Well the camp started today and it was great.
To the right is a picture of the kids that showed up today. We are expecting more throughout the week (Lord willing). It was so encouraging to see how excited the kids get over simply having people from the U.S. (Americains AH-MERR-EE-KAHN) show them how to dribble a ball. The camp is 10-15 years old. We had everything from the fairly athletic kid to ones who obviously had never picked up a ball of any kind or even physically disabled. One kid had a disability that disabled his right hand completely and forearm partially. He was doing push-ups with us and dribbling the ball with both hands.
I feel that the Lord allowed us to create some good relationships today with these kids. We will be giving the camp participants t-shirts tomorrow and told them that today in hopes that it will draw more children. We are hoping for about 75 kids this week.
Although none of us understood what he was saying, Rob gave them a talk about sportsmanship and teamwork and related it to family. He is good with kids. Very energetic. We started the days events with having them run laps, stretch and then do push-ups followed by jumping jacks. We then split up into two groups and started running dribbling, lay-up, shooting and passing drills. We mixed it up a little bit by playing "knockout" and doing "dribble tag". Kevin and John ran the shooting portion. John was really good at showing the kids how to do the drills and how to shoot the ball and how to make a lay-up and so on. Jeff and Kyle were showing the kids how to pass the ball in many different ways. Kevin ran the stretches and push-ups and held the water jug. Stephanie handled the registration and sign-in sheets and even helped sweep the courts. All in all it was a blast!
These kids are so full of life and energy and were so happy to have us there. It was kind of eerie when they would actually ask us for our autographs. They want to know if we play with Tony Parker. If we are professionals. You would think that after they saw any one of us try to shoot the ball they would know we are high school rejects..... Oh, I'm sorry, John played (or rode the bench) college ball for about seven minutes.
The vast majority of the kids are Muslim. There are many races among them along with gypsies as well. These kids need the Lord as much as anyone. They and their families are so lost.Please pray that the Lord would send us more kids each day and that we would have a significant impact on them and even their parents if possible for the Lord. Also for good weather. We have had some pretty hot and humid days here and today it almost rained on us but the Lord was gracious in giving us a cool first day with just a hint of a sprinkle. Thanks so much for all your prayers!
See you tomorrow...
God Bless!
Oh and "RAISE THE ROOF!!"
1 comment:
I am praying for ya'll! It's exciting to see you continue the Lord's work there in France. I'm sure the kids loved seeing you return. How many of the kids are new and how many have returned? Are any of them still wearing stuff we gave them last year? Keep up the good work, brothers!!
Give the Anthony's a big hug from the Payne's. And give Vicki a big "cheek cheek kiss" from me...
P.S. "Rob, manprees are still out. Hopefully these men brought you some shorts!"
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