IASYM (Int'l Associacion for the Study of Youth Ministry)
|| JANUARY 4-8||

We're glad we went to this conference outside of London but aren't sure it needs to be an annual trip for us. About a third of the sessions were very useful, we made some significant contacts with people from around the world and have a better feel for specific issues facing youth ministry around the world. On the flip side we were the only people working in Latin America and we're not convinced that most Latin American youth ministry people would find the conference worthwhile because it was very academic (Oxford and Princeton were well represented) and that's just not where youth work in Latin America is at this stage.

SEPAL/Jorge Zuñiga get together in Miami
|| JANUARY 14-16||

Ric and Frieda hosted an informal follow-up to a visit Ric and Kyle Stiff (field director for Central America) made to Costa Rica to talk with Jorge Zuñiga (founder of the RAICES movement of which Gulicks are a part) and Jorge Gomez, the head of IINDEF, the parent organization of RAICES. The weekend was valuable relationally. It was great to catch up with Escobars and Stiffs. Jorge Zuñiga shared with us all how he is doing personally and professionally, fulfilling the purpose of the time together which was to hear from him, let him know that he's cared about as a person, and strengthen personal ties...a foundation for working together in the future.

RAICES (Youth Ministry Training)
|| JANUARY-FEBRUARY ||

The annual conferences are where the team members catch up and work on projections for the future. This year there is no conference scheduled so it is helpful that all of the International Team members were able to have face-to-face contact with at least one other member in January. As a result we compiled a list of priority issues and projects we can be working on throughout the year. We all plan to meet in Argentina in September where we will again work on how best to provide quality, biblical, upper-end training for youth leaders. This personal contact is essential in order to keep the project alive and growing.

MIAMI INTERNATIONAL SEMINARY (MINTS)
|| JANUARY 14 ||

In Miami we met with the academic dean of MINTS, a school that provides "global theological education" and that is a possible channel of distribution and accreditation for our youth ministry course. The meeting was a profitable introduction and we continue to explore a relationship with them, which would involve reformatting our course to a certain degree but which has advantage of positioning it within complete bachelor's or masters level theological program.

"EJE" Youth Encounter
|| JANUARY 17-23||

This activity was the fruition of over a year of prayer and planning. Our church hosted ten Argentines who helped us successfully initiate a youth encounter called "EJE" in which 30+ local kids experienced something way better than they had imagined. For more information on that click here.

Direct Connect (St. Andrews, Buenos Aires & Northland, Orlando)
|| JANUARY 24 - FEBRUARY 8||

Last September one of the pastors of Northland visited San Andrés church in Argentina...it was a successful first step in the relationship between these two amazing groups. This February after an exhilarating, exhausting week in Toluca, Mexico for the aforementioned youth event, a delegation of Argentines spent a week in Orlando, being enriched as they saw and heard about everything from worship rehearsals, fundraising strategies, a community educational model, and a top notch children's ministry. San Andrés' senior pastor, Gerardo Muniello, was thrilled with the "as iron sharpens iron" input he and his leaders experienced. The leadership of Northland was impressed by the Argentines, their vision for serving and transforming the society, and look forward to seeing how God will continue develop the relationship.