Gear Collection

Aaron Faro, Nick Thompson, Jordan Sands, Danny Thompson, and myself spent 2 hours today sorting out all the soccer gear that was sent to us for Colombia.  It was remarkable how much gear was donated and we want to thank all the generous schools, groups, and individuals who gave gear:

DASC: Dillsburg Area Soccer Club

Brent Shoemaker

The people of Beaver County Christian School

Martin Meenan and Garnet Valley High School Boy's Soccer

Brandywine Youth Club of Delaware County 

Paul Tanimae, John Jenks, and AKKA Soccer

Paul Rittenhouse and Western Albemarle High School

And all other individuals who donated personal gear

THANK YOU!!!

We stuffed 23 soccer bags full of gear!!! Soccer balls, bags, shirts, shorts, shin guards, goalie gloves, jerseys, and a ton of cleats.... it was awesome to see all the bags of gear pile up. These gifts will be a true blessing to all the kids we work with and minister to down in Colombia.

Almost there!

Hello Everyone,
I need to apologize for a lack of action on the blog the past week or so.  It's been a long two weeks of studying and school work for all the guys here as school has come to a close... and it's finally over.  Now we are only five days away from our trip! It feels like just yesterday we started this blog and sent out our support letters for the trip. We've been filling out our final paperwork, collecting our passports, packing bags, and collecting some final supplies. This is really it! Over the next few days we'll be making our final preparations before the trip. Your prayers this week will be a true blessing to us as we get ready. Our plan and our hope is that this blog will continue while we're down in Colombia as a way to keep family, friends, and supporters updated on we are doing... So keep checking it out!  Thanks for the support and the prayers.

AKKA Soccer

     A big thanks to Paul Tanimae, John Jenks, and AKKA Soccer (click here to see their website)! As some may know we are trying to collect soccer gear (lightly used and/or no longer used stuff) to take down to Colombia with us and share with the kids. AKKA Soccer was generous enough to donate 4 bags full of soccer gear to our trip.  They sent along some backpacks, shorts, soccer balls, jerseys, cleats, and some sweet AKKA shirts.  These things will be a huge blessing to the kids we work with down in Colombia- thanks guys!  
     If you have any old gear laying around in your home or school that is no longer being used and is still usable, it would be awesome if you would be willing to donated it to our trip... time is running out, we leave May 15th!!! 

Prayer Requests

Our team has been having prayer meetings on Saturdays throughout the spring. It's been a great time to sit down and focus on our trip and talk to one another about its various aspects and challenges.
Here are a few of our recent prayer requests:
--For God to prepare the hearts of those in Colombia we will meet- that they will be open to our love and what we have to say/share, mainly the Gospel.
--for each guy on our team to have a genuine servant's heart and an ability to be flexible and low maintenance
--for the CDUC and all its preparation for us
--for our gear collection and fund-raising efforts to continue toward our goal.

If you would like to join with us in prayerful preparation for our trip please do!

CDUC

Here is a video that gives a great overview of the CDUC, the organization our team is partnering with down in Colombia. Enjoy!

Trip Preview

 Over spring break our assistant coach, Aaron Faro, tour director Mitch Sanford, and alums Brett Faro and Mark Jeschke took a six day step up trip to Medellin.  They got to spend time with the leadership of our partnering organization, CDUC (Club Deportivo Union Cristiano) and began to lay the groundwork for our trip in May. This video is a quick look at their time and what is in store for the rest of our team!

On the News

Earlier this semester I shared about our local outreach with the Somali and Ethiopian kids.  This year a news crew was there when we showed up and they made this report:
click here- abc27
I hope it gives a little insight to what we are currently doing in regards to outreach and missions, plus you get to see and hear from some of the kids we work with on a weekly basis in the spring.  We've really enjoyed getting to share God's love with these kids and we can't wait to reach out in another awesome way when we go to Colombia.