Monday June 14th

Today was our first full day here at training camp-and it was definitely a full day! All of the girls have been placed into six different teams that are competing against each other for the entire week in a mock "Survivor" style competition. The team names are : Moraka, Maroyaya, Wakachu, Tamburi, Hakiri, and Rumbaki.

Here are some thoughts on the obstacle course this morning from one of our AIA girls, Brianna Roth...

"Let me just say as a Survivor fan, I was thrilled to hear that we were going to be doing a Survivor challenge this morning! The place that we are staying at has some really challenging and interesting obstacle courses which we used, and I truly got a taste of what a Survivor challenge could be like. From wading across a muddy lake while trying to keep one teammate completely dry, to crawling through a very tight mess of wire cable without touching the ground, to completing a challenging low ropes course, the morning was filled with lots of fun and hard work. We also wound up with a lot of little cuts and some big bruises! As an athlete, I love competing and especially when I am competing as a team. I loved seeing my team and other teams come together so quickly after only meeting each other yesterday, and the encouragement and spirit of the teams was incredible! The spirit of the South African girls is so inspiring and I believe God has blessed us so much in allowing us to so quickly connect and interact with them. Needless to say, this morning was an awesome start to camp and to be able to work together with my team and be an encourager and be encouraged by them was something I will remember as we continue to build relationships with the girls. Can't wait to see more of what God has in store for the rest of the week!"

We also began teaching through the AIA principles, beginning with the first-Audience of One. This included a teaching session indoors as well as some on field application. Here are some thoughts on this first session from Jilisa Krushel, another one of our AIA girls...

"We had the pleasure of hearing from Riley, on of the AIA staff here in South Africa this afternoon. She talked about worship and how we as athletes can use worship while we play our sport and how our faith and sport should come together. One of the main points that I picked up on and that I think most of the girls related to was how God needs to be involved in every aspect of our lives, not just a portion of our lives that we focus on when we aren't busy with other things in our busy lives. She showed us an image of a dinner plate with different sections for each part of the meal and used each section to represent parts of our lives; relationships, sport, school, and God. The point that she was emphasizing was that God shouldn't be a portion of our lives, but instead He should be in the center of each of the portions. After we had the session we were challenged to take what we learned onto the field. We had a series of 5 v 5 games and we were each challenged to think about what we were thankful for and how they were going to incorporate this with soccer playing. To sum it up it has been an awesome experience and it's been overwhelming to see how everything has come together and how God is working in the girls here. I am really looking forward to see what else is to come for the week!