Once again we had a full house a few weekends ago. The youth coordinators from each region and several of the key leaders from the Be Peace, Make Peace project came together to evaluate the first phase of the project, which is wrapping up in May and to begin to plan phase 2. There is no denying that this project has been a success in all aspects of the words. Over 20 youth have become an integral part of carrying out this project in their community as they have done a year of training in peacemaking and have been leading formational activities for the children in their community. This past week they were doing a clean up day, cleaning trash in the different public spaces of the neighborhoods. They have gained recognition from local government and have been offered a place at the table in speaking into programs that relate to youth. They are leading a soccer tournament for children. And more and more youth are wanting to be a part of making change happen in their community.

So for 24 hours these young leaders came together to plan, discern, discuss, strategize for what needs to happen going forward. They talked about opportunities for giving training in entrepreneurship, as that is something the young people have asked for in the community. They talked about how to engage them in public advocacy. And they talked about expanding the project to a second rural area in Colombia. There was lots of coffee poured and hours of conversation that happened. Thanks to a skilled facilitator, they worked unified and came up with a proposal for this second phase. Please pray for them as they move forward, being peacemakers who live out the shalom of God in challenging contexts.