School is out... for the most part

The Universities are pretty much done with classes for Christmas break. Some teams are still practicing but the majority have ended for the semester. We ended our prayer walk yesterday at UMAD praying for the team and the coach. It's a Methodist school but have gone far away from Christian values so we were praying that they might come back to those values. It's a pretty powerful time to pray as a team. It's also a huge part of the reason we're down here.

I spent time the other day with one of my buddies from the basketball team. She's the girl that I've mentioned before that wrote to me before I got down here, curious about how Jesus played a role in her life and in basketball. We've spent a lot of time together. She's working on an application video to become an Au Pair in the States. It has to be in English so I was helping her with the language part and then we'll record it on Monday. She still has some interesting views on life that are strongly influenced by Buddhism. Please pray that we'll get to have a lot more talks and that she comes to know Christ.

Today, Katie and I went to see the world's smallest volcano. It just happens to a half hour walk from our house. I'll get pictures up soon. It's super tiny. It's called Cuexcomate (good luck pronouncing it). As we were asking for directions on the street I just had to ask for the tiny volcano instead of trying to butcher it's name. Tonight we're going to walk up to La Paz that gives us a sweet view of the city. Also, super close to our house. Pictures to come... when I actually have them.

I'm super excited to be home for the holidays!! I hope you're all doing great!!!!

Prayer Walks

These last few days and again later this week, our AIA team is dedicating time to spend in prayer on each campus (UDLAP, UMAD, and Tec de Monterray). We're praying for the campuses in general, athletes, specific prayer requests we've seen in the teams, coaches, and administration. It's been awesome to come together as a team and pray corporately for all these things.

Last night we had a 'Posada," which is a Mexican Christmas tradition, with the Tec girls. We started by singing a traditional song (the lyrics are in a picture that will be in the photobucket soon). We divided into 2 groups. One group stayed inside the house by the front door while the rest of us went to the other side of the door, outside, with the door closed. One group sings a certain part of the song, then the other group answers with their part of the song. The video is also in the photobucket. Next, we had 2 piñatas. Things got crazy. A couple girls got hit with the stick, others were tackled... it was nuts. All I got to show for it was a couple pieces of chile candy. Not my best effort.

After the piñatas, we had a gift exchange with just slippers. I got some sweet giant, pink, fuzzy boots. So fitting. To wrap up the night, we had tamales with dessert. It was a ton of fun.

Today during practice, Coach wanted to have practice in one of the classrooms to give Jolita and I time to do our talk and also for the girls to come up with a vision statement for their team. We did a summary of all the things we've talked about as a team this year so far, and then went into the theme of Christmas. We showed the Digital Nativity Story on Youtube (if you haven't seen it, watch it), and the girls loved it. We then got to share the Gospel with them and tell them about our testimonies (the condensed versions) and how God is the reason that we're even in Mexico and working with these teams. It's amazing that we're able to share our faith on a campus in the middle of practice!

I've got a big prayer request for you... The basketball team at UMAD has a new coach as of this year. He's really hard to read and to figure out. He's the kind of coach where the players are trying to do the right things out of fear of how he's going to react. With good reason too. His approach thus far has been to clean house. He's kicked 3 girls off the team within a matter of 2 weeks for no apparent reason. One girl, he humiliated in front of the team, kicking her off and taking away her scholarship for indecent conduct in her personal life. Another girl he bought her ticket back to Ecuador where she's from and took away her scholarship... for no reason. The most recent booting was one of the captains. They had recently played the last placed team (UMAD is in first place) and lost by 2. The coach blamed the loss on this player (even though she had a good game) and kicked her off the team. Administration is turning a blind eye because the team has a great record. The girls are being treated horribly and are being motivated by fear. Please pray for a transformation in the coach's life and for the girls to have hope to hold onto that's not driven by fear.

I hope everything is awesome where you are! Happy Christmas season! We've had Christmas music on for the last couple weeks at our house and we have a tree decal on our wall as kind of a weak attempt at a Christmas tree. It'll most def stay up all year round! Love you all!

Pictures

P.S. There are more pictures... I'm adding to the collection all the time. Just a fun fact.

http://s1184.photobucket.com/albums/z327/marnieAIA/

It's December and I'm still getting sunburnt

I'm still amazed at how it's probably close to snowing at home and here, I'm still wearing shorts and tanktops during the day.

The other day Katie and I played on a city team the other day with one of our teammates from the team we were on last time we were down here. We traveled to a gym about 30 minutes from here. It was so great to play together :) It was a really close game but we managed to pull it out with a final score of 75-7. I'm just really excited to play in a game. They play in a bunch of different tournaments so we'll get to play with them pretty often. The women on this team were so nice. They majority of them have been playing together for 10 years.

