Summer is the time for vacations and camps. Until mid-June, we still had training sessions in all groups. Then there was a trip to Prague!
The thing is that the Sports Ambassadors organization serves in Prague, they play soccer with children and adults. We met by chance, through social networks, a relationship was formed, and this summer they invited us to visit them. Coach Daniel has several groups of football players and soccer players, among them refugees from Ukraine. In addition to training, he conducts Bible lessons with them, just like in our Nadiya Team. The purpose of the trip was to get to know each other, exchange experiences, and plan further cooperation. For us, this was the first trip abroad as a team, so there was a lot of prayer and anxiety, because another coach, Tom Merchant, and I took 14 boys with us, for whom we were responsible for a whole week.
For many of the guys on this trip, there were many firsts: the first train ride, the first country outside of Ukraine, the first experience of communicating with foreigners, and many different emotions and adventures. Prague turned out to be a very beautiful city, every day Daniel organized city tours for us, we even visited the zoo! The first days have been an amazing adventure for the guys from new impressions, we sometimes had to apply discipline to calm their hot heads… We won all the matches against the locals, after each game there was a short Gospel sermon and communication, but what I remember most was the first evening in the hotel where we all lived together. In the evening, they come up to me, tired, barely alive from the stress of the first day, and ask: “Uncle Sasha, will there be a Bible lesson?” After such a question, where did the strength and energy come from! So every evening and every morning we had a great time in the Word, exploring the topic “Why do I not do good, knowing that it is right, but do evil, which brings me problems.” Each time the Word pointed to Christ, who is the source of our victories over sin and the flesh. Thanks be to God for our trip to Prague!
Oleksandr Honchar
