May, 2005
Monterrey Mexico
First Mission Team

I am thankful for the ICE missions trip to Monterey, Mexico.

While there, I had a great honor bestowed upon me when one of our hosts, Pastor Jonathan asked me to minister to his congregation of over 200 on a Sunday morning.

The message I preached that morning was a message on revival that I had been working on for several months.  After I was done preaching, the pastor came to me and showed me his journal entry from earlier that morning.  He had asked God for that exact message without knowing what I would be preaching on.  God is good!

I felt the Lord wanted me to anoint the church during this time as well; to lay hands on them for soul-winning and touching the lost.  When I asked pastor’s permission, he shared a vision he had of me doing exactly that during my visit.  For over 2 hours, under the presence of the Lord, we prayed and laid hands on every person in that service. 

The Bible says to taste and see that the Lord is good.  I have tasted and seen that what the Lord can do with you if you let Him. It is better than anything this life has to offer.  Praise be to God!

Ronell Tate
Undergraduate Student
ICE

During the 80’s and 90’s I read books by Kenneth Copeland and Kenneth E. Hagin constantly and listened to many audio teachings.  I took Rev. Hagin’s three year program called “Rhema Correspondence Bible School.”  I believe every time I heard Rev. Hagin he quoted  Mark 11:23-24 at least once no matter what subject he was preaching. Kenneth Copeland also taught from those Scriptures numerous times as well. In so many ways, I really feel I grew up on Mark 11:23-24.

During our ICE mission trip to Monterrey our host, Pastor Hector Rocha, took us to a mountain park site called Garcia’s Caves. The mountains were huge and seemingly impenetrable, solid all the way through. In the natural, you would think that nothing could move it.

We took a cable car from the park at the base to the top of the mountain where there was an opening which allowed us to go inside the caves.  The sight on the inside is something I will never forget; there were various rock formations, boulders and platforms, but the mountain itself was nothing more than a shell. From one point you could see all the way to the top where two small holes brought in the sunlight. We were able to walk around various caverns and trails on the inside of this huge mountain for over two hours!
As I sat on a bench inside the mountain Mark 11:23 rose up on the inside of me. I thought to myself, if people only realized the mountains in their lives are nothing more than hollow shells, they would move them.  The situations or obstacles in our lives have no substance when we have Jesus; just like this mountain, they are hollow.  Satan makes the mountain appear as if it is impossible to move. He knows what God has for us, and he wants us to think we can’t get there.

That is exactly what Mark 11:23 is telling us, to believe what we say. Our words are containers that carry great power.  When we speak God’s Word, and believe we have it, we are using His power and it can move mountains.  As Mark Hankins has taught before, “if you only knew what was on the other side of the mountain, you would move it.”

As a distance-learning student with ICE, I am thankful for what God is doing inside me. I am changed by what I was able to see and do while in Monterrey.  Dr. Dennis challenged each of us to take the ‘head knowledge’ from our classes and live it while on the trip.  As we exercised what we had learned and made ourselves available, God made His presence known and used each of us in a special way.  I am grateful for what I’ve learned; thanks to ICE and praise to God.

Judy Ramsey
Distance Learner,
Undergraduate Student

I am excited to be writing to you today, sharing the glory of our Lord.  Monterrey, Mexico has been a life changing experience. Being a student of the International College of Excellence prepared me with what Dr. Sempebwa calls “head knowledge,” but Monterrey introduced me to the experience. 

An insert from my journal states “As I sit here in the thickness of it all; conditions – people, housing, finances… Lord use this team in a mighty way so we can touch this generation to change the next generation…” and the Holy Spirit manifested Himself.  Oh, so powerfully! 

By deciding early on to be willing and obedient, to remove myself from the  process and let the Holy Spirit work through me, was the greatest teaching that I could have received.  My mouth and hands worked together with the Holy Spirit to heal a hurting people.  Through it all, I had love and compassion for a nation that could not understand my tongue, but knew my Spirit -- a nation crying out for change, letting them know that only by the way of Jesus [Glory to God] that this will be accomplished.

This was the first of many missions for me and I would like to give honor and respect to Pastor Robb and Linda Thompson for their vision and guidance, Dr. Dennis Sempebwa for his pureness of heart, and the International College of Excellence for wisdom and knowledge.  Because of you, I write through the eyes, mind, and heart of a changed woman.

God Bless
Baheejah Butler
Undergraduate Student

When we were in Mexico at the orphanage, a little girl (her name is Claudia) kept clinging to me and a couple of the others the whole time that we were there.  Well, I received a Family Christian Stores catalog for August and was pleasantly surprised to see her on the front cover! 

Apparently, Family Christian Stores was giving part of the proceeds from their charity, “James Fund” to support orphanages in Mexico!  During our visit there, we were angry at the conditions that the children were living in.  We all came into agreement and believed God for the finances to come into the orphanage. 

We spoke the Word, agreed upon it, now right before our eyes God is moving mightily…His word does not return void!!

Look at what power and agreement can do!! Hallelujah!! Hallelujah!!  Hallelujah!!

Stephanie Goode
I.C.E. Undergraduate