Good morning everyone!
I just got back from a two-week trip to Guatemala, and wow! I have a lot to share with you about our soccer evangelism project.
Thankfully, God blessed us beyond expectation:
633 people prayed to receive Christ and filled out contact cards!
74 total volunteers: 52 Guatemalan friends, 13 from Project Hope of Nicaragua, 9 from Lenexa Baptist Church
6 soccer tournaments in 4 towns in 7 days touching more than 1,500 people!
2 public school assemblies - over 200 decisions for Christ
1 broken leg (see pictures)
Check out the pictures with more exciting info below!
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.)
Ask God to send workers into the places that are ripe unto harvest.
Ask God to empower Cesar as he follows up with the event contacts to organize all these new believers into new discipleship groups.
Pray for Sam Swift, Selvinth Maldonado, and me as we produce soccer-related discipleship videos for these groups.
ENGAGE
If you know of a Christian soccer coach or player who might be a good interview for us in our videos, please let me know. We need help in filming soccer-related drills and getting testimonies.
INVEST
Thank you so much for your continued support. You have made a BIG difference this month in our ability to follow Jesus in this soccer project. Muchas gracias!
Please let us know of any of your prayer needs.
Love y’all!
Steve
And now….Here are some pictures and stories that highlight our experience and provide a glimpse of the overwhelming response to the gospel that we witnessed!
Meet Our LBC and Nicaraguan Team
We captured a shot of the Lenexa Baptist team in the airport in Miami during the first few minutes of a nine hour layover! From left to right are Tony Shay, Titus Shay, Claudi Duffy, Sam Swift, Nola Reed, Steve Reed, Selvinth Maldonado, Randy Schmidt, and John Maldonado.
The Nicaraguan team took a 16 hour bus ride of about 500 miles to get to Guatemala. In spite of the lack of sleep, the first morning the guys got up ready to go to work! From left to right are Genaro, Sam (of the Lenexa team), Nelson, Eyner, Noel, Eduardo, Manuel, Ramon, Eliezer, and (in front) Raciel.
Three of the four Nicaraguan women team members are pictured here on that first morning. From left to right are Scarlet, Aura, and Anna Maria. Not pictured yet is Mercedes.
Day 1 – Morning in Amberes
The first morning we walked up the street from Cesar’s compound in Amberes to the soccer field where we met some of our friends that we have done soccer stuff with in the past year. We wanted to practice the basic elements of the gospel presentation we would do at each tournament and play a friendly game of soccer. To get us warmed up, Eduardo showed us some illusions, then we performed the drama, and after that a message by Eyner, one of the Nicaraguans. In this small gathering, 20 prayed to receive Christ!
Eduardo does some amazing tricks that always grab people’s attention.
Eyner led the young men in a prayer of salvation.
Randy is writing down names of those who responded.
Afterwards a mix of our team and the Nicaraguan team played a soccer game against the Amberes team.
This is a pic of all who played soccer together in a friendly competition in Amberes.
Before the game, everyone stretched together.
Along with the stretching, Genaro got everyone doing some crazy get-acquainted drills!
The Amberes team played against the Nicaraguan and Gringo team.
At the end of the game, the Amberes boys wanted a picture with “Haaland.” That’s what they called Titus. They thought he looked like Erling Haaland, a famous Norwegian soccer player!
Day 1 - Afternoon in Don Gregorio
After taking a break for lunch, we traveled about 20 minutes to Don Gregorio, near the larger town of Santa Cruz Naranjo. Because the teams arrived at different times, those present first spent more time playing friendly games. Eventually we repeated all the elements we had done in the morning and got 23 cards from those who prayed to receive Christ!
Nola, Aura, Mercedes, Claudi, and Scarlet put the sandwiches together in anticipation of the snack time for the players.
It was a beautiful place to play. Because of the smaller number of participants, our team got a chance to get acquainted with every player during the play time.
Here Sam makes a move on Raciel as Genaro, Tony, and Eduardo look on. Sam played some college soccer, and he showed his stuff! He is also on staff at Lenexa Baptist on the tech team. He will be working with me and several others to create videos to send to the soccer players who responded this week.
Children love playing soccer with Eduardo, a former professional soccer player in Nicaragua.
Eduardo holds his listeners spellbound as he prepares them for one of his illusions.
“Is this rope real?” Eduardo asks.
Eduardo has two volunteers tie him up for an escape trick.
In the drama, Mercedes is not escaping from evil forces who have chained her up.
