Sprained foot led to happy faith

11-year-old Morten sprained his foot during a camping trip so he could neither stand nor walk. But when the evangelist Torben Søndergaard prayed for the foot, the pains disappeared and Morten was able to walk right away and play football…! Now the ex-Jehova-family believes in Jesus.

The Olsen family from Dalby in Sydsjælland (South Zealand) were associated with Jehova’s Witnesses for six-seven years without ever getting baptized.

- They first of all wanted us to keep all their rules and stop smoking – says the mother, Pernille Olsen (40).

10 years ago Pernille and her husband, Jan (46), had enough and stopped coming to the Jehova’s Witnesses gathering place. They were just not able to live up to all the requirements. However, they had been living as Jehova’s Witnesses and had not celebrated Christmas or birthdays – and treated divine healings as demonic.

Now both of them have experienced divine healings very closely. And it all began when together with their two children, Morten (11) and Theresa (16), they bumped into the hallelujah-man during a camping holiday.

He has gone mad
- We camped for one week close to a place called Give. When we had been there for one day, a car drove into the camping place. Over the car, in huge letters, it was written www.oplevjesus.dk – says Jan. In the car there was the Christian evangelist Torben Søndergaard, who was on camping holiday with the family.

- I shook my head and thought: He has gone mad. But started to talk a little bit, and he began to talk about Jesus and all that. He did that with many people at the camping and quickly got the nickname “hallelujah-man” – Jan smiles and continues:
-But I told him not to start preaching to me.

However, Pernille and Jan sat together with Torben and talked about faith for one and a half hours, during which they told him about their experiences with Jehova’s Witnesses.

- Torben said that faith in God was not about requirements at all, but it was filled with joy and that one can experience God – says Pernille.

- And I had always found it strange that I had never experienced God because if He existed, I should have been able to feel Him – she claims.

Show us your hokus pokus
During the conversation Torben tells them about healings as well and because Pernille has pains in her legs, he offers to pray for her – also because she wants to stop smoking, which – as he told her – God can help with.

- But I was very negative – says Jan.

- So I said that he should keep his hands off my wife, and then a few days passed when we did not talk to each other except for “hello” and “goodbye”.

But then accidentally Morten fell off the trampoline and sprained his foot badly. It swelled, became twice as big and completely blue, and Morten could neither stand on it or come into the camping wagon so he was taken to a chair standing in the tent until  Pernille and Jan decided to drive him to the emergency.

However, Jan just had to go to the toilet quickly and there he saw Torben.

- I poked him on the shoulder and said that now he was allowed to show us his hokus pokus. I had learned from Jehova’s Witnesses that all faith healing is actually the work of demons.

God fixed the foot
Torben goes with Jan and lays his hands on Morten’s foot while he prays to God two-three times.

- I was sitting and smiling a little bit to myself – confesses Jan.

But Torben continues unaffected and asks Morten to stand up and begin to walk.

- I was a little afraid of it – admits Morten.

- But when Torben prayed for me, I felt warmth that streamed all the way to the stomach so I stood up and started to walk back and forth, and because it did not hurt, I went in and out of the camping wagon, and then climbed up and down my bed. The foot was still big and blue, but it did not hurt anymore – he says.

So, to great surprise of the camping neighbours, the boy with the sprained foot was soon out to play football, and the following day the whole Olsen family went to Legoland, where they walked around for hours, but Morten did not feel any pain.

The urge to smoke disappeared
Torben prayed for Pernille’s pains in her legs as well and even though he had not prayed for her craving to smoke, the next two days she did not feel like smoking. She also felt a warm stream going through her while Torben was praying.

- He prayed for me, too – I had had a headache and had been feeling nauseous half of the day, but it disappeared at once – says Theresa.

- It was fantastic and I just wanted to hear more – she declares.

Jan was speechless, but kept on being negative and did not want the family to get involved in anything.

- Pernille and Theresa began to read the brochure and the newspaper that Torben had given to them and when we came home, they called Torben, who prayed for them on the phone.

There was a time when Theresa was suffering from pain and could not sleep at night. She was really afraid of war and terror so she started panicking if only a plane flew over her head. But after Torben prayed on the phone, the fear disappeared completely.

Just lay there and felt happy
Once a month Torben Søndergaard has meetings in Ringsted, and since the holidays Pernille and Theresa have been to all of them, where they have experienced being touched by God many times. They even experienced falling down when Torben prayed for them, but although it was completely new to them, it did not scare them.

- I did not think so much about it, I just lay there and felt happy – says Theresa.

Pernille adds:
- The whole side of my body was shaking and I could not do anything so it was a strange experience, but not scary. I also felt some kind of warmth streaming through me and when we were driving home, I was not afraid at all. Before that I had always been really afraid of the dark.

There was a click inside
During the first few months Jan refused to participate in the meetings and he thought that the girls in the family had gone completely crazy. They went around and smiled in a silly way or got laughter attacks for no special reason. But at one point he gave in to the family pressure and went to some kind of Bible study.

- I imagined it was something similar to meetings with Jehova’s Witnesses, but the atmosphere and joy was amazing, and people just came in their casual clothes. So I was there again at the next meeting, during which I came up to Torben and asked him to pray that I could get the right understanding of God and the Bible – he says.

God touched Jan during the intercession.
- It felt as if something clicked inside of me and I felt warmth in the body – he recalls.

Afterwards God gave Jan a vision and some words in his thoughts, which helped Jan to give up his skepticism and his ready-made sentences learned from Jehova’s Witnesses.

Now the whole family comes every Sunday to the Trinity evangelical church in Ringsted – the church that is responsible for Torben Søndergaard’s visit to the town.