My Time in South Africa: Week 1

South Africa was amazing!! I wish I could have stayed there longer. It was just beautiful and the people were amazing as well. We did so much in two short weeks, here are some highlights:

We were staying at the camp, just outside of Pretoria, training with some of South Africa's National team (Banyana, Banyana), their U20 team, and their U17 team (Bantwana, Bantwana), as well as sharing God's story with them and being there to listen to their stories, pray with them, and answer any questions they had.

The first night, we were introduced to our Survivor Theme. We were split up into our rooms and given a name and buffs and told to make a flag and come up with a chant. My team was team red: Maroyaya and we went right to work. It was a fun night, interacting with our team and seeing what all the other teams came up with.

The next morning, right after breakfast, we had our first survivor challenge. We had to go through some water obstacles, low rope obstacles, and balancing obstacles. When we had completed all the obstacles, we were given a puzzle that we had to figure out. Before we started the challenge, I did not know how we were going to finish it, but it was really fun and a good way to start getting to know our teammates. It also helped that my team won!

Our second survivor challenge was the food competition. We were given a warning before we began that everything was editable. Somehow, that did not comfort me. Right away, Jessica and I turned to each other and decided to make a deal that neither would eat anything so that it would be a tie. There were pigs’ feet, chilli’s, snails, fish, chicken feet, raw potato, monkey’s brain, and bar 1. Unfortunately, Jessica and I were stuck with the monkey’s brain, but we were told that we had to at least try it. Then the competitiveness in us kicked in and we actually tried to beat each other. So I ended up eating the whole monkey’s brain (yes, I beat Jessica). It was disgusting, but my team cheered me on and I couldn’t let them down.

The rest of the week was structured similarly, with a session, where the South Africa AIA staff would share part of their testimony and the Gospel. Then we would have training with the South African girls. After lunch, we would have another session, and then on-field application. After on-field, the North American girls had small groups, while the SA girls had free time. Later at night, after dinner, we would have another session, which was followed by watching World Cup games.

On field application was one of my favourite times, as we played small sided games, but also were taught some important lesions on how to bring God into our soccer games. Each day, we were taught a new principle. Monday, we talked about playing a thank-you performance for God, our audience of one. As we played, we were encouraged to think about what we were thankful to God for. Tuesday was motivation: where do we find our motivation? In the people who are watching and cheering for or against us? If we find our motivation from other people, we may find ourselves having highs and lows. But when we find our motivation from God, we won’t have those highs and lows because God is our constant. Wednesday we were taught to "nail it." Nail all mistakes to the cross because Jesus has already forgiven us. By nailing it, we are not dwelling on it and we've forgotten what happened cause it doesn't matter anymore. Then on Thursday we talked about focal points. We picked an object that we could see from the field that represented something about God. This way, we would be reminded of God's faithfulness as we played. Some of my favourites were: Benches - God is always watching us and cheering us on. Goal posts - God protects us, so we should protect the goal posts like God protects us. These principles are something I definately want to teach other people and use in my games now that I'm back home.

Saturday and Sunday, we played a real full field game: North American girls vs the South African girls. Saturday, Banyana Banyana played with some of the U20 girls. We tied 2-2. Sunday we played against Bantwana Bantwana with some of the U20 girls as well. We lost 3-4, but they were fun games.

Saturday night was our last small groups with the girls, and we gave all the South African girls Bibles. Kristina, Rachel, and I each wrote a little note in all the girls Bible, so it was really cool to give it to them and see their expressions as they realized that we took the time to write them a note of encouragement in the Bible.

All in all, it was a great week. I cannot how much we did in one week and how close we got with the girls. This is definately a week that I will never forget. Oh, incase you were wondering: Maroyaya won the whole Survivor competition :)