Yesterday morning, Katie and I woke up at the crack of dawn to go coach a 12-14 year old boys basketball team. Our old teammate and her boyfriend coach this team but asked us to come and plan a practice like we would have in the states. He said he wants us to work them to the point of puking... basically just be brutal. It was so much fun. There were about 18 of them and all had great attitudes. We warned them before we started that it wasn't going to be an easy practice and they were all okay with that. I give them major props because Katie and I stepped in for a 2 minute 3-man weave because there was only 1 boy that didn't have a group. After those 2 minutes, my legs were pretty close to not being attached to my body, so for them to go through the whole practice encouraging each other and without whining was pretty impressive. Lalo, the coach had told us before hand that some of the parents had gotten upset because of the amount of running that he made them do (which was hardly any). He was excited to have us run them... lots. After we finished, they acted like any other group of 12-14 year olds would do when they're about to talk to girls, they huddled in a circle and giggled while trying to figure out what to say to us and whether or not to say it in English or Spanish. They decided on "Gracias" and gave each of us a hug. Adorable to say the least.

After the practice we watched UMAD girls play. They're currently in 1st and were playing the last placed team. Well, they lost to the last place team. They came out of the locker room crying because the coach had called one girl out saying the loss was her fault then kicked her off the team. This girl is one of their best players, a captain, and needs her scholarship to stay in school. This team needs a lot of prayer because they play out of fear of how their coach is going to react to everything. He needs a lot of prayer as well. He's kicked off several players already for no apparent reason and bought a ticket for one of them to go back to Ecuador where she's from. The girls can't respect him, he doesn't respect them (and it's extremely apparent). It's one of those situations where the gym is silent during a time-out because no one knows how to react to his yelling at the girls or the ref or throwing his chair. Please keep UMAD in your prayers.

Tomorrow night the Tec girls, Jolita and I are having a team party before everyone leaves for vacation. We're going to share the Christmas story with them and to tell them that the reason we're here is so that they can know the truth about who Christ is and how they can know him too. Please pray that it's received and they're excited about it.

I hope you're all doing great!! Thank you for all the prayers and support!

Multiplication

There's another college ministry in Puebla called "El Pozo" or "The Well" that is also known as "La Casa Verde" or the "Green House." We've gotten to know the staff there and have started some great relationships since we go every week and invite all our athletes to their weekly meeting. I hate it when ministries compete for people..... it doesn't make sense but it happens all the time. I digress. Anyway, they had a Thanksgiving party on Thanksgiving (obviously) and planned enough food for 120 students. 230 students came AND THE FOOD DIDN'T RUN OUT!!!! They weren't skimping on the portions either. On the contrary, they were filling up plates and the food ran out when the last person was served. Bread and fish anyone?? Isn't that nuts? I love that story.

This is a crazy full week and I'm starting to get a cold. It could be because it's 7 degrees in our house in the morning and at night and 300 degrees during the day. Or that I haven't gone to sleep before 12:30 yet this week. My plan is to just drink a TON of water and sleep. I heard a rumor that if you go to the doctor here, they give you a shot.... no matter what. My friend told me he went to the doctor for a sprained ankle and they gave him a shot in the butt. Why you ask? Great question but I'm not about to find out.

Today we went to jail. There's a baseball player at one of the universities and became a Christian within the last year. He's a really good friend of our team leaders, John and Natalie. They've been visiting him regularly but today we went with them to let our friend know that we're still supporting him. It was awesome! All the men in there were really polite and just excited to have people in there. They served us coffee and taught us how to play a board game that they play in there alot. At first, I didn't know what to excpect since there was a big group of white folk (of which 5 of the 6 were female) going into the all male jail, and now I can't wait to go back. Our friend was talking about how he's been reading the Bible a lot and, having a lot of time on his hands, has really been able digest and think about it. He said it's been giving him so much peace and his faith is really growing.

We went to 2 girls basketball games in the last 2 days against rivals. It's interesting to watch these games because I don't ever know who to cheer for since we work with girls from both teams. After the game yesterday I was walking outside by myself and just reflecting on what I've been doing the last 2 months and realized, I'm so incredibly thankful for my life right now and the friendships that I've made in such a short time. You know those moments when you such all the sudden get really happy? That's what happened yesterday.

On Friday, Katie and I are going to play on a club team in a city about 45 minutes from here. It'll hopefully become a regular thing. We're playing with one of the girls that was on our team when we came last time (crazy how those connections just pick right back up where they left off). Then on Saturday we're going to help with a little kids basketball camp and then playing in a softball game. I'll definitely keep you posted on how it goes.

I hope you're all doing great and enjoying ALMOST December, which means, almost Christmas. I'll be home for Christmas so I'll hopefully see you :)

Furniture.

