Stepping into the hot and humid air of the Caribbean island of Puerto Rico was a stark reminder that we had entered a new culture. My high school Spanish teacher would have been unimpressed with my attempts to communicate with the locals as we made our way from the airport to the car rental company. The poorly signed roads in Spanish, and the overly aggressive Puerto Rican drivers kept us on our toes. Mark was in charge of all the details and had planned this mission trip. We had nine American college athletes who joined us as we travelled to the west coast of the island to the small town of San German. You will not find luxury hotels in this modest community where only locals will be found. Tourists do not usually travel to this part of Puerto Rico where we would spend the next two weeks in the dorms of Interamericana University.
We were welcomed by the Athletic Director and 17 of his best and brightest athletes. He chose these athletes to participate in our Athletes in Action Training Camp. He chose them based on the following criteria: 1. leaders 2. good students 3. outstanding athletes.
You might have noticed there was no spiritual criteria listed. We were thrilled at this opportunity! We exposed all of these students to Jesus Christ. As it turned out, a couple of them were already Christians. Many of them were at a point in their lives where they were searching for God. We had great opportunities to witness to these students and explain what the Bible says is true. By the end of the week, five students had given their life to Jesus Christ. He is so faithful.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TB6zkl86_cI
Along with taking all of these students through our life-changing training camp, we also did training on how to have a campus ministry and went on campus to share the Gospel.
We fed the homeless, we visited an orphanage, and showed the “Jesus” film in one of the most dangerous areas in the community.
This campus reminded us a lot of our time in Africa. It is our desire to continue to help these friendly and teachable Puerto Rican students to develop a campus ministry of their own.
