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!