THE DOWNLOAD

By Landon

Looking back on outreach in Mexico, Sydney and Thailand...

G'day guys my name is Landon and I am writing from the comfortable confines of my office here in Ywam Perth. Just recently I returned from leading an outreach team to Mexico City for 7 weeks and Sydney for 3 weeks. Let me begin by sharing the vision of Sports DTS as I perceive it. Sports DTS is about athletes and sports enthusiasts coming together as a team to use sports as a medium to connect with the world. Sport is universal, and anywhere you go it will be active in some way in the community. So in using sport to connect you have the ability to influence, share, promote and build in the lives of individuals, families, and communities, even nations.

With this in mind, we as the Sports DTS headed out to Mexico looking to use sport as a way to share the message we had and make a difference in the lives of the people that we met. Spending 7 weeks there we had many opportunities to engage with a variety of people. Evangelism in the local center led to salvation and an "in" with the local break dancing crews. Soccer was our time spent in the neighborhood, and with churches we worked with. Volleyball was happening a few times in a park close buy as we played, shared and built relationships with people spending time there.

Maybe the highlight of my team's time was spent at a local Orphanage for boys. We would go weekly to spend the afternoon there, teaching, sharing in small groups, praying for them. Also after this time we played sport, which really crosses language barriers and builds relationships beyond the classroom. We used some of this time to show the boys how they can keep themselves fit through exercise and running. It was a great pleasure for all involved to spend these days with the boys and invest in their lives.

All this to say that Mexico is a different place, with people who have been changed because of our time there, our effort was worthwhile. What more can I ask to be apart of? God used us, young people, athletes, sports enthusiasts, and regular people to make a difference in the lives of people!

It makes me excited to think, the same thing will happen again and again, as people put themselves forward. People's lives will be changed as we go out into nations, using sports to connect, and then make a difference in the lives of real people!

How sweet is that.....

Till the next round...