Switzerland Glory Ring Testimonial

Myk Herndon © May 2003

MAY 2003 For the Nation of Switzerland THE PASSION AND FIRE OF GOD! Given to: Eva-Naomi Tagoe, Geneva, Switzerland by Myk Herndon, Gresham, Oregon  Scriptures: John 3:16, Psalm 97, Psalm 149, Psalm 150, John 14, John 15, John 16, John 17, Revelation 22, Acts 2:1-4 and Matthew 28. Handmade by Betty Leach and Jennifer Lynn Joy

Jennifer -

I have just returned from a very enjoyable Lord's day with the Vineyard of Geneva, Switzerland, where the ring has found a home.

The lady's name is Eva-Naomi Tagoe, and she is a native of Ghana, but currently a  Swiss citizen.  

As usual, the ring made a place for itself.

I got there early because I've gotten used to watching worship teams prepare for the service.  In this case, the pastor and his wife had stepped back and let the youth lead worship.  Now, youth in this context includes the college age kids, and even a couple of older ones.  We would call them young adults, but our kids would not call them youth.  They were excellent.  They even had some friends come and sit in with them, a brilliant piano player from Norway and a cello player from Cypress.

The United Nations is based in Geneva, so to say that this is a cross cultural church would be something of an understatement.  Cross-cultural usually means going from one culture to another.  This church is lucky to have more than one family from the same culture.  To make matters worse, a lot of the small children are adopted, as are at least two of Pastor Markos and Priscilla Schori's.

I just sat there and waited.  A Messianic Jew greeted me, and promised to introduce me to the pastor.  His wife Pricilla was the first to arrive.  She's from England.  She came with Margaret, who was the first to notice the ring and ask what it was.  Well, by the time, I had it explained once, I was surrounded.  One English, one Australian, one Philippino, and Eva, who obviously was not a native of Switzerland.  Everyone was so excited.  They wanted to know what it was, so I explained as best I could.  I had found the loose scarf, and showed them how to handle the Glory Ring and how to care for
it, suggesting they get a hat box for it.

Then I told them it was for Switzerland, and that I was looking for the person to care for it, and that the person was more than likely an intercessor.  Everyone turned to Eva.  It was then that I noticed that jacket she had on under her coat.  It was stitched satin like the one you have, only instead of blue, hers was maroon.  As I handed her the ring, she admired the colors, and I told her that as the colors of Scripture have meaning, so the
ring would speak to her.  She seemed to understand that.  Since she was black
and spoke with a typical African accent, I ask her where she was from, and she said Ghana.  That was for me, and was the final piece of the puzzle.

Then the service started, and I thought I was done.  It is a bilingual church, English and French.  They started with the announcements which were done by an African man speaking English and a girl translating to French.  And then I hear him say, "And we have a special guest with us today..." and I think he is referring to the Brazilian family there as the special speakers for this service, but he continued, ".... from the United States, and he has brought us a gift.  Could you tell us about it?"  And he handed me the microphone. 

Well, I'm getting pretty good at speaking with a translator.  I told them who I was and where I was from and that I was just a messenger boy for a friend of mine named Jennifer who had made this Glory Ring for Switzerland, and had given me the quest of finding the one to care for it.  I told them I was led to their church, and that the Spirit had given witness that Eva was to care for it.  I was very warmly received by the congregation. 

Like the others before her, Eva exhibited a rare humility that expressed itself by just being overwhelmed that such a thing would come to her.  She found me after the service and thanked me again.  The greatest testimony to me however, was the number of people who took me aside after the service to let me know that I had chosen wisely to give Eva the Glory Ring.  To me, that has also been a consistent sign that all has gone as the Lord would want it.

As you look at a map, Switzerland looks something like an American football. Geneva is at the extreme western tip, and is the capital of the French speaking section of the country.  This was the first major city to break with the Catholic church under John Calvin, and generally considers itself to be the first home of the reformation, giving the honor of the birth of the movement to Luther's 95 Theses, nailed to a door in Wittenberg, now Germany.

When I came here on Saturday, I walked around the campus of the college Calvin founded there in 1559.  As I did, I could feel my spirit moved to pray that the long dormant seed of that city would sprout again and grow.  Pastor Schori asked me if I had a witness to that kind of word which he had been hearing spoken lately of Geneva, and I told him of my experience at Calvin College.  He was encouraged by it.

But the story does not end there, it goes on.  The special speaker for the day was a woman named Marisa Martins from Brazil, who told of her ministry to the castaway kids of her city of Sao Paulo.  She spoke in Portugese, which was translated into French, and then into English.  She told of her own abuse and rescue, and of God's call on her and her family to rescue as many as they were able to.  At this point, they have adopted 30 children into their own family.  By the time she was done, there were tears in a lot of different eyes.

But the literature she had was in German, so she asked if there was anyone who had friends to take the literature, to spread the word of her ministry.  My travel plans have changed.  I will be leaving here two days early, and heading back to Graz, Austria.  There I will see Paul and Holly Miller again, who have pastored that church for 19 years and are fluent in German.  And Holly, well, she's been to Brazil with Randy Clark.  So I picked up some literature.  God's messenger boy has been sent on another errand.

This will make delivery of the British ring a bit difficult since I will not be getting to England until late Sunday night, and will then be leaving the following Saturday.  I'm sure if He wants to, He will find a way to get it where it's supposed to be.

Blessings,

Myk

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