César's Summer Serve

Egypt - Week 1 Recap

Today is Sunday, July 7th, and the opening day for W3 at Camp Wadi! We have spent most of this last week prepping ourselves and the property for our amazing campers! For their arrival, we made a tunnel at the entrance to the facility, and I think we might have scared some of them with our enthusiasm, haha!

We got to use everything we’ve been prepping and practicing, and I think everything went pretty well for the most part! It was a long first day but also a very blessed one! I saw God working today in the already-established relationships with campers and counselors/coaches! I am so grateful that these campers look forward to seeing their coaches and counselors, and I loved seeing the impact that remembering their names had on each camper. I can’t tell you how often campers approached my fellow coaches and said, “Do you remember me?” That showed a lot about these coaches and counselors' impact on these campers during their summer at Wadi.

I would love you to pray that we, as a team, have eyes to see the opportunities God puts in front of us to build relationships and engage in intentional conversations.

Moldova Summary

We just transitioned from our time in Moldova to Egypt! While in Moldova, we had the fantastic opportunity to serve alongside the Admirals Academy. We jumped into their practices to lead a 20-minute conversation about biblical stories. We worked with players from 12-18 years old and served alongside a team of young men from the Admirals.

One of the biggest things I learned in Moldova was how to support an already-established team. (Which was really hard for me). Coming into this other team with an already established dynamic, I had to step back and trust them. I did not know them coming in, but I had to trust them to lead me and my team. As the week progressed, that gradually got more manageable for me. In this situation, it was not my job to lead or even take charge; instead, I had to support and find small places to fill in. They had all been doing this in their environment much longer than me, so I had to trust their team. I am grateful for the opportunity to learn from each of them.

One of the things I noticed about the Admirals' leaders was how they interacted with the players. I don’t know if you have ever worked with 12-18-year-olds, but from my experience, it can be hard to gain their respect. And these guys had the respect of all their players! When it came time to practice, and one of the Admirals’ leaders was speaking, it was all eyes and ears on whoever was in charge. These players knew when it was time to play and when to work hard during practice.

I enjoyed working closely with this team. Building friendships with my brothers and sisters in Moldova was such a sweet time for me, and I believe I made relationships that will last the rest of my life. God has gifted each of them in similar and very different ways, and they are using those gifts to bring the Lord all the glory!

Please pray for the Admirals as they continue to pursue God and teach his ways through the fun sport of basketball!

2 Comments


Nichita - July 11th, 2024 at 12:50pm

Thank you César and the team for your impact!

nMoldovian kids needs different people from different countries to see how God works not only in Moldova but in entire world. I thank you for your work and your enlightenment in our process. Very glad to meet you and I am sure our friendship will last for the rest of my life!

Iarik - July 12th, 2024 at 4:01pm

I'm so happy for God's love. He gives us so many chances to get closer to Him and become a better version of us. One of this chances was the Fellowship team. We spent such a great time together building relationships, having fun, doing ministry for Admirals' kids, but the most important was the spiritual time that we had. Fellowship team brought a great example of spiritual life to Moldova. Every day we were reading the Scripture and were finding more and more new things. We've made a great camp where everybody was involved. I think kids had fun! I'm very happy that we got closer with Keyshawn, Emma, Cesar and Arlie. God is great!!

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