August 4, 2008
“The skies threatened rain, but the soccer game in Senegal went off as planned,” said Alliance worker Doug Conkle. Young men from an underprivileged neighborhood participated in the youth sporting event that was sponsored by a nonprofit Christian community center with which Conkle’s team partners. Soccer balls were donated by a U.S. Alliance church youth group that wanted to get involved with missions.
Just before the game, one of the teams learned it probably wouldn’t be able to start practice for the upcoming season because there were no usable soccer balls from the previous year. “What a surprise for them when both teams were presented with not one but five soccer balls to use for practice!” said Conkle. “It’s great to see how God coordinated efforts of a youth group in the States to validate our testimony here.”
After the game, the players watched a taped video testimony of a Christian soccer player from the Cote d’Ivoire national team. “Each player left with a t-shirt that advertised the community center and a smile on his face,” said Conkle.