September 25th, 2016. Our team sat around the dinner table giving feedback. Sharing what was on our hearts, and figuring out ways we can grow and be affective here in Puerto Viejo. My teammates and I have broken hearts for this city and all the darkness in it. It is literally around every corner you turn. A drug deal going down there. A bar full of people giving into their fleshly desires here. A neglected child crying in the back of a car. A girl giving her body to something that dishonors the name of Jesus so she can put food on the table. It is literally everywhere. My team and I have tried many ways to show Christ to these people with much rejection. This night was different though. This time we were just going to let the Holy Spirit move in the people.
I felt the strong desire to just go to the city and prayer walk through it. At the same time I was going to put this idea on the table, Kole said the same exact thing. We knew that the Spirit was calling us to do this. Our team set out for the 10 minute bike ride to the city. This time it took something more like 20 minutes to arrive. Satan was getting nervous and didn’t want our team in the city that night. Almost every two minutes with out fail my bikes chain would fall off. Satan was trying everything he could to keep us out. Little did he know that every time that chain broke off it was only fanning the flame in our hearts to get to the city and pray.
When we arrived we could hear all the activity of the night going on. Street vendors, bars, restaurants, and many people just wandering the streets looking for something fun to do. On arriving the team was verbally sharing they could feel the Spirit moving already. We gathered together and prayed for the night. Then we set off in different directions. It was crazy to see how when we just let the Spirit lead how so many more opportunities were presented to us. We would have people just asking what we were doing. We even had one man say that Jesus told him to tell us we were on a “Jesus walk,” so that we would be encouraged. We prayed for people who where struggling with the day to day pressures. People would just look at us with curious faces wondering what we were doing. Through the whole time I never felt scared or afraid. The Lord was with us and directing us. He would lead us to people that needed His love. I was finding myself praying for the city in one particular way. That it would turn from a city where people come from all around the world to vacation, party, and get drugs; into a city that people come from all around the world because of Jesus’ name. That it would be a city of people praising Jesus and living for Him. A city that doesn’t gather to gratify the desires of the flesh but to be fully satisfied in knowing Jesus Christ, which will gratify every desire in every persons heart.
This opportunity has helped our team out very much. It gave us a boost and desire to do this every night. The Lord is woking here and it is very exciting to see it first hand! Thank everybody for your prayers and support for me and my team!
