Dearly beloved co-workers in God’s great harvest field,

Greetings from sunny Coffee Country! Today’s bright sunshine is a welcome break from the rain that we’ve had the past few days.  🙂 

Preparation for Camp
June was a busy month for us as we prepared for the national Youth Camp that was held the first weekend of July.  The churches we work with here in Colombia hold a bi-annual National Youth Camp.  Every two years the young people and youth leaders from different churches get together in different parts of the country for a weekend of fun, fellowship and learning.  This year it was our turn to organize things here in Pereira.  We’ve been asking for your prayers for a few months now, and we are pleased to report to you the blessings that the Lord has  showered on this project. 

First Issue
The big problem we faced was “Where?”. As we do not have our own property for camps, it was quite a process to locate some place that could be used.  Here in Colombia it is common for people to rent out their properties around an urban area for parties, retreats and other activities.  The problem was that with only one major holiday during the annual school break, many churches were also looking for the same type of properties.  Place after place was discarded due to lack of facilities or prior commitments.  Finally we were able to find a place well out of town, down at a lower (therefore drier) altitude and that we felt could be set up for our anticipated turn out.  It worked well!

Theme
Our theme this year was “Young Conquerors – ‘…in the days of your youth…'”, taken from Ecclesiastes 12.  We assigned different leaders from various congregations to teach on a variety of topics, examining how the kids can prepare themselves for life’s challenges by approaching each part of their life with a view towards following The Way set forth by God for that area.  We looked at Arts/Sports/Entertainment, Education, Civic Life, Media/Communications, Family, Work and Spirituality.  We rejoice at the way the Holy Spirit moved amongst us and helped each person to prepare a lesson that impacted lives for Christ.

Results
On the last night of the event 12 young people came forward seeking a closer walk with Christ and desiring His help in managing different areas of their lives.  Attached to this email is a picture of some of them, before I went forward to pray with and for them.

Additional blessings
Sheri and I celebrated our 29th wedding anniversary on June 26.  We were accompanied by Carolina, a young woman we’ve known since we first came to Colombia in 1995.  Her father is the first person the Lord helped me to bring to Him in Colombia and we’ve had a special relationship with their family over the years.  In prior years we’ve been privileged to host her older sister, Sara, and her younger sister, Laura, each at an important time in their life.  Carolina came to us as well with a need for some special listening and counseling – but she also came to bless us as she used her gifts and talents to help us prepare for the camp and as she helped in different areas throughout the camp.  We praise God for the opportunity to bless – and to be blessed.

It was a pleasure to make the acquaintance of Michael and Nichole Thayer who are moving to Medellin to work with Andrew Stringer.  They came early for the camp and spent a couple of days up in Santa Rosa celebrating their own wedding anniversary, then they came on down to help chaperon the camp and polish their Spanish a bit by interacting with the kids. They also took care of the first evening’s icebreaker activities.  We are very grateful for their attendance and assistance!

THANK YOU!
Thank you to all who make it possible for us to live and minister here in Pereira.  Thank you for being part of our ministry.  We praise God for your faithful prayers and support and rejoice in the harvest that He is gathering through our ministry and yours. 


In Christ,


Paul and Sheri Moreland


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South American Christian Mission "... to prepare the saints..." Ephesians 4:12 www.sacm.net www.paulmoreland.com