Ambassadors and Breakfast with Impalas

Yes, I am back in Africa. This time in Lusaka, Zambia.

Yesterday morning when I sat down outside on the porch to have breakfast, there were 9 impalas roaming around just 10 meters (30ft) from my table. Africa is amazing in many ways.

Then I left for church and preached at Jehova is in Control Church. What a church. See the pics below. I preached about being an Ambassador for Christ (2 Cor 5:20) and the people caught the fire. When I made my altar call for salvation all hands went up. As I proceeded to make my very clear invitation cleared, 25 precious souls came to the altar and gave their lives to Jesus. The hunger for God is so intense that when people hear the gospel, they respond. They want the power, the change, the new life, the fire so much that they will respond to any altar call.

God is on the move all over Africa. There is a hunger that draws His presence down like never before. In city after city the power of God is changing lives.

We, the body of Christ, the believers, the Christians, are all called to be Ambassadors for Christ. I looked up the meaning of the word ambassador. Check this out:

- an accredited diplomat sent by its country as it's offical representative to a foreign country

- an official envoy

- an authorized representative

So if we are Christ's ambassadors, then we are accredited envoys sent from His Kingdom into this world to represent him. When an ambassador speaks it is like his president/prime minister (or King in the old days) spoke. The words spoken carry the same weight. They are backed by an entire nation or Kingdom.

An ambassador works and sometimes even lives at an Embassy. Again let us check the dictionary:

- the official residence and or office of an ambassador

- a mission sent by one ruler or state to another

An Embassy is a unique place. It is a piece of land offered by the host nation to the foreign nation where the foreign nations's laws rule. Being a Swede living in the US I can walk in to my Embassy in Washington DC and I will be on Swedish soil, protected by the Swedish government and Swedish laws.

A diplomat has immunity. Again back to the dictionary:

- exemption from certain laws

An ambassador cannot be treated like other individuals. When he travels in a diplomatic car, he can not be stopped by local authorities. He enjoys immunity. There are special laws that apply to a diplomat.

As Christ's ambassadors we are representing a different Kingdom and our embassy is not a physical building. The Bible speaks about the Kingdom being within us. So we carry the Kingdom with us at all times. We live by a different set of laws and rules than the world around us. The Holy Spirit lives on the inside and we carry His power with us. Let us walk around and be like Jesus. The testimony about him is found in Acts 10:38 where Apostle Peter says:

"... you know that God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power. Then Jesus went around doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him."

What is the testimony of you and me? This is the challenge for us today? Are we walking around as ambassadors or did we forget to put on our "ambassador suit" this morning?

Let us walk around as ambassadors changing the world one person at a time.

C u soon!! Published: By: Unknown - 6:04 AM

Day 2 and 3 in the Himalayas

The second night was a night of salvations! We preached on the blood of Jesus and the response was great, so many pushed their way forward to receive Him!! The crowd grew a little bit, but as we enter the weekend we stand in faith and believe for thousands to find their way to our field!

We see many deaf ears opening up and we are rejoicing together with the people! Jesus is really walking the festival grounds! It was a clear sky during the entire meeting and when we got to our car afterwards, the skies opened up and rain started to pour down! What a good God we have! During our meetings there has not been a drop of rain so far!

One of the most amazing miracles that took place was a man walking with a cane that came to listen. He testified from the stage and told us that as I preached the gospel he felt the power and the peace of God, and then he decided to give His life to Jesus. Afterwards he came forward for healing and gave me the cane and started to walk across the stage! What a victory!

We love the people of this nation!

We serve the One and only living God! Thank you Jesus for kissing this festival!

Samuel Strandberg
Mission SOS

We had a breakthrough on our 3rd festival night!! We turned the whole ground into a huge party for Jesus! As the team sang and danced on stage everyone, from old to young, joined in! It was an amazing sight! Hundreds of people ran forward for salvation and after that a healing explosion broke out.

Jesus opened up blind eyes and deaf ears all over the field! We had 6 people come up on stage and testify what Jesus had done for them and all we could do was to stand in awe and thank God for kissing our festival with his beautiful presence… The crowd grew even bigger tonight and there is an anticipation for mighty things the last night of this festival. So far around 800 people have given their life to Jesus! Each and everyone of them are so precious!

Thank you for standing with us!

Samuel Strandberg
Mission SOS

Published: By: Unknown - 5:08 AM

The Mute Speak in the Himalayas!

