Recreation has been another key area of involvement in our community development missionary work by “La Palmera” CCC. We gathered that recreation is one of the most prolific activities in our human societies. The modern pursuit of people is for more hours of recreational activities and less of labor duties, and of course, with a continual increasing of salaries!

It was clear to us in the context of Latin America, that if we wanted to be taken seriously in our input in the community affairs, we also needed to earn that right by proving how much fun we were genuinely able to enjoy and share with others.

At the very beginning of our missionary work, while we were learning how to approach people, speak their own language, understand their moods and celebrate their achievements, we had plenty of opportunities to spend time playing games with the children, their older brothers and sisters and with their parents. All this was possible through informal and formal events sparked amongst our neighbours for many reasons: holidays, good weather, special occasions or just personal initiative.

One day, one of our Bolivian Staff members, Rufino Montenegro had the idea of starting a Football (Soccer) School for children under 10 years old. He offered to be the coach, to produce the planning and to commit himself entirely to this work. He himself was just 15 years old!

We supported his idea, funded his activities, provided him with further education, attended his pupils games, celebrated his victories, comforted him in his defeats and we all saw him taking his players from game number one that they lost 5-12 against a team of shoeless rural boys to the continual chain of championships that have given to our Christian Centre hundreds of cups and trophies adorning today our main offices in town.

Parents have been reached for the Lord thru the games of their children and the whole town now knows that there is a Christian Football team that plays good football without swearing and stands for highly ethical standards of behaviour on and off of the field and provides the community with a recreational agent geared to bear witness for the Lord Jesus Christ and also good entertainment for families: parents and their children. Many young men involved in our recreational activities have trusted the Lord Jesus through the years and some even have been able to succeed in the professional world of football in the country of Bolivia.

Again, the potential of this ministry is absolutely exciting. Ken Holt, a young man from Scotland, has joined the team of coaches of “La Palmera” Recreational Centre and has made a meaningful input into this work. This team is currently working in the expansion of the ministry to reach as many children as possible with the only limitation of a very meagre budget available for their activities.

“La Palmera” teams are amongst the winners in most categories of the local league. A vision for other sports and involving women teams is presently on its way.