2 September 2007 Update
Thu Feb 14, 08 10:05 pm
You might be wondering what I have been up to lately. Recently I have spent most of my time preparing for travels and then catching up from being away. My travels have made it difficult to get much work done at the office, but such is life.
I thought I would mention that tonight we got a new housemate, Johannes. Yesterday I attended a wedding of a friend from church. They had a ceilidh afterwards which was brilliant. I was going to organize a ceilidh for our church as an outreach, but I am organizing a mini football tournament instead. I will let you know about the outreach as plans become more definite. All I know for the outreach is that it is on 13/10.
*Ukraine Mission Trip*
I was in the Ukraine for a short term mission outreach with OM for two weeks in August. I went there to assist in a football (soccer) camp.
Sports ministry has many facets to it. You can use it to tell parables, teach Bible truths, show a good Christian witness, be a friend, open doors, etc. Sport is truly a universal language. I did not know any Russian when I arrived in Odessa (know a little now) and was still able to interact with the children. They grew to like me and look up to me during my time there.
I have known for some time that our Christian witness should be more holistic then inviting people to church or handing out tracks. Ministry for God is more then that. What I do for OM is evidence of that fact. What really impressed me is the use of sports as a way to open doors and preach the Gospel. It was very neat to see that occur.
Those helping out with the football camp flew into Odessa, Ukraine in the afternoon on Saturday 04/08 and took the night bus to Chisinau, Moldova. There were 3 people helping out for the sports ministry outreach that are not with OM Ukraine. The border crossing was an experience involving filling out Russian forms that I could not understand, getting passports stamped incorrectly (or not at all), visiting dark, smoky offices with everyone talking in Russian, and culminated with a bribe needing to be paid to get through all at 0100 in the morning!
We were in Chisinau for 3 days of initial training with a larger outreach of 100 participants for Moldova itself from 15 countries and another small team of 5 for a sports ministry outreach in Moldova. We received cultural training, basic language training, received a better picture of using sports as an outreach tool and ministry, and prepared for the football (soccer) camp. One evening we played a pick-up football game against local children. See the photo of our team below.
We also had several team building experiences.
After the training we travelled back to Odessa and had no issues. See a photo of the border crossing below.
Upon arriving in Odessa we were joined by a large contingent of Ukrainians that were helping out as trainers, helpers and cooks during the week of the outreach.
The camp was sponsored by a local church that will do all the follow-up. They had a number of people helping out with the camp. I really enjoyed helping the kids improve their football skills as well as more importantly be a witness for God. A few of the children did make decisions to make Jesus their Lord at the end of the camp. My prayer is for each child I touched, that they will continue in their walk with God and draw closer to Him.
*Scottish Highlands*
I had an adventure last weekend up in Scotland. I went backpacking and walking by myself in a very remote corner of Scotland . It rained every night/morning on my tent.
I walked in a lot of rain most of the time. On my last night I was awakened at 2230 by a bad storm that kept me awake most of the rest of the night until my tent nearly blew away at 0330 when I had to take it down in the storm and rain. I then proceeded to walk in the dark to my car 7 miles away. I did make it the to the top of three 4000' peaks
saw Loch Ness
Culloden Moor, and Stirling Castle
on my drive back from walking.
*Work*
Well I am off in a weeks time to Brussels for 2.5 weeks of meetings and to teach some IT classes. In the middle of my time in Brussels I get a short 4 day holiday in Paris with my sister, Kelli. Kelli and I are really looking forward to the time together.
I mentioned in April that there has been some difficulties in the office with regards to conflicting visions. Well these difficulties have come to a head after much discussion and my direct manager has resigned his position. So I now am in limbo a little bit with whom I report to with my work. I travel to Brussels for our twice yearly international IT meetings. It will be different now with my manager having resigned.
Please be praying for me. I have only a short time more with OM and I want to finish strong.
Scottish Highlands: http://tinyurl.com/2hgmab
Odessa Football Camp: http://tinyurl.com/2edz7o
Moldova Time: http://tinyurl.com/2y7ka6
All Recent Photos: http://tinyurl.com/22mv2j
All Photos: http://flickr.com/photos/leonhedding/
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