God is really, really cool.

One of the many, many amazing things about God is he likes to catch you off guard and give you awesome surprises and gifts. Today, we just got done with practice and were walking up this staircase that I swear is a mile long, when we saw John, our team leader. We stopped to talk with him when 2 other guys came up. John knew one of them because he works in the Athletic Dept. at Tec. The other guy was a reporter from "Sol de Puebla," one of the most well known newspapers in the city. He was talking to us for a while asking about what we do when he ripped out his recorder (no, not the instrument, although that would've been awesome) to interview John. He talked about the teams that we're working with, how we're trying to help them physically, mentally, emotionally, and above all, spiritually. The reporter was really interested and was asking how to get more information. He was asking if he could take pictures of us when his photographer got there in a while. No later than he could finish that sentence did his photographer roll up on his motorcycle. Here comes the best part... but first to give you a little visual. Yost and I had just finished practice so you can imagine how good we looked. I had a Wa-Hi sweatshirt on sporting Devil while we just told them how we're telling the people we're working with about Jesus, and we're thinking by his "taking pictures" he meant 1 maybe 2 pictures of the 3 of us.
We go back down the mile long staircase to the courts when he asks us to grab a basketball. Yost gets one and starts posing like a mad woman! She's doing every kind of high school basketball pose combined with senior picture style and they're just LOVING it! He must have taken 10 pictures of her and she just looked fantastic. Next it was my turn (after I changed my sweatshirt) and to us the word "awkward" to describe me in front of a camera would be the understatement of the century! But alas, he still took about 10 pictures of me too. Then John's turn, after they went to grab the baseball gear since he's a baseball player. We can't take pictures to represent Athletes in Action without props from each of our sports. Then came the group photoshoot. Think of any senior picture pose you can, and we did it.
This article, with pictures, will be posted in the newspaper either Wednesday or Thursday so the whole world/those who read "Sol de Puebla" in the city, will get the pleasure of seeing the pictures. I'll get a hold of 1 or 20 so that I can try and scan and email them out.
How amazing is that though?? God just spread the word about Athletes in Action, and ultimately about Him, to a giant newspaper company!! I didn't wake up this morning looking for a sweet photoshoot looking like a scrub but we went with it anyway :)
Switching subjects... we had 3 basketball girls and 1 soccer girl over for dinner last night and it went really well. We're going to make Sunday our dinner with our girls night every week! I'm really excited! I don't think I could ask for a better job :)

I hope you're all doing amazingly! Love you and am praying for you!

I'm starting to realize that I live in Mexico.... yes it has taken me this long. My schedule is getting more and more packed but that's what I'm used to so it's a good thing. The not good thing is when I forget what I'm doing here and get task-oriented and focus more on getting things done rather then spending my time with God so that I can do other things. Working out of my own strength is not going to cut it. I seem to have to relearn that lesson over and over... and relearn it the hard way.

I'm super stoked for everything that's happening here! I had some 1 on 1 meetings this week that I'm really excited for. There are 2 volleyball girls that Yost and I are meeting with. With one, we're doing the studies on character and working through goals with her. Another volleyball girl has been meeting with Jolita for a while and really wants to be close to God but doesn't know how. She said she's not content with the way she's living her life now. With her, we're going to do a Bible study on God's character. Who He is? What he's all about so that she would know her identity in Him and be able to stand firm knowing that she's loved, royalty in God's eyes. forgiven, during all the hard circumstances she's facing. We're also doing a Total Athlete study that's kind of a Bible study that combines Scripture and your relationshiip with Christ with sports. I'm really excited :) Please be praying for both these girls.

Last night we had our first study on the John Maxwell book, "The Difference Maker" with the 2 captains of the basketball team. They're both liking the book which is a good start. They've had problems with each other in the past and haven't been able to work very effectively together but have been working on it. Last night was great. They were both completely open with each other about stuff they needed to work on and also decided ways that they can work more together so that the rest of the team doesn't see division in their leadership. They're going to start being a part of giving team talks and activities and are going to do it TOGETHER which is the kicker. There was a lot that was poured out on the table and a lot to work on and that was only our first meeting. So, here we go :) Please keep praying for these 2 as well. This is the last semester for one of them before she graduates so there's an aspect of "passing the baton" to the other captain since she's newer in this role.

