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!