Day 1 of Sports Camp... Day 14

Dear Family and Friends,

I apologize that it has been such a long time since I have updated my blog. We have been very busy with team building exercises, mini field trips, preparing for sports camps, classroom training and the start of the World Cup. In addition, I dropped my computer last week and it doesn't seem to want to work very well, so I am borrowing other people's computers from time to time to be able to check email on occasion. I'd love to update more about the time in between Day 3 (my last post) and now, but it may have to wait for a little while, or you may have to ask me when I get back and/or send me an email if it doesn't happen that I can get to it. I just want to say that I am being challenged and stretched in all areas of my life right now. This internship is intense and God is really doing a work in my heart and really shaving some things off of my life so that He can use me even more. I love all my teammates and we have had amazing speakers come in and teach us about leadership, evangelism, and giving testimonies thus far. I have been learning a lot of stuff and I love that we use the Word every day in our classroom training. In addition, Italy is absolutely beautiful and it has been so awesome to go running, hiking, and play soccer and other sports during some of our free time to relax. While God is working on me, if you could please keep the following things in your prayers for me:

1. God to completely heal my heart of any past hurts or pains so that I can move on from the past, enjoy the present, and walk into the future with a new heart that will have everything I need.
2. Rest - for me to get enough sleep to really be effective during the days.
3. My stomach hasn't quite gotten used to the change of foods yet and from traveling, so just pray for all to function properly.
4. As we are working on disciplining our thoughts, words and actions, we are doing pushups as a team and individually for things that are not pleasing to God... my arms are getting buff - haha - needless to say, my arms are hurting because I have been doing ALOT of pushups! I want to not do so many pushups, but there is some work to be done...Love the process!!!
5. God to reveal Himself to me and show me the areas where my passions lie and also to show me the things that really excite me, make me cry and the things I can dream about.
6. God to reveal the next step I'm supposed to take after the internship by way of going into missions, going back to school, working, moving, etc.... I know He has big plans for me, and I know that His timing is perfect, so I am believing for complete clarity in ALL areas of my life.
7. Purging the need to always be in control and be perfect in all situations. There is an excellence factor to life, but there is a fine line and I need freedom in some of these areas.
8. To be 100% selfless and always consider God first, others second and self last.
9. Patience when I do not agree with things Biblically or when I get frustrated with people that I am on the trip with. I'm also believing that the Holy Spirit will tell me when it is time for me to speak up and to speak truth in a situation. I want my motivation to always be spirit-lead, and not for me to just be right or to make a point, or to show that I know better.
10. I asked God to humble me... which if you've ever prayed that you will understand why I need prayer. I want God to remove the sources of pride in my life so that the roots of my life are grounded in humility so that God can produce virtue in my life.

Today was the first day of the sports camp that we are having for the kids all week. We spent some time the last couple of weeks passing out fliers and marketing the sports camp in the local towns for the kids to come. We had about 35 kids show up today to play soccer, volleyball, basketball, baseball/softball, cheer, karate, and ultimate frisbee. After the sports portion of the camp is over, the kids go to English lessons that are being taught by a missions team from Georgia that joined us this week. Please pray for the following things as we continue the camp this week:

1. Good weather - we are supposed to get rain all week since we are in the mountains, but thankfully God was able to hold back the rain today, but now it is pouring...please pray that we get absolutely no rain until camp is over so that we don't have to fit everyone into the gym.
2. Kids to return and bring others - we are believing that the same kids will come back and that they will bring friends with them, and/or that more kids will come because they saw us playing, saw signs, etc.
3. Us to be able to build and form relationships with the kids - in Italy, winning lives for Jesus is a very difficult process since the Catholic Church is very different here than in the United States, in addition to the fact that the culture is very relationship oriented. It is important for us to build a strong relationship with the kids before they ever will let us in to talk to them about Jesus.
4. Our testimonies will be used by God to minister salvation - each day one of us gives a testimony of how we came to know the Lord so please be praying for hearts to be open and prepared to hear the testimony so that they'll ask questions and seek to know Jesus.
5. Patience, flexibility and rest - with the language barrier and other circumstances that arise, please pray that we will be patient and flexible with everything thrown our way. In addition, we have breakfast at 7:30am everyday and then do the camp with the kids from 9am to 1pm and then come home and have about 4-5 hours of lectures and what-not in the classroom. With the heat of the sun and all the energy expended, in addition to the heaviness that comes from the lectures (which are amazing) we are very tired.

I'll just mention a little bit about how the day went for me today. We had quite a few kids choose to come over and play soccer with us. Once some of the bigger kids started coming over, we realized that they really needed to be separated from the small ones. I ended up taking the bigger kids--all of them boys--and tried to work with them on some skills and what-not. It was a frustrating day for me because of the language barrier and me wanting so bad to really be able to communicate with them instead of in broken Italian, in addition to the fact that they didn't seem to want to listen to me. I started earning their respect a little bit once I started playing with them and could show them that I could play, but it is still a challenge for me, especially as a girl. We have translators in part of the day, but that is tricky too because they will often look to the translator instead of us and it could mean that the relationship between the kids and myself does not form all the way. I just need to remind myself that it's okay when plans change and when things don't quite go the way we had hoped or had planned. I need to remember that this is about having fun and I just need to be patient and ask God to help me. Perfectionism is a good thing, but it also has an ugly side that will rob you of your joy if you let it. I let it rob me for a good portion of the day, but I know that my Father is gracious and with His help, I will not let this happen tomorrow. I'm stirring up my spirit and my passion for these kids and really spending some time tonight putting together something that will really help them tomorrow so that they can develop into better players.