Update on Katie... she's out of the hospital, praise Jesus! She's at home in Tupelo, Mississippi with a liver that's shot, infections, mono, and an enlarged spleen that's pressing on her stomach and ribs. PLEASE keep praying for her! We're still not sure how long she'll be home but hopefully she'll be back to us soon to this side of the border.

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

Also, I put more pictures up... just a fun fact!

Crazy week!

What a week! Update on Katie, my roommate. She's in the States at the hospital. They're keeping her in the hospital until Monday because her liver is in shock. They're also testing for malaria which she'll find out the results on Monday. Please keep praying for her quick recovery. We already miss here here!!!
Yost and I met with Abigail, one of the volleyball players on Friday and had a GREAT talk! She's a Christian that just wants more out of her relationship with God and to be a light on her team. We asked her how she wanted to grow in her walk with Christ and she said, "I want to become a woman of prayer and I want to be disciplined." Her homework for the week was to make goals in different areas of her life; i.e. Physical, Spiritual, Personal, Other, and we'll go over them next week. She really opened up to us about stuff she's struggling with and we prayed with her. We're also starting some sweet character studies with her on Fridays.
One other girl on the volleyball team wants to do the character studies as well. She is a sweetie and I'm really excited to get to know her better!!
Another super highlight this week was I got to practice with the volleyball team!! Volleyball is one of the most fun sports to play... basketball is still my favorite but I always have SO much fun playing volleyball. The coach said I can play all the days that I go to UDLAP. Super stoked! I think this might be a way for doors to open with this team.... Despite the fact that I'm terrible. All that I have going for me in volleyball is that I'm a scrappy little bugger.
The basketball girls had 2 games this weekend away and went 1 and 1. They play home on Wednesday so I'm excited to see them!
Today we played in a softball game with the coach for the UDLAP baseball team. We won 30-14. It was close. It was also amazingly fun! I could play in pick-up games and practices all day long if people will let me. It's nice of them to pick up a scrub and give me a chance. We might be playing with this team every Saturday that we can. I might actually come back somewhat tan.... oh who am I kidding, I can't tan.
I hope you're all doing great! Keep the prayers coming! God is doing some cool things and I'll make sure to keep you updated on all of them :)

Crazy and weird week

Hello beautiful, beautiful people!
This has been just a weird week kind of. I just sent out an email for the prayer request for my roommate so I'm sure you already know about it... if not, she has mono so please be praying for healing and for protection over the rest of the team.

Last night we had the Tec girls over to our house for dinner and games and a good-bye party for Jolita because she's going back to Lithuania for a few months for training and to raise support to come back to Mexico long term. Please be praying for her too! It went really well last night! I'm mostly excited that they know where we live now and feel welcome to come over whenever they want. We played spoons (if you don't know that game, you're going to have to soon because it's amazing!), Pictionary, ate hot dogs (their idea), and got to learn more about Lithuania through Jolita's presentation of her country, family, friends, etc. We're going to start the character studies next week at our house. The material is 7 books of different godly character traits with lots of Scripture interwoven. The kicker is that it's not translated into Spanish yet so that's going to be fun :)

Tonight the volleyball girls from UDLAP are coming over and it'll be the same type of deal. It's really important to us that they know where we live and feel welcome. I feel like things are going to start to get super busy within the next couple weeks so please keep those prayers coming.

There's a video that Yost, my roommate, put together that's on Youtube. I'll put the link at the end so you can see it. She's going to be doing them contiuously throughout the year and being the sweet person she is, she said I could send it to all my supporters. Props to her!

