The past week five of us guys left out Impact team to join other guys who would serve as chaperones during Craven Week. Craven week is the biggest U-18 rugby tournament in South Africa where twenty all-star teams from around the country come and play three games over the course of a week. As chaperones we were each assigned a team, and our job was essentially to serve the team in any way that we could to help things run more smoothly and also build relationships with the intention of being a spiritual leader for the guys. My team was the Limpopo Blue Bulls. They are from the northeastern part of the country. The majority of the players were farmers and hunters, guys I could relate to being from Missouri Valley. I noticed that my team was often racially segregated. In the dorms most of the white players were on the first floor, and the black players were on the second floor. This was also the case at meals. It was a little difficult for me to make sure i was hanging out with everyone on the team when they were so often separated.  But overall my team was super cool. They were always cracking jokes and wrestling with each other, I speak that language well. The language I don’t speak well if Afrikaans, which was team’s language, and they didn’t like using English unless they had to. In spite of the language barrier I was able to connect with the guys on multiple levels. I was able to have some deep conversions with a few guys, and by the end of the week I knew they accepted me as one of them. On the last day the team manager gave me a picture of the team and a few of the guys asked me want why I wasn’t in it. That moment was pretty special for me. Craven week was definitely a highlight of my trip. God challenged me on a lot of ways, but he also worked through me in a lot of ways. I definitely think I was in my element. Oh and I also learned a lot about rugby! I hope to play it when I get back to the states.

We are now on the last leg of our trip. We have finished with most of our outreaches and are now in the re-entry phase, learning how to deal with coming home. We are also working on our ministry plans and putting on paper what God is calling us to. That is a daunting, but exciting task. Thank you all for the prayers and support you have shown me. I truly wouldn’t be where I am without you all.

God bless