2012 year end

Dear Friends,

      Happy Holidays! One of the verses we use often in Young Life is John 1:14—which in the Message says:    The Word became flesh and blood, and moved into the neighborhood’.  I hope you are reminded during this Holiday season of the miracle of God with us-- Jesus moving into our neighborhood-- and that the stories you read here are an encouragement of how this is still happening. A book I’ve been reading recently,Geography of Grace, talks about how radical this vision really is. It gives a beautiful example of a church in Guatemala City. This church has a graffiti wall behind their pulpit with 40 or so names spray painted on it. It’s unusual church décor to say the least, but it’s more unusual because of the names written there. They are the names of teenage gang members in the neighborhood and the names remind all the members every time they are in church of who their mission field is.

 

Ecuador
 Ivan Peñafiel is our first staff member in Ecuador and it’s a joy to work with him and his team. The kids he and his team are working with are not easy. Before camp in November, Ivan said"I am very happy with the way things are coming together and that we are going to be able to bring kids who really need to know Jesus. So many of the kids come from unstable homes, divorced parents, and are being pulled into the world of drugs and alcohol. Several of the kids are delinquents and have already spent time in jail for stealing."
 35 teens and leaders came to camp, as well as a work crew made up of potential leaders from other parts of Ecuador. It was a beautiful time filled with laughter, adventure, fun, and the gospel. One thing that stuck out was how many of the kids came from deeply broken families. Kelvin shared with me the pain he’s had to deal with since seeing his stepfather beat his mother and feeling powerless to stop it. Snaider, had so many issues with his stepdad that he was thrown out of his house the day before camp. As more teens shared, the list went on and on— teens who felt abandoned and had experienced emotional, physical and even sexual abuse. But God met them in their pain at this camp. Jeffo is a YL leader from Venezuela who helped lead this camp and on the final night he shared his story. His father left his family when Jeffo was very young. Jeffo says he constantly wondered why his Dad hadn’t loved him enough to stay. He felt abandoned and that affected everything he did. When he was 16, Jeffo went to a YL club, and was struck deeply by the message of a Heavenly Father who truly loved him and he realized he needed Jesus. For the last three years he has grown as a Christian and is now a leader. This trip was Jeffo’s first time ever leaving his part of Venezuela and his presence at camp was something God really used. As he shared his story you could see it impact so many kids at camp because it was also their story and many of them asked Jesus to come into their life that night.    I was reminded how real the good news of Romans 8:15 is: "So you have not received a spirit that makes you fearful slaves. Instead, you received God’s Spirit when he adopted you as his own children. Now we call him, "Abba, Father."

       For this group of teenagers to be able to come to know God as their ‘Abba’ who loves them and that in Jesus they are heirs is truly life giving. And I love how God used Jeffo’s story to help bring that truth to light for these teens. These stories aren’t done yet, but camp was a huge step in the lives of many of these teens. Kelvin recommitted himself to Christ and has felt called to let go of his hate and forgive his stepfather. He’s in a weekly Bible study and wants to become a leader. Snaider gave his life to Christ at the camp and he shows up every day at the YL house —looking for community, love and wanting to get to know Jesus better.  
The mouse 
     In October I was privileged to spend a few days with some of our YL African leaders while they visited the US. While we were together, one of them shared an African proverb.

    "There was a mouse and an elephant who were good friends. They would walk everywhere together and shared their journey. One day, they came to a slightly rickety old bridge, but decided to cross it. As they crossed the bridge rocked and swayed. When they got to the other side, the mouse said to the elephant "Wow, we sure shook that bridge didn’t we?" and the elephant looked at his friend and replied "yes, we sure did".
     As we tell you these stories, I feel like I’m that mouse—none of this happens without God’s Spirit moving and none of this happens without you supporting us, and yet I get to say 'wow, we sure shook that bridge, didn’t we.’ 2012 has been great as we’ve mentored and trained leaders in Ecuador, Cuba, Mexico, Peru, and other parts of Latin America—so thank you for helping us shake that bridge— for helping this ministry happen and impacting live in Latin America. We can’t do it without you.