Meyer, Tebow Open Hearts on Missionary Trips

a1bion · Post by **a1bion** » Thu Jul 24, 2008 6:12 pm

HOOVER, Ala. — In Tim Tebow's eyes, his greatest victories will never be won on the football field.

"Taking my platform as a football player and using it for good, using it to be an influence and change people's lives, that's more important to me than football," Tebow said Wednesday afternoon in front of a hotel ballroom filled with reporters.

That devotion has had a profound effect on many, including his coach, Urban Meyer. Tebow's willingness to dedicate his spare time participating in missionary work was part of the Florida coach's decision to do the same this year.

"Tim has had an impact on me," Meyer said of his 20-year-old quarterback after a 45-minute address at the SEC Media Days. "He has done a lot of things to open my eyes and that's one of them. To hear what he does on his time off, and we're sitting on a cruise or sitting on a beach. My kids live in a very nice home, so my wife and I both felt it was something we wanted to do."

Meyer, who became more interested in the idea after a close family friend returned with pictures from a similar trip last summer, decided this was the year to do it. Meyer, wife Shelley and children Nikki (18), Gigi (15) and Nathan (9) spent time last month in the Dominican Republic on a missionary trip.

"It was a life-changing experience," Meyer, 44, said. "It's something we're going to, if possible, do every year. In your own little way you made an impact on some people."

For Tebow, the offseason included just three breaks, and he spent them all on mission trips in Croatia, Thailand and the Philippines.

"All three of those places, I got to do a lot of very neat things, preaching in prisons, in schools, in hospitals, in market places," said the 2007 Heisman Trophy winner. "I'm sure I'll get asked about the circumcisions and helping perform surgeries (in the Philippines), but it (mission work) was a great experience for me. It's something I enjoyed doing, I love doing. It's something I'm very passionate about."

During the Meyers' trip, they helped feed about 100 families daily, assisted in the construction of a medical center and visited an all girls orphanage and a leper colony.

"Pictures are different than actually going," Meyer said. "And the one thing I'll tell you that I didn't understand: When we came back from three or four villages that we went to, people were very happy. I mean, they didn't have a dime and they had struggled putting food on the table. And there wasn't a whole lot of MTV going on, and certainly no video games. But all the families were pretty much intact, mother, father, children. We fed families and I actually went out to the stores, bought the food with my kids. It was unbelievable, for an hour we went shopping, grabbing rice, beans and oil. I could do it all in my head because we did it so much. Our family walked away saying it was unbelievable to be able to help them. … But it's not like they are not happy, that was what I didn't expect. I expected extreme poverty and unhappy people. That wasn't the case."

Although Tebow was influential, Meyer said what he wanted most was a unique experience to remind his children how blessed they are. It worked.

"I've never been more proud of my children," he said. "To see them for four hours carry buckets of cement, in real hot weather, and they are covered in it and just going and going. And then they were praying with some young person who was not doing real well healthwise, I've just never been more proud of them."

http://www.tampabay.com/sports/colleges ... 735847.ece

TheTodd · Post by **TheTodd** » Thu Jul 24, 2008 6:17 pm

Yeah, I've gone on a 'mission' trip to DR a couple time myself.

[img]{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_twisted.gif[/img]

Gigi is a friend of a 16 y/o son of a family that I've known for nearly 18 years and they tailgate with us. She's hung out in my folks RV before a game or two last year. Nice girl.

newsgator · Post by **newsgator** » Thu Jul 24, 2008 9:57 pm

Great read. Unfortunately, the AJC only wants to run UF-related stories from SEC Media Days that have to do with the excessive celebration flap from last year's Cocktail Party. My hatred for all things red and black grows stronger each passing day. I think I'll wear my orange "F" hat to next weeks Braves game and I'm swinging at the first Georgia fag that yells "Gators suck" at me. [img]{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_evil.gif[/img]

RickySlade · Post by **RickySlade** » Thu Jul 24, 2008 11:03 pm

Can someone remove T e b o w from the auto-filter? The Kentucky edits are funny, but the Tebow thing is annoying.

IHateUGAlyDawgs · Post by **IHateUGAlyDawgs** » Thu Jul 24, 2008 11:05 pm

Can someone remove T e b o w from the auto-filter? The kenSUCKY edits are funny, but the "tim MF tebow" thing is annoying.

done. it was starting to annoy me too...it had run its course.

annarborgator · Post by **annarborgator** » Thu Jul 24, 2008 11:31 pm

Current pics of Nikki please (now that I have confirmation she's of age).

