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.

June 23, 2009; Injury in Ibajay

Today was a tough day for our team. The day started out early as we left at 7:00 a.m. for breakfast at Jolibee. We then headed to the Town of Ibajay at about 8:00. When we arrived in Ibajay there were a lot of people waiting for us and the other team was already warming up. This was a nice surprise as most of the time we are the ones waiting.

The game started and it was pretty clear that we had the upper hand. At this point we wanted to do our best to keep it entertaining, which usually means sneaking out and getting dunks and doing other fancy things. Today, this was a little more difficult since the goals we were playing on were about 6 inches higher than the regular 10 foot goals. Still we tried our best to interact with the crowd and the other players. One exciting span of plays was when James made 5 3's in a row, in 5 consecutive possessions... the kids standing near the court really loved it!!! At half time, Quinn shared his testimony and encouraged everyone to experience the love of Jesus Christ. We had great results as we handed out tracts and received response cards. Of the 450+ people there we received 199 completed response cards for follow up.





We were scheduled to have three games today, but while we were waiting for our second game to start the rain really began to come down. We sat around and tried to wait it out, but we soon learned that there was a small typhoon passing through and that the rain was probably not going to let up any time soon. We got together with the barangay captains from Barangay Unat and Barangay Bolinao and it was agreed that we would find a covered court and play a combination of both teams. As we talked it through, we realized that the only covered court available was the court we played in the morning. We generally don't play the same venue twice, but due to the circumstances we agreed to play at the town center plaza covered court again so we could minister to the players on these teams and any who had not been at the previous game.

As we prayed before the game, we knew that God had brought us back here for a reason, we prayed that God would bless our efforts and that whoever he had brought us back here to share with, would hear our message and accept Him as their saviour.

The game was going well, and we again had a pretty comfortable lead. Then during the second quarter, Marcus felt something happen in his heel. He hobbled off the court and told me he thought it might be his achile's tendon. Josh called his wife, Val, who is a certified athletic trainer, and has a lot of training in this area. She helped him identify that it was in fact a tear of the achile's tendon and that we needed to get it examined. He was not in a great deal of pain, so we finished the game. Landon shared his testimony at half time and the crowd was very attentive. We passed out tracts and received a few back, but many of the people who were there had already filled them out at the previous game. We know that God sent us back to that place for a reason, and even if we were able to touch the heart of one person, it will have been worth everything that happened.

After the game we took Marcus to the emergency room where we learned that he had torn his achile's tendon. On the doctor's recommendation, we had a cast put on Marcus' leg to immobilize it and prevent any further damage. We are waiting on word from his doctor in the US to determine what should be done next. We are hopeful that he will be able to stay with the team the rest of the trip and continue to help with the ministry side of things. As a team, we talked about the incident and Marcus had a very good attitude about the injury. We know that God is sovereign and that what happened was in His plan. We are all praying that God would use this to give us an opportunity to share the Gospel with someone that we would not have been able to share with otherwise.





Please continue to pray for the people that are hearing the Gospel. Those in the different barangays of Ibajay City as well as those in the many other places we have been this week. Please also keep Marcus in your prayers. We will be making decisions on how to proceed soon, and we could use your prayers for wisdom and discretion as we seek to do the best thing for Marcus and his recovery.

June 22, 2009; Day 3: Beaches and Birthdays in Kalibo

Both of our games today were supposed to be in the evening, so we had a chance to go to the beach. A couple of the guys on our team had never seen the beach, here or in the US, so this was a fun time to share.

We headed there after breakfast and were able to stay for a couple of hours. Some of the guys rounded up some coconuts, or as they call them here Buko. It was nice to relax for a while, but then we headed back to lunch and then to get ready for our game.



Landon trying out the local coconut aka BUKO


We have gotten to ride on top of our jeepney for a few short rides.

During lunch we celebrated Josh's birthday. He turned 29... legitimately... although he will probably continue telling people he is turning 29 on this day for years. Elliot's family, who is joining us for the first half of our trip were kind enough to get a birthday cake (Black Forest Chocolate) and everyone in the restaurant joined us in singing.

We were about to head out to our first game, when we heard from the organizers of the second game that they had to reschedule. This is a little disappointing, since we that will cut us down to one game today, then increase Thursday to 3 games. All the same, we are happy to get the chance to minister and will take any opportunity we are given.

