Answer to prayer

On a Saturday morning about three weeks ago, Elder Koontz and I went out for a morning jog. It was about 6:30am, so not hot yet, but not cool either. As we were heading back, a tricycle with about five boys was driving slowly by us. They were all wearing gym shorts and tee shirts. Elder Koontz, as he is running along beside them at their speed, asked, “Are you going to play basketball?” Basketball is the national favorite sport here. To our surprise, they answered with a resounding, “No. Wrestling!”

These young athletes were part of the 14-member wrestling team. They were training for the CAVRAA, an annual athletic meet of elementary and secondary school students from the local provinces. The week-long meet was scheduled to begin on March 5th, about three weeks from the time we met them. Also, the Cauayan City team members came from five different high schools. Many of the wrenstlers were just in their first year of wrestling. School was still in session, yet the athletes were excused from classes to train for their sport. Their day started at sunrise. They trained and practiced at the school. They also slept there and were fed “home cooked” meals of rice, chicken, and vegetables. (That was on the menu the evening they invited us to join them for dinner.)

The coaches were a husband and wife team, both English teachers. They also had two university students helping them, but their expertise was in the martial arts. Elder Koontz mentioned that he wrestled in high school and was a referee for seven years. He asked if they would mind if we came to their practices. They said, “You’re an answer to our prayers.

We went to practices each day, sometimes twice a day at first. They wrestled Free-style, which has different rules than collegiate style wrestling which Elder Koontz is more familiar with. He taught them some of his favorite moves. Things got busy at the mission office so we went in the evenings. If we skipped a practice, it was never more than a day. One morning we even brought some missionaries, one a high school wrestler himself, and he taught them a different technique. The team members were very respectful and appreciative and always called us 'Sir' and 'Ma’am'.

We drove to Tuguegarao City for their first day of competition. It was sad that we couldn’t attend any more. But, the team came home with two gold and three bronze medals!! They also invited us to their post season retreat that weekend— to a beach resort about three hours away. We declined. It was 1) our p-day, 2) our turn to stay at the office while the painting crew was there, and 3) out of our mission boundaries.

Their loudest fan dressed as a missionary.

Our prayer as missionaries is that we can share the blessings of the gospel of Jesus Christ and minister to those in our area. I think THEY were an answer to OUR prayers.