Malabalay Basketball Clinics

On Wednesday, December 2, we (Alvin, Daniel and Josh) traveled south to the Island of Mindanao. In 36 hours we were able to put on three basketball clinics and play a few exhibition scrimmages. We traveled to one remote village, where over 500 people crowded around to see a few pointers and then listened attentively as we shared the Gospel. We were able to tell them that Jesus came to give them life abundantly. As we were headed to the airport, we received word from one of the local pastors that one of the players in attendance accepted Christ... We did this all through the game of basketball. To God be the Glory!



Josh, Daniel and Alvin with the Sports Commissioner of one of the areas we hosted a clinic.




Daniel teaching a drill to players and coaches in a remote village outside of Malaybalay City.



The Players and Coaches at our final clinic in Malaybalay City.

Buhay Bombers

The Buhay Bombers youth team is made up of a group of kids who live in a squatter village near the Arthur Center (The Arthur Center was built and is managed by Buhay Sports staff member and First Love International missionary Daniel). Most squatter kids never have the opportunity to be part of a sports team. When we opened up the team our 20 spots quickly filled up and we have recently started practicing. Each week we lead them through basketball drills and then our Filipino friend Alvin shares from the Bible with them. It has been a lot of fun and the kids are loving it. Please pray that these kids will know Christ.

Kalibo Ministry Trip Prayer Guide

As we look back at our week in Kalibo, it is very important that we realize the work there is far from over. As seed planters, our job is done, but the work that will lead to the harvest is far from over. Over the coming months pastors and church workers will follow up on the many response cards we received. Please remember that our work in Kalibo is ongoing. It is our responsibility to pray for every city, town and barangay that we visited. Here is a list of the places we went and the Pastors we partnered with. Let's be on our knees for these faithful servants of God!

June 21, Sunday
3:00 pm - Barangay Bulwang, Numancia (Ptr Peter Cusa)
6:00 pm - Municipality of Numancia Public Plaza (Mayor's team) (Ptr. Peter Cusa)

June 22, Monday
5:00 pm - Kalibo City Public Plaza (Northern Colleges Maroons) (Ptr Hope Sodusta)

June 23, Tuesday
9:00 am - Municipality of Ibajay Sports Complex (Mayor's team) (Ptr Doods Fernandez)
3:00 pm - Municipality of Ibajay Sports Complex (played against teams from Barangay Unat & Mabilo) (Ptr Doods Fernandez)

June 24, Wednesday
4:00 pm - Municipality of New Washington (Mayor's team) (Ptr Jo Pamplona)

June 25, Thursday
1:30 pm - School visitation @ Aklan National High School (Ptr Hope Sodusta)
4:00 pm - Municipality of Banga (Mayor's team) (Ptr. Floro)

June 26, Friday
10:00 am - School visitation @ Aklan National High School (Ptr Hope Sodusta)
4:00 pm - Barangay Tigawalong (Ptr Perry Malbas)
6:00 pm - Barangay Estancia (Ptr Perry Malbas)

June 27, Saturday
8:00 am - Barangay Tigayong (Ptr Perry Malbas)

June 27, 2009; Day 8: Barely Made It!

Today was our last day in Kalibo. There was only one flight out of Kalibo today, so we had to schedule our ministry game early just to get it in. We woke up and went to Jolibee at about 7:15 for our final breakfast... I don't think anyone is going to miss eating at Jolibee, that's for sure. After breakfast, we went to Barangay Tigayong. There was a little bit of water and mud on the court when we arrived, but they were beginning to get things cleaned up and ready for the game. Things got started and we held a pretty commanding lead, despite only having 5 guys who were healthy enough to play. God was so gracious to give us the strength to finish these last few days. Despite some injuries, we were thankful that we had enough people to play and complete the ministry we had set from the beginning. Elliot gave the testimony at half, and again, Pastor Perry gave the message. For 9:00 in the morning, we had a pretty good crowd and the response to the Gospel was positive. We left Pastor Perry and his congregation with our promises to pray for them as they followed up on the response cards from the last two days. We also gave them a Buhay Sports Basketball as a token of our appreciation. Since it was our last day, another fun thing that the players got to do was give away their jerseys. All week people ask us for a "remembrance," something they can remember us by. What they mean to say is: "Hey Joe, give me your jersey!" Well, since this is the last day, off they came... everyone who was lucky enough to get one was very excited. We hope that it will not just be a remembrance of the American team who visited, but of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and His love for us.

