Witnessing through Football

So many exciting things happened on the field during the games. But, perhaps, some of the most incredible things are those encounters with other people between the games. One such happening was just after the junior team won the semi-finals. They had just beat Soccer for Life in a grueling match. During the game, you couldn’t help but notice the tension from the opposing team. The coach was clearly annoyed with his players and the refs. Some of his young girls were in tears.

Just after the match, the Suba Lakers Junior team did what they always do after every game. They huddled together for a word of prayer. We had previously talked about how all things are gifts from God and that we should give Him all the glory. Our girls got that message. As they were beginning to pray, they saw the other team walking off of the field with their heads hung low. They asked the girls to join them. One by one, the other team joined Suba Lakers in a word of prayer. As both green and red uniforms meshed together, the coach of the other team walked right out to that huddle on the field and joined both teams to praise God for all He had provided. This was not prompted at all by the team's coach or manager.

My heart was overwhelmed with the testimony our girls showed on the field that day.

Champions...Again

On Saturday we were forced to split up our senior team and travel to Homa Bay to compete in the inter-constituency games. As the champions, we were representing Mbita constituency against three other constituencies. We arrived very early at the venue, but ended up waiting a long time before playing. When we took the field, it was perfect timing as all four Members of Parliament arrived on the scene shortly thereafter. The crowd grew drastically during our game until the field was surrounded with several thousand people. The girls began a little lethargic after waiting for so long to play, but very quickly that changed with a good cross by Phenny Akoth and a powerful goal by Pauline Aoko. By the end of the first half, the Lakers were leading 4 to 0 and the crowd was all smiles and giggles as they enjoyed seeing our young girls dribbling through defenders and forcing them to run in circles. Our own MP, the Honourable Minister Otieno Kajwang was feeling very proud of his constituency and their success. The 5-0 victory put us in the driver’s seat, needing only a draw in our final match to give us the championship. The game ended late on Saturday night which forced us to return two hours to Kisumu and then travel back to Homa Bay again on Sunday morning for the finale. We faced the hometown Homa Bay team comprised of High School girls and others that have finished High School. The game was very entertaining with a lot of aggressive play back and forth. We forced a 0-0 draw and took another trophy back home to Mbita, much to the delight of the local chiefs, leaders and the Mbita community. As the champions we have been asked to proceed with our club to the Provencial Tournament in Kisumu at the end of the month!

Junior Champions

The Junior team played 8 v. 8 on a smaller field and all of the players were 13 years and younger. These young girls went through the entire tournament without allowing a single goal, winning seven games and drawing one. The finals were played on the main field at Jomo Kenyatta Sports Ground with several thousand people watching them play against the hosts, Galactico’s Junior team. The Lakers finally broke through with a goal halfway through the second half and then cruised to victory. The on-lookers thoroughly enjoyed watching our young girls play and many of them were even cheering for us to beat their home team. As the champions, each girl was given a gold medal and the club was given a set of children’s Manchester United uniforms, a trophy and some prize money. The smallest player on the team, twelve year old Alicent Awuor, was named the MVP of the tournament. Dorine Adhiambo was named as the best goalkeeper and Coach David was selected as the Best Coach.

Football, Football and More Football

The Suba Lakers had a busy weekend taking 35 players to Kisumu and Homa Bay to compete in three different tournaments. Out of the three tournaments, the Lakers won two trophies and each of the 35 girls got a chance to play and compete against some of the top talent in the country.

The Senior team competed in the Galactico Nationwide Tournament against teams from Nakuru, Nairobi, Kisumu, Busia and the Coast. In the first match, they scored in the first ten seconds of the game and triumphed with a 9 to 0 score, pumping in goals from all over the field. In the second match they faced a tough Galactico team that ended up winning the entire tournament. The Lakers played hard and didn’t concede a goal until the final ten minutes of play and ended up losing 2 to 0. When we played that same team last year, we lost 8 to 0. On the second day of the tournament half of the team left for another tournament and the ones who remained behind did their best, but couldn’t manage to breakthrough against Nakuru and then against Galactico again, this time in the quarterfinals.

Finally... a Vehicle!

