Are you planning your summer vacation? Well we are too but it's not just planning for the five of us. Try planning for 690!

May is turning out to be a very busy month for all of us here at YPN and CityConnexx as we gear up to host at present 690 youth and adults who will be going on mission trips with us this summer. Our staff and ministry site coordinators are working hard to get all the schedules and details finalized before the groups arrive. It's a huge task.

So, your recent gift of love is a big help. I'm sure you can imagine all the work that goes into planning these trips and coordinating all the details. We just want you to know that your faithful support over the years allows us to focus on serving our partners and making these urban and Native American mission trips custom designed and highly impactful.

Like my family, you probably say a prayer in the car before departing on the road trip to far away places. Would you join us in praying for groups as they leave their cities to drive hours and sometimes days across the country to serve in far away places? Most groups leave on Saturday or Sunday. Maybe that can be part of your family prayer time to pray for our groups.

One group I spoke to in North Carolina will be traveling 3 days to drive to Denver Colorado to serve our urban partners here. When I arrived to speak at this small country church I was amazed that they had a strong enough youth group to send 30 teens and adults on an 1800 mile journey just to spend a week of their summer serving the poor. Before I spoke to the full congregation, I met with the teens and their leaders in a basement that had been dug out by hand before the Civil War. It was awesome to see their excitement about taking this mission road trip. Most of these youth hadn't even been outside North Carolina so they were excited about this new adventure.
 
That's part of the joy of missions. My wife and I were able to spend two years of our lives as missionaries to rural Kenya Africa. It was a long 4 day trip flying across three continents. But we look back on this "two year mission trip" as one of the highlights of our life. So, as these youth spend a week or more traveling and serving on their mission trip, I hope you will join us in prayer for their safety and most of all the impact they will have serving others in need to show them the love of Jesus in very difficult and depressing situations.

God bless you for giving this month and praying for our CityConnexx teams. And when you do plan your summer vacation, just be thankful you're not planning for 690 wild, crazy teenagers!

For Him and them,

Dean Cowles
YouthPartnersNET & CityConnexx
Founder