A Soccer Ministry?

It’s hard to explain the importance of soccer/futbol in the Latin American world. Everywhere we go, we see kids playing their own variation on the game regardless of their circumstances. You see one child kicking something, trying to get around another child, in pursuit of a perceived “goal.” It may be a plastic bottle or tin can that they are kicking around a 25 square foot plot of dirt, aiming for a chair placed at one end. On the bible school campus, there is little that resembling “social activities,” but the futbol hours on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons are sacred! Pablo tells us that having a futbol field is one absolute necessity on the campus! The field may be full of mud puddles or piles of excrement left by the numerous animals that randomly graze there, and it may be pouring down rain, but the futbol must go on! Allowing young men from the community to use the field from time to time is considered a form of community outreach. In short, soccer is sacred.

So it is that we find ourselves with a futbol field for our front yard. So it is that we find ourselves trying to play soccer with Mexicans who have been playing since they began learning how to walk --- building relationships with them, learning from them, playing with them. It’s great exercise for us all, and for Holly and Maggie, it counts as PE time. But perhaps more importantly, it’s teaching us another key language here .... the language of futbol. We are learning new skills that will help us speak THAT new language too!

My new friend and fellow missionary, Sharon Hennefelt, talks about her first few years as a missionary here. She said that she spent most of her time teaching Tzeltal women about community health. She wasn’t sharing the gospel or saving souls, she was teaching women about outhouses....how to build them, how to use them, and how to clean them. Not exactly what she had in mind when she came to be a missionary! And playing soccer was not exactly what we had in mind either! But you see, the language of futbol is universal, just like smiles and music, and it’s through these universal languages that new relationships begin. And through those relationships, trust can build and more opportunities to learn from each other and to work together can emerge.

So, perhaps this is one of those lessons about being open to recognize opportunities for ministry that are presented in disguise! A soccer ministry, huh? Who would’ve thunk it?!