How it all began…
The Introduction That Changed Everything
SERIES POST 1 OF 9 — THE INTRODUCTION THAT CHANGED EVERYTHING – Fall 1992
How a basketball game, a Christmas shirt, and a 23-year missionary who had never been inside a Basque home inspired JOY Ministries — and why we’re writing this publication
It began with a basketball game.
We had not gone looking for a mission field. We were a family with four children, a full life, and no particular plan to expand. A traveling basketball team from our area had visited the Basque Country the previous year to play exhibition games. A restless teenager, who dropped out of school and his uncle watched from the stands. The teenager loved basketball. His father and uncle knew it. And somewhere in the bleachers, watching American teenagers play the game he loved, something began to form.
His uncle later contacted the visiting coach and asked whether his nephew might be able to come to America — to play basketball and attend school. The coach’s roster was full, but he knew a colleague in a nearby town who might be able to help. That colleague called us. He explained there was a young basketball player from Spain who wanted to come to school and play for the team our own son played on.