Eagles Brasil 1 X 1 Santos

We praise God for this challenging game against Santos, one of the best women’s soccer teams in Brazil. Our team played with valiance, even to the point of giving blood, literally.

In the picture Lilian, one of our center backs, is showing off her cut lip.

In the beginning of the game she took a ball to the mouth, as she was charging forward to block a shot, and the impact caused the inside of her lip to get caught in her braces. She had to leave the field, because her mouth was bleeding everywhere. We had to play a man down for about 10 minutes as the doctor tried to stop the bleeding. She returned to play in the game, with both of her lips swollen so much that she couldn't pronounce words, and had a cotton gauze pad wedged just inside of her bottom lip! It was not very funny during the game, but afterwards we all got quite a laugh.

Laura Armstrong, our goalkeeper from the Charlotte Eagles, had this to say about the game:

“After each game we pray with the other team, then we are able to share the gospel individually with a player from the other team. We have been using “evangelism cards” from our local church which explain the gospel in a simple yet interesting manner. During this time I have been observing my teammates share God’s plan of salvation, pray with the girls from the other team, and even exchange hugs as if they have been friends for years. Unfortunately, I have not been able to participate that much since I don’t speak Portuguese, but it has been an awesome time to pray for my teammates and the player that they are sharing with, as well as to see God at work right there on the field. In our last game against Santos I was finally able to share my faith after the game because they have a player from Iceland that speaks English. It was a great experience for me as I was able to share a little bit about what God has done in my life. It is awesome to see how the game of soccer brings together so many different cultures and allows us to find common ground and just share our experiences and beliefs with one another.”