And so it begins...

Hi Guys!I have a prayer request: Our Athletes In Action team is bringing a women's basketball team from the U.S. in tonight.   The team was scheduled be arriving into Puebla tonight at 8 and will be here until July 2.  Two of the girls were delayed and re-routed into Mexico City.  We just arrived back at our apartment to find everybody knocked out ;)   And so finally, the pantry is full; the apartment is clean; the left-over spaghetti is now in the fridge... we are READY. We've spent the last two weeks making a schedule, editing the schedule, and editing the schedule some more.The focus of this tour will be as an outreach to the basketball girls at three universities here in the state of Puebla--UDLAP, Tec, and UMAD. AIA has been working with the teams at UDLAP and Tec for the past two years. This tour will be using basketball as a platform to develop relationships with the ultimate goal of sharing the Gospel.

The days will be full. There will be basketball practice, preparing for the tournament at the end of next week. Our basketball team consists of Karli, Amelia, Shelley (our director who will be playing when needed), the AIA STINTers (Marnie, Erica and I), and possibly two Mexican players. Throughout the week we will be having team talks, learning about the AIA Principles that take the Gospel and apply it to sports. Outreach events and community service will involve the university basketball girls and help build relationships that we pray will lead to the sharing of the Gospel.

I hope you will follow my blog through this tour as I share different stories (struggles and triumphs). Also, we'd really appreciate you lifting up these prayer requests with us:

• That athletes would catch the vision of what Athletes in Action means/stands for and would want to be involved in some way

• Safe travels for the AIA team coming from the States (flying into the airport and bus/taxi to our house)

• Getting to know the athletes at Tec and UDLAP (building new and strengthening relationships already in place)

• That our team would be good ambassadors for Christ

• That the Mexican girls who may play with us would be drawn to Christ, and that we would be examples to them

• That we would be bold in sharing during the multiple outreach times that are set-up throughout the next two weeks

We have a ton of basketball planned, but also a ton of outreach and ministry events planned in the next 17 days. 

I'm asking you to please, please be praying throughout these next 2 weeks that God will create some awesome relationships between our girls, the UDLAP basketball team, UMAD and the Tec basketball teams (the 3 university teams I am working with and the team will be competing with and against). Pray that leaders will be brought up within the UDLAP and Tec teams here so that they can start ministering to their own teammates in the future. It is my desire that some of these Mexican girls we are playing against would have the Gospel grip their heart, start to take an interest in the AIA ministry, and eventually become national leaders of AIA in Mexico.  This is where the process really starts. 

We'll be having a tournament at the end of June (27-30) between our U.S. team, UDLAP, Tec, and UMAD. We're all REALLY excited to have the team here and also a little nervous (this is our first time planning a tour and it's DEFINITELY a learning experience). Please pray that everything runs smoothly, and even if it doesn't, that we learn from it and can change it for next time. You guys are awesome!! Thank you! I'll keep you posted on how it's going :)  For now I'm off to bed.  We have an early start in the morning!Buenas Noches,Katie