Mexico, oh Mexico. We officially have the majority of our furniture in our house. We have a couch, a table with chairs, a shelf (that we put together ourselves. We say it has personality since we didn't do it right and it's kind of lopsided... but it holds stuff), and matresses. The matress store said they were going to deliver our stuff last Wednesday. They called last Wednesday and said they won't be here until this Wednesday. Last night (Saturday) they called and said our matresses will be there in a half hour. It's a good thing I wasn't time-oriented in the States otherwise this could be frustrating. Instead, it's just kind of funny. I put pictures up of the house and of lots of other stuff.

This was kind of an interesting week. Monday was a holiday in Mexico so we had the day off because the universities had it off too. Thursday was Thanksgiving and, of course, being on a team with nearly all Americans, we celebrated. There were about 45 of us at the house that I lived in before our apartment was ready. It was a lot of fun. Families from all over the place were there.

This last week, I gave another team talk on being competent. At the end we made team goals and how they're going to achieve them. They'll be taped up on the wall everyday for practice so they can remember what they're working towards and how they're going to work for it. Tomorrow we're going to talk about being prepared.

On Friday, Jolita (one of my co-workers from Lithuania) and I met with the captain of the volleyball team at UDLAP. She's starting to give some of the team talks because she wants to start taking more of a leadership role. Her team responds to her really well. We met with her in the morning before practice and had a short devo, reviewed her talk, and prayed with her. Her talk went really well!!

The Bible study with the soccer team, that I talked about in one of the earlier blogs, started on Wednesday. There was 1 girl from the UDLAP soccer team that went and it went well! It's kind of a weird time right now because finals are coming up next week and the week after, the soccer girls are leaving to Mexico City for a tournament next week, and the semester ends in the next couple weeks. Schedules are weird so it's hard for a lot of the athletes to fit anything else on their plate right now. We're praising for the one though!!! Next semester it should be easier for more to make it.

Please keep our other roommate, Erica, in your prayers. She's raising support and will hopefully be here in January if everything comes in. Also, her aunt is struggling with cancer right now. Please pray for healing and for comfort for her family.

Love you guys!

A home is where your heart is...

I really hope that saying is true, "A home is where your heart is" because right now, our heart is the ONLY thing in our new apartment. We've officially moved in, however, we don't have beds, couch, chairs, a table, dressers, or anything other type of essencial furniture that most homes have. However, we have walls, a ceiling, food, and bathrooms so all in all, we're doing pretty well. Our fridge showed up today. Things are funny here because they'll tell you a day that they're delivering your stuff but my next question is always, "What time will you bring it?" Their response, "Sometime between 9 am and 9 pm." Awesome. I forget that time and agendas don't exist here. I'm slowly learning. Our beds were supposed to come today but they called and said that they won't be here until next week. This is all just one big adventure. I'll put pictures up when we get everything set up. I'm super excited to be able to start inviting a lot of the girls over and have this be a safe place for them to come and just hang out and just be. That's part of my vision for this trip is to provide a place and friendship for these girls to retreat to. Please be praying for that.

One of the amazing parts about this apartment is that there's a fantastic view of 2 of the volcanoes; Popocatépetl and Iztaccíhuatl (good luck). There's a 3rd volcano and it's called La Malinche but you can't see it from our house. There's a couple different stories that go with Popo and Izta. They're all sort of a Romeo and Juliet type stories. Izta was a princess and Popo was a warrior.

I gave a team talk today with the Tec basketball team and we wrote out team goals and how they're going to achieve those goals. It went well. We've been focusing a lot on values and really being intentional on figuring out what our values really are. Some of them have really put a lot of thought into it... some, not so much. I've been having some great conversations with a lot of girls. I'm going to start meeting with a couple of them 1-on-1 soon because some of them have English tests that they want to practice for. I'm looking at it as an open door to really get to know their heart. Little do they know that I don't even speak English very well but God will use that time.

Tomrorow we're going to spend Thanksgiving with a group of about 50 people and I'm in charge of cooking a ham. Again, little do these people know how lost I am in a kitchen. Pray that it's edible by the time I'm done with it. I hope you all have a fantastic Thanksgiving!! I'm gradually putting up pictures for you all to see! Love you all!

Global Leaders

This weekend there was a Global Leaders conference at my church that a couple people from my team went to. It consisted of 11 different people from around the U.S. of different professions such as pastors, psychologist, authors, the mayor of Newark, New Jersey, CEOs and Founders of different groups. All in all, a pretty eclectic group. It was a video conference that was dubbed in Spanish so there were 4 of us in the very back where the audio people so kindly set us up with headphones so we could listen to it in Spanish. There was SO much information that if I would've listened to it in Spanish I would've walked away confused and frustrated.

These speakers touched on everything; humility, vulnernerability, wise leaders and workers compared to foolish ones, tough callings, taking a stand and having a daring and bold faith. There was so much to take in that these next couple days I'm going to try and process it all so we'll see how that goes. There's one story I have to share with you. The President of Compassion International, Wess Stafford, spoke. He was sharing about a Pastor that lives in Ethiopia and was preaching the Gospel EVERYWHERE he went. Having the predominant religion being Islam, governement officials wanted to stop him. They beat him numerous times, put him in jail a couple times, and did all kinds of horrific things to this man. It didn't, however, stop him. They were fed up so they were going to give him the death sentence by the electric chair... a minor overlook was that electric chairs didn't exist so they had to create one. In the plaza square, they were going to perform this execution. He put his hands through the wire loops and grabbed a hold of these wires hanging down from the tree (this was their version of the electric chair) then "BOOM," all the lights in the area went out but he was still alive. The officials were mad and confused and they put him back in jail while they tried to fix it. The next day they tried it again. Same thing happened. They got so frustrated with him that they just told him to get away. He walked away and as he was leaving he saw Wess on the hill. They stopped and talked and then the Pastor said he had to leave to go preach at a funeral. Wess told him he'd be praying for him along with thousands of other people back in the States. The Pastor said, I'll be praying for all of you too. Wess thought to himself, what exactly is he praying for for these Americans who on the surface have everything. So he asked. This is what got me... his response,

"Here in Ethiopia, we HAVE to depend on God to live to see the sunset at the end of the day. We're lucky if we have 1 Bible per church but we've torn it apart to hand it out page by page to the people of the church so they could memorize it, because if they got caught with it, they'd be in great danger. I hear in the U.S. most people have more than 1 Bible in their house... even people who don't believe. I even hear that sometimes people go all day or all week without reading the Bible or praying. How can that be possible?"

They put their lives in danger everyday and sometimes we make the choice to ignore God until it's convenient for us. My world was rocked by that story. I didn't tell it NEARLY as well as Mr. Stafford did but I hope you get the picture. For stories like this one, I'm going to be processing for a while. There were many more stories that were just as impactful.

On a different note, today we got a lot of stuff for our apartment/home and we're ready to move in on Monday!!!!! We bought a fridge and a couch so we're pretty much ready to go minus needing actual beds to sleep in :)

I hope you're all doing Fantastic! Happy soon to be Thanksgiving!

New home!

We have officially paid our deposit for our new apartment!! We're going to have a new home starting on Monday!! Thank you Jesus! It's so perfect... I'll add pictures of it when we move in and make it all homey.

Last night we had a team time over at one of the basketball player's house. This neighborhood is gorgeous! Everyone had to bring some kind of creative presentation of their basketball past. Most people made a Power Point, including myself since that's the extent of my creative ability. It was cool to see where they came from and most of them put pictures of their families and friends. One of the interesting and good parts about it was that there were about 4 or 5 girls that were crying during their presentation. Why is that a good part you ask? In my opinion, it was cool because they felt comfortable enough with their teammates to share about something they really care about. Some were crying because they showed pictures of someone close to them who had passed away and some were crying because they love and miss their families and friends and some were crying because they had found such amazing friendships on the team and it really meant a lot to them. All in all, it was a great night!

Today I was on my way to practice feeling super tired from the team time the night before and I was going early to meet some of the girls for breakfast. It was about 9:50 (practice started at 10) and we were still in the cafeteria talking. One of the girls texted the coach to see if we could have a team breakfast instead of practicing. In my head I was thinking, "fat chance man. Like he's going to let us eat breakfast instead of practice." Next thing I know, the whole team is coming into the cafeteria to have a team breakfast instead of practice. It's so different! It was really great to be able to hang out with the girls though. I feel like I'm getting to know some of them pretty well.

I've gotta tell this story that has nothing to do with anything but is just a fantastic story. Katie and I were walking down the busy street the other day when all of the sudden we hear a TON of honking. Keep in mind, honking is not by ANY means out of the ordinary, but we're talking a LOT of honking. We look up only to see 2 grown men wrestling on the sidewalk. Why all the honking then you ask? Well, these 2 men had apparently done something that they didn't like while driving and they got out of their cars, only to tackle each other and start fighting on the sidewalk. Their cars were in both lanes at the front of the intersection so while they're fighting, there's about 3 blocks worth of traffic that's being held up. Hence the honking. There were other men trying to break them up, security guards watching from afar doing, who knows what and Katie and I walking by in disbelief. Welcome to Mexico :)

I'm adding more pictures to the Photobucket link so if you want, you can look at them.

Thank you for the prayers and support!

Getting in the swing of things...

KATIE GOT HERE SAFE AND SOUND!!!!! Thank you for all the prayers. There's still one more, Erica, that is going to be down here in January so please keep her support raising in your prayers.

