We're back in Auckland. We had a game tonight in at AUT against the Breakers academy again with some pros spliced into the line up. This game was filled with injuries, dunks, and a win for AIA! Two Breaker pros got hurt during the game. One tore a calf muscle while lunging on the floor. And one had his tooth go through his lip and through his gums after Bryan Davis elbowed him accidentally. It was discouraging to see the injuries because the pros specifically came out to play in the game to make sure the academy could hang with us. It turns out we're much better than they thought we'd be, and they wanted to honor us by making sure we had sufficient competition.
We played a shorten game tonight, just four quarters of eight minutes instead of 10. It was a looser environment during the game, and it lead to some big dunks and deep threes for the AIA guys. We won by double digits and everyone contributed.
The best part of the night was the half time presentation. Tonight the crowd was filled with our host families, and sponsors of both AIA New Zealand and the Breakers pro team. Because of this we took the opportunity to do a longer half time presentation. Coach John led the half time presentation and shared about AIA and what we do around the world and then tied that into New Zealand and our full time missionaries there. After that each player and coach shared a sentence about how Christ has changed their life. John would introduce them, and then they would step out and share. At the end of the line David Buchberger took the microphone for a five minute testimony that was filled with truth and the love of the Gospel. Powerful! It left us all humbled and thankful to be part of this team.
Timo then took the microphone and made an invitation to talk to us after the game. The host families loved it, and the Breakers players were tuned in to the whole thing, it was marvelous to see the impact that the team is having as we get close to the end.
Before the game tonight we spent the day in a heated pool overlooking the water while eating like crazy at the owner's house. The Breakers owner (Paul) is a strong Christian man and it was good for our guys to spend the day with his family and see a man with that kind of success in action with his faith. He truly is trying to impact people for Christ. and our guys loved the day we had at his house.
Team time today was lively and active as we shared, and debated, and grew in our time in Galatians. These posts have been about the games and ministry mostly, but you should know that we have seen our guys grow spiritually right in front of our eyes, and their love for the Bible is growing. Some our finding their comfort zone, and some are being stretched, but all of us are walking together as brothers during our team times. God has been good.