Chicago YL Update

Hi guys,

Wow, I feel like I can finally slow down a bit. The last month has been extremely busy as I was preparing for camp at Timberwolf Lake in Michigan.

It was a great start to the month as I started with 10 kids signed up for camp. The week before camp, however, every one of those kids canceled and I felt a bit (more than a bit) down. It was definitely a time where I needed to get on my knees. And God answered!!

I was super blessed to have 10 kids from GAP Community Church come with me as well as Irais - a GAP Jr. High Volunteer Leader. Of the 9 kids that were not saved that went to camp, 6 came to the LORD! Praise God!

Now I am starting to contact the kids again to have a continual relationship with them. Today we'll play basketball and hang out a bit. As the Summer winds down, we'll do some paintball, basketball, video game nights, lots of food, and some on-on-ones for me to get to know them well.

I will be sending out a newsletter by mail in the next 2-3 weeks as well as a quarterly newsletter. Both the online newsletter and the snail mail newsletter are different. If you want to be included in either of those, please send me an email to pablo@nwchicagoyl.org with your email address and mailing address.

I can't wait to tell you guys all about it!

Please continue to pray for these kids as I disciple them and the kids that will be joining the Kingdom soon!

Blessings to you all!!!

Chicago Young Life Update

Hi friends,

Sorry it's been a while since I updated you guys. I promise to make it more often now that things are getting a bit more settled.

So I have some exciting news! We're going to camp!! I was able to talk to some donors and the price per kid went down from $320 to $100!! Thank you God and thank you donors!

So yeah, I'm going to camp, but with who?!?!?!?!

Well, I'm so thankful also because I've been meeting parents and kids and have had great success! Every child and every parent that I've spoken to is really excited to be a part of what is happening and what is going to happen. So far, I've met with the following kids that I'm sure you'll get to know over time :)

- Nathan Roman
- Hector Hiraldo
- Joseph Ruidias
- Justin Ostoaiza
- JJ - Justin's cousin who will also likely go to camp!
- Eric Castillo (I'm picking him up to take him to Portillo's in a bit :))
- Eduardo

There are 3 kids that I'm still meeting this week, but everyone above I've had a chance to meet him, parents, and some even hung out with me (or I with them) in the last week.

I'm also excited because are so willing to hang out and do things. Maybe it's because they are SUPER bored now that they are out of school, but I'd like to think that at 29 (almost - Aug 2) I can still relate to kids :)

We've played basketball and will do so again next week. And we'll also go to a public pool next week as well. We already have plans of going paintballing, to Great America, and other fun stuff.

I've really enjoyed meeting the mothers as well (I have only met 1 father) because they are so protective of their sons and they are so willing to bring me into their lives as help for the time that they cannot be with them. I've spoken in Spanish with most mothers even though most are bilingual. They immediately heard my Argentinean Spanish and knew I was not Puerto Rican. haha. Most Latino's here are Puerto Rican and the Argentinean accent is like comparing US English with English from England.

I'm still speaking with donors and attempting to connect with more people. Anna and I have not yet found a permanent home church to go to, so we are still in need of a church community, but we are happy to have good friends that we knew from before. Anna is also starting to seriously look for jobs this upcoming week as we need her to find something by, at the latest, middle of August.

Thank you guys for your thoughts and prayers.

More to come soon! I want to introduce you guys to my kids one by one with pictures and video :)

Blessings!
Pablo
805.698.1615