Jul
4
Finally…a Belgium Update!
Filed Under AIA Track & Field Ministry
Finally, some time to sit down and let y’all know what’s been going on here in Belgium! The flight over was long. I was confused when the flight attendant asked us to shut the window shade since the sun was coming up soon…just minutes earlier it went down. Still getting used to being 6 hours ahead of back home.
As with most trips, nothing goes as you plan. We technically didn’t have a SPECIAL for this tour, but the last four days seems to qualify as one. For our first day, my thought was to fly into Brussels, go to the track where our first meet was going to be held to shake out and see the facility and then get up to Gent where we were staying for the first two nights. We did all of that eventually, but a bus, a train, another bus, lots of sun, lack of sleep and lack of food later…we made it to the hostel. Needless to say, we had some unhappy campers, but they were troopers and I was proud of my team for pushing through and being flexible (at least on the outside).
We toured Gent a little bit and I had a chocolate waffle…delicious! Extremely rich, but extremely delish! On our second night there was a little music festival going on outside our hostel and we made a friend. A few people met a guy named Philip and we’ve kind of adopted him into our group. I don’t know his full story, but he is an interesting fellow with a HUGE servant heart.
Our first meet was held in Oordegem and the team did really well. Colin placed first in the disc, Mary placed first in the disc and third in the shot, Zara took second in the shot, Jazzy won the high jump and Katie, Matt and Blake all had decent runs (considering we’re still fighting jet lag and lack of sleep and too much traveling). There were about 900 athletes in this meet and the team was able to connect with both European and american athletes. It was fun to see some familiar faces.
I was able to finally meet the meet director who I had been emailing the past two months. It was good to put a face with a name. Another highlight of the trip for me was seeing all the beer at the meet. For some reason, it just cracked me up! One gentleman brought out beer to one of the workers (when usually it’s water).
After the meet, we caught a train to Brussels. Again, our “SPECIAL” continued. After we got to Brussels, I thought a 10-15 min walk would be okay. Well, I forgot to factor in the facts we were tired, we all had our luggage…and it was all uphill. Bless my team’s hearts! They’re amazing.
The only problem with Brussels is our team had to split up – ladies in one place, the gentleman in the other. Not ideal at all and it has caused lots of problems I didn’t foresee. Lots of confusion, lack of communication has caused a lot of the team to become frustrated. I pray our time in Leuven will be much better. We will be in this place for the next 20 days and we will all be in the same location.
Today is the 4th of July. Instead of getting a blanket, heading out to some park or my family’s cabin to watch some fireworks. I spent the day playing tourist in Brussels. My one thing I wanted to see was Manneken Pis. I know, I’m a weirdo, but I saw it and it was as I expected it…a statue of a little boy peeing. Then Rachel, our trainer and I played in down town Brussels while the rest of the group went where the Tour de France actually was being held. Being in a big crowd really isn’t my forte, so I much more enjoyed touring the city. We walked to the Royal Palace (kinda got lost, but took lots of fun pictures on the way). Then we went back to the Grand Place to watch the Tour de France. They had a big screen set up, so Rachel and I got some ice cream and popped a squat on the cobblestone and watched the race with a smaller crowd. I loved it!
We did some more walking around and came back to the hostel. While I was sitting talking with our director, out walks Philip. This guy came down to Brussels to hang out with us. Blew me away, but he must see something in us that is attractive to him that he would come all the way down from Brussels. Crazy!
Tomorrow we head down to Leuven.
Prayer requests for our team:
Team unity
The frustration clears up
Travel to Leuven
For Philip as he hears the Gospel multiple times and he hears over and over that Jesus loves him…that this seed would be planted in his heart and take root.