Summer plans for teens may involve finding a job, playing sports, going away to camp or just taking a break from the hectic year of non-stop homework and demands. But we had two special groups of teens who chose to get out of their comfort zone and come serve alongside us in La Casa de mi Padre thousands of miles away from home. GlobalX, a part of NorthPoint Ministries out of Atlanta, Georgia, has chosen to partner with us for many years now. And yes, like a dear friend, hang in through both the celebrations and the hard.

We had two youth teams back-to-back who helped local workers put in paving bricks to make a road up to our chapel area where we have been experiencing some erosion and put in new parking spaces in front of our homes where heavy rains had washed out the stepping stones. They dug out canals, sifted sand, formed chain lines to move paving bricks and filled wheelbarrows full of paving bricks. They laughed, they sang and they sweated profusely. They even experienced a severe tropical storm during the middle of the day where lightening was striking all around as they clamored to get inside of the chapel and pavilion areas. On the first team, a group of girls helped us clean the tile floors in the new Joy Home by getting on their hands and knees scrubbing floors…where girls from hard places will walk. They were here with open hearts to serve.

These teams loved our children well. They may have worked hard, but they could play hard too! From color wars to hopscotch to soccer to volleyball to tug-of-war to balloon animals, both groups engaged us all in the universal language of play.

And as they opened their hearts to serve, they opened their hearts to grow in their relationship with each other, with those of us from a different culture and with God. Five youth on the first team gave their lives to Christ and were baptized. Both teams discovered a deeper love for God as they experienced His work in a very different context than ever before.

Help us give a big shout out to GlobalX Youth Teams from North Point Community and Brownsbridge Churches! We are indeed grateful for the way they love in big ways!

s.

s.

s.

s.