Mamonal

Yesterday (Thursday) was a long, hot day....but it was AWESOME! We were out in the sun doing a basketball clinic for a school in an extremely poor area about 45 minutes outside of Cartagena, by the name of Mamonal (I think that's how it's spelled anyway...).

(me teaching kids how to shoot)

As we were headed out there, James let me know that this is one of the main areas that I will be spending time. I will be out there about 3 days a week, acting essentially as a PhysEd teacher for these kids. I am very excited, because it is so obvious that they just need someone to instruct them and discipline them and really just give them attention. So you all can begin praying for the kids of Mamonal as I will be spending countless hours w/ them over the next few months. Everyone in the area (adults included) are pretty lazy, as they are just used to getting handouts from the government. So this will be one of the many challenges of working w/ them. But as I said, they are very willing to listen and to learn, so I am very much looking forward to spending more time out there.Today is El Dia de Indepencia (I assume most of you can figure out what that means) for Colombia, so we just had practice with the professional team this morning (and when i say "morning" I mean it started at 10:30 and was supposed to end at 12:30, but since time means nothing here....we did not even get home until 2) and have been relaxing since then. Tonight we are going out and doing some "touristy" things, so I can check out some of the nicer parts of the city.
One other prayer request that I forgot to mention in my previous post is for the camp that we are putting on next week. There will be a lot of kids there and it will be a great opportunity to present the gospel to many children. Southeastern University (out of Florida) is supposed to be coming down to help us out, however we just found out earlier this week that as of wednesday, they still do not have their money raised, nor have they purchased plane tickets, and one of their players still doesn't have his passport. So....we're just praying that they can even come at this point, or else that leaves A LOT of responsibility on the shoulders of James and me. So if you could keep that in your prayers, that would be greatly appreciated!
Well that's about all for now. God bless you all, and thanks again for your prayers and support.