2011 Year End
Dear Friends, 
Thanks for all your support and prayers for us in 2011. We’ve had a wonderful year as a family and in ministry. My job hasn’t changed as much as it might sound, but I do have a little larger role within Young Life now in helping with training for International South. My main focus and time investment is still Latin America, but I have begun to have more contact now with our leaders in Asia and Africa as well. We have a huge challenge in International South since the countries you see high-lighted above contain almost 75% of the world’s teenagers. But we also have some amazing blessings. Frederick Buechner once wrote,
"There come moments, I think, even in the midst of all our cynicism and worldliness and childishness, maybe especially then, when there is something about the saints of the earth that bowls us over a little…I mean saints who have their rough edges and their blind spots like everybody else but whose lives are transparent to something so extraordinary that every so often it stops us dead in our tracks. Light-bearers. Life bearers."
It’s very easy to get caught up in my own worldliness and selfishness, so I’m very thankful for the leaders I work with from these countries. They are often light-bearers who let God shine through and remind me of the power of the gospel to transform lives. So part of what we hope to do in this letter is share some of their stories with you. I hope you’ll find this encouraging and also a great Christmas reminder of how God is still at work and present in our world. Thanks again for being such a vital part of this ministry.
LIGHT-BEARERS: Stories of our leaders
Benga is one of our leaders in the Congo. The numbers from the Congo are staggering— up to 70% of women there have been raped and 40% of men were child soldiers. To escape this violence when he was a child, Benga and his family were forced to walk 600 miles to a refugee camp. Today, Benga still walks a lot—but now its walking with teenagers to help them experience the good news of the gospel in a place that so badly needs it.
Joan is a Young Life leader in Africa. Three times a week she walks an hour and a half to do what we call contact work-- spending time with teens. Thanks to Joan’s efforts to build relationships, last year 250 kids went to camp and heard the gospel.
Eva is part of the Developing Global Leaders program in Nicaragua. She says "I met Jesus Christ in a Young Life camp 7 years ago. I fell in love with Him....Besides I felt lonely and only Jesus was able to fill that empty space. Knowing Jesus Christ is the best thing that has happened to me." When asked what experience helped shape her life, Eva replied, "I noticed the way we were destroying our lives in my family, but I desired to be the difference, I knew that I had been born for something different."
In one of the closed countries of Asia where we do ministry, large religious group meetings, like Young Life clubs, are illegal. So every week our leaders there gather teens together for a birthday party and celebratepossible birthdays in the crowd, complete with birthday cake and all….and just happen to put on a Young Life club while doing this!
One of the leaders I've been working with is Ivan in Ecuador. Ivan and some friends started Vida Joven there when they realized teens weren’t showing up to church because they felt it was boring and disconnected from their reality. In training we’ve talked a lot about ‘earning the right to be heard’ and what that means with teens. As Ivan and his leaders live this out, there’s been some amazing fruit. They’ve been challenged in how to come alongside teens who have shared stories of abuse, abandonment, struggles in school and even time in jail. As Ivan and his leaders show God’s love to these teens, more and more kids have been showing up, sharing their stories, listening to the gospel and accepting Christ. One of the first teens involved is now helping as a leader. Ivan says he now understands what the Bible means when it says ‘the harvest is plentiful’. Loving difficult teens this way hasn’t always been easy for Ivan and his team, but its clear to them all how this has really been God’s work and it brings them deep joy to be part of it.
Doble-Doble
The words mean double-double in Spanish. The words also mean an awful lot to our leaders in Latin America because it’s a goal that is shaping how we approach ministry. In 2011, Young Life celebrated our 70th anniversary as a mission. The ministry has really been blessed and grown during those 70 years, to the point where we’re impacting over 1,000,000 teenagers per year around the world. That's a great thing, but we're far from done. In dreaming and praying about where to go, Young Life set a goal of trying to double that impact in the next 7 years—to impact 2,000,000 kids per year. That’s a big goal, but in praying about it throughout International South, it became clear our leaders saw the goal of doubling as very do-able—lots of teens are re-sponding in our region, so while doubling would be a challenge, it’s not that hard to imagine. So some of our African leaders really challenged us to dream and pray bigger—believing that God was not just calling our division to double as part of this mission wide movement, but to double and then double again over those 7 years.
