DAY 4 - Let the Haitian Games Begin

Getting the banner ready for 'Teen Game' sports ministry

A typical toilet inside one of the tent camps (never could figure out how it flushed?)  

A little song & dance inside the little school in the tent city of City Soleil

Singing w/ the kids of the school in the tent city

The plan for the week was for the team to minister in the mornings at the smaller tent city in City Soleil, come back to the YWAM base for lunch & then head out again in the afternoon to hold our sports ministry event in the larger 'Soupeis' tent city. So on Tuesday morning, we had breakfast at the base & went to the tent city in City Soleil to do more informal ministry at the little school & w/ the scores of kids just out & about at the tent city. After walking through the tent city a bit, and loving on some of the smaller kids we were asked to share with the kids in class at the little YWAM school. W/o any preconceived program or request for ministry we resolved to do some of the choreography the team had prepared & then sing some of the songs we had learned in Creole w/ them. It was fun & they we could tell they were awe struck that we knew some Christian songs in THEIR native tongue & many sang a-long and danced w/ us. After a bit, we also shared a message of hope just to encourage them & challenge them to look at their nation differently, be grateful for the opportunity God had given them to study, to do what they could to be a good influence in their families & communities, to know that God was w/ them & that He had not abandoned them and also challenge them that God wants to raise up a new generation of leaders & use many of them to TRANSFORM the history of their nation & REBUILD it in a way that is honoring to Him!

We wrapped at City Soleil, went to the base for lunch, did our work duties there helping to clean up and were off again to the larger tent city Soupeis.

Breakin' it down inside the tent cities

The team doing a choreography to draw a crowd before the before beginning Haitian Teen Games

The 1st team to play in the inaugural 1st match

Team #2 who wound up winning the 1st match

Giving the 1st lesson & explaining how the soccer tournament & teachings were going to go down

The 1st 2 teams getting ready to go at it

 Again, it took a while to get going. We hung the Teen Games banner & helped get the goals in place on the basketball court. To be able to speed up the tournament we'd wanted to use & were told we'd be able to run 2 soccer matches at a time, but we saw after a while there was only going to be one soccer court for us to use. It was going to be a push to get in matches for all 8 teams & we'd hoped to do double elimination, but Tuesday afternoon only 2 of the teams showed up, meaning there was only going to be 1 match, to our dismay.

Anyway, there was no time to whine or get upset or even ask a lot of questions about 'where are the rest of the teams.' GOD HAD BROUGHT US HERE TO DO MINISTRY. To share His Word, spread some hope, be a light to those who desperately needed it, love the people here & have fun w/ the kids & teens who hadn't had been able to enjoy much of anything since the earthquake. The only thing was we had to adapt & proceed at their pace. Our plans for how we're going to run the tournament did have to change, but God was in all of it.

After trying to get things rolling for what seemed like hours, the team decided to go ahead and start w/ some of their choreography to attract some of the onlookers & draw a bigger crowd. It worked beautifully and by the time both teams finally showed up, we had a nice crowd gathered to teach & share our purpose for being there.

As in each Kids' & Teens' Games event, the games were begun by singing the national anthem. All the Haitians got up & led us in a rendition of their national anthem. Larry then got up & shared the 1st message w/ Anasias' help in translated. Then together w/ Enrique's help & diagram, we explained how the tournament was going to be set up. We encouraged the participants to play clean, to shake hands before & after the match, to have fun & to play hard. Enrique was the referee for the match, while Edwin & Jorge were line judges. Both teams played their hearts out, but one was clearly superior to the other & won the 1st match decidedly. It was a nice start to the sports ministry event, & as the teams played the crowds grew.

Everyone declared it a success & tomorrow would be another day, hopefully w/ more teams showing up, and even more participation & interest from the residents of the tent city. We wrapped up the afternoon, as the sun was going down hopeful, but honestly a bit worried about how many teams would show & if we'd have enough time to get the matches in between now & Friday, which was when we're told we'd have to close. Everything, as always, was in God's hands & we trusted him to guide us & take care of the details.