Today (Wednesday) was the best so far. The camps ran a lot more smoother as Coach Terry and I are now on the same page.
We have had 91 in the junior camp and 28 in the senior division. With 119 kids, 2 coaches and 2 USA student helpers, we have definitely been busy. Some of our Latvian older students have been helping with translation and the basketball drills which has really helped. Thomas and Nicole have both done excellent jobs working with their groups.
We were extremely lucky to have Ilze Leneau to present a public performance for the city of Cesis tonight. She is a professional basketball entertainer from the United States that just happens to be also be Latvian. She has been in Latvia visiting her parents and family. Through various connections in the USA and Latvia, God worked everything out so that she could share her witness in Cesis.
After an outstanding basketball career in the public leagues in Latvia, Ilze went to the USA to play collegiate basketball. After obtaining her degree she wanted to continue with basketball so she developed an entertainment show emphasizing ball-handling, spinning, juggling and tricks of all sorts. You can see some of her video at: http://www.basketballfamily.com/
We had a great crowd of almost 400 people! We were so pleased to see that many attend. Even though it was about basketball, it was advertised as being sponsored by Cesis Baptist Church. Oftentimes, the culture here tends to not attend activities of a spiritual nature. We so pleased that these adults and youngsters alike were able to hear Ilze's testimony, her path to salvation and how God is currently working in her life.
What a blessing this event was for the people of Cesis. Ilze connected with so many as seen by their intense concentration and the line of autograph seekers at the close.
Tomorrow is the last day of camps and 'Summer Slam' activities. We hope that we will have our largest crowd of the week as Dominic brings the message to close the night services. It's been a good week and we pray the God will use the remaining few hours of this mission trip to bring others closer to Him.
Here are a few pictures of Ilze's performance and some of the other activities in the gym:
Ilze explaining her faith...
Crowd participation...
Dribbling six balls at once....
Coach Terry, Ilza, Evangelica, Marika, Iliana, and some old American guy...
Dribbling three balls while on balance board....
Three of our non-basketball helpers that have helped the week go smoothly...
Patriks from Salspils....
Thomas directing traffic with the smallest ones...
Thomas giving his testimony...
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