After a quick turnaround from our evening train ride home from the vacation in Xi’an and Hong Kong, we got up early Thursday morning to serve at the 2nd annual Haidian Church Soccer (Football) Outreach Camp. Some of you may remember a trip to Beijing last Spring where 6 Oregon coaches led the inaugural Chinese version of this outreach that Beaverton Foursquare Church started in our local neighborhood 5 years ago. (the story of that camp is told here: http://b4socceroutreach.blogspot.com/)
I could take way too much of your time describing the joy of spending 3 days on the soccer field with 90 Chinese kids who played soccer with all their hearts and stole our hearts with their smiles and joy. Our #1 goal this year was to transition the camp from an event run by foreigners to an event truly led by Chinese volunteers from Haidian Church. That goal was exceeded by miles! The camp director (whose English name is Daniel), along with 5 experienced soccer coaches and about 2 dozen volunteers, put on a camp that was top-quality, positively focused on the kids, and demonstrated the love of Jesus from start to finish. The 3-day camp culminated in a celebration at the church on the last evening, and we had nearly 250 people show up to cheer for the kids, hear a message about the love of Jesus (in Chinese), and invite families to continue a relationship with Haidian Church. A large percentage of the kids and families at the camp have never been part of the church before, and the camp leaders are already receiving encouraging notes from parents about the experiences their kids had on the field. We were the only foreigners at the camp, and quite frankly, they could have done the whole thing without the Mills family. We were there to encourage and have fun with everyone, but the Chinese leaders took this outreach and made it their own.
I think it’s best to sum up the week this way ...
Soccer is without question the best game in the world to cross language and cultural barriers. Most of the kids at this camp spoke little English (which is still more of my language than I speak of theirs) We used translators at times, but the “beautiful game” is easily explained without words, and by the end of camp, we felt as close to the kids as we do at home.
There is a big difference in punctuality between Chinese culture and American culture. At our Beaverton soccer camp, we set a start time of 8:30am, and we generally start the activities around 8:45-9:00, when all the kids have finally arrived. Here in China, I showed up at 7:30am and the volunteers were ready to go, with the field & refreshment stations already setup. The kids arrived at 8:00am, and we started the first activity before 8:30 every day. THE CHINESE ARE SERIOUS ABOUT SOCCER CAMP!
Kids in every culture love flags. The camp divides the players into teams based on World Cup countries, and within an hour, the kids were waving their flags and creating original cheers for their nations. (and I can now pronounce the names of 8 countries in Chinese!)
There is not enough sunblock in the city of Beijing to keep fair-skinned Oregonians from getting sunburned in China’s heat. (Temperatures were in the 90’s all week - even our Chinese friends were fighting to keep their skin from turning red)
Smog & bugs complicate a soccer camp.
When Beijing locals recommend that you run for cover from an impending thunderstorm, it's best to obey them. (or risk getting injured by marble-sized hail) And ... 20 minutes after the storm passed, the ice balls melted, the grass dried, and we were back on the field playing soccer.
Loading one of my kids on the back of a mini scooter and riding to and from soccer camp through Beijing traffic feels very different than driving my SUV through suburban Portland.
Prayer matters. Two weeks before this camp, there were less than 30 kids registered. We started praying the right kids would hear about the camp and have an opportunity to attend, and God answered that prayer. We had 90 kids, nearly double the number from last year, and there were enough kids to split them into younger and older groups, just like we do at home. This allowed the kids to play games with others at their level and also receive the Gospel message in age-appropriate terms.
There is strength and joy that comes when you are serving God that is unmatched in other situations. Without it, I could not have mustered the energy and strength for 40+ miles of walking and running over 3 super hot days. (my Apple watch app recorded over 65,000 steps!)
It doesn’t matter what country you are in — there are few things better than standing in the middle of a soccer field, watching a group of volunteers give up their vacation time to show kids the love of Jesus and help them have a lot of fun.
Photos and videos tell the story best - click on this photo to see the slideshow we presented for the families at the final evening celebration of the camp - I’ll cherish the smiles on the faces of these Chinese children for a long time.
I want to say a big thank you … I know many of you prayed specifically for this camp, and I also know there is a team of coaches and volunteers preparing right now to lead our Beaverton Foursquare Soccer camp in Oregon in just a few days. We wish we could be there to serve with you, but we are thankful we got to be part of the soccer outreach in Beijing this year. We will be praying for your camp and look forward to hearing all about it.
Please continue to keep in touch and pray for us … we have just over 6 weeks left on this mission and there are still many things God has for us to do. We miss you and look forward to seeing you soon!
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