The ladies played at 11 am and won a hard fought game. Praise the Lord He held the rain off for both games! It is incredibly hard to describe how much it rains here during rainy season. The rains look like monsoons hitting San Jose every day. It is like clockwork! However, the Lord held off the rain until both games were done. The men lost a tough match, but had a great opportunity to share the Gospel through their play and after the match. The same held true for the ladies. Both teams were very receptive to the testimonies, which was really neat to see.

Our nights are always lots of fun. Tuesday night the ladies played an indoor game against a very good team from San Francisco de Dos Rios, which is the neighborhood in which we are staying. The ladies lost a tough match, but not before one of our very own hurt herself doing "The Worm" on the bleachers. Suffice to say she is doing well but needed five stitches at a local clinic.

Wednesday morning we got up early for our last clinic which was held at a school 45 minutes from our guest house. We ran a clinic there last year and many of the kids remembered members of the team from last year. You never know when you are making an impact... not to mention an eternal one! It did rain half-way through our time, but we made use of the covered court for the 320 kids in the school.

After the clinic we split up the teams, men and women, and went to separate prisons. The ladies went to an all-women prison where they played a friendly indoor match against the prison team. The team was very good and the ladies lost a close one. But it was very encouraging to hear how the attitudes of the opposing players changed as the game went on. In all honesty, it was a very intimidating experience for our ladies, but the Lord really blessed their time and they had a blast interacting with the women at the prison.

The men played at a separate prison. We made a mess of the field and of ourselves as we had to play in the mud pit. It rained the entire time, but thankfully it did not rain too hard until we finished the game. After 30 minutes of hosing ourselves off, we headed back to the guest house, where we met up with the ladies.

Team Time has been special on this trip. Not only are we studying the Fruit of the Spirit as a team, but we are also sharing our testimonies with each other. It takes time for 24 people to share their experience of God's love, grace and faithfulness in their lives, but it is well worth it! We serve such an amazing God! He is so GOOD!

Since this was our last night here in San Jose before heading out to beach in the morning, we had a special meal and time together with members from the church. There were plenty of stories being shared, tears being shed, gifts being given and prayers being offered up. It was a very special time together. We have been so blessed with the opportunity to work with the local church here. The people have such an evangelistic heart and are very proactive in sharing the Gospel all over the place. It has been a tremendous blessing and encouragement for us to be a part of their ministry here. Praise the Lord for His work here!

The next update will not be up on the website until the trip is over and we are back in the United States. Thanks again for praying for us! We head to Manuel Antonio National Park tomorrow for some R&R after a very draining, yet fulfilling time in San Jose. From there we make the 5-hour trek back to the airport Saturday morning for our flight back to the US.

May the Lord richly bless you as you have been a tremendous blessing to us!

The Costa Rica team