And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us and we saw His glory,

glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.

December 2004

The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make His face shine on you and be gracious to you; the Lord lift up His countenance on you and give you peace.

There is no doubt that all along this year, probably more than any other time before, we have seen a remarkable increase in God’s anointing, not just upon established ministries, but mainly upon ordinary believers, often upon men and women who never ministered before. Our own ministry too has been touched by a fresh outpouring of grace and power, with more signs and wonders, new doors being open, new contacts, new visions. Above all we are thankful to the Lord for the grace of letting us see the fruit sprouting out of seeds scattered in the past. In several instances we met again people, reporting back on healings received,  prophecies fulfilled, even on ministries being birthed, through our prayers and words of encouragement, given even many years ago.

With regard to the future, we sense that God is calling His own people to sanctify themselves through righteousness, purity of motives and deeper intimacy with Him. There is also a fresh gentleness coming from the heart of God, being made manifest through His own people. We sense that effectiveness in evangelism, spiritual growth, sanctification, are becoming manifest in smaller groups, smaller churches, smaller ministries. There is less boasting, less aspirations of greatness, less aiming at recognition from man. On the basis of our experience, we believe that it will be more and more difficult for large churches, powerful ministries, large buildings, projects requiring large sums of money, large events and gatherings to be really effective and to move under the anointing of the Holy Spirit rather than in their own strength. We find it more difficult to accept that anything “big” is really within the present plans of God. We are not alone in this vision and the more we share it with true servants of Christ, the more we sense that our perception seems to be right. Nevertheless, God is able and willing to use everyone and everything for His own purposes, old and new wineskins, small and big, powerful and weak.

What can we say about this past year? It has been extremely busy, but glorious, fruitful and joyful. We gave quite a lot in terms of ministry, but we were also able to receive personal ministry and we enjoyed it. We spent all January at the Leaders School of the Toronto Airport Christian Fellowship. It is difficult to describe the experience in a few words, except that it was great fun. It was not just receiving, because while we were in Toronto we were invited to minister to local churches and groups. Jumping a few months ahead, in July we were in North Carolina to receive eight days of intense, purifying, encouraging, deep healing ministry from Chester and Betsy Kylstra. We loved it. We believe that everyone who is or plans to be involved in ministry should receive that sort of input.

Eastern Europe opened up to us and in February Giancarlo was two and a half weeks in Ukraine, including ten days at a school for leaders and pastors. Spending many hours every day with those wonderful people and seeing them opening up to the love of the Father and to the fellowship of the Holy Spirit was simply great. In September we were a week in Latvia and in November ten days in Hungary, for some intense and greatly rewarding rounds of teaching and preaching. We fell in love with those wonderful brethren and we appreciated their generosity, total dedication and the great sacrifices that they do for the sake of the Kingdom.

We were in Germany in March, June and October, ministering at churches that we have been visiting for several years on a regular basis. Great fun, great fellowship, great friendships, above all great joy in seeing the growth of all those churches, not just in numbers, but in power, love and holiness. We also ministered at a prophetic conference in Heidelberg and we held the second Father’s Heart week in Hubmersberg, with our dear son Stefan. This year our dear Claudine joined us and the event became a real family ministry! More next year. During the prophetic conference in Heidelberg, we were approached by a brother, who read in a magazine that we were at the conference. We had totally forgotten that years ago his daughter, who was nine at that time, was hit by a speeding car. At the hospital no hope was given for her recovery, since her brain was medically dead. Giancarlo had a vision of the girl riding a bicycle as an adult and we prayed for life. After that we lost all contacts. Nine years later, the parents came back to us with their daughter, alive, perfectly conscious, with all her faculties, except a slight walking disability and a tremor in one arm. Glory! While in Germany, we paid a short visit to Austria. Notwithstanding some manifest opposition and scepticism a girl, who had a fractured wrist and a severe nerve inflammation, was instantly healed.

In February and October we ministered at Bethanie, France, and  we witnessed the growth of that excellent ministry, including some remarkable physical healings. Talking about healing, we spent a long week end in Northern Ireland in November, concentrating on healing, seeing power, signs and wonders and new ministries being established locally. Still on healing, while in Holland in March, we prayed for an elderly lady, as well as for all the other members of the congregation, to receive healing anointing. We did not know that she had injured her knees in a bicycle accident. While she was falling under the power of the Holy Spirit, instinctively she touched her knees. She was instantly healed and she is still healed! I told this story to a dear young boy in Bat Yam, Israel, in April. He  injured his knee while paying football. He prayed for his own knee and he was healed! We do not see any reason why anyone who is filled with the Holy Spirit should not pray for himself or herself and expect results. In this way, all the glory goes to Jesus alone!

When we were in Israel in April, we ministered around the country to various congregations with whom we have now long standing relationships. It is always refreshing to be with our Messianic brethren, to enjoy their great love, hospitality, generosity and to learn from their wisdom and experience. Last year while speaking at a meeting in Jerusalem, Giancarlo was introduced as “Juan Carlos” from Argentina. Very amusing. The result was that the place was packed with people who expected one of the Argentinean revivalists to speak.  The mistake was clarified and the dear brother who lead the meeting gave us a wonderful prophetic word to the effect that, even if we are not from Argentina, we will go there and bring back fire of revival to Jerusalem. At that time we thought that the word, although given with great love and humility, was far fetched, since we do not have any connection at all with Argentina. In June, during our Father’s Heart seminar in Germany, we met again with leaders of the Nehemia Team ministries. Later in October, we were invited to visit their headquarters in Fürth, Germany. We found that we had the same visions, aspirations, very similar methods and the idea of working together seemed promising. Our first assignment in January 2005 on behalf of the Nehemia Team will be in Argentina. Glory!

While in Jerusalem, we had a look at the soaking rooms established there by a church from mid New York State. We ministered to the church while in the USA in July and we are now planning a joint event in Israel next year, together with other members of  Partners in Harvest, the network of ministries and churches we belong to. Through our involvement in Partners in Harvest, we were invited to minister to various churches in the UK, something that did not happen too often in the past. We really would like to be more involved on the home front, but so far it seems that most invitations come from abroad. Next year will take us again to distant lands.

In May we ministered in Ottawa and at the Toronto Airport Christian Fellowship, where we spoke at the daily revival meetings and at the ministry school. The time in Toronto was encouraging, with daily conversions to Christ and remarkable healings, very refreshing, joyful, wonderful fellowship, full of real fun, even hilarious especially when we ministered to the youth at the school. We find it difficult to understand why some people who are in ministry complain about hardship, difficulties, tiredness. Serving Christ, even in difficult circumstances, is the most wonderful experience in life.

Giancarlo & Catherine