So the other day I was walking back to Pastor Al’s house (or contact here in Puerto Galera, Philippines) when one of the local ladies Ati Lina told me “you play basketball wit’ my son.” I was completely caught off guard and had no clue what was going on, but I ran inside, grabbed some shoes, and jumped on a motorcycle behind some guy that I had never met. He told me to move up on the seat and then another guy jumped on the seat behind me. So the three of us rode down the road on a little scooter through the village to the local court.
There were probably 20 men at the court and a very serious game of basketball was going on. Most of the guys were playing barefooted or just with flip-flops… a few had some basketball shoes. Eventually Pastor Al came down to the court with a few others from our teams and we ended up playing a game against a group of guys. We got beaten rather soundly, but we had a ton of fun and the entire experience opened up a door that I had been praying about ever since arriving here.
Though the women in the village are really friendly and smile as you walked by, all of the men have been very cold in their reception of our team. Most of the time they sit under huts drinking or gambling and simply stare at us as we walked by.
Ever since playing basketball though, it has been amazing how open the guys have been to us. Pastor Al has also set up a basketball tournament and we had 12-13 teams (over 100 guys) sign up. I have been assigned to be a coach/player of Team Survivor. I have about a dozen guys on my team and it has been an incredible opportunity to get to talk to and know these guys personally. Please be praying that through something as small as a game of basketball, that God would really allow us to get to know these men and share with them the real reason why we are in the Philippines.
