Monday, May 26

Monday, May 26

"When it rains, it pours!"  While that is certainly true of Panama's rainy season, it's also true of our last few days.  That's why these posts are late, and that's also why we can say God is in control, because he's seen us through lots of challenges in the past few days!

This morning started with a couple of surprises as we prepared to spend the day up a river at an Embara village.  First, 5 members of the team were having significant gastrointestinal issues and ended up needing to stay back for a day.  Second, we went to get in the van and discovered someone had broke in and stole our radio.  Waiting for the Panamanian police took over an hour, (and was the first of 3 visits with the police plus a trip in the middle of the night downtown to file some paperwork) and we we got a late start with a much smaller team.  The good news was that our guide, the children's pastor at Crossroads brought extra translators with so we still had plenty of help.  After a long and interesting drive into the rain forest, a 15 minute dugout canoe ride (with a caiman on the bank), we finally arrived at a refreshing waterfall and water hole to go swimming in.  After a little rock jumping, we headed back to the canoes and to the Embara village where we met the villagers, ate lunch, then put on another clinic.  For a basket we took a rim they had (from an old basket we left there a few years ago and tied it to the top of a soccer goal!  Players took turns being backboards, and even the men of the village took turns shooting!  Grant shared his testimony and although we got a little sunburned it turned out to be one of our most memorable clinics of the trip.

As we returned we found out our evening game was moved, then cancelled.  While it was disappointing to not play, it did give us a little more time to enjoy the Miraflores Locks where we went for dinner, sitting outside and watching the ships come through the locks.

Updates will continue to come...internet has been off and on, and that has made it difficult to upload pics.

Saturday, May 24

This morning we headed out to Arraijan for a clinic.  This is one of my favorite clinics because we get to walk the town and invite kids, and also get to see Pastor Fedrico.  Getting there proved to be a little bit of a challenge since the roads have been changed, but stellar driving by Cecil on steep hills and narrow winding roads proved to be the difference and we finally made it (even if those in the back of the van felt a little sick to their stomach).  A little cloud cover helped cool things just a little which was huge since there isn't any shade (or bathrooms) there at the outdoor court we play at.  Both Troy and Emily shared powerful testimonies of what God has done in their lives, and many new friends were made.

After the clinic, we went to Diego's home to swim, eat, sleep and watch the Champions League soccer championship. It's amazing how much more you watch the game when you can't understand any of the commentary!  It's also fun to watch soccer with Panamanians because you realize how passionate they are!  Estephania, Diego's girlfriend is a huge Real Madrid fan, so she now gets to talk trash to him for a full year.

That evening we went back to Arraijan to join them for a church service.  We sang worship songs in Kuna and Spanish, Jake shared his testimony, and Coach Jaderston preached.  Many of the kids from the clinic came, and it was great to fellowship together regardless of ethnicity or language.

After dinner, Paulina (our translator) and her father treated us to dinner at the Gamboa Rain Forest Resort.  It was unbelievable!   We definitely are not starving on this trip!

Tomorrow is a day to rest.  We'll go to church at Crossroads, then eat and shop a little.  We're playing the men of the church and the high school team in a fun game in the afternoon, then everyone will enjoy a dinner with a different family from the church.  We need to rest because on Monday we're off at 7:00 to a dugout canoe ride up the river to an Embara village to do a clinic.  Keep praying for health, the ability to communicate clearly, and the group would continue to find ways to reflect Christ's love to all we come in contact with.

Friday, May 23

Where to begin...what an incredible day!.  We started out in Curundu, a community that has been completely transformed over the past 7 years.  When we first visited in 2007, we played with kids on a balcony outside an apartment because it was too dangerous to be out without a police escort.  Now, the school has pre-K through 3rd grade, the shanty town has been replaced by new apartments, and the streets and community are completely redone.  We joined the school for PE class and a clinic, then several players served as teacher's aides for the morning.  The response was incredible!  After the clinic we waited out a rainstorm and an amazing lightning show, waiting to find out about our afternoon clinic.  Finally the police got a bus to bus kids to another location so we could still do the clinic!  It was a small number of kids, but it was an amazing clinic where we once again got to share the gospel both as a group and individually.  Exhausted we headed back to Casa Paraiso for a quick nap and then to our next game.

We played the Jump Shoot Academy Elite team, a talented group that includes former US college players.  Looking back over the last 3 trips this was easily one of the best teams we've played.  Braden Thompson was spectacular in the first half, knocking down 3's and getting to the rim and free throw line consistently, and the Warrior squad built an eight point lead until he went down with an ankle sprain and was out for the rest of the game.  The Jump Shoot team went on a run to close the half, tying the score at 45 going into the break.

Without Braden in the second half it looked like the Warriors were going to struggle offensively, but Brandon Stacker and Brandon Givens stepped in to pick up the slack.  Trailing by 9 early in the fourth quarter, the Warriors roared back, taking a 78-76 lead with under a minute to go.  After both teams missed opportunities, the Jump Shoot team converted a 3 point play with 3 seconds to go.  After a timeout, the Warriors got a clean look at a 3, but were unable to capitalize and lost by a final score of 79-78.  It was a great basketball game, and afterwards both teams shared a few moments as Ted Dower gave a powerful testimony about what God  has done in his life in his time at Sterling College.

