DAY 6 – AMLAN & TANGUAY

Game 1:
Calvary Eagles 45 Sports Ambassadors 61

Game 2:
Amlan City 64 Sports Ambassadors 72


Today was a slightly easier day in terms of our schedule with an 8:45 roll call seeming like a luxury.

We headed to the typhoon-struck town of Amlan, we saw firsthand the damage done just weeks before. The trip to the Mayor’s office and a conversation with the man himself only confirmed the damning statistics of how many people had lost homes, livestock and even family members during the Christmas period.

Our goodwill match against the Calvary Eagles, a smaller community team, was more of an exhibition match than the previous tough encounters we had experienced in the last week.

The match was a chance for the locals to come out and support something positive in their community and the local church was supportive in helping to hand out tracts after Mike Valenti gave his half-time testimony.

The Sports Ambassadors ran out comfortable winners in the end but the town felt like they had made some international friends on this day and we felt like we had lifted their spirits.

An early afternoon swim in the waters between Tanguay and Amlan provided more relief for our players and gave us the opportunity to spend more time with local church pastors and their families who are planting a church in this area at the moment. From here we ventured onto the Amlan City Plaza where a large audience had gathered for our match against the main team in the city.

With Pastor Gary Visitacion on the microphone to rev up the crowd, the match became z feast for the spectators with slam dunks, fancy dribbling and plenty of showmanship for the onlookers to marvel at. Giles Creelman gave his testimony at half-time, reminding the Filipinos that, in the midst of personal challenges, there is always someone bigger than ourselves. In a basketball game a bigger person can be a scary opponent, but having Jesus Christ on your side is the biggest teammate of all. Many of the crowd showed their affirmation by filling out the information cards during the second half and the conversations had after the match were very positive and enjoyable.

The end of the week sees our time in Dumaguete come to an end and we are heading into the mountains on Sunday to begin our food distribution program there.

We are hoping that, with a little more time between games, we may be able to upload some photos from our trip onto this blog.

Thanks for all your prayers and comments so far.