As evil seems to be winning, Jesus (Noel) shows up.
There is a tug of war.
But Jesus gains the victory and sets Mercedes free.
Eduardo, Randy, and Sam share a moment after the last event finished that first day.
In addition to the players and adults who came to know Jesus at the event, Randy was instrumental in leading our two bus drivers to Christ during this first day!
A few days later, Randy presented Bibles to those two bus drivers, Antonio and Luis. Randy is a retired missionary from Argentina, so he speaks Spanish fluently.
Day 2 - Tournament in Pueblo Nuevo Viñas
The team had to leave Cesar’s house at 5am to drive an hour and a half to Pueblo Nuevo Viñas. When we stopped to eat breakfast, we met Obdulio, a guy who works for Conjuve, a department of the government dedicated to youth issues and problems in the country. With him was Marcos, the national head of that department. During breakfast Marcos asked if we would come to a small town in the mountains to evaluate doing a tournament there. He was concerned because the youth were succumbing to drugs and alcoholism. Cesar and I agreed to meet him the week after our teams left for home. (Stay tuned next time for that!)
Obdulio, on the left, is the one who had arranged for the tournament to be held in Pueblo Nuevo Viñas. His boss Marcos, on the right, came in from Guatemala City to see it first-hand.
The announcer is ready to start the program in a school auditorium in Pueblo Nuevo Viñas. Our whole team is sitting on the platform with other dignitaries.
Marcos was one of about a half dozen individuals who gave greetings.
Cesar gave a greeting on behalf of our team.
Once the music started for the drama, the whole mood shifted.
Eduardo followed the drama with a passionate call to come to Jesus.
The response was tremendous. We thought having 150 decision cards on hand would be plenty going into the morning. This was the day we realized we better have more cards! I was so proud of our team for their flexibility and can-do attitude. By the end of the day, we had a hodgepodge of names on cards and scraps of paper indicating that 197 people had given us their contact info declaring that they had prayed to receive Christ. Among them was Marcos, the head of Conjuve, who you see here with his hand held up.
Nola and Claudi pray with a girl after the program ended.
It took us a while to finish talking with people after the program. Eventually we had to get to the soccer part, and this was a full-blown tournament with about 20 teams and upwards of 300 kids participating.
The games all went well, and our team continued to work the crowd, and there were several salvation decisions among the bystanders. John and Titus, our two 16-year-olds, were a hit. Many of the girls' teams wanted pictures with them!
John (left) and Titus (right) were a big hit for pictures during the day!
The big field was subdivided into four smaller fields.
This girl’s team celebrates after winning their first game.
I roamed the sidelines taking pictures of the games and enjoyed getting a chance to meet players and coaches.
Several of the games came down to penalty kicks to decide the winners.
Dr. Noel Merlo, our team member from Nicaragua, is a medical doctor and is assisting a nurse as they attend to a girl who fainted during one of the games.
Before this picture was taken, a member of this girls team broke her leg in a really bad way. Anna Maria, a psychologist working with youth at risk in Nicaragua, takes a moment to pray for the girl who broke her leg and for her concerned teammates. Later we donated some money for medical expenses to the girl’s family. A week later, the mother sent a message to Cesar to thank us for our prayers and concern. In the surgery to place a rod in the leg, they found a tumor, and the surgeon was able to remove the tumor before fixing the leg. The mother was grateful to God that they had discovered this and said that, according to the doctors, the broken leg might have saved her daughter’s life!
The last game of the day came down to penalty kicks!
Even though the girls were still concerned about their teammate, they were proud that they had finished the game and won their division in the tournament.
Day 3 - Country School outside of Monjas
Unfortunately for our team, we had to leave again at 5am to drive the 3 hours to Monjas. This time we were doing an event in a small school outside of Monjas. One of the main teachers is the wife of one of our Christian Rancher group friends. No soccer was involved, but Eduardo did illusions and fun kid songs, the team performed the drama, and Ramon presented the gospel to the children. 62 responded, including a few teachers. The principal, a dedicated follower of Jesus, was ecstatic about the whole thing.
When we got to the school, Marcia (right), a long-time friend and teacher in this school, introduced us to the principal.
Selvinth and Randy share a moment with the principal shortly before beginning the program.
Eduardo got all of us doing the most comical contortions imaginable!
Nola has been a children’s worker a little too long!
Eduardo performed an amazing assortment of illusions, including this one with a balloon.
