Lots of Games and Tim Speaks Friday

All the kids were out of school Friday in all 3 villages so we got them picked up around 4 pm so we could enjoy some daylight before our 7:00 youth group.

Baseball practice had about 40 players because the boys that usually just come on Saturdays due to afternoon classes got to come today. Edwin and Leo are doing a great job with so many new kids, and some with very little skill, but they are having fun. I am overseeing the rules and keeping attendance for practices. Starting next week, April 1 I will be paying Leo $200 of my funding a month as head coach and some other mission work tasks he will pick up. The rules include but are not limited to: 100% attendance at Sunday School, perfect attendance in school, proper practice gear everyday, prayer before and after every practice and game, no cussing, and respect for authority. The kids love the time with Leo, but are also leanring valuable lessons in discpline, character, and being on time. In weekly Sunday School they are learning Bible stories and more about character, love, and respect.

Tim, Scarleth, and I setup for youth night during baseball practice, and then once all the kids were there around 4-4:30 and baseball was over we took the field to play kickball, soccer, and volleyball. It was a lot of fun with 16 people from La Isla, 14 from Santa Matilde, and around 20 from Candelaria.

By 7, when we started youth group we had about 110 people there. We had a whacky talent show with kids doing the fart noises under their armpits or knee pits. Tim did a backflip off a table. Daniels daughter, Junieth, and I did some burping and Tommy did his best toilet noises with his hands covering his mouth. Probably not our proudest moments, but the kids were having a lot of fun.

We had some great worship songs, and then we let Tim talk the full 40 minutes about his growing up in church, then making his own decisions, and now his walk with God. He shared about his dad being a pastor, but by high school enjoying sports and parties. He shared about his 7 months in Iraq during the start of the war as a Marine, and time he has spent raising his daugher by himself. He then shared some great verses from Psalms chapter 18 and told the youth about how much better his life has gotten and improves everyday now that he is walking with God.