While Sam and Karen were in Los Cabos for their spring trip, they asked if we would minister with them at Patti’s Kitchen (a local church and feeding kitchen in the colonia of Caribe). Karen had planned an ‘inner healing’ teaching and asked me to join her in praying for healing for the ladies. Then, she surprised our husbands by asking Sam, Richard, and Mauricio to plan something that would entertain the children while we ministered to the ladies.
Richard has a strong gifting for working with young children and immediately had a plan. He told the men of his love for puppet ministry and that we just happened to have puppets in Los Cabos with us. Since ministry doesn’t have to be complicated in the barrios to be successful, Richard tied a rope between two trees and threw a blue tarp over it for the puppet theater. Then the puppeteers began to practice, but ‘practice’ never happened.
As soon as the children who had come to the feeding station saw the first puppet, they started laughing and talking to the puppets. Then, other children heard them from the other side of the complex and joined them. Soon, before we knew it, the chairs were filling up and the show was on—before Richard even had a chance to give instructions to Sam and Mauricio. The lack of practice didn’t affect the performance at all, though. In fact, unbeknownst to us, Mauricio was another ‘natural’ as he named his gray and white kitty puppet, Meow-ricio!
The time with the women was also powerful. The women eagerly participated in Karen’s interactive teaching. When it came time for personal prayer, the response was what we have come to expect in the poorer areas of the barrios—most of these women have suffered much injustice in their lives, including multiple forms of abuse. Only Jesus can heal their broken hearts and set them free from the scars they bear and from lives no one should have to live!