MISSION Our festival among the unreached has finally begun! We are in a completely unreached region preaching the wonderful message of Jesus Christ! The team that is made up by 7 people from the US, Sweden and India arrived to the field last night where just about 300 people were gathered, but as the minutes passed, more and more people came. When Samuel started to preach there were around 1500 on the field. We preached a crystal clear gospel message about Jesus, the peacemaker. It turned out to be a word from heaven as our festival here is called the Peace and Prayer Festival.

Several high authorities in the region came out and participated. It was a beautiful sight when we started the festival by praying for the country, the state we are in and the local village. When the salvation invitation rang out people came from all over the field. We are still waiting for the final decision card count but we estimated it to be somewhere around 200 people that gave their lives to Jesus!

As we started to minister to the sick, demons manifested and people were carried out to the “demon clinic” where Jesus started to do miracles! A young boy who had been totally mute came up on stage, but as the power of God came over him He started to speak and make sounds! The crowd loved it, and praised God and we are so thankful to Jesus for what He is doing. There was also an older man that received hearing on his right ear! Jesus is so good! We anticipate the crowd to at least double in size today and we are so excited to see even more miracles and signs from heaven!

We love this nation!

Thank you for all your prayers, we will continue to keep you updated as much as possible, but internet is extremely hard to find out here.

Samuel and Gabrielle Strandberg
Mission SOS

Published: By: Unknown - 5:02 AM

Miracles in Mbeya Tanzania!

The festival in Tanzania is in full swing as I am writing this. Peter and our daughter Josefina has been there over a week already and the festival is on day three. Jesus has done amazing miracles, so many people saved, deaf ears have been opened, blind eyes healed, the mute are speaking! It is just like we read about in the gospels or the book of Acts!

Our team from Sweden, Norway, USA and Switzerland have joined together with the locals team in Mbeya in a beautiful way. They are preaching all over the city in the mornings and then join together in the afternoon for our large open air festival meetings.

Check out these videos from the first days:

 

Update 1 Mbeya 2014 from Mission SOS on Vimeo.


Update 2 Mbeya 2014 from Mission SOS on Vimeo.

Update 3 Mbeya 2014 from Mission SOS on Vimeo.

Check back with us soon for more updates!

/Martina Published: By: The Almqvists - 8:46 AM

Fire, Antelopes and Wildhog...

I am sitting in my hotel room in Lusaka, Zambia and thinking back on the last week. Last Saturday I landed in Dar-es-Salaam again. Tanzania has become like a second (or third, or fourth) home in a way. Johannes arrived later in the evening and he preached 3 times the following day for Dr Huruma Nkone at VCCT. Great services. Powerful presence of heaven.

Tuesday morning we flew to Mbeya in the south. My alarm went off at 0230 so that we could make the 6am flight. We then had three days of mobilization in Mbeya. We meet with key people from the government, business people from the region and religious leaders. They all extended their hands in partnership and they all welcomed us to their city and region. God is planning something extraordinary for Mbeya in July.

Healed in her right ear.

Bishop Barnabas Mtokambali of the Tanzania Assemblies of God and his Executive team have and are showing us great favor in their nation. The TAG is celebrating their 75th anniversary this year and will be holding a large celebration conference in Mbeya in July. They invited us to hold our festival the same week. They are bringing in close to 5,000 pastors and we are bringing in close to 200 people to evangelize the city.

Mbeya will be shaken by the power of God. Jesus is about to show up in a new fresh way in the city and people will run to him like never before.

I left Mbeya and headed to Lusaka, Zambia for a scouting/recon trip. My flight was delayed so I arrived in the late afternoon. Bishop Mackson Mando from the AG met me at the plane together with some person from the airport. This man walked me through immigration in a breeze. Outside 4 other bishops were waiting. They all welcome me and SOS to Zambia.

As I was sitting outside in the sun taking my breakfast Saturday morning I see 10-15 antelopes about 50 meters away (150ft) just grazing in the open behind the hotel. Nice welcome to Lusaka. We spent the afternoon driving around the city, mainly the eastern parts, to see scout out good festival grounds. We may have found a good field. It is in densely populated area. But we are still not sure. It was so good to get a feel for the city.

That evening as I had some warthog for dinner. Someone knows how to cook in this place...
This morning I had the privilege to preach for Bishop Mackson Mando at his church. Great church. Maybe 300 people gathered this morning for service. I shared miracle stories, preached about a different fire that doesn't consume us. When I gave the altar call the altars were filled, maybe 70% came to the front. It was beautiful and powerful. Many recommitted to Jesus as the understood who He truly is and that he stepped down to lift us up! A glorious morning indeed. I was then invited to the Bishop's house for lunch. God is good.

