Junior Avery Reid provided today's recap from the ETBU Tiger Volleyball teams TAME trip in Chile.
 
"Early in the morning we went to Temuco Baptist School again to visit with the students and help further them in their English skills. As soon as we arrived, there were two groups of us that went into the classrooms to lead the students with activities. The students got to learn about the names of family members and what we call each other, TV genres, and some math. Each group was so excited to have us in their classroom and welcomed us with open arms. The kids were handing pieces of paper for us to sign and wanted to take many pictures.
 
Another part of the team participated in expanding the school's library by adding almost 1000 books in English that we brought from home for the school to create an English corner in their library. The staff and students were so grateful to us for bringing those books.  Afterward there was a chapel held for the younger kids at the school and some of our team got to help and participate, by introducing two popular kid Christian songs "Father Abraham" and "My name is Jonah." The other part of our team, myself included, got to join in on dodgeball in the gymnasium. The kids were ruthless and it was a lot of fun!
 
Just before lunch three of my teammates were given the opportunity to present ETBU to the high school students and tell them about life on the Hill at ETBU. After the presentation, Taylor Poore, shared her testimony to those students. It was a touching moment and a very brave thing of her to do.  We then ate lunch in the cafeteria and after we finished eating we got to walk around and talk to more students while they were on their lunch break. It was during this time where I realized how smart these students are, especially with being able to understand what we are saying and answering our questions about their culture, which is truly amazing.
 
Later in the afternoon, our team and coaches held a volleyball clinic for students at the school who play volleyball or wanted to learn volleyball. It was really cool to watch the students play with the amount of joy that they had. I have two girls in mind, who were on opposite teams and one of them had a really good block and the other girl ran under the net to jump and hug her after she had blocked her. They didn't care about who won or lost just that they got to be there and participate. I was really touched by this because it's easy for us to take things for granted and lose sight of the joy sports bring us.  At the end of the clinic our Coach Matthews gave us an opportunity to talk individually with a girl we partnered up with.  We all knew that in this moment we had an opportunity to share the Gospel. I personally got to tell the girl I was with about Jesus and what He has done in my life. I have never done that before and I will never forget that moment. Many of my teammates talked to their partners about Jesus and got to pray for them as well. After this we, as a team, debriefed and most of us shared what happened in those interactions. This lead to an hour long emotional conversation about how we are so grateful to be on this mission trip and not only impacting lives but being impacted.
 
After that we ate dinner at the school and then headed straight to our second volleyball game of the trip. We played against Universidad Austral de Chile and won in three sets! It was an amazing experience to play against two Chilean teams, and we couldn't be more grateful of how well they welcomed us with open arms. The joy of the players and fans were more than anything we could've asked for on this trip.
 
We ended the night with dinner at a restaurant that was close to our hotel. The president of Temuco Baptist School and his wife had joined us for the dinner. They were so gracious to us and even gifted Dr. Blackburn with a copper clock, and a gift to Mrs. Blackburn as well. We are so thankful to have been blessed by the Mr. Salinas, and I could not have asked for a better start to our trip. I will take these memories with me forever, and I thank God for giving us this opportunity.