There have been so many moments on this trip thus far where all I can do is smile with pure joy at what my life has become. I would be lying if I said that every moment here has been easy and full of God’s love, but it’s the moments of joy throughout the day where His presence is clearly tangible that make everything worth it.
This past Saturday the team went with the boys of Makobore High School to district stadium for a soccer tournament. I have played soccer my whole life so personally I was excited just to watch the games. But it wasn’t Makobore winning two games that brought the most joy to me during the day. It was the conversations with the boys and being included in the cheering section that were more joyful than I could have imagined.
We met the boys at school around eight in the morning so we could walk with them to the stadium. I walked to the field with Precious and Bannet. That conversation alone was enough to put a smile on my face for the rest of the day. The two of them quizzed me on my knowledge of similes, not the most pressing topic ever but it was something for us to laugh about. They would start a sentence with something like “as green as….” and it was my job to finish it. It started off with things like as green as grass or as white as snow, a chance for us to all laugh or a chance for them to laugh at me if I got the answer wrong. But the similes soon changed to as true as the gospel, and as loving as God. I never have to try to change the conversation so we are talking about the gospel or Jesus, God does that for me.
Last month Bannet missed a few weeks of school because his father passed away unexpectedly. As he began to open up to me about his family and how he has had to rely on God in such a dark time in his life I realized how much our Heavenly Father was working in this school. Bannet may no longer have his earthly father with him, but he has a Heavenly Father who is capable of unimaginable things.
Bannet and I
Once we arrived at the stadium the fun began. For the next few hours I watched Makobore play three soccer games, two of which they won and one they tied. But the whole day there was never a dull moment where there was no cheering or excitement. My favorite moments were when our team would score and the students on the sideline would erupt with clapping, yelling and run onto the field in celebration. We were no longer the white people from America that were watching the game, in that moment I felt so united with these boys. They wanted us to celebrate with them because we too are part of Makobore High School.
The boys have a song that we all love, it’s the winner song. And as we chanted “Winner winner winner, dance like a winner” over and over again as we danced like “winners”, all I could do was look around and laugh with pure joy at what my life has become.
Some of the boys on the soccer team
