Rebeca's Trip to the YL Central America Leadership Retreat

YL Central America Leadership Team

Fifteen adults, four kids, one infant, all under one roof as the Central American regional team gets together in San Jose, Costa Rica for five days. We got together Saturday night coming from each country in Central America where we have Young Life ministry (Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Panama) to be together for a time of casting vision, praying together, getting some training, and sharing what's in our hearts.

Our son David and I got on a plane Friday afternoon (this being David's 13th flight!) and got to San Jose at about 7pm. My cousin Debora was waiting for us, and we spent the night at my cousin Esteban's house. Saturday morning was good and relaxing, just a great time to unwind, let David play around with the dog, and then drove to my aunt's house for lunch. Then they took David and me to the house of Kevin Suwyn (Central America regional director) for the beginning of the retreat.

We had been praying and planning this time for a couple months now. We want to create spaces and times so we can share as a team and encourage each other, as often it feels like we are all alone in our areas, sometimes bearing heavy burdens. We started with worship and sharing what anxieties we'd left behind. My heart felt heavy as we went around the circle: an aunt wrongly accused of drug trafficking now in jail, awaiting trial, possibly facing 3-5 years of prison. A brother-in-law who that morning had fell off a roof, now paralyzed for life, never to leave the hospital again. Children and families left behind for a week. A son struggling with school. A brother, moving back home with his family of four. And there we were, opening our hearts with each other because this is the place where we can do it...

And as we shared what were the things we wanted to be able to trust God with, we also shared the things that we were so thankful for: A new opportunity to work with both of the main gangs in one of the countries, as a family of missionaries just moved into the neighborhood; God's provision throughout the year. Hollman, team leader in Nicaragua shared the story of one of the girls impacted by Young Life - a girl whose family problems revolved about how to get so and so out of jail; a life marked with violence, and not one good example to follow; a Young Life leader entering her life and starting a friendship, introducing her to Jesus. Her life has been transformed and now she has two spiritual daughters herself. I got goosebumps as Hollman said, "I see Young Life shaking the very basis of Nicaragua. It won't be easy, even dangerous... but we wanna see thousands of kids come to Christ."

We finished last night with some worship time and prayer. Looking forward to another day!