Soccer Finals & Church Pot-Luck

Today we had the church pot-luck in Arrayanes along with the final game for the men's soccer tournament as well as the semi-finals and championship games for the youth soccer tournament.

The women of the church divided up the various foods and drinks and provided a wonderful lunch of birria, rice, beans, and nopales (that's a type of cactus that is edible and oh so tasty!) with jamaica and water to drink. And of course, a true Mexican staple...TORTILLAS! It was very tasty!

Heather and I enjoying this marvelous meal!

Of course, eating is a very social activity here! So, tons of people from the church came to watch the soccer games, cheer on their husbands, sons, and friends, and to have some great time together visiting and hanging out! It was a ton of fun!

Aide, Heather, and I watching the soccer games

The Arrayanes ladies chattin' it up!

Angelica & Manuel enjoying the festivities

Tonia & Caleb having a good time

Of course the soccer games were enjoyable as well. The men's game was really great. It was so cool to see our church leaders playing along side some of the men who remain on the fringes as well as some who don't come to church at all! We even had a missionary representative on one of the teams...Jay! The two men's teams played a great game, and the winners really earned their win!




The youth played hard as well. There were two semi-final games:

The Black Team

vs.
The Red Team

The White Team
vs.
The Blue Team

Semi-final Highlights

The two winning teams went on to the championship game: The Black Team and the White Team! It was quite a suspenseful game! Every time a shot was made on the goal and missed, the whole crowd groaned; every time a goal was made, everyone clapped and cheered.

We were all on the edge of our seats, and the winning team truly deserved their trophy! Announcing the winner of our 2nd annual Christmas Youth Soccer Tournament..........(drum roll please)........

THE BLACK TEAM!!!!!

When the games were all over, the awards were presented both for the men as well as for the youth. Both winning teams received trophies.

Pastor Goyo presents the winning men's team with their trophy

The winning team L-R: Jay, Juan, Luis, Hugo, ??

The presentation of the trophy for the winning youth team

Then we also presented awards for the Most Goals Made and the Best Goalie. Here they are:

THE MOST GOALS MADEFirst Place (33 goals made) = Chuy (middle)
Second Place (14 goals made) = Cheche (left)
Third place (12 goals made) = Fermin (right)

THE BEST GOALIE
First Place (86% blocked) = Martin (right)
Second Place (77% blocked) = Beto (middle)
Third Place (76% blocked) = Pedro (left)

And so ended our 2nd annual Christmas Youth Soccer Tournament.