Hearts for Harvest: Bringing Floorball to Villages

Last Wednesday (10/6), floorball (a type of floor hockey) entered the villages of Assumani and Sanjala (instead of Namacula). These activities gave the Mozambican coaches opportunities to organize trainings and “fun” tournaments with children in the villages. As we played in the sunny and dusty fields in both Assumani and Sanjala, Jesus brought much joy into the lives of the children and the adults that were watching them.

Last Thursday (10/7), several tournaments were held all day in the city’s sports arena to host 100’s of kids from around 8 years old to teenagers. The top winners received special prizes, including sports’ shirts or shorts, and everyone who participated received nice prizes. In preparation of the event, Celio and some of the coaches made 4 more goals out of PVC tubing. We used fishing net to cover the goals. We only needed a little bit, but had to purchase the shortest length available - 100 meters long (~300 ft.) and 4 meters (~12 ft.) high. Of course, we had plenty of fishing net left over!

On Saturday (10/9), we had a wonderful time in Namacula introducing children to floorball, and singing and dancing (in the dirt again) to African songs of various languages. I asked Victo to come along with the Swiss Team and Mozambican coaches so he could help run the sound system. Some of the ladies on the Swiss team led the crowd in a silly song in English about a banana. The children enjoyed it so much that the ladies did it again. Then, we attempted to play the Jesus film, but couldn’t get it to run properly. So, we played a powerful film about a muslim man who converted to Christianity because Jesus revealed Himself to him through dreams. Victo preached after the film and many people, including children, gave their lives to Christ. Then we called for the sick, and many people came to the front to receive prayer. In the beginning, some of my Mozambican coaches were kind of timid, but they slowly got courage and began to pray for people. It was very dark outside and I had forgotten to bring the floodlight which runs off the generator. So, I turned the lights on from my truck, and pointed them toward the platform to make “spotlights”. Praise God who does all things well!

On Friday, the Swiss team returned back to Switzerland. Pray that Jesus would help the coaches to continue floorball in Namacula and other areas of the city. Also pray that Jesus would give me wisdom, plans, and greater vision to disciple the coaches and young men and women players now that the floorball camp is over. Sports is a “language” that transcends many boundaries, and our floorball teams are open to everyone. We pray that Jesus would use floorball to declare the good news of Jesus Christ to youth and develop the lives of young people in Lichinga and beyond.

The Director of Floorball4All in Switzerland and Tyren