Doble-Doble. That’s a huge dream and one we can’t possibly do with-out God working in an amazing way, but it also feels God led and therefore right. It doesn’t just mean doubling in the number of kids we reach— it means doubling in prayer, doubling in the number of leaders we’re training, doubling in not just quantity, but our quality of ministry and how kids see Jesus in us. It’s a huge, spirit-led goal that’s challeng-ing us not to get too comfortable where we are, but to remember that there are many, many more kids who need to hear the gospel just like Ramon and Eva did. So please be praying for our part of the world and doble-doble as we continue to train and walk with leaders like Ivan who can go where kids are, spend time with them, and help them hear the gospel in a whole new way. Thanks for being such a key part of this ministry,
Scott and Jenn Miedema
Family corner:Caroline and Jack are growing bigger each day. Caroline is now attending pre-school (in Spanish!) and loves it. She’d like everyone to know she is three and a half (not just three!)and hardly ever has to go in the timeout chair. Jack loves giving hugs , taking toys from his sister, and saying ‘doggie’ and ‘uh-oh’ as much as possible— they’re very multi-purpose words apparently.
Jenn does a fantastic job as a Mom, especially when I’m gone. Thank you to all of you who provide help and breaks during those trips and please do pray for Jenn especially at those times. The nurses at our pediatrician’s office have joked that we should have a standing appointment for the day after I leave because it seems someone is always sick or hurt on that day.
You can also pray for:
--Training camp in January in Nicaragua with over 450 leaders from Central America.
--Our first region-wide online training course that will be running throughout 2012.
--New possibilities for ministry in Mexico, Argentina, and Cuba!
We need your help: This ministry is only possible because you partner with us financially. We need to raise about 8,500 dollars per month in order meet the training budget. We receive a little more than half of that from monthly donors, so year end giving is vital for our ministry. If you would prayerfully consider us in your year end giving it would be a real blessing.
Give to our area (XT717) at www.younglife.org Your gifts are fully tax deductible and greatly appreciated.
"There come moments, I think, even in the midst of all our cynicism and worldliness and childishness, maybe especially then, when there is something about the saints of the earth that bowls us over a little…I mean saints who have their rough edges and their blind spots like everybody else but whose lives are transparent to something so extraordinary that every so often it stops us dead in our tracks. Light-bearers. Life bearers."
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| AD training for Central America |
LIGHT-BEARERS: Stories of our leaders
Benga is one of our leaders in the Congo. The numbers from the Congo are staggering— up to 70% of women there have been raped and 40% of men were child soldiers. To escape this violence when he was a child, Benga and his family were forced to walk 600 miles to a refugee camp. Today, Benga still walks a lot—but now its walking with teenagers to help them experience the good news of the gospel in a place that so badly needs it.
Joan is a Young Life leader in Africa. Three times a week she walks an hour and a half to do what we call contact work-- spending time with teens. Thanks to Joan’s efforts to build relationships, last year 250 kids went to camp and heard the gospel.
Eva is part of the Developing Global Leaders program in Nicaragua. She says "I met Jesus Christ in a Young Life camp 7 years ago. I fell in love with Him....Besides I felt lonely and only Jesus was able to fill that empty space. Knowing Jesus Christ is the best thing that has happened to me." When asked what experience helped shape her life, Eva replied, "I noticed the way we were destroying our lives in my family, but I desired to be the difference, I knew that I had been born for something different."
