Futbol

Today was filled with it.

Carlos and I left our apartment around eight this morning for a youth league soccer tournament in Santa Rosa. Several of the Young Life leaders had volunteered to help run the tournament in order to meet more kids and become a part of the community.

The tournament was supposed to start at nine, but we ran late. It didn't get started until around nine-thirty. By that time there were kids everywhere, all in different colored jerseys, doing warm-ups, and crowding around the cement soccer field to watch the current game.

Around eleven we began using the adjacent field as well, also cement. The directors of the tournament asked the Young Life leaders to oversee that field. Lucho helped referee while Edson kept score. The rest of us cheered for kids we knew while trying to keep spectators from getting to close to the sidelines.

The tournament ended around two-thirty. To be honest, I have no idea who won. But it was an incredibly fun day, and we definitely began some relationships that could result in a new club in Santa Rosa. Afterwards, the group that had hosted the tournament invited us back to their building for soda. As we sat around sharing three liters of Pepsi, we had the opportunity to share with these people the vision of Young Life. I believe they are catching the vision. This is the same group that Edson and Carlos are working with to find a place to hold club. It's really good to see these relationships forming.

After that, we ran into some of the kids we played soccer with earlier this week. They were excited to see us, and invited us to play soccer. It turned out that we had enough leaders with us to play a game of leaders v. kids, five on five. The first to ten would win. And the winners losers would buy soda.

It was a tough game, and the truth is the kids could have ran circles around us. But somehow, we pulled out a 10-9 victory. And we bought the kids soda anyway. It was good for them to experience that kind of friendship. Afterwards we invited them to the all area treasure hunt that we're putting on in a couple of weeks. They were very excited about it, and several of the boys are planning on coming.

As for now, Carlos and I just got home from a meeting in which we planned Lima's Young Life banquet. They were very interested to hear about how ours usually works in the States. They're pulling several ideas from what I had to share, including putting on a mini-program and asking kids to serve, and giving it all their own Peruvian twist.

As I get ready to go to bed, please be praying for rest and strength for me. Half way through this trip, I am getting tired. Ask the Lord to grant me perseverance. Ask for renewed energy and creativity, clarity of thought, and wisdom.