Many of you have been praying about a vehicle for me. I have been praying for a long, long time and have been trying to be patient and wait on God’s Will. I didn’t plan on doing any car shopping while I was in Nairobi, but my first night here one almost ran me over in the parking lot of the guesthouse. When I looked up, I saw the "For Sale" sign in the window. I love how God works! The closer I looked at it, the better it got. It is a strong, sturdy Toyota Landcruiser that will be able to fit large groups of people (especially kids) and will handle the rough roads of Suba District. I must admit I felt like a young school boy in love while looking at it, drooling from excitement. It has been very well taken care of by a missionary who is leaving Kenya for another part of the world to work with Muslims. God richly met all my needs according to his glorious riches through some generous servants of Jesus that stepped up to the plate. It was over the budget that I had expected to spend but I felt strongly that God told me this was the vehicle for me. A few days later, I found out that someone had sent me a check that was the exact difference between what I will sell my vehicle for and what the new vehicle costs. My God is a big God and is able to do so much more than all I can ask or imagine! He truly is my provider!

Please Pray:
Pray for our secondary students and the daily pressures they meet. Pray that they will stand strong in the Lord and allow his light to shine through them into the dark places of secondary school life.

Pray for our girls football club as they travel to Kisumu to compete against some of the best clubs in the country on August 6-10th. Pray that we would get many chances to share God’s love with them and speak truth into their lives. Pray for them to connect with each other and open up. Pray for good teaching moments throughout the weekend and pray for success and for the team to give God glory for everything that happens.

Pray for me to sell my old vehicle quickly and get a good price for it.

Pray for wisdom for me as I talk and share with young people. Pray that I would show much love, grace and compassion to each of them and that they would see Christ’s love in me. Pray for God to continue to open up doors into their lives.

Back to School

I am looking forward to welcoming our secondary students back. I visited two of them yesterday who are attending National schools close to Nairobi. They are at the top two girls schools in the country. Academically these two girls are at the top of the class and both have been put into leadership positions at these prestigious schools. Hearing their teachers rave about their character, discipline and work ethic was very satisfying. But there are a few of our secondary students that are really struggling. Just this past week we found out one of the girls got pregnant and will be giving birth in the next month. Another girl has found out she is HIV+ and one of our boys ran away from his boarding school, left town and ended up sleeping on the streets for a couple of nights before returning home. So I have spent much time counseling students over the past few weeks and will hopefully get much more time to continue that in August when they all return.

The Big City

A change of scenery and a change of pace await me whenever I travel to Nairobi. Mbita is the small town with the slow pace and Nairobi is the big city bursting at the seams with people, but the pace of my life when I come to Nairobi is actually a little slower than my daily routine in Mbita. Staying at a guesthouse and enjoying sit-down meals with other missionaries from various parts of East Africa provides a "homey" type of atmosphere and good networking. Travelling on public transportation, walking on the busy roads and spending time with close friends provides me with a chance to think and process things much more than I normally do. I seem to get deeply reflective when I come here. It helps my perspective in life and relationship with God, and I think it makes me appreciate my life in Mbita more. I love the small community with familiar faces dotted along the 3 kilometer walk to and from school each day, the tiny children shouting, "Uncle Joe" as I walk by; the close relationships with the students and staff at CGA; playing football with the kids at PE time; and knowing that what I am doing on a daily basis is impacting lives in this world and for eternity is so satisfying. Thankfully, I will return to Mbita in a couple of days.

I abruptly decided to come to Nairobi last week because the school schedule changed and I found that I had an open week. I have a good friend passing through Kenya on her way to serving a year in Chad that I wanted to see, another friend working in Nairobi that I wanted to see what she is doing, and an Athletes in Action basketball coaching team coming for a short term trip. I also am able to visit some of our secondary students that are in schools near Nairobi. In addition I wanted to get away for a short time before my busy season in August. Next month the schools will be on "vacation" but I will not. We will be welcoming back all of our secondary students for three weeks, taking our girls football club to a 3 day tournament in Kisumu and also hosting another 5 day football camp. As far as coming to Nairobi, it was now or never!