Cesar Gonzalez (far left) and Eduardo Mejia (right center) pray with a soccer team in Monjas, Guatemala, on July 10th as part of a week of connections with friends in various ministries in Monjas.
Good morning everyone!
The last time I sent you an update (at the end of April), we were coming off a huge evangelistic soccer tournament in Rio Blanco, Nicaragua. Since then, several noteworthy things have happened. So this is my attempt to share some of those happenings and highlight how God has continued to bless.
Pastor’s Discipleship Retreat
In late May in Parkville, Missouri, we did a small retreat to help pastors and discipleship leaders collaborate on how to sharpen their effectiveness in making disciples in their various ministry settings.
Here’s our retreat group eating some Kansas City Barbeque on Bill Burrows’ deck. From left to right are me, Tad Rogers (Mountain Home, Arkansas), Bill Burrows, John Tiller (Springfield, Missouri), Stephen Daniel (Parkville, Missouri), Jarvis Smith (Helena, Arkansas), and Ty DeMint (Lenexa, Kansas).
Almost everyone on the retreat has been on regular Zoom calls with Bill and me for more than two years. This was the first time to be all together in person. As a result of that retreat, several partnerships were formed for facilitating more training on Disciple Making Movements (DMMs). Stay tuned for more news about that in the future!
Guatemala Soccer Followup
Ever since our big Guatemala soccer evangelism trip of 2022, we have been trying to encourage follow-up to the many decisions made. Much of our efforts have focused on Monjas, Guatemala, where we have a mixture of friends doing cowboy ministry, soccer, a children’s home, and several churches that we have partnered with on various projects.
The week of July 2-10, we funded Eduardo Mejia and Eyner Garcia, of Nicaragua, to spend a week with Cesar Gonzalez, connecting the dots in various projects in Monjas. I wasn’t able to be with them because of a long anticipated trip with Nola and 11 of her family members to Spain. (More on that in a minute!)
Eduardo, Eyner, and Cesar hit the road together after Eduardo and Eyner get off a 17 hour bus ride from Nicaragua to Guatemala!
Since both Eduardo and Eyner were instrumental team members with us in the preparations for the tournament we did there in Monjas two years ago, they were perfect for tagging along with Cesar and speaking from time to time to players and coaches. Since Eduardo is a key leader of Project Hope in Nicaragua, an added bonus was for him to meet some of the key Guatemalan leaders at the James Project Children’s Home in Monjas where we have begun partnering in the last few months. Here’s a few pics of theirs.
Eduardo and Eyner with a young boy wearing his jersey for the Monjas team. You might notice the citation of Joshua 1:9 “Be strong and courageous…for I am with you wherever you go…”
Ferdynand, one of the coaches for a group of teams training in Monjas, introduces Eduardo to the team. As you might remember from previous updates, Eduardo was a professional soccer player in Nicaragua, and does an amazing job both coaching and training in soccer techniques, but also sharing soccer related messages.
Eyner shares with the kids an illustration using strings to make a point.
Eduardo speaks to the kids with an illusion to explain how we can be fooled, but God can’t.
Everywhere they went, the children and players and coaches were responsive and eager to pray.
Eduardo with a little girl who he remembered from two years ago. This little girl had won the most valuable player award for her division then, and Eduardo was impressed with her attitude and love for the game.
Family cruise from Spain To Italy and France!
From July 9-19, Nola and I had the privilege of traveling with 11 of her family members to Spain, where we got on a cruise that made stops along the Mediterranean Sea in Italy and France. Our trip started off in jeopardy due to the cancellation of our main flight to Spain from Dallas. In spite of the 24 hour delay and multiple traveling mishaps in Spain (including getting on the wrong train and one of Nola’s sisters getting pickpocketed of all cash and credit cards!), we still managed to get to our ship with 5 minutes to spare!
Here’s our crew of 13, grateful to board a plane in Dallas after 24 hours of delays and the cancellation of our first flight!
I am grateful that our family handled all the traveling curveballs with grace and good humor. Fortunately it did get better! It certainly was a trip that none of us will ever forget!
Hope you are doing well this summer. Let us know what God is doing in your neck of the woods and how we might join you in prayer.
Love y'all!
Steve
PS…Thanks for your faithful support! Even without communicating ahead of time for funding Eduardo and Eyner in Guatemala with Cesar, your steady generosity made it happen! Muchas gracias!
You can give through the link below, or checks can be sent to:
Daybreak International, 11628 Oakmont St., Overland Park, KS 66210
Nola and I enjoyed seeing so many iconic places. Here we are in front of the leaning tower of Pissa! Fortunately we had a guide that day who kept us from getting lost!