Fall Fundraising Trip Schedule

Below is a calendar of key activities during our trip to the US this fall. Please contact us for more details if you would like to be a part of any of these activities. We would love to see you. Unless otherwise noted, all activities will be in Winston-Salem, NC.

Growth Camps vs Fundraising

In the Fall each year Pico Escondido hosts Campamentos de Crecimiento - "Growth Camps". The purpose of these is to be a follow-up experience for all those kids who made commitments to Christ during summer outreach camps. Pico has groups at camp almost every weekend throughout the year now, and we try to give each group excellent service, yet our primary focus is on providing a place for Vida Joven (Young Life's direct ministry in the Dominican Republic) to minister to teenagers. Unfortunately for me, I will not be able to be present this year.

As a North American, I am not to be a financial burden on the local ministry. This means that I must fundraise in the US to cover my salary and benefits. Since I had to be at the Young Life Camping Summit in VA November 4-8, and a prohibition on women traveling in the last month of their pregnancies (our baby is due December 27th), we decided that we needed to be in the US from November 1-25. This means I will miss all three growth camps and the YL International Schools outreach camp. Fortunately we have a great staff at Pico who will serve our field ministry well in those activities.

Rebe Goes to Denver

Rebeca's Perspective
 
In my last two jobs I have been surrounded by great coworkers whom I got to see on a daily basis. In the first one, because of bad traffic and the fact that I lived out of town, I was most likely to be at the office every morning 45 minutes before my schedule started. There were a couple of us who found ourselves in the same situation, so I had this routine of hanging out and catching up with the rest of the staff before 8am hit. Every Thursday, we would get together and have breakfast - "paches", the traditional Thursday tamale that's cooked every week in Guatemala. We would share about our families and lives, read the newspaper, etc. During the four years I was there I developed deep friendships with these folks. Then, once I started working with Young Life, I worked from home but one of my roommates worked with Young Life too. Our boss lived two blocks down the street. So, I had a solid staff community who knew me well and whom I grew to love. Now I work for Young Life as an administrator for the Central American region, but we live in the Dominican Republic. I work from home, in a foreign country, and none of my coworkers lives in the same country as I do. It takes me about half a day and two planes to get to any of the people on my team. Needless to say, sometimes I feel isolated; sometimes I feel as if nobody I see on a regular basis knows or gets what I do, and sometimes I also feel a little bit out of the loop.

So, I was really excited when I got an invitation to be part of the Young Life International South (iSouth) meetings a couple months ago. iSouth is the division that includes Africa, Asia/Pacific, Central America, and Latin America. I work with a lot of these folks, but have probably seen them in person only a handful of times. All our interactions are via email or skype. It was the first time I was going to these meetings, and even though I had little knowledge of what to expect, I was just glad to meet with folks from all over the world who have the same heart and similar jobs. However, all my excitement got mixed in with anxiety. For this trip, I couldn't take David, our 13-month-old son. I am thankful that working from home has allowed me to be close to David, and Young Life has given me such freedom to take David on business trips with me during his first year, but he is now over a year, and not exclusively breastfeeding anymore, so it was time to take the plunge and leave him here. I was torn.

Now that I have lived through the experience, I think I was really wrapped up in the fantasy that I mean everything to this boy. But the reality is that all of us who live in this house love him and know him well. Roy is an excellent dad, and Sami is a sweet uncle, and David loves them both. And we've also been blessed with two friends who help us take care of him - Yudi and Rebeca. So, I packed up my suitcase, and we made a plan. Rebeca would come Wednesday, Thursday and Friday in the mornings while Roy worked from home, and Yudi would come watch him in the afternoon while Roy went to camp. Saturday was a little easier, and I would come home that night. And after the plan was made, I was able to realize another part of this trip: I was going to be on my own, for four days! I was especially excited when I found out my roommate wouldn't be arriving until the second day. A room, A BED, just for me. I couldn't wait. I had so many plans for that first night. The reality was that I drove to the airport at 6am and didn't get checked into my room until midnight. I was so exhausted that I was only able to fall asleep watching VH1's 40 Most Shocking Hollywood Breakups.

But after a good night's sleep, and some yucky hotel coffee (what can I say, I'm spoiled... Roy makes great coffee), I was ready for the day. The meetings didn't start until noon, so I was able to meet with some family friends I hadn't seen in more than eight years who happen to live in Denver. We had a great time catching up. The YL team had a time of fellowship together, reports on how the Lord has been blessing the ministry in so many different countries, a time to celebrate what God has done, and also planning time for the year to come. It all felt like a whirlwind, but I was glad I was there. Baby Clifford #2 and I are already booked for a trip at the end of February 2014. Here's a picture of our group.

Happy First Birthday!

