The Soccer Match - Wed, Apr 23

We were told all week that Andre had made arrangements for the Orphanage and the Day Center to have a soccer match on Wednesday afternoon. Andre is a new young worker that is helping Nadezhda at the Day Center build relationships with the boys in the community. They wanted all the Americans and the translators to play! I thought that would be a great way to build some relationships as the boys in Russia like soccer better than anything else!

We changed our schedule to finish up that day much earlier at 4:30pm so the boys from the Orphanage could go with us to the soccer match. Most of the school-aged kids are boys and I was excited to be able to do an “outing” with the kids off the Orphanage grounds. There were two 17 year old youth’s that had come to escort the kids to the soccer field on the other side of town. These guys patiently waited as we finished our Bible storey, crafts, and other activities with the school-aged kids at the Orphanage. We had to be at the field at 5pm for the start of the game so we made our way to the bus stop. Following behind me was the two youth and a couple of boys from the Orphanage. I was waiting to see the other kids follow, but apparently it was only going to be two boys going! I was disappointed as I thought that most if not ALL of the boys from the Orphanage would be participating. It didn’t turn out to be the event I thought it was going to be, but it was important to those Day Center youth that Andre was building relationships with. So, I, Greg Furr, and Jonathan Furr all agreed to play soccer with them!

I rotated in to relieve Greg. If I remember the positions from playing soccer as an 8 year old, I think I was generally playing the half-back position. Basically, I helped guard the goal. The game was tied when I went in, but on the other side were about three 17 year old youth that could run circles around me with a soccer ball. Near the goal on one play, the ball came in too fast and I used my left face to deflect the ball. No, I didn’t do that intentionally, but it did leave a nice round dirt impression on the side of my face! I’m just glad it didn’t break my glasses! Oh, the things we do to help build relationships!

That evening, I was glad to sit down at dinner after washing my face. It was a tiring day. Nevertheless, tonight after dinner we had to organize the gift bags to give to the kids on Thursday and Friday. One of the ladies that worked in the hotel had worked in the Day Center in the past years that we have been there. She wanted to help us organize things! It’s neat how God puts people in places to help or to see what we do in the background. I’m sure she will share her experience with the adults in the church about what we do behind the scenes! I felt that her participation with us was an encouragement to her as we all worked together that evening.