Good morning everyone!
So much has been happening since I last wrote to you. This update will focus on the second part of my trip to Guatemala several weeks ago. In the meantime, more great things have been happening! Just this past week, my wife Nola, Bill Burrows, and I were at First Baptist Church of Mountain Home, Arkansas, to lead a 4-day “Be the Church” Conference. We had an amazing time with them and hope to share more about that in our next update. To those of you from Mountain Home joining us for the first time, welcome!
Also, more has been going on in preparations for our upcoming mission trip and soccer tournament in April. So without further ado, I want to highlight the week I spent in Guatemala with a team of five people from Nicaragua who had come to help us get the ball rolling! (Bad pun intended!)
Here is our group with some leaders at the mayor’s office on our first day together in Santa Cruz Naranjo. I’m kneeling with the mayor, Carlos Salvador Rodriguez. From left to right are the soccer director for the region and Cesar Gonzalez, then the next five are a team from Nicaragua that came to help us organize: Mercedes Guerrero, Eduardo Mejia, Arnulfo Bonilla, Ramon Mondragon, and Eyner Garcia. On the right are Josue Gonzalez (Cesar’s grandson) and Maria Pineda, a teacher and soccer coach who did much of the legwork in recruiting several teams for our games in Santa Cruz Naranjo.
Preparations in Santa Cruz Naranjo
The first day after our Nicaraguan team arrived, we began a series of meetings with leaders in the mayor’s office of Santa Cruz Naranjo and with soccer coaches in the Department of Santa Rosa. We also did a couple of warm-up soccer events in Santa Cruz, and the Nicaraguan team modeled for everyone how we wanted to do the big tournament in April—especially how to integrate the message of salvation in the process. Everywhere we went, folks were very receptive. During the days together, we saw 35 people pray to receive Christ! Several of those are leaders who are helping us with the tournament in April. Here are a few pictures that tell a bit of the story of our time in Santa Cruz.
Eduardo Mejia, a former professional soccer player in Nicaragua and the primary leader of Furia Santa soccer tournaments in Nicaragua, presents the soccer project to the leadership of the Santa Cruz Naranjo City Hall.
Eduardo can captivate an audience quickly with some of his ball handling tricks.
Mercedes struggles against evil forces in a drama the team performed before starting the soccer event in Santa Cruz Naranjo.
Jesus comes to rescue Mercedes.
Eduardo takes off his mask and speaks about the spiritual realities of dark forces wanting to take us out.
Through the colored soccer ball that Cesar is holding, Ramon shared how Jesus paid the price for all of us to have salvation. At this particular event, many made decisions for Christ.
Before starting one of the games, Eduardo leads them in a prayer. Several of these players had already prayed to receive Christ before the game.
Before each game, Arnulfo spoke to the teams about good sportsmanship and how he wanted everyone to enjoy playing the game. In these tournaments, Arnulfo helps train referees to remember that they can set the tone to make fair play and fun a priority.
It was a beautiful day in January for a soccer game. I was particularly grateful this day that I was avoiding the cold weather back home!
Before the game, the teams lined up for photos.
Maria Pineda preps her team from Amberes. Earlier in the day, she prayed to receive Christ.
On the sidelines during one of the games, Eduardo speaks with several girls from a team in Santa Cruz who also prayed to receive Christ.
At every soccer event, we provided sandwiches to the players. Here Mercedes serves with Maria (center), one of our helpers. The day before, she had prayed to receive Christ and was excited to be with us each day in Santa Cruz.
The trophy was presented to the girls team that won in Santa Cruz.
The winning boys team excitedly received their trophy.
Preparations in Monjas
Back in November, Cesar met Ferdynand Morales Senior and Junior, a father and son duo from Monjas, a town where we have done cowboy stuff through the years. Both of these men were professional soccer players in Guatemala, and together they have been running a soccer academy for children and youth in Monjas. When they met Cesar, they begged him to come with our team to Monjas. So on Saturday, January 28th, we spent a day with their teams and their academy. As a result, we had an amazing response from the city, the players and their parents, and long time friends we have worked with in the past.
Ferdynand Senior and Junior listen to Cesar as we meet up for a day of soccer with their academy. Looking on is Eduardo.
The last time I had been in Monjas was before the pandemic. So it was great reconnecting with Manfredo, a friend who is an associate pastor and counselor for a Christian children’s home located in Monjas. His father is a dairy farmer in the area, and we have partnered in starting a Christian Rancher group. The shirt he is wearing is of Oklahoma State University, my alma mater! When I asked him where he got it, he said it came from a store that sells secondhand American clothes!
Ferdynand Senior preps the teams before playing their games.
Eduardo shares his testimony to the children in Monjas before the games begin.
The last game of the morning required penalty shots to determine the winner.
After the games, Ferdynand Senior, a former disc jockey for a national radio program, announces the winners for one of the team divisions.
The drama was a hit in Monjas as well.
As the children listen to the message of the colored soccer ball, Cesar talks about the message with the president of the local Lions club who was there with a team of people to help run the refreshment and snack table for the event.
10:02 PRAYER
(Pray Luke 10:2 each day at 10:02 am or pm that the Lord of the harvest will send out laborers into his harvest fields.)
Please pray for us as we prepare the missionary teams for our soccer trip April 10-17. We have 9 people from Lenexa Baptist Church slated to go. We also have 13 Nicaraguans meeting us in Guatemala for that week. Pray that the logistics of our travel will go smoothly and that many will come to know Jesus as their personal savior during this time. Pray too for me as I am writing up some new discipleship material for soccer enthusiasts that we will use to make videos for follow-up with those who come to Christ.
ENGAGE
Bill and I will be leading a men’s retreat March 24-26 for the Western Way Cowboy Church in Altamont, Kansas. Then March 30th I will be in Norfolk, Nebraska, to teach at the Spanish Bible Institute at Northern Heights Baptist. If you are near those places, we’d love to see you! Let us know if you need more specifics.
INVEST
We are so grateful for your continued partnership with us. Thanks to you, we have been able to move freely between our “Be the Church” events and our ongoing mission projects in Central America. As we prepare for our first soccer tournaments, you have been strategic in making that possible. We will keep you posted as we go along.
Please keep us informed of your prayer needs.
CLICK HERE FOR THE EASY WAY TO INVEST.
Love y’all!
Steve
PS…I have recruited some new fans of the Kansas City Chiefs! I think their loyalty will last for as long as I buy the hamburgers!
A couple days before I came home, the Chiefs were playing in the AFC Championship game against the Bengals. The three young men who went to the jungle with us (that you met in the last update) said that they would pray that the Chiefs would win, and if they won, I’d owe each of them a hamburger! So the last night I was in Guatemala, I paid up at this restaurant in Amberes that is called “El Jefe,” which means “the Chief!” And yes, now that the Chiefs have won the Super Bowl, they expect more hamburgers when I go back!