We still headed out to our only game of the day, in Kalibo Town Center. We played against the Aklan College Varsity Basketball Team. The game stayed close and we were down at half time. This was a great event with probably over 700 people in attendance. Marcus shared his testimony at half time and encouraged everyone there to find true happiness by giving their life to God. Pastor Hope followed up the testimony with a short salvation message. When he finished, our entire team went around and handed out tracts to the many people who were there. 5 of us started to play the second half, while the other 3 along with some members of Glad Tidings New Life Church, helped to collect response cards. During the basketball portion of the second half, we really ran away with it and ended up winning by 25+, but the real victory came with the 168 response cards that we received. Praise God for softening hearts to hear the message that Marcus and Pastor Hope shared. We will continue to pray for the many people in Kalibo who don't know Christ. Whether it is directly related to our work, indirectly or not at all; we just want to see people come to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. Please join us in praying for this same thing!






Marcus and Quinn making new friends!

June 21, 2009; Kalibo Day 2: In Rain OR Shine

Our day started out early as we prepared to head to the airport. We left our place at about 9:00 in 2 separate taxi's heading for the airport. We flew out at 11:30 and arrived into Kalibo Domestic Airport at 12:35. Pastor Gary picked us up with the Jeepney and we headed to lunch, where we all had chicken on a stick, which they tell us is a staple food on ministry trips.

After we ate lunch we got checked into our hotel and then headed to our first game in the Town of Bulwang. There was about 300 people there once we got started and the people were very excited that we had come. The game was not terribly competitive, but we tried to keep it close for the first half so that people would stay excited and stick around for the ministry time at half.



We always bring extra nets in case the goals do not have any. It is a nice token of friendship that we leave there when we are gone. Hopefully they will see them and remember what we were there for. Here are Josh and Alex putting up nets in Bulwang.


After we all introduced ourselves, Josh gave a short testimony and then handed things over to Pastor Peter, who is the pastor of the local church who will follow up the contact cards from our game. Pastor Peter was able to give a Gospel presentation to the crowd and encourage them to accept them as their Saviour. After Pastor Peter finished, Pastor Gary explained what to do with the tracts that we would pass out during the second half.

We were excited to get back 55 tracts from people who were interested in knowing more about a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. We also gave Pastor Peter 70 Bible Study workbooks for his church to use as they followed up the response cards. Please pray for the Town of Bulwang and the people who were able to hear the Gospel as a result of our game.



After the game, we usually stick around and play with the kids and answer questions, here are some of the guys with some of the kids who came to our game in Bulwang.


After our game in Bulwang, we stopped at Jolibee (Filipino McDonald's) for a quick snack. We all had ice cream sundaes and swirly bits (McFlurry), then we headed to our last game of the day in the Town of Numancia. As we drove to the open court it started to pour down rain. It was very discouraging to think that we would have to cancel the game, but we headed that direction anyway. As we pulled up to the game, it was still raining, but it was starting to slow down. Still, we did not thing that there would be any way to get the court to a point where it was safe enough to play. In a country where it is already so humid, water just does not evaporate quickly... but before we knew it, there was little or no wetness on the court! There is no doubt that God made it happen so we would have the opportunity to share His word. It is so amazing to see God do things to pave the way for this ministry. He has had His hand on every aspect, from many months ago when players started to raise support to even this very moment... what a mighty God we serve!



A team picture with the team and mayor from Numancia


Before the game started, while the court was drying off, we had the opportunity to meet the Mayor and the ex-Mayor, who were husband and wife. They were very excited that we had come and they had clearly put a lot of effort into organizing the game and there were over 600 people there to watch. This was also evident by the level of the team that we were set up to play. They were very strong and we knew we would have a tough match on our hands. We battled back and forth and the game was tight at half-time. During half-time, Elliot shared his testimony and we handed it over to Pastor Peter who gave a gospel presentation to the crowd. Although Pastor Peter was speaking in the local dialect, he mentioned a few things in English from his testimony and he shared that he accepted Christ when he was in prison. We were blessed just by the few words we could understand. During the second half, we handed out tracts and were encouraged by the many church members who were there that helped us distribute tracts and collect response cards. We won the game by 4 or 6, but on the important scoreboard we received 76 cards for follow up that we gave to Pastor Peter along with 70 Bible studies to use as he followed up. We also gave a love gift to cover some of the expenses that the church may come across when doing follow up. Please pray for Namancia, and the many people there who heard the gospel. They need Jesus in their life, and as the church follows up these contacts it is so important that they have our prayers.