On August 26th, our son David turned 1! On Sunday the 25th we had a small party to celebrate, inviting some of our friends who had young kids. Among the participants were his grandfather (Rebeca's dad) and great grandmother, who traveled from Honduras to spend a week with us to get to know David. Jeremias made a big piñata in the shape of a "1" in honor of the occasion. It was a big "hit" (ha ha ha).

Birthday boy gave a valiant effort

Others thought the game a bit childish

Others had fun trying, but didn't make a dent

Finally the designated hitter was brought in and candy was had for all

We are very grateful for David's presence in our life, his health, his sense of humor, and his explorer's nature. We look forward to seeing him grow up!

Nicaragua Trip

The last week in August we were privileged to be able to visit Nicaragua. Rebeca was part of the leadership team putting on the YL Central America Area Director's Retreat at Young Life's La Finca camp. I used frequent flyer miles to go along and visit with our dear friends Joey and Sara Espinoza, who were previously with us at Pico Escondido, and are now at La Finca. Since I have been asked often to lend my camping experience to the Central America region, it was also great to see many of the people I have worked with and also get to visit La Finca for the first time. It was a wonderful trip.

 

After a very busy summer, I needed a break, and while keeping up with a toddler 27/7 is not necessarily physically relaxing, the change of pace from running a camp was a great mental break. Joey and I were also able to escape a couple of times to go on mountain bike rides through the beautiful mountainous terrain of northern Nicaragua. This is coffee country, and the huge trees shading the coffee plants and the abundant rainfall make for a beautiful ride. Joey and Sara became very close friends of ours here in the Dominican Republic. It was sad to see them leave last year, but great to know they would continue helping Young Life camps in Latin America progress. Joey is project manager for the next phase of development at La Finca. 

Joey, Risa, Micah, and Jace Espinoza with Rebeca and David

La Finca sits at about 4000 feet of elevation, which was a nice cool break from the Dominican Republic. David loved exploring camp and taking long naps in the cool mountain air.

Enjoying the cool of La Finca

So while it looks like we just found a tiny body, David was rather enjoying napping in the grass.

Thank you, Joey and Sara, Harold Amador, and the rest of the Vida Joven Nicaragua team who made us feel so welcome. We look forward to our next visit.

A Sucessful Summer

The summer of 2013 was a really good one for us. We had a total of 565 kids and leaders attend camp, which was only seven people less than our biggest summer ever, and this was despite the resignation of a key field staff member in the Spring and a tropical storm threatening the island the day before the first camp. The field staff and volunteers did a great job getting the "right" kids to camp. Our vision is to present the gospel to teenagers who aren't hearing it elsewhere and then to help them grow in their faith. Many of these kids this summer had tough backgrounds: alcohol, drugs, crime, gangs, abuse, etc. It made for some drama at times - fights, theft, and conflict. But at the same time, these kids are often looking for a way out of this downward spiral. At the end of each camp, we offer workshops for the kids who are interested. One of these workshops is for new believers - ones who have never before made a commitment to Christ. Over the 5 weeks of camp, 169 kids attended this workshop. Others who had at some point become Christians but had fallen away made re-commitments. Others undoubtedly decided to follow Jesus after leaving camp. Below is a slideshow of pictures of kids who attended new believers' workshops. This is why I do this. Thanks to all who give camp scholarships or financially support those of us who depend on donations to be able to do this work. It is worth it!

A Tough Crowd

One of the key elements of Young Life outreach camps is club. Club is a lot of fun. The program team does a great job preparing skits, games and music that are very entertaining, but also draw the attention of the kids and help prepare the mood for the speaker. Over the course of a camp, the Gospel is shared through these talks.

This summer our camp speaker at Pico Escondido has been Rafa Alejo, who is the Vida Joven national director and a gifted speaker. Yet even for great speakers there are tough crowds. Last night was the first club of camp 5. A group of kids made it hard on Rafa, making noises during his talk and getting up out of their seats to leave club. That is hard for any speaker. It distracts you, makes connecting with the crowd difficult. It had that effect on Rafa. Yet after every club there is a cabin time, in which the kids get together with their leaders to discuss what the speaker talked about. Leaders reported that cabin times were great. Kids participated well, and in general got the message and were thinking about Rafa's talk.

Rafa and I met this morning and reflected on this. It is another of many examples of this theme: we can (and should) do all we can to put on excellent camps in every way. In the end, God often surprises us in the things he uses to impact the life of a teenager. He can use a club talk in spite of distractions. He can use the friendship of a volunteer leader. We have even heard several kids this summer say they were impacted by the fireflies or the stars. Pray with us that God would draw Dominican teenagers toward him this weekend and that we would once more be wowed by how many choose to follow Him.