Day Seven - 9th of January 2010 (boys)

Captains log: Day 7

We had big expectations for the Saturday night game as pastor Gary had informed us the night before and that morning in devotions to expect a big turnout , so with the gravity of the big foreshore game looming ahead of us we pushed on to our first trip of the morning, packing the remaining food sacks for the for the provinces we would visit for the (as pastor Gary put it) 3rd leg of our journey.

Inspired by Pastor Gary to stay strong and focused in the face of distractions we headed on the familiar road again to the packing factory, but not before announcing the jester hat wearing MVP for the previous day, Tim for his hustle plays and rugged good looks all the last points could be debated.

We got our sweaty man packing on as everyone furiously packed the last of the noodles, rice and sardines and with the promise of an early lunch we finished in a record breaking time, striding out of the doors after only an hour of lighting paced packing we headed for the plaza mall for lunch. Some of the new faces on the trip were tempted/ challenged into sampling one of the popular Filipino deserts the “Halo Halo” an intriguing combination of beans, ice cream and some other questionable Ingredients… but if nothing else it was an ‘experience’ for the rookies.
We then headed out for a pizza lunch downtown, the oily cheesy goodness was appreciated by all involved, a little more due to the fact we had an extensive three hour break to chill out. So everyone took it down a notch to prepare for our evening affair with as quoted by pastor Gazza “the Mayors Team”, when 5 o clock rolled around, the foyer was filled with an air of anticipation and we listened to the wise words of pastor Gary which had everyone leaving the hotel in quiet confidence that we would be good representatives of Christ to the Filipino people. We headed out to the street court for our before the game warm up and there to greet us were possibly the friendliest and (for some) the most dunk-able basketball rings we had encountered thus far.
We were surprised by the pre-game blackout leaving the courts in darkness but normality was restored just in time as the lights lit up the court just in time for the bout. The game was filled with a fast paced up and down style played by both teams with a few half court lobs and some silky skills from Andre and a crowd pleasing dunk from Danny ‘the Carpenter’ the Aussies kept a small lead into the half. Although there was no sound system for the first three quarters, the half time testimony from Pete was received well by the crowd and as we gathered many tracks and gave out booklets the Australian spirit hung on for a tight, four point win as the clock wound down.

We headed out for dinner after the game and lovely milk shakes were consumed as a rousing rendition of ‘Kiss Steve’ (sung to the song of Kiss Me by sixpence none the richer) took the team camaraderie to another level and with team moral high after another successful day, doing the Lords work we headed back to base for some shuteye.

This is Sobey
Signing out.