Last Weekend in Nica

Hola!! Last weekend, our last weekend in Nica, we tested our luck/faith and rented a car. We went with Frank a Bekah, a couple who is down here for at least the next year, discipling recovering drug addicts and keeping it Real in Granada. We left Friday and went to Managua to visit the dump up there, which is daunting and has at least 800 people that actually live inside the dump's gates. We encourage you all to visit websites about the programs serving the communities inside the dump (just google "La Chureca, managua"). We then headed north to the mountains to visit the Young Life camp in Nicaragua and some coffee farms.
Our time in the highlands was incredible. One of the highlights was the simple pleasure of actually being cold for a few hours. It was a part of the country that neither of us had experienced at all. Quite different from Granada- mountainous, windy, cool, and some buildings actually made of wood. The locals from the north even look different, taller and with lighter eyes due to German lineage (also reflected in the architecture).
Saturday's visit to the Young Life camp was really sweet. Frank and Bekah live with the Young Life staffers (Yener and his pregnant wife, Oneida) here in Granada and we have developed great friendships with them as well, so we had heard lots about the camp and were excited about the ministry of young life (vida joven) here in Nica. The camp is gorgeous and is set up much like YL camps in the states, with slight Nica twists thrown in. The camp also has its own vegetable gardens (it has a goal to be completely self sustained) and a huge coffee farm right there on the premises. the coffee is now being sold and they are launching a program to sell the amazing organic coffee in the states and at US Young Life camps. The purchase of 1 pound of coffee is actually enough to pay for a kid's week at YL camp here. I urge you all to check it out, and look at the info about Vida Joven and Young Life International. http://www.vidajovencoffee.com/ (our friends Frank and Troy actually made this site, as well as the site for Vida Joven Granada.

Pictures of the weekend and of events from our last week in Granada coming soon!

Thanks for your prayers and support!

Joe and Julie