An entry from Zach:
What a trip! God continues to amaze me by the way he can use the game of soccer to make Himself known and change lives. Our team for the trip was Daniel Gamboa, Roberto Zatarain, Eric Luna, Gabe (my son), and me. When we arrived we spent our first night playing at a local futsal court. After the pick up game, the guys we played with invited us to their home for dinner. This was one of my favorite parts of the trip. Almost every night we were invited into a family's home, and it was during those times we got to know them and hear their stories. God used those times to encourage us. We also hosted youth soccer camps in two different cities. One was in La Carpio, which is a city whose population is 90% Nicaraguan refugees. The other city we hosted a youth camp was called La Heredia. In La Carpio we met some Christian missionaries who shared the same vision we have for soccer and discipleship. They had a green space in the middle of the city at a place called Renuevos. The kids came out everyday for a few hours to play and hear a message. We built a strong bond with this group during our trip.
Before we went to Costa Rica we had been praying for a location and people we could come alongside and share the gospel using soccer, and that is exactly what happened at La Carpio. I was encouraged by the missionaries' love for the kids in the community, and their love for Jesus. We were able to help them organize and execute actual training sessions with drills, because they had previously just been doing pick up with the kids everyday.
The trip was amazing and we were so blessed to have had the support of local churches and donors to make the trip happen. The original trip was planned for March 2020... needless to say, we have been praying about this trip for a long time. The next steps for us to stay connected at La Carpio is to take the coaches and missionaries through our Tenfifteen Ministries Coaching Course. This course is a 6 week curriculum that lays a blueprint for how to do soccer and discipleship anywhere. We developed the course through 10 years of experience in sharing the gospel using soccer and we hope it will bless and equip the men who will be taking the course via Zoom with Roberto and Daniel.
Please pray for the coaching course and our continued partnership with the missionaries in La Carpio. Also, enjoy the amazing video edited by Gerardo Ortiz and video footage and photos taken by Eric Luna. We are so grateful to have such talented young men who have a passion for soccer and discipleship and use their gifts to bless our ministry!