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Geneva soccer travels to Uganda
For two weeks, Geneva women’s soccer had the opportunity to share two of their passions with children in Soroti, Uganda.
Combining soccer with outreach, the Geneva Women, along with two players from the men’s team, incorporated a soccer clinic with devotions, singing and testimonies. They also ran a VBS Children’s outreach time at a local church and visited an Amacet orphanage, which provides support specifically to kids affected by AIDS.
The trip was organized by International Teams, an inter-denominational, non-profit Christian group that works to mobilize teams to transform communities through Christ. Hosted by International Teams’ long-term missionaries Tim and Angie Sliedrecht, the Geneva team included Coach Linda Sumner, Amber Weaver, Amanda Munsch, Kelsey Anderson, Lauren Londino, Amanda Caler, Abigail Young, Jamie Williams, Allison Berlin, Jon Hunt and Akambe Annankra.
Throughout the trip, the team kept a Web log to share daily events, pictures and prayer requests with friends and family at home:
“We probably had about 20 to 25 girls today [at the soccer clinic],” wrote Coach Sumner. “We worked on shooting, but most of the girls play in their bare feet so it was difficult to practice. During our devotions we talked about sin and how there is a winning team (God’s team) and there is also a losing team (Satan’s team). Abby talked about sin and no matter how “good” we are we still cannot reach God because we all sin.”
As they experienced what God was doing in Uganda and in their own hearts, the soccer team felt the weight of the gospel’s call.
“Our first Friday there we climbed Soroti rock to watch the sunrise,” writes Allison Berlin, reflecting on her trip. “As people and animals awoke and began their day, the sun rose in brilliant colors over the city. I was overwhelmed with the emotion of how much God loves each individual in this town with a fiery passion and wants to scoop them up and love them personally in an intimate relationship.”
“I feel this trip was a tremendous time of growth for our players and was an awesome opportunity to see the Lord working both in us and through us,” says Sumner. “I know this was a life-changing experience for all of us.”
To learn more about the soccer team’s trip to Uganda, visit http://genevasoccer.blogspot.com.
– Laura Cerbus ‘08
