Last week was very fruitful and BUSY! We started out with a Community Development Seminar, taught by Alycia Wiebe from YWAM’s Foundations in Community Development School. Over 50 missionaries, pastors and city workers attended. We held the seminar at Church of the Risen Christ as our Project Life Center was too small to accommodate that many people. We learned about a biblical view of poverty, the 5 stages of development, and how to help without hurting. There’s a lot of data that proves many missionaries have good intentions, but many keep the nationals dependent on them, not God. Our goal should be to raise up Godly leaders in the communities and empower them to change their neighborhoods. We want all projects to be self sustaining and able to multiply. We gathered our 12th St. leaders that attended the seminar to discuss and assess how well we apply these principles to what we do at Project Life. We’re happy to report that we have been doing ok in developing the community in a healthy way for the most part! Our next step is to take a deeper look at areas we might want to change so that we can strengthen the ministry even more.

We also hosted a mini DTS (Discipleship Training Week) at the project Life Center that was attended by 20+ Project Life leaders and youth. Our visiting YWAM team from Perth, Australia taught on topics such as “The nature and character of God”, “Evangelism”, and “Destiny and Purpose”. It was so exciting to not only learn (head knowledge) about these subjects, but to experience moments of deep understanding (heart knowledge) as God moved in our midst. It was a special time for our leaders and youth as we grasped some of the biblical principles and gained a deeper understanding of Christ and how to share that knowledge.
The team also led a sports camp in the afternoon and our interns and visitors helped with that. They had a fun time reaching out to the community!

We also partnered on Wednesday with our friends at Mercy In Action and an American pediatrician and held a medical outreach at the 12th St. lot. Over 90 patients were treated and prayed for that day in the extremely humid, hot weather. Our visiting team blessed everyone with treats of water and bananas and there were smiles and grateful hearts all around!!

Medical Outreach in the Jail

..."I was in prison and you came to visit me"... Matt 25:36



We were invited into the jail to hold a medical outreach last Friday. At first it didn't seem possible, no doctor or dentist available, litle money for meds, but we felt we needed to step out in faith and go. Our friend, Claire (from Helping Hands), provided meds and brought a doc with her, our leadership team came armed with BP cuffs, and registration forms and in we went! 260 patients were treated and educated about their diseases. Sonny and John Santos (former inmate) treated skin diseases, Claire set up a prayer station, Leslie triaged and treated various simple ailments and taught health ed with the help of a couple inmates. Emmy took care of the pharmacy, Cindy and Cathy did blood pressures, Tina, Connie and Anthony took care of registration, forms and more. Many were prayed for and 4 gave their hearts to Jesus that morning. Pastor Mar (we support his weekly men's bible study in the jail) will do the follow-up with the 4 men. Our Youth Dance Crew entertained the 600+ inmates with two dances. Bringing a medical outreach team to the jail is about more than treating physical disease. It's a way to show the prisoners love and compassion, and to encourage them when they feel hopeless.

Dance crew


Doctor Fermantes did an excellent job and was a blessing to the inmates!(Faces of inmates blurred to protect privacy)

Claire, Leslie and Emy

"The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me." Matt 25:40