Over the past few weeks some of the guys at church have expressed wanting to hang and do something. The women have their own bible study every week. So I though why not, let's go do something. So I asked them what they wanted to do on a Saturday evening. Maybe sports but no gym or park is open on Saturday evenings that we know of so it would have to be something different than that. So one of the guys suggested playing pool. So that is what we ended up doing. There is now only one pool hall in Autlan. There was one that was really nice that closed down due to the owner skipping town after there was a warrant for his arrest for who knows what? So the only one open was one right downtown. It ended up being only three of us who went. The other guys had things come up at the last minute. So we played. As I observed the men that were there (only saw one woman in the two hours of being there) I realized just what this place was for them. An escape. There were probably over 100 men. Some playing pool, others playing another game played with a while, yellow, and red balls on a table with no holes, and even some playing dominoes. It was clear to me that these men where from various different back grounds. Some were very clean cut while others had been doing construction that day. Various different ages of men as well. I think what struck me the most is: "where do men go to have fun?" I could see how men would want to go to bars to hang out with the guys and drink. There aren't many options here. One of the guys wanted to go hiking in the mountains but you can't do that in the dark. So your options are very limited. There is a new movie theater in town, but 5 different movies to choose from. So now I am trying to come up with some creative ideas of what we can do. This is a real need here for any of the Christian men here. What can we do to have fun without sinning or being tempted to go back to old ways of living? I would greatly appreciate your prayers on this. I have found that if men aren't connected to other men they fall away. We all need friends who will help us become better men and to be holy in a culture that is so against it.
