DAY 10 - SPRINGING INTO ACTION IN LA CARLOTA

Today saw as leave the beautiful resort at 8am and head north to La Carlota – a beautiful city of 60,000 people in the middle of the Negros island.

After an hour on the road we came to Pastor Norman’s house, the ruling pastor in La Carlota. He hosted us for an hour or so as we learnt the day’s itinerary and recuperated with an early lunch.

From here we headed up into the mountains of La Carlota to a Christian resort with rudimentary facilities in beautiful surroundings. The owner of the small resort took us on a 15-minute walk to a very cold fresh water spring. With water temperatures between 12 and 15 degrees the swim was refreshing but bracing all the same.

From here we headed back into the city to meet the mayor and then make the short walk to the main plaza for our outdoor game against the 16-man strong La Carlota Selection.

Conan Prince came alive early on in preparation for his half-time testimony which was witnessed by a crowd of 400 onlookers.

Subsequent three-pointers by Rufo Pong and Andrew Stock kept the Sports Ambassadors close in the third quarter before some agile defending and finishing by Danny Cook and Fletcher Creelman steadied the match and put the Aussies in the lead for good. The windy night made shooting hard for Stevie ‘Wonder’ Cressie, but he more than made up for this with his work with the Christian tract outreach where he worked tirelessly for long stretches.

The postgame dinner was held at the local church and volunteers who prepared it really knew how to cook! We ate well before heading back into the jeepney and up into the hills for a quiet night’s sleep among the wildlife.

Tomorrow sees an early trip to Himamalayan, two and a half hours away for our final match on the island.