Making Good

I promised the kids I would post "the #1 sports story of the year" this year. Here it is. Their accomplishment was great. They have the hearts of champions. Now, look into the future. The younger kids in the background during the medal presentation will soon be part of it. Pure sport. They are the core of our little league team. Some of them will be playing together with their older brothers and cousins. Potential and momentum, dreams and desire. Eventually on one team. Together their time is coming. Again...

Christmas Break

Lalo de La Carpio is relaxing, spending time with family and eating cheese. Merry Christmas and be sure to check back early next year.

Inter wins again 3-1!

Last game of the year. Traditional rivals. Winning streak. Good flavor to savor until next year.

Festival de la Luz

Annual night time parade in downtown San Jose. With special permission we were able to park right behind the television trucks. From the top of the micro bus we had an outstanding view. A friend of mine shot this (from another vantage point).

Superglue

Not for kids.

Randall

Randall is 11 and has 2 brothers and 2 sisters. He wasn't quite ready for little league this year, hopefully next year. Every time I see him in the street he's always accompanying his grandmother. That's what we want on our team.

Cascanueces

We took our music department out for an enchanted evening. A nice meal (family value pack at Taco Bell). Ice cream and street performers. Topped off with the Nutcracker at the Teatro Nacional. Cultural and educational. One of the songs I previously only knew as the theme song for Houston Wrestling.

San Carlos Mission

This was a language school trip. They let Lalo translate. This video was made for a church that sent gifts for the kids. The children's shelter is not one of ours. As a result there is a huge spiritual void. Three of these kids' pictures are in my Bible in La Carpio. Our kids are already praying for them. We plan to go on a mission trip next year with some kids from LC. This is one of the places we're praying about. The miracle of this video is in the smile of the main kid. His name is Geronimo and this is the only time he smiled the whole time we were there.

Gary

Here his name sounds like (Gotti). Gary is 10 years old and has 3 sisters. He's one of our youngest little leaguers and one of the toughest. He was the youngest member of our Holy week trek up the mountain on Good Friday (video).

Inter Wins 4-3!

Inter Junior is back in business! The world champions of La Carpio are still the team to beat. New coach, new reinforcements, stronger than ever!

Enjoy What You Do!

Others might be watching...

La Carpio Christmas Fiesta

This past Saturday we had our annual Christmas party for the kids in La Carpio. We teamed up with the local community and language students and fed well over 200 kids. We served the traditional chicken and rice followed with ice cream cones. Each kid left with a bag of goodies. Everyone survived the chaos and no child was harmed during the piñata riot.

Jorge

Jorge is 13 and has 3 sisters. He was on our little league team but just recently moved away to live with his mother. His dad sold their house in La Carpio to go live with his new girlfriend. The guy that bought the house has remodeled it and turned it into a bar. Jorge comes and visits us in La Carpio every now and then.

Geral

Geral is 14 and has two brothers and one sister. He is the capitan of our little league soccer team. Geral is Manuelito's cousin and both have brothers on our championship team. In just a short time they will all be playing together.

2 Years

in the field

celebrated with sugar


and friends

Taller

Manuelito

Manuelito is 13 and has 2 brothers and 1 sister. He was part of the inspiration for our little league team. This kid can walk the length of a soccer field on his hands! At a tender young age Manuel is already a fierce little warrior. It's often a challenge getting him to fly in formation with the rest of the team. We think he's worth it.

Freddy

Freddy is 12 years old and has 1 brother and 1 sister. He is the newest member of our little league soccer team. When we had an opening for the team, everybody wanted him and he quickly accepted. His older brother Alex is our sub-capitan.

Maykol

Maykol (pronounced like Michael) is 13 and has 1 brother and 5 sisters. He is fiercely loyal and the kind of person that you can depend on in a crisis situation. He's part of our regular crew when we have guests. Maykol is also one of our little league soccer players and is doing great in school.

Nelson

Nelson is 15. He is one of our two time soccer champions on our big league team. Unfortunately he was removed from the team this year due to his own actions. He has had a rough year. He has spent time with the wrong crowd, made some bad decisions and saw his close cousin shot right in front of him. Nelson is a great person with a huge heart. He is a natural leader and always very helpful when we have guests.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving everybody. Thanksgiving is not a national holiday here, but since I’ve been here it feels like every day is thanksgiving. We thank God in LC every time we pray. No parades here, but we did have a nice downhill skateboarding session. What a blessing! After our session, we played some indoor soccer and then our annual Thanksgiving Day Marbles Tournament. Roberto won the big marble award this year and all of our finalists went home with extra marbles.

Lápiz

Carlos Enrique or Lápiz (pencil) because he's so skinny is 13. He lives with his mother and little sister. He does not know who his father is. He was in seventh grade this year but was pulled out by his mother because he was failing. It was a disappointment because he is a very bright kid. He was introduced to the joys of hard labor and as a result he will give school another try when it starts back up in February. Lápiz is also a singer in our church and one of our little league soccer players.

Roberto

Roberto is 11 years old. He has 3 brothers and 5 sisters. Roberto is the goalie of our little league soccer team and also won a championship with the older team before the league became more strict on age requirements. He is also one of the singers for our church. Roberto has been illiterate all of his life. We have been working with him on a daily basis and he is beginning to read for the first time.

The Little Warriors

Maycol

Christian

Roberto

Injury

Bienvenidos amigos!

Welcome to my blog! This might even be a sign of the end times. Hopefully this will be a nice alternative to the alleged monthly newsletter. At the very least I'll share some sunsets.

I believe that when we get over our "stuff" (material and mental) and reach the point in our lives where we can be happy with just a sunset; that's when God can decorate our lives with the cool stuff of eternity.

Psalm 37:4

Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart.