Daniel and Cakito (a local 17 year old Haitian boy associated with Makarios) led 5 teams of boys for practices and scrimmages for 4 weeks, and then we had a final tournament!

Game 1 of the Quarterfinals:

Game #1: Red vs Green

The game started out with bright blue skies, and a relatively green field.  It has been raining every night that week, so the field was deceptively muddy.  Game #1 was Montellano vs Pancho Mateo, Green vs Red.  The teams played well, and ended up tied requiring a shoot-out at the end.

Red vs Green shoot out

Pancho's goalie isn't going to let anything get by him

Daniel and Cakito The red team ended up winning with the only goal during the shoot out.

On to the Semifinals!

Semifinal Game #1: Red/Blue vs Black  (Montellano vs Pancho Mateo)

At this point, the kids were playing more of mud soccer.  Always fun!

The Austin Stone group was here cheering the players on to victory.

There was some intense concentration going on, before finally the blue team won.  To celebrate?  Why, jump in a mud puddle of course!

Fishers of men activity.

Special guests include Jonathan and Lauren Ramirez (straight from Sudan!), singer Jimmy McNeal, Paul Banks and the Carousels, Rachel Wood photography, Ritz Valle (games on the patio) and MC’s Scott Frazier and Tepera Holman.

BEST LINEUP EVER!

20% of the evening’s food and drink purchases go to Makarios – shirts and art for sale – Sudanese kids’ sponsorship – bring old cell phones and laptops to donate!

Come and help these kids!

I no longer need preeminence, prosperity, position, promotions, plaudits or popularity. I don’t have to be right, first, top, recognized, praised, regarded, or rewarded. I now live by faith, lean on His presence, walk by patience, am uplifted by prayer and I labor with power.

My face is set, my gait is fast, my goal is heaven, my road is narrow, my way is rough, my companions are few, my Guide is reliable, my mission is clear. I cannot be bought, compromised, detoured, lured away, turned back, deluded, or delayed. I will not flinch in the face of sacrifice, hesitate in the presence of the enemy, pander at the pool of popularity, or meander in the maze of mediocrity.

I won’t give up, shut up, let up, until I have stayed up, stored up, prayed up, paid up, preached up for the cause of Christ. I am a disciple of Jesus.

I must go till He comes, give till I drop, preach till all know, and work until He stops me. And, when He comes for His own, He will have no problem recognizing me…my banner will be clear.”

-Note From The Desk of An African Martyr

Also, Jimmy McNeal will be playing from 7:30-8:30 and Paul Banks and the Carousels from 9-10. In between the bands from 8:30 to 9 we’ll have some pictures from the DR that we’ll be talking about.

Scott Frazier will be our MC!

Come to the Makarios Fundraiser at Dominican Joe’s on Thursday July 29, from 7-11pm. Donate your old laptops and cell phones to Makarios by bringing them to the fundraiser. Our focus is on the sponsorships for our kids in southern Sudan with City on a Hill school, our Haiti fund and for the classrooms and library additions to our school in the Dominican Republic. We’ll have sponsorship info, Dominican artwork you can buy, new Makarios t-shirts and live music! So swing by Dominican Joe at 515 South Congress!

It has been almost eight weeks now since I met this beautiful island. And now as I prepare to leave, it is funny to reflect back to my first impressions of the Dominican Republic. I remember the initial embrace being hot humidity. That to say, it was a warm welcome indeed. From the moment our plane touched down, sweating became as natural as blinking and swallowing. Now, I barely even notice that we are all pretty wet, all of the time.

Another initial memory of this island was beholding Dominican transportation for the first time. I vividly remember feeling simultaneously shocked and impressed when I crammed into my very first gua gua (small bus), and when I say cram, I mean cram. Let me tell you… all space is utilized, including the floor. Every nook and cranny is occupied with someone or something. A space that would usually seat one, seats two, or maybe even three. In other words, you know that whole American concept of one’s personal space… well it doesn’t exist here. The more the merrier, they say. But that’s not all! Lest you think that a gua gua just for human transportation, I report that I have now sat beside a man and his chicken, and another man and his parrot. Now, after all these weeks, I am no longer shocked when we pull to the side of the road to squeeze in one more person and their basket of bananas, but I admit to still being very impressed. How the four tires survive the weight, remains a great mystery to me.

On a more serious note though, I have come to enjoy and appreciate this country very much, its little quirks are all. I have found the slow pace of life wonderful, the fruit delicious, the nature diverse, the community strong, and the people friendly. I have enjoyed many beautiful skies, painted the colours of sunset. The heavens certainly do declare the glory of God here! And I have seen a few powerful tropical storms, with more rain at once than I ever thought possible. Most of all though, I have fallen in love with the simplicity of life in this place, where people genuinely enjoy each other and appreciate a good meal of rice, beans, and chicken. On a number of occasions, I have been the recipient of kind hospitality from strangers, for which I am grateful. I am leaving this country with new friends and sweet memories.

Best of all though, I am leaving the Dominican Republic with a bigger view of God and His family. Amidst the difficult poverty of this place, He has shown Himself to be the true treasure… which is precisely why I’m so excited about the ministry of Makarios. It has been an absolute pleasure and privilege serving in the school, seeking to provide an education for children who would otherwise not to be educated, and in so doing sharing the Gospel in word and deed. Funny though, how I came as a teacher’s aide and ended up learning far more than I taught. Honestly, I cannot even begin to recount the lessons I have collected working alongside the staff here. Some of these lessons include: the priority of love, the sufficiency of God, the motivation and implications of the Gospel, and viewing discipline and structure as a way of loving the students. In sum, sharing Life (pun intended) is what He has called us to do here with these people.

This has been a summer that will influence the rest of my life. To the praise of His glorious grace!

The soccer camps are coming to a close, as we begin our tournament play this next week. I am super excited to see all the kids playing, as we have been working and practicing and doing scrimmages for the last six weeks with this as the end goal. The kids have learned so much, and it is very encouraging to hear them as they quote the Scriptures we have been learning each week. Right now, the tournament could go to any of the five teams I have playing, which is super exciting, as a Coach, knowing that any one of them could potentially win it all.

My assistant, Cakito, has been a wonderful encouragement to me over the last six weeks. Working with him four days a week, being with him for six to eight hours each of those days, has provided me the opportunity to come to see and know the heart of a young man who desperately wants to know and love his Savior. He is a breath of fresh air, his passion for the Scriptures is anything but a show, and his help in the soccer program has been tremendous. I honestly do not know how we could have had soccer camps go well without him.

Life at the Mak house has been a great joy for me, getting to know believers who work and think very differently, but who are still united by the love of Christ. The work that is done here at the house, and in the surrounding area of Los Ciruelos, and then out in the villages, is able to happen because of the diversity of gifting and personalities that we have here at the Mak house. I am encouraged regularly by each one of those who live here.

I will be posting a video of the Mento’s experiment on Facebook!