Tomorrow I will meet the president of the EFZ, Evangelical Fellowship of Zambia, an umbrella organization for all the evangelical denominations and churches in Zambia. Zambia is known as a Christian nation. So why am I here?

Good question my friend. Last year God spoke to us about the capital cities of Africa and specifically the young generation. We were to set up festivals in each city and train the young to listen to the Spirit of God and life in the supernatural with signs, wonders, and miracles.

Driving from the airport to my hotel on Friday I asked the Bishops to tell me about the city. They said that Lusaka has a lot of churches and that Zambia is considered a Christian nation but there is a great challenge with the young people. Unless truly committed to God and the church, they are out  doing a whole lot of no good. Alcohol is a big, big problem. The young are not living for Jesus. This is why God has called us to Lusaka. To show them who He truly is. We want to come here and be real with the people. I tried to be real this morning and when I was, 70% responded to Jesus.

I believe Holy Spirit wanted me (us) to see and get a taste of what He wants to do in this city. We are a willing tool...

Lusaka for Jesus!

C u soon again somewhere in the world!! Published: By: Unknown - 4:44 PM

Sialkot Video

Check  out this video from the Peace Festival in Sialkot Pakistan...


Sialkot Pakistan 2014 from Mission SOS on Vimeo. Published: By: Unknown - 9:27 PM

On My Way Home ...

I find myself sitting in one of the many lounges at Dubai airport. Tired but filled with a deep joy over what God did this past week and a new fresh love for Jesus. What an amazing week we had in Sialkot, Pakistan. What God did, goes so much farther and deeper that what we can see on the surface. 

One angle takes us back a century in time: the sowing and reaping principle.

There have been many missionaries that have worked and some even shed their blood in Pakistan. My parents gave ten years of their lives for this nation. They never saw a great breakthrough but remained faithful to the call of God. Maybe they had days when they "were not sure", days when they wanted to give up - but they stayed the course. There are so many more missionaries with untold stories that sowed, plowed and some that harvested. 18 months ago one of them, Birgitta Almeby, was martyred for the Gospel, as she was shot to death outside her house. But we need to go back even further to the turn of the last century…

John Hyde, aka The Praying Hyde

I am thinking about John Hyde (aka The Praying Hyde). He was born in Illinois in 1865 and departed for the Indian Subcontinent in 1892. He spent the next 20 years in Punjab (modern day Pakistan and India). He was instrumental in establishing the annual Sialkot Conference () and was known to spend days in prayer at a time. His body took a harsh beating from all the time in prayer and fasting and his heart moved from the left side of his chest to his right and in 1912 he was severely ill and moved back to the US, where he died later that year.

The people of Sialkot still speak about The Praying Hyde. The time he spent in prayer is still bearing fruit. God chose times like this past week to bring a great harvest in the city of Sialkot. We had over 115,000 people gathered in three nights and over 35,000 people gave their lives to Jesus. Countless miracles took place as the power of God was demonstrated before, during and after the preaching. 

Rom 1:16 says that the GOSPEL IS THE POWER OF GOD. That is what we preach and will continue to preach. Nothing else!!

Preaching the gospel

Our mission is clear - take the GOSPEL to every people group that has not yet heard the message of the cross. We will continue taking the gospel around the world. We will continue to preach SALVATION, BAPTISM in water, HEALING, BAPTISM in fire and DELIVERANCE. There is no other life.

Deaf ears were opened!!

Delivered from evil spirits!!

Salvation!!

We are to believe and pray. That is our task. However, when things seem to not go as we had planned it is very easy to get frustrated and in doing so we loose our focus. GOD IS IN CONTROL. 

This time our portable festival equipment never made it on the vessel that was to move it from Africa to Asia. Somehow, in the midst of everything, I found myself with perfect peace. We ended up having to rent all the gear locally and looking back, if our equipment had made it, we could not have completed the event. The authorities forced us to lower the volume and we had to really think outside the box and with the rented gear that was possible.

C u soon!!

Published: By: Unknown - 8:16 AM

Daddy's Girl

Today you turn double digit. 10 years ago you came into our lives. My little sunshine. 
You are so full of life. You live with such intensity even at this early stage of life. 
You will always be my little princess. 

I love you beyond words and you make me proud to be a dad. 

