Win and Camp!

Thursday, the 27th and Saturday the 29th proved to be more than I could handle, but I know God was not daunted by the 150 rambunctious athletes, gangs wandering by and through the field, the late start, people arguing about who was to play next, and the sun beating down in the dry heat. 

From the beginning of this tournament in late November until now, we've seen the hand of God in many ways.  Coaches showed up to train and disciple kids. God provided financially through a company in the US for 60 kids to go to camp with their winning team.  He provided the speaker system from the church.  He also provided Adams, who was willing to invest his time and resources in organizing, and Sports Friends International who will run the camp for the winners. God has done it, shown himself strong in our weakness, and we praise him for it!

The athletes said their memory verses before they were allowed to compete.

Ready to go!

Listening to the encouragement to follow Christ so they can win in life before the competition began.

Please Pray! We still do not have transportation for the 100 athletes going to camp tomorrow, Wednesday, the 2nd of January.
Please Pray!  That the children from different backgrounds will find Christ at camp, and be agents of change in their communities.
Please Pray!  That the coaches who attend with the athletes will be vigilant and wise, and that God will protect the participants spiritually, physically, and emotionally as they are at the camp from January 2nd-January 5th.  I am looking for a female footballer to accompany the girls.
Please Pray! For Sports Friends International as they disciple these young people to follow Christ. 

The Cheifs, Taxi drivers, and Children

"Why do we share what's happening on the field?"  I asked the regional managers of a large Nigerian mission organization yesterday.  "For God's glory and for the growth of the church," was my anthem.

I shared with them:

"People ask, "Why do we remain in Nigeria?"
For that taxi driver who finally got the audio Scriptures in his language and shared it with everyone around.
For that chief who kept telling the Nigerian missionary living in his village, "Maybe I'll believe in Jesus tomorrow," but years later when visited again by that missionary had forgotten the missionary who had learned his language.  The missionary turned to my husband and said, "When will tomorrow come for him...when will it come for his people?"
For the children who run to greet me and carry my bag to the church, sitting expectantly to hear the Word of God and sing, "Let the children come to me," and "The Word of God is powerful and active..." and "This is my son whom I have chosen, listen to him." That they would come, know his powerful Word, and listen to him.

We remain in Nigeria for all of the taxi drivers who keep the country moving, chiefs who can lead their people to the cross, and children who tomorrow will stand for Christ...that they may hear and know and respond to God's sweet gospel of love."

The managers applauded, and were then challenged to prepare four modules for our training in January.
Following the short training, the participants gathered around to find their language on the SIL language map and discuss dialectical variations in their languages. Animatedly, they explained the different names used by speakers of their language.

This sweet connection gives yet another answer to the question "Why do you remain in Nigeria?"  Thank you for praying. 

While She Sleeps

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While Mariama naps now, the bus carrying two special young friends, our immediate neighbors, and another couple that have been grandparents to our girls for the last few months will leave on it’s way to the airport. The turning of friendship seasons is something that third culture children know by experience and struggle with in different, subconscious ways. Please pray for our three girls who love and release in the ebb and flow of missionary life with regularity and resiliency. 

Pray for us as this dear couple watched our children as we went on date nights, dreamed with Christy of ministry opportunities, played, ate, prayed and walked with us over these months.  They were God’s gift for this season, his grace extended to us all.

Balls, Camps, Refreshments!

With the vision of reaching,
Disicpling and teaching,
Using sport and fun,
Prizes for those who won,
Balls for the practices,
Water after good passeses,
I'm seeing there's a need,
At winners camp to feed,
Oh, my, you want to give,
To youngins who in Nigeria live?

Let me know if you want to give a financial gift toward this sports outreach at the end of December!  You can reply to this message if it comes on your email, send me a private message, or post a comment if you are looking at this post on the blog interface.
This would be a great thing for kids in your church to give toward or your own children to get involved in blessing other children and youth. 

Please pray and see if this is something God would have you be part of!


 I'll post pictures of our teams this Saturday. 
 

New Year, New Life Competition Pt. 2

 Adams is a great athlete, but far more impressive is his desire to use his abilities and training to disciple others.
As he prepares to train the coaches for the New Year, New Life Competition at the end of December, pray that God will show him his message for the youth and children of Hwolshe.  May God bring the right people together to coach and lead the athletes to Jesus.

New Year, New Life Competition

This morning six of the needed twenty-four coaches came to the first meeting for the New Year, New Life Competition in our community.  This two day event will hopefully include 24 teams of children and youth competing in football/soccer, and 10 teams competing in a relay of youth ages 17-21. 

God has connected me with a young man named Adams from Athletes in Action, who is training the coaches before we start our practices with the young athletes on December 1. 

The final events will take place during the week between Christmas and New Years.  Please pray with us for the coaches to come that we need, for the young athletes to encounter Christ through them, and for decisions to walk a new life with Christ in the new year to be made! 

She Smiled

She wouldn’t even look at me.  Keeping her head down as she told me her name, Mary*, and her language.  We sat on the floor in a circle.  Six women from five different languages, gathered together to learn to read Hausa, the Language of Wider Communication in our part of the country.

After reading a devotional in Hausa, I wrote the reading lesson on the white board and we began. Mary read “ki” and then said the sound of “i” was “ah.”  We went over the syllables again, and she kept repeating the sound of the letter “i” as “ah.”  “No problem,” I said in Hausa, “We’ll come back to it, and you’ll get it later.” 

The next time we came to Mary, she hesitantly began, haltingly, reading every vowel perfectly.  We all cheered.  She looked at me and she smiled.

This literacy class is going to be a joy.  We’ve told the women to invite others. It is a triumph, a victory that many women have not experienced.  As each sentence unfolds, I pray that their confidence in themselves, and ultimately in God to teach and build them up will grow.  Pray for Esther, who will be carrying these literacy classes forward every Monday and Tuesday morning in the Orange Hat.