Hi friends! After much thought, I've decided to make a change in how I share with you my newsletters. To protect the privacy of those included in stories in my newsletters, I will no longer be publishing them on my blog. However, each time I put out a newsletter I'll put up a post like this announcing I've completed a newsletter and inviting you to email me to receive a copy and/or be added to my newsletter email list!
I would love to continue posting my newsletters, but since I work with youth and online security is at a premium these days, I want to be sure I am being both respectful and safe in what I share over the Internet. If you would like to have a copy of my latest newsletter, please email me at ali.c.campbell@gmail.com and I'd be happy to send one your way! This newsletter includes updates on my fundraising goals, stories from my recent trip to Costa Rica to help lead the annual high school service trip and much more!
Sunday, April 25, 2010
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
Pictures from the YL Costa Rica Service Project!
On the bus on the way to Isla Cocal!
One of my groups with the family who will live in the house we just built--before it was just scrap metal and black plastic. Now they have actual walls--pink walls!--and later in the week we were able to give them a roof, as well. In all, the kids and leaders built several houses, put walls in some already constructed houses, painted houses and a local elementary school, cleaned up trash and painted trees to protect them from bugs/rotting and held a carnival for all the local kids on the island! 5 days of hard work...and 29 kids and leaders who got the chance to see Jesus in the families/kids we served and hear about His life every night in Club.
Club in a tent! Each night we had club in a tent with light bulbs strung across the ceiling. We played games, sang songs and heard from Tank, our speaker for the week from Colorado, about Life. God. and Life with God. Kids also got a chance to debrief what they were seeing and experiencing at the start of club and in cabin times after club.
One of the coolest parts of the week was playing with the kids on the island. And watching our students, who often have to grow up way too fast because of the lives they lead and their family circumstances, be kids. "And whoever welcomes a little child like this in my name welcomes me." -Matthew 18:5
Our whole crew! It was a great week. We were able to serve nearly 20 families...a bunch of international school kids from wealthy families got a chance to see real poverty and Jesus in it...and we heard about the amazing adventure God is inviting us to walk with Him. Life. God. and Life with God.
I'm so excited to get back this summer...start langauge school (desperately needed!)...and next school year to continue the relationships with students started on this trip. These kids blew me away--their stories, what they've seen and experienced in their short lives, and the amazing things God is doing in their lives!
Won't you join me in praying for these kids and the families we served? And I invite you to partner with me in bringing the hope of God and His invitation to join Him in the GREAT ADVENTURE to kids from all over the world who will one day be leaders all over the world. Want to know more about how you can partner with me? See the sidebar to the right and email me at ali.c.campbell@gmail.com! I look forward to hearing from you!!
Monday, April 5, 2010
29 kids and leaders, one island, and lots of memories!
Friends, I write this from my friend (and future supervisor's) living room with a gentle breeze blowing through the trees outside the window and bright sunshine streaming in. It's an almost perfect morning following an awesome week doing service work with kids. All 29 of us leaders and kids boarded a bus last Saturday and headed off to a small beach town called Quepos where we stayed for 8 days working every day on a small island called Isla Cocal. We worked every day for 6-7 hours building homes, constructing walls in existing homes, painting houses and a school and playing with the kids on the island. The last day we spent at the beach, relaxing and soaking up the sun and reflecting on the week. (And maybe getting a little sunburnt :)
It was a very long, but very rewarding week! The families on the island had next to nothing...some with only black plastic for a roof and walls, others with scraps of tin. They ate a diet consisting mostly of fruits grown in their yard (coconuts, mangos, water apples, etc.) and rice, beans, and fish caught in the ocean. And the stories, oh the stories, of struggle, hardship, lack of housing and food, and pain/heartache. But they were so thankful, and they thanked God for sending us! It was so awesome to watch a kid listen to these stories and their gratitude and watch it pierce their heart.
Each night we had Club after dinner--playing games, singing songs, and listening to Tank (our speaker from the US) share about us, God and life with God. It was for sure different than camp in the US. We had no sophisticated sound and light system, not a beautiful room to host us, but rather a tent with mosquitos. We didn't have a professional musician, but two kids who played guitar unplugged. It wasn't dramatic, but God was there. He filled Tank's talks with truth and beauty and wonder, and the kids responded with questions and thoughts and amazing insights from their lives.
As I sit here reflecting on this past week, I'm amazed at how God provided and showed up in really different ways than I've experienced before. I'm amazed at these kids who both at once are just like any other kid in the US (struggling with friendships, family issues, and school) and yet are also dealing with these things in a completely different social and cultural context that seems so foreign to me. And I'm more certain than ever that Young Life's vision of reaching every kid, everywhere for eternity is being realized here in Costa Rica among international school kids in both big and small ways.
I leave Wednesday to return to Indiana where I continue the marathon of fundraising reaching the last leg where I'm both tired, weary and yet hopeful as I catch a glimpse of the finish line. I've been accepted to langauage school here in Costa Rica that begins the first week in May and I'd love to be here to start then! But it will take an additional $1,200 in monthly commitments to get me here. I'm trusting God to provide, trusting His timing and His plan. Thanks for walking this long road with me...thanks for your prayers and encouragement...I wouldn't have made it this far without you!
It was a very long, but very rewarding week! The families on the island had next to nothing...some with only black plastic for a roof and walls, others with scraps of tin. They ate a diet consisting mostly of fruits grown in their yard (coconuts, mangos, water apples, etc.) and rice, beans, and fish caught in the ocean. And the stories, oh the stories, of struggle, hardship, lack of housing and food, and pain/heartache. But they were so thankful, and they thanked God for sending us! It was so awesome to watch a kid listen to these stories and their gratitude and watch it pierce their heart.
Each night we had Club after dinner--playing games, singing songs, and listening to Tank (our speaker from the US) share about us, God and life with God. It was for sure different than camp in the US. We had no sophisticated sound and light system, not a beautiful room to host us, but rather a tent with mosquitos. We didn't have a professional musician, but two kids who played guitar unplugged. It wasn't dramatic, but God was there. He filled Tank's talks with truth and beauty and wonder, and the kids responded with questions and thoughts and amazing insights from their lives.
As I sit here reflecting on this past week, I'm amazed at how God provided and showed up in really different ways than I've experienced before. I'm amazed at these kids who both at once are just like any other kid in the US (struggling with friendships, family issues, and school) and yet are also dealing with these things in a completely different social and cultural context that seems so foreign to me. And I'm more certain than ever that Young Life's vision of reaching every kid, everywhere for eternity is being realized here in Costa Rica among international school kids in both big and small ways.
I leave Wednesday to return to Indiana where I continue the marathon of fundraising reaching the last leg where I'm both tired, weary and yet hopeful as I catch a glimpse of the finish line. I've been accepted to langauage school here in Costa Rica that begins the first week in May and I'd love to be here to start then! But it will take an additional $1,200 in monthly commitments to get me here. I'm trusting God to provide, trusting His timing and His plan. Thanks for walking this long road with me...thanks for your prayers and encouragement...I wouldn't have made it this far without you!
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