What's been up with the Bonds over the last 6 months.

Greetings from The Bond Family!

It has been a LONG TIME since our last email update so I figured that since we have done so much and so much has happened in the last 7 months that it was about time to update you all. So here it goes.

We have moved to Kansas City!!!

For those of you who do not know, The Bond Family have moved from Orlando, Florida to Kansas City, Missouri. We moved here to join with the International House of Prayer and have been in the Intro to IHOP-KC internship. Our whole family has been in this internship and it has been life changing for all of us, even the children. We have been through so much over the past year with the passing of Erika's Father and all of Asher's health issues so this last 6 months has been kind of a "selah" season, a time to heal and reflect on the last year as well as to look forward to what is next for us and our family.

Intro to IHOP-KC

During this internship, all of us have been equipped to live lives as intercessory missionaries for the long haul. We went through an 8 week inner healing course called "Pure Heart" which helped us sort through our life wounds of the past and really press into God, unhindered by walls we may have built to protect our hearts. We were also trained in the IHOP prophetic and healing ministry and now walk in fresh confidence to operate in a prophetic spirit to be able to further edify the Body of Christ. During the last 6 months, we have ministered as ushers and ministry captains during the IHOP-U Student Awakening Services and received hands on experience in ministering to the sick and broken hearted. It was freeing to not only witness, but partner along with Holy Spirit, in meeting the needs of God's precious children.

We also received some much needed training in Forerunner Partnership Development (The IHOP way of saying support raising ;) During these classes we were challenged and educated about the biblical model of missionary support and were shown the profoundly biblical concept of support raising for full time missionary work. This series of classes had such an amazing impact on our hearts and mindsets. We have been doing this type of ministry for the last 4 years without having any type of real training on how to go about raising support. We have had to learn the hard way about what is and is not an acceptable way of raising support and it has been such a blessing to us to be taught a biblical model by people that have been successful at it for a number of years. It has been helpful to learn the right way to go about this necessary part of our ministry calling that is edifying for the whole body of Christ and not just a necessary evil in the church and missionary community.

The Children's Track

What is even more exciting is what has been happening in our children. Joel and Asher have been taking classes through IHOP's Children Equipping Center. In their classes, they have been taught to pray and to even lead some of their peers in prayer (Joel particularly). I was in our office reading an email from a friend that was requesting prayer one day and Joel was sitting on my lap and I asked him to pray with me for our friend and he said, "Father, I ask you for ____ and I ask that you would direct her heart into the Love of God and into the patience of Christ. In Jesus' name. Amen". My jaw dropped as my son prayed an apostolic prayer over our friend that was a direct quote from scripture. This is the type of thing that he has been taught in the CEC and we cannot be more delighted. We cherish each of the CEC teachers and look forward to one day being able to fund then in their work here.

So What's Next?

We are preparing to take a trip down to Orlando, Florida. While there we are going to be ministering in churches and serving the body of Christ in Florida with the tools we have just been given for ministry and building up our team of ministry partners. We are looking at rolling out of KC this Monday and plan on returning to KC at the end of the month where we will then officially join staff and begin in our service here at IHOP-KC. Erika will be serving in the CEC and looking into joining a team for prenatal prayer and I am looking at serving in the prayer room and getting some more training for ministry. I'm interested in furthering my education in ministry so that I can be better equipped as a messenger for the day and the hour in which we now live.

Prayer Requests

So, this Monday we are on the road again and we would like to take this opportunity to share with you some prayer requests;

- ...Pray also for us, that God would open to us a door for the Word, to speak the mystery of Christ... Colossians 4:3 Pray that God would open doors for us to minister to the Body of Christ in Orlando and that He would lead us to the people that are in need of what we have so that we can be a blessing to the church in Orlando and in Lake Tahoe where there has been a door opened for ministry along the lines of establishing prayer and preparing the region for a move of the Holy Spirit.

- Pray for effectiveness in our support raising. That we would be able to raise up our entire budget and gather together all the people that God has called to partner with the vision He has given us. Pray that He would direct us to those who's hearts are moved towards our ministry in the area of partnership, both financially and in prayer support. We are in need of both.

- Pray for safe travels, joyfully patient children, favorable driving conditions and for no breakdowns along the road.

- Pray for us, that we would get the full provision needed for not only our trip down but for our expenses while in Orlando.

- Pray that God would lead us and fill us with His will out of Colossians 1:9-11.

So that is the latest info on the Bonds. Now you're pretty much caught up with what's new with us. It would be great to hear from YOU as well!!! So feel free to drop us a line. Especially if we haven't heard from you in a while. I pray this update has been a blessing to you. Please contact us with any prayer requests you may have. We are intercessory missionaries which means a significant portion of our ministry is done through prayer. It's what we love to do ;)

Blessings from The Bonds!!!!!!!!

M@

P.S.

Erika is pregnant with #3 now!!!! She is 21 weeks as we speak!!!! I've got a name in my Spirit that is very masculine. We will see indeed!!!! We welcome all to join with us in prayer for the continued health and wellbeing of this precious new life!

P.P.S. If you would like to give a gift towards our trip to Florida or for anything else on your heart you can do so by clicking here. ;)