We praise God for the continued health and normal checkups for Audrey and the baby. Kid Kreiss is due on January 18th, which is now only 10 weeks away! Please continue to pray as we prepare for this life-changing event. Until then we continue to tackle the many opportunities that God provides to build relationships and pour into the students at Highlands. A couple major opportunities for the month of October have been another 3 day hike through the Yungas mountains with the 11th and 12th graders, as well as continued success for Mark and the Highlands basketball team as they advance in the plural-national tournament.
It has been a little bit of an adjustment for Mark to coach basketball games outdoors, in sometimes rainy conditions, but as they say, "este es Bolivia" (This is Bolivia). We continue to learn the lesson of flexibility and adjustment on the mission field and this is just one of those times. Regardless of the court, the officiating, or other extenuating circumstances, the Highlands boys basketball team continues to find success. Obviously it's been great to win, but more importantly it's been an excellent opportunity for Mark to pour into the boys on the and teach them more than just basketball.
They have advanced to the final for La Paz despite being down 2 points to start the fourth quarter of the semifinal game last week. The team showed a lot of resolve and perseverance as they claimed a 6 point victory to advance. Mark was really encouraged even before the game started when a player on the team asked if he could be the one to pray for the team before the game. It's really encouraging to see how some of these guys have understood and adopted the importance of keeping God at the center of of all things, even sports.
The relational ministry with the team has come not only by way of the court, but also at home. Mark invited the team and his discipleship group over to watch a Packer game and teach them more about American football. Events like this are two-fold, as their interests are peaked in participating in the annual Turkey Bowl football game that will be held around Thanksgiving, but more importantly as we open up our lives to them they in return open themselves up to us and to what God has to say through us.
Audrey gets an opportunity to do this at school and with her relationship with many of the girls who have questions about the pregnancy. It's clear they have seen the wisdom and guidance that she has, and she continue to thrive in her new role as guidance counselor.
While she doesn't get the opportunities like Mark with the basketball team or the 3 day hikes, she has seen the opportunities grow at school. The College and Career class that we co-teach together has turned into some girls taking every opportunity to sit at the back table with Audrey and just wanting to talk life (even when they should be working on their homework).
The Choro hike is a challenging one, and is much tougher than Takesi, but the juniors and seniors by this point are a little more experienced. As you can see in the pictures, the climate and topography change quite a bit and this year we even had some snow at the start of the trail. It's very challenging and with that comes a lot of opportunities to talk about the challenges of life and how we must persevere and overcome those challenges. Like going to war with the kids, the students tend to feel even more bonded to the teachers after the hike because of what they went through together. The three day hike was a success and Mark was able to have some really good and challenging conversations with many of the kids.
The past month has been quite busy, but as we look back we can see that it has been busied with opportunities to serve and connect with the students. The Lord has provided opportunities to serve, and show love to the students. That is why we are down here. We want to advance His kingdom, preach Biblical truth to these students, and show them the love of their heavenly Father. God has definitely paved a way for us to do this here in La Paz, and we are very thankful as we move into the Thanksgiving month.
Love to hear how the basketball team has become such a neat venue for discipleship! I hope the Packer game you watched wasn't the Minn. or Detroit game!