Today I gave my first real team talk. It went pretty well. The girls on the basketball team are the nicest group of girls in the world so they just sit quietly, participate, are respectful, and it's awesome :) There are some other teams where many of the players talk to each other throughout the team time or zone out but this group has been awesome. At the end of the talk (which part of it was on knowing each other and knowing how to communicate with each other), one of the girls said she had something to say but didn't want it to come across bad because it was directed toward 2 of her teammates. She told the 2 captains that they had so much talent and potential and are really great at motivating their teammates. But, when it came time for them to do what they're motivating their teammates to do, they're not doing it. She totally called them out, but did it in a good, constructive way. I'm not sure I could've done it in a way that wasn't offensive but she handled it beautifully. They took it well and took it to heart and it created a great team discussion.

There's going to be a Bible study starting with the soccer girls and we're also going to invite all the other teams we're working with to see if anyone is interested. 2 of the soccer girls were talking with one of my teammates last night and were still just as excited about getting started as the first night. That's a good sign since sometimes people will say, "yeah, that sounds great. Let's do it," but they're saying it just to humor you. It's good to know that they're still interested.

That's all I've got for now. Love you all!

Praise!!

This has been a great week! I've been practicing with the Tec team everyday this week and was able to go and watch them play last night and the dominated! We've been planning a social night for the team for next week. We were trying to figure out a way to get everyone together and have a good time but at the same time be purposeful in trying to know each other better. The captain and I were talking and she realized that she didn't know very much about a lot of her teammates so we decided to have do some kind of presentation of each person's basketball history. It could be from when they're little or just the last couple years of playing. It's going to be all kinds of ridiculous pictures and laughing. They also have the choice of sharing about some kind of Christmas tradition that they do with their family. It's important they know their teammates really well so I'm excited to see how it turns out.

I'm giving a team talk on Monday to the basketball team. The topic that I'm doing is "Valuing your teammates." It's about making your teammates better both on and off the court, learning about what they value, what they're good at and communicating to them how you recognize their strengths and vaules so it builds trust, and making yourself better so it ultimately will better your team. I'm a little bit nervous to give the talk because I'm not huge on public speaking (even if my audience is 12 people.) Please be praying for this since it's my first real talk with the teams and it's in Spanish.

I went to my first of the volleyball practices yesterday and got to meet the team and listened to my co-worker give the team talk. That's going to be a fun and challenging group of girls.

A big praise that happened yesterday... we had a dinner and movie night with the UDLAP soccer team over at our team leader's house. In Mexico, you never really know if anyone is going to show up to events (even if they say they will), or if they're going to bring other people, you just never know so we didn't know what to expect. The time came yesterday when we were supposed to have our team night and 4 girls had shown up. A little while later, about 10 more show. So now we have almost the whole team and we start eating dinner. Part way through dinner we start talking about movies and then Passion of the Christ comes up. I told them we should watch it sometime as a team because I've never seen it. Some of them said, "yes" and some said, "no." That led to talking about the Bible (especially Revelation, which, without fail, brings up a lot of questions). The girls were asking questions about Genesis, the parables, Icthus fish, and the metaphores in the Bible. About 5 of them talked about how they've read it before but don't really understand it or just like the stories in it but nothing else. Some said they've never read it before... with that, I asked them if they want to go through it together. All of them that I was talking to (about 5 girls) said they want to!!! There might be a Bible study starting with the soccer team!! Praise Jesus!!! At the beginning of the night we didn't even know if anyone was coming... by the end of the night, we have a potential Bible study started and were able to play X-Box Kinect dance battles. It was a great night!!

My friend Katie got here safe and sound :) She'll be working with UDLAP soccer and UMAD basketball and I'm REALLY excited that she's here!

My most recent prayer request for myself has been that I don't want to live the stereotypical "Christian life" that everyone has in their minds as boring, sheltered, secure. I'm praying that God helps me live the life that He wants me to live that He designed full of adventure, unknown, trials, faith, and mystery. I would love for you to pray that with me. I don't know if my mom wants you to because that might mean a heartattack for her because she's a worrier, but you can pray for her too.

I hope you're all GREAT! Thank you again for all the support and prayers!

Let the games begin....

I could've sworn that I still had the energy of a 12 year old and could run and jump and play for days on end.... that's until you throw me in a city that sits at 7,000 ft. elevation. It's getting easier though. I've officially completed 2 days of practice after both coaches were really adamant about making sure that I had been working out regularly and I wasn't going to pass out on their watch. I'm just fine during the workouts and the scrimmages, it's that blasted aftermath of the whole thing.

I digress... It has been so much fun being able to play agian... despite my whining. The girls at Tec de Monterrey are some of the nicest girls. They're going through a little streak where they're struggling to win so it's interesting just to hear some of their conversations on what they think the problem is or whether or not they care, etc. They don't have games until January becuase they basically have 2 different seasons. They go from August-November playing games, then from January-May hoping to make it to the Final 4 tournament. There are 3 different levels or divisons and your record of the previous season determines which divison you'll be in. 1st is the most competitive down to 3rd which is pretty weak. The girls team is in the 2nd division and, as of right now, have a 9-5 record. At least all of that is what I understood. It's all completely different down here so I'm learning step by step. I'll be working and practicing with this team 4 times a week and then be with the volleyball team on Fridays.