Please join us in praying for Barangay Tigayong and the many people there who don't know Jesus personally, but might have had their heart opened up to Him by our basketball game or through the the ministry of Pastor Perry and his church.

After our game, we dropped Pastor Gary off at the bus station where he was catching a ride to visit his mother, then a flight home to Davao City. We then headed back to the hotel for a shower and last minute packing. We said goodbye to the workers at our hotel, and loaded up for the airport. We met Pastor Hope at the airport and gave him a love gift from the team to show our appreciation for his hard work and effort in getting the trip set up.

What a blessing it was to be a part of this trip. Despite all of the bumps in the road, it is always amazing to see God work things out in a way that only He can. Praise His Name!

June 26, 2009; Day 7: Back to School

Today we headed back to school... yesterday we told all the kids at the local high school we visited in Kalibo (Aklan National High School) that we would come back this morning to play some games with them. Typhoon Frank swept through this area last year, devastating so many people, it also destroyed their basketball court. Since there was no court we agreed to come up with some fun games to do as a group. We stopped off at a local mall and picked up some large bags of candy, and threw that around to the kids, they seemed to like this. Once we arrived we lined a couple of big groups up (divided by boys and girls) and played a game where you had to pass a ball through your legs or over your head to the person behind you... first one to pass the ball from the front to the back then back to the front would win that game, and the best 2 out of 3 would be declared the winner. The kids loved it, and loved to see us cheering along for them. In the end, the girls won both contests, but we tried to make sure everyone got some candy either way. After the games, we went back to their classes and made sure everyone had received a tract from yesterday, then shared a little more with them about our relationship with Jesus. Before we left, we stood around and signed autographs for a few minutes. We know that God led us to this place, and it is our prayer that He would use our brief encounter with these kids to change their lives... please join us in prayer for all of these students.

After our visit at the school, we went back to the hotel for a short break and then to lunch. We then traveled to Barangay Tigawalong for our first game. The game went great and despite a few bad runs, we lead the whole way. Despite the bowling alley style of the court, and the little room for spectators along the sidelines and on one end, there were still people packed in tight on the one end where spectators could stand. Michael gave his testimony and Pastor Perry Malbas gave the half time message. He and his church members helped us collect tracts at halftime and of the almost 300 people there watching and we got close to 100 response cards back. What a blessing!

After our first game we traveled to Barangay Estancia for our second game. The game was originally supposed to be at 5:30, but when we arrived at 5:00, we were told that the Barangay Captain made the decision to move the game to 6:30 without letting us know... it was a little frustrating, but we waited around the court and made some friends with some of the people standing around. At about 6:45, the other team finally had 5 guys and we got things started. It started off tough, but we ran away with it after a few minutes. A little bit into the first quarter, another accident hit our already depleted squad and Quinn sprained his ankle. This left us with only 5 players for the rest of this game and our final game tomorrow. Joshua gave his testimony and Pastor Perry again gave the message at halftime. With the help of the local church we were able collect quite a bit of tracts, although they ran off with them before we could count them. Please join us in praying for Barangay Tigawalong and Barangay Estancia and for all of the church workers following up the response cards.

June 25, 2009; Day 6: School Days

Today was another rainy day... I guess the only thing we can count on during this trip is that we can't count on anything going as scheduled because of the rain.

We woke up early ready for our first game this morning, but since it was supposed to be played on an open court, the pastor had to reschedule it until later in the day and combine it with the evening game at a court that was covered. We were a little bit discouraged by this, but because our morning game was canceled we were able to schedule a meeting at one of the local high schools.

I think this will end up being one of the highlights of the trip for most of the guys: When we arrived at the school we were introduced to the head teacher, who then talked about the school and the ages and grades of the kids. We told him what our ministry was and what we would like to do and he gave us free reign in all the classrooms... Praise God! We split up and every player was assigned to 2 or 3 different classrooms. Essentially, each player in their own way got a chance to share the gospel with 2 or 3 classes full of 40 - 50 people. In an effort to make it educational, we all tried to share some "cultural" information about where we were from, then talked about a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. We also gave them gospel tracts and encouraged them to read them. We are going to go back again tomorrow and try to answer any questions they may have. We will also be playing some fun games with the students while we are there... stay tuned tomorrow to find out what "fun games" we play. Please keep these kids in your prayers, that they would read the tracts and come to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ or that they would come tomorrow and talk to us about the questions they have.



