We had an amazing time at Young Life’s Malibu camp in Canada. Even with the 12 hour commute on buses and ferries, it was TOTALLY worth it. Most of the group was comprised of younger students who did not know much of the gospel and it was amazing to see God change lives. Here are some pictures from the week:

In the attempt of trying to summarize such an amazing week, here’s a video for you all to watch recapping an amazing, life-changing week in Managua, Nicaragua with 32 high school students and 6 leaders. Thanks to Aaron Sternke for technical direction and editing. Also, thank you to all of you prayer and financial supporters – we couldn’t have done it without you!

The team is safe in Houston experiencing the American Dream of Panda Express, Starbucks, and Jamba Juice. We take off for PDX in an hour and a half. Thanks for praying! See you soon!

We arose again for a 7:15am devotional on James 4, which sets a perfect stage for what God is doing in this group: humbling us. We talked about why God would oppose the proud and give grace to the humble, how life with him begins and ends on our knees.

Today proved to be a humbling day of serving the local people of Managua and allowing them to serve us. We went to the same local school we served at on Tuesday. We played with the children and then got right to work this time. While we set out to finish everything, we got rained out. However, this ended up being exactly what we needed. As the torrential Central American Rain poured down heavily, we cleaned out the kids’ classrooms and bonded with one another – some of us soaking wet.

We have been learning a very central lesson to our work this week: life is not about accomplishing great things, it’s about knowing great people, namely the Lord of Lords, Jesus the Christ. Accomplishing great things breeds pride, but knowing a person who offers grace breeds deep humility. We have accomplished some things here, but more importantly, we have been interacting with many people who have been changed by the gospel. As we have heard the stories of the girls here and met local people and children at schools, we have been humbled.

“Submit yourselves to God [and] humble yourselves before the Lord, for he will exalt you” – James 4:7,10.

We came back to the Villa soaked and spent time with the girls here. The sounds of laughter filled the acreage as we continued to know one another and be changed by the Holy Spirit, who is at work in all of us.

It is so strange to think that our last day in Managua is tomorrow. We have a full day that will end with a birthday celebration for a number of the girls here. I’m confident God has great things for us with the short time we have left.

Praying with you,

Pastor Chris

It’s tough to keep up with all that is going on, but here’s what we did YESTERDAY. Today was full as we left the Villa and cleaned up a school just outside of Managua – a blessed experience for all of us and extremely hard work. We played with the children and spent nearly 6 hours fixing the dilapidated school. We were blessed to serve alongside many local people. The students will sleep well tonight for sure.

Here’s the entry I wanted to post later last night, about yesterday’s visit to La Chereca, which is the dump on the outskirts of Managua. I wrote this yesterday afternoon:

The students woke up at 7am this morning to begin our devotional in the book of James. We read and discussed what it means to ask God for wisdom and be “doers of the word.” We prayed together because we knew today was going to be a hard one.

The buses were loaded at 9am, which was right after a tasty breakfast (PANCAKES!). We were off to La Chereca – the dump where the Villa girls have come from.

As we drove in to the dump, our Forward Edge leaders told us to remove our jewelry and leave everything valuable behind: just ourselves and a water bottle. As we drove in, we saw a mountain of trash with small fires burning everywhere. The bus grew silent as we saw what looked like hell on earth. I have seen a lot of poverty in many countries, but nothing like La Chereca.

What is so strange is that the pleasant and beautiful girls we have been spending time with at the Villa were all there before they came to this safe haven. The contrast is remarkable, trying to picture each girl back in her “home,” which consisted of scrap metal leaned together to form a small shelter.

We came back in somewhat of a daze and ate a meal together just as the team. After our meal we spent the entire afternoon beautifying the Villa. The kids raked, moved stuff, and cleaned all over the acreage. It was beautiful before, but the students made it look ever better.

At night, we played games with the girls at the Villa and the students had an extra vigor in them after seeing where these girls were rescued from. During our debrief time, students once again shared courageously about what God is doing in their lives. Can’t wait for you all to hear it from their mouths when we return.

God bless you all and we’ll post more later.

Pastor Chris