I was able to go to lunch with about half the team today after practice and get to know them a little bit better. They're a fun group. They're the kind of girls who while we're in the middle of lifting and there's music going on in the weight room, they're dancing in between sets and singing/trying to sing in English. It's going to be a ton of fun!

Our apartment will be ready November 21!!!!!!!!!!!! One of my other teammates will be here on Thursday to start working with us and will also be my roommate along with the third teammate who will be here in January. Please keep both of them in your prayers both for travel and for support raising.

Tonight we're going to the Casa Verde which is another college ministy in Cholula (about 20 minutes from Puebla). There they have a Young Life Club type set up with all college kids. There's worship, videos, skits, games, a talk, and dinner. There's always a pretty good turnout and we've been talking with the staff that works there about partnering ministries

Hi Friends

This week FLEW by! Being back in Puebla has been great. Wednesday was the Dia de los muertos or the Day of the Dead, so after the soccer game which UDLAP won 2-0, my friend and I went downtown to check out all the alters that were made. For those of you that aren't very familiar with Day of the Dead, familes of relatives that have passed away make alters in remembrance of them. It usually includes flowers, skulls, food, things that were symbolic of the person that passed away, pictures, a whole bunch of things. The families make a big meal for the dead so when they come back that night they'll have something to eat. It's a national holiday so most of the city is shut down. I learned alot about this holiday that I definitely didn't know before.

Starting on Monday, I'm going to be working with different teams. I'll be working with the basketball team at Tec de Monterrey, which is a private tech. university, and the volleyball team at UDLAP, which is the same school as the soccer team that I was working with. I'll start practicing with the basketball team on Monday so we'll see how it goes. Today was the first day that I've been able to play since I've been in Mexico so I'll let you know how it goes when I'm done.... if I'm still alive.

Please be praying for this next transition. I'm excited for it but prayers are definitely appreciated. Hope all is fantastic!!!!!!!!!

Back to Puebla

I know I just sent out my newsletter but I figured I would write on the Blog too... just for fun. These last 3 weeks have been crzay long days but amazing days at the same time. Going into an event like that not knowing what to do or what to expect was a new experience. Reflecting on all the things that God did and continues to do makes me smile. :) I mean, we went in there thinking we'd probably hang out at different places around town hoping to run into some of the athletes then God decides to let us have access to their dorms and cafeterias!!!

I couldn't have asked for a better team to learn from and get along with. They have so much experience with sport ministry and Chaplaincy that it was great just to feed off of their wisdom.

I was amazed at the impact that the Chapel and the relationships that we had made on the athletes. By the end of the games people were saying how thankful they were they had a safe refuge to go to talk and pray. Our numbers ranged from 5-30 people coming to Chapel. There were some days when we didn't have any music for worship so some of the Chaplains would just sing acapella (I was gracious enough to not take on the role of singing acapella. I'm just looking out for everyone else around me) or some nights the athletes would sing or play guitar and drums. We were a pretty eclectic group.

You'll see in some of the pictures some big blue, yellow, and pink anime looking mascots. Those are the mascots of the PanAm games. The blue is Gavo (named after the tequilla plant Agave), the yellow is Leo the lion, and the pink is Huichi. Just a fun fact.

I hope you're all doing great!! Thank you, thank you, thank you for all the prayers and support!

One week in...

The more I'm hanging around the PanAm games, the more I love it (and miss playing). These last few days we've been at the Village meeting players and coaches. Today I met a girl from the US basketball team that was involved in AIA doing a summer camp in Canada last summer. It was great meeting her because she was really excited about AIA and in God's perfect timing, we're going to the U.S. basketball game tomorrow and I'll know someone that I can cheer for.

These last couple days have been really encouraging because we've been meeting with 3 Cubans that are really excited about what God has done in their lives. One of them, a fencer at the games, has come back to the chapel for refills on DVD's that he's handing out to other athletes and telling them about Jesus. He's handed out hundreds of DVD's and talked to just as many people. The scary part is that he has a lot hidden under his bed to take back to Cuba. Or, better said, smuggle back to Cuba. Is he gets caught trying to bring them back, he could get into alot of trouble. Pray for his safety! His committee leader has told him that they know he's a Christian and if they catch him talking to other people about that, they'll send him back to Cuba before the games finish.

