The Jersey

Blog post written by Jake Bishop
8th grade, Mission Hills Christian School

Today I played basketball for the first time. It was awesome playing with three of the boys from the teen boys' center. It was really exciting because the game stayed tied the whole time. My team won the tough match with a winning three-pointer by Alyssa Rikimaru.

One of the boys at the center was really good at playing basketball and surprised us with his ball handling skills. After the game ended, we played fútbol. He showed me different tricks and we had a great time even though I was not so good at the tricks. After we played with them for a couple hours, Coach Anderlik and Stephen shared their testimonies with the group of boys. One of our translators led the group in prayer and it was awesome to see how the boys were moved by it.

We had given the boys our donated soccer jerseys earlier in the day. As we were leaving, I was stopped the boy who impressed me with his basketball skills. The translator told me that he wanted to give me his jersey. It's traditional in soccer is to trade jerseys with player from different teams. This sign of love and respect really blessed me and I gladly accepted the jersey.

It was sad to leave and say our good-byes.  I didn't want to say "adios" to my new amigo. I will always remember him and the few short hours we spent together every time I see my jersey.