Woke up at 7:45 am to get ready for 8 am breakfast. After that, all the head coaches and coaches headed back to the lodge and we discussed about how we can inspire believers and how to face adversity. After lunch, the Ontario and BC head coaches packed up and headed off to their regional trainings. Meanwhile, the Alberta teams started practicing running drills and games for the first time. We got a lot of good advice and ideas from both head coaches, as well as Jason who was a head coach last year (who has an amazing coaching ability by the way).
We split into our teams after to plan coach's corner. This is part of the day where we tell kids about Jesus and the gospel, skits are also performed and coaches tell their testimonies or stories. Obviously this is the most important part of the day, and we spent lots of time assigning roles preparing for it.
After dinner we had some discussion on how to deliver the gospel to children. Brainstormed some ideas like the 6 Cs (creation, corruption,covenant, cross, choice, coming) and the illustration of the gap between man and God which only Jesus Christ the cross could bridge.
Afterwards Bev asked if any coaches needed prayer, if they had anything in their hearts that now would be a time to share. One of the coaches shared something that really moved me. She told us how her brother and dad who were Christians have recently left their faith. Now they mock her mother and herself for being a follower of Christ and it's created a divide in between the family. She was crying and she said it was especially difficult because her brother and dad were the 2 men she had looked up to the most growing up. This coach was also someone I've known for several years now and developed a good friendship with, so seeing her like that was really difficult for me. So we prayed for her and her family, that God would bring her brother and dad back to Christ.
Later that night we all sat around the campfire and each of us told our testimonies. There were so many powerful testimonies; one in particular was that of my teammate Brittany. She had lost so many important people in her life over the past few years, and she was so angry with God. Only recently has she begun to trust God again, and while she still struggles with that we all told her that God will still use her for great things. As I was listening to testimonies, I just found it so amazing how God uses people from different walks of life for the same purpose. There were all types of different stories about how God brought these coaches through tremendous adversities, and from different cultures and backgrounds. Yet we were all here for the same purpose, and that was to serve God through the AIA ministry. I was also reminded during this time that you should never underestimate the power of your own testimony, even if your testimony is not a dramatic life change or an amazing story of how you were once a serial killer and now a follower of Christ. God will use your testimony to change lives and when you underestimate the power of your own testimony, you underestimate the power of God and what he can do.
After heading back to the lodge, everyone pretty much went to bed except for myself and a few other rookie coaches. We just hung out and sat around talking. We had only known each other for a day and a half but our whole group was really close and tight knit,
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