YL Training in Latin America

How many campers would you put at a camp that has a capacity of 95? For most of us, that answer is pretty clearly 95 or less. But at our training camp for leaders in the Dominican Republic in March the answer was 157! It was our largest training camp ever and it meant people were sleeping in every available space-- on mattresses, sleeping pads, sleeping bags or whatever we could find. I ended up with a lovely space on our camp manager’s office floor. But it also meant a great deal of fun with a big group of potential leaders who were excited to learn and grow. The amazing thing about this is that well over half of that 157 are teenagers who accepted Christ in the last two years through Vida Joven and they’re now desiring to learn to share what they’ve come to know with their friends and classmates. This is the fruit of a lot of outreach and discipleship by our leaders in the Dominican Republic. They’ve really dedicated themselves to walking with these kids the last two years and helpi...

The first flat tire isn’t a big deal—it’s the second one you need to be worried about.     A good friend once told me this Flat tire #2 while we were traveling over some extremely rough roads in Haiti. We only had one flat tire on that trip ( below average actually for those roads ), so no problem.   I hadn’t thought about that for a while until traveling in Colombia a couple weeks ago. Our bus there had a flat tire on our way to a leader’s retreat we were holding outside of Bogota.   A 2 ½ hour ride turned into 5 hours, but no real trouble, just more time to laugh, hang out at a gas station, play with some stray dogs and sleep on the bus. The second flat tire though (same bus, different tire) happened on our way back to Bogota, it shouldn’t have been too terrible except it was on a curvy mountain road…. with no shoulder.…at night….and the old tire wouldn’t budge….and I had to catch a redeye flight late that night. It’s the second one you need to be worrie...

Dear Friends,    Thanks for your prayers for my trip to Peru last week. The trip was rich in many ways. We had a great regional team meeting—full of sharing, time in scripture, laughter, planning and dreaming for the future of Young Life in Latin America together. There’s always something special about being with other YL leaders and friends in the ministry and this was no different. I left that time feeling enriched and very blessed God has allowed me to be part of this team and this time of growth in Latin America. Scott with Alberto Saenz     The other part of my trip was also very rich in community. I’ve visited Peru several times in the past 3 years to work with Alberto Saenz, our national director there, and his team of leaders and I’d like to share a little of Alberto’s powerful story with you. Three years ago our ministry in Peru, which is called Algo Nuevo, was going through a very rough time.There was a real rupture between volunteer leaders, sta...

Hebrews 12:1-2 "Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles.  And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith." " So, how was Nicaragua?" That question doesn't seem so hard, but Wow , is it a challenging question to answer.  I'm struggling to figure out how to sum up 11 days of great training with over 350 national leaders who are part of Vida Joven (Young Life) in Nicaragua or other Central American countries and I really can't do it justice. It truly was an amazing time of sharing, training and growing together.  Some of the leaders have been part of doing youth ministry in Nicaragua for many years.  Many others were young people who came to know the Lord through the ministry of Vida Joven there and are just taking their first steps to become leaders to others.  S...

Dear friends, Summer is camping time for a lot of our ministries in Latin America. For Young Life, this means a time when a lot of kids ( about 70,000 worldwide ) have the most amazing week of their lives, as they have a ton of fun, get to experience Jesus’ love and best of all, hear the gospel. In the past few weeks we’ve hosted camps for teens in Argentina, Colombia, Haiti, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and many other countries and still have camps occurring in countries like Venezuela and the Dominican Republic. Please pray for the thousands of kids who’ve been exposed to the gospel and made commitments to Christ in the past few weeks in these camps. This note sent from the DR gives you some idea of the hurdles many of these teens have to overcome and their leaders walk through with them as they come to Christ. This week we have had two youth with disabilities come to camp with us! It was a great week full of surprises for all. Jose was a youth who was involved in gangs and drugs, until one...

Dear Friends, It's now camping season for many of our ministries in Latin America. Outreach camp just finished in Argentina and 20 kids came to know the Lord. Colombia had 22 kids who accepted the Lord in their first ever camp and Haiti will be holding camps for the next two weeks. Below is a report from the DR after the first of their 3 camps. Thanks for praying for our summer camps and the impact they could have on teens' lives as they come to know Christ. Hola from the Dominican Republic! We write you as we are amidst our very busy camping season! We just finished our first week of camp where we had 59 new campers come to camp, and 53 of them accepted Jesus for the first time. Join with us in praise for these 53 new souls. There is definitely dancing in heaven today for them! Please also join us in prayer these next two weeks as we see up to 150 more students. Please pray that they will come with open hearts and minds to hear what the Lord has for them this week! Please also...

Dear friends, Thanks for praying for my visit last week to Haiti. I’ve been trying to figure out for a few days how to put this visit into words but in many ways I know I can’t do it justice. Haiti experienced a truly tragic and devastating earthquake 3 months ago. Many buildings are now heaps of rubble or uninhabitable, thousands upon thousands now live in tent cities or under tarps on the street, and it seems everyone lost family or friends in the quake. Power is still out and running water is sporadic. The world community responded quickly and yet in looking around at all the damage it’s easy to wonder if Haiti will ever be fixed, since the problems run so deep and much of that attention and immediate help has already gone away. And yet, despite this tragedy and hardship, God is clearly present in Haiti. Some friends of mine often use the expression that “Grace is like water, it flows downhill and pools in the lowest places” and perhaps nowhere is t...