Euro 2008 4 X 4

In the wake of the Euro2008 tournament we decided to theme our own tournament after said prestigious European clash. Photos

After holding a one day tournament last time and hearing a few complaints about the toll that many games took on players we decided to split the tournament into two days to give the eight teams that qualified to the elimination round a night's rest. The tournament was held on the 12th and 13th of June at the Nazarene Seminary at the north side of the city.

The first day of the tournament was chaotic. It can be a lot of work to manage twelve teams and four fields between just a few people. It felt like we were running from the moment we arrived at the field and started setting up till the moment we hopped into a car to leave for the day.

The Seminary field is surrounded on three of its sides by the enemies of the ball. On one side there is a very steep hill with all kinds of bushes along the path that leads to its bottom. Adjacent to this is a fence with large spikes on the top and last but not least, parallel to the hill side is a busy street on a very steep incline. Two of these sides proved to be not much more than a nuisance. The few times the balls met the hill they were caught by bushes or by attentive onlookers who chased them down before they could disappear. Fortunately no balls were popped on the big spikes but many did go over the fence where guards on the other side were kind enough to toss the balls back.

The busy sloped street was not so kind. The three balls that made their way over the fence are now the property of people that are in no way associated with F.C. United. On two occasions when I saw the balls go over the fence and I quickly climbed over to chase them down. I sprinted down the street in hopes of catching up to them or finding them lodged in a gutter. Much to my chagrin or perhaps my physical relief, I was informed by passers by that someone in a car had maneuvered into a blocking position, stopped the ball and quickly swooped it up only to resume their journey away from me.

Needless to say, I slept like a baby that night.

The second day was much less stressful as there were only 3 game sessions. Since eight teams qualified for the second day we stared out with four games. The winners then moved on to the next round which only meant two games after which the victors played the final.

As before while we were running around we always took the time to chat with players to get their thoughts and feelings and again everyone was very pleased with the tournament. Even teams that lost all of their games seemed to have a lot of fun and requested to be invited to the next one.

After our last tournament Joel and I had the chance to go out to lunch with a few players from one of the teams. During lunch one of the players asked us about our faith and we had a chance to share. While the setting and timing didn't really permit for a lot of depth it is an answer to prayer. I have been asking the Lord to open up doors for me to share his love in a real way and this was a clear sign of his faithfulness. Please pray that the Lord continues to give us opportunities to show and share his love.

Prayer Requests 1. Continued wisdom as we forge our way through this new work. There is much that needs to be done and many obstacles that need to be navigated along the way.

2. Fields. One of the most difficult aspects of this ministry is finding space. We would like to at some point buy a piece of land that can both serve as the venue for our tournaments but also become a place for a soccer academy as well as a place where camps can be held.

3. Open doors. We are passionate about our desire to see soccer as the avenue for sharing the gospel. We believe the soccer field can create bonds that will give us chances to love people and become a part of their lives but those doors require the Lord's key.

Answered Prayer Than you so much for your prayers for our fridge. Joey had already lived here for five months without a fridge and I made it through a month myself. At any rate, we received an anonymous donation that covered 2/3 of the cost of a fridge that we were able to buy off of a missionary that was leaving the field. We now have a fridge that we hope to be able to fill in the very near future.

Blessings.