Never stop being you! There will never be another you. The world needs you to be you to the full. 

Never compromise!

You have always had a strong faith in God. At every festival that you have attended you have always loved to watch and listen to the healing testimonies. At church, when you were younger, you would often be with us at the altar as we ministered to people and you were always trying to see what God was doing. Keep close to Jesus!

Born a leader. I think that even before you were able to walk, you were leading people. Every time we went to McDonald's for lunch and you went to play, it never took more than a few minutes before all the kids, no matter age, were following you and playing on "your" terms. Even the older kids would line up and take their lead from you.
Leadership is a gift from God. Something that He deposits in us even before we are born. This is a gift that can be visciously misused in life. Keep your pure heart and keep allowing God to form you into the queen you are.

God made you beautiful. Remember who you are. A child of God.

As you grow older more and more people will see your beauty. Some will love you for who you are but there are others out there that will love you selfishless and try to manipulate you into loving back. 

Just over 5 years ago something happened that at first seemed to be too much to handle. It felt unreal. You were diagnosed with juvenile diabetes (type 1). It was a hard blow. The devil was mad. He did his best to keep us from pursuing our dream - the will of God. But even after this unfair blow from the devil, you have kept shining, kept living, kept believing. Of course there have been days where you (and we) have felt low and defeated when the reality sinks in. But then you have risen up and shined. We are BELIEVING that ONE DAY you will be completely HEALED.

I will always love you, no matter what. 
I will always be there for you, no matter what. 
I will always pray for you, no matter what.
I will always believe in you, no matter what.
Stay strong. Stay pure. Stay bold. Keep shining.

Remember that God will always love you. He will always carry you in his hand. You are precious in his eyes.

I love you girl.

/Daddy Published: By: Unknown - 5:23 PM

Extraordinary

This has been an out of the ordinary trip for me. First I was able to be a part of the annual SOS Prayer Days at SOS Church Stockholm. Intense days of seeking the face of God with no agenda. We simply pushed into his presence and let Him direct our prayers. And He spoke to us all, corporately and individually. Then that Sunday a flower from Africa, a powerful evangelist preached on Healing of the broken-hearted. Mama Josephine Shoo had a word from heaven to SOS.

From there I flew to Zurich and on to Beinne. Pastor Tim and Manuelle from SOS Church Bienne picked me at the airport and they hosted me for two days. God gave us a beautiful day as we drove up to the pre-Alps and enjoyed the morning. Then in the evening I met the team that will be joining us in Sialkot, Pakistan next month. Great people, on fire for Jesus.

Bujumbura, Burundi was my final destination. Somehow, when my itinerary was forwarded to my host, Bishop Bosco, he only received my departure date and naturally assumed that was my arrival date. So there was no one at the airport to pick me. When I called him, he jumped in his car and sped to the airport to pick me up. What a host this man is. He is humble at heart and generous. God has placed him as the leader among leaders in this nation as he leads a conferedarion of all the different councils of churches in the nation. He knows most of the MPs personally and is the spiritual advisor to the current president, Mr Pierre Nkurunziza. Bishop Bosco has no flashy lifestyle but has lots of power and fire from the Holy Spirit in his life and ministry.

I had meetings with different leaders and bishops and then I preached a total of 7 times in 5 days. God moved mightly and the bishops have expressed that God used SOS and me to bring new revelation and to challenge them to do more for the Kingdom in their city.

Before leaving the city, Bishop Bosco took me to My Father's House, an orphanage that he runs. He has 7 biological children and 5 orphans in his home (the 5th one he accepted in yesterday. The FIrst Lady sent this girl to him...) and then the 43 in the orphanage call him dad as well. A big man...

Sitting writing these few lines watching the sun rise at the Brussels International Airport on my way back home to the Burgh! Tired but happy.

In the days between Christmas and New Year last year God spoke to me about this year, 2014, as I was praying and the word he spoke was: NEW. He wanted to do something new in every area of life. This means in my personal life, in our family life, in my work with SOS but as I noticed this week in Bujumbura, also in the preaching part of my life. I have never preached like I did this week, There was something NEW. The revelation, the power, the anointing, the impact - all NEW.

We might not see everything yet, but God is on the move. This year, 2014, he will do more than he has in the past and I am excited and privileged to be living now as things are speeding up in the Kingdom of God!!

Thank you Jesus for empowering us to bring your love to a lost and hurting world.

In love with Him!

C u soon somewhere in the world...

Published: By: The Almqvists - 3:13 AM