Jueves

Hiya folks!

So coach asked if I could upload videos to this thing, and I got all excited because it was a brilliant idea and I hadn't even considered it.  Below are a few videos of our worship and teaching time (including some Spanish singing practice) and a piece of our game with local team Cubra (<-Not sure about that spelling) Alta.  I hoped to include some others, but today's been a day of technical difficulties, including Coach Edwards's camera's memory card becoming corrupted and requiring reformatting in the middle of the day, and now this.  Due to this, I'm afraid we only have pictures of tonight's game, nothing from the morning :(

Today's morning schedule was the same as yesterday.  Wake up before 7, get to Pan de Vida, meet and feed the kids, teach and worship, play fútbol, and send them off after lunch.  We did a quick stair-painting job for Pan de Vida but after that we returned to Alliance and took naps in preparation for our game that night.  We awoke, ate dinner, and played zoo (our patty-cake signs game), this time with Mario (Who has the most adorable perception of an elephant I've seen recently) until we decided it was time to warm up for the game.

The game was equally as much a blessing as a challenge.  We knew entering it that it was a ministry opportunity, but we also had a strong desire to win.  We had to understand Christ's ability, passed onto us by The Spirit, to radiate love while still giving His all in whatever He did.  We weren't perfect by any account.  If I may boast of my weakness for a moment, I played angry at various parts of the game in response to what I considered unjust reffing towards me.  In actually, it was simply a different soccer that we were playing.  The rules were more lax and the result was not as important as the game itself but I was playing a game of conquest and victory.  Thankfully God salvaged what could have been a poor witness of a life changed by Christ, and I was able to have a conversation in Spanish (kind of) with my competitor-turned-friend Andre after the game.  All of us were also treated to a well compiled and presented post-game discussion of the Gospel of Grace by Chad.  Christ was very much in control, which I am not just incredibly thankful for, but direly in need of.

We returned to our rooms and decided to storm the kitchen because dinner had been a long time ago at this point.  Leftover chicken, burritos, and popcorn made the night a good one.

Off to bed.  Our last day of soccer clinicing awaits us...right after a morning that shows up a little too early for my liking every time.

John 1:12-13,

GCC Men's Soccer