Post by GoEagles7 on Dec 28, 2002 14:09:57 GMT -5
Merry late Christmas everyone!!! Thank you so much to each of you who emailed me the past few weeks. It was a bit crazy returning to my email account and finding 243 emails waiting on me!!! of course not all were personal ones, but needless to say, i have had a lot of catching up to do with my emails!! so thank you and merry christmas!
i do hope that each of your christmas days were great and that you enjoyed your time with your loved ones. that was and has been difficult being away from my friends and family. i miss you guys a ton! so please don't miss out on spending quality time with your families, enjoy it!
well the past 3 weeks have been unbelievable and i want to share them with you briefly, so here is a highlight list(i love those!):
- Jamie, the girl on staff with Football Friends with Jacob and I went to Jigjiga for 20 days. the city is about 1-2 hours drive from the somalian border.
- the SIM under 18 years old boys soccer team and their coach. the team was made up mostly of somalian players. we ran 3 practices a week for them and had a clinic and a competition between them and the sports commission team in jigjiga. it was a wonderful time of relationship building.
- the SIM boys and girls under 18 years old basketball teams. the teams were also made up mostly of somalian players. this was pretty funny because jamie and i are not very good basketball players, but boy could we talk the game! hahah! we had 3 practices a week with each team. it was amazing how soccer drills can transfer to basketball! hahah! the kids were so much fun to work with, other than their lack of discipline. we did many pushups! hahah!
- one of jamie, jacob, and my responsibilities during our time here in ethiopia is to write a devotional series for Football Friends, so that we can give them to missionaries all over ethiopia for their use with the youth of their area. so, jamie and i almost each nite worked on this series and had amazing times of insight into ideas and subjects to write on. it is going to be 12 devotionals that relates a sporting story with a biblical character trait. so, we began using some of the devotionals with our 3 teams in jigjiga. it needs some fine tuning, but overall, the kids were very responsive and listened closely as we shared with them. one specific time was we had our boys basketball team sitting down for our talk and two of the players were off the side of the court doing their evening prayers to allah. they finished and came over and listened to our talk. it was amazing and i pray that the Lord will touch their hearts! pray for that! that may somalis will come to know jesus in a real way!
- we had 4 coaches come to the first ever SIM Coaching Course in Jigjiga. i spent about a week preparing a curriculum to go through with these men and it went very well. it was the first time i had ever done anything like this. we spent time together in a class room with the chalk board and translator and did practical sessions on the soccer field. the coaches were so excited about this course! i honestly just thought, "what would Coach Steffens, OB, Ben or Pinchy do?" hahah! thanks guys! the relationships built were amazing and i look forward to keeping in touch with these men. pray for their salvation: Teka, Teklu, Abdi Raman, Teketel.
- jamie and i, along with the SIM man to jigjiga crossed the border to somalia to visit a sight where an education project is beginnning. it was great spending a day over there and eating spaghetti with our hands! haha! also, camel hump and liver is a great meal suprisingly! hhah! we saw many camels and other wild life on the drive over. the kids there are so cute!
- i fed a hyena with my teeth in Harar.
- Christmas was tough being away from friends and family, but we made up for it a little bit here in addis. 11 of us single friends had a slumber party Christmas Eve and woke up to Santa's sleigh in the morning, hahah! actually i woke up to my mom, dad and joel on the phone for me! thanks guys!! i love and miss you tons!
- we had the first annual Christmas morning spear throwing contest at our house. we woke up and went in the backyard where we threw spears at some balloons my mom sent over for christmas. we even tied balloons to jacob and made him run around while we threw! just kidding! thanks for the balloons mom! hhahha!
