New York Team

It's Saturday morning, and I'm just reminiscing about the past week with a spicy team from New York. These New Yorkers that ranged from 12 years old to mid 50s were full of joy and boldness as we shared Christ's love through children's ministry, prostitute ministry, and tons of prayer for the city of San Jose, Costa Rica.

One experience that sticks out in my mind as one of the most moving nights was a night when we went out to do ministry on the streets of San Jose. Before we ventured out to minister to broken hearts, the team and some leaders worshiped together to ready our hearts for the ugly world of prostitution and human trafficking. While we were praying a gal by the name of Dotty had a name that popped into her mind. "Rosa!" she proclaimed to all of us as the prayer night was ending, "We are going to meet a Rosa tonight." So as we ventured on the streets into the great by white YWAM vans our hearts began to anticipate a night of redemption on the broken streets of Costa Rica. We went out in groups of 3 or 4 and began sharing and praying with women and transvestites that were selling themselves on the street. As we shared the love of Christ with the precious people of God, we gave them mirrors that said "You are beautiful in the image of God." (obviously written in spanish.) The women and transvesites were very grateful for the mirrors and prayed with us.

The night was getting later and we still hadn't found our "Rosa." I quite honestly had forgotten about the name. As we were making our last stops a group of 3 ladies went and prayed for one of the last groups of prostitutes. These prosititutes were a bit uneasy with us coming and sharing with them so Paola, the leader of the street ministry, quickly asked to pray for the women. They agreed. she began asking there names... and one of the ladies said her name was "Rosa!" The New York women began to tear up as one of them by the name of Ana ran to the van to grab Dotty and tell her "We found our Rosa!" Dotty than ran out of the van and began ministering to this precious woman of God and spoke many words into her life that God had shared with her while praying. It was a "WOW" moment for all of us. How great is our God!? He is great!

Lastly, the best part of the whole night is that 2 nights later 2 boys that were ages 16 and 18 came to the YWAM base for a worship night. These boys had been selling themselves for the past 5 years on the streets. It's the beginning of redemption.... thank you God!

Oregon team

My first team of Mission Adventure's flew in on June 24th, my birthday :), to embark on a 10 day mission trip with Youth With A Mission in San Jose, Costa Rica. I was privileged to work aside a tica, Costa Rican, gal named Paola my first week working with teams. She showed me some of the main duties as a leader while serving with the ministry. I was honored to work aside these 15 Oregonites. We had the opportunity to work with children on 4 different locations performing dramas, making crafts, and playing children's games. Que rajado (very cool!). The team from Oregon was a blessing to me and my life.

The most impacting day from our service together was on a perfectly sunny day at a small Christian school. Here, we were privileged to meet a little girl named Noelyia. This precious elementary student was a sponsor child of Tricia and Kenny Snyder, a couple from Oregon. As we drove up to the school in our 2 big white YWAM vans, we could see a mother and young girl sitting on a bench waiting patiently for our arrival. As the van stopped, Tricia quickly ran over to the mother and daughter and shared a big smile and embrace them since she didn't speak the language. Tears began to fill our eyes as we saw the power of God between the two mothers and their gratitude towards each other. Through our short time chatting with this family, we learned that they had been praying for this American family. The love was mutual between the two families. Throughout the 3 hours together, the two mothers never left each others side. They were unable to speak the same language, however, they were both able to speak the language of the Love of Christ. This American family had been a great blessing to Noelyia and her mother and Noelyia and her mother were also a great blessing for Tricia and Kenny.

Although borders, cultural differences, and language can separate people, the love of Christ binds us together. I was privileged to be a part of this experience.

Where's my passport?

"Awww." I thought, sitting on the airplane as I was about to embark on a 3 month adventure to the land of Costa Rica. My mind relaxed as the airplane began to take off into the blue sky of Orlando, Florida. I was blessed the night before to stay at some old friends' apartment. All of my bags were packed and my heart settled with peace about the time I would be spending with an organization called "Youth With A Mission." I sat thanking God for the morning, and than decided that I needed to listen to some beats on my ipod. I searched for about 2 minutes without any luck of finding it. Where was it? I remembered that it had been positioned perfectly into my gray plastic travel wallet. Hm... I could wait and look later. Ten minutes into the plane ride a nervous heart beat began to beat in my stomach. That same plastic travel wallet with my ipod had my passport in it!! Where was my passport!? I then began to search a bit more vigorously with no luck of find the gray plastic travel wallet. I urgently woke up my new surfer friend Christian and asked him to check his bag to see if he "accidentally" put it in his bag. He looked helpfully, but there was no sign of the wallet. I than told the flight attendant, who hastily made an announcement over the speakers to the relaxed passengers. She told me that if I was unable to find this precious identification, that I would need to fly back to Florida on the next airplane! People, than began to search. I began to pray. No more than 30 seconds later a man held the wallet up in the air joyfully and exclaimed that he had found my passage to Costa Rica! Everyone began to applaud with joy and laughs. I thanked the man and my surfer dude friend exclaimed, "Oh man, I was so nervous for you." The rest of the trip went smoothly and I made it to Tiquicia aka (Costa Rica).