2018 Soccer Camp

From July 30 to August 1 we held our 11th annual Jerusalem Ministry soccer camp for 3rd to 6th grade boys from different children homes around Seoul. Due to some social welfare changes implemented in 2007 the number of elementary school students in the homes is now far less than it used to be, so this year we only had 24 boys from six different children’s homes. That is quite a contrast from a few years ago when we had 56 boys attend our camp. While we would love to have more kids, we could see God’s grace in only giving us 24 and I’ll explain that in some of the stories below.

This summer has been the hottest summer ever on record for Korea. The high temperatures were 99, 100, and 103 for each day, with the last day being the hottest day ever on record for Korea. Each day was also forecast as completely sunny. Almost every year God has done something interesting with the weather and has blessed us, and yet still every year I worry about the weather interfering with the camp (forgive me, Lord!). On the first morning I picked up my boys at 7:45am and it was already really hot with the sun shining and not a single cloud in the sky. My boys were super excited for the camp and didn’t say a word about the weather.

Upon arrival we got everyone under some trees at a picnic area and, after a brief orientation, Jee led all of the 24 boys in praying for the weather that clouds would come in and cover the sun and let us play outside that day. She had the boys pray on their own for a minute or so, and right after they finished praying I could see one little cloud had appeared in the sky but nothing else.

We kept the boys in the shade and then had Coach Shalom and Coach Calvin each call out their rosters one by one.

Next we gave the boys their new uniforms (Manchester United in the red and Manchester City in the blue) along with brand new Nike football shoes. The boys love this! One of the new boys was ecstatic and kept asking older boys around him, “Do we get to keep the shirt? What about the shorts? The socks, too?! And the shoes?!” He even asked if he could keep the shoe box (of course). =)

After getting them dressed we made sure to apply sunscreen on them

After the 20 minutes or so of getting ready, the cloudless sky had become this…

The sun wasn’t covered yet though so Jee had the teams gather separately under the canopy tents (the sun and the heat were so strong we couldn’t keep them out of the shade for more than a few minutes) and pray for the clouds to cover the sun. Very shortly after their prayers the sky looked like this…

The sky wasn’t completely covered with clouds, but the clouds were blocking the sun and the heat was much more bearable. We had the teams run out and begin practicing and the kids were so excited! They would continue to pray throughout the day and we managed to play outside in 90+ degrees heat until about 2pm. The clouds covering the sun made it bearable, but now and then the sun would poke through so we would have the kids rest under the tents and also cool them off with the hose.

Here is camp director Jee with one of the boys during a break

By lunchtime the boys had already bonded a lot

#12 below was the only 7th grader we allowed at the camp as a special exception. His name is Jungho and during his first couple camps as a 3rd (2014) and 4th grader (2015) he got in fights now and then and showed some attitude. But with every camp his attitude improved more and more, and during this camp he was an amazing example to all of the younger boys. Usually younger boys are scared of the older boys because they get yelled at and even hit by them living in the children’s homes. But our older boys at this camp, especially Jungho, changed that dynamic. Here he is walking holding hands with a young boy from another home. Among boys from children’s homes that is almost never seen. The younger boys at the camp were so blessed by him that some of them were crying as they were being taken home that they missed him already. We’re so proud of Jungho!

After lunch we played some dodge ball together, first pitting team against team

Team Manchester City (Jungho is the tall boy)

For the second game and third game we played volunteers against the kids. They loved it!

Because of the heat we had to get everyone under the canopy tents about every 15 minutes. The boys didn’t complain and instead enjoyed bonding with the volunteers.

Despite the heat the boys really wanted to play a scrimmage outside. After some discussion with my staff we decided to let them play for about 10 minutes. We lined up the boys, I shared the rules, and then we had them shake hands before starting.

Team Manchester City getting some last words of instruction from their coach.

Game time!

Our volunteers cheering

After just 10 minutes of game play I blew my whistle and got us all back under the tents. After some more discussion we decided to go indoors. For the first time in our camp’s history (dating back to 2008) we were given permission to use an indoor gym. A few weeks before the camp we had requested gym access and we were denied as usual, but the morning of our first day our camp director Jee went to the office and asked one more time. For whatever reason that morning they said, “Sure!” So we were able to move our 24 kids and 33 volunteers into an air conditioned gym for some 6 on 6 indoor soccer. It was God’s grace that we only had 2 teams this year. We couldn’t have fit anymore boys in the gym. 24 boys was perfect. And without this gym we may have had to cancel the camp because of the heat. God provided!

Myungsoo, the boy pictured below, is from the children’s home I serve at. He has been one of the hardest boys I have taught English to over the years: anger issues, rebelliousness, whiny, lying, etc. Last year he was quite a headache for his volunteers but they did their best to love him and discipline him. And they left a mark. In the past year he has improved a lot. This year volunteers from last year noticed the difference in him. He absolutely loves the camp and the loving care of the volunteers clearly rubbed off on him. It blesses my hear to see how the kids change from the intense love they receive during our three day camps.

The camp was so popular even Elvis showed up =)

After indoor soccer we ended the day with compliments time. This is where the volunteers individually affirm each kid and demonstrate to them the language of compliments. Kids in children’s homes rarely receive compliments and instead are usually just criticized/reprimanded for their mistakes. On the first day the boys usually don’t know how to give compliments, but by the second day some of the boys will speak up and compliment another boy or one of the volunteers. On day 2 one boy complimented a volunteer by saying, “Thank you for not getting angry at me when I spilled water and for saying that it wasn’t a big deal.” That compliment sadly shows the fear a lot of these boys are raised in, being yelled at for even little mistakes. The soccer camp is like a refreshing oasis for them.

