After breakfast this morning we boarded 2 buses to head to a village called, Macha, which was a couple hours away. One of the buses carried our SEED team while the other bus carried the Armour’s soccer teams who were scheduled to play 2 teams from Macha. After arriving in Macha we helped serve alongside Messiah College who is partnering with a sports ministry program called, Push The Rock. Before the soccer games started, we helped run six different sports stations such as frisbee golf, relays and dodgeball with the Messiah College students. After the stations, we gathered with the kids and were able to watch CJ share some of his testimony with the children. Following this, it was time for the soccer games to begin. We had the opportunity to watch a lot of the Armour’s students we have been working with compete in the games. It was a great experience to see the joy they brought to the game, the skill and effort they showed, and the celebrations that ensued after a goal. During the games, we also got to play a variety of sports and games with the local kids who were there. Messiah brought some different sports equipment from us, so was great to do some things like lacrosse, and badminton. To end our time in Macha, our SEED team played an intense volleyball match against the Messiah College team and some of their Zambian friends which was a lot of fun.
Today we had the opportunity to pour into the relationships we have already built and also meet a lot of new people. It was awesome to see another team of American college students doing the same type of sports ministry that we are doing. We were able to connect with these students as well and have a great time (Except when they beat us in a heartbreaking best of 5 volleyball series). Overall, this day was a great example of what being a Christian athlete should look like. Many of us had the opportunity to connect with individual children and even some of the students from Messiah on a deeper level by spending a lot of time with them, talking with them, and exchanging lots of questions. Despite being from different parts of the world it is clear that we all love the same God and that we are united as one body as followers of Christ!
Josh and Andrew