Camille played four years of basketball for the University of Southern California and graduated from USC with a B.A in Sociology.  She was then drafted into the WNBA. She now plays professional basketball in Thessaloniki, Greece.  God is also opening doors for her to play basketball in Serbia and Turkey, as well.  This past summer, she was able to go to the Pacific Rim with an ISF team to help a missionary build relationships with college students using the tool of basketball.

LeNoir explains, “I was inspired to go on a mission project after reading through a book called Revolution in World Missions. After studying how to witness and share my faith, I realized that I have to use my basketball talent to take the Gospel to all nations.”

One cool thing about mission projects is that God always uses these to grow the volunteer’s relationship with Him.  Mission projects are not just about how you can serve others.  Often times God wants to use these projects as a spiritual marker in your own life.  When asked what God taught her this summer, Camille gave an honest answer. “After going on this trip I learned that I wasn’t radical enough for Jesus. This trip showed me that I don’t sacrifice enough money, time, and sleep for the sake of telling people about what Jesus did for us on the cross.”

Read on as Camille explains the highlight of her time in the Pacific Rim. “The highlight of my trip was when C gave his life to Christ inside of a Buddhist temple. I was told at training camp that on previous trips they were not able to see the fruit of their labor. They never had the privilege of seeing someone give their life to Christ; so, I prayed for God to at least touch and save one life. He answered that prayer!  It was a beautiful thing to see C make a decision in a temple where he and his family has most likely praised and worshipped Buddha. That taught me that we must constantly intercede and pray for the lost. We under-estimate the power of prayer.”

In every area of her life, Camille clings to Colossians 3:17, “And whatever you do in word or deed,  do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.” When asked what advice Camille would give someone who is considering going on a mission project, she was pretty emphatic. “Go! You must go. Christ commands us to go in Matthew 28. We must leave the comfort of our homes and

Valina Ramsey’s journey began in the sleepy little town of Sevierville, TN, where she lived, as she calls it, “a nominal Christian life growing up.” I made a lot of bad decisions in my youth and tried time after time to work my way out of disastrous situations.”

Close friends and church family continued to invest in her life and tried to point Valina  to a complete and total surrender to God.  Finally, at a point of desperation, Valina knew that she wanted to fully commit every area of her life to God and trust Him to guide her path.

A soccer player by nature, Valina knew that God created her with specific talents and interests. She began to search for some sort of ministry that would combine her love for sports and her love for Him.

One late night, as Valina surfed the internet, she came across International Sports Federation’s website.  This was it! She had found something that totally excited her!  Could it be? Could there really be an organization that sends sports teams on mission projects?  This was sounding too good to be true!  But there it was, the ISF project list, including an opportunity to go to Kenya and play soccer and tell people about Jesus.  She was hooked!

Traveling overseas was an eye-opening experience for Valina.  She saw things she had never seen before and God began to give her a worldview and a heart for the nations.

During this time,  a desire to study medicine also began to take root in Valina’s heart. So, she began a course in emergency medicine.  Upon completing her Emergency Medical Technician certification, she was certain that God was directing her to continue her education to  eventually become a nurse.

While serving on the ISF Medical project to Senegal, West Africa this past fall, Valina knew that she had finally found her home!  She returned with a sound resolve to eventually serve overseas as a medical missionary; specifically as a pediatric nurse.

Valina currently lives in Atlanta, GA, working as an EMT-I for Puckett EMS/Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta while continuing her path to nursing.  It took her a journey around the world to find her home in medical/sports missions.

Have you found your home yet?

—story by Cheryl Wolfinger

A boy had made a ball from plastic bag scraps and threw it to me. I threw it back to him and asked if he had made it.  He smiled shyly, face turned down, the way Kenyans do, and answered “yes.” I asked him if he would teach me to make one later that week.

A couple of days later, I was surprised by a tap on my arm.  A boy looked up at me and said, “teacher, can we go make the ball today?” I was puzzled as I looked down into his hands full of plastic trash and a little bit of brown twine.  Then I remembered and smiled as I was led into the classroom, followed by dozens of curious children.

I sat down at two desks that had been pulled together alongside three 5th grade boys and they showed me how to make one of the balls they play with.  It took about ten minutes, and while I was watching what he was meticulously making, I also looked around the room at the children who were excited just to watch.  The ball was wonderful, made with blue plastic on the outside for looks and tightly bound with twine for structural stability.  As it was proudly presented to me as a gift (my favorite possession from Kenya by far), I asked them, “what are your names? I want to write them  down so I can remember you and tell my family and friends at home in America all about you.”  Immediately I was bombarded with a massive influx of names from every child in the room and even from some that were outside.  “Peter! Timothy! Collins! Kevin! Dominique! Ova! Austin! Jesse! Ayub! Cynthia!

I could not possibly write down all the names as they flew at me.  My pen could not move that fast and the back of my nametag did not have that much room. I finally managed to thank them and put the pen back in my camera bag before more children arrived in the room.  It hit me all of a sudden as I was transcribing the names of the children on my nametag, “they just want to be remembered,” and tears rushed into my eyes.

They just want to be remembered.  They just want to be spoken of.  They just want to be prayed for. They just want to be loved.

Everything in their world was okay except that they thought I might forget about them.  They thought I might forget their name when I told my friends in America about my time in Kenya. They thought I might not consider them in my prayers because they were too small or their voice wasn’t loud enough or they were not good at soccer.  They thought I wouldn’t love them when I left.

At the core of it all, isn’t that what we all want? To be loved and  valued and remembered? To be beautiful worthwhile and considered?

Christie Saucier is a sophomore at the University of Alabama and she took time this summer to spend a couple weeks in Africa with ISF.

There are also plans to help the children put on their first Christmas Play, complete with angles and wise men.  On Christmas there will be gifts, popcorn, a movie and cokes for everyone!  This project is not only going to bless the children that receive the gifts, but what a great way to connect our hearts with the true meaning of Christmas as we celebrate the birth of Christ with our Kenyan friends.

The team will be leaving Sunday December 20th and returning the 28th.  At this point we have all the gifts we can carry with us, but if you would like to help with the project you can go to the donation page and just indicate Tumaini Christmas and your support will be used to purchase things for the center while we are there.