Lucas has had the privilege of getting hooked up with
playing on our neighborhood soccer team.
It has been a great way for him to build relationships with the guys in
our neighborhood. He can hardly walk
around in our neighborhood now without getting stopped at least 2-3 times by
guys he knows. Even the all the little
boys know him because all the little boys go to watch all the games.
The team started practicing at the beginning of June. They play every day except for Sundays. For about the first two months, they pretty
much just went and scrimmaged every day at the neighborhood field. Then they had games for a small
tournament. But now, there is actually a
coach because it is time for the “big” tournament Senegal wide called Navitan
(not sure on the spelling). Each day,
they do some fitness, do different drills and scrimmage and practices are
usually at least two and a half hours long.
On game days, Lucas has had the opportunity to pretty much
spend the whole day with the guys. They
meet usually around 11 in the morning and just talk and hang out. Then they go to a different house each time
they have a game for a typical Senegalese meal. We believe that this is really
what has gotten Lucas even more “in” with the guys because he eats what they
eat and drinks what they drink. Then in
the afternoon, they will head over to the field and get ready for the game.
An interesting twist on the team dinners is that there is
actually quite a bit of animism that goes on.
Although at least 90% of Senegal is Muslim and we live in a neighborhood
with quite a few Catholics, a majority of the Senegalese people also rely on
animism. The first time Lucas went to a
team dinner, the guys used some hot coals and threw a bit of plastic on them to
make it extra smoky. Then the guys
essentially let the smoke wash over them. After the smoke, they use this
special water with soap in it that they wash over their bodies. They wash themselves three times throughout
the day leading up to the game. The
point of these rituals is for protection during the game as well as against any
curses the other team may have cast on them.
They also add to their rituals at the game. Each time before they sit on the benches on
the sideline, they knock them all over and then set them back up. Sometimes one of the coaches will give them a
little twig to eat or sometimes they put a little bead in their shirt for
protection. 
It is a mix of guys on the team of Catholics and Muslims. Lucas has had the opportunity to explain why
he doesn’t need to partake in the rituals.
Our God is a big God and will protect him just through prayer. Now we have been praying extra hard that
Lucas will not get hurt just as a
testimony of God’s protection. One guy
said once, “well I believe in God and Jesus too!” But Lucas was able to explain that he
believed that God and God only could protect him from getting injured.
We think it is hard for so many Americans to not think these
rituals sound almost “kooky”, but when many of these guys have actually seen
witchcraft take place and spirits essentially at work, it would be hard to not
want to protect yourself from it. We
just hope and pray that even if we don’t see a transformation of any of the
guys hearts now that we are able to just be faithful through the little things
of everyday life, playing on a football team (which such a large part of life
here) and planting seeds in hopes that someday each guy will see and understand
how much our God loves and cares for them.
