A Ten Hour Day: Soccer ministry at its finest

6 am - Wake up way too early. Oh well. Fix coffee. Eat something small. Do some writing, reading, and balancing of funds to see about team jerseys and boots for the boys.

8am - Take a Boda Boda or Blackman On DA-bike Blackman On DA-bike. Took my five soccer balls, ATM card, and myself to the field. This was a thirty cent operation. I beleive the Blackman's name was Solomon. Boda's love the white man cuz it usually means 5-bob bonus shillings. No problem.

8:20am- Walked to Abel's place. Abel will be taking over some of the responsibility when I leave. We are gonna bring him to the Bible as much as possible and see if Agape can train him. I saw the mama and she made some chai. Did I mention that I love this dude a ton. He has no job, but is very bright and could do anything on the planet if the opportunity arose with the encouragment to pursue. Abel is the uncrowned king of the "no problem". I will probably adopt the "no problem". No really, it's no problem

9:30am- the start of our practice. (US time) Sit and wait for Kenya time.

10:21am- the start of our practice. (Kenya time) We jog, do some running lines. One running line looks like we are orengatangs moving along the grass. The we do lots of ball drills. Lots and lots of balls drills. I love it so much!!! We have the best practices in the city by far.

11:45am- Children flock from the nearby primary school for lunch-break to go look at the white man who looks like soccer pro Wayne Roonie. I tell them sorry little friend. We play with a soccer ball with the little ones. I call the game the try to touch the white man's soccer ball while he runs around game.

12:10pm- Team slashes some grass to earn their uniforms (no lawnmowers, sorry). We are clearing the rest of the field for volleyball, soccer, tetherball, etc. We take some water, and then chill for a minute.

12:40pm- Bible study. We are still in John chapter one and will probably be there for a while. I tangent like it was my job, but we all get a ton out of it. We talked a lot about baptism today. They asked me all their Bible/ theological questions they have always had. Praise God!! It was sweet.

1:15 pm- We take lunch. thrity cents per person by ten players and you have $3 gone. Dang!! I had two African donuts and some tea with a happy amount of sugar. It is no problem. I gave one of my mandazis to a older glue-hound, who always has a bottle stuck to his face. He said I wasn't his friend and he wanted to beat me because I always refuse to buy him food. I had no idea of his level of seriousness so I figured giving him a mandazi with a quick teaching about unmerited favor (grace) would appease his anger. He was my instant friend and showed grace back to me by giving me a tie from his dirty bag. I tied his for him and now I guess we are buds. Sweet!!

2:00pm- Franco (captain), Tony (baller/best kid in the world), Basil (second best kid in the world/also baller), Solomon (baller/close third), and myself hunt for uniform deals. I stay waaaaaaay back, because I always tell them, "my skin betrays me". I am a skin-proclaimed millionaire to the Kenyan. We get a SWEET deal. I am stoked. For once I get to pay the right price and not the white man price.

2:30pm- Appointment with lady who sells the glue to the children. For $.15, a boy can buy a fresh bottle of glue that will make him very very high and kill his brain at the same time. I meet the son instead and talk to him as he struggles to communicate back. I share with him the verse, "whoever causes one of these little ones to sin, it would be better for him if a millstone were tied around his neck and thrown into the river." I thought it was very fitting. He agreed and we may have played the- I will just please the white man by agreeing with everything he says game- until he goes away game. I then prayed for him. I am so passionate about this issue. I HATE IT !!!!

3:00pm- Walk forever to go to the bank with Basil,15 and Solomon,15. They are both orphans, but in school and have a man who took them in. They are SOOO cool!! We get some dough and walk back to the bus park.

4:00pm- Pay the lady half for the uniforms. Yes!! Pick them up on Tuesday.

4:07pm- Walk to the field and realize how dang thirsty I am. Solomon agrees fully. After we find that the tap water is not working, I say, "hey Solomon, here's five hundred shillings, go buy us some cold water and bring me 430 for change." I feel much better after a little water. Nobody shows for 4 to 6 training so we go and try the stadium. The stadium is booked for the month and so we don't get to train there. Oh well, I was so tired I didn't really wanna play any more.

5:20pm- Abel and Solomon depart and Basil and I walk together to Nakumat City (COSTCO in Africa). We walk around and just look at how outrageous everthing is. I like to go there cuz it is the closest thing to America they have in this town. I didn't buy anything. Me and Basil talk and talk and talk about everything. I want to take this kid to America and raise him myself. I love the boy. He is so smart and such A BALLER!!

6:00- Talk some more with Basil as he walks me all the way home.

6:30pm- Get home and praise God on the inside for such a wholly wonderfull, fulfilling, exciting, long.......long, beautiful day.

I covet your heartfelt prayers to God for these boys. Pray for Franco today. He has anger, glue, marijuana, and many other problems. He is our captain and could be a strong leader in the future. God is so good. Me and Franco are best buds.