June 20, 2009; Day 1: Kalibo, Aklan Tour Begins in Manila

Today was our first full day with everyone in country. Josh, James and Elliot had been here since the start of the summer, Michael and Quinn arrived early Wednesday morning and Marcus and Landon arrived on Friday night. Elliot is going to meet us in Kalibo tomorrow. He is spending some time at the beach with his family before they go back to China to continue their ministry there. Elliot was a part of the first trip so we allowed him to miss the orientation and join us on location.

In orientation we talked about a number of things: goals for the team, goals for the individual players, Philippine Culture and Philippine demographics. We also talked about the style of basketball here, and some things to remember in the heat of the game. It was interesting to learn that the game was so physical and fast. They also play international rules, which have some differences to the rules we play in the states.

We originally did not have any games schedules, but someone contacted Josh about playing against one of the champion teams from a local subdivision. Brookside is where a lot of missionary families live and so there is a lot of outreach going on there.

The game started at 2:30, and it was an exciting contest. Despite some of the guys dealing with traveler's legs We were able to pull away early and led at half, but it was far from over. During halftime, Josh talked to the opposing team and the spectators about his relationship with Jesus. He encouraged them to read the tracts that we handed out and to talk to one of us or someone in the community if they had any questions. After we started the second half, the other team pulled themselves back into the game with some tough play and some stellar shooting. Towards the end, we traded the lead, but thanks to some good free throw shooting we were able to pull out the lead.

After the game, the Brooksided Residents Association invited us to join them for a merienda (snack). It was nice to see some of the guys try rice cake and pancit (noodles with vegetables and meat, often liver). We had a good time of fellowship with the organizers and the opposing team.

After the game we went back to the place we stayed to clean up and get ready for dinner. We went into the city to eat at one of Josh's favorite restaurants. It is called King Kebab, and they serve great Persian food. It was a nice treat and when we were done we headed back to our place to get some rest.

Please remember to keep the people in Brookside Subdivision in your prayers. The players and the spectators who heard the Gospel, as well as the many people who continue to minister to them.

June 12, 2009; Day 8: The Final Tip-Off

The morning came early for several of us that had been up late on an adventure in search for some supplies. We were relieved to have an extra hour of sleep before we made customary
trip to McDonald’s for breakfast as we were waiting for our uniforms to come back from the Laundromat. After McDonald’s, we headed to Don Bosco College for our morning game. After
winding through several back roads, we came to a gate, only to find out that this was not the location of our game. Knowing full well that our driver was not the one to rely on for getting us to our destination in a timely manner, we had been relying on Coach Al's knowledge of Cebu to get us places. When Coach Al faltered, we knew it would be a while before we made it to the university. We back tracked our way to the main road and eventually found the school. The
team we were to play had been waiting a while for us and was ready to play by the time we got there. A quick warm-up, several familiar songs from Dave, the announcing of every player suited up to play, and our second to last game of the trip was underway. It was sad considering the trip was coming to an end, and it would be the last time for us to play with the Beyer brothers. They would be leaving for the airport as soon as we got back to the church.

In the typical fashion of this year's Buhay Sports team, we led by only a slim margin throughout the game, never really pulling away, but still having control of the game. By the end we had sufficient enough of a lead where everybody was able to get in play quite a few minutes. The coach had told us that they were a young team, but they had several solid players and were able to lessen their margin of defeat as the game came to a close. After getting their entire team to cram onto the benches, Dave was able to share a quick word with them about the good news of Jesus Christ. Like usual, we passed out some tracks and gave each player a bracelet with our theme verse on it, John 14:6. We mingled for several minutes but had to be off in order to get the Byers to the airport on time. As crazy as the driving is in the Philippines, throughout our stay here, we had yet to witness an accident. Today would be that day where one was witnessed. Unfortunately, it was us who took part in the accident. In passing through a busy intersection we suddenly were T-boned by a bus. Fortunately, the bus just kissed up to the side of the van, but from the reaction of the bystanders, I thought for sure someone had been smashed in some way or another. It turned out that it is customary for those who witness an accident to rush to the scene and stand around discussing what happened. After clearing the
intersection, we saw that there was minimal damage to both vehicles. All that was lost was our right side mirror, which became a souvenir for a lucky pedestrian. The police came, and after what seemed like several hours, settled the matter and we could continue on our way
back to the church.

