Ready for some futbol?

Over a month without blogging?? Sorry :/ asi es la vida.... My second team from Park Cities came at the end of March. They ministered to Jocotenango, more or less a suburb of Antigua, to lead a soccer camp in partnership with the Buckner Community Transformation Center that is located there. The team rented out part of a local soccer complex called Jocofut. It was a treat for the kids, as they came from nearby schools during the day and the camp counted as their gym time for the week, and many will never have a 'camp' experience of any kind.

The team was made up of Damon Berry, Minister of Sports Outreach, Roddy Willis, Assistant Minister of Sports Outreach, Chris Dell, and Scott Balo. They had prepared a great week of activities despite their small numbers. We had one group of kids in the morning and another in the afternoon. Each group also had lunch provided for them. I was the Buckner representative and was in charge of the schedule and the finances.

The guys began each day with warm-ups and drills, then scrimmages and other fun games for practice. Next came the much needed water break, Bible story, and break-out discussion groups. They even prepared skits for a couple of the stories - the prodigal son skit was priceless, and the kids really enjoyed it. It was great to see the guys imparting Bible truths to such large numbers of kids, as the groups varied day to day - I believe over 350 kids passed through the camp by the end of the week!

I got to spend some time with some of the younger girls, and I loved that about 10 minutes into our scrimmage they asked "Can we go play in the shade?". My kind of team!! So a little duck, duck, goose was in order (or more accurately - pato, pato, gonso!).

We also got a special visit one day from the PCBC pastors (Jeff, Miller, Brandon, and Randy) who were in Guatemala to visit many of our ministry partners - it was so great to spend the afternoon with them and talk about their vision for ministry in Guatemala! I am so thankful for their support!

The last day of camp we had a big pizza party to end the day. Each group received something from the team - the young kids got Upward basketball jerseys, the middle group received PCBC t-shirts, and the oldest kids each got to take home one of the soccer balls that we had been using during the week. PCBC bought the balls from a great site that has the gospel printed on the balls in spanish - themissionball.com. Awesome idea.

On our free day we ventured back to my favorite spot, Finca Filadelfia, to take the coffee tour and relax. Then we headed to the market and out to dinner with our great team of translators! They were really so helpful, we were blessed to have them.

I had so much fun getting to know these guys, seeing their heart for loving on the kids of Guatemala and sharing Jesus' love with them daily, and discussing missions and the church. I hope many more are inspired by these men who gave up a week of work and family to come show love to the least of these - I know they left an impression that will last.

Verse for the week - Luke 15:7
I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.