Elliot sharing the gospel with a high school class at a public school in Kalibo.


After our visit at the school, we headed to our game. It was being held in a very nice facility in the city of Banga. While we started to warm up, the other team slowly started to show up. They looked very athletic and had a couple of big guys. We started to think we were going to have a tough game and knew we better be ready to play.



Marcus, who has managed to keep a great attitude despite his gigantic cast, has found a fun way to pass the time on the sidelines... We bought him some giant bags of candy and he uses it, among other things to make friend with the kids.


Once the game got started we jumped out to a pretty good lead and we never really looked back. I think because we were so ready to play, as we thought they would be a very strong team, we really ran over them early. At half we were up 25. James shared his testimony and the team passed out tracts before the second half started.

Some church members helped us collect the response cards during the second half while the game continued. In this culture when playing a team that clearly is used to being the bigger and stronger team you really have to be careful. If you run the score up too high they will feel embarrassed and start to get overly physical, but if you fool around and don't play serious they will also be embarrassed and maybe try to retaliate. So the trick is to play hard but keep the score close. We managed to fluctuate between 25 and 15 for the rest of the game. Please keep the people from Banga in your prayers as well as the church members who will handle following up the many who turned in response cards.

June 24, 2009; Day 5: Watery St. Juan Day

This morning after making some phone calls to Marcus' wife Carrie, and her making some phone calls to his doctor in the USA, we were relieved to find out that with his leg in a cast, it would be o.k. for him to stay for the rest of the trip. This was great news because of the role Marcus plays on the leadership side of our team. He really brings a quiet maturity to things, and is a great role model for the young guys on our team. This was also good news because Marcus and Landon came here together, and if Marcus had to leave, it would either make things difficult for Landon, or mean that Landon had to go with him. This would have left us with 5 players, but... crisis diverted... Praise God

Today is the Catholic holiday called John the Baptist Day, or St. Juan Day. This is the one day of the year when everyone runs around throwing water at everyone else. I guess the irony of it raining all day was probably lost on them, but it really made things difficult for us. This morning at about 10:00 a.m. we went to the town of New Washington to play 2 games. When we arrived we made a courtesy call to the mayor, only to find out that both of our games were scheduled on outdoor courts. The mayor suggested that we reschedule the games for Friday, but we already have a full schedule and we told him that it would not be possible. He then suggested that we could move one of the games to the covered court near the town center. We were so thankful that he was willing to work with us to make it happen and we agreed to meet at 4:00 for the game.





After lunch and some time at the hotel, we headed back to New Washington to play our game. We were very fortunate that the local church had provided some workers to help with track disbursement and response collection. Now that we are down to 6 mobile bodies, we have 5 for the game and only 1 to collect tracts. It was a great blessing to have the extra help. The game started out pretty tough and we were down by 4 at half time. Michael shared his testimony and Pastor Jo gave a brief message of salvation. There were over 200 people there at the game, and we received about 70 tracts back from those who expressed an interest in learning more.

It is always one of our goals to encourage the local church, but this game it was very apparent that we were successful to this end. The whole youth group had shown up to help with tracts, and after the game it was a blessing to us to see the big smiles on each of their faces as well as the other church members who had come. They were going from player to player introducing themselves. We gave the filled out response cards and a stack of Bible Study pamphlets to the pastor to use for follow up and joined them in praying for God's blessings on our collective effort to see people come to know Him through this. Please remember to keep the People of New Washington in your prayers! God is going to do something great there, we are so excited to have been a small part.

After the game, the mayor invited us to his beach side restaurant for dinner. It was an amazing Pinoy Barbecue spread at a very nice location right alongside the beach. We even got to sing a couple of songs on the karaoke machine... one with the mayor!!! We are always thankful for the opportunities that God gives us to relax and enjoy His creation on these trips, and we continue to thank Him for fun times like this.