We took a tour of downtown Guadalajara on a double-decker tour bus. It's beautiful down there! I took a bunch of pictures that I'll try and get posted soon. We went to a ridiculously crowded market... it was one of those markets that has hundreds of stands but everyone of them sell the same trinkets. I'm not a big fan of those kind... they're pretty depressing. We were able to try the typical food of Guadalajara which is a torta ahogada. It's basically a sub with pork inside and covered in tomato sauce, onions and radishes. That's the gringo version. The Mexican version is dipped in Chili sauce so it basically burns your insides. Why anyone would actually enjoy swallowing fire is beyond me but power to them.

Last night there was a concert put on by some of the local churches that was called, "La Paz es posible" which means, "Peace is possible." It was in a plaza in front of the Basilica which is a church that was blessed or dedicated by the Pope just 3 or 4 weeks prior. There were about 2,000 people there and about 8 different Christian bands that were all really good! The Gospel was shared throughout the concert with testimonies given in between bands. It was pretty amazing. The grand finale was a rapper named Marto who had an incredible testimony about being brought from a life of drugs and violence but was saved and now spends his life ministering to others through music about how God saved him. It was legit :) At the end there were a handful of people who decided to devote their lives to Christ for the first time!!!!

I've able to go see a couple of different games since I've been here. We've seen rowing (first time I've ever been to rowing), women's soccer (Mexico vs. Chile, Brasil vs. Argentina ) and women's basketball (Canada vs. Brasil, U.S. vs. Argentina). We're going to some more women's basketball tomorrow (U.S. vs. Mexico, which will be ridiculous, and Canada vs. Jamaica). I found out the other day that there's a girl that's playing for Canada's team that played at my college while I was there!! Small world!!!

I'll do better at keeping this bad boy going (and by bad boy, naturally I mean this Blog). There's been not a whole lot of down time since we've been here. Please keep praying for all the athletes here and that we know who to talk to, and for rest for our team because we're having some long days :).... but it's totally worth it! Love you all and hope you're doing great!

And the games continue...

Here we are at the games not knowing what God had in store for us. We show up, all three of us being first-timers to any sort of international games, without any agenda, any credentials to get into any area where the athletes would be, or any idea what we were doing. Day 1 goes by and we get the chance to talk to a couple people we see around town that are wearing gear from another country. We also just got to know Guadalajara a little bit and meet the other members of Athletes in Action (AIA) that are here from other parts of the world to work at the games. These other staff have been to numerous other international events including Olympics, World Cups, University Games, etc.... seasoned veterans. Day 2 we meet a man named Cristobal from Guatemala who is one of these veterans and works with AIA. He had decided, minutes after he got to our room, that we needed to get at least a day pass but eventually we would get our credential.

That morning, we went down to the Acredidation Office where there are TONS of people waiting. Not Cristobal... He went to the front of the line, got us in and we had our credentials within an hour and a half. Here's a little perspective... The Chaplans that we are with have been going through a process of getting their credentials for weeks sending in paperwork and pictures through the mail. Us "Joe Shmoes" just got ours in an hour and a half. Thank you Jesus!! Now, with these passes, we can go into the Villa where all the athletes are staying, eating, and hanging out. The dorms are there with a pool, gym, restaurants and a chapel and it's beautiful!!!!

We talked to a Jamaican shotgun shooter (one of the sports in these games) and his coach yesterday and were able to share with them what we do and talk to them about Jesus. The coach was really interested. We met a lot of people from Columbia and were able to talk to them as well. It's incredible seeing all these different countries being represented in one place. It's like nothing I've ever seen before.

I'm excited to share more and more stories with you guys as the days go on! Please keep praying for our team and for all the athletes here. Another prayer request... we just got news that Sountern Mexico, Guatemala, Nicaragua, El Salvador and Honduras have all been getting rain for 10 days straight and are going through some major, dangerous flooding. The rain isn't supposed to stop for another 3 days. Pray that it does sooner and for safety for all the people there.

Pan Am Games!!!!

We made it safe and sound to the Pan America Games in Guadalajara. John, our team leader, Jolita, one of our other Athletes in Action workers drove here and it took 6 hours by car. The countryside and views were awesome! It's really green here and kind of looks like Western Washington in some parts. The city itself is massive and so far, rainy (also like Western WA).

The games will start on Friday so I'll keep you posted on everything that happens. Just wanted you all to know that we made it safely! Pray that God moves here at the games.

Week 1 :)

I think I've officially acclimated to the elevation. It took a couple of headaches, going running a couple times, a LOT of water and some whining but it worked!

It's hard to believe that a week has already passed. I went to watch a basketball game on Friday between 2 of the teams that I've been working with. It was a blow-out unfortunately. Luckily, I was too preocupied by the mosquitos DOMINATING me to worry about the score. It's the only gym that I've been in where you have to bathe in bug repellent before you go. I think I'm up to about 40 bites now... try not to be jealous. I watch all the people around me not even phased by them, apparently because they're not being attacked. Then there's the gringa looking like she's going crazy. I've learned it's a great ice breaker to be completely shameless and look like an idiot.... nothing has changed. I was able to talk to both of the basketball coaches before and after the game and I'm praying that it's only a matter of time before I get to play with their teams. One of them wants to meet soon to talk, so please keep praying that those doors open sooner rather than later.

