We (the girls) on this tour decided to tag team and write this blog together so this is Michell M. (team administrator) and "MC" MaryCatherine Fontenot (Athletic Trainer), bringing you the blog of todays events.
We woke up this morning bright and early ready to take on our first double header of the trip. The local church who graciously hosted us for the night served us amazing breakfast with enough bread and rice for adequate carb loading. After our breakfast we were informed that our morning game was cancelled giving us the opportunity to relax and head to the beach on the Dneper River for half a day. After having many action packed days we were all happy to hear this news. We spent our morning on the beach playing cards, chatting with locals, and swimming. Victor our AIA moscow staff is and avid player and fan of beach "volley". So Victor with his boonie hat, under hand side arm serve, and the infamous knuckle poke, headed to the beach with one thing on his mind; beach volley. As the intense competitor of beach volley, Victor didn't miss an opportunity to engage in high level beach volley competition with the locals. The first match was against two local ukraine women that played in the super league in Dniper. In the absence of LV(who was hiking) Victor choose his next favorite american (steven kehoe) as his partner. Though Hunter has a little disheartened that he was not chosen, the women of ukraine were a competitive pair and almost all of boys gladly took them on in a match by the end of time at the beach.
Around noon we headed out to lunch and then boarded the bus for a 4-5 hour bus ride to the city of Dnipropetrovsk. Our bus ride began like may of our bus rides have , with an exciting game of Mafia after which we had a little nap time. God provided us with an amazing christian man as our bus driver named Sasha. Though God I am sure has given Sasha amazing gifts and talents i do not believe driving a bus is one of them. Though i should state that in Russia and in the Ukraine the rules of the road are that there are no rules. Driving and weaving in and out of oncoming traffic, blowing past do no enter signs, and driving three to four cars across a 15ft road that is made for at most, two cars is thought of as completely safe and normal. I believe that there were enough near death experiences in that bus to last a life time. We were grateful to end the bus ride with only a few minor bumps to the head and one intense injury you'll just have to ask steven about personally. To finish off our bus ride we had team time which focused around excelling still more in our christian walk. We read different scripture references and talked about Excelling in speech, life, love, purity, and faith. We had a good time of interaction during this time.
We finished up our team time almost exactly when we arrived at our destination. Upon arrival we were all very shocked to find that we would be playing on a hard packed clay court along the river bank with a huge bridge in the background. At first this was a little uncomfortable to play at this place, until we realized that this may be the best place these guys have to play. When I thought about that it was very humbling. I realized that regardless of the location it was an opportunity to share the gospel with these players and spectators. Unfortunately we lost in 3 straight games. No one was interested in diving for the ball and getting injured. MC was very happy at the end of the day that there were no injuries due to our unusual playing conditions!! After game 2 Hunter Current had the opportunity to share his testimony with around 30 players and spectators and we were able to give New Testaments and DVD's to all of the players and referees. After our match our team split into groups to stay with host families for the next two days. We all said goodnight to each other and left to have dinner with our host families. This was a great experience for all as it gave us an opportunity to interact and share with other believers. All of our hosts were super hospitable and went above and beyond to make sure we were comfortable and well taken care of. God has bless every our team everywhere He has led us in safety, ministry, and personal growth.
Thanks for all of ya'lls prayers.
Michelle and MC