Santa Maria

Last night a group of 9 Christian soccer players from here went together to play in the town of Santa Maria, about a 30 minute drive away.  Ben has had a vision of forming a team of Christian soccer players and travelling to surrounding towns to play soccer and share the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  One of the men shared this goal with a friend who is a pastor in Santa Maria, and he invited us to come play yesterday.  So, last night was their first match!   

The team was supposed to leave from our house at 3:30.  Well, at 4:20 we had 8 guys, so we decided to head out anyways!  Good ‘ole Mexican time!  Needless to say, we arrived in Santa Maria and one of the guys was there waiting for us.  However, the team from Santa Maria was expecting us at 3:00 and had been there earlier and left.  But, they all came back out the field and played a game, 10 v 10.  There were probably about 40 people on the sides just watching the game, and our kids had a blast playing with the other kids there. 

After the game, Ben had the opportunity to share his testimony with the team and the crowd that was there.  First time for him sharing his testimony in Spanish, and he did great!  I was so proud of him!  He shared the gospel and shared of the love of Christ for all of us!  Not only was the pastor was very encouraged, but I think it was a great testimony to our team of guys as well.  Soccer is such a huge part of their lives, but for most of them the concept of using soccer to share their love for Jesus is so new.  Most of them have probably never shared their own story of how Jesus has changed their life.  Ben was excited, and we are praying that God uses more opportunities like this to not only spread the Gospel to other towns, but also to stretch and grow the faith of these men here!