Also, I'm honestly afraid of what I might do if I go to jax this year for the Fla/Ga game. Fuck the dogs. I was really hoping they all died last year on the field after that celebration bullshit. Subhuman fucks.

radbag · Post by **radbag** » Fri Jul 25, 2008 9:29 am

i didn't know urbies son was named nathan too...did that factor into naming your boy allie?

a1bion · Post by **a1bion** » Fri Jul 25, 2008 10:00 am

Great read. Unfortunately, the AJC only wants to run UF-related stories from SEC Media Days that have to do with the excessive celebration flap from last year's Cocktail Party. My hatred for all things red and black grows stronger each passing day. I think I'll wear my orange "F" hat to next weeks Braves game and I'm swinging at the first Georgia fag that yells "Gators suck" at me. [img]{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_evil.gif[/img]

That was actually part of the reason I posted that story. Most of the articles I was seeing coming out of media days were about the UGA celebration. Antonya English, the author of that story about Tebow and Meyer, is a UF grad who now works for the St Pete Times. She does a good job of coming up with interesting stories about the Gators that you don't see other places. She had another one that I posted awhile back about Florida players getting involved with mentoring kids in the Gainesville area. She's top notch, in my book.

Toothy · Post by **Toothy** » Fri Jul 25, 2008 3:03 pm

Can someone remove T e b o w from the auto-filter? The kenSUCKY edits are funny, but the Tebow thing is annoying.

My thanks to you, Mr. Slade.

I myself have long finished laughing at kenSUCKY, in case any mod wants to go further.

RickySlade · Post by **RickySlade** » Fri Jul 25, 2008 9:17 pm

Hey, that's why I'm here.

I wouldn't lose any sleep if the UK edits were axed.

newsgator · Post by **newsgator** » Sun Jul 27, 2008 12:32 pm

a1, I interned for the Gainesville Sun's sports section my final semester at UF - Antonya was the ONLY writer that acknowledged me and the other interns when in the office. Robbie Andreu and Pat Dooley had no idea I existed. Typical sportswriter egos.

a1bion · Post by **a1bion** » Sun Jul 27, 2008 7:36 pm

Sounds like an interesting internship, news. Why does it not surprise me that Antonya would be the friendly one while Robbie and Pat would kinda be dicks?

TheTodd · Post by **TheTodd** » Sun Jul 27, 2008 9:23 pm

Pat is really the typical sports writer type dude. I drank and at pizza with him, David Lamm, Bianchi (When with the SUN I think), Frangie and a couple others at the team hotel in Knoxvegas one year. Fun guys to throw down with but nearly all of them we're cocky as all get out.

G8rMom7 · Post by **G8rMom7** » Sat Aug 02, 2008 8:09 pm

i didn't know urbies son was named nathan too...did that factor into naming your boy allie?

Not for Bill, but it did for me. Here were the influencing reasons for the name in order...

1. I've loved that name since I first saw Guys and Dolls and Frank Sinatra played "Nathan Detroit"...I just liked the sound of the name and the song they sang about it.

2. We looked up it's meaning and it said "Gift from God"...which he most certainly was.

3. Nate Bennett sounds like a football player or athlete of some sort.

4. Same name Urban chose for his kid.

Actually when I got that helmet signed for him (when I was pregnant) and told Urban it was for my little boy named Nathan, he reminded me that was his son's name. I told him I knew that and it just helped my argument FOR the use of the name. Bill was mildly annoyed that I told him that because it didn't factor into his decision at all and he thought it made him sound like a dork. Oh well.

G8rMom7 · Post by **G8rMom7** » Sat Aug 02, 2008 8:15 pm

After reading the article...um, Tebow does "circumcisions"??? Really? Where was he when Nate was born! LOL. And minor sugeries? I wonder if Myron Rolle is getting that kind of medical experience! That kid (Tebow) is truly one in a million.

RickySlade · Post by **RickySlade** » Sun Aug 03, 2008 6:01 am

If you can trace around the edge of a bowl to make a perfect circle on a sheet of paper, you can do what Tebow did during the circumcision.

G8rMom7 · Post by **G8rMom7** » Sun Aug 03, 2008 7:18 pm

Ricky...you forgot to add "without passing out". There is no way that I could purposefully cut any living animal...well, I can get out a splinter with a needle. Of course, I would hope that I would be able to suck it up if it was life or death, but I'm not so sure.

In any case, maybe it's not so remarkable...but I think it is.