Xavier University Athletics
BLOG: Ashley Gomez Explores Brazil Ahead of FISU America Games
07.24.18 | Women's Basketball
Hey Xavier Fans!
Just a quick update on my past two days here in Sao Paulo.
We have been able to sightsee these past couple days and it has been so cool! Sao Paulo is not the most privileged place in the world, but that does not take away from its beauty. Sunday we started the day with a Chapel welcome to all countries hosted by the USA. We then took a tour of the city and ended at the Mercadao, which is a huge market with so many different fruits, meats, cheeses and foods that we do not have in the US. Some of the food was incredible!!! You never know what to expect because most of the vendors do not speak English, but it was so cool to taste these exotic foods and buy some for snacks later this week!
We also got to see the Metropolitan Cathedral, which is a Catholic Church in Sao Paulo that is pretty famous for being so large and beautiful. We walked in during Sunday mass and got to recite the Lord´s Prayer in English, while they recited it in Portuguese. It was just awesome to see all of God´s love flowing through the entire church no matter where you were from or what language you spoke.
We have also been so busy practicing and preparing for our games. Our first game is TODAY, against Mexico at 1 p.m. EST. The game will be streamed on the page cbdu.brasil on Facebook Live. We are so excited to finally get to play!!
Aside from basketball, I had an incredible experience last night at what we are calling the "Café´s of the Soul". At around 8:30 p.m. we went upstairs to the cafeteria to tell people that we would be hosting a café time to have discussions about failures in sports and in life. Everyone was welcome and it started at 9 p.m. Most people from the countries here speak Spanish so the language barrier was a little difficult but we got the message out. At 9 p.m. we were a little discouraged because it was only the USA teams at the café.
We decided to wait 15 minutes to see if people would come before we started. I am not lying when I say that at 9:14 p.m. over 30 athletes from countries such as Chile, Argentina, Canada, Mexico and Columbia filled our room. There were not enough chairs to sit in which was so incredible!
Within our small groups we had discussions about failure and what it means to fail and what were some times that everybody had experienced failure. It was so cool to be able to relate with people all over the Americas and experience the same life problems as they did. At the very end we have somebody share their testimony with everybody. Since we were not planning for so many people to show up, we did not anticipate needing a translator, so an athlete from Chile volunteered to translate for us.
I was the one that got to share my testimony last night! I had never shared it with more than a group of 10 people before so I was already nervous because there were about 60 athletes there. It was so incredible to be able to share it and have it translated into Spanish at the same time. My testimony is all about getting your worth from God alone and not from your successes and failures. I feel like as an athlete, so many people are able to relate with that and want a sense of peace to be able to just play the game they love, without their self-worth on the line.
It was incredible for people to come up to me after and to tell me either in English or through Google translate how much they related to my testimony. God is definitely working here at the FISU Games and our team will continue to glorify Him as we play!
Thank you for all the support and prayers as we are here and as we go into our games! Can´t wait to bring home the gold!!!!
Let´s Go X!
-Ashley
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Just a quick update on my past two days here in Sao Paulo.
We have been able to sightsee these past couple days and it has been so cool! Sao Paulo is not the most privileged place in the world, but that does not take away from its beauty. Sunday we started the day with a Chapel welcome to all countries hosted by the USA. We then took a tour of the city and ended at the Mercadao, which is a huge market with so many different fruits, meats, cheeses and foods that we do not have in the US. Some of the food was incredible!!! You never know what to expect because most of the vendors do not speak English, but it was so cool to taste these exotic foods and buy some for snacks later this week!
We also got to see the Metropolitan Cathedral, which is a Catholic Church in Sao Paulo that is pretty famous for being so large and beautiful. We walked in during Sunday mass and got to recite the Lord´s Prayer in English, while they recited it in Portuguese. It was just awesome to see all of God´s love flowing through the entire church no matter where you were from or what language you spoke.
We have also been so busy practicing and preparing for our games. Our first game is TODAY, against Mexico at 1 p.m. EST. The game will be streamed on the page cbdu.brasil on Facebook Live. We are so excited to finally get to play!!
Aside from basketball, I had an incredible experience last night at what we are calling the "Café´s of the Soul". At around 8:30 p.m. we went upstairs to the cafeteria to tell people that we would be hosting a café time to have discussions about failures in sports and in life. Everyone was welcome and it started at 9 p.m. Most people from the countries here speak Spanish so the language barrier was a little difficult but we got the message out. At 9 p.m. we were a little discouraged because it was only the USA teams at the café.
We decided to wait 15 minutes to see if people would come before we started. I am not lying when I say that at 9:14 p.m. over 30 athletes from countries such as Chile, Argentina, Canada, Mexico and Columbia filled our room. There were not enough chairs to sit in which was so incredible!
Within our small groups we had discussions about failure and what it means to fail and what were some times that everybody had experienced failure. It was so cool to be able to relate with people all over the Americas and experience the same life problems as they did. At the very end we have somebody share their testimony with everybody. Since we were not planning for so many people to show up, we did not anticipate needing a translator, so an athlete from Chile volunteered to translate for us.
I was the one that got to share my testimony last night! I had never shared it with more than a group of 10 people before so I was already nervous because there were about 60 athletes there. It was so incredible to be able to share it and have it translated into Spanish at the same time. My testimony is all about getting your worth from God alone and not from your successes and failures. I feel like as an athlete, so many people are able to relate with that and want a sense of peace to be able to just play the game they love, without their self-worth on the line.
It was incredible for people to come up to me after and to tell me either in English or through Google translate how much they related to my testimony. God is definitely working here at the FISU Games and our team will continue to glorify Him as we play!
Thank you for all the support and prayers as we are here and as we go into our games! Can´t wait to bring home the gold!!!!
Let´s Go X!
-Ashley
Â
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