I've gotten to know a lot more of the players, especially on the basketball team, so I really enjoy going to practices and watching their games. The awkward stage of being the new kid has pretty much passed (except for with the soccer team). Pray that those girls will warm up a little bit and that I know how to talk to them. I know nothing about soccer so I can't even fake a conversation about that. :)

Yesterday we went downtown to explore and it was amazing!! The cathedrals there are incredible. It's the second time that I've seen them but they still boggle my mind. We went to an antique market that I will be frequenting as soon as I move into my new apartment (which I found thank you Jesus!!!). It's in the same building as my co-workers. The only tenants in the whole building will be my roommates, my co-workers, my landlords, and myself. It's going to get crazy :)

There are 3 of us that are leaving for Guadalajara this Wednesday for the Pan America games. If you don't know anything about the PanAm games here's where you can read about it... They sound like a blast! http://www.guadalajara2011.org.mx/eng/02_juegos/gdl2011.asp. We're going to try and meet with some of the athletes while we're there for 3 weeks. Pray that we get to talk to some of the athletes about Jesus! I'll be taking pictures, don't worry.

Love you guys!

The city of Topes...

I learned that speedbumps are called 'topes' and they are EVERYWHERE. I'm still trying to figure out why. One would think that the incredible amount of pot holes would be enough to slow a car down but apparently the combination of the two make the roads a safer place.
Even with the roads, I went on a bus adventure the other day and didn't even get lost :) I was very proud. I'm loving this country! The people are amazing, there's chaos everywhere, there are bright colors all over the place... it has been so much fun!
These last 3 days have been whirlwinds! My days went from 9:30am-10/11pm. I was able to go to 3 of the universities that I played at last time I was here and it brought back some great memories. I even recognize some of the girls and was able to reconnect with them after not seeing them for a long time.
I've been observing some of my co-workers give team talks from a book called, "17 Essential
Qualities of Being a Team Player." On most of these campuses, you can't share anything about spirituality during practices because of the seperation of church and state. These talks give us a chance to meet with the girls and talk about things that they can really apply to their sports. I've been working with the soccer team at UDLAP and the basketball team at UMAD. Tonight we had a group meeting with the basketball team where they were able to get to know each other better because they've been struggling with issues internally as a team. I've been pairing up with one of my co-workers who is awesome. She's been working with these teams before I got here so I'm just joining the party already in progress.
At first it's definitely awkward to show up at practices and have everyone wonder why you're
there, but it's getting easier as I get to know some of the girls. Please pray that the coach at UMAD will let me practice with them as a way to get to know the girls better. He's pretty hard to read but we've seemed to have hit it off pretty well so far.
This is such a unique and obscure job all at the same time. So much of it is just showing up, being available and willing to do whatever and searching for doors that God opens. It's also an amazing job!!! Meeting people, praying for them, watching God move, playing basketball, speaking Spanish, eating legit Mexican food whenever I want... what's not to love?
I haven't taken any pictures yet... mostly because I can't remember anything so my camera gets left behind. I PROMISE I WILL DO BETTER AT PICTURES AND SEND THEM OUT FOR PEOPLE TO SEE. Hold me to it, please.
I feel like there's so much more to tell you guys. I'll do better at posting more often so I don't
forget as many things! Thank you for all your prayers and support! Love you!

I have arrived!!

I flew in last night at about 8:30 after a super long day of travel but no complications, thank you Jesus! I made the brilliant choice of not going to sleep the night before since I had to get up at 3:30 the next morning anyway. Plus, I'm 24 and 24 year olds are invincible, right? Wrong. I paid for it by falling asleep over and over in the plane only to wake up jerking my entire body as if I was falling asleep in class (which I've never done... ever.) I felt bad for the two gentlemen on either side of me who probably thought I was having seizures.

I was warmly welcomed by the staff down here and brought to my new, temporary house. My host family is amazing! There are 2 girls that are from Mexico that I live with and are going to be lots of fun. I'll be here for the next 2 weeks after which, we'll be going to Guadalajara for the PanAmerica games (kind of like the Olympics only just for Central America). We'll be there for almost 3 weeks. My teammates should be joining me by November 1. Once they get here, we'll get an apartment together.

We went to church this morning but for the most part, today is pretty relaxed. I have to say that I'm REALLY excited for this next year. I'm surrounded by amazing people and lots of culture. I'll still be sending out monthly newsletters but this is for a little bit more play by play :)

Just wanted to let you know I made it safely and the journey is beginning! Love you all!!