Contributed by Dan Remmes
 
After months of planning...well, months of phone calls from Duncan asking me if I had a plan, Copa Carpio had finally arrived. Before I go into how the day went, there is something very important that you all should know. Duncan, a project manager, wanted a 100 page report of my plans for the soccer clinics and Copa Carpio, but I kept telling him I had it all under control, the plans were in my head and we'd be fine. Duncan was nervous, but as he so humbly admitted to me today, I had pulled it off with huge success. Thanks for all the support Duncan! 
 
So, now that we have that out of the way, I guess we can talk about today. Today was Copa Carpio, a single elimination football (soccer for all you gringos) tournament for the 8-12 year old boys in La Carpio. The boys were split up into eight teams, 4 teams on each side of the bracket. All the games were played in the morning, and the final was at 1PM. We took a break for lunch at noon, hot dogs and mayo, a delacacy in La Carpio. I was reffereeing all day and got a pretty sweet watch tan. Each player on the winning team was presented with a spanish bible, all the kids loved it, it was amazing to see the huge smiles on all of their faces, one little boy said he couldn't sleep Friday night because he was so excited. The day ended with hugs, thank yous, tears and 61 boys yelling, at the same time, "Estupido Gringo", that was my nick name for the week! It was all in good fun. 
 
Tonight, we had a little fiesta with all of our host families at the Christ for the City building. We sang, performed our broadway caliber skit, Naomi played the flute (Future Londonderry High School Marching Band Super Star) and we showed a picture slide show that Jon, Dana and I so dilligently put together Friday evening. To me, the best part of the night was when we sat around in a circle and expressed our thanks to our host families, altough Lindsey would probably tell you it was my frosting fight with Jon and the 8 year olds. It was a wonderful night of laughs, pictures and stories...oh, and Cake!! 
 
God worked in amazing ways this week, I just feel so blessed to be a part of it. There were so many relationships and friendships built this week, I can't wait to build upon those next year. I became so attached to the boys and girls at the soccer clinic this past week, they have left an impact on my life, my prayer is that I have left a positive impact on their lives. During the week, I shared a verse from Ephisians with the girls at the soccer clinic that talks about being an image of God and loving like Christ. Yea, the soccer was fun and we accomplished the work we wanted to, but the reason we were there was to show the love of Jesus Christ and to share the Gospel. I can't believe the week is over, it went by to fast. Tomorrowe we head out to the volcano for some R and R, I am looking forward the beautiful drive. Thank you all for your prayer and support, we will see you back in NH soon! Viva La Liga!