In arriving at the church, we were able to shower and pack up all our stuff as we would be leaving for the airport from the afternoon game. After packing and loading up the vans, we said farewell to the Byers, then received a long and personal devotion from Pastor Gary. We ate
lunch once again at the nearby mall, and rode off to the final game of the trip. We were to play a Barangay type game against the factory team of the University of Visayas. They were quite good, possibly better than the actual UV team, and led for practically the entire game. Towards the end of the game, we were able to pull ahead by a slim margin. Up three with two minutes left, coach Bucher pulled a rather un-orthodox move by taking the entire starting five out and
putting in five fresh players. The ploy to disorient the other team seemed to work as neither team was able to score for several possessions. UV somehow put in two tough shots and a couple free throws to pull themselves a head by three. In a final desperation attempt, Coach Bucher was able to diagram a play for the last shot. It would be a simple pick-and-roll between Aaron and Lee to create an opportunity for the shooters to knock down a three. In a Ray Allen-esque manner, Lee came off of the screen gunning, only to see the shot fall just long as it bounced off the upper half of the backboard.

Though losing our final game our trip, the team was in good spirits. We were all tired and ready for some rest, but what was keeping our spirits high was the fact that several hundred people heard the gospel this day, and thousands more had heard the good news throughout the course of our trip. At every venue, we had a great response to the tracks handed out. We were able bless the pastors and Christian leaders of each town with an opportunity to connect with people they may have never come in contact with. So, all in all, it was a successful trip. We finish this trip up by leaving the rest of the work up to God. It was His work to begin with and I feel that He will continue to act mightily in this country. All we have left to do is pray for the people that we were able to witness to and that God's will will continue to be done. Thanks for partnering with us as we pray for each and every one of the lost souls that heard the Gospel.

June 11, 2009; Day 7: Fear Factor

Today we had 2 games to play. Our first game was against Asia College of Technology (ACT). One of our ministry Partners in Cebu City, Coach Tata Merced is the Coach of ACT. We went to their campus, and had to walk up 10 flights of stairs to get to the gym. No need to warm up after that. This was a very tough game, and they had a couple of very strong players. It came down to the wire, but we were able to pull it out. After the game, Drew shared his testimony and talked about the impact following Christ had on his life. We encouraged the players to talk to Coach Tata about how they could have a relationship with Jesus Christ.

Our second game of the day was against Barangay Sambag-1. We have been very fortunate this trip to get to play on some wonderful courts, but this venue was definitely an exception to the rule. As opposed to a regulation basketball court, this was more like a bowling alley. The court was very narrow and had pretty tough rims to shoot on. We battled back and forth, but in the end, we were unable to pull this one out. We lost by a 4 points. Despite losing the basketball game, we still accomplished what we came here to accomplish. There was a great crowd and Trevor was able to share his testimony. We had a great response from the spectators and we received hundreds of response cards from people who wanted to learn more about a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Please keep this barangay and ACT in your prayers. The game is over, but the work has just begun.

WARNING: NOT FOR THOSE WITH WEAK STOMACHS

After our games were over, we returned to what Gary calls the American Embassy (McDonald's). We ordered out food and when we were all done, a fresh bag of balut magically appeared. For those of you who have never seen Fear Factor, balut is a fertilized duck egg, with a partially developed duck inside, that has been hard boiled. This is a Filipino delicacy. To eat balut, you are supposed to crack the top of the egg and dring the liquid out of the egg, then peel the rest of the shell off and eat the duck that is formed inside. This may sound disgusting, but words don't do this justice. It is beyond disgusting. Depending on the maturity of the egg, you either get a black blob of tissue or you get a visible duck with beak and sometimes feathers. After our Filipino team mate Amboy demonstrated how to eat balut, we sat back and watched all of the guys challenge each other to follow suit. In the end, most of the guys who had never tried it gave it a go. The response was interesting; everyone agreed that once you got over the idea of eating a whole duck, it really just tasted like a hard boiled egg. Props to all of you who had the courage to try it...