Eduardo grabs some color off the hair of a volunteer to place in his book.
The drama made it’s impact yet again.
Ramon shared the gospel message.
And the children responded.
Eyner talks with a boy as he hands out a card to be filled out.
Day 4 - Tournament in Monjas day one
The refs and setup team hit the fields at 5:30am to get all the striping done and set up the sound. The rest of us got there at 8am. By about 9am, the event officially started, and we did the whole tournament routine with welcomes and greetings from leaders. There were about 25-30 teams present from the local school and included children ages 6-16. The response was tremendous. We collected 179 decision cards. The games went great. Our team did well working the stands and connecting with people.
Setting up the sound tent
Sam, Raciel, and Genaro snap the roof in place.
Gloria, the president of the Lions Club, introduces those who were there to serve, including the fire department and Lions Club members.
Back home, Selvinth is the chaplain for the Spanish speaking players of the Kansas City Royals. Here, he is sharing a greeting before praying an invocation at the beginning of the event.
The drama set the tone again.
Eduardo gave another passionate call to Christ.
These kids prayed to receive Christ with such enthusiasm.
Aura and Mercedes organize and copy the names and contact info into a notebook. This proved to be a huge job for the entire week.
Once the message was over, it was time to play!
This eager team took to stretching with Eduardo.
Let the games begin!
This team of youngsters won their division, and Eduardo led them in a prayer of thanksgiving.
This little girl was voted the most valuable player for her age division, and Eduardo asked her, “How long have you been playing soccer?” “Since I was six,” she responded. “How old are you?” Eduardo asked. “Six,” she said!
Nola had the privilege of giving this girl her Most Valuable Player trophy, and they are holding the team trophy as well.
After the last games were played, Tony, Sam and John helped carry off the goals.
Ferdynand (a former professional soccer player and now one of the leading soccer coaches along with his father for the Academy of soccer in Monjas) is pleased with the first day of the tournament and shares with Selvinth how grateful he was for our team being there.
Day 5 - Tournament in Monjas Day Two
We did the same drill as Friday (day 4), only with upper aged youth and adults. We expected more teams than Friday, but we actually had less - maybe 15-20. But we didn’t complain, because it meant we would get done faster! Even so, we had 150 decisions for Christ!
In front of the Monjas city sign just outside the soccer fields, we stopped to take this picture on the last day.
On day 2 of our Monjas tournament, Gloria introduced the entire team and the Lions Club team members.
After the drama and message, the response was amazing again. 150 people gave us their decision cards.
Our friends from the Lions Club were great! On the far left is Marcia, our long-time friend who has been a part of a Christian Rancher group for many years, and the teacher from the school that we went to the first day in Monjas.
The Lions Club had their National Queen present, who is from nearby Jalapa.
The drama crew was ready to scare anyone they came in contact with!
John got a yellow card from Genaro before the games even got started!
Since there were a smaller number of men’s teams, our guys got to field a team. Here John saves a goal and then flips the ball out for a fast break.
Titus shows some creativity as he steps over the ball to pass it behind him to one of his teammates.
Before the final game, Manuel shares with the boys a few of the rule differences for the 5 on 5 format.
Our Nicaraguan team of officials did a great job all week with keeping the games fair and fun. But they did give me a red card for taking their picture! From left to right are Manuel, Genaro, Eliezer, and Raciel.
These Lions Club members prepare for the trophy presentations.
Ferdynand Sr. announces the winners of the last day’s games.
Randy and Cesar share in the trophy presentation to this team.
At the end of the last day, the Lions Club gave all our lady team members a sunflower in recognition for working alongside them. Mario, one of our Christian Rancher group friends, didn’t get the memo and photo bombed the ladies!
Day 6 - Day of Worship and Evaluations
The last full day of the trip, we did a group worship service at Cesar’s. What a time it was. We first traded singing songs in Spanish and in English. Eyner led in a message about going back to our first love. Then we personalized our commitment by saying what our individual “goal” might be to be obedient to God’s word. To culminate everything, our North American team led in a foot washing of the feet of the Guatemalans and Nicaraguans.
Here, Selvinth washes Eyner’s feet as Eyner holds back tears.
Sam washes Raciel’s feet.
Nola and Claudi washed Elba’s feet.
congratulations! You made it to the End of the Pictures!
Now I’ll really sign off! Thanks again for your prayers!
Love y’all!
Steve
PS…Next time we’ll share how God kept opening doors and giving us favor in high places—even after the teams left!