Athletes in Action News and Commentary

Last Game for Guatemala Men`s Basketball

We were blessed to have the day to sleep in Thursday, the day of our last game.  We all met downstairs for breakfast, gathered together a little while after for round one of affirmation time.  During this time, someone on the team sits in the middle with the rest of us circled around him.  He begins by sharing details of his life with us: the four Fs (faith, family, female, future).  I can`t speak for everyone else, but I certainly didn`t expect the Spirit to be at work as much as He was during this time.  It was a beautiful demonstration of love, openness, encouragement, and trust.  I was blown away by the power of it.  And by it, I was reminded how special and intregal each person on the trip was.  God is so amazing.

Later that night, we headed to the National Arena of El Salvador for our final game of the trip.  I had never seen the comradery as strong as it was before and during this game (we even got ice man on the court).  We managed to play competitively but also laugh and enjoy the game and each other.  It was a bit odd and sad walking off the court for the last time with these guys.  It has been so awesome to watch and experience the spiritual and emotional growth of everyone on the trip.  I know that we will each go our seperate ways and continue on with our individual journeys, but I have no doubt that God had us all here for a specific purpose and that as a team and as brothers, we experienced the magnificent, never changing, unending, unfathomable power and love of God through the culture and people of Guatemala and El Salvador and through each other.  I will say it again. I cannot say it enough.  God is amazing.  He is so so amazing.

Your brother in Christ,

Benhamin

Follow this Flickr link to see team pictures:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/39474026@N07/?saved=1

Guatemala Men's Basketball Plays National Team Again

We all woke up Tuesday around 8:00 a.m. to prepare for our two games.  The morning game was with a local university team and the evening game was a re-match with the El Salvador National Team.  Around half of the team decided to eat breakfast that was provided by the college in which we were staying.  After we finished breakfast, we received news from Manuel that the morning game had been cancelled.  The pandemic scare that has been hitting many other countries also hit El Salvador.  This forced the universities to close.  This led to us not being able to play the local university team. 

Knowing that we only had one game that evening, we decided to stick around the dorm and enjoy some bonding time with each other.  This was a good time for us to relax more from our two days at the beach and get some rest.  After lunch, we all decided to take a nap as a team.  We were awoken from our nap early to find out that there were two individuals that were staying in the dorm that had symptoms of the swine flu virus.  Even though we didn’t have much contact with these individuals, the Federation felt it was important for us to leave the dorm and move into a hotel.  We put our trust in the Lord knowing that he would protect us from the virus and he would keep us safe. 

During our stay at the dorm, we came to appreciate the small things we are accustomed to at home.  When we came into the dorm, there was no toilet paper, no towels, and no hot water.  We each received one pillow to sleep on with a sheet to cover our bed and a sheet to cover us at night.  God helped us see that we are privileged in the States to have these small things. 

After moving our things into the hotel, we jumped into the van and truck to head over to play the National Team.  The gym was very similar to the ones we have been playing in while on our trip.  The court was enclosed in a large building.  We played once again on concrete but this time it wasn’t as slick as the other ones we have been playing on.  We knew it was going to be a challenge to play them again.  Even though we had won by 20 the last time we played them, we knew that the National Team would play even harder to beat us this time around.  We played together as a team throughout the game.  We struggled in the first quarter with rebounding the ball.  As a team, we worked much harder after that quarter to make sure we were strong when we grabbed our rebounds.  We ended up doing so and played great defense thru the rest of the game.  We ended up winning again by 20.  We handed out DVDs to the fans and were able to interact with them. 

God has been good to us throughout this entire trip and we look forward to the remaining days we have here.  Thank you for all of your prayers and support.

God Bless,

Rob

Follow this Flickr link to see team pictures:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/39474026@N07/?saved=1

 

God Protects Guatemala Men's Basketball Team

We all got up at about 8:45 am Sunday to get read for our second game in El Salvador.  This game was also to be played on an outdoor court in a pavilion with a concrete floor, much like where the game against the national team was played, with the exception that the rims were several inches lower than 10’.  The team we played was associated with a local university, and they were not nearly as talented as the national team.  At half time, Ben shared the gospel with the other team, and like always, our opponents were very grateful to us for playing against them.  It seems like every team we have played is so excited to show a bunch of Americans how much they love the game of basketball.

After the game we got our things together and headed straight for the beach!  We were all really excited to relax the rest of the day and the whole next day, since we had played eight games in eight days.  On the drive to the hotel, we had a blowout in the rear tire of the van we were riding in.  Thankfully, our driver Pepe handled it very well and got to the side of the rode with no problems.  We got the spare tire on (which was almost bald!) and we were back on the road.

