Soccer Outing

Last summer, I began playing soccer with some other expatriates (most from Europe or the US) on a weekly basis. For several months, we played weekly against locals in “friendly” competition. Unfortunately, the competition was often less than friendly. Moreover, I felt that I might be missing out on an opportunity to make local friends by joining a local team.

For almost two months I inquired of my friends if there might be opportunities to play on a local team. Finally through the co-worker of a friend of a friend, I was invited to show up one Saturday to play. Luckily, they were short on players that day.

They allowed me to play from day one, but becoming a part of the team has been a long process (six months so far). Leaving a team (expat team) where you could banter freely during breaks to join a team who are old friends that didn’t come to spend time with you has been quite a growing experience for me, yet such a necessary one. Having followed His leading to this country may have blinded me a bit to the fact that most locals view our presence as insignificant at best.

I’ve mentioned before how feeling small has reminded me of how big He is. It also reminds me that I am called to play a small part of something big, much like you in your life situation. Let’s lift each other up as we make our contributions, realizing that He has the power to multiply the impact of our offerings.

Recently we took the whole family to one of my soccer matches. Upon learning my family would attend, one of my teammates invited the whole team to eat dinner at his restaurant that night. What an interesting and meaningful day it turned out to be.

Gracy and the kids made some new friends from the sidelines, where the dirt proved to be the kids' most interesting form of entertainment... Susanna "chatting" with her new friend, Ruan JiaHao Bing was my initial contact to the team.Me and the guys ...After the game, we headed to Hao Bing's house to hang out until dinner time. There, he and his friends served us tea--which we learned can be quite an extravagant ordeal, depending on the type of tea that is served. Susanna found the process quite intriguing... as did we!After tea and snacks, we rode with Hao Bing and his wife Xiao Xia to the restaurant for dinner. The guys played checkers while the ladies chatted and the kids enjoyed watching the fish in the pond outside. We also enjoyed a couple of games of ping pong before eating a HUGE meal consisting of a variety of local flavors.

It was fun to be included in such a relaxed and enjoyable evening. By the end of the night, we almost felt like "old friends" ourselves.