It started with a hand-drawn map and a prayer.
In 2019, Tim, a Young Life leader in central Mexico, spread out what he called a “dream map” — a geographic sketch marking nearby cities and towns where thousands of teenagers lived but had no one intentionally pursuing them with the love of Jesus. Dream maps are where we spend time with the Lord in prayer, dreaming and listening, asking him where he wants us to go next. This tool has been crucial to the growth of our ministry across the world. Young Life, at its core, is about exactly that: adults who choose to enter the world of teenagers, build genuine friendships, and share the good news of Jesus Christ in a way that actually connects. Just people who show up, again and again, for kids who need to know they matter.
One city kept drawing Tim’s attention: Pachuca, the capital of the state of Hidalgo, home to nearly 50,000 young people between the ages of 15 and 25. Many of them face daily realities shaped by poverty, limited educational opportunities, scarce jobs, insecurity, and addiction. The need was impossible to ignore.
Around the same time, and completely unaware of Tim’s prayers, a couple named Sam and Ephra felt called to move to Pachuca. They loved Jesus and they loved kids. They also had zero knowledge of Young Life. But they were asking the same kinds of questions: What does God have for us here? How are we supposed to love this city?
Hear the story firsthand from Sam and Ephra!
Through mutual friendships, and what can only be described as divine coordination, Tim eventually met Sam and Ephra. As they shared their hearts for teenagers in Pachuca, something clicked. They began praying together, wondering aloud what God might be stirring.
In 2020, Sam and Ephra visited a Young Life camp for the first time. They were hooked. The mission, the method, the community. It all resonated deeply. “Where, Lord?” they asked. “How do we begin Young Life in Pachuca?”
The answer came in 2021, in the most unglamorous way imaginable: a random invitation to a soccer game. In a neighborhood called La Raza, Ephra met two teenagers wrestling with addiction who described their daily lives with heartbreaking simplicity: “We have nothing to do.” One conversation led to another. One soccer game became a regular gathering. And slowly, faithfully, the first Young Life club in the entire state of Hidalgo was born, right there in La Raza.
Learn more about Young Life in Mexico!
Fast forward to today. Pachuca now has six Young Life clubs. More than 400 kids have been to camp, many experiencing for the first time a place where they are known, celebrated, and introduced to the God who made them. Sam and Ephra lead a growing team of local leaders who are already dreaming about the next neighborhood, the next kid.
This story is one of hundreds unfolding across Latin America and the Caribbean through Young Life’s LAC ministry, a movement spanning more than 30 countries, carried forward by ordinary people who pray, pay attention, and say yes.
A dream map. Two strangers in a new city. A soccer game. The rest was up to God!