June 10, 2009; Day 6: Schedule? What Schedule?

Today we played the University of San Carlos. They had a very nice indoor facility and a very strong team. They are considered the #2 team on the island behind UV. We continued our winning streak in Cebu with a victory over the USC Warriors. We had a great time of fellowship with the players after the game, and Elliot shared a few words of encouragement with them. The coach of USC is a Christian, and does a lot to reach out to his players. We trust that our efforts helped to back up what he tells them on a regular basis. Please keep the USC basketball team in your prayers. We would love to see God move in a mighty way, and use the basketball team to reach the rest of the campus. His is able!

After our first game we spent some time at the mall until our second of three games. We soon learned that our second game had been cancelled, so we decided to go back to our rooms at CCGC and play some pick up games with the youth who use the basketball facility there. Pastor Phillip of the CCGC explained to us that these young men are part of an outreach that the church puts on in efforts to share the gospel with them. We played around with them for a while and then spent a few minutes explaining to them why we had come. Christian shared his testimony and encouraged them to talk to the youth workers if they had any further questions. Each of these young men are in great need of prayer. Please pray for the youth outreach at CCGC, and the workers who minister there.

For our final game we headed out to the Barangay of Banilad. When we arrived we first met the Barangay Captain, who is like the mayor of the Barangay, then we played against the local team. We came away with another win, and more importantly we had a great time of ministry to the crowd and opposing team. Lee shared his testimony and pastor Gary gave the challenge to the crowd. We passed out tracts and received a numbe rof response cards that will be followed up later. Please keep the follow up workers in your prayers.

After the game we went to dinner. We have eaten quite a few times at a nice chicken on a stick restaurant. We then returned home and hit the sack...

June 9, 2009; Day 5: Free Admission

We had 2 games scheduled for today, but our game this morning was canceled unexpectedly. During orientation we learned that the schedule will constantly change, and this is a prime example of that. This late in the game we were unable to schedule another game, so we were given the morning and afternoon off. We all opted to go to the local mall and hang out. Some people went and saw a movie, while others walked around and some just relaxed in the air conditioning.


We headed back to our dorm, then went out to our only game of the day. The game was located in the Barangay of Talamban. A barangay is a small village, there are a handful of barangays in every city. When we showed up to the game, we noticed that they were charging admission. As an organization, we do not allow venues to charge spectators to enter the game, but since our game was the opening game of the night, to be followed later by the championship of an ongoing league, it was understandable that they would need to charge admission to help cover the expenses associated with the following game. We tried to work it out with the organizers but there was not much we could do to forbid them from charging admission.

I was very blessed when nearly every player on our team began to give of their own personal money to try to offset the cost of admission. The charge per person was 10 pesos, but we agreed with the organizers that 2200 pesos (about $45) would be enough to open the gates and allow free admission. It was great to see the player's hearts for these people.

Once we had worked everything out regarding admission, we got started with the game. The team was strong, but we were able to pull out a win. Caleb shared at half time and Pastor TJ, who is in charge of the outreach in Talamban, gave a challenge to each of the players and spectators. We handed out tracts and received a large number of response cards from those who were interested in learning more about a personal relationship with Christ. Pastor TJ and his staff will follow those up over the next several weeks and we hope to have a report soon on what God did in the hearts of the people. Please pray for strength for those who follow up these contacts, that they would take advantage of the Holy Spirit's call on those hearts he led to fill out a contact card.

June 8, 2009; Day 4: Long But Profitable

Today was a long but profitable day. We left our housing at 6:00 am to head to the airport. We flew an hour south to the Island of Cebu, where we will spend the rest of our trip. Cebu City is one of the 3 major cities in the Philippines in addition to Manila and Davao City.

Upon arrival, we met Pastor Gary, who helps take care of the Philippines side of things related to the ministry trips. Working with him on the ground in Manila is also Coach Al Solis. Al is a former PBA player who coaches in Cebu City. Al is one of 3 players in the PBA to accumulate over 1000 3 pointers in their career.

