but they were not allowed to do so here, so they just sat back and enjoyed the service. Afterwards, they prayed individually as God gave opportunity as they were waiting for the bus to take them back to the hotel.

They could readily see how the Singapore family of believers really love and honor Marilyn. They gave her much applause and respect in their words of introduction. Joseph even calls her ‘mom’. The NCC members also love their pastor, Joseph Prince, who was in the USA to speak at his church in Houston and in Lakewood (Joel Osteen’s) church, and they prayed for him fervently before the awesome, lively praise and worship started.

Marilyn taught on the immeasurable value of meditating, saying and doing the Word, and memorizing scripture as the vehicle for getting the Word to start working in you. She emphasized that the more you get the Word in you, the more successful and prosperous you will be in this life. Then she gave all 35,000 people in attendance a homework assignment – memorizing Psalm 139 – she said for them to tell Pastor Joseph that! She then prayed for heart problems, then growths, tumors and warts. Many people stood up to receive their healings, and many waved at her when she asked who felt differently. She closed with some personal testimonies, such as when she received the Lord at age 16, some Sarah stories, and how the Lord had given her a physical new heart and straightened spine. The atmosphere was electric!

After returning to the hotel and freshening up, the group took a tour to Singapore’s Botanic Gardens, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, which includes a national orchid garden, a children’s garden, and other themed gardens. To their delight, Sarah joined them during this tour! She will head back home tomorrow, so the travelers were so grateful to have a bit more time with her.

The gardens house over 1,000 species and 2,000 hybrids, so there was plenty of beauty to go around. After that, a trip to ‘Little India’ gave the travelers the unique experience of being there on the day that they celebrated the New Year – quite the colorful experience, with music, dancing, decorations, and shoulder to shoulder people! A smaller team chose to instead go out on the streets evangelizing – approx. 30% of Singaporeans are Christian, so the field out here is white.

Sarah Bowling Ministering at New Creation Church and Trinity Christian Centre

Saturday-November 7th

The Singapore, China, Tibet fall group tour is under way!

A total of 102 travelers and 8 staff members are on this wonderful adventure. The flight to Singapore, their first destination, was long but smooth. Everyone enjoyed getting to know their new traveling companions and with 61% of the group being previous travelers, many old friendships were rekindled.

After arrival and a smooth check-in, they all had our first gathering at the Welcome/Orientation Dinner, where Marilyn greeted everyone and went over the goals for the trip. They then had an anointed time of praise and Worship with Shirley Wilkins, and the bar was set for high expectations of what God was about to do in their lives during this trip, and miracles He would perform.

While Marilyn and the travelers were ministering at New Creation Church, Sarah had the opportunity to speak at Trinity Christian Centre, in Singapore.

She spoke to over 500 in attendance at the Saturday evening service. She shared Deuteronomy 30:6 about having a fresh call to be committed. She also gave specific scripture verse to certain people in attendance.

She also shared A Saving Moses video.

Friday, November 6th

Sarah had the great opportunity to minister to the young adults at New Creation Church on Friday, November 6th. She was well received and really enjoyed the opportunity to speak one-on-one with people while signing copies of her Jesus Chicks book.