Dear Team Members, March 6th, 2009
As reminiscing on childhood memories tends to be one of my more enjoyable pastimes, in order to properly convey the events of this past month, I will ask you to recall back with me to a specific moment in your childhood, when you were eagerly awaiting the arrival of a specific event (What exciting event you recall back to is entirely up to you). So while you may choose to go along the traditional, yet never exhausted route of Christmas morning or a birthday celebration, you may decide to take a slightly different approach, and like myself recall back to the arrival of a new air gun at the age of ten. Have you got yours? Good. I would suggest you close your eyes to heighten the memory; however if you do that, carrying on reading this newsletter may become exceedingly difficult. But if you’re really eager to do that, I will give you permission to read with one eye closed if need be.
Ok, so there you are, the excitement that filled the air surrounding the arrival of the ever eluding, yet much anticipated date was almost more than you could bear. The seconds seemed to tick by in extra-slow motion, so in a desperate attempt to speed up the arrival you would try to stay occupied with other engagements. However at the age of 10, or 7, or whatever young age you found yourself at, “engagements” seemed to be few and far between, and doing your taxes in the spare time, or fixing the sink just didn’t seem practical at that point in your life. So you carried on with your typical daily events such as bug collecting, fort building, and the odd ride around the block on your bicycle, yet all while being constantly reminded every 12 seconds of the fact that the clock wasn’t go to speed up at any time soon. However that moment, after much anticipation eventually did arrive. And all that waiting, all those unbearable seconds that ticked past, in that moment seemed so worth it as you finally enjoyed the bounty of all that build up. Those moments were great…
That being said, over this past month we have been gearing up for this years 2009 Ambassadors in Sport Spain tour, and I was once again brought back to those days of anticipation. The only difference this time, while I didn’t have taxes to do or sinks to fix, as a team here in Spain, there were many preparatory “engagements” leading up to the event to keep things quite busy. But after much waiting, and clock watching the start of the tour eventually arrived.
It was an exciting time here in Spain, as the tour provides us with incredible opportunities to develop and build relationships with local contacts here in Spain. The tour, which consisted of a number of young guys from England, Northern Ireland, Mexico, U.S and Columbia, also brought in another Canadian from my local city back home, Williams Lake. The tour went very well, as we were able to play several matches, run a few coaching sessions, and ultimately share the message of Christ with many young men here in Spain.
However, the tour highlight for me in particular, was surrounding the local youth team that I have been helping coach over the last number of months here. During this past season, as we have been coaching this team, it has been our heart to first establish our testimony by mean of our lives on and off the field, with the young guys. So as we have been encouraging them in excellence on and off the field, and seeking to be Christ-like leaders in their lives, we finally took this opportunity the tour presented to openly share the message of Christ with them as a group. For me, this was that moment; the one that I had so greatly anticipated, built up, and eagerly waited for during this past year. And it was so incredibly worth the wait, as we shared the Hope that we have in Jesus Christ with these young men. I ask that you continue to lift these guys up in prayer, that God would continue to reveal Himself, and move in their lives as they consider and ponder the words that were spoken.
Thank you all so much for your prayers and support
Love you all,
Matt Hama
matt_hama9@hotmail.com
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