Pastor Gary and Coach Al picked us up at the airport to take us to the place where we will be staying during our time in Cebu City. Pastor Phillip, of the Cebu Christian Gospel Center, has been a great blessing to Buhay Sports over the years. He has always been willing to open up CCGC to help visiting teams who are in the area for ministry. Praise God for always providing partners who will step up and contribute to the team in different ways.

After we got everything unloaded and situated in our rooms (offices with sleeping mats), we met with Pastor Gary to go over a few things. After our meeting we headed to our first game in Cebu.

Living Word Christian Ministries is a big supporter of sports ministries across the Philippines. Coach Daniel and Josh have partnered with them on a number of occaisions. They have a ministry team called the ACES (Athletes for Christ in Excellent Service) who do a lot of the same things that we do throughout the year. Our first game was played at LWCM against the ACES. It was a great opportunity to encourage our brothers in Christ. Devin shared his testimony and encouraged the the other team to stay focused on Christ, who will carry you through the tough times as well as the easy times.

After our game with the ACES, we headed to University of the Visayas, their mascot is the Green Lancers. The Visayas are the chain of islands in the middle of the Philippines, between the two main islands Luzon (North) and Mindanao (South). UV has been the champion of thier league for the last 8 years, and has not lost many games over that time period. We played at their campus, where they had a cool older gym. It was a very competitive game that we were able to pull out in the end by 4. Coach Daniel told us that at some point we would experience bad officiating. I think this was beyond what any of us expected. Blatently bad calls were made throughout the game, especially by one specific referee, who we found out later was a janitor at the school and not an actual referee... I think this was pretty evident all along.

The most important part of the game was the ministry. We had a pretty good crowd and there were a couple of players on the team from the ACES. Coach Al is the assistant coach at UV, so he is able to plug some of the UV players into the ACES team. James shared his testimony and encouraged the spectators and other players to "taste and see" that the Lord is good. Coach Daniel and Josh see these players at various times throughout the year and will continue to try to build the relationship with them with the goal of continuing to present the Gospel. The ACES will also have an ongoing ministry with a number of these players. Please pray for the ACES team as they minister throughout the country, and for the UV Green Lancers. We know God will use our words to make a change in someone... now or down the road.

After we finished dinner, our local contacts were telling us how close we were to the church where we were staying. "Less than 3 minutes" they kept saying. We got lost a couple times, then stopped for gas, only to find out that the first gas station was out of gas. It was pretty funny how less than 3 minutes turned into almost 30. By the time we got back, everyone was ready to sleep... Like I said, it was a long day, but we know that God will use our work to further His kingdom.

June 7, 2009; Day 3: Like Kissing Your Sister

We woke up this morning and went to church at Christ Believer's Fellowship Church. CBFC is held on the facilities of the Arthur Center, the ministry Daniel started to be the center point for outreach in a squatter village and surrounding subdivisions. This was a very exciting morning, because as we were all sitting there waiting for church to start, in walked one of the local players from the Buhay Cup. I am not sure what his name is, but Daniel calls him "The Assasin" because he shoots every time he touches the ball. He played against us in our game on Day 1 and came to church after hearing our group invite everyone to attend. This was so exciting for us because as a seed planting ministry you don't always get to be around for the harvest. Most importantly, we are happy for this individual who followed the Holy Spirit's leading to come to church, but it was also a great chance for all of us players to see the fruit of our labor. Praise God!

After church we drove out to Old Manila, where we played against St. Benilde College. SBC is a member of the NCAA, which is the other top college league in the Philippines. Our game went well, and we battled back and forth. When the final buzzer sounded, the score was 88 - 88. People say that a tie in competition is like kissing your sister... I agree. However, when playing what we call friendship games, we do not play overtime, if it ends in a tie it ends in a tie. After the game, Daniel gave the challenge to the other players to make a decision to follow Christ and to make Him, Lord of their life. We gave them all a gospel tract and invited them to talk with us after the game or sometime in the future when they see Josh or Daniel. We were also thankful to CSB for the generous gift of Jolibee spaghetti meals. A lot of times, teams will provide a meal or snack for us when we come to play. They also had us well stocked on Gatorade! What a blessing.

