Men's Basketball

Thursday and Friday’s were a real blessing!

atraeger — Fri, 13 Aug 2010 19:18:39 +0000

Thursday our team went to the Salvation Army school and orphanage for girls in Cochabamba. We took the girls (about 40) on the bus with us to the gym and taught them basketball skills for about an hour and a half. The girls were actually very skilled and athletic and also well behaved. We thanked the teaches over and over for instilling such discipline and sense of gratitude in the girls. After the clinic we went back to their group home. They grabbed the players and coaches hands and excitedly took us through a tour of thier home. They showed us their bedroom, closets, shoes, all neatluy stacked and in place. They showed us the classrooms, kitchen, and chapel area. They were excited to show us their confections kitchen where they made pasties and cakes to sell. They had a corner of their lot as a streetfront window shop in which they opened for coffe and treats each afternon at siesta time. The girls got to keep a large portion of the profit of what they made and sold to buy clothes, etc. What a great idea. What a fantastic program. What beautiful girls, ages 6-16. It was a blessing to see and work with these girls.

Doug Faulkner with special friend at the Salvation Army Orphange and Boarding school

Thursday night the men’s team beat the U-22 all-star from Cochabamba,82-72 with only 6 player playing for Greenville. It remined me of Ali vs. Frazier heavyweight fight with both teams struggling to play in th altitude but also giveing it their best shot. Joel Pezzelle hit a three to put Greenville up 6 pts. from a a fantastic pass from Chase Lee with under a minute to play to seal the game. KJ Hilliard, Andy Traeger, and Obi Agomo all played well. Obi was acrowd favorite with his dunks and blocks. We were cheered on by several hundred fans.

Friday we did another clinic at a public school with over 400 hundred students. We were able to give a testimony of God’s love to the children in the public school! This was unusual but God worked it out for us to share. After the clinic our players were mobbed to sign autograph’s. They said it was the closest they would probably ever feel to being like Lebron James (smile).

The closest to LeBron we might ever feel !

Fresh fruit anyone?

Bonita (Beautiful!)

Please continue to pray for us for our last game tonight. We are tired and a little banged up and play the best Cochabamba men’s team tonight at 9:30pm for the Championship game of the tournament. Pray for an injury free game and a continued good attitudes and chance to share the Gospel. Specifically, pray that we will know how and when to witness to the crowd, coaches, and opponents.

Thanks,

Coach Barber

A Few more pictures from Tuesday and Wednesday

atraeger — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 04:02:40 +0000

Tuesday-Wednesday going well with clinics and games

atraeger — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 17:53:29 +0000

Tuesday saw our schedule pick up quite a bit. It started with a scrimmage for the men’s and women’s teams in the morning with missionaries sharing after lunch and then a clinic for approximately 80 children in the afternoon. We closed the day a game with the men’s defeating the U-18 Cochabamba National team 82-56. We had hoped to have prayer with the opponent after the game but instead we were quickly whisked away to have 4 of our senior captains interviewed by the National news station. They had a fantastic witness about playing for Christ for the City International mission group and representing Greenville College USA. So the witness instead of being just to the team we played through prayer time actually turned out the be a blessing since our guys were able to witness via television to the entire nation. How cool is that! God is good. The debriefing time in the evening has been in my opinion Holy Spirit inspired. We asked the kids to journal every night…what did you see, what did you learn, and how can it help you be a better person. The thoughtfulness in the answers in sharing time has been transparent and phenomenal. Our team, and coaches are being changed. God is at work. We met a missionary who lives with a tribe and over the past 30 years he and his wife have translated the New Testament for them and greatly allowed God to work among that group. His stories were inspiring, but yet he was a humble guy. His wife and daughter and friend attending our game last night and were our biggest fans. Today, they left to go by car, then boat, back to their village. This afternoon we will visit an orphanage to conduct another clinic, then the guys will make dinner for the girls team and then cheer them on at 8:15 as they play one of the National teams. Pray for Jonas and Ryan as they are heading back to the States tonight to stand up in Stephen and Kelcey’s wedding on Saturday. Also, pray against what many of the team is experiencing in the form of slight stomach sickness and diarrhea. God is totaly blessing our trip and your prayer s and support is so much appreciated.

Clinic with kids Tuesday afternoon

These are the women who feed the children each day for Compassion International

Coach Barber

Fantastic Monday Clinic with the Kids – Prayer Time with Missionaries

atraeger — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 22:57:17 +0000

We had about 60 kids attend our morning clinic with Abel’s (say A -bell) church. All the kids showed up because they get, for many, what is their only meal for the day at lunch at the church. Abel (missionary) said they are supported by Compassion International, so if you support that organization it is really at work in this city of Cochabamba. It was neat to work with those kids and see that organization on the front lines. They feed the kids M,T,W three days a week and would do more if they had more. We had a time of debriefing with the Christ for the City missionaries who had outreach to the Muslim’s in the area, and families. They had humble sparse offices and where doing phenomenal work. We had a chance to surround them, lay hands on them, and pray for their ministry. Very cool!

Sunday in Cochabombia

atraeger — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 04:53:55 +0000

We had a fantastic blessing today in many ways. After getting the first full nights rest in 3 days, the Sabbath, a day of rest,

Christo - The Mayor erected this icon 1996 to bring together Catholics and Christians of the city

was welcome. The evening service was in a neighborhood south of the city where our host lives. The neighborhood was in the hills, with steep streets and houses ranging from tin huts to plaster homes surrounded by fences and barbed wire. The church welcomed us with songs and greetings. We also sang for the church, no small feet for a basketball team. The church ordained a missionary from their church…from their church. They have very little resources, probably no formal training, but yet feel called to send others out as missionaries to share the good news. Finally to end the evening we visited our hosts home. She cried as she spoke of the blessing we were to her to as Americans visiting her home. As if to say “God can do big things, bringing 23 American to my 3rd world country, to the poorer neighborhoods, and to my home”. We had several of our players pray for her and her family and for God to bless her home and ministry. It was humbling to be thought of that highly as special guest, but honestly we were the ones that were blessed.

Our Teams "Singing" for the Bolivian Church - "I'm Trading my sorrows...I'm trading my shame...I'm laying them down for the Joy of the Lord"