BLESSING of a Day!

Oh wow, was yesterday amazing. After running into my friend Grace who works closely with women's soccer here in Kigali, I was finally invited to play! First, let me just say that I have been praying for this opportunity since the day I arrived in Kigali, almost a year ago. When I first arrived, I was told I would be able to practice, play, and coach on different teams (professional and national). Of course, I got my hopes up and unfortunately was let down when things just started to not work out and every door seemed to close, one after the other. In those moments, I had to remind myself that this is Africa and that women's soccer is not organized and run like it is in the U.S. I also had to remind myself that God knows and that is enough.

Sooooo... almost a year later, I have finally been asked and the opportunity has arrived. Praise the Lord! So, yesterday was plain and simply AMAZING!! When i first got to practice I went up to the dorms to meet the girls. The Kigali City team is currently staying in dorms located at the Red Cross because they are practicing two times a day for a BIG match they have on Sunday. They were so excited to see me and two specific girls came over and gave me very warm welcome by asking, in their sweet broken English, my name, where I live, what I do. Their names were Julianne and Janet. We had a good laugh because all our names started with J's and were very similar. They never left my side the entire night. After that we headed down to the practice field where we played a match against each other. The German technical director was there, so there was an extra pressure for everyone to play well. By the end of the game I was absolutely beat!! I am not use to the Rwandan style of soccer, which tends to consists of kicking the ball back and forth and little control. The ball doesn't do the running, YOU DO! Little to say, I ran A LOT!! It was great though.

Another great aspect to the whole night was meeting this girl they like to call Cider. From the first time I saw her I knew she was the leader of the team. You could just tell. She was small, but there was a presence about her. She actually kind of looked a lot like CeCe from the Brazilian Women's National Team. She also played a lot like her too. She was amazing and I knew right away that I would have a ton of fun playing with her. I was right. She was creative, had amazing skill, and was really fast. At first I played against her, which was interesting then second half we played together. I liked the second half better :-).

I think what also made the night amazing was not that I got to play, but that there I was sitting in a group of over 25 Rwandan girls/ women ranging in age from 14-23 years old. There I was immersed in their culture and given a chance to see another side of Rwanda that I had not seen before. These girls laughed, smiled, and had fun together. They were so sweet, kind, and welcoming. They wouldn't call me muzungo (whiter person) because every time they did my new friend and team caption Cider would reprimand them and say her name is Jenny. You don't know how much that means to me because on of the hardest things about living here is that people so often see you for your skin color and what you can give them and do not see you as a person with a name. Thank you Lord. They goofed off and danced, which has turned into a game of trying to see what moves they can do that I can't do. I gave it my best shot, but some of those African dance moves are hard!! Just being there, I saw beauty, worth, and value in all these young girls and women. They were just so precious. I can only imagine how much more love God has for them.

This whole experience has just reminded me of the Lord's faithfulness. I needed this encouragement and he knew it. It also reminds of the verse in Luke about being faithful in the little things and to those God has given much he has entrusted much. It also reminds of a sermon I once heard by John Piper where he encouraged us to stop looking for the large and important roles in ministry, but to ask God what simple role he would have us to play and to let him know that we would be okay with any role even the most simplest of roles he would bless us with. It all just comes full circle for me. Upon coming to Rwanda I never would have thought I would be coaching a boys team and teaching at a soccer camp almost solely for boys even though I had women and girls on my heart and in my heart when I first arrived. But if there is one thing I have learned from my time in Africa it is that my expectations are not always God's expectations. I learned to take the little blessings and opportunities God gives me and to just be blessed and thankful for them. I have also learned as you focus on what God has before you in time he brings about new people, situations, and opportunities maybe even those ones you first expected, desired, and so deeply prayed for. Thank you Lord!