In one of the closed countries of Asia where we do ministry, large religious group meetings, like Young Life clubs, are illegal. So every week our leaders there gather teens together for a birthday party and celebratepossible birthdays in the crowd, complete with birthday cake and all….and just happen to put on a Young Life club while doing this! One of the leaders I've been working with is Ivan in Ecuador. Ivan and some friends started Vida Joven there when they realized teens weren’t showing up to church because they felt it was boring and disconnected from their reality. In training we’ve talked a lot about ‘earning the right to be heard’ and what that means with teens. As Ivan and his leaders live this out, there’s been some amazing fruit. They’ve been challenged in how to come alongside teens who have shared stories of abuse, abandonment, struggles in school and even time in jail. As Ivan and his leaders show God’s love to these teens, more and more kids have been showing up, sharing their stories, listening to the gospel and accepting Christ. One of the first teens involved is now helping as a leader. Ivan says he now understands what the Bible means when it says ‘the harvest is plentiful’. Loving difficult teens this way hasn’t always been easy for Ivan and his team, but its clear to them all how this has really been God’s work and it brings them deep joy to be part of it.
Doble-Doble
The words mean double-double in Spanish. The words also mean an awful lot to our leaders in Latin America because it’s a goal that is shaping how we approach ministry. In 2011, Young Life celebrated our 70th anniversary as a mission. The ministry has really been blessed and grown during those 70 years, to the point where we’re impacting over 1,000,000 teenagers per year around the world. That's a great thing, but we're far from done. In dreaming and praying about where to go, Young Life set a goal of trying to double that impact in the next 7 years—to impact 2,000,000 kids per year. That’s a big goal, but in praying about it throughout International South, it became clear our leaders saw the goal of doubling as very do-able—lots of teens are re-sponding in our region, so while doubling would be a challenge, it’s not that hard to imagine. So some of our African leaders really challenged us to dream and pray bigger—believing that God was not just calling our division to double as part of this mission wide movement, but to double and then double again over those 7 years.
Doble-Doble. That’s a huge dream and one we can’t possibly do with-out God working in an amazing way, but it also feels God led and therefore right. It doesn’t just mean doubling in the number of kids we reach— it means doubling in prayer, doubling in the number of leaders we’re training, doubling in not just quantity, but our quality of ministry and how kids see Jesus in us. It’s a huge, spirit-led goal that’s challeng-ing us not to get too comfortable where we are, but to remember that there are many, many more kids who need to hear the gospel just like Ramon and Eva did. So please be praying for our part of the world and doble-doble as we continue to train and walk with leaders like Ivan who can go where kids are, spend time with them, and help them hear the gospel in a whole new way. Thanks for being such a key part of this ministry,
Scott and Jenn Miedema
Family corner:Caroline and Jack are growing bigger each day. Caroline is now attending pre-school (in Spanish!) and loves it. She’d like everyone to know she is three and a half (not just three!)and hardly ever has to go in the timeout chair. Jack loves giving hugs , taking toys from his sister, and saying ‘doggie’ and ‘uh-oh’ as much as possible— they’re very multi-purpose words apparently. Jenn does a fantastic job as a Mom, especially when I’m gone. Thank you to all of you who provide help and breaks during those trips and please do pray for Jenn especially at those times. The nurses at our pediatrician’s office have joked that we should have a standing appointment for the day after I leave because it seems someone is always sick or hurt on that day.
You can also pray for:
--Training camp in January in Nicaragua with over 450 leaders from Central America.
--Our first region-wide online training course that will be running throughout 2012.
--New possibilities for ministry in Mexico, Argentina, and Cuba!
We need your help: This ministry is only possible because you partner with us financially. We need to raise about 8,500 dollars per month in order meet the training budget. We receive a little more than half of that from monthly donors, so year end giving is vital for our ministry. If you would prayerfully consider us in your year end giving it would be a real blessing.
Give to our area (XT717) at www.younglife.org Your gifts are fully tax deductible and greatly appreciated.
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