Athletes in Action News and Commentary

Heading home from Uganda...

The basketball clinic is wrapping up as I write this, and the packing has already begun for those of us who are not coaching at the clinic!  We will depart Uganda tonight, and will be home tomorrow.  We loved our time here but we are all ready to come home and see our families and friends.  Thanks again for all of the prayers throughout this incredible journey...

From your friends in Uganda, Part 2

This is Eric Nelson, bringing you an update on the first day of our coaches clinic in Uganda (on Monday).  What a great start to the clinic in Kampala. Over 60 coaches were eager and ready to talk about the game. Over 20 of the coaches traveled from other parts of Uganda and 12 came from Rwanda. Our local AIA volunteer staff has done a fabulous job of organizing clinic. The best way to describe this for you to understand would be a couple of descriptive words and phrases… so here it goes

 

We are holding the clinic in the only indoor gym in Kampala and depending on sunlight for lighting.  It is a great facility at a very welcoming church, with plenty of room for all of our coaches.  Kids from a nearby school were peaking in the gym all day long.

National Team Coaches grouped with “Upward Basketball” coaches wanting to learn – no egoshere!

Many different backgrounds of faith so pray for all of them as we share the Gospel Wednesday morning.

Ugandan buffet lunch with fried bananas, chapatti, rice, meat, pineapple.

Press conference featuring Athletes in Action Uganda, along with the Ugandan basketball federation, that appeared as first story of nightly sports news.

Bobby could hardly miss as he was doing his shooting demonstration and teaching.

The most common question to us has been.  “What does Uganda (or Rwanda) need to do to be on the world stage of basketball?”.

 

That’s the wrap from yesterday.  Planning on at least 20 more in attendance today along with a meeting with the National Director for Life Ministries (CCC).  Our guys also have a game with a local high school at 5.  Pray for all the spiritual conversations today !

Hello from your friends in Uganda...

Good morning to all who are reading! This is April. Wow, it's hard to describe what we saw yesterday and even harder to attempt to evaluate what the Lord will have us do with what we saw. Praise God for His Holy Spirit who directs our steps and we don't have to figure this out on our own. The women (and Jimmy the jewel, he was willing to not do the clinic and come with the women to be our "bodyguard". We feel safe and able to visit all of these places, drive around in a congested city and walk in slums with him by us, Jesus with skin on :)) went to the ONLY crisis pregnancy center in all of Uganda. Bobby Sanders' church is actively involved in supporting this ministry and actually bought the home for them where they run the center. We were able to spend time with the director of the center, Veronica. She is a abortion survivor who is handicapped from her mother's attempt to abort her. She is amazing! She exudes the love of Jesus and is passionate about what the Lord has called her to do in spite of the many obstacles she faces. I could have listened to her all day as she told of story after story of the women that have come into the center, found Jesus, and made a decision to mother the child they were carrying. Bobby's church is tithing their resources well to this cause!  It was a privilege to meet her and her staff, pray with her and leave a few resources that she could use.  Our next stop was lunch which is always an adventure. We were then taken to the clinic, checked on our men, which were all in their element in a gym, and met the director of an orphanage who drove with us to his home. Once again, we met a young man who was passionate about his call, loved the Lord and loved the kids in his home. His name was Paul, his kids call him Uncle Paul, or Pappa P. We stepped out of the van and had kids ready to be picked up and loved. They put on a show for us which included acrobatics, dancing singing, and an 8 year old boy "named" Pastor Dan who told of his desire to preach the gospel when he grows up! The youngest child was a girl named Hope who was 2 and the oldest was 18, a young man who was training to be a mechanic.  All of these kids came from the streets of the slum here, which we also visited. Can't even begin to describe that other than it felt very oppressive, very dark and very hopeless. Praise the Lord for this young man who is changing the lives of these kids by pointing them to Jesus and giving them a way out.  Must stop here. More to come regarding the clinic. Thanks for your prayers. One more full day and then the travel begins again! ~April Nelson

Caution...Baboon Crossing

This is Bobby Sanders, your guest blogger for Sunday.  It seems like over a week since a baboon landed on our windshield in Nakuru, Kenya on our safari, but it's only been two days.  We were driving to leave the park, and a curious baboon joined us for a little part of the drive.  I rolled my window up pretty fast.  We also got to see hyenas, which are my personal favorite, rhinos, giraffes, and even a lion chasing an antelope.  It was like The Discovery Channel in 3D.

The last two days have dragged, because one of them was mainly travel, or maybe because we are missing our families so much back in the states.  I know I can't wait to see Nikki, my wife, and my three kids, Jackson, Hank, and Hadley.  THREE MORE DAYS!  But, we still have much work to do here in Uganda. 

The basketball clinic begins tomorrow morning officially at 9:30am, so I reckon we'll get started around 11:00 if Uganda is anything like Kenya.  As we were driving through Kampala, which is the capital of Uganda, we stopped at an event that was being put on by the NBA called Basketball Without Borders.  Former NBA player, Juwan Howard was the host, and they were selecting players to go to South Africa for a bigger event similar in nature.  We spoke to some coaches there and the president of the Basketball Federation of Uganda who said they were really looking forward to our clinic as being the grand finale of a great week of basketball in Uganda.  They are expecting over 80 coaches from every level beginning with grade school all the way through the pros.  Please pray that God will use Eric, Don, Pete and me to do a great job of sharing our knowledge of basketball, but even more, that we do a great job of communicating to the coaches what it means to be a follower of Jesus.  Pray that He will transform their lives so they can be Godly leaders for their teams.

Church was great this morning at Kampala Baptist.  The preacher bypassed Eric as the longest sermon giver on our trip, but the message was solid and the music was really good, too.  They played a lot of the same songs we play back at my church in Katy, Texas, but they just a had a much better drummer than we do.

That's all I can type, so thanks for supporting us and praying for us...we have felt your prayers.  Africa has been an exciting time in my life, and I promise the next time I come I'm bringing the whole family.

Bobby

 

Hello from Kampala, Uganda

We arrived safely last night to Uganda.  What a beautiful country.

Today we will attend church and a cultural center in the city.  Tomorrow, it is back to work with the basketball clinics and service at an orphanage and crisis pregnancy center.

Please continue to pray for us!  God has shown us great mercy in our travels and health, and we pray that continues!!

More to come later...