blog 5

Title: Michael Shapleigh – International Futbol Superstar
Body: Last night we had an event in the large village gymnasium in town. It was a large open air building that housed an indoor soccer (futbol) field, stands on both sides, and a stage on one end. We packed in about 250 kids at the start, and then as we made more and more noise, many other folks filtered in as we had about 350 folks at the peak. We started at about 7:15 PM and went for about an hour of program.

 

We started with about 2 Portuguese songs that were done by one of our translators. We then did a puppet show which was hilarious. Then, one of our students shared their testimony, and then I got to get up and share the Gospel. Before I shared, I knew that my talk needed to be brief (with a translator, a 5 minutes talk becomes 15 minutes) and VERY interactive. At one point, I was trying to communicate how none of us are perfect and we fall short of God's holy requirement.

 

Well, about 2 minutes before, I had grabbed Michael and told him that I was going to use him in this part. Michael is a soccer player and when I announced him to the crowd, I did not spare any expense of drama. I told everyone that we had a great surprise for them, that "one of the best American futbol players is in the arena tonight!" I then asked Michael to make some very crazy shots on goal around the arena. Eventually, he missed a shot and my illustration was complete that we can sometimes be good, but none of us are perfect. I continued on with the presentation, and at the end, I asked for all heads to bow down and all eyes to be closed and for those who want for the first time to declare that Jesus is their friend to raise their hand. What a beautiful sight it was when more than 100 hands went up. We then prayed together and talked about next steps. Never did we think that we would get this kind of response, but God went before us.

 

During this gathering, I could not be prouder of our team. Every single person was acting the part of the initiator, engaging with kids and adults, helping then to embrace the truth that we were presenting. Literally, the level of leadership I saw was something I only hoped we could attain by the end of the week. Very proud!

 

So, this is when the crazy part happened. We finished our program with one last song and then turned the gathering over to a local pastor. As we ended, our students got rushed by a mass amount of kids, especially famous futbol player Michael Shapleigh. They rush him and urged for his autograph. This rush happened so quick that no one realized what was going on until the children were asking Michael to sign their arms with a sharpie. When Michael was too crowded, they moved on to another one of our students for autographs. Do not worry, this moment was caught extensively on video and you will see it at some point.

 

So, in about 5 seconds, Michael, who had been thrown in to an illustration 2 minutes before, was now the town celebrity, along with the rest of the students. As we left the auditorium, a large crowd followed that just want to spend more time with our team. Somehow, through sharing the gospel with these people all day, we were able to win them over in friendship and truth. As we walked back to our boat, close to 75 towns people followed us and continued to engage with us. We pulled the boat out very quickly because of the crowd as they yelled and cheered, and as we started our way down the river, the 75 kids and adults ran along the shore and those on bikes kept up with us for about a half a mile.

 

To say the least, it was a crazy night. Although it was only our first day, the whole team feels like it has been a week because of all the new experiences and how great the day was.

 

Side note: The team has decided, that when we get back, we are going to make Michael Shapleigh USA soccer jersey to commemorate our trip.