At the end of day 1 the boys got goodbye hugs and high fives from the volunteers

Volunteer Yolguk on the left was serving for the second time with us. My boy Myungsoo (who I wrote about it earlier) had requested to me that he be on his team and was really excited to see him. Yolguk did a great job again at this camp but injured his shoulder in the morning of day 2 and had to be taken to a local hospital. The boys didn’t know he got injured and were curious where he went. His injury kept him from returning to the camp, so on the morning of day 3 Coach Shalom (hugging a boy below) told his team about Yolguk’s injury and that he wouldn’t be able to return. The boys began crying upon hearing the news. They had only been with Yolguk for one full day and part of the morning on day 2, but they had already received enough love from him to be so sad about his injury and him not being able to return. Jee led the boys in praying for Yolguk and then we cheered the boys up and they had a good rest of the camp.

At the end of day 1 a volunteer asked Minjun (below) if he was going to pray at night for the weather the next day. Minjun responded, “No, I’m going to pray that I get to play soccer with you tomorrow.” More than being comfortable or just playing with each other, these boys want connection with loving adults.

Here is Team Manchester City

And Team Manchester United

We also took individual shots of the boys. Wonsuk’s pose was classic…

This little guy, Minchan, was new to the camp. His social worker who sent him was worried because he is a tough kid to handle with severe ADHD and he had gotten into a fight with another boy just a week before the camp. During our camp he wasn’t easy to handle, but he drank in the love. One volunteer shared that her first interaction with him on day 1 was telling him to stop when he was climbing the benches in the gym. He came down, chatted with a friend, and then went right back to climbing the benches. She told him again to stop and then warned him that if he did it again he would get a strike. He stared at her for 30 seconds and then thankfully came down. She was worried he would hate her after that, but the next morning he ran up to her and asked for her name. She told him her name and he then asked about other volunteers’ names as well. He soon had memorized all the names of the volunteers and happily said their names (Elizabeth teacher! Joy teacher! etc) and helped pass out water bottles without being asked. His boundless energy made him tough to handle at times, but it was clear the love at the camp was doing a deep work in him. His social worker told us after the camp that she saw a marked change in his behavior. Praise God!

After lunch on day 2 we took the boys bowling for the first time in camp history. Once again, thanks to the smaller number at the camp we were able to pull this off.

Bowling allowed for a lot of cheering, high fives, hugs, and close bonding. And because it was a bowling alley on the US base they had bumpers for the kids (most Korean bowling alleys don’t have bumpers). So the boys were guaranteed to hit something with almost every throw. They loved it!

He got the spare!

We held compliments time at the bowling alley on day 2 before ending the campday

After the boys would leave, the volunteers along with Jee would clean up and then gather to share reflections from the day, ideas for improvements, and then pray together. Our volunteers were amazing!

On day 3, the last day and the hottest day ever in Korea’s history, we played outside for only about 20 minutes early in the morning. We held a penalty kick shootout where each boy got a shot against volunteer Danbi and then a shot against me.

More cheers and love for the boys

After the shootout we went inside for the “championship.”

The game was intense but the boys all played well and had a good time

After the game and another activity we had lunch and award presentations. Here were the two MVP’s of their teams: Sangjin and Sukhyun.

Next were the sportsmanship awards: Hyungu and Jungho. What blesses me so much is that Sukhyun (above right), Hyungu, and Jungho all weren’t easy when they first attended as 3rd graders and again as 4th graders. But with every camp over the years their demeanor and their attitudes improved thanks to the love and discipline from the volunteers. They became good models for the younger boys. I’m so blessed by the transformation of these boys!

Volunteer Pauline with some of her boys

Staff Mijeong with one of the boys she escorted

Per tradition starting with our first camp in 2008, we ended the last camp day with swimming

The sun was blazing so strongly that the pavement was like hot coals, but that didn’t stop the boys from having a great time playing with each other and with the volunteers

After swimming, most of the volunteers had to say their goodbyes to the boys. It got a bit emotional. My staff and I are always blessed to see volunteers give their all for the kids and experience God’s heart of love for them.

For the past five years or so Vatos Urban Tacos has hosted the championship team for a special dinner at their restaurant. For this camp, because we had just 24 boys, they welcomed all of them along with the escorts, coaches, and staff for a special dinner. They set aside a large room for us and fed the kids a nice buffet meal. Here is Jee addressing everyone before the meal…

The boys loved the meal, especially the chicken wings. These two are brothers.

After the meal we had the coaches come up and present each boy with a team picture. When they called up them up the coaches shared some affirming words for each boy. This was my favorite part of the camp because by this point the boys’ hearts were as open as ever and it is so rare for them to get detailed affirmation from a male adult figure (almost all of them are raised by female social workers). Here is Coach Shalom with one of his boys.

The boys drank up the affirmation. Here is Coach Calvin affirming Minjun…

A group picture at the end…

This was another camp covered with God’s grace: the cloud cover the first day, the gym access, the boys loving the bowling, volunteers giving their all despite the heat and no one complaining, provision for all the food/supplies/uniforms (even got special access to Nike’s employee store, thank you Sunghoon!), plenty of drivers and military base volunteers, all of the boys getting to go to Vatos and being affirmed individually, and so much more! God is good!