Tomorrow we leave bright and early for the Kuna community in Araiijan.  We'll do a clinic in the morning, then after an afternoon at Sterling alum Diego Ferro's house we'll return to do a church service in the evening with the youth band from Crossfire.  Please pray for the Holy Spirit to move powerfully in both the clinic and the service.  Also continue to pray for health.  After almost a week of clinics and games, we're starting to get a little run down...colds, aches, pain, maybe a little sunburn after today.  Sunday will be a much needed day of rest, but we have a big day tomorrow as well.  Also pray for Braden as he wrestles with being injured on a trip like this.  We'll know more tomorrow, but it certainly looks like his movement will be pretty limited for a while.

If you haven't checked out our Facebook page, you can see lots of pics there from the team.  Just  go to:  https://www.facebook.com/ScPanamatrip

Thursday, May 22

Today started with something new:  an authentic Chinese breakfast.  We all ate things we've never eaten before, and it was delicious.  We enjoyed just talking, sampling lots of different dishes, and sharing food between the team.  Once we were full, we headed back to Crossroads Christian Academy for more morning PE classes.  It was a wonderful morning, with energetic kids and lots of games.  Afterwards, most went back to Casa Paraiso for a much needed nap, while a few headed down to the old French Quarter of Panama City for some site seeing.

After another great dinner of chicken and rice, we headed off to our first game vs. the University of Panama. After a rough shooting first quarter, we cut the lead to 3 with a beautiful 4 pass play that went the length of the court without touching the ground and Nate Sizemore finished with the basket at the buzzer. Our shooting didn't get better however, and the half ended with the Warrior squad down by 7.  After the half however, the team came out on fire, scoring the first 10 points in the half, and eventually scored 35 total points in the quarter.  Braden Thompson led the charge with a couple dunks and his perimeter shooting, and everyone contributed to expand the lead.  In the fourth quarter the Panamanian team mounted a comeback, cutting our lead to six, but the Warriors held on to win 67-61.

Friday, we spend the whole day in Curundu.  Two clinics, plus a game a night will make for an exhausting day.  Curundu is an impoverished area that the church has built a school in.  Please pray for energy, endurance, and that our players' eyes will be opened and they'll have a bigger view of the world and that their compassion for others will grow.

One final note:  we've experienced quite a bit of technical difficulties with our blog, so Eddie created a Facebook page the team can all post to.  For more pics and updates from team members, go to

 https://www.facebook.com/ScPanamatrip

Wednesday, May 21

Another great day in Panama.  This morning we started out helping with PE classes at Crossroads Christian Academy.  While some of the team played with kids on the playground, others conducted drills and played ball with older students at the high school.  This afternoon, several members of the CCA basketball team joined us for practice.  In the evening, we headed back to Crossroads for the junior high and senior high youth group.  What a great night celebrating and worshiping with them!  We'll have lots of pics tomorrow when we can get on a computer for a longer time and download them. For those who have been praying, all medical issues seem to have gone away and we are all healthy (except for a bee sting).  God is good!

Playing musical chairs with the youth group at crossroads church

Eddie  A

After a good night's sleep, we were ready to get to work.  We spent some time in the morning finding our way around, buying groceries, and having eating lunch at a local cafeteria.  A couple people even ate octopus for the first time!  After driving an intense rainstorm, (it's the start of rainy season here), we headed off to a local gym for our first practice.  The rain helped cool things off and we fun getting our legs back and trying to remember our offense from this season.  After a quick shower, we headed to the Kiwani's gym for our first clinic with Jump Shoot Basketball.  The team did a phenomenal job working with the kids.  The director of Jump Shoot wanted us to work a lot on defense and communication with them, and our players worked hard with them.  Matt Swank shared his testimony, and we all circled up and prayed together at the end.

After the clinic, we showered (again) and headed out to Tinaja's, a restaurant with authentic Panamanian foods and Panamanian folk dancing.  It was fun to just sit and talk (and since nobody's phones work we did a lot of talking) and we got to watch Troy and Emily do a little dancing with the show.  It was a great night!

Today we are doing clinics with a school, and then some Jump Shoot kids are coming to our practice, so it will be like another clinic.  Afterwards we'll clean up and join the youth group at the church for their Crossfire event tonight.

Please continue to pray for health.  One team member is a little under the weather, and the humidity can wear us all out quickly.

We made it! At midnight we pulled into Casa Paraiso, and after some arroz con pollo we all got to bed. Other than a potential passport hiccup in New Jersey, everything went smoothly, and even that situation worked out amazingly (miraculously?) well.  God certainly smoothed the way for us, and we're ready to get to work tomorrow.  Some supplies and orientation in the morning, then practice, our first clinic, and a late dinner will make a full day.  Thanks to all those who are praying for us!  It really does make a difference.

Need to get some sleep...I'll post some pics tomorrow.

Coach J

Panama 2014

In two weeks we leave with our team for Panama. I can't believe its been 5 years since we've last been there!  Eddie Adesodun, Ted Dower, Troy Smith, Braden Thompson, Matt Swank, Brandon Givens, Nate Sizemore, Grant Speer, Jake Jaderston, Brandon Stacker, Ashley (Gasper) Raile, Alissa Gasper, and Emily Rivera, and my wife Julie and I will be heading off to Panama City for our third mission trip with the Warrior basketball program.  From May 19-29 we will  be working with Crossroads Bible Church, (pastored by Sterling alum Bob Gunn), doing clinics, and working with schools and communities inside and outside of Panama City.  We will be blogging throughout the trip, so keep checking for the latest updates.