Love you guys and appreciate everything that you do!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PXXWRsZvs_g&feature=youtu.be

Fun news

The other day, the coach at Tec (the basketball team Yost and I are practicing with) asked if I wanted to be his volunteer pseudo assistant coach and to sit on their bench during home games and help with the team and help control him (his words, not mine). He also said that he's working on trying to get permission for us to travel with the team for their away games!! How sweet would that be?? There was so much foundation laid before I even got here that those who came before me made my job easy :) Thanks to all those people!! They have an away game on Friday but he still hasn't gotten the official OK from administration so it's a no-go on this weekend but we'll see what the future holds!

I also gave my first talk to the volleyball team at UDLAP last Friday. We did an activity on enthusiasm and the girls did really well. They had to build a sculpture using a random assortment of things that I gave them and then describe how that sculpture represents their team spirit/enthusiasm. One group did an awesome job (they definitely won). I'll put the pictures up and let you guess which team won... shant be hard ;) After the talk/activity I talked with their coach because I noticed that the assistant coach and the head coach were stepping in to play because their numbers were low. So, naturally I asked him if I could play if they ever needed extra people and he said yes!!! I'm stoked! I'm praying that this could open doors for this team because they're definitely more reserved and shut down than the Tec team. These are the girls that are somehow SUPER interested in their phones as soon as you start talking. The timing is just crazy! I'm excited to see what happens. Hopefully he wasn't just saying yes to humor me so I would leave him alone... wouldn't be the first time that has happened in my life ;)

Tomorrow is our team night (dinner and games at our house) with the Tec team then Wednesday for the UDLAP girls!! Our doors are opening!!! Last night we had 2 basketball girls from UMAD over and it was a ton of fun. One of them has a pet duck... I didn't even know that was possible. Right after we finished dinner and they had left, we went to go wash the dishes (which was EVERY dish we owned) and turns out, this side of town ran out of water. Yep, you heard it, we ran out of water. So, this afternoon when we got back from practice we had some again. Never again will I take running water for granted.

Please be praying... Mary, one of my roommates, hasn't been feeling well at all these last couple days and is going to the doctor tomorrow. Pray against this sickness and spiritual warfare because doors are starting to open with her at UDLAP basketball. Be praying for our team nights too please! I'll keep you posted on how they go. Love you guys!!

So much to look forward to!

There are lots of doors opening here :) Thank you Jesus!
I've been practicing with the Tec girls 3 times a week and am at volleyball practice at UDLAP 3 times a week. I feel like relationships are really starting to grow at Tec especially!!! The weeks are going to be packed with getting together with the girls. We're going to start meeting with the captains at Tec starting in 2 weeks. We're going to study The Difference Maker by John Maxwell. I haven't read it but it looks like it's going to be really good. They're excited about it because I think they really do what their team to succeed and they want to know how to lead them well. They definitely have an influence on their peers so it'll be a really good study, for them and for me. :) Lord knows, I've got a LOT to learn!!
There's another girl that I'll be meeting with every week to practice English. Poor girl thinks that I know how to speak English well. We'll see if she can pass her class with a tutor who can't pronunciate anything because she mumbles EVERYTHING!
Next week we're going to have team nights at our house with both teams. Tec will be over here on Tuesday and UDLAP will be here Wednesday! I'm stoked because I'm praying that this will open doors for the girls to feel comfortable to come to our house, know where we live, hopefully break down some of the walls that are built up in some of these girls, and just because it's going to be sweet having the teams here just to have fun!
I'm just really excited about what all is going on here and what these next 9 months hold! It's really encouraging! God's most def on the move :) Please pray for all these different meetings and team nights, that relationships will continue to grow and that our house WILL become a place where all our athletes feel welcome and safe to come to!!
Love you all... lots! Thanks for the prayers :)

p.s. Sorry if there are a ton of typos in my blogs. Odds are good that there are. I haven't really gotten in the habit of reading over what I write. I just get really excited and then hope that all of you can follow my train of thought.

