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.