Even though it's only November, the third week in February is getting closer and closer. February 20th is the first day of tryouts for Hayfield Secondary's softball team. That third week in February is always one of my favorite times of the year. It means I can get my glove back out and take the first whiff of the year of the musty smell of dirt gathered from fields across the globe (literally). It means that I can clap last year's mud off of my metal spikes to once again hear the awesome crunching sound of metal on pavement. It means that it's back to having my nights consumed by practices and games and more practices and more games. It means back to hearing and feeling the sweet spot of a bat (and the horrid vibration when you don't hit it in cold weather). Back to odd tanlines and sunflower seeds. Back to calling pitches and playing under the lights. Back to throwing batting practice (even though I've always been a catcher) and to bruises on my shins that come from unexpected ball ricochets. Can you tell that I love softball? I've spent the past 7 years invested in the softball program at Hayfield (4 years playing, 3 years as a volunteer coach whenever I'm home)...that's 1/3 of my life! This season will be different, this season I'll be a full-time staffed coach. I get to make decisions, call plays, coach a base (always harder than you think), and teach girls how to become better players. I get the chance to build the program. Even better, I get to shine the light of Christ to the same high school I came to know Him in. Being a high school girl is tough and high school can be a dark place. Many of the players need someone to care about them and acknowledge their existence. They need to know about the One who cares and loves beyond what we can imagine. Coaching is a mission field and the more I think about combining my passion for Jesus with my passion for softball the more excited I get.
In the meantime, and on a silly note, I'm trying to decide what to have the players call me. It's kinda like a giddy girl who's dating someone and one of the first things she does is try his last name with her name to see if it sounds alright. Now, that might be a tad extreme, but I'm so excited about coaching that I've been trying different coach names with my name. Coach Kelsey? Sounds like a newbie name. Coach Talbot? Makes me sound a little old. Coach T? Sounds too much like the head coach, Coach G. Coach KK (nickname that has stuck in the softball world over the years)? Too many syllables. Coach K? Heeeeyyyy :) It's short, it's simple, it doesn't make me sound old or like the other coach (who happens to also be old), and it has a lovely association with the Coach K of the Duke basketball team (who's a beast of a coach). Think I could be the new and improved Coach K?
I'm prettier than Coach K when I yell. And I also got really excited yesterday because my name is officially listed as a varsity assistant coach on Hayfield's athletics website. In fact, I was so excited that a squeal slipped out. Here comes my coaching debut!
This was the theme of the Urbana Missions Conference back in 2009. This is also what has been repeating over and over in my head concerning missions since then. Urbana studied how Jesus approached missions and challenged us to imitate Him.
"And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us..."
John 1:14
The Holman Christian Standard translation replaces "dwelt" with "took up residence." Jesus came down from Heaven to live among the people of the earth; He met them where they were. Jesus went into homes and neighborhoods. He went into cities and towns. From place to place, He lived among and with the people and endured life with them. And He brought the Kingdom of God into those neighborhoods, cities, and towns when He lived among them. This is how Jesus did missions. He didn't make the people come to Him (although many did follow Him), He went to the people and loved them so much as to live with and dwell among them in their daily lives.
And this is what I can't help but think about whenever I think about the Kageyo Refugee Camp in Rwanda.
Plans have been coming together for me to spend a year in Rwanda with Africa New Life Ministries starting January 2013. This is obviously still being prayed over and planned, but in the meantime I'll visit Rwanda for two weeks this coming February in order to solidify some of those details. How did this come into the picture you ask? Long story short, I've wanted to go to Rwanda ever since I became a believer and I know people who know important people. Currently, the president of Africa New Life is desiring for native English speakers to help teach English in the schools. Teaching English as a native speaker is invaluable in Africa. English is the official language in the education system and essentially, if you don't know English as a child in Africa, then there's no hope for you. Teaching them English helps them help themselves. Anywho, as you saw from the video, Kageyo is way out in the boonies in eastern Rwanda, so out in the boonies that there isn't any running water or electricity. It's also common for water buffalo to be roaming around. It's also not uncommon for villagers to have to shoot a hippo every so often because of the danger hippos are to the villagers. And as you also saw, Kageyo is the home to hundreds of refugees that had once fled Rwanda due to the 1994 genocide. The kids out there need to learn English and, of course, everybody needs Jesus. A church has been up and going for a year or so, but there's more need for discipleship in addition to continue reaching that village with the Gospel.
There's a couple options when it comes to the possibility of me working with Africa New Life. There's the option of working in the schools in Kigali, Rwanda's capital and in the middle of the hustle and bustle. Then there's Kageyo. There's no one out there in the village teaching English. The conversation with a friend went something like this: "So Kageyo, no running water, no electricity, cook all your food over a fire, pee in a hole, 3 hours away from the city...sound appealing?" "Sure does!" "Wait...really?" "Uhhhh yeah, someone needs to go out there. I want to." I want to be the one to go where no one else wants to go. Why? Because Jesus did. He talked to people no one wanted to talk to. He touched people no one wanted to touch. He lived in the places that were counted as measly, nothing towns. I've been told that I could be placed in the city, where I could have the comforts of indoor plumbing, a place to plug in a laptop, and actual floors and walls without the worry of a water buffalo or a hippo running rampant. That's not the point. I could care less about water buffalo or where I pee as long as people are being reached. Jesus never said to go and make disciples and be comfortable, He just said go. Jesus Himself didn't have a place to lay His head; clearly it was not on His priority list. Nor will it be on mine. I will endure whatever it takes to teach those kids English and to share my Jesus with that village in the middle of nowhere Rwanda, the village that has hundreds of people that no one wants. I want to dwell among the people, just as Jesus did. Send me to Kageyo, Papa.