Early mornings and great friends

I'm trying to write in this bad boy often but so far I haven't done a very good job at keeping it updated. This first week of being back has flown by. We have had early morning practice at Tec followed by volleyball practice at UDLAP. I want to share a story about one of the girls at Tec.
Her name is Diana and she's from Ecuador. Last semester she played at UMAD when after the last game, her coach was mad because they lost by 2 to the last place team while they were in first, he picked 3 girls out and told them they were off the team. She was one of them. He told her he had her ticket back to Ecuador ready to pick up. She packed up her stuff within the next couple days, went to the registrar's office to pick up her ticket, and they had no idea what she was talking about. Quite the fear tactic he uses. She is a new Christian and had been meeting with Abbey, one of my co-workers, to be discipled. Well, now she has officially transferred to Tec!! :) I talked to her the other day (she is the sweetest thing ever!) and asked her if she'd like to continue to meet like she was doing with Abbey. She said yes! (Sounds like a proposal). So whenever she figures out her class schedule we'll find a time to meet. I'm STOKED!
Yost (our roommate that just arrived last week) and I stayed after practice last week and shot with 3 of the girls for a long time, then went and ate lunch with them. I have a feeling God has some big plans with this team and UDLAP!! Please be praying that my meetings with Diana and Yun (the other girl I was meeting with last semester) will flourish into something amazing that God does! We have some plans with how to try and reach the UDLAP volleyball girls so please be praying that they work. I'll write about them as we figure them out in more detail.
Yesterday was Hudson's 3rd birthday!!!!!!!!!!! We were there all day helping decorate. Then the kids came and we watched Rio (since the party was Rio themed), played Rio games, had a Rio piñata, ate a cake that Natalie made (I'll put pictures up of the cake because it's AMAZING!), opened presents, then came the big surprise.... The bouncy castle!!!!!!!!!!!!! They LOVED it. Totally worth lugging from the States. A great day all in all.
I'm going to put a list of names and who they are so you know who I'm referring to in my blogs...
John: Team Leader
Natalie: John's wife
Hudson, JT, and Lucia: John and Natalie's kids
Erica or Yost (Most likely I'll use Yost): One of my roommates from Michigan
Mary or Katie (Most likely I'll use Mary): Other roommate from Mississippi
Abbey: Co-worker from Wyoming
Jolita: Co-worker from Lithuania

That's a good start. Hopefully it's not too confusing. LOVE YOU GUYS! Thanks for the prayers!!

I'm BACK!

I have officially made it back to Puebla, safe and sound! It's been a couple days of recoup that were definitely necessary but it feels good to be back. :) I got to spend 2 weeks at home with my amazing family and friends (which made it even harder to leave the second time) but it was so great to be with them especially during the Holidays!

Coming into the airport was fun because I brought back a bouncy castle in my suitcase.... yes, a legitimate full size, kids bouncy castle... don't act surprised. The security gentleman questioned me about what it was (naturally) and I wasn't entirely sure how to describe it in Spanish. So it came out, "a big balloon that is in the shape of a castle that kids can jump in." I'm shocked that they didn't know what I was talking about. :) Then they asked for the invoice that I didn't have because I didn't buy it but also just forgot to put it in my bag. Luckily, John (the one who bought it) was on the other side of the security doors and had the invoice on his phone so they let me free. You may be asking, "Why did you even bring a bouncy castle?" Some of you might not be asking yourself that if you know me at all. But, I brought it for our team leader's son's 3rd birthday party. We've already tested it out and it works perfectly.

Since being back here, I've been reuniting with the team, meeting with them to regroup, talk about vision and schedules for this semester. I have a feeling these next 9 months are going to go by wicked fast! I start practice with Tec tomorrow (they changed their practice time to 8 am).

Our 3rd roommate has arrived!!!!!!!!!!!! Erica Yost is here with us so finally we are all three together! It's so much fun... and ridiculous. :)

Thanks for all the prayers and support! It was GREAT seeing some of you over Christmas! Love you all tons! Please be praying for this next semester, that we'll be able to make great connections with the teams and continue to grow on what's already been planted and established. Thank you , love you, bless you!