- well, my recovery has been a slow one still. i have taken the last 2.5 weeks off from any running and will hopefully return to running the first of january. this has been very difficult to deal with, but God has and is teaching me MANY lessons through this disappointment. please continue to pray with me for a quick, full recovery. thank you.
well, i do love you guys a ton and thank you for your emails! i wish i could write each of you personally, but i can't now. please keep informing me on how each of you are doing!
read isaiah 53 sometime(thanks Dad!), it is awesome!
nate watkins
i do hope that each of your christmas days were great and that you enjoyed your time with your loved ones. that was and has been difficult being away from my friends and family. i miss you guys a ton! so please don't miss out on spending quality time with your families, enjoy it!
well the past 3 weeks have been unbelievable and i want to share them with you briefly, so here is a highlight list(i love those!):
- Jamie, the girl on staff with Football Friends with Jacob and I went to Jigjiga for 20 days. the city is about 1-2 hours drive from the somalian border.
- the SIM under 18 years old boys soccer team and their coach. the team was made up mostly of somalian players. we ran 3 practices a week for them and had a clinic and a competition between them and the sports commission team in jigjiga. it was a wonderful time of relationship building.
- the SIM boys and girls under 18 years old basketball teams. the teams were also made up mostly of somalian players. this was pretty funny because jamie and i are not very good basketball players, but boy could we talk the game! hahah! we had 3 practices a week with each team. it was amazing how soccer drills can transfer to basketball! hahah! the kids were so much fun to work with, other than their lack of discipline. we did many pushups! hahah!
- one of jamie, jacob, and my responsibilities during our time here in ethiopia is to write a devotional series for Football Friends, so that we can give them to missionaries all over ethiopia for their use with the youth of their area. so, jamie and i almost each nite worked on this series and had amazing times of insight into ideas and subjects to write on. it is going to be 12 devotionals that relates a sporting story with a biblical character trait. so, we began using some of the devotionals with our 3 teams in jigjiga. it needs some fine tuning, but overall, the kids were very responsive and listened closely as we shared with them. one specific time was we had our boys basketball team sitting down for our talk and two of the players were off the side of the court doing their evening prayers to allah. they finished and came over and listened to our talk. it was amazing and i pray that the Lord will touch their hearts! pray for that! that may somalis will come to know jesus in a real way!
- we had 4 coaches come to the first ever SIM Coaching Course in Jigjiga. i spent about a week preparing a curriculum to go through with these men and it went very well. it was the first time i had ever done anything like this. we spent time together in a class room with the chalk board and translator and did practical sessions on the soccer field. the coaches were so excited about this course! i honestly just thought, "what would Coach Steffens, OB, Ben or Pinchy do?" hahah! thanks guys! the relationships built were amazing and i look forward to keeping in touch with these men. pray for their salvation: Teka, Teklu, Abdi Raman, Teketel.
- jamie and i, along with the SIM man to jigjiga crossed the border to somalia to visit a sight where an education project is beginnning. it was great spending a day over there and eating spaghetti with our hands! haha! also, camel hump and liver is a great meal suprisingly! hhah! we saw many camels and other wild life on the drive over. the kids there are so cute!
- i fed a hyena with my teeth in Harar.
- Christmas was tough being away from friends and family, but we made up for it a little bit here in addis. 11 of us single friends had a slumber party Christmas Eve and woke up to Santa's sleigh in the morning, hahah! actually i woke up to my mom, dad and joel on the phone for me! thanks guys!! i love and miss you tons!
- we had the first annual Christmas morning spear throwing contest at our house. we woke up and went in the backyard where we threw spears at some balloons my mom sent over for christmas. we even tied balloons to jacob and made him run around while we threw! just kidding! thanks for the balloons mom! hhahha!
- well, my recovery has been a slow one still. i have taken the last 2.5 weeks off from any running and will hopefully return to running the first of january. this has been very difficult to deal with, but God has and is teaching me MANY lessons through this disappointment. please continue to pray with me for a quick, full recovery. thank you.
well, i do love you guys a ton and thank you for your emails! i wish i could write each of you personally, but i can't now. please keep informing me on how each of you are doing!
read isaiah 53 sometime(thanks Dad!), it is awesome!
nate watkins