Costa Rica!!!!! Part 1

The trip is going wonderful!! We are blessed by our host families’ hospitality and by the beauty of Costa Rica! A great surprise to us though is how responsive are all ages including youth. They are deeply open to share and ask prayer. We feel their FAITH to receive from God through us, so we feel God’s Spirit working through us (Isaiah 61:1 El Espiritu Senor omnipotente esta sobre me). As a result, they experience his healing love in dramatic and visible ways. God is exchanging beauty for ashes.

Saturday we got the opportunity to minister with rhythm to a group of Children from the poorest part of the city. We also played some fun games with them and as we left they all wanted us to sign their shirts! Then we to ministered rhythm, dance and testimonies to the youth group in Ronnie Diaz’s church. Because of the small size of the group, we had some discussion time about what it means to be a son or daughter in the kingdom of God. Then we traveled about 45 minutes to Cartago, Costa Rica where we jumped right into doing the youth service at Arianna’s church. A few of us joined alongside them in worship which was in English and Spanish! After that we were able to minister to their group of around 30 and the response was incredible! Many people wanted prayer for their families, relationships and healing. With the help of interpreters, we were able to pray and minister to many hurting youth. Again on Sunday morning we did the drama for their whole church as well as Monday morning for their 1-12 church school. We had a wonderful afternoon on Sunday spending time with our host families and many of us got to see a few of the beautiful sites of Costa Rica.

On Monday, after doing the drama for The K- 8th grade school, we had 4 activity tracks with them- songs, games, art and rhythm. We very much enjoyed getting to minister to the students and spending time with them. Monday afternoon we had coffee at the beautiful Camacho family home (Ariana, who some of you will remember from last year’s class) then headed back to San Jose to rest up before a busy week. We were so humbled and privileged to go to Cartago for the weekend and we greatly anticipate the amazing things the Lord has yet to do this week.

Here are some short testimonies from the weekend:

Melly - The trip has been amazing so far. We have gotten to minister five different times already and each time the Lord has just blown me away with the way the Ticos respond and come up to receive prayer and words. It is a very humbling and awesome time.

Melissa- I am truly thankful for the opportunity to go on this trip. The Lord has done so much in such a short time with so many people. I am thankful for the team and the working of the Lord through our many talents and abilities. Thank God for the amazing host homes and the many lives that have been touched and hearts that are being changed.

Laurie- I prayed for a girl’s father. I sensed there was something deeper so I asked her how she was doing. She opened up and told me that her family is not happy. The Lord brought healing and freedom to her because she finally talked about her struggles. I could tell the difference in her spirit after we prayed together. She was happier and more joyful. !Gloria a Dios!

Joseph- I was able to connect with a guy who was at a hard place in his relationship with God. It was very encouraging to him that someone from so far away was going through the same thing so that he was not alone in it.

Timothy- we got the chance to go and perform a little for children in one of the worst neighborhoods in San Jose, and the kids seemed to be responding a little, but then afterwards they were having everyone from our group sign their clothing. One kid even rode his bike back to his house, got a white t shirt, and then came back. Another time a large youth came to me after the drama and just held me for a long time weeping. The interpreter kept saying that the Lord is holding and hugging you. Others were amazed how he opened up and received so much. It was one of the most impacting times for me of all our tour stops.

Levi – I prayed for a man who cheated and is now divorced and with the other woman, who wanted to know what to do. I also prayed for a boy who is hated by his father, and he doesn’t know why.

Ryan – at Ariana’s church I prayed for a little girl that was going through a divorce. I prayed love into her family and prayed that the Lord would be her father because her earthly father was gone and then we hugged for a while and she cried.

listen for what God would say in exchange for his hurt the Lord told him he was like Joseph in the Bible. He smiled when I told him Joseph’s story. He said he felt special to the Lord then.

John and Larissa – We got to pray for Ariana’s brother Diego. He asked for prayer for something general and Larissa had a sense to ask a question and he said that was exactly the problem. We also got to pray for some people in such deep pain - a woman who had been divorced and was experiencing a lot of struggle in her current relationship, as well as a man who came up to us crying. His wife had recently abandoned him and his 11 year old son.

Hannah- I feel so blessed by the people of Cartago and was deeply impacted by their response from the play and their hunger for the Lord. I was able to pray for a woman and her daughter whose family has recently been broken up by divorce. I spoke Joy and peace over them and got a word for the Mom that the Lord wanted to restore her dreams and believed the Lord was encouraging them through it.

All – Each team member received a prophecy from a woman in Ariana’s church.