More Than A Game 7/21/2019 3:05:00 PM CU Athletics

We are here for a reason part two - former CU student, Rlee Vicente, reconnects with our mission team

BELIZE — We are here for a reason. We learned earlier of how God was using different circumstances and people to bring glory to His kingdom and Sunday morning at a local church proved that once again.

Lets go back in time first….

On February 25, 2011 Campbellsville University signed an agreement with St. John's Junior College, located in Belize City. During that time, former CU Vice President for Academic Affairs Frank Cheatham and St. John's Junior College President Frank Garbutt signed the agreement in Belize.

The article by CU communications student news writer Christina Miller states – "Few individuals who receive associate degrees in Belize have the opportunity to complete their bachelor degrees within the country, said President Grabutt. "Because of this, many students in Belize come to the United States to complete their bachelor's degrees."

The agreement stated: "The two institutions, based on the principles of respect for each other's independence and of mutual benefit, will engage in the following activities: exchange of students and academic staff, joint research activities, and exchange and joint development of academic materials."

"It is our hope that some of the better students from St. John's will find CU attractive," Cheatham said. "This would benefit both CU and St. John's by giving their students additional opportunities."

Additional opportunities arose and God brought us all back full circle on July 21, 2019.

The first student that reaped the benefit of this agreement was Rlee Vicente - whose father is the President of the Belize Baptist Association and Belize Football Association. Well guess who the electric guitar player was at Queen Street Baptist Church this morning where 1/3 of our group visited? Yes, Mr. Rlee Vicente.

We happened to show up about 15 minutes late due to one of the vans not arriving on time at the Ramada Princess so instead of waiting and missing the entire service, our group jumped in the back of a pick-up truck and made the 5-mile ride to Queen Street Baptist.

Once arriving, we realized we were actually right on time. Sports Reach leader Andrew Hammond introduced the 10 of us as a mission team from Campbellsville University and Rlee threw his hands up in the air with joy and surprise. But we had no idea why.

Coach Perry Thomas explained our mission this week and afterwards is when the pastor said we have another CU Tiger in attendance and turned to their guitar player – Rlee.

A little over eight years ago, CU signed an agreement with St. John's Junior College and on July 21, 2019 we are reunited with the very first to reap the benefit of that agreement.

After the service that was shared on Galatians 5:1-10, the group went up to learn more about this Rlee fella. That's when the dots started to connect… he graduated in 2013 – which is the same year I earned my degree from CU. A few conversations later, we learned I had many classes with Rlee during our time in undergrad. Rlee even remember stopping by coach Perry Thomas' office a time or two in the Hawkins Athletic Center.

That's a pretty neat instance once again of how God is moving throughout Campbellsville University.

As assistant athletic trainer Keri Coots put it, "this is no coincidence. We were supposed to be at Queen Street Baptist Church this morning."

To read the full story from when Rlee graduated from CU and his parents visit to Campbellsville, check out this link - https://www.campbellsville.edu/news/president-of-belize-baptist-association-visits-cu/

JORDAN ALVES' DAILY DIARY - CU TO BELIZE
Jordan Alves, sports information director, Zach Clements, athletics video coordinator, and Brett Pierce, athletics photographer, will post daily diaries and photo galleries from behind the scenes of the #CUtoBelize19 mission trip.

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