La Finca “The Farm”

One of only a handful of international Young Life camp properties, La Finca is situated near Jinotega, Nicaragua, where 80 percent of the nation’s cofee is grown. The camp covers 160 acres, and when completed, it will accommodate 350 kids and leaders at a time.

41 & Change cofee is Arabica high-grown cofee, cultivated on ideal hillside terrain with an elevation of 4,500 feet, mild temperatures, and plenty of rainfall. From lower to ripe cherry takes nearly a year; new plants require about three years of growth before full fruit production begins. An average cofee tree produces 10 pounds of cofee cherries, which yields about one to two pounds of green beans. Our farmers selectively handpick the cherries and are paid according to daily harvest weight.

Here at La Finca, in the stunning mountains of Jinotega, young people experience the beauty of God’s creation and a welcome retreat from everyday life. For many, camp may be the irst time they have used a lush toilet or had three nutritious meals. It may also be their irst opportunity to seriously consider life’s biggest, most important questions.

We refer to the building on the left as the beneicio, the term also used for the postharvest process of depulping, fermentation, washing and drying the cofee bean. The majority of 41 & Change beans are “wet processed” in which cherries are passed through a depulping machine and then through water channels into rotating drums that separate the beans by size. Next, the beans are soaked and fermented — a deinitive factor in the quality of any cofee. It is both an art and science determining the optimal point to initiate the inal washing process. Fermentation lasts between 24-36 hours and is assessed by feel when the beans lose their slimy texture and acquire a rougher pebbly feel.

For many, La Finca is holy ground … a place where they experience life from a new vantage point … a place where they reckon with truth and grace and consider the magniicence of God, the sacriice of Jesus, and the immeasurable gift ofered to those who are called to follow Him.

After fermentation, the beans are thoroughly rinsed in running water channels and prepared for drying. 41 & Change beans are dried in the sun, raked and turned regularly for six to seven days or until the moisture content is reduced to 11-12 percent. Dried beans are referred to as parchment cofee because of the very thin parchment covering that must be removed before roasting.

Once the beans have been milled or hulled, the green cofee seeds are meticulously hand-sorted and graded for size, weight, color, physical appearance and defects. 41 & Change consistently scores as a Specialty Grade or category 1 cofee, placing it in the highest quality category in the world

Campers at La Finca, like at any of Young Life’s 35-plus camps, enjoy healthy meals served family style, high-adventure recreation, time to relax and play, and opportunities to hear and experience the message of God’s love in terms they can understand. Everything about Young Life camp is designed with the hope that kids will remember camp and eventually respond to God’s relentless pursuit to be in relationship with them.

Most 41 & Change cofee is exported as green beans, but our La Finca beneicio houses a roaster suitable for smaller batches. Roasting transforms the naturally occurring acid, sugar, protein and cafeine of green beans into the familiar and lavorful product we call cofee. Flavor components are intentionally controlled – created, balanced, or altered in ways to afect the cofee’s aromatics, acidity, body, and aftertaste. Our roastmasters craft a “roast proile” through a delicate balance of heat, rate and time to highlight the best inherent lavor characteristics of the bean. From the soil and amount of sunshine to every sequential step in the process, the inal product is both simple yet complex – a picture of God’s mysterious and wondrous transformative power changing the ordinary into extraordinary. From the ield to lourishing – in human hearts and in all of creation – God changes everything. Change is good.

By this my Father is gloriied, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be my disciples.

– John 15:8 RSV

Young Life began with a few simple ideas about sharing the truth of God’s love with adolescents. Many decades later, we’re still reaching out to middle school, high school and college students in friendship and hope and the message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Each year, more than 100,000 kids around the world spend a week or a weekend at Young Life camp that many describe as one of the best weeks of their lives. Young Life camping involves high adventure, lots of fun, great food and excellent speakers who understand and respect high school and middle school kids. As Young Life’s worldwide outreach continues to grow, our camping program is expanding as well, with Young Life-owned properties like La Finca in Nicaragua or leased camps in a variety of other international locations. Regardless of the facility, the experience is the same — kids getting away from the pressures of everyday life, having fun with friends and their Young Life leaders, and hearing the message of God’s love in terms they can understand. Young Life camping is open to every kind of kid, privileged or not, popular or overlooked, introverts and extraverts, kids with disabilities, teenage mothers and every kid in between.