We woke up early and had another new Colombian experience. Erika and one of the local church leaders brought us down to the local market to try some fruit we had never seen before. Who knew all of the amazing parts of God’s creation we had yet to see! One of the new fruits looked like white sardines that you picked apart and sucked the seeds out of…random! Everyone tried them and we took lots of pictures!
Another coaches clinic and game took up most of the afternoon. We arrived at the gym to a big rubber floor, but it served us well in another win. There were tons of kids at this clinic and coach came up with a great “Coach Says” game (very similar to “Simon Says”) and that was a HUGE hit!! The kids were SO cute and sat behind our bench the whole game screaming any English word they could think of trying to get our autographs. Again testimonies were shared with the crowd as well as the team, and we had a nice time after the game to hang out and love on all of the friends and family of players and the young children.
We have been learning a lot about what it means to choose to believe the truth of God’s word regardless of how we feel. On the court we have learned that when you make a mistake and feel like you are terrible or bad and want to beat yourself up, our response is to “nail it” and “press on” because your identity in Christ does not change with your performance or the crowds approval or disapproval. As a team, we have been complimented many times for our communication and encouragement of each other, and the Lord is teaching each of us what it means to truly use basketball as a way to worship Him together. We are having a blast playing together!
With exhausted bodies we were blessed to return to the rooftop of our hotel and relax in the pool, getting some refreshment for our legs and many good laughs. One of our Colombian teammates had her former national team teammates over to the hotel. They shared their stories of how God captured their hearts through people sharing the Gospel with them, which was so encouraging and motivating for us since that is our primary focus too. We had a great chance to give them Athletes in Action materials and help them better understand how they can also teach others to use their athletics as an opportunity and platform to grow in their faith and share about Jesus all over their country. We left this city full of excitement for what the Lord has done in and through our team, and the endless possibilities of ways He will continue to use the people that He had allowed to come across our path and court. After many goodbyes, the airport again was calling…off to Bogota!
