Home Stretch

Here at CCA we are starting our last 9 weeks of the school year. It is going to be a crazy sprint to the finish of the year and I know many of you are in the same phase. We have been working with the soccer teams here with Clare coaching the older girls and I am working with the older guys. We have both enjoyed it a lot. I got a chance to take the boys team to a tournament where they played schools from all over Latin America. It was an experience to be sure! I was standing there at the ceremony with teams screaming and cheering from Panama, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Nicaragua, and Honduras! It was a great 3 days of hanging out with the guys on the team and getting to know them better! I loved observing the Seniors all the way down to 8th graders getting to know one another and really enjoying one another. One great thing about being at such a small school! We played all the games well and we were even able to get the first victory ever for a Sub 18 Boys team from CCA!
I have had a senior guy "interning" with me in the afternoons this semester. He is going off to play soccer next year for college, and he has been asking a lot of questions about college and just things in general! I have really enjoyed the opportunity to get to know him and speak a little into his life. I pray for more and more opportunities to do this with other students! I have also had a desire to be able to communicate more with the parents of the students. There are a few that I visit with when I see, but many pass by with just a greeting! I know a lot of that is the cultural difference as well as my lacking ability in Spanish, but I want the parents to know who I am and how I want the best for their kids!
I have been asked to be the speaker at graduation this year. I am very honored to be able to do it. I am taking it as encouragement form the Lord for working with the kids and feeling I have made some headway with relationships. I know I have enjoyed getting to know them and talk, but with teenagers you don't always get a lot of feedback on where they stand. I look forward to getting a chance to share with them some thoughts on a big day in their life.
Pray for us as we wrap up the school year here. Help us to finish strong relationally, especially with those that will not be with us here in Panama next year! We now have even more friends that will be going to places all over the globe. We are looking forward to our opportunity to return to the States this summer and see many loved ones. We do not want to have short timers disease and waste away these weeks here. It will be full of soccer games. Right now in our conference Clare's team is 1-1 and my team is 2-0! The school is getting excited about their teams! There are lots of end of the year parties for going away teachers and for seniors. Right now we need strength and energy to make it through. Clare and I are seeing each other in passing and for the next month we have something every weekend. Many of you can relate to this kind of schedule and just the stress that it adds as there is not enough time to communicate.
I have been specifically praying for wisdom in listening to the Spirit as I have had the opportunity to befriend a few nonbelievers or marginal Christians. I have had the opportunity to have some great conversations, but my window of opportunity is shrinking. I want to listen to the Spirit on what I am supposed to say and what questions to ask. I want to have the strength to "pull the trigger" on a tough question when it hits me. Please pray for me in this, as I have loved developing different friendships, and I want to be a light to all those around me.
Thank you again for our prayers. We wish to be better at communicating, but we have found it hard to be in life here and keep in communication with those we love in the States. Thank you for your patience and showing us grace! (We need it)