Our second game of the day was near SBC, so instead of going all the way home and coming back out, we decided to stop for some food and wait for the next game. We all stopped at KFC and enjoyed some American style food and fellowship with each other. It was nice to get to talk to some of the guys and find out more about them.

When it got closer to our game we headed back out toward Jose Rizal University. The JRU Heavy Bombers are one of the top 4 college teams in the country. They also play in the NCAA, same as St. Benilde College. We knew we were in for a tough match and we had yet to play our best team basketball, but we really stepped it up for this one. From the get go, Hudson made some amazing threes, Elliot took great care of the ball and really managed the game, and James made some tough plays inside gathering some crucial offensive boards and put backs. Although we lead almost the entire way, the game was never secure. There was definitely a sense of urgency to play our best for the whole game. We ended up winning by about 10.

After the game, Hudson was given the opportunity to talk to the players about his relationship with Christ. Hudson plays basketball for the Unniversity of Florida, so many of the guys were very interested in what he had to say. After he talked about how Christ changed his life we began to pass out tracts. Some of the players jumped right to the front to get one. It was exciting to see their enthusiasm and while no one stayed after to ask any questions, we are confident that God used our time with these players to plant seeds that someone else down the road will have an opportunity to harvest. Please remember to pray for the players of SBC and JRU. That the Holy Spirit will do something great in each of their hearts.

Tomorrow we leave for the island of Cebu... many more games to play....

June 6, 2009; Day 2: Let the Games Begin

Today we started our first full day of games. We went to the Celebrity Sports Complex in Quezon City to play against the University of the Philippines (UP) Fighting Maroons.

Many of the colleges here will jump at a chance to play against a strong American team, especially with their season about to start. UP plays in the University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP), which is arguably the strongest college division in the country.

Our game was at 9:30 in the morning, and after finding our way through the traffic to the gym, we worked our way through security, and through the enormous facility to the gym. We are in the middle of rainy season, and apparently it has been raining for the last number of days/weeks, so of course, water had leaked through the rooftop onto the court. At least this time, there were guys with mops to help clean things up periodically, but it still made for some messy basketball with all of the slipping and sliding around...

Being our first competitive game, we got off to a little bit of a slow start. Most of us on this trip had never even met, not to mention played basketball together. We are, even now at the end of our second day, still getting a feel for how each other play. We still played a tough game against UP, and with about 1 minute to go, were ahead by three points. UP got a great look at a 3 pointer and tied it up. Apparently this was their big stud, and despite being their tallest player, he was able to step out and knock down a clutch shot. I won't mention who was guarding (or not guarding) him, but J...osh had a whole list of excuses as to where he was when his man was shooting a wide open shot :).

We still had the ball with about 40 seconds to go, and Hudson dribbled the ball down the court to try to get us an open look. One of the UP defenders reached around and literally hit him across the back. This was not a cheap shot, but certainly a foul. The refs, who also happened to be UP team managers, did not agree and allowed the Fighting Maroons to take the ball down the court to shoot a lay-up. To make matters worse, Elliot hustled down the court to contest the shot, and in going for the ball, fouled the shooter. The refs seemed to think this foul was excessive (it was not) and called a flagrant foul. Giving UP two fouls shots and the ball.

Coach Daniel asked the refs why they did not call the first foul and they had some strange excuse about there being no advantage... I am not sure how the opposing team getting a lay-up is not an advantage, but I guess I don't know all of the rules of basketball as well as I maybe could.

In the end, we had to force them to the free throw line to stop the clock and get the ball back. We were left with 5 seconds to hit a 3 point shot to tie the game. Coach drew up a nice play, and we got a good look, but the shot did not fall. We lost by 3.

After the game, we had a great opportunity to sit down with all of the players and coaches and tell them the #1 reason why we had come. Josh talked to them about our love for basketball and how we came to the Philippines because it is one of the most exciting places in the world to play basketball, but he told them that more important than basketball was our love for Jesus Christ, who gave His life so we could have a relationship with Him. Josh encouraged each of the players to consider who they were living for. Josh and Daniel both live in Manila and have relationships with a lot of these players, and they challenged them to talk with one of us before we left or at a future time. We also gave them a gospel tract that had the plan of salvation. We will continue praying for Josh or Daniel to have opportunities to talk more with these guys.

