A Letter From Young Lives

Young Lives is the branch of Young Life that reaches out to teenage moms and their children. There isn't much in Young Life that gets me more excited than Young Lives. They have the opportunity to impact several generations at the same time and bring the love and care of Jesus to a group of people that are often overlooked, or shunned: teenage moms.

Please read the following letter from the director of Young Lives about something that happened here in Orange County.

Dear Partners,
Sixteen and pregnant, Xochi came to YoungLives for the first time in May and decided to follow Jesus that very night. In YoungLives, she found herself surrounded by love, especially the summer night she delivered her son.


Xochi's mentor, Lisa, came to faith in Christ in Young Life 20 years ago and is now married to a pastor and has four children. When Xochi gave birth, Lisa dropped everything to be there, but she wasn’t the only one. A YoungLives mentor was on duty as a nurse that evening and stayed with Xochi through delivery. A photographer with Young Life connections cleared his schedule to volunteer to take pictures of this new family. Xochi’s boyfriend, a Marine who is very committed to his family, also felt fully embraced. Xochi summarized it beautifully in a text to her mentor: “We were overwhelmed with love.”


Three weeks after delivering her son, Xochi was back in school, taking all honors classes and inviting her friends to YoungLives. Lisa is teaching her about God, life and being a mom. They're also attending church together. Do not miss this: real generational change is happening. We're getting to see it before our eyes.


Here is where you may want to take a seat. This year 14,000 teen moms, just like Xochi, plus their children, were impacted by YoungLives. We’ve grown for nine consecutive years with 480% growth in the number of kids impacted. NOT double, or triple or quadruple growth, but we’ve nearly QUINTUPLED (yes, that's a word) our impact in less than a decade.


I thank YOU for believing and investing in this mission. Let’s celebrate, lock arms and keep going.


With sincere gratitude,
Lindsey Patchell
YoungLives Mission Director