All you need is LOVE-Hostel Week

On October 17 our squad split up into our ministry teams and went into the city of Leon for a week to stay in different hostels because there was a huge pastor's conference at Vision Nicarauga and they needed our rooms. Hadassah (my team) stayed in the Lazy Bones Hostel; not gonna lie, I felt spoiled, we had a pool and a room to ourselves. The first two mornings we woke up, spent some time alone with God and then we wrote down words of places, things, colors..that we thought about and shared those as a group and almost always it would lead us to a person or place we needed to minister in or to. Such as: 

Rosa- a precious lady who makes and sells tortillas on the side of the road for a dollar. She invited us to her house later that week and we had a dance party and played with her puppies. Please pray for her, she lives alone and seems lonely and she also needs some repair work done on her little house so please pray that God provides for that. 

Brenda- we felt led to go in the store she runs in Leon and she invited us to go to church with her that Sunday in her neighborhood. She is the sweetest woman and has such a kind heart. Please pray that God provides for her, her husband and her son. And that God uses her to be a light in that city. 

Pastor David- Brenda's pastor who we met on Sunday. This man is so full of the Holy Spirit and is the happiest person I've ever met! The church was literally just 4 sticks holding a tarp over our heads with some plastic chairs. I truly felt God's presence more than ever in that place- so much freedom, joy and peace. Pastor David has ministered all over South America and he also does an after school program for kids in poor communities every Tuesday and Thursday and feeds them dinner. He has a huge heart! Please pray for him, his wife and his two children that God will continue to empower him to preach His Word and make an impact for the kingdom. 

Lupita- oh my goodness! This little old lady melted my heart when I saw her. One day we handed out flowers and notes/Bible verses in Spanish to the women in Leon. Lupita was sitting in her red wheelchair across from the supermarket, she has no teeth and she must be at least 90 years old but she is so beautiful. I gave her a flower and a note, she kissed my hand and told me I was her granddaughter from the United States! She also told me to listen to the Lord and no one else. Please pray for Lupita, that God will provide for her and that she can always feel His presence so she's not lonely. Pray that the joy of the Lord will be her strength. 

Matt, Brennan and Andy- a few guys we met at our hostel who saw us reading our Bibles in the morning and were asking questions. Please pray that God continues to work on their hearts and minds. Pray that God brings more people into their lives who can show them His love. 

Basically we had a great crazy week of ministry- prayed healing over people, prayed freedom over the cathedral, woshipped on the beach, went to a festival to raise money to find a cure to the kidney disease, got a Nicaraugan grandma and grandpa, prayed darkness out of places and felt God's presence enter the room. Also one night we literally walked 3 miles in the pouring rain with Pastor David to a house church in another part of town, where only 5 other people attended besides us. He preached on healing and afterwards we prayed healing over a man with a hurt arm and an older woman with stomach cancer. When we were praying for the woman she fainted and started shaking and we believe she was healed. Please continue to pray for her. Then I got bit on the shoulder by a poisonous centipede and thought I was gonna die, meanwhile there is a dog fight going on in the house haha very eventful! Pastor David got us a taxi to the clinic and thankfully they hooked me up with an IV immediately and started filling me with pain meds, 2 hours later we made it back to our hostel. I am fully recovered now but it makes for a good story!

Please pray for Pastor David as he expands his ministry. He wants to build a church with no walls he said, so that people will hear, see and feel welcome to come as they are. I only pray that the church in America would realize the importance of this. The people here know what it truly means to honor one another and they always think of others before themselves. They have so much grace for each other. That is the true community I desire. 

Acts 2:44-47 "Now all the believers were together and held all things in common. They sold their possessions and property and distributed the proceeds to all, as anyone had a need. Every day they devoted themselves to meeting together in the temple complex, and broke bread from house to house. They ate their food with a joyful and humble attitude, praising God and having favor with all the people. And every day the Lord added to them those who were being saved."