Day 2 Recap

Before I recount the events of Tuesday, I thought I would comment on one aspect of the Philippines that is ever-present wherever you go and whatever you do: the heat.

Indiana is known for having hot and humid summers, especially in August. The PI is that same sort of climate only intensified, making air conditioning or "air-con" a wonderful blessing if it is available. I step out of my room each morning a little cold since we've been running the air-con all night on high. That feeling of coolness evaporates immediately upon opening the door. Even at 6:30 am, you start to sweat. So each vehicle we ride in, building we enter, and room we reside in with air-con is a sweet oasis of magical proportions.

So Day 2 held the first of our basketball games. But in the morning we toured several ministry facilities around our home base. The Long's are the family who owns the compound we are staying in. Through an incredible confluence of events, they were given school dormitories that were no longer used and the vision developed to have this as a base for the numerous work teams and ministry teams that come through. The Long's also branched out and started an orphanage, a school, and an abused women's shelter, seeking to help the helpless in the neighborhood (baranguay) of about 5,000 they live in. It was neat to see and hear how God worked to bring about these opportunities but also eye-opening to encounter some of the evil that is at work in the world.

After lunch we relaxed a bit before getting our stuff around for our 6:30 pm game. We left two plus hours ahead of time to make sure we arrived on time because of traffic (more on that in a later post). Before the game, we toured the garment shop that 2:5 Apparel runs to make their jerseys. 2:5 is the business run by my good friend and former teammate Daniel Bucher and his brother Ryan who are leading this trip.

We knew we'd be facing the best team we'd play all week. They had several current and former PBA players on their squad. The PBA is their NBA and the players and teams are probably comparable to low NCAA D I teams and players. To boost our chances, we added Kirk Long, the son of the Long's who are hosting us. He's sort of a celebrity in Manilla because he was a very good player on the best college team in the PI and is hoping to play in the PBA soon (the PBA is very restrictive in only allowing Filipinos to play). 

We hung with our opposing team for the first three quarters. They were killing our zone defense with threes and killing us in transition, but we were within five after the 3rd quarter. The 12 minute quarters proved to be the downfall for our older team and we fell apart in the final stanza, losing 139-118. We were able to get our local pastor, Alvin, into the game near the end and fed him shots every time - which got the crowd back into it. And the last possession we even took a toddler from the stands, put him on our center's shoulders, and helped him make a basket to everyone's cheers. 

It was fun but we were all worn out and a little disappointed in how it turned out. I played ok, getting in double figures but missed a bunch of open threes - probably how are entire team played in a nutshell. We ate afterwards and had a good devotional time when we got back home. It's been great to get to know these guys and talk about our Christian walks and really come together as a team. It's a blessing to be a part of the body of Christ.

That's all for now, it's Wednesday morning and we're leaving in 90 minutes to go to a province somewhere outside Manila. It will be a 3-4 hour drive and then we'll play two games this afternoon and this evening. Prayers for good health and safety are appreciated.