After we were finished with UP, we headed back to the place where we were staying. On the way back, we stopped at a place called Flaming Wings. Josh really talked this place up on the way there, but it did not disappoint. Great Buffalo Wings by any standard.

Later that evening we had a game in Marikina against some former PBA players. The PBA is the top professional league in the Philippines. This game was done in partnership with Athletes for Life, another organization who is using basketball to help spread the gospel. Josh and Daniel play with A4L throughout the year and help them with other basketball ministry events.

This game was very exciting, and there were probably 1500 - 2000 people there watching us play. We won't talk about the basketball side of things, because we did not play well and lost by 12. The ministry side of things was amazing. Pastor Nester, with Athletes for Life, and a former PBA player who is now a pastor had great opportunities to share the gospel. We collected a lot of response cards from people who want a visit from the local pastor. Please continue praying over the coming months, that as the pastor follows up each of these contacts, he would have many, many opportunities to lead lost souls to Jesus.

We have another busy day ahead of us tomorrow... more to come!

June 5, 2009; Day 1: Orientation and Our First Game

Today we met for the first time as a team to go through our orientation meeting.

We talked about our goals for the trip as a team, as well as our goals for individual players.

As a team, we have one main goal: To use basketball as a platform to help others and ourselves effectively share the gospel. There are a lot of different avenues where this leads. We will partner with local churches, and help them recruit and evangelize. Other times we will be ministering only to the team we play against, helping to solidify the relationships that full time staff have been working to develop throughout the year.

As individuals, we were challenged to use the talents and abilities God has blessed us with to help build relationships with pastors, churches, opposing players and ultimately the thousands of lost souls that we will share the gospel with over the course of our trip. In addition to opening our perspective to see the needs of another culture, Coach Daniel gave us each 3 specific goals:
1. That we would pray for God to use us to bless the individuals we meet, the churches we partner with and each other.
2. That each of us would have a servant's heart. That we would pour as much of ourselves as we possibly could into the trip.
3. That we would truly "partner" with Buhay Sports and the many churches and pastors we assist. A true partnership far outlasts the duration of the trip, even after we return home, we should at the least remember to pray for the specific people and places we shared the Gospel with.

After discussing our goals, we learned a little bit about the Philippines and a few key phrases that we might need to use. Most importantly: Nasaan and CR? (Where is the bathroom?) We also learned some cultural points, the funniest of which was that time is irrelevant in the Philippines, there is little here that happens on time. It all happens on "Filipino Time."

After our orientation, we had some dinner from Jolibee (Pinoy McDonald's), then we headed to our first game.

In the Philippines there are leagues everywhere. Every subdivision has a league, every barangay, every city... there are commercial leagues, semi-pro leagues, 6 foot and under leagues... the list goes on and on. Buhay Sports sponsors a league near a ministry center that is run by a staff member. The league is called the Buhay Cup. Our game was planned so that the championship game of the Buhay Cup would be during our trip. After the championship game, we played against the Buhay Cup Selection (all-star) Team.

It rained almost all day, and though the court was covered, there were leaks all over the place. Newspapers were placed on the court to soak up some of the water, and to help you see where the court was wet. The game went great with a lot of fun and excitement. Josh shared his testimony at half time and told everyone that giving their life to Jesus was the only way to ever have true happiness. We invited everyone to attend church and Pastor Better LaBuca had an opportunity to share the Gospel.

Before we left we prayed and asked God to really move in peoples hearts. We asked that the Church would be flooded with people that coming Sunday. Please join us in prayer as the Holy Spirit continues to lead people who played in and watched the Buhay Cup to His Son Jesus Christ.

Tomorrow is another day, with more games to play.

Cebu Trip 2009

It has been an exciting beginning to our 8 day outreach in Metro Manila and then on to Cebu. In our first 3 days we have played six games against some of the top teams in Manila. We have played two community outreach games and four against local colleges. We will be updating with more pictures soon but here is a small sample from our first few days. In our second community game we played in front of over 2000 fans against a selection team of professional players who are also Christians. It was great basketball and a great opportunity to share our faith. Please pray for our guys as cramping and small nagging injuries are starting to come into play.

By Faith