2014 Year end

The River   What does abundant life look like? Ezekiel 47:1-12 is a passage our church focused on recently and it’s a beautiful vision of a river flowing from God’s temple bringing LIFE. The river deepens, trees flourish and bear bountiful fruit, fish of all kinds begin to thrive, the desert is transformed and even the Dead Sea becomes fresh and alive. It’s a truly miraculous picture of abundant life occurring because of God’s ‘living water’. When I think about why Jenn and I are passionate about Young Life in Latin America, this vision really helps explain it. It’s because YL helps bring this living water to teenagers who otherwise are stuck in pretty life-less terrain. 

Dennis, Mabel, Chaleo, Pepe and Daniel

John DeVries has a wonderful perspective on what this passage means for us. He believes it points out that we are created to be rivers, not lakes. He says, “Salvation is not a possession we can get; it is a condition in which we are transformed to give.” Abundant life is living out that transformation—a life that helps others thrive. I was recently in Peru with some YL leaders and saw this lived out in Chaleo, Pepe and Daleo—three college students in Lima who recently became Young Life leaders. They grew up in the church and their pastor always pushed them to do something with what they were learning. But they felt scared and uncomfortable and didn’t really know how to do what he was asking—so they didn’t. Then they met Dennis and Mabel, leaders with Young Life in Lima who were raising a team to help start ministry in Pueblo Libre. Suddenly it began to click for Chaleo, Pepe and Daleo as Dennis and Mabel helped them see the mission God was calling them to. So now they’re using basketball and club and school friendships and camp to help the teenagers in Pueblo Libre come to know Jesus. They’re thrilled, and their pastor is too, because God is using them and they’ve begun to figure out how they’ve been transformed to give. Young Life uses the motto “You were made for this”....and that’s true for this team. They were made to be rivers and to help bring LIFE in Jesus to teenagers in Pueblo Libre.  



A new experience for me--
a 'traditional' meal in Peru,
It's 'Cuy' aka Guinea Pig
(and it's not too bad, even
though it looks a bit scary)
all part of life abundant I guess :).  

Our team at training in Peru

     Thanks for your help and support in equipping more leaders like Chaleo, Pepe and Daleo. We hope you’ll be excited to read here about more stories of Young Life leaders living out their calling of bringing the Living Water of Jesus to schools and barrios in Latin America, because you help this happen. Thanks for helping God’s river flow.

 

Mexico   We’ve had ministry in Puerto Peñasco, Mexico for 6 years now. The ministry has grown even while dealing with some real challenges facing all of Mexico right now. One part of my job has been to mentor Alberto Martinez, our Area Director there. His team held a camp this summer with 75 teenagers —more than they’ve ever had before. Here are a couple of the stories from that camp:

    --Jose*  is 17 years old. One night at camp Alberto shared about the love of Jesus and Luis approached Alberto and asked, “Do you believe that the Jesus you are sharing will love me and forgive me?”  Alberto answered, “Of course!”  Then Luis said, “Even if when I get angry, I hit my mother?”  With pain and desperation in his voice he added, “Will you help me to know Jesus in a deeper way?”  Alberto embraced him and prayed. When they returned from camp, Luis ran to his mother, hugged her, and they both started crying as he asked for forgiveness.

     --Jorge* is a 16 year old boy whose family is very dysfunctional. He has struggled with drugs and anger issues and had no desire to know Jesus. At the beginning of camp he was really challenging. But the leaders noticed that despite his attitude, he would pay attention during talks and cabin times. So Alberto started to focus on him more one on one, and Jesús began to open up. He now explains “I was angry with God, but I began to see through you all the great love of Jesus.”  Since camp ended, Jesús  has not missed church or the Bible study Alberto leads. God’s love is changing him.

     *(names have been changed)

 

Around the region:    Our team in Chiapas, Mexico held their first outreach camp ever in November. They took 73 kids to camp—and 63 of them made a commitment to Jesus! Be praying for this team and their follow-up in the weeks ahead. Be praying especially for Fred, Astrid and Caleb as they take over new responsibilities and as I coach them in this. Caleb and Astrid are in Nicaragua right now shadowing our team there and I'll see them there next week for more training. Pray for this time to go well!

 

A very special event at camp in Ecuador

 

I’ve been working with our team in Ecuador since our ministry there began in 2012. It’s been amazing to see what God has done—growing this work from one club, to two, to now 5 in just a few years. They recently had about 120 leaders and teens at camp from 5 different cities and almost 90% of them accepted the Lord!  Pray for Ivan and the team in Ecuador as they are now discipling a lot of new believers.

 

“This weekend was amazing!  I  had the opportunity to share about Jesus and 2 girls that  came in my group decided to have a more profound relationship with our Creator and that is so exciting!"          

                                                                                                            Marcela (YL leader in Ecuador)

 

Dominican Republic     Ministry in the Dominican Republic continues to grow. Since Jenn and I left in 2008 the number of students in club each week for the country has doubled—from about 600 to 1,200!  It’s easy to see why: great discipleship has led to young leaders who are passionate to share Jesus with teens. I recently received this note from Rafa Alejo, our YL Director in the DR. “(Santo Domingo West is) an area where we don’t have staff, the area is run by volunteer leaders between the ages of 17 and 21 years old. This past summer they took over 100 kids with leaders to summer camp, which was an incredibly hard goal….This past weekend the young leaders of this area put on a spiritual growth camp completely by themselves. They raised the funds, and prepared all of the logistics from the program to the work crew to the counselors and leadership, and everything else that it takes to make a weekend camp happen. I couldn’t believe that these young leaders brought 80 kids and leaders to camp, plus made a camp happen with such quality, organization, incredible fun and great program that helped kids grow in their relationship with Christ. I was there simply as an observer and I can say that God is made stronger in the midst of our weakness. He is the one that continues to guide” Jenn and I will be with this team in January to continue to encourage and equip them for this great work.  

 

Jenn’s role   

The #ischoolsisawesome group

     Jenn’s work with Young Life’s missionaries in Latin America has been very important. It’s been a great blessing to her to use her gifts and experiences to help coach these young staff, and they’ve been blessed by her. We recently hosted 10 of these missionaries at our home. One of the leaders there asked us to share this:

    “Thank you so much for caring for my soul and my team's soul, through supporting Jenn. Our time with the Miedemas in Michigan was like taking a deep breath of fresh air. We laughed lots, were reminded we are not alone, had some great fall experiences, and some sweet time with Jesus. We came back encouraged and refreshed… ready and passionate to jump back into going after kids with the love of Jesus.” 

 

Do you want to be part of this?   We’re very grateful for your prayers for this ministry, and we need your help to do it. We’d ask you to prayerfully consider if you’re called to help support this ministry with a year-end gift or a new gift.

Is this part of how God is calling you to bless others? If you feel called to give, you can give to our area (XT717) at giving.younglife.org-- you can use the link at the top right of this page. Please designate your gift for us (XT717) if you give online or We need to receive your gift by December 31^st for it to apply to 2014. Your gifts are tax deductible.

Latin America will also be holding a FAMILY CAMP in the Dominican Republic in the summer of 2015.  Want to be part of it!  If so, let us know and we'll get you the details!