After we arrived at the hotel, we got checked in and headed straight for the beach, which was only about 100 ft from our rooms.  The hotel was very nice and we were again very grateful that we had air conditioning and nice, comfortable beds.   After spending the remainder of the afternoon in the ocean and the pool, we got cleaned up and headed to the hotel’s restaurant to eat.  It was a bit of an ordeal ordering, which we should be getting used to, but the food was very good and we all had a very good time just talking and relaxing.  After supper, everyone either stayed up and played card games or went to bed.

Overall we had a great day of relaxation and team bonding, and we are again so thankful that God has kept up safe another day, especially considering how crazy the traffic is here!  We have no doubt that all of your prayers for our safety have been heard, and we thank you for them!

In Christ,

Bobby

Follow this Flickr link to see the today's team pictures:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/39474026@N07/?saved=1

 

 

Guatemala Men's Basketball Arrives in San Salvador, El Salvador

Getting up at 5:00 was difficult the morning after dinner with the track team from Hondurus. As difficult as it was all team members and coaches were accounted for in time for the bus to leave, we were looking forward to a nice 6 hour ride to San Salvador, El Salvador! We were blessed to have a nice big comfortable double decker bus for our ride to El Salvador. For most of us it was our first experience on a double decker, and of course we all wanted to sit on top (even though we didn’t have a choice). The bus had plenty of legroom, even for 6’11” Bobby. We were served breakfast just like in an airplane and we had some in ride movies. The best part of the bus though for most guys was just the ability to sleep and recover, because we had to get ready for a game against the El Salvador national team that night.

After the 6 hour ride, with a 45 min stop at the border to check passports, we were there! El Salvador!! We arrived at our place to stay, which is a university that reminded all the players of basketball camp dorms. It is not as nice as Guatemala City Biltmore, but we are all adjusting. We got there set our stuff down and ran out to get a bite to eat. After eating we were all able to take a nap for about an hour and a half to make sure we had a plenty of legs and stamina for the game against the national team.

The team was rested and ready to play and love the country of El Salvador. We played one of, if not our best game of the tour so far. There was a crowd of about 500 watching our every move on and off the court. We played hard and had the lead going into half time. During half time John Michael shared the gospel with everyone, using one of the national team players as a translator. It was awesome! The second half was well played by both teams but a few threes in a row allowed us to get a good lead that we never let go of. After the game we handed out more DVD’s to the national team and some people in the crowd.

It was a long day to say the least, but in ended with a victory dinner at Wendy’s where almost everyone indulged in some kind of Frosty Treat. Back to the dorms it was to sleep and get ready for our game at 10am the next morning. Looking back on the day we were wondering why we always play the national teams on our longest travel days. God is challenging us to depend on him during our hardest challenges after being totally wiped from travel.

El Salvador has been good to us so far and we are looking forward to the rest of the week!!

Thanks for all the prayers and support.

God Bless,

Josh

Follow this Flickr link to see team pictures:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/39474026@N07/?saved=1

 

Guatemala Men's Basketball Feeling Better

It was nice to be back in Guatemala City on Thursday night.  After the Game in Chimaltenango, even Josue, Cristobal’s son, got sick.  We were all very thankful for a good night’s rest in a familiar place.  Due to sickness, Bobby, Aaron, and I (John Michael), were unable to play on Thursday evening.  However, after taking some medicine and resting, the three of us were able to eat lunch on Friday and planned to play that evening against the national team.  

Friday afternoon was a time of rest for some of the team, while others shopped in a local market.  I chose to rest, but the guys who went to the market enjoyed the experience. 

While at the market, Craig learned that our game had been moved from 7pm to 6pm.  This was a first for us, as most of our games have started later than scheduled.   Friday evening we loaded up and returned to the gym that we had played in on Sunday night, our first day in the country.  We were again surprised to find that we were not playing the national team.  We had been looking forward to a rematch, but got all we could handle from the team that showed up.  It was a great game in which both teams led by as much as 10 in the second half.  Thanks to late game free throws by Jay, we won 80-78.  The last play was controversial, but our opponents were great sports and were very gracious after the game.  Rob shared the Gospel with the team and we passed out Gospel DVD’s featuring NBA players to the players and fans.  It was great to win a close game, share the Good News of Jesus Christ, and have all of our players (even the sickly 3) back on the court together.  Praise the Lord for a successful day!

After the game we returned to the hotel.  We then had the privilege of sharing a meal with another AIA group (track and field) who was just arriving in Guatemala after a week in Honduras.  We enjoyed exchanging stories from our first week on tour.  It was encouraging to hear how God worked in and through the other group. 

Most of us then headed back to our rooms around 11 pm to pack for our journey to El Salvador, beginning at 5:30 am Saturday morning.  

I would like to thank you all for your prayers and support.  God is working in and through our team to accomplish His purposes.  It has been such a blessing to see this diverse group of men come together as a unit, both on and off the court.  We all have much to share and look forward to doing so when we return home. 

God bless you! 

In Christ,

John Michael  

Follow